Estel and Aragorn are used interchangeably.
Chapter 37
The Lair
When Anayah finally woke the next morning, everyone was already sitting at the table eating breakfast. When she walked into the room, they looked up at her and smiled ignoring the growl that was given in return. Elurin was not in the least surprised or put off by her actions as he put a hot cup of tea in her hand as she walked by and wisely, remained silent. Those who lived and stayed for any length of time in the Last Homely House had all learned, first hand, that she was not a morning elf and that if one wanted to keep one's head intact, it was wise not to speak to her until after she had consumed her first cup of tea and was fully awake and able to listen.
Her initial dislike of the waking world, and daylight in general, did not keep her from making her rounds of the table, kissing each elf and man and whoever else happened to be there, lightly on the top of his head. Even Eomer received the morning greeting and though he took the example of his fellow diners and did not greet her in return, his eyes sparkled and danced just as merrily as did the others. Even Elurin received a good morning greeting from the scowling she-elf. In return, he patted her cheek and winked. The wink he received in return made him smile.
From the first morning after she had arrived in Imladris, it had been her habit to sit on the kitchen's balcony and drink her tea, letting the warmth of the sun's rays wake her up. Nobody paid much attention to her when she paused in the doorway but after some time had passed and she still had not moved it became apparent that something was amiss. Elrohir, sitting at his father's side, touched his Ada's arm and when Elrond looked at him, nodded toward where his sister was standing.
The sound of a cup rattling in its saucer could be heard and each of those sitting at the table, except for Eomer who was unaware of what was going on, instinctively looked down at their own cup. Each cup and saucer was perfectly still and the elves and men sitting at the table began to exchange puzzled looks.
"Anayah?" Lord Elrond called softly to his foster-daughter. When she did not respond right away, he spoke again, a little louder. "Daughter, are you well?"
With a great effort that felt more like trying to turn around in a pool of waist-deep mud than turning around in the doorway of one's home, Anayah finally managed to face those sitting at the table. Every elf froze and Eomer, though as shocked as the others, wisely remained silent as he was quickly getting used to the fact that the unusual was the norm for the Last Homely House. Her eyes had turned from their normal beautiful sea-green color to an almost muddy dark gray-green color and the cup was rattling so hard in the saucer she held with trembling hands that everyone thought it was going to rattle right onto the floor.
Aragorn, who was sitting the closest to his sister, took the cup, but when he tried to take the saucer found that he could not remove it from her hand. Elrond was immediately on his feet and moving toward her. He asked Elladan to run to her room and get the medicine that Gandalf had made for her then directed Elrohir to get one of the large overstuffed chairs from his study and bring it into the kitchen. When Eomer asked if there was anything he could do, Lord Elrond asked him to move the kitchen table and chairs back out of the way. Elurin made sure that all sharp pointed objects were safely stored inside drawers. When Legolas shot him a questioning look, the elven butler only shrugged his shoulders and smiled ruefully.
It took Lord Elrond some few moments and no small amount of persuasion to get his foster-daughter to sit down in the chair. The men and elves watched her closely but after half an hour had gone by and there had still been no change, they all started to become concerned.
"Ada. She has never had a vision that lasted this long. I fear there may be something wrong!"
"As do I, Estel. If she doesn't remove herself from the vision in a few more minutes, I will try to bring her out of it myself."
There was a loud bang from the front of the house as the doors flew open with such force that the walls around them shook from the impact. Both twins ran to see who had entered their home in such a rude manner but when they returned a few moments later they were accompanied by a rather worried looking Gandalf. The grey wizard told them he had felt a surge of energy coming from Imladris while he was still at the Bruinen and knew that his skills would be needed.
"Is this not a vision, Gandalf? Are you trying to tell us that she is being attacked?" Elrond was starting to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"No, my friend, it is not a vision, but neither is this an attack. She is sharing a link with someone or something, and a very dangerous link it is."
"Lord Elrond?" Eomer, who was the one standing the closest to Anayah called the elf lord to get his attention. Elrond turned to look at his foster-daughter.
"Oh sweet Eru."
He ran to where she sat in the chair by the balcony grabbing a clean towel that Elurin had perceptively picked up and handed the elf as he walked quickly by where the elven butler was standing. Though there was blood coming from Anayah's nose and ears, she sat, still as stone, locked in the link with someone or something far away. Gandalf knelt before her in the chair and took the rigid young she-elf's face in his hands and turned her face toward him.
"Anayah. Listen to me. I know you can hear me. You have got to break the link because you are hurting yourself. If you do not break the link, you could die. Do you hear me? Anayah, break the link! Listen to me and break the link now!"
