Chapter 5 ~ The Why and How

As she closed the door behind her and turned to face the room she took an intake of breath. The King and Queen were seated on a low couch almost directly facing her and to one side. On the floor she could see Legolas, still hunched over into a ball. At the sound of her coming in, though, he stood up quickly not wanting her to see him in his state and, keeping his back to her, he moved over to the window behind the King and Queen. There he stood.

She could just make out part of his face, standing still as stone, staring with unseeing eyes onto the City of Osgiliath. She could see his cheeks shone wet, and that his grip upon the window ledge was tight enough to make his white skin even whiter.

Fuineth felt a cold hand grip her heart.

Her face looked stricken, and it was clear that she had realised what was happening and why she had been summoned. Arwen stood and got her a chair positioning it in front of the King.

"Please, Fuineth. Sit."

Arwen's tone was gentle and kindly, but Fuineth could feel herself shaking as she sat. She glanced up again at the tense figure behind Aragorn and Arwen. He did not flinch. He was waiting, and she knew she must relate things he had no wish to hear again. She felt desperate, not willing to say anything, and yet knowing she was helpless, that she could not prevent him from hearing what she would no doubt be forced to say, making him relive the whole episode once more. She felt her eyes fill. She looked to the floor, clasping her hands tightly in her lap nearly as tightly as Legolas was holding on to the window frame.

Aragorn and Arwen exchanged a glance.

Aragorn began. "Do not be afraid, Lady Fuineth. Nothing you say here will go outside these walls."

She looked upwards towards the figure framed in the window. Nothing.

"You have no doubt guessed why you have been summoned here?"

There was a silence and then she realised they were waiting for a reply, so she nodded and murmured, barely audibly, "I.. I think so, yes."

"You needs must know that Lord Legolas has told us what happened the night before we left Edoras for Helm's Deep. We only need to confirm from you your version of events. Is that understood?"

A silent nod this time, and she could not bring herself to look up at the elf burning with rage and shame at the window.

There was a pause as Aragorn carefully tried to decide where best to begin. "How did you come to know that Lord Legolas had been..." he searched for the word, "poisoned?"

She took a deep breath. Looked up. Still Legolas was impassive. She glanced first to Aragorn, then to Arwen who nodded and smiled kindly, though her mouth was in a thin firm line of anger. "I was in the kitchens when the cake was sent down." Aragorn nodded. "Someone said it had been sent back because there were oak leaves in it and..." She stopped. "..Well, it caused much confusion. I did indeed taste some and it tasted strange to me, certainly not what had been intended for our guests. I thought nothing of it till late that night I mentioned it to my brother..."

She was interrupted as there a low groan from the window, and Legolas let his head drop though he remained standing at the window, hands clasped firmly to the frame. She looked up, worried and uncertain whether to continue.

"Does your brother know what occurred that night, then?" Aragorn asked, guessing what had crossed Legolas's mind.

She looked genuinely shocked, "No, your highness! He does not!" She looked appalled from one to the other, and Arwen held out her hand in a gesture of reassurance. Legolas's shoulders relaxed somewhat on hearing this. "He knows no more than you yourself did, your highness."

"So he knew of oak leaves and their... 'effect' when mixed with honey?" Aragorn asked as gently and tactfully as he could.

She coloured, vividly, and her gaze fell to the floor once more.

"And he realised it had to have been deliberate, and could only have been aimed at one person?"

She nodded, still looking at her feet. She could feel the tears welling up now.

"So why then did you go to Lord Legolas's chambers? What made you suspect that something had happened?" Arwen was speaking now, trying to move her on from her acute embarrassment.

This was the part of her story Legolas did not know and had always wanted to. He tensed, straining every muscle to hear what she would say.

Her voice was low, uncertain, "The day before I had entered my lady's chambers to help her with her morning toilet. She had been on the floor, pushing something in a hole in the wall. It looked like a book and some kind of small pot or phial, and she was placing a brick back in the wall to conceal it."

She stopped, looking up. Aragorn was looking grim, and Arwen shocked. "Go on," the King said tersely.

"I.. I didn't really consider the import of what my brother had told me. It was only later... in my chambers.. I remembered what I had seen as well as something the Lady Eowyn had said to me.." Again she stopped, looking up at Aragorn with her eyes now brimming with tears. "I.. she..."

