The Longest Night:
His eyes focused suddenly and he had strange afterimages of bright silver sunlight, a ghost caress on his brow. But the dark world all around was unexpected, with its reaching shadows and black secrets. He felt a bit damp, strangely enough, and he did not remember why nor did he question it. It would all return to him in due time, he knew. For the moment he needed to understand where he was and where his group had wandered off to. He could see a fire, hear it crackling, the brilliant flames causing shadows to jump and dance. No doubt Pippin had lit the fire. He would have to have a word with the hobbit.
Sitting up, a sharp pain suddenly swarmed up his chest, along his breast, and he took a quick breath to brace against the agony. His hand encountered a makeshift bandage, herbs poking his skin uncomfortably and he frowned, grimacing at the same time. He burned, the pain streaking outward from the one spot and he gasped through clenched teeth, fingers clawing. Heaving, he suddenly cast a pained glance to his side upon catching a flash of pale skin from the corner of his eye.
Jei slept on her side, curled into a ball and she seemed to be nude under her long black robe. He stared at her for a moment, breathing in hisses, and he did not understand.
And then it all came crashing down, the battle with the orcs, and the arrow that had pierced his body and bested him.
"Legolas!"
Her cry had made his blood run cold from the utter fear he had sensed from her at the moment. Through the din of white noise and heaviness that he had felt the moment the arrow had pierced him, he had felt her terror and that terror had gripped him as well. She had gone off the cliff with him and upon hitting the water he had fallen into blackness. Until now. Now he understood why he was damp and why her clothes hung from a tree and she slept unclothed under her robe. Wincing, he gingerly lifted himself to his feet, staggering weakly. Their small clearing held only themselves. The hobbits and Gimli were nowhere to be seen and he found himself fearful for their lives.
Cooked meat stood on a small flat rock, cushioned by leaves and as he limped over to it he found it to be cold. She had probably left it for him but he could not stomach anything at the moment. Exhaling slowly, around the dull throb in his chest, he returned to Jei, studying her as he paused above her. She was turned on her side, her pale skin streaked with mud and dirt, her hair fanned out beneath her head. He wondered how long he had been unconscious and before him how long she had been unconscious. But he did not mull over it much. She seemed peacefully at sleep and he knew she had probably been in desperate need of the rest.
Turning to the fire he stomped it out. No doubt the Ringwraiths were quite aware of them by now and he was not going to be the one to make their search of Jei and himself easier. Smoke rose from the extinguished flame and the darkness settled over them like a thick blanket. That was fine. Hiding from the Ringwraiths was easier in the black of night.
He undid his elven cloak, staring down at her where she slept and he understood that she trembled faintly, curled in around herself under the large black robe. Clothed in it she seemed small and fragile and he could not remember a moment where he had actually thought her fragile. Not like that. Stooping a bit and fighting back the wince he slowly laid his cloak over her, the small elven broach catching the moonlight. She settled after a small moment, balling herself up even more and he tentatively lowered himself down beside her, drawing close to her.
Long brown hair. He gazed at her, at her shoulder-length black hair and he watched it float as a cool wind played with several strands.
"Jeinen."
She did not respond to the name, her breath shallow in sleep. Even in the darkness he saw the marks of the scars surrounding her lips and he felt the same pain, the same horror, as he had in his dream. He turned his face away from her and lifted a hand to his head, rubbing the smooth skin achingly. There was so much of her that was a mystery to him and he had known it would be that way. From the beginning she hadn't known a thing about herself and there was no reason to believe that his vision of her had been true. But had he had a fever to have such vivid dreams? Was it a hallucinatory state he had been in, finding answers where they were not meant to be found? It was just one more confusion on top of another and he found himself weary of them.
"Legolas."
He turned to face her quickly at the sound of her voice and she stared at him through heavy eyelids, her skin pale.
"It's cold," she whispered and her voice shook, a pained look on her tired face. She turned her face to the ground, eyes closing. "So cold…"
He leaned toward her, reaching out and grasping her shoulder. "Jei-"
"It's so cold…and so hot," she murmured and he hesitated, fingers tight around her shoulder. "It burns-"
"Jei-" he said again and he shifted onto his knees, grasping her with both hands. "Jei!"
"It burns-" she said faintly, her eyes closing tightly. "Hot and cold, light-"
He stared at her, not understanding, and shaking her roughly now.
"Darkness…the darkness…"
Cursing under his breath he rose away from her, looking about frantically. Maybe if he dressed her she would be warmer. Or if he started the fire again. But the fire had barely been felt in the cold night and her clothes were probably still damp. He went for her clothes and wavered for a moment, his vision becoming white.
"The light-" she whispered from behind him.
He shook himself, fighting the urge to lie down, to shut his eyes against the brilliant whiteness. But it consumed him momentarily and he found himself on one knee as the white light abated. It was the blood, he had lost too much of it and he was moving much too quickly, he needed to slow down.
"They are coming…"
He turned slowly to look back at her at her words but she had not moved from her position. All around he heard very little sound but even that little amount was enough to comfort him. If the Black Riders were close, they were not close enough. He rose shakily and crossed the rest of the clearing to reach her clothes, looking through her things. At the foot of the tree rested Ivory and Ebony and he stared at Ebony momentarily, a hand lifted to the tree trunk to sustain him.
"They say she shows you your darkest desires…"
He stared, frame stiff, and his stomach felt cold as he realized that although the moon shone on Ivory, reflecting off the white hilt, the same moon shone on Ebony but her hilt swallowed the light whole, emitting nothing but more darkness. He bent slightly to find himself reflected in the hilt, in the black stone, and he was pale, as pale as Ivory. And behind him was nothing but darkness, the silent darkness. He tore his gaze from the sword, eyes shifting down toward the heavy crossbow and the quarrel of bolts, strewn across the ground. And her bag, a small pouch. He bent to one knee, lifting it into his hands and opening it and inside lay the Cordial of Imladris.