Kneeling in front of his daughter, Elrond was trying to clean the blood from her face and neck but the more he wiped away, the more blood took its place.
Gandalf tried one more time. "Anayah, I know you can do this so I want you to listen to me. Break the link now!"
Both Gandalf and Lord Elrond sucked in their breaths and held them as they saw the young elf blink. It was when she blinked again and turned eyes toward them and really saw them that they released those breaths in a sigh. Their relief, as well as the relief of others in the room was short lived as the glassy, dazed look in Anayah's eyes was replaced by the purest form of terror any of them had witnessed in their long lives. She tried to rise from the chair she was sitting in but the strong hands of both the grey wizard and her Ada held her down. When she found blood on her hands then also found it coming from her nose and ears, it was almost too much for her to take and she began to tremble.
Elurin gave a new cup of tea that he had made to Elladan who then handed it to his father. Lord Elrond wafted the cup under his nose for a moment and nodded, satisfied that the herb it contained was one that he would have chosen. He persuaded his foster-daughter to drink the tea, telling her that it would not put her to sleep but would only serve to calm her.
While she was trying to calm herself down, Lord Elrond took her pulse. Her heart was racing much too fast and he was becoming concerned that it would overdo itself and stop completely for it had still not fully recovered from the hypothermic episode it had suffered not that long before. He was just about ready to have Elladan prepare another tea to put her to sleep when his youngest son walked passed him, placing a calming hand on his Ada's shoulder.
Aragorn knelt at her side with a blanket which he wrapped around her. Then he knelt in front of her and, looking directly into her eyes, spoke to her.
"You are not alone in this baby sister. You've got four big brothers now who are more than willing to slay any demon that even looks at you wrong. Not to mention there's Ada and Gandalf and, I think, there is even a Balrog slayer around here somewhere who would be more than willing to offer his sword to your service. So," he said as he took her trembling hands in his and held them tightly, "You do not have to worry, or be AS worried, anyway. We are here for you just like you have been here for each of us."
The tension was beginning to leave her shoulders and she visibly relaxed. She sat back in the chair and sighed, and when Elrond next looked into her eyes he noticed they were well on their way to returning to their normal color.
Holding her brother's hand tightly she raised frightened eyes to her Ada and Gandalf. She had to speak twice before the words, any words, would come out of her mouth.
"I need to talk to you and Gandalf alone and now!"
As Anayah stood her knees buckled but Lord Elrond caught her, picked her up and carried her to her room followed closely by Gandalf. During times of great personal stress, the young elf would retreat to her large bedroom, feeling safer there, among her own things than she did anywhere else in the house. While everyone else waited in the Hall of Fire, wizard as well as father, listened to what she had to say.
About an hour later, when the three appeared in the Hall of Fire, Lord Elrond beckoned his sons, and the Mirkwood prince over to where they had sat Anayah, who had curled herself into a blanket-covered ball with eyes, on a cushioned bench. The younger elves as well as Aragorn were shocked when they looked at the Noldor Lord and his wizard friend. Both appeared pale and both had a haunted look in their eyes.
"What I have to say must not, indeed, it cannot be told to anyone outside of this family. Do I make myself perfectly clear?" When they nodded their heads, Elrond continued.
"Your sister's mental link was with her falcon, Shakir. Gandalf has asked Gwaihir to go bring the bird home as he is almost as shaken as Anayah. It appears that Shakir found the Wraith's lair." Lord Elrond took a few moments to collect himself as did the others.
"When Shakir found the lair, he knew the wraiths were in the midst of some sort of council meeting and relayed this information to Anayah. This information included not only the location of the lair, but their entire meeting. Knowing it was extremely vital that we find out everything we could about the wraith's location and intentions she held the link as long as possible. The task of maintaining the link was made more difficult because the wraiths spoke using Black Speech. The whole experience was extremely painful."
"What did she hear, Ada?" Elladan asked the question the others were wanting to know.
Elrond had to collect himself before he spoke. After Gandalf placed a supportive hand on the elf Lord's shoulder, he took a deep breath then spoke.
"Sauron is after the three elven rings."
He paused for a few moments to allow the information he had just given them to sink in. All color drained from the four faces in front of him as he continued.
"If we do not find a way to stop Sauron from doing this, Middle Earth will be doomed before Aragorn even gets the chance to take the throne of Gondor."
"Vilya will be the first ring they come after. After they take Vilya, they will use it to take Nenya then will use those two to take Narya. How Sauron found out who had the rings, I do not know, but I do know this, war is coming, and sooner than we thought. There is much work for us to do, and little time to do it in."