Aragorn nodded, "I know that she had an affection for me and was distressed that I could not return it, if that is what you are struggling to say, my child."

She nodded mutely, grateful that she had not had to say such a thing to the King and with his wife sat beside him.

"She had said something to me about not wishing to live and that to die husbandless was a dreadful thing..." She looked to Arwen and her voice sank to a mere whisper, "I did not understand what she meant.. not then." Her throat was tightening now to the point that it pained her. "I do not know what made me do so, but I went to her chambers.. and.. and.."

She was fighting to hold back the tears as Aragorn quietly finished her sentence for her, "And you found them empty."

She nodded, unable to speak, knowing she would simply break into sobs if she tried to do so.

"Did you check the hiding place?" he asked, half-guessing what the answer would be.

She nodded once more, feeling shame that a servant should do such a thing, and that they would judge her for it. Arwen, however, sensing this, murmured, "You did the right thing, Fuineth."

She looked at her gratefully. A tear rolled down her cheek. She noticed for the first time that the Lady Arwen had been crying also. "There was a book. On elves. On.. on.."

She could not finish. There was a shocked silence.

The Queen then asked, almost so quietly Fuineth was not sure she had heard her, "How big was the phial?"

Fuineth's gaze flicked up. She did not want to answer this question. She looked from Aragorn to Arwen and back again. They could see the distress in her face.

"Please?" asked Arwen once again.

"A .. a quart."

There was a gasp from Arwen, and she could see the figure in the window flinch.

"And it was empty, this bottle?" Aragorn asked, his voice thick with emotion. She nodded, and broke into tears.

There was a brief pause while they waited for her to compose herself.

"I take it your brother had explained only a small amount was needed?" Aragorn then asked.

She nodded. Then quietly, her voice shaking with distress now, she looked straight at the figure in the window and answered almost directly to him, "That's why I did what I did."

"So what, then, did you do?" Again the same quiet, insistent but gentle tone from the King.

"I.. I went to get the spare keys from the guard room, and I took a long knife as well... since the Lady Eowyn is skilled in fighting."

There was a snort of utter contempt from the window as she said this.

"I.. I..," her head bowed forward. She had no idea how to explain this. She could not tell them. He would not want her to tell them what she had seen: wild-eyed, half crazed, tears streaming down his face. She squeezed her hands even tighter and screwed her eyes shut to try and stop the tears from falling.

"You disturbed them, yes?"

She could not look up. A nod.

"And then what?"

"There... there was knife on the floor. The Lady Eowyn grasped it and ran at me.." Her voice was shaking now. Arwen had her hands to her face. "I managed to move aside but barely... she came at me again, but this time... Lord... Lord Legolas managed to catch hold of her and knock it from her hand..."

Again she trailed off. She did not want to relate the words that were said, the vicious hatred burning in his eyes, his insults and the invective he had heaped upon the Lady Eowyn's head.

"He threw her out," she said simply.

Aragorn and Arwen exchanged a wordless glance. "Did nothing happen before then?"

She looked up, puzzled. What was it they were asking?

"Did Lord Legolas do anything to the Lady Eowyn?" Aragorn insisted.

Then she understood. She looked towards the figure at the window once more and could see that his face was turned away from her completely now. 'I am sorry,' she thought, and it only succeeded in making the tears fall even faster than before.

"What happened?" Quiet, but insistent once more.

Silence. A beat.

"He.. touched her skirts. He healed her." She could not look at Aragorn, but pleaded with Arwen with her eyes for her to understand what she was saying. The queen nodded, and she let her gaze fall once more.

The tone was gentler now, "What did you do then?"

She seemed uncertain of how to continue at first. Then, "The Lord was very ill." Aragorn nodded. "I.. I stripped the bed.." Catching something in Aragorn's eye she explained, "It was covered in blood." There was a gasp from the queen.

Fuineth looked up once more, looking straight ahead and spoke directly to Legolas, or so it seemed to Aragorn and Arwen. "I could see that he was injured. He had a deep cut on his shoulder, others on his neck and.." She stopped, never taking her eyes off the back of the figure at the window.

