" Do you know the stone woman of that statue?"
Elessiel turned at the voice and frowned at its owner - Legolas. Why does he always seem to appear at the most unexpected times? " No. I do not." She replied shortly.
Legolas smiled and moved towards the stone seat where Elessiel was sitting. Sitting there, sheltered from the light of day she looked strangely different from the first day Legolas had found her, standing with Gimli in that very same clearing. And in many ways, she looked exactly the same, though it had been so many weeks since that first meeting. Somehow, unnoticed by the turning of the days, her behaviour, her entire demeanour, had changed. Legolas could hold out the memory of his meeting with Elessiel in the stables of Minas Tirith. He remembered acutely the look of her eyes, the emotion in her face. But the woman before him seemed a stranger to that girl he had met so long ago, tending her horse and asking him the silly questions to which the answer was obvious. Her eyes were different now; a queer feeling came over Legolas when their eyes met. As though Elessiel knew something she did not share, as though in the brief moments when she let herself meet his gaze, her eyes saw more than his face, more than his mind. It was almost as though she saw his intentions. And it had recently come to the point where Legolas often feared to think when Elessiel stared too long at him. He felt separated from his deepest thoughts and secrets when in the presence of the girl, for her behaviour only served to confirm the idea that she had aged in some mysterious way. And when she was alone - or thought she was - it was not uncommon to hear her singing, but no Common Speech was melded with her tunes, instead languages of old that none now spoke on the shores of Middle-earth.
When Legolas had first caught her singing so it had been in this same clearing, sitting with Gimli. Legolas had heard the song from a way down the path, and following it he had expected to find an elf belonging to the ghostly voice, but instead it had been Elessiel. Just as Legolas had rounded the last turn in the path that would reveal his presence to Gimli and Elessiel, he had stopped, sensing a sort of solitude between the dwarf and the human that he did not wish to harm.
Many times it had been so between Gimli and Elessiel. At first Legolas had viewed the unlikely friendship between Gimli and Elessiel as a means by which he might be drawn into Elessiel's confidence, to gain her trust, but it had not been so. Many times Legolas and Gimli had sat in the afternoon, smoking the long carved pipe which had long ago been a gift from Aragorn, and speaking on many topics. Most often of all their conversation had turned towards Elessiel and her relationship with Gimli.
" You're in love with her." Legolas had laughed, sucking deeply on the pipe.
Gimli had not laughed, but nodded seriously. " Ai, I am. Her father predicted it, and so it is." He said gravely, looking out in thought over the beautiful valley of Rivendell.
Legolas had not expected such a grave answer, and still suspected his friend of playing a joke. " And where would you live? An old dwarf and a beautiful human maid. What home would you offer her?" He had spluttered.
Gimli had turned sharply to stare with a shrewd gaze at his friend. He nodded slowly, his tone serious. " Ai, she is beautiful, and how curious that you would notice. And the love I have for her does run deeper than any mine." He said, tapping the tips of his fingers against his chin as oft he did when thinking over some curious detail.
" Curious?" Legolas had said, cocking an eyebrow. " You certainly have you secrets Gimli, the two of you have become inseparable, and I keenly await the day your 'deep love' turns to deep lust-"
" Do not be such a fool Legolas." Gimli had snapped. At this point he stood quickly and began to walk away, before turning at the edge of the balcony and facing Legolas once more had said, " It has been said of elves that they understand the ways of the heart the best of all the children of Iluvatar. But you need never fear that being said of you, my friend." Yes, I do love the Lady Elessiel Tindomerel, and would protect her to the end of my days, though she may never need protecting, the Valar rest her soul, who would harm the precious child? I will care for her where I could not do so for her likeness, for too many years have passed since I looked upon that fair face." Here Gimli's face seemed to glow a moment with the memory of She who he recalled - Galadriel. " And so, friend Legolas, we have become inseparable, and seeing this between myself, 'an old dwarf', and Elessiel ' a beautiful human maid' would you begrudge such an unlikely alliance?" He cocked an eyebrow in question.
