Chapter 1: Remembering the past
It was after school, Aire was staring out the window of the bus, watching the white airy clouds roll by on the wind. She wanted to be outside in that weather instead of stuck on this noisy bus; Aire had always loved the wind; she loved anything that had to do with nature. Her long hair shone like bright gold in the sunlight. Her smooth pale skin gleamed milky white. And her eyes, they had an almost unearthly look to them. And they were unearthly. They were a glittering sky blue. Aire was not like every other 16-year-old girl; she was odd, not that she was physically odd, for she was actually very beautiful, but that there was an oddity about her, she was different from others. And though she did not know it, her life was about to Change dramatically.
Aire groaned and flung her backpack over her shoulders as the bus slowed down at her stop.
"Thank God it's Friday" she mumbled to herself.
As she stepped off the bus and began to cross the street, the wind picked up, and on it she heard a faint whisper. "Aireromen! Aireromen, manan elye etevanne?" (Aireromen, Aireromen, what drove you to leave?) Aire stopped, she stared up at the sky. The voice spoke no more. She shook her head and ran across the street.
"What the heck was that?" she asked herself.
As she walked down the sidewalk, passing the houses on her block, she though about the voice she had heard.
'Maybe I was just hearing things' she reasoned with herself. 'But then how come for some odd reason those words made sense, like I almost knew what they ment. If they ment anything at all.'
She stopped at the door of her house and rummaged through a pocket in her backpack and pulled out her keys. She unlocked the door and went inside, tossing her shoes to the side and making her way down the hall to her room. She flung her backpack into a corner and opened the blinds on the window to stare outside. She sighed and looked at the clock, 3:45. Her parents would not be home for another hour. Aire flopped onto her bed and read a book to pass the time.
That night she sat in the living room, she gazed for a long while at the TV, before getting up and walking to the back door, she looked through the blinds. It was dark out, but a full moon was shining in the sky, casting a silver glow about the yard. Aire loved the night, she grinned and opened the door, stepping out side. A mild wind blew, caressing her face and blowing her long blond hair back over her neck. She stared up into the night, white stars shone in the sky, a bright silver moon floated silently over thin clouds outlined in a bluish silver light from the moon. She gazed longingly up into the night, watching the stars glitter like diamonds.
"They're beautiful are they not?" a voice said.
Aire turned suddenly, she saw before her an old man with a long grey beard, dressed in white robes and holding a staff. He smiled at her.
"Oh my God! Who are you and what are you doing in my back yard!" Aire sprang back, slowly inching her way towards the door.
The old man held up a hand, "Peace dear child, peace, I come not to harm you, I am Gandalf, I am a wizard."
Aire starred at the old man like he was insane, yet, the name Gandalf seemed all too familiar to her. Where had she heard it before? She stood perfectly still now, and gazed into the old man's face.
"Why are you here? What do you want?" Aire demanded.
" Do you know who you are child?" questioned Gandalf
Aire looked at the old man oddly, raising an eyebrow, 'What a stupid question!' she thought. ' Of corse I know who I am, this guy is freaking crazy!'
Gandalf could see the "Do you think I'm stupid" expression upon her face and smirked. He stepped closer to her. "I know you must think I'm crazy-"
"Yeah" Aire said dryly
"But you must listen to me, You are not Aire of earth, you are Princess Aireromen of the Elves of Lothlorien. You were sent to this world, by way of a great disturbance in the spirit world. You were also a great warrior, who traveled with the fellowship of the Ring. In their quest to destroy the One ring."
" If I'm an Elven princess then what am I doing here?" Aire questioned in a mocking tone.
" You volunteered to help the members of the Fellowship of the rings, Although it is a shame that you did not see it to the end. When Frodo and Sam parted to go to mordor and cast the one ring into the fires of mount doom. Aragorn, Gimli the dwarf, Legolas an Elven Prince, and you set out to find merry and Pippin who were taken by orcs. You were met by the riders of Rhoen, and soon met up with me again and we accompanied the Riders of Rhoen to help save Helms deep. Orcs were advancing there and they desperately needed help. Do you remember the Orcs?"
A vision of the horrible disgusting looking Orcs flashed in her head, and she wondered where the memory came from. With out realizing it, she answered, "Yes."