She had seen the shoulders slump forward slightly as she had stopped. He knew what was coming. She felt his shame, and it hurt her so much to have to say all this. She looked pleadingly to Arwen but the Queen simply nodded sadly and said, "Go on."

"His ears," she said in a voice barely audible. She saw the shoulders slump further forward. She did not even notice the tear run down Arwen's cheek. Her own were flowing freely now in pity and distress and pain at seeing him have to go through this.

"Go on."

"I asked if he would permit me to fetch him some water and cloth for his wounds."

"Which he did?"

She nodded. "I took the keys and knife, and I took the bed linen and told him to bolt the door behind me. I fetched clean linen, water, as well as some athelas and some balm I had in my chambers." Aragorn nodded. "I.. I didn't know if the Lord would let me back in to his chambers.." She was looking at his back once more, "And I would not have blamed him if he had not. Indeed I was about to leave the water there for him on the floor when he opened the door." Her voice was less shaky now. The tenderness and compassion in her timbre was evident for them all to hear. Her gaze never left his shoulders as she spoke.

"So you prepared his bed, and put the athelas in the water?"

She nodded. "I.." her voice quiet again, not flinching in her gaze toward the window. "I offered to bathe his wounds, though I knew he would refuse. I laid the bowl of water, the cloths and the balm upon his bed and withdrew to the fire."

"Do you realise the danger you were in, my child?" Aragorn's tone was not reprimanding, more curious.

She looked at him, genuinely confused. "I knew that if ... If he would have told me to go I would have gone. Instantly. I did my best to keep a distance, to not even look at him directly. I had no wish to ... make him more self-conscious than he no doubt already was."

Her gaze had returned to his back, the shoulders slumped even more, forehead against the pane of glass now. She could see a splash on the window frame of a tear as it fell.

"I am truly sorry if I did anything wrong. I would not for all the world, have made my Lord feel ill at ease or in any discomfort at my presence." Her voice was shaking with her tears as she addressed these words to him. There was a muffled sob from the window, and even Aragorn and Arwen fell silent. Arwen had tears rolling down her cheeks, as did Fuineth.

For a moment all was still.

Eventually Aragorn spoke, "You did nothing wrong, Fuineth. Indeed from what you have told us so far, you showed great kindness and compassion to someone in dire circumstances, and I know that the Lord Legolas would bid me say that he is ever in your debt."

She shook her head, "No, my liege. I did no more than it was my duty to do." But her voice choked into a sob and she stopped once more.

"Why did you stay the night in his chambers?" asked Aragorn, and she was shocked that he asked so directly.

She recovered herself and answered, "I offered to stay only so that he was not alone if she.. if something occurred once more." She paused; again a look towards Legolas. She could see his shoulders shaking slightly now and it broke her heart to see it. "I imagined he would not let me, but I would have sat outside his door even if he had not let me stay within."

Even Aragorn was surprised and could not help but raise an eyebrow. She turned to him, "What was done was abominable, my liege." Her anger getting the better of her now, her voice, cold and quiet, shaking with emotion, "To see one of the Eldar so treated..."

She could not finish, but her glare and the fire in her eyes told Aragorn all he needed to know.

"At first cock crow I left. I knew there would be no more trouble after such an hour."

She was feeling calmer now, the worst seemed to be over. Even the figure at the window seemed to be standing taller and straighter once more.

"What of the next day?"

She gasped.

"No doubt the Lady Eowyn was wrathful that one of her maidservants had discovered her?"

She nodded, shocked into silence.

"She dismissed you? And that's why you left, or tried to?"

Again a nod. She looked up and as she did so she caught the Queen's eye, but dropped her gaze almost as soon as she had done so.

"More than that," Arwen whispered and Aragorn looked at his wife questioningly. Legolas half turned towards them all on hearing Arwen's comment. "There was more, wasn't there, Fuineth?"

Fuineth was suddenly blinded by tears now, not wishing to answer, unable to find a way out, feeling her shame burning on her cheeks. Aragorn was watching her now, his face dark with all that he was having to hear.

In a quiet voice, Arwen asked her, "Did she strike you, Fuineth?"

