-THE GAMES OF THE GODS-
-Disclaimer:-
CS: Right, well, today we have an actually rather under-appreciated Elf to do the disclaimer. I mean hey, just because Peter Jackson made him say his ONE line as slow as possible just so people would actually notice him behind Galadriel doesn't mean he isn't a powerful drool-worthy Elf-lord...
Celeborn: Ah...thanks?
Rachel: And anyways, he likes shiny stuff, so he's cool.
Celeborn: Er...Galadriel won't be reading this, will she?
CS: You kidding? She can't even understand English! I borrowed a dyheli or two from Mercedes Lackey and made sure.
Celeborn: Right then. Crimson Starlight owns no -
The Noble Platypus: *appears and pulls a butterfly net down over Celeborn's head* I caught one! I caught one! My vewy own ewflord!
CS: Er...
Rachel: *yelling* Glorfindel, get over here!
Glorfindel: *appears* what?
The Noble Platypus: *eyes light up and she pulls the net off Celeborn's head to go chasing after Glorfindel*
Glorfindel: Meep! *runs*
The Noble Platypus: *follows*
CS, Rachel and Celeborn: ...
Rachel: Right.
CS: You were saying, Celeborn?
Celeborn: Crimson Starlight owns nothing...
(CS: Sometimes I wonder if my reviewers are funnier than I am...This disclaimer brought to you by The Noble Platypus' last review.)
-67: Revelation-
The next few days were a blur of activity. As far as I knew, everything went according to the books - I really couldn't tell, as even my rudimentary healing skills were in strong demand. Elladan and Elrohir's, along with most of the Rangers, were in even greater demand. More than once during the day I found myself pulling tired Rangers away from injured men and ordering them to get some sleep, and I almost had to knock Elladan out once to get him to go rest. That little occurrence had an excellent side effect, of course, as when the tale of it spread, Rangers were suddenly a lot quicker to obey when I told them to go get some sleep. They gradually realized, anyways, that when I said 'sleep', I didn't mean a full 12-hour night - two or three hours were enough to satisfy.
On the night of the 17th, though, the night before the Host of the West - or so the conglomerated armies of Rohan, Gondor, Dol Amroth, and the Northern rangers was being called - I kicked both Kari and Elrohir out and told them that if I saw them before sunrise, I would Elladan AND Haldir to help me never EVER let them live it down. Kari nodded vigorously at that, and then dragged a confused Elrohir off. As they left, I heard Elrohir innocently inquire as to why that was such a horrible threat, and grinned.
Eventually, however, the flood of wounded men that needed care subsided, and on the 21st, Kari and I found ourselves with nothing to do. It was then, of course, that I realized I had yet to visit Faramir or Merry, or meet Éowyn. Well, we were already at the Houses of Healing, so I shrugged and dragged Kari off to meet Faramir.
"Asira!" Faramir said happily as I entered. I quickly scampered over to his bed, where he was sitting reading, and gave him a hug.
"How are ya?" I asked him.
"The healers inform me I am fine, and that I just need rest." he said calmly. I arched an eyebrow. "I'm bored." he supplied with a shrug. "I am able to get up and walk about, and read books and such things, but they let me do nothing else."
"Well, I brought you a new toy - er, friend." I said with a grin, and then motioned for Kari to come forward. "Faramir, did you happen to meet the Sons of Elrond while they were buzzing around in here?" He nodded.
"I did not get a chance to speak with them, though." he said somewhat mournfully. "I have long wanted to meet one of the Fair Folk."
"Well, meet Lord Elrohir's wife, Lady Alkarisil of Rivendell. My friend, as it happens." I smiled broadly, and Faramir's eyes widened as Kari curtseyed lightly to him, also smiling. Then he scrambled up and made a hasty bow. Kari snorted.
"There is most definitely not any need for that, my lord." she said, and smiled again at Faramir's surprised expression. "And anyways, if the truth be told, you have known one of the Fair Folk all your life." The words were out of Kari's mouth before I could stop her, and all I could do afterwards was whack her as Faramir looked on in confusion.