TBC
Chapter 37
The Lair
When Anayah finally woke the next morning, everyone was already sitting at the table eating breakfast. When she walked into the room, they looked up at her and smiled ignoring the growl that was given in return. Elurin was not in the least surprised or put off by her actions as he put a hot cup of tea in her hand as she walked by and wisely, remained silent. Those who lived and stayed for any length of time in the Last Homely House had all learned, first hand, that she was not a morning elf and that if one wanted to keep one's head intact, it was wise not to speak to her until after she had consumed her first cup of tea and was fully awake and able to listen.
Her initial dislike of the waking world, and daylight in general, did not keep her from making her rounds of the table, kissing each elf and man and whoever else happened to be there, lightly on the top of his head. Even Eomer received the morning greeting and though he took the example of his fellow diners and did not greet her in return, his eyes sparkled and danced just as merrily as did the others. Even Elurin received a good morning greeting from the scowling she-elf. In return, he patted her cheek and winked. The wink he received in return made him smile.
From the first morning after she had arrived in Imladris, it had been her habit to sit on the kitchen's balcony and drink her tea, letting the warmth of the sun's rays wake her up. Nobody paid much attention to her when she paused in the doorway but after some time had passed and she still had not moved it became apparent that something was amiss. Elrohir, sitting at his father's side, touched his Ada's arm and when Elrond looked at him, nodded toward where his sister was standing.
The sound of a cup rattling in its saucer could be heard and each of those sitting at the table, except for Eomer who was unaware of what was going on, instinctively looked down at their own cup. Each cup and saucer was perfectly still and the elves and men sitting at the table began to exchange puzzled looks.
"Anayah?" Lord Elrond called softly to his foster-daughter. When she did not respond right away, he spoke again, a little louder. "Daughter, are you well?"
With a great effort that felt more like trying to turn around in a pool of waist-deep mud than turning around in the doorway of one's home, Anayah finally managed to face those sitting at the table. Every elf froze and Eomer, though as shocked as the others, wisely remained silent as he was quickly getting used to the fact that the unusual was the norm for the Last Homely House. Her eyes had turned from their normal beautiful sea-green color to an almost muddy dark gray-green color and the cup was rattling so hard in the saucer she held with trembling hands that everyone thought it was going to rattle right onto the floor.
Aragorn, who was sitting the closest to his sister, took the cup, but when he tried to take the saucer found that he could not remove it from her hand. Elrond was immediately on his feet and moving toward her. He asked Elladan to run to her room and get the medicine that Gandalf had made for her then directed Elrohir to get one of the large overstuffed chairs from his study and bring it into the kitchen. When Eomer asked if there was anything he could do, Lord Elrond asked him to move the kitchen table and chairs back out of the way. Elurin made sure that all sharp pointed objects were safely stored inside drawers. When Legolas shot him a questioning look, the elven butler only shrugged his shoulders and smiled ruefully.
It took Lord Elrond some few moments and no small amount of persuasion to get his foster-daughter to sit down in the chair. The men and elves watched her closely but after half an hour had gone by and there had still been no change, they all started to become concerned.
"Ada. She has never had a vision that lasted this long. I fear there may be something wrong!"
"As do I, Estel. If she doesn't remove herself from the vision in a few more minutes, I will try to bring her out of it myself."
There was a loud bang from the front of the house as the doors flew open with such force that the walls around them shook from the impact. Both twins ran to see who had entered their home in such a rude manner but when they returned a few moments later they were accompanied by a rather worried looking Gandalf. The grey wizard told them he had felt a surge of energy coming from Imladris while he was still at the Bruinen and knew that his skills would be needed.
"Is this not a vision, Gandalf? Are you trying to tell us that she is being attacked?" Elrond was starting to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"No, my friend, it is not a vision, but neither is this an attack. She is sharing a link with someone or something, and a very dangerous link it is."
"Lord Elrond?" Eomer, who was the one standing the closest to Anayah called the elf lord to get his attention. Elrond turned to look at his foster-daughter.
"Oh sweet Eru."
He ran to where she sat in the chair by the balcony grabbing a clean towel that Elurin had perceptively picked up and handed the elf as he walked quickly by where the elven butler was standing. Though there was blood coming from Anayah's nose and ears, she sat, still as stone, locked in the link with someone or something far away. Gandalf knelt before her in the chair and took the rigid young she-elf's face in his hands and turned her face toward him.
"Anayah. Listen to me. I know you can hear me. You have got to break the link because you are hurting yourself. If you do not break the link, you could die. Do you hear me? Anayah, break the link! Listen to me and break the link now!"