Gandalf smiled, "Already your memory is coming back to you, that is well, just as I had suspected, and hoped for."
Aire Listened more intently, this all seemed to make sense, and in some odd way it was familiar.
(Flashback to the tale with Gandalf's voice narrating.)
" When the ambush came, all charged into the fray we were doing our best to hold the ground at Helm's Deep, along with the Rohen armies to aid us. Many men and elves died. But we won the battle. And were able to drive the Orcs away. As a group of men were celebrating, they did not see a small band of stow away orcs slip in behind the wall. But Aireromen saw them and slowly picked up her sword and advanced on them. Legolas and Gimli saw this too as they were standing with her. The three of them snuck up after the Orcs, trying to not be noticed, they came up behind the foul creatures. A few men saw their advance on the Orcs and shouted out to the three to watch their selves, their cover was blown and the Orcs turned and saw Legolas, Gimli, and Aireromen. They pulled out their weapons, and fought with them. A short but bloody battle it was. Legolas slew three Orcs and was taking on two more now with his sword, as he was now out of arrows. He slew two at the same time with his Elven blades. And then took on another that came rushing out of the forest. Aireromen was fighting with three with her sword, she slit the throat of one and stabbed into the stomach of another and ripped her sword out again, the Orc fell to the earth with a thud. She then tackled the last to the ground and stabbed him through the chest. Gimli was battling three and managed to lop off the head of two of them before the last one overtook him, the Orc knocked his ax out of his hands, he was taken by the foul creature, who retreated into the woods. While Legolas was fighting with the other two Orcs that rushed out, Aireromen followed the Orc that had Gimli into the woods; we don't know much of what happened then, other than that we were searching for Aireromen and Gimli when we heard a cry from the woods. Aragorn, Legolas, a few soldiers and myself fled to the woods, following the cries for help that unmistakably came from Gimli. We found the dwarf vaulting up and down hysterically.
"Gimli!" Aragorn shouted, "Are you all right? What happened?"
The dwarf's face grew grim, " I was taken by an Orc, he carried me deep into the woods, and then stopped, as if sensing something. Then out of the darkness came Aireromen, she leaped upon the Orc and he dropped me, pulling out his sword, there was a brief battle and Aireromen was- she cut off his arm- but she-" the dwarf struggled to get the words out. "Aireromen, she's.she's hurt." He said barley able to keep from crying.
Legolas's face became engraged and frightened; he was to be Aireromen's husband. It had been announced long ago. Aireromen and Legolas were best friends and had known eachother since they were both very young. Legolas had fallen in love with her and promised that he would marry no other but her. She of corse did not object, for she too had fallen in love with the Elven prince.
"Where is she Gimli?" Legolas demanded, he darted his head searching through the darkness hysterically. Calling out her name. "Aireomen! Aireromen! Answer me!"
" She is this way" said Gimli and lead us deepinto the woods.
Legolas ran ahead, scanning the darkness, calling her name.
"Listen!" Aragorn cried.
We heard a faint noise, a voice, weak and fading.
"Mithrandir! Mithrandir, A Randir Vithren!" came the faint cry.
"What is it saying?" asked Gimli.
" It says, ' Mithrandir, Mithrandir, oh Pilgrim Grey! Mithrandir is Gandalf." explaned Aragorn.
Gandalf had long been a friend of the young Princess and her family. She felt him to be a second Grandfather. And she always relied on him, and now she called him to her again.
"Mithrandir!" said the faint voice of Aireromen.
Legolas's eyes widened. "It is Aireromen!" he cried, " Come! We must find her!"
They mad there way into a small clearing, there lying in the middle was Aireromen, she turned to see them, she opened her mouth, but not a sound came out. She looked hopelessly at Legolas. He rushed to her, kneeling down and propping her shoulders and neck in his arms, he gazed down into her blue eyes that shone like a deep and endless sea, and softly he stroked her long blonde hair. Aireromen's body jerked in pain, The others stood around, staring down at the pitiful sight. There was Aireromen, the Elven-Princess of Lothlorien, the daughter of The Lady Galadriel, dieing in the arms of Legolas, her soon to be husband and prince of the Elves of Mirkwood.
"Is there not something we can do!" pleaded Legolas.