"I was going to wait until I could explain to EVERYONE." I grumbled, shooting her a glare, and she smiled innocently.
"Asira, your friend is most confusing. As are you at the moment." Faramir said with obvious confusion, breaking the moment.
"Everything in the world is confusing at the moment!" I said, throwing my hands up in the air. "It's what happens when Kings return, Elves make friends with Dwarves, and Dark Lords get a bunch of upstart goodytooshoo's blowing raspberries in their faces. Or eye." Faramir blinked.
"Now you are just babbling." he said.
"Actually, I'm making perfect sense." I said smoothly, and then brightened. "But anyways. I was going to go check up on Merry, and then Kari and I were going to go introduce ourselves to Éowyn. While I visit with Merry, though, feel free to pester Kari with questions!" With a wave, I dashed out of the room. It took me only a brief search to find Merry, and he was quite happy to see me. I spent several minutes visiting with him, and then returned to Kari and Faramir to find them talking animatedly.
"Shall we go meet Éowyn?" I asked Kari.
"Oh, she will be here for awhile yet, will she not?" Kari asked, and I nodded. "Then we can meet her later. I'm having far too much fun here." Faramir, I noticed with a grin, blushed.
"Right then." I said. "May I join in the fun?" Kari and Faramir nodded as one, and so I sat down and added my own commentary to Kari and Faramir's conversation. It seemed to be mostly about the Elven Kingdoms - a rather lengthy topic - and when it started to slide towards Elvish customs - another lengthy topic - I suggested we get a meal and go out to the gardens. Kari and Faramir readily agreed.
"So tell me about Elvish courting." the prompt for Kari from Faramir came after a wonderful lunch out in the gardens, which had been mostly silent, as talking is hungry work. I instantly focused my attention on Kari, as I recalled my intention to ask Kari the same question myself. Before.
"Well, I do not think it is that much different from human courting," Kari said, glancing towards me as if looking for confirmation, but I just shrugged. "But one thing at least, I know is different - there is absolutely no such thing as lovers among Elves. You're either married, single, or courting, only one of which involves sharing a bed with someone of the opposite gender." I stilled immediately at those words, and Kari's amused glance my way added a silent 'unless you are Rachel and Glorfindel'. I wasn't surprised at that statement - I'd thought as much - but something about the way she'd phrased it made a shiver go down my spine, and my stomach started to feel a little squirmy as Faramir spoke up again.
"Is it true, then, that Elves have such control over their emotions that they are able to contain their lust until marriage?" he asked curiously. I absently noticed that Faramir apparently had developed no sense of shame before focusing on Kari's answer with a sort of one-mindedness that would have been scary had I stopped to think about it.
"We have to." Kari said with a small smile. "For, though there is much ceremony surrounding an Elvish wedding, it all comes down to nothing but just ceremony in the end. For Elves, the unbreakable bond of marriage is made when they mate for the first time, as we do not only mate in body, but in spirit. It is the physical act of what you would call consummating a marriage that actually forms it for us."
"How interesting. So - Asira, are you all right?" I barely heard Faramir's question as I stared at Kari with wide eyes. I felt as if I had been punched and was going to throw up. Suddenly, Glorfindel's words and disappearance that night made a horrible, horrifying sense.
"Asira?" Kari was resting an arm on my shoulder, and looking at me worriedly. "Rachel?" I licked my lips and parted them slightly, intending to say something, anything, but nothing came to mind, for all that my mind was a jumble of half-finished thoughts - except for Kari's words, which seemed to have been stamped into my brain, and blazed at me. 'For Elves, the unbreakable bond of marriage is made when they mate for the first time, as we do not only mate in body, but in spirit.' In other words, I had tried to seduce Glorfindel into marrying me that night. No wonder he had left.
"Rachel, what's wrong?" Kari's voice now held an edge of panic, and I focused on her, and the worried face of Faramir behind her, for a moment. I swallowed, and forced myself to say something.
"Bloody hell I'm an idiot." I said hoarsely, then stood and took off out of the gardens and back to my room in the citadel at top speed. I heard Kari and Faramir call out after me, but I ignored them.