Legolas stood and shook his head; no laughter hinted his voice when he responded. " No Gimli, I am sorry for my jokes. You are right, I do not understand it, though the chance would be a fine thing."
Gimli smiled knowingly and nodded in consent. " You could learn much from that girl. She is wise beyond her years and maybe even a little beyond yours."
Legolas opened his mouth to rebut, but Gimli was already gone. Disappearing down the southern track to the clearing where each evening he would sit with Elessiel and conduct their private counsel...
" Legolas?" Elessiel said slowly.
The elf's head snapped back to face her as he blinked hard to free himself from the daydream he had been in. " I am sorry, where was I?"
" That is what I would like to know." Elessiel muttered, but Legolas did not catch her words. Instead he saw her pull her shawl around her shoulders and move quietly through the long grass to stand before the stone woman. " Who is she?"
Legolas came to stand beside Elessiel. " Her name was Gilraen. The mother of Aragorn the second, the Elfstone, your father." Legolas turned to Elessiel to gauge her reaction to his words, but was met with a smooth silence.
Outwardly Elessiel remained passive, but inside her mind was screaming. Her throat felt thick, and her mind reeled at the realisation that the stone woman - who she had spent so much time standing before - was her grandmother. She had always wondered at the absence of her grandmother, Gilraen, from her father's life, and during the few times she had broached the topic with her mother Arwen had said little more than " let the spirits of those who pass in pain rest". And from her father she could glean few words other than mumbled darkness, from which Elessiel could ascertain the subject of Gilraen was a deep pain to Aragorn. It had been during the final hours of Aragorn's life, when all his family and friends were gathered outside his bedroom, awaiting their summons, that Aragorn had finally addressed the subject of Gilraen in more than whispers.
He had taken Elessiel's hand within his own, cold and pale hands, and looking deep into her eyes he had said " I have given hope to Gondor, but kept little for myself", words which Elessiel had not known the significance of until Arwen had explained them to her.
But now Elessiel understood the familiar, pained expression of the stone woman, and almost imagined a familiar feature or two between the woman and her father.
" Elessiel, do you know the story of Gilraen?" Legolas spoke cautiously, knowing from times in the past that the chance to impart even the most trivial piece of knowledge upon Elessiel was a fickle opportunity - she was likely to close herself up to him at the slightest provocation.
But she did not turn away, or greet his words with a pithy retort, and winding her shawl further around her arms - though the night was habitually warm - she shook her head. " Would you tell it to me?"
Legolas smiled slightly and nodded. " She was a great woman among her people, and a worthy wife to Arathorn, your grandfather. She bore him only Aragorn, for the life within your father was stronger than that of many children. She was fair, beautiful even among elves, and as fate would have it, it was among elves that she spent the greater part of her life.
When Arathorn died defending the birthright of the Dunadain, it was to Imladris that Gilraen brought her boy child, Aragorn. For many years had Master Elrond been keeper and guardian of the heirs of Isildur, as the blood of that great line flowed through the veins of those who were is brother's children, many times removed.
In the safety of Imladris did your father grow, and learning the law of the elves became wise even among the elders of his small people. Ever did Gilraen care for him, and giving her whole she sacrificed the warmth and safety of her own people in the north so she might be with her child among strangers, among elves. Many years passed, more than your own lifetime before Aragorn was away frequently, for in the Rangers he saw brotherhood, and hope for the people of Middle earth. Gilraen was left amongst the elves, though not begrudging her son the chance to fulfil his destiny, but she became lonely. And then, in time, and only after she had known your father would be safe - having met his future bride, Arwen Undomiel, though that is another story - she departed, and went for the last time of her life to live among her kin in the north. And passing out of Rivendell the elves did feel a loss, for though she was of Edain, and being so only a brief moment in the lives of elves, she had brought much happiness and peace to the peoples of Rivendell. She was the forbearer of the King, and in being so no sin can be said about her.