Gandalf bent down, examining the wound, she had been stabbed through the stomach with an Orcs blade. Blood was oozing out from the gash, her face was white, not pale with the beauty of the Elves, but pale of one who is dying.
Gandalf's face was grim as he met the eyes of the pleading elf.
"There is nothing we can do, my dear Elf, she is too far-gone, and has lost too much blood. Even if we could save her, we have no medicine, nor spells. The power of the Elves is too far away, And if we were to carry her there, I fear she would not make it. The wound is fatal. Nothing can save her now."
"What will become of her?" pleaded Legolas.
"She will pass over, and her spirit will remain in the Halls of Mandosfor a time before returning.But who knows how long that will be." Stated the old Wizard. Biting his lip.
Legolas's eyes went wild.
"We must not let her die! She cannot pass, I won't let her pass, she belongs here with me!" said Legolas, fighting back tears. All could see that the Elven Prince longed to cry, but he would not show weakness or despair while his love lay dying. She did not need to be troubled by it, not when she was in this state.
Legolas gazed down sorrowfully into the face of the Elven woman he loved; he kissed her softly on the lips and stroked her cheek. Aireromen stared up into his eyes; she placed a weak and trembling hand on his face and smiled faintly.
"Legolas, my love" she said between gasps of pain. She winced and tears rolled down her face.
"I will find you again my love" promised Legolas. His voice was shaky and cracking "If I have to go through the gates of Hell themselves, I will find you and bring you back home."
Aireromen smiled again and turned her eyes to the sky above her, the stars shone brightly, as bright as diamonds. The moon was drifting high above, casting its mystical lights upon the earth, and illuminating the face of Aireromen in silver glow. She then looked around the clearing at the others that stood with heads bowed in respect and morning. She turned her face again and met the eyes of Legolas. For a moment they stared into each other's face. Legolas's eyes were watery and red as he held back tears, Aireromen felt tears fall silently from her own eyes, warm tears that trickled down her cheeks.
Softly she whispered. "Mornie alantie" (Darkness has fallen) slowly she closed her eyes, and breathed in one final time, Legolas felt her body go limp in his arms. She was dead.
A hush fell over the clearing, Aragorn stared up at the sky, his face sorrowful, Gimli sat with his head bowed low to the ground, Gandalf took off his hat and held tightly to his staff, and Legolas, cried out in sorrow "AI!" he called to the heavens. He gathered her lifeless body into his arms and cried, tears flooded down his face as he sat rocking Aireromen's body back and forth. Gandalf tried to place a comforting hand on Legolas's shoulder, but the Elf jerked away at his touch shouting.
"Stay away from me! GET BACK! LEAVE HER BE! DON'T TOUCH HER!"
"Legolas, please, be comforted she will suffer no longer." Again he tried to touch Legolas and help him. And again the Elf screamed in sorrow and anger. "I SAID AWAY!"
Gandalf backed up and came to stand beside Aragorn; his face troubled, they looked down pitifully at Legolas as he held tightly to Aireromen.
Then the memory faded.
Aire stood with her head low and tears rolled down her face.
"I- I remember" she said in a daze. "I remember" she looked up at Gandalf, then at the sky, "Legolas" she whispered, meeting the eyes of Galdalf again.
The old Wizard smiled down at her, "Yes, Legolas awaits you, as do your mother, father, and your friends. We have spent many years looking for you, and wish for you to return so that you may take your place along side Legolas and the throne of Mirkwood."
Aire stared at him, she remembered now, it all was coming back to her in a great flood, she wanted so desperately to return to Middle Earth, to be with her love, Legolas, to see her mother again, her real mother. But how could she leave? How could she leave the family that she now had? Could she even consider it?
Gandalf could see the questions in her mind; he came and placed a gentle hand upon her shoulder. "I will not force you to come with me Aireromen, the choice is yours to make. And whatever your dissision is, I'm sure it is for the best, and what you feel is right for you. I will leave you to think about it, for this is an important decission to make."
The old Wizard began to walk away; he stopped and turned to her one last time. "I will return in a few days. Be wise, and think of your dicision. Farewell Aireromen." She stared at him until he seemed to disappear into the shadows infront of her eyes. She glanced around the yard, this was going to be very difficult. She turned slowly and thoughtfully towards the porch, pausing to scan the yard one final time before opening the door and stepping inside the house.