I collapsed onto my bed when I reached my room, feeling an ache in my chest. Kari's words ran through my head again, and I curled into a ball and whimpered. No wonder Glorfindel had left. He probably hated me - thought I had tried to use him. The thought made me start to cry, and it didn't take long after that for my mental coherence to fail entirely, and so I just lay on my bed, curled into a ball, and wept.
---
Kari watched anxiously as the Host of the Men of the West approached the gate, glancing over at her companion worriedly. Rachel looked as dim and unresponsive as she had when they had left the Citadel that morning. Kari had to admit, she was beyond worried for her friend at this point - ever since that conversation in the garden with Faramir, Rachel had spoken no more than three words together, and had become grey and depressed. Kari couldn't even find out what was wrong - neither could Faramir, though he'd tried as many times as Kari - and they were both hoping Elrohir or Elladan would be able to. And from there, Kari constantly assured herself, it was only a short step to a solution. After all, half the solution is finding the cause.
But no matter how many times she told herself and Faramir that, Kari could not believe it. Rachel had not even twitched when Kari had informed her of Elrohir's request that the two of them come to Ithilien, instead of waiting in the Minas Tirith for Aragorn to come and be crowned. Kari had wanted to go, but she was not about to leave Rachel in Minas Tirith, and Rachel would not leave her room. The fact that she had agreed to come to the walls today to watch Aragorn's coronation was a miracle in and of itself, the result of a solid month of pleading.
All these worries flashed through Kari's head as she watched the ceremony on the field in front of the city, and she felt herself becoming tenser by the minute, despite the soothing thoughts that her husband sent her way. Finally, the ceremony was over, and Aragorn and his men entered the city. Kari dragged Rachel down to the parade way, feeling as if she was hauling a sack of potatoes behind her, and was able to quickly reach the front, as people recognized her and made way, some of the older ones smiling at her apparent eagerness to reach her husband.
In truth, she was eager and happy to see him again - even 800 years had not dulled the thrill and joy of loving, and being loved by, Elrohir. But at this particular moment, she was more worried about Rachel. And so were Elrohir and Elladan when they spotted her.
Elrohir jumped off his horse when Kari first came to the head of the crowd, a happy, and only somewhat worried, smile on his face as he strode over to her. Then Rachel came into view behind Kari, and he froze. A moment later, Elladan had dismounted as well, and they both stood on either side of Rachel, concern etched on their faces. Rachel looked slowly up at each of them, then seemed to mentally dismiss them and returned to her unresponsive state. Kari looked pleadingly up at Elrohir.
"Let us get her somewhere private, and then speak." he said, sounding troubled, and swept Kari up onto his horse with him, holding her in front of him, Elladan doing the same with Rachel. With an apology to Aragorn, they cantered off ahead of him and into the Citadel. No comment was made then, or ever after, about the breach of protocol - besides the fact that Elrohir and Elladan were Elven Lords and Aragorn's foster brothers, the news of the Lady Asira's strange illness had spread throughout the City.
"What happened to her?" Elrohir asked Kari worriedly once the four had entered Rachel's quarters. Elladan, still carrying Rachel from the ride, set her down, and she strolled over to her bed, where she immediately laid down and closed her eyes, looking for all the world as if she was asleep.
"I do not know!" Kari practically wailed. "I do not even know what is wrong with her! I was hoping you could tell me." Elladan and Elrohir exchanged glances, then Elrohir walked over to Kari and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She looked up at him hopefully, and he winced slightly.
"She is fading." he said softly.
----To be continued...with Glorfindel!----
(And a horse with an attitude!)
-Authors Note:-
My apologies for the cliff hanger, but otherwise this chapter would be monstrously long...and besides, this story has had far too few cliff hangers in it. Still, I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter...though I bet it was a mixture of 'finally!' and 'nooooo!' for most of you. Dun worry, though, I'm not suicidal...Rachel ain't out of it QUITE yet. After all, that would just suck if Glorfindel got to Minas Tirith and found Rachel dead.
Yep, so, I'll see you Sunday evening/Monday with the next chapter!