'O Elbereth, please!' She looked at the beautiful Arwen Undomiel and felt her heart shattering into a thousand pieces then and there. She could not answer, but her clear distress, the tears on her face, were all the answer they needed. The figure at the window had turned to face her now, though she could not see it, shock etched all over his face.

Arwen then asked, even more quietly than before, "Did she threaten you, Fuineth?"

She could not keep it back any longer. She broke into sobs, trying desperately to hold in the anger, shame and hurt she felt, but it was no use. Arwen stood up and went over to her, placing her arms around her and holding her, stroking her dark hair as her slim frame shook.

The figure at the window was pale now: fingers once more tightly gripped the sill behind him, mouth a thin line of anger, eyes blazing. He could barely contain himself.

Quietly, Arwen asked her what had been said, and the whole tale came out, though whispered in half-sobs into Arwen's ear. When all was told Arwen turned, ashen, and came to sit once more exchanging a brief glance with Legolas as she did so and what he saw in her eyes made the bile rise in his throat.

Arwen's voice was cold and still when she spoke at last, "She was told if she did not leave Edoras immediately, war or no war, it would be made known to the King before he left Edoras that she was a common whore and that it was she who had deliberately poisoned Lord Legolas to satisfy her own base desires, and that the proof would be her unslept in chambers. And she was struck. More than once."

A silence fell on the room broken only by Fuineth's sobs as she tried desperately to control herself.

Legolas was beside himself in fury. "And she is trying to say the same thing now..?" he murmured, more to himself than anyone else, but Fuineth heard it and her head shot up in panic.

"What?!"

Aragorn sought to reassure her and shot Legolas a look which made him flush at his tactlessness. "It is alright, lady Fuineth. No-one knows save us four and the Lord Faramir and Lady Eowyn."

She stared at him, mouth open. "Lord.. Lord Faramir knows?" He nodded.

Her hand went to her mouth. She could feel the tears prick her eyes once more. "Poor Lord Faramir.." she murmured, though not to them, even though they all heard it.

After a little while Aragorn stirred, "One last question, my lady, if you will permit me."

She looked at him, pale and trembling slightly, and feeling utterly wretched.

"Why did you not call someone? Get your brother, perhaps, or even I or another of Lord Legolas's companions?"

She gazed at her hands for a moment and then quietly, but in a confident voice, said, "I felt sure that Lord Legolas would not want anyone to know. Indeed he could have sent me to wake someone had that not been the case." Pause. "I have no doubt that it was difficult enough for him that I knew."

She paused again, and lifted her head once more towards the figure at the window, and she met the gaze she found there, and she held it. A single tear spilled over from her eye, and she could see his were glistening also.

"I made a promise and I have kept that promise. And this is the first I have ever spoken of that night."

He broke his gaze away, not wanting her to see his tears as they fell.

She let her own gaze drop. It was done. There was nothing more to be said and it was out of her hands now.

Arwen smiled gently and came forward to take her hand. "Thankyou, Fuineth. I know that was hard for you," but Fuineth looked towards the figure, his head bowed forward, and thought how much harder it must have been for him. "You may go. You will never have to speak of it again. You have my word."

She smiled gratefully at the gracious Queen, curtseyed to the royal couple and turned to leave. Then she hesitated at the door and turned to the blond figure at the back of the room who was watching her now with a quiet sadness in his eyes.

"I am truly sorry, my Lord, that you have had to relive your ordeal this day," she said quietly. He smiled, only faintly, and nodded his head as she turned to leave while she felt her tears fall once more.

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There was silence in the room after she had left.

Legolas was still staring at the closed door through which she had just walked. He could feel the tears brimming in his eyes, touched as he had been by her last words to him.

He had so many emotions inside him right now, not least of which was his rage and fury, not simply at the appalling behaviour of the Lady Eowyn towards Fuineth this day, but also the knowledge of what had actually occurred between them in her chambers that morning in Edoras. It chilled him.

He had been deeply moved by the way Fuineth had spoken. The evident concern and compassion she had shown for him had reduced him to tears in a way that even speaking of the events of that night to Aragorn and Arwen earlier had not. He had wanted to speak to her, but not like this. His heart ached that she had had to go through this, and he prayed to the Valar that he would be able to redress the wrongs done to them both.