It was after school, Aire was staring out the window of the bus, watching the white airy clouds roll by on the wind. She wanted to be outside in that weather instead of stuck on this noisy bus; Aire had always loved the wind; she loved anything that had to do with nature. Her long hair shone like bright gold in the sunlight. Her smooth pale skin gleamed milky white. And her eyes, they had an almost unearthly look to them. And they were unearthly. They were a glittering sky blue. Aire was not like every other 16-year-old girl; she was odd, not that she was physically odd, for she was actually very beautiful, but that there was an oddity about her, she was different from others. And though she did not know it, her life was about to Change dramatically.
Aire groaned and flung her backpack over her shoulders as the bus slowed down at her stop.
"Thank God it's Friday" she mumbled to herself.
As she stepped off the bus and began to cross the street, the wind picked up, and on it she heard a faint whisper. "Aireromen! Aireromen, manan elye etevanne?" (Aireromen, Aireromen, what drove you to leave?) Aire stopped, she stared up at the sky. The voice spoke no more. She shook her head and ran across the street.
"What the heck was that?" she asked herself.
As she walked down the sidewalk, passing the houses on her block, she though about the voice she had heard.
'Maybe I was just hearing things' she reasoned with herself. 'But then how come for some odd reason those words made sense, like I almost knew what they ment. If they ment anything at all.'
She stopped at the door of her house and rummaged through a pocket in her backpack and pulled out her keys. She unlocked the door and went inside, tossing her shoes to the side and making her way down the hall to her room. She flung her backpack into a corner and opened the blinds on the window to stare outside. She sighed and looked at the clock, 3:45. Her parents would not be home for another hour. Aire flopped onto her bed and read a book to pass the time.
That night she sat in the living room, she gazed for a long while at the TV, before getting up and walking to the back door, she looked through the blinds. It was dark out, but a full moon was shining in the sky, casting a silver glow about the yard. Aire loved the night, she grinned and opened the door, stepping out side. A mild wind blew, caressing her face and blowing her long blond hair back over her neck. She stared up into the night, white stars shone in the sky, a bright silver moon floated silently over thin clouds outlined in a bluish silver light from the moon. She gazed longingly up into the night, watching the stars glitter like diamonds.
"They're beautiful are they not?" a voice said.
Aire turned suddenly, she saw before her an old man with a long grey beard, dressed in white robes and holding a staff. He smiled at her.
"Oh my God! Who are you and what are you doing in my back yard!" Aire sprang back, slowly inching her way towards the door.
The old man held up a hand, "Peace dear child, peace, I come not to harm you, I am Gandalf, I am a wizard."
Aire starred at the old man like he was insane, yet, the name Gandalf seemed all too familiar to her. Where had she heard it before? She stood perfectly still now, and gazed into the old man's face.
"Why are you here? What do you want?" Aire demanded.
" Do you know who you are child?" questioned Gandalf
Aire looked at the old man oddly, raising an eyebrow, 'What a stupid question!' she thought. ' Of corse I know who I am, this guy is freaking crazy!'
Gandalf could see the "Do you think I'm stupid" expression upon her face and smirked. He stepped closer to her. "I know you must think I'm crazy-"
"Yeah" Aire said dryly
"But you must listen to me, You are not Aire of earth, you are Princess Aireromen of the Elves of Lothlorien. You were sent to this world, by way of a great disturbance in the spirit world. You were also a great warrior, who traveled with the fellowship of the Ring. In their quest to destroy the One ring."
" If I'm an Elven princess then what am I doing here?" Aire questioned in a mocking tone.
" You volunteered to help the members of the Fellowship of the rings, Although it is a shame that you did not see it to the end. When Frodo and Sam parted to go to mordor and cast the one ring into the fires of mount doom. Aragorn, Gimli the dwarf, Legolas an Elven Prince, and you set out to find merry and Pippin who were taken by orcs. You were met by the riders of Rhoen, and soon met up with me again and we accompanied the Riders of Rhoen to help save Helms deep. Orcs were advancing there and they desperately needed help. Do you remember the Orcs?"
A vision of the horrible disgusting looking Orcs flashed in her head, and she wondered where the memory came from. With out realizing it, she answered, "Yes."