~Crimson Starlight
-Disclaimer:-
CS: Right, well, today we have an actually rather under-appreciated Elf to do the disclaimer. I mean hey, just because Peter Jackson made him say his ONE line as slow as possible just so people would actually notice him behind Galadriel doesn't mean he isn't a powerful drool-worthy Elf-lord...
Celeborn: Ah...thanks?
Rachel: And anyways, he likes shiny stuff, so he's cool.
Celeborn: Er...Galadriel won't be reading this, will she?
CS: You kidding? She can't even understand English! I borrowed a dyheli or two from Mercedes Lackey and made sure.
Celeborn: Right then. Crimson Starlight owns no -
The Noble Platypus: *appears and pulls a butterfly net down over Celeborn's head* I caught one! I caught one! My vewy own ewflord!
CS: Er...
Rachel: *yelling* Glorfindel, get over here!
Glorfindel: *appears* what?
The Noble Platypus: *eyes light up and she pulls the net off Celeborn's head to go chasing after Glorfindel*
Glorfindel: Meep! *runs*
The Noble Platypus: *follows*
CS, Rachel and Celeborn: ...
Rachel: Right.
CS: You were saying, Celeborn?
Celeborn: Crimson Starlight owns nothing...
(CS: Sometimes I wonder if my reviewers are funnier than I am...This disclaimer brought to you by The Noble Platypus' last review.)
-67: Revelation-
The next few days were a blur of activity. As far as I knew, everything went according to the books - I really couldn't tell, as even my rudimentary healing skills were in strong demand. Elladan and Elrohir's, along with most of the Rangers, were in even greater demand. More than once during the day I found myself pulling tired Rangers away from injured men and ordering them to get some sleep, and I almost had to knock Elladan out once to get him to go rest. That little occurrence had an excellent side effect, of course, as when the tale of it spread, Rangers were suddenly a lot quicker to obey when I told them to go get some sleep. They gradually realized, anyways, that when I said 'sleep', I didn't mean a full 12-hour night - two or three hours were enough to satisfy.
On the night of the 17th, though, the night before the Host of the West - or so the conglomerated armies of Rohan, Gondor, Dol Amroth, and the Northern rangers was being called - I kicked both Kari and Elrohir out and told them that if I saw them before sunrise, I would Elladan AND Haldir to help me never EVER let them live it down. Kari nodded vigorously at that, and then dragged a confused Elrohir off. As they left, I heard Elrohir innocently inquire as to why that was such a horrible threat, and grinned.
Eventually, however, the flood of wounded men that needed care subsided, and on the 21st, Kari and I found ourselves with nothing to do. It was then, of course, that I realized I had yet to visit Faramir or Merry, or meet Éowyn. Well, we were already at the Houses of Healing, so I shrugged and dragged Kari off to meet Faramir.
"Asira!" Faramir said happily as I entered. I quickly scampered over to his bed, where he was sitting reading, and gave him a hug.
"How are ya?" I asked him.
"The healers inform me I am fine, and that I just need rest." he said calmly. I arched an eyebrow. "I'm bored." he supplied with a shrug. "I am able to get up and walk about, and read books and such things, but they let me do nothing else."
"Well, I brought you a new toy - er, friend." I said with a grin, and then motioned for Kari to come forward. "Faramir, did you happen to meet the Sons of Elrond while they were buzzing around in here?" He nodded.
"I did not get a chance to speak with them, though." he said somewhat mournfully. "I have long wanted to meet one of the Fair Folk."
"Well, meet Lord Elrohir's wife, Lady Alkarisil of Rivendell. My friend, as it happens." I smiled broadly, and Faramir's eyes widened as Kari curtseyed lightly to him, also smiling. Then he scrambled up and made a hasty bow. Kari snorted.
"There is most definitely not any need for that, my lord." she said, and smiled again at Faramir's surprised expression. "And anyways, if the truth be told, you have known one of the Fair Folk all your life." The words were out of Kari's mouth before I could stop her, and all I could do afterwards was whack her as Faramir looked on in confusion.