In her stead were left few words, as little she had spoken in life, and little she would speak in death. But those that were left spoke a truth which none could deny. Sad, tragic, but all the more beautiful for the shared knowledge that all that she said was truth. 'I have given hope to all, but kept little hope for myself'." Legolas sighed heavily and turned towards the statue. He pointed to the feet of the woman. Elessiel followed his point and saw the thinly engraved words below Gilraen's feet. " And so those words stand still, to show the sacrifice your grandmother made and the debt in which all of Middle earth stands to her."
Elessiel felt warm tears sliding down her cheeks as she turned from the statue to face Legolas. Only a few times since his arrival had she let herself meet his eyes, but now she willingly entered into their depth. " That was beautiful." She said quietly. " You speak beautifully."
Legolas barely lowered his head in response, not wanting to break the silent, revolutionary bond that held his eyes to Elessiel's. Again he felt the churning, soft anxiety that something within her eyes was different, but presently she spoke again, knocking the thought from his mind.
" Where is Master Gimli?"
Legolas blinked dumbly for a moment before answering. " He sent word by me. I was to say he was sorry, and regretted the breaking of your counsel, but he was invited to the smithys across the river, and could not neglect the chance to master the elves in a show of smithery." Legolas laughed to cover the awkward silence that followed his statement. It seemed in the brief contact of their eyes something had been shared that should not, and now their being alone together in the almost mystical glade of Gilraen was pressured, forced.
Elessiel gave a laugh matched in force to Legolas'. " An understandable choice, knowing Gimli."
" You have become close to him." Legolas said seriously.
Elessiel nodded, and once again the undertones of their eased conversation seemed to soothe the anxiety of their shared solitude. "He is both as a father and a dear friend to me." She smiled and moved to walk past Legolas to the beginning of the track, which would lead back to the houses. " I thank you for the message, but if Gimli's counsel is denied me this evening, it is as good a chance as offered to explore the paths of the valley I have neglected since your arrival with Gimli."
"Wait one moment!" Legolas said quickly.
Elessiel stopped and turned to give Legolas a most curious stare. "What is it?"
" Gimli tells me I would not understand the friendship between a dwarf and a human woman, but I think such a bond between an elf and a woman would be a more familiar scape to see."
" I do not understand you." Elessiel said slowly.
Legolas smiled and took a step towards Elessiel's side. " Nor I you. All the more reason for you to show me the paths of which you speak. It has been to many days for you since walking them, and to many years for me. So may I join you?"
Elessiel nodded mutely and walking up the track slowly she keenly felt the stare of Legolas upon her back.
And while both elf and human were so consumed by their anxiety in sharing their company for the first time not by chance, but by choice, that they failed to noticed the change in the statue of Gilraen. A small tear, barely noticeable to the naked eye slid down her cheek, and her cold lips twisted ever so slightly into a small smile.
They found a sparse dim corner of the valley where the trees grew widely, and the forest floor was littered with millions of tiny, silver leaves. For the most part they had walked in silence, at first not knowing the words which they could speak that would ease the tumbling feeling both Elessiel and Legolas felt brewing inside themselves.
When finally even silence had grown weary Legolas brazenly broached the subject he had most thought about in the evenings since coming to Rivendell, " What does Gimli speak to you about? You spend hours together, and never once has he told me of what you speak."
Elessiel smiled softly and tried to think of an answer. The truth was that often Gimli and herself did not speak, but simply sat in silence and enjoyed the beauty of Rivendell. But she could not tell Legolas that, she was not nearly brave enough to share such a private act. Instead she tried to summarise the conversations between herself and the dwarf, " Many hours he spent telling me the story of his father's life, and some time on his own. One evening he spoke to me of his father's involvement in the destruction of Smaug. He speaks sometimes of the places he has been, and the things he has learnt. He has taught me many songs and tales of the past, and once spoke to me of Galadriel. He told me I was created in her image." At the final sentence she effected a Gimli-like accent, and laughed at the comment the dwarf had made.