Gandalf smiled, "Already your memory is coming back to you, that is well, just as I had suspected, and hoped for."
Aire Listened more intently, this all seemed to make sense, and in some odd way it was familiar.
(Flashback to the tale with Gandalf's voice narrating.)
" When the ambush came, all charged into the fray we were doing our best to hold the ground at Helm's Deep, along with the Rohen armies to aid us. Many men and elves died. But we won the battle. And were able to drive the Orcs away. As a group of men were celebrating, they did not see a small band of stow away orcs slip in behind the wall. But Aireromen saw them and slowly picked up her sword and advanced on them. Legolas and Gimli saw this too as they were standing with her. The three of them snuck up after the Orcs, trying to not be noticed, they came up behind the foul creatures. A few men saw their advance on the Orcs and shouted out to the three to watch their selves, their cover was blown and the Orcs turned and saw Legolas, Gimli, and Aireromen. They pulled out their weapons, and fought with them. A short but bloody battle it was. Legolas slew three Orcs and was taking on two more now with his sword, as he was now out of arrows. He slew two at the same time with his Elven blades. And then took on another that came rushing out of the forest. Aireromen was fighting with three with her sword, she slit the throat of one and stabbed into the stomach of another and ripped her sword out again, the Orc fell to the earth with a thud. She then tackled the last to the ground and stabbed him through the chest. Gimli was battling three and managed to lop off the head of two of them before the last one overtook him, the Orc knocked his ax out of his hands, he was taken by the foul creature, who retreated into the woods. While Legolas was fighting with the other two Orcs that rushed out, Aireromen followed the Orc that had Gimli into the woods; we don't know much of what happened then, other than that we were searching for Aireromen and Gimli when we heard a cry from the woods. Aragorn, Legolas, a few soldiers and myself fled to the woods, following the cries for help that unmistakably came from Gimli. We found the dwarf vaulting up and down hysterically.
"Gimli!" Aragorn shouted, "Are you all right? What happened?"
The dwarf's face grew grim, " I was taken by an Orc, he carried me deep into the woods, and then stopped, as if sensing something. Then out of the darkness came Aireromen, she leaped upon the Orc and he dropped me, pulling out his sword, there was a brief battle and Aireromen was- she cut off his arm- but she-" the dwarf struggled to get the words out. "Aireromen, she's.she's hurt." He said barley able to keep from crying.
Legolas's face became engraged and frightened; he was to be Aireromen's husband. It had been announced long ago. Aireromen and Legolas were best friends and had known eachother since they were both very young. Legolas had fallen in love with her and promised that he would marry no other but her. She of corse did not object, for she too had fallen in love with the Elven prince.
"Where is she Gimli?" Legolas demanded, he darted his head searching through the darkness hysterically. Calling out her name. "Aireomen! Aireromen! Answer me!"
" She is this way" said Gimli and lead us deepinto the woods.
Legolas ran ahead, scanning the darkness, calling her name.
"Listen!" Aragorn cried.
We heard a faint noise, a voice, weak and fading.
"Mithrandir! Mithrandir, A Randir Vithren!" came the faint cry.
"What is it saying?" asked Gimli.
" It says, ' Mithrandir, Mithrandir, oh Pilgrim Grey! Mithrandir is Gandalf." explaned Aragorn.
Gandalf had long been a friend of the young Princess and her family. She felt him to be a second Grandfather. And she always relied on him, and now she called him to her again.
"Mithrandir!" said the faint voice of Aireromen.
Legolas's eyes widened. "It is Aireromen!" he cried, " Come! We must find her!"
They mad there way into a small clearing, there lying in the middle was Aireromen, she turned to see them, she opened her mouth, but not a sound came out. She looked hopelessly at Legolas. He rushed to her, kneeling down and propping her shoulders and neck in his arms, he gazed down into her blue eyes that shone like a deep and endless sea, and softly he stroked her long blonde hair. Aireromen's body jerked in pain, The others stood around, staring down at the pitiful sight. There was Aireromen, the Elven-Princess of Lothlorien, the daughter of The Lady Galadriel, dieing in the arms of Legolas, her soon to be husband and prince of the Elves of Mirkwood.
"Is there not something we can do!" pleaded Legolas.
