A/n: Thanks Mazokugrlsizer and isiswhit for the reviews. I am updating!
I have been consuming sugar! Flee, mortals, before my hyper-ness!
Disclaimer: All Tolkien's. All.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Elladan and Elrohir had mounted; Arwen had brought my horse. The moon had not been seen to rise- it was a cloudy night and would likely rain. Though it seemed time to leave, I would not go. Yet.
********
I drifted into consciousness with a feeling of stiffness and bleary eyes. I first saw Arwen sponging my wife down with water. I could see Celebrian was unconscious- and her eyes still shut.
"Daughter." I said quietly. She finished her task and tucked my wife in again.
"Ada. It is morning." I nodded. She is my youngest child, and most fair. Yet I only had eyes for my wife. I was aware of her drawing back a little from the bed, giving me room. Celebrian looked worse than she had the day before and the little blue shadows, forerunners of her death, had appeared in the hollows around her eyes and under her high cheekbones. I shook my head as I saw Arwen turn to the soup by my wife's bedside. By now I knew the poison had spread, yet I would not hasten her journey to Mandos. I would not prop her up. Instead, I sat on the edge of her bed. I would not touch her- I knew what she had been through- she would not welcome contact. However, I had slept, and had regained some measure of my strength.
:Celebrian: I thought, calling to whatever remnant of her self remained, for I no longer had the strength to heal. :Celebrian: A higher voice, with less strength but more beauty - my daughter's- joined mine. :Celebrian!/ Amme!: Two other voices, I had not seen them come in, but with their voices heard, I knew it must be our other two children. :Celebrian/Amme!: Our voices were stronger and together we reached farther. Suddenly, I gained a sense of a presence. It was Celebrian. Yet I, and none of our children, had the strength anymore to reach her. In her mind we saw her, were barely more than a hand's-breath apart- and were unimaginably far from each other. She must reach out to us were she to live. Yet she was so weary, so hurt, that she flinched from our "faces." She had always hated seeming weak or afraid. I tried to keep myself from showing pity. I reached out a "hand."
She flinched when she "saw" it coming towards her. She "looked" at it, and looked at our faces. The time stretched on. I grew apprehensive. I was starting to feel that indefinable something that heralds a death. If she did not take my "hand" soon, she could not be cured at all. It would grow too late even for her own strength, and I had no more strength to spend in standing there. Then, just before I must go (our children had vanished before, Arwen quickly, Elladan and Elrohir after her), she steeled herself and took it. Indeed, it was not dramatic, but effective. And as I returned to myself, I saw that we had clasped hands and that she was conscious. As she surrendered to a healing sleep, I saw that her shadows were no longer blue.
I tried to stand up- and nearly collapsed. Arwen had caught me. I let her take me to my chambers, separated from my wife's only by a door, to rest.
I could sleep now; Celebrian would heal.
****
Yet she had not, fully. She had gone to the West. And I was left once more alone. I mounted my horse and let him follow those of our children's to Rivendell.
~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Maybe a chapter three. Who knows?
Disclaimer: All Tolkien's. All.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Elladan and Elrohir had mounted; Arwen had brought my horse. The moon had not been seen to rise- it was a cloudy night and would likely rain. Though it seemed time to leave, I would not go. Yet.
********
I drifted into consciousness with a feeling of stiffness and bleary eyes. I first saw Arwen sponging my wife down with water. I could see Celebrian was unconscious- and her eyes still shut.
"Daughter." I said quietly. She finished her task and tucked my wife in again.
"Ada. It is morning." I nodded. She is my youngest child, and most fair. Yet I only had eyes for my wife. I was aware of her drawing back a little from the bed, giving me room. Celebrian looked worse than she had the day before and the little blue shadows, forerunners of her death, had appeared in the hollows around her eyes and under her high cheekbones. I shook my head as I saw Arwen turn to the soup by my wife's bedside. By now I knew the poison had spread, yet I would not hasten her journey to Mandos. I would not prop her up. Instead, I sat on the edge of her bed. I would not touch her- I knew what she had been through- she would not welcome contact. However, I had slept, and had regained some measure of my strength.
:Celebrian: I thought, calling to whatever remnant of her self remained, for I no longer had the strength to heal. :Celebrian: A higher voice, with less strength but more beauty - my daughter's- joined mine. :Celebrian!/ Amme!: Two other voices, I had not seen them come in, but with their voices heard, I knew it must be our other two children. :Celebrian/Amme!: Our voices were stronger and together we reached farther. Suddenly, I gained a sense of a presence. It was Celebrian. Yet I, and none of our children, had the strength anymore to reach her. In her mind we saw her, were barely more than a hand's-breath apart- and were unimaginably far from each other. She must reach out to us were she to live. Yet she was so weary, so hurt, that she flinched from our "faces." She had always hated seeming weak or afraid. I tried to keep myself from showing pity. I reached out a "hand."
She flinched when she "saw" it coming towards her. She "looked" at it, and looked at our faces. The time stretched on. I grew apprehensive. I was starting to feel that indefinable something that heralds a death. If she did not take my "hand" soon, she could not be cured at all. It would grow too late even for her own strength, and I had no more strength to spend in standing there. Then, just before I must go (our children had vanished before, Arwen quickly, Elladan and Elrohir after her), she steeled herself and took it. Indeed, it was not dramatic, but effective. And as I returned to myself, I saw that we had clasped hands and that she was conscious. As she surrendered to a healing sleep, I saw that her shadows were no longer blue.
I tried to stand up- and nearly collapsed. Arwen had caught me. I let her take me to my chambers, separated from my wife's only by a door, to rest.
I could sleep now; Celebrian would heal.
****
Yet she had not, fully. She had gone to the West. And I was left once more alone. I mounted my horse and let him follow those of our children's to Rivendell.
~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Maybe a chapter three. Who knows?