Legolas laughed also, and though he felt they had again reached a soft part of the conversation, he wondered if Elessiel's tone would turn again, when she would close herself to him, as she inevitably did. " And do you speak to him about?" He asked
Elessiel shrugged and said, " Many nights I have confided in him the worries I would tell no other." She stopped for a moment and turned completely to Legolas, seizing his arm.
Legolas frowned at the almost desperate look in her eyes when she said, " Something is changed in me, some power I do not understand, but feel none the less. I know my uncles see it, and Gimli agrees with me. Do you see it also?"
" Ai." Legolas croaked. Suddenly his voice felt thick, and his heart raced with the unexpected combination of Elessiel's truthfulness and her hand on his arm. " I have noticed the change." Without knowing how it had got there Legolas felt the smooth skin of Elessiel's cheek against his palm.
Elessiel felt her head tilt into Legolas' hand as she closed her eyes. " Why did you come to Rivendell?" She murmured.
Legolas frowned and bit his lip, knowing the answer to her question could mean the end of their contact, something he could not presently conceive. " I came to find you."
Elessiel opened her eyes, and Legolas felt the flow of blood in his veins quicken. " What holds you to me, Legolas? What promise have you made than brings you across leagues to find a mere womas?"
" You are no 'mere woman', Elessiel," he said thickly. Elessiel blushed and looked away, but Legolas continued, seeing the opportunity to purge himself of words he had carried with him since coming to find Elessiel. " I could ask the same of you, what drove you to Rivendell, the home of elves - who you so obviously dislike - from the home of your family?"
Elessiel turned away from Legolas, and he felt the loss of her touch acutely. " Oh Legolas," she sighed sadly, shaking her head, " I do not hate elves." And as she spoke those words she noticed for the first time that she did not - and had not - hated elves for a long time.
" But you hate me." He blurted, knowing not from where the words came.
Elessiel turned to face him, and felt guilt not the first time at having behaved so childishly towards the elf. How must I look in his eyes? I am a woman, yet as a child to one so old, so wise... " You must think me a child for my behaviour, running from Gondor the way I did. But I could not be there, seeing you walking among my family, as though you were one of us, yet acting in your own time as though you were above us."
"I never meant to behave so. Your father asked that I would mind his family after his departure, and this is what I have strived to do."
" But my mother...you did not stop her from leaving. You just...let her go." Elessiel said helplessly.
Legolas shook his head sadly and said, " Long before my words told her so, it was known to Arwen Undomiel that she would leave the faces of her children, and the kingdom of her husband, to return to the lands she once called home, so many years ago. You must understand, Elessiel, that Arwen Undomiel was more than just your mother, her life started long before your own, but as such your presence did define her existence for a time. But with the absence of a husband, and his memory within the faces of her children, she knew she must leave."
Elessiel remained silent for a moment, trying to muster the courage to say the words that had lay silent on her lips since Legolas had come to Rivendell. " She has gone."
" Yes." Legolas said heavily. He felt the need to offer some small comfort to Elessiel, coming from the subconscious want mirrored in Gimli to protect the woman from pain or grief. " Do not mourn her more than you have done so Elessiel, my heart tells me you may yet meet again beyond the end of your days."
Elessiel nodded quickly, wiping the fresh tears from her eyes and Legolas could tell he should say no more on the subject. He bit his lip in silence for a moment, frowning with indecision over his next comment. " Was I the only reason you left Gondor?"
" I do not think so. On some level I think it has long been expected that I would not tarry in Minas Tirith till the end of my days found me unfulfilled. I fear that makes no sense..."
Legolas waved her statement away, saying " your fears are unfounded. Why then did you leave?"