"I was going to wait until I could explain to EVERYONE." I grumbled, shooting her a glare, and she smiled innocently.
"Asira, your friend is most confusing. As are you at the moment." Faramir said with obvious confusion, breaking the moment.
"Everything in the world is confusing at the moment!" I said, throwing my hands up in the air. "It's what happens when Kings return, Elves make friends with Dwarves, and Dark Lords get a bunch of upstart goodytooshoo's blowing raspberries in their faces. Or eye." Faramir blinked.
"Now you are just babbling." he said.
"Actually, I'm making perfect sense." I said smoothly, and then brightened. "But anyways. I was going to go check up on Merry, and then Kari and I were going to go introduce ourselves to Éowyn. While I visit with Merry, though, feel free to pester Kari with questions!" With a wave, I dashed out of the room. It took me only a brief search to find Merry, and he was quite happy to see me. I spent several minutes visiting with him, and then returned to Kari and Faramir to find them talking animatedly.
"Shall we go meet Éowyn?" I asked Kari.
"Oh, she will be here for awhile yet, will she not?" Kari asked, and I nodded. "Then we can meet her later. I'm having far too much fun here." Faramir, I noticed with a grin, blushed.
"Right then." I said. "May I join in the fun?" Kari and Faramir nodded as one, and so I sat down and added my own commentary to Kari and Faramir's conversation. It seemed to be mostly about the Elven Kingdoms - a rather lengthy topic - and when it started to slide towards Elvish customs - another lengthy topic - I suggested we get a meal and go out to the gardens. Kari and Faramir readily agreed.
"So tell me about Elvish courting." the prompt for Kari from Faramir came after a wonderful lunch out in the gardens, which had been mostly silent, as talking is hungry work. I instantly focused my attention on Kari, as I recalled my intention to ask Kari the same question myself. Before.
"Well, I do not think it is that much different from human courting," Kari said, glancing towards me as if looking for confirmation, but I just shrugged. "But one thing at least, I know is different - there is absolutely no such thing as lovers among Elves. You're either married, single, or courting, only one of which involves sharing a bed with someone of the opposite gender." I stilled immediately at those words, and Kari's amused glance my way added a silent 'unless you are Rachel and Glorfindel'. I wasn't surprised at that statement - I'd thought as much - but something about the way she'd phrased it made a shiver go down my spine, and my stomach started to feel a little squirmy as Faramir spoke up again.
"Is it true, then, that Elves have such control over their emotions that they are able to contain their lust until marriage?" he asked curiously. I absently noticed that Faramir apparently had developed no sense of shame before focusing on Kari's answer with a sort of one-mindedness that would have been scary had I stopped to think about it.
"We have to." Kari said with a small smile. "For, though there is much ceremony surrounding an Elvish wedding, it all comes down to nothing but just ceremony in the end. For Elves, the unbreakable bond of marriage is made when they mate for the first time, as we do not only mate in body, but in spirit. It is the physical act of what you would call consummating a marriage that actually forms it for us."
"How interesting. So - Asira, are you all right?" I barely heard Faramir's question as I stared at Kari with wide eyes. I felt as if I had been punched and was going to throw up. Suddenly, Glorfindel's words and disappearance that night made a horrible, horrifying sense.
"Asira?" Kari was resting an arm on my shoulder, and looking at me worriedly. "Rachel?" I licked my lips and parted them slightly, intending to say something, anything, but nothing came to mind, for all that my mind was a jumble of half-finished thoughts - except for Kari's words, which seemed to have been stamped into my brain, and blazed at me. 'For Elves, the unbreakable bond of marriage is made when they mate for the first time, as we do not only mate in body, but in spirit.' In other words, I had tried to seduce Glorfindel into marrying me that night. No wonder he had left.
"Rachel, what's wrong?" Kari's voice now held an edge of panic, and I focused on her, and the worried face of Faramir behind her, for a moment. I swallowed, and forced myself to say something.
"Bloody hell I'm an idiot." I said hoarsely, then stood and took off out of the gardens and back to my room in the citadel at top speed. I heard Kari and Faramir call out after me, but I ignored them.