Clutching the flask to his chest he rose and moved back toward Jei, crouching down beside her. She spoke softly, to herself, her form shaking and he bent close to hear her, his palm cupping her forehead gently. Her skin was hot, burning to the touch and she looked up at him through weary eyes, squinting as if she could not remember his name.
"I do not wish to go back-" she said to him faintly, and he nodded that he understood, turning her onto her back. She allowed him but the moment her eyes lifted to the moon she bowed her head, hiding her face against his cloak, inside her robe. "No, not the moon…not the moon-"
Legolas wound a hand around the back of her neck and lifted her head, forcing her to face up once more and as she spoke, her lips moving, he placed the flask to her mouth, forcing the colorless fluid. She choked momentarily before swallowing a mouthful and he pulled the flask away. The miruvor was potent, renewing strength in the most frail of creatures and he knew it would be all she needed. He held her as she swallowed the mouthful and as he merely watched her she slowly settled gently into silence, her eyes closing. He hesitated for a moment, and then lowered her to the ground once more, mindful should she awaken once more and rant feverishly. But she did not rise again and he cautiously lowered himself to the ground once more, only then taking a mouthful of the flask himself.
The warmth that it spread throughout his form instantly eased the pain in his breast and he exhaled at last, settling backward onto his back. The heat swallowed the pain, his entire body warm and he found himself no longer feeling any sort of cold. But then, as an elf, weather did not affect him as much as it did the mortals. His eyes shifted sideways toward Jei and she slept silently, peacefully, her face slowly regaining her color.
It would be enough. When she woke in the morning she would be better off than he would be. And for the moment, it was fine.
"We'll never find them," Pippin said quietly and his voice was weak with worry.
His voice was the only sound they had heard in the night besides the soft footfalls of the horse and the pony and while it would have been welcome, his words were not.
Merry tossed him a dark look over his shoulder. "We don't need that," he admonished the other hobbit as their pony trotted along. "They've probably ended up further ahead. We've only been searching for a few hours. It isn't even dawn yet."
"The current dragged them under. We've probably passed their corpses-" Pippin whispered.
"That's enough from ye!" Gimli thundered and in the quiet forest he unsettled many birds, causing them to fly off with loud-pitched shrieks. The dwarf turned on Arod's back and faced the hobbits as they trailed behind him. "We haven't passed them, they're not dead and we're lucky to even be alive! We fought bravely and for that we're still marching-"
"Bravely?" Merry echoed, his face darkening in anger. "We hid, Gimli! From the orcs. We hid from the orcs while Legolas went sinking down a river! Where is the bravery in that?"
The dwarf stopped Arod and looked Merry directly in the eye. "Bravery is knowing when a fight is too much ter handle alone! That's bravery. 'S nothin' about who runs and who stays ter fight! What's the point of stayin' ter fight if ye know ye won't survive it?"
"We should have done something back there!" Merry shouted angrily, hitching his thumb back the way they had come. "We should have rode out instead a' hidin'. Legolas would never have hidden-"
"Legolas isn' afraid of anything!" Gimli cut him off. "He's lived so long he's probably forgotten what it is ter fear death. But he would have wanted us ter to safe and fer us to be safe we would have had to have run. And that's what we did."
Merry went to retort but a hand on his shoulder from Pippin silenced him. "What now then, Gimli? We can't wander all night with not the vaguest notion of where we are heading. We need to stop somewhere, figure out our next move-"
The dwarf looked out over the river. They had been following beside it for well into the night and he did not even know if they still followed the Silverlode or if it had already begun to flow into the Anduin. All he did know what that they had left Lorien far behind and in the night he had not seen hide or hair of Legolas or the girl. And like Merry, he was beginning to feel the weight of failure.
It had been foolish, on the girl's part. To go flying off the cliff edge with Legolas. To protect him. Foolish. But he found himself respecting her path. In the end she had had more courage that he had. Even if it had taken her to the death, her death had been noble.
And Legolas' life had been the very embodiment of courage. From the first moment in Rivendell to the end, back beside the Silverlode in Lothlorien.
From beside them, in the trees came a sudden sound and the three of them froze, looking into the forest for signs of the tracker. Merry and Pippin saw nothing but the darting shadow alerted Gimli to the fact that someone did indeed move there and he turned Arod about, pulling out his axe with what he hoped was a battle cry strong enough to awaken the dead. "Show yer face before I cut it off!" he bellowed.
The shadow hesitated and to the side there were suddenly more shadows, large looking shapes of blackness. Pippin stared wide-eyed, open-mouthed, Merry glaring into the darkness blindly.
And from the darkness came a form atop a horse and in the moonlight she was beautiful. Her hair fell, long and golden and at her side was a guard, in the royal armor of the Reunited Kingdom.
"Are you not far from home, Master Dwarf?" asked Eowyn, the White Lady of Rohan.
Yeah, I definitely think this is taking shape now. I took this chapter myself since Aes has been busy with some last minute shopping. And I am seriously pissed with myself (And Aeslinn) for not yet having seen The Two Towers yet. But in the next few chapters Jei's past finally comes to light and hopefully with it, all questions answered. Just have a little faith…and patience. ;)
Thank you to all those who always leave reviews and who read faithfully! I assure you it does mean a lot to know that others are sharing this experience with us.
Aeslinn's got the next chapter! =)
-Cass