Elessiel shrugged, and turned slowly in a wide circle, indicating the forest around her. " I left for this. My father said..." her eyes clouded over with foreboding as to whether she should tell Legolas the topic of her father's last summons. "...He said when I was only a child I would be destined for great things. He used to call me his gift, and said that my birth was designed by some greater creature as a weapon against darkness and evil. He used to call me 'elven fair'. It is the first name I remember him giving me. He said I was special, being pale of hair and skin where Ardael, Arwelil and Eldarion were so dark." She sighed heavily and smiled bitterly at Legolas. " I wish I could believe him. I wish I could find my greater purpose." Her smile faded as she turned from Legolas.
He took a step towards her, and taking her hand in his own he whispered, "How do you expect to find your greater purpose hiding in the shadows, Elessiel. You came to Rivendell to escape the world, and in twilight now you've existed for too many months. It is time for you to see the light of day."
She turned, and suddenly noticed how close Legolas was standing to her. She could almost smell his skin, and the grip of his hand around hers was as a white-hot burn. And meeting Legolas' eyes Elessiel fell instantly into their sapphire depth, barely hearing her voice above the rush of her heart beat echoing in her ears. " Maybe you are right, it is time for me to leave the shadows..." She murmured.
Legolas stepped infinitesimally closer, drawing her deeper into his gaze. " Elessiel..."
They stood so close their faces almost touched as Elessiel raised her hand to touch the smooth skin of his face. Something fell from her pocket, hitting the ground with a soft clink that Legolas ignored. Elessiel tore her eyes from his, and staring at the ground between her feet she saw the ring of Ulmo glistening softly in it's own light, independent as ever of natural starlight.
Legolas tilted Elessiel's chin up, their eyes meeting once again. " Is this a dream?" He asked softly. He had not expected an answer.
Elessiel's face closed instantly, and she tore herself away from Legolas' arms, stooping quickly to pick up the ring and tuck it back into her sleeve. It must have escaped when I touched his face... She moved slowly away for the elf, but did not avoid his gaze.
It is folly to love the elves! The words replayed in her head a million times, drowning out the emotion of the moment, and leaving only her own self-resolve, and Legolas' bewildered stare.
" Is something wrong? Elessiel?" He said in confusion, but the answer was obvious. " Is it because I am your father's friend, or because I am your guardian?" He said blindly.
But Elessiel could not understand how he could miss the nexus of her refusal entirely. " It is folly to love the elves." She replied simply with a helpless shrug.
Legolas frowned and cocked his head in confusion as Elessiel stood watching him, understanding refusing to unfurl within his mind.
Finally after what seemed a lifetime, Elessiel stepped forward and tenderly kissed Legolas' cheek. " Thank you for walking with me this evening. I hope it is not the last time I see you so." She said quietly before turning to walk away down the path, back towards the houses with their ghostly, twinkling lights.
" This will be the last time." Legolas called after her.
Elessiel stopped, but did not turn around.
" Gimli and I will be gone before the dawn."
Elessiel turned and bit her lip, frowning deeply. " What drives you so?"
Legolas shrugged, a strange satisfaction coming from seeing Elessiel's anxiety over his departure. " My quest in coming to Imladris, Elessiel Tindomerel, was to bring you back into the light, a task to which I know now you shall rise. And so my task here being done, I will leave Rivendell once more as a mere messenger." He bowed low, but through all his words his eyes stayed locked with Elessiel's, before he turned and walked away down the path.
Elessiel stood for a moment, watching the receding shape of Legolas as he walked briskly away from her. She felt she could not properly grasp all that had changed between them and wanted nothing more than to push him from her heart. Neither in favour, nor in ill did she wish to think of Legolas, it is folly to love the elves. But as she saw the last of his shadow turn away down the path she dimly felt her own farewell escape her lips, " You are no mere messenger. Namarie, Legolas."