I collapsed onto my bed when I reached my room, feeling an ache in my chest. Kari's words ran through my head again, and I curled into a ball and whimpered. No wonder Glorfindel had left. He probably hated me - thought I had tried to use him. The thought made me start to cry, and it didn't take long after that for my mental coherence to fail entirely, and so I just lay on my bed, curled into a ball, and wept.
---
Kari watched anxiously as the Host of the Men of the West approached the gate, glancing over at her companion worriedly. Rachel looked as dim and unresponsive as she had when they had left the Citadel that morning. Kari had to admit, she was beyond worried for her friend at this point - ever since that conversation in the garden with Faramir, Rachel had spoken no more than three words together, and had become grey and depressed. Kari couldn't even find out what was wrong - neither could Faramir, though he'd tried as many times as Kari - and they were both hoping Elrohir or Elladan would be able to. And from there, Kari constantly assured herself, it was only a short step to a solution. After all, half the solution is finding the cause.
But no matter how many times she told herself and Faramir that, Kari could not believe it. Rachel had not even twitched when Kari had informed her of Elrohir's request that the two of them come to Ithilien, instead of waiting in the Minas Tirith for Aragorn to come and be crowned. Kari had wanted to go, but she was not about to leave Rachel in Minas Tirith, and Rachel would not leave her room. The fact that she had agreed to come to the walls today to watch Aragorn's coronation was a miracle in and of itself, the result of a solid month of pleading.
All these worries flashed through Kari's head as she watched the ceremony on the field in front of the city, and she felt herself becoming tenser by the minute, despite the soothing thoughts that her husband sent her way. Finally, the ceremony was over, and Aragorn and his men entered the city. Kari dragged Rachel down to the parade way, feeling as if she was hauling a sack of potatoes behind her, and was able to quickly reach the front, as people recognized her and made way, some of the older ones smiling at her apparent eagerness to reach her husband.
In truth, she was eager and happy to see him again - even 800 years had not dulled the thrill and joy of loving, and being loved by, Elrohir. But at this particular moment, she was more worried about Rachel. And so were Elrohir and Elladan when they spotted her.
Elrohir jumped off his horse when Kari first came to the head of the crowd, a happy, and only somewhat worried, smile on his face as he strode over to her. Then Rachel came into view behind Kari, and he froze. A moment later, Elladan had dismounted as well, and they both stood on either side of Rachel, concern etched on their faces. Rachel looked slowly up at each of them, then seemed to mentally dismiss them and returned to her unresponsive state. Kari looked pleadingly up at Elrohir.
"Let us get her somewhere private, and then speak." he said, sounding troubled, and swept Kari up onto his horse with him, holding her in front of him, Elladan doing the same with Rachel. With an apology to Aragorn, they cantered off ahead of him and into the Citadel. No comment was made then, or ever after, about the breach of protocol - besides the fact that Elrohir and Elladan were Elven Lords and Aragorn's foster brothers, the news of the Lady Asira's strange illness had spread throughout the City.
"What happened to her?" Elrohir asked Kari worriedly once the four had entered Rachel's quarters. Elladan, still carrying Rachel from the ride, set her down, and she strolled over to her bed, where she immediately laid down and closed her eyes, looking for all the world as if she was asleep.
"I do not know!" Kari practically wailed. "I do not even know what is wrong with her! I was hoping you could tell me." Elladan and Elrohir exchanged glances, then Elrohir walked over to Kari and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She looked up at him hopefully, and he winced slightly.
"She is fading." he said softly.
----To be continued...with Glorfindel!----
(And a horse with an attitude!)
-Authors Note:-
My apologies for the cliff hanger, but otherwise this chapter would be monstrously long...and besides, this story has had far too few cliff hangers in it. Still, I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter...though I bet it was a mixture of 'finally!' and 'nooooo!' for most of you. Dun worry, though, I'm not suicidal...Rachel ain't out of it QUITE yet. After all, that would just suck if Glorfindel got to Minas Tirith and found Rachel dead.
Yep, so, I'll see you Sunday evening/Monday with the next chapter!
~Crimson Starlight