Kneeling in front of his daughter, Elrond was trying to clean the blood from her face and neck but the more he wiped away, the more blood took its place.
Gandalf tried one more time. "Anayah, I know you can do this so I want you to listen to me. Break the link now!"
Both Gandalf and Lord Elrond sucked in their breaths and held them as they saw the young elf blink. It was when she blinked again and turned eyes toward them and really saw them that they released those breaths in a sigh. Their relief, as well as the relief of others in the room was short lived as the glassy, dazed look in Anayah's eyes was replaced by the purest form of terror any of them had witnessed in their long lives. She tried to rise from the chair she was sitting in but the strong hands of both the grey wizard and her Ada held her down. When she found blood on her hands then also found it coming from her nose and ears, it was almost too much for her to take and she began to tremble.
Elurin gave a new cup of tea that he had made to Elladan who then handed it to his father. Lord Elrond wafted the cup under his nose for a moment and nodded, satisfied that the herb it contained was one that he would have chosen. He persuaded his foster-daughter to drink the tea, telling her that it would not put her to sleep but would only serve to calm her.
While she was trying to calm herself down, Lord Elrond took her pulse. Her heart was racing much too fast and he was becoming concerned that it would overdo itself and stop completely for it had still not fully recovered from the hypothermic episode it had suffered not that long before. He was just about ready to have Elladan prepare another tea to put her to sleep when his youngest son walked passed him, placing a calming hand on his Ada's shoulder.
Aragorn knelt at her side with a blanket which he wrapped around her. Then he knelt in front of her and, looking directly into her eyes, spoke to her.
"You are not alone in this baby sister. You've got four big brothers now who are more than willing to slay any demon that even looks at you wrong. Not to mention there's Ada and Gandalf and, I think, there is even a Balrog slayer around here somewhere who would be more than willing to offer his sword to your service. So," he said as he took her trembling hands in his and held them tightly, "You do not have to worry, or be AS worried, anyway. We are here for you just like you have been here for each of us."
The tension was beginning to leave her shoulders and she visibly relaxed. She sat back in the chair and sighed, and when Elrond next looked into her eyes he noticed they were well on their way to returning to their normal color.
Holding her brother's hand tightly she raised frightened eyes to her Ada and Gandalf. She had to speak twice before the words, any words, would come out of her mouth.
"I need to talk to you and Gandalf alone and now!"
As Anayah stood her knees buckled but Lord Elrond caught her, picked her up and carried her to her room followed closely by Gandalf. During times of great personal stress, the young elf would retreat to her large bedroom, feeling safer there, among her own things than she did anywhere else in the house. While everyone else waited in the Hall of Fire, wizard as well as father, listened to what she had to say.
About an hour later, when the three appeared in the Hall of Fire, Lord Elrond beckoned his sons, and the Mirkwood prince over to where they had sat Anayah, who had curled herself into a blanket-covered ball with eyes, on a cushioned bench. The younger elves as well as Aragorn were shocked when they looked at the Noldor Lord and his wizard friend. Both appeared pale and both had a haunted look in their eyes.
"What I have to say must not, indeed, it cannot be told to anyone outside of this family. Do I make myself perfectly clear?" When they nodded their heads, Elrond continued.
"Your sister's mental link was with her falcon, Shakir. Gandalf has asked Gwaihir to go bring the bird home as he is almost as shaken as Anayah. It appears that Shakir found the Wraith's lair." Lord Elrond took a few moments to collect himself as did the others.
"When Shakir found the lair, he knew the wraiths were in the midst of some sort of council meeting and relayed this information to Anayah. This information included not only the location of the lair, but their entire meeting. Knowing it was extremely vital that we find out everything we could about the wraith's location and intentions she held the link as long as possible. The task of maintaining the link was made more difficult because the wraiths spoke using Black Speech. The whole experience was extremely painful."
"What did she hear, Ada?" Elladan asked the question the others were wanting to know.
Elrond had to collect himself before he spoke. After Gandalf placed a supportive hand on the elf Lord's shoulder, he took a deep breath then spoke.
"Sauron is after the three elven rings."
He paused for a few moments to allow the information he had just given them to sink in. All color drained from the four faces in front of him as he continued.
"If we do not find a way to stop Sauron from doing this, Middle Earth will be doomed before Aragorn even gets the chance to take the throne of Gondor."
"Vilya will be the first ring they come after. After they take Vilya, they will use it to take Nenya then will use those two to take Narya. How Sauron found out who had the rings, I do not know, but I do know this, war is coming, and sooner than we thought. There is much work for us to do, and little time to do it in."
TBC