Gandalf bent down, examining the wound, she had been stabbed through the stomach with an Orcs blade. Blood was oozing out from the gash, her face was white, not pale with the beauty of the Elves, but pale of one who is dying.
Gandalf's face was grim as he met the eyes of the pleading elf.
"There is nothing we can do, my dear Elf, she is too far-gone, and has lost too much blood. Even if we could save her, we have no medicine, nor spells. The power of the Elves is too far away, And if we were to carry her there, I fear she would not make it. The wound is fatal. Nothing can save her now."
"What will become of her?" pleaded Legolas.
"She will pass over, and her spirit will remain in the Halls of Mandosfor a time before returning.But who knows how long that will be." Stated the old Wizard. Biting his lip.
Legolas's eyes went wild.
"We must not let her die! She cannot pass, I won't let her pass, she belongs here with me!" said Legolas, fighting back tears. All could see that the Elven Prince longed to cry, but he would not show weakness or despair while his love lay dying. She did not need to be troubled by it, not when she was in this state.
Legolas gazed down sorrowfully into the face of the Elven woman he loved; he kissed her softly on the lips and stroked her cheek. Aireromen stared up into his eyes; she placed a weak and trembling hand on his face and smiled faintly.
"Legolas, my love" she said between gasps of pain. She winced and tears rolled down her face.
"I will find you again my love" promised Legolas. His voice was shaky and cracking "If I have to go through the gates of Hell themselves, I will find you and bring you back home."
Aireromen smiled again and turned her eyes to the sky above her, the stars shone brightly, as bright as diamonds. The moon was drifting high above, casting its mystical lights upon the earth, and illuminating the face of Aireromen in silver glow. She then looked around the clearing at the others that stood with heads bowed in respect and morning. She turned her face again and met the eyes of Legolas. For a moment they stared into each other's face. Legolas's eyes were watery and red as he held back tears, Aireromen felt tears fall silently from her own eyes, warm tears that trickled down her cheeks.
Softly she whispered. "Mornie alantie" (Darkness has fallen) slowly she closed her eyes, and breathed in one final time, Legolas felt her body go limp in his arms. She was dead.
A hush fell over the clearing, Aragorn stared up at the sky, his face sorrowful, Gimli sat with his head bowed low to the ground, Gandalf took off his hat and held tightly to his staff, and Legolas, cried out in sorrow "AI!" he called to the heavens. He gathered her lifeless body into his arms and cried, tears flooded down his face as he sat rocking Aireromen's body back and forth. Gandalf tried to place a comforting hand on Legolas's shoulder, but the Elf jerked away at his touch shouting.
"Stay away from me! GET BACK! LEAVE HER BE! DON'T TOUCH HER!"
"Legolas, please, be comforted she will suffer no longer." Again he tried to touch Legolas and help him. And again the Elf screamed in sorrow and anger. "I SAID AWAY!"
Gandalf backed up and came to stand beside Aragorn; his face troubled, they looked down pitifully at Legolas as he held tightly to Aireromen.
Then the memory faded.
Aire stood with her head low and tears rolled down her face.
"I- I remember" she said in a daze. "I remember" she looked up at Gandalf, then at the sky, "Legolas" she whispered, meeting the eyes of Galdalf again.
The old Wizard smiled down at her, "Yes, Legolas awaits you, as do your mother, father, and your friends. We have spent many years looking for you, and wish for you to return so that you may take your place along side Legolas and the throne of Mirkwood."
Aire stared at him, she remembered now, it all was coming back to her in a great flood, she wanted so desperately to return to Middle Earth, to be with her love, Legolas, to see her mother again, her real mother. But how could she leave? How could she leave the family that she now had? Could she even consider it?
Gandalf could see the questions in her mind; he came and placed a gentle hand upon her shoulder. "I will not force you to come with me Aireromen, the choice is yours to make. And whatever your dissision is, I'm sure it is for the best, and what you feel is right for you. I will leave you to think about it, for this is an important decission to make."
The old Wizard began to walk away; he stopped and turned to her one last time. "I will return in a few days. Be wise, and think of your dicision. Farewell Aireromen." She stared at him until he seemed to disappear into the shadows infront of her eyes. She glanced around the yard, this was going to be very difficult. She turned slowly and thoughtfully towards the porch, pausing to scan the yard one final time before opening the door and stepping inside the house.