Epilogue
*&*
Five months later
Legolas and I lay side by side on the big bed in my room, our bodies spooned together and his arm over my bare hip. We had retaken the old tower, Minas Morgul, and Frodo had given me the elf-light from Galadriel once he heard of my Queenship.
"You're going to need it." He had said.
The light had driven evil from the place. I had put it in top tower, and almost instantly its light had blazed out, and darkness fled from Mordor.
With the help of a little weather magic, and much hard work from both myself and the few peoples of Mordor who had emerged from the mountains when they heard of my queenship, Mordor was slowly turning green again. In my room, I carefully nursed a seedling grown from the seed of the Red Tree.
Light was slowly driving the darkness from my country, and everyday Mordor grew less like Mordor and more like Anorondor, its new name, Land of Dawn. Anorondor had been the original name, and I could think of no better.
"Marry me." Legolas' voice broke into my thoughts. I turned over so I faced him.
"I'm sorry love. What did you say?" I asked.
"I want you to marry me." He repeated. Inwardly, I sighed. We had had this conversation before.
"Legolas, I have told you. I want to be properly established as queen before I start flying into the teeth of convention."
"How can you be more established as queen?" Legolas protested.
"How about they see how well I can rule, and what I can do for this country? Get on their good lists before I get on their bad lists?" I snapped. "And anyway. We were married from the day you asked me in Rivendell. Why do you need a proper wedding?"
"To prove it to the world." Legolas retorted.
"Why bother?" I asked, "All that matters is that we each believe we are married, which we do. It doesn't matter what others think."
"But-"
"Legolas, please. May we speak of this in the morning?" I pleaded. I seemed to do that more and more often lately.
He said nothing, but turned away from me. I put my arm over his waist and slept.
The next morning, I woke to sun streaming through my window. Legolas was gone, although he usually was when I woke. I got up, enjoying the feeling of being well loved. I wrapped a robe around me and walked towards the door to ask Mara to get a bath ready for me. Then I saw it on the dresser.
The sun glinted off it like it was a pool of liquid gold. I gingerly picked it up, almost like I was afraid it would bit me. The gold and topaz pendant flashed in the sunlight. It hung motionless from my fingers with a tone of dead finality.
He was gone then. For good.
I sank onto the floor, clutching my robe tighter around me, the feeling of being loved had dissolved into the feeling of being bereft of the one thing I had loved more than my world.
I cried.
*&*
Five months later
Legolas and I lay side by side on the big bed in my room, our bodies spooned together and his arm over my bare hip. We had retaken the old tower, Minas Morgul, and Frodo had given me the elf-light from Galadriel once he heard of my Queenship.
"You're going to need it." He had said.
The light had driven evil from the place. I had put it in top tower, and almost instantly its light had blazed out, and darkness fled from Mordor.
With the help of a little weather magic, and much hard work from both myself and the few peoples of Mordor who had emerged from the mountains when they heard of my queenship, Mordor was slowly turning green again. In my room, I carefully nursed a seedling grown from the seed of the Red Tree.
Light was slowly driving the darkness from my country, and everyday Mordor grew less like Mordor and more like Anorondor, its new name, Land of Dawn. Anorondor had been the original name, and I could think of no better.
"Marry me." Legolas' voice broke into my thoughts. I turned over so I faced him.
"I'm sorry love. What did you say?" I asked.
"I want you to marry me." He repeated. Inwardly, I sighed. We had had this conversation before.
"Legolas, I have told you. I want to be properly established as queen before I start flying into the teeth of convention."
"How can you be more established as queen?" Legolas protested.
"How about they see how well I can rule, and what I can do for this country? Get on their good lists before I get on their bad lists?" I snapped. "And anyway. We were married from the day you asked me in Rivendell. Why do you need a proper wedding?"
"To prove it to the world." Legolas retorted.
"Why bother?" I asked, "All that matters is that we each believe we are married, which we do. It doesn't matter what others think."
"But-"
"Legolas, please. May we speak of this in the morning?" I pleaded. I seemed to do that more and more often lately.
He said nothing, but turned away from me. I put my arm over his waist and slept.
The next morning, I woke to sun streaming through my window. Legolas was gone, although he usually was when I woke. I got up, enjoying the feeling of being well loved. I wrapped a robe around me and walked towards the door to ask Mara to get a bath ready for me. Then I saw it on the dresser.
The sun glinted off it like it was a pool of liquid gold. I gingerly picked it up, almost like I was afraid it would bit me. The gold and topaz pendant flashed in the sunlight. It hung motionless from my fingers with a tone of dead finality.
He was gone then. For good.
I sank onto the floor, clutching my robe tighter around me, the feeling of being loved had dissolved into the feeling of being bereft of the one thing I had loved more than my world.
I cried.