Disclaimer: chapter one, part one. Sit and Think Belongs to J.R.R Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings.
Chapter twenty-four: The Heroes from the Shire.
The fire sputtered and cackled in the night as they rested their weary bodies around the campfire. Sam flinched as one of the knights washed his wound and cast a glance in Frodo's direction to see if he was all right. He was slowly drinking from a bottle of water and then poured some of the water into his palm and tried to wash away the blood and dirt from his hands.
Legolas was studying the wounds on Feavair's legs and he flinched as he saw the long claw marks reaching her knees. Her foot was red and swollen and he reckoned some bones needed to be, healed. Her once, crimson white dress had turned pink from all the blood, but his heart lightened when he realized that most of the blood was from goblins. He gently touched her forehead and still felt a slight linger of fever. Then he draped a blanked over her sleeping form, and sat next to her by the fire.
"What were the elves doing in Mordor?" the knight asked, he was still very puzzled over what had happened and was not really sure what was going on.
"They… uhm…lady Feavair was with Frodo and Sam to Mount Doom to destroy the ring, Legolas followed her and they were both lost when the mountain collapsed" Pippin explained for the third time.
"The mountain collapsed three months ago" the knight cried startled. "How have they managed to survive in all those days?"
Nobody answered.
As dawn broke, the riders broke camp and started for their journey back to Minas Tirith. It was a slow and steady march since neither Pippin nor Merry seemed reluctant to let the injured pony bee put out of its misery, and either Frodo or Sam wanted to leave the two
other hobbits.
"Then I shall have to send my men ahead, and tell them that you have been recovered" one of
the knights said, and so fifteen of the knights rode away swiftly towards the White City,
while the rest of the group embarked slowly.
Feavair had awoken early, feeling much stronger. For the first time in weeks, she breathed
in fresh air, and the sky above her was calm and clean. As she mounted a white mare, she
took one last look at the Shadowy Mountains, and hoped that she would never ever have to
cross them again.
They had not travelled many hours before the city rose before them. The Tower seemed to glimmer in the sun, and they could see silver banners trail the city wall.
Laivindur had once told her that the fortress had once been called Minas Anor, Tower of the
Setting Sun, and it was build to protect against wild men of the dales and the White
Mountain. Throughtout the ages the fortress had changed its purpose from being a simple
guards city, to King's Summer residence to king's house to capital city. After
the fall of Minas Ithil, 2002 in the Third Age, Minas Anor became Minas Tirith, Tower of
Guards.
She had never seen the city her self, and she stopped for a moment in awe at the ancient
city that rose before it. The Castle and the White Tower of Ecthelion were placed on top of
the Hill of Guard, an almost circular ellipse. Only two features broke the symmetry; the
narrow shoulder of the mountain mass, which connected the Hill to the mountain and a towering base of stones, its sharp edge pointing south, towards Mordor. From the and to the Main Gates the hill measured a little over 700 feet.
"What are you thinking?" she heard Legolas murmured in her hair. He had insisted that she was not fit to ride alone, although most of her fever was gone and she was feeling much stronger. But the guilt was still gnawing at her heart.
"How to tell Faramir, that because of me, his brother is dead" she muttered. She heard him
take a deep breath, and when he exhaled, his breath tickled her neck.
"Can you not tell him, that because of him, you live?" Legolas asked.
"Y...You think he will understand?" she stuttered.
"If not, I will make him understand," he stated simply. She turned her head, briefly, to look
at him, and saw the small twinkles of mischievous glint in his eyes. She chuckled slightly.
It was the first time he heard her laugh, and to him the sound sounded like rain did to dry
land.
"Do not worry" Legolas said, his voice serious now "You are a true hero"
"Me, but I did nothing" she stuttered again and swallowed deeply.
"You helped the hobbits, they would never have managed this without you. You saved Boromir's life. You walked all the way to Mordor to...." he trailed off, not really comftable thinking about it.
" But in the end I did nothing, and I believe the little ones would have done just as great without me, seeing as they rescued me from the tower and everything" she said and looked down in the ground.
"You carried the heaviest burden of all, you carried the darkness with you all your life,
and all the way to the Dark Lands. Just those few moments Boromir had it, he struggled, how
did you manage...." he trailed off, waiting for an answer but he never got one.
They were approaching the gates now, and suddenly silver trumpets bellowed. They heard the
sound of heavy chains lifting the Great Gates up, and the guards on the City Wall, watched
with curiosity the newcomers. They had known that the hobbits and riders had left the city,
but they thought all the elves arrived yesterday. However, these elves did not look like they
were dressed for a royal wedding.
"The King are awaiting the Heroes from Shire, with Gandalf" One of the Guards
informed Frodo as they rode through the city gates. Frodo just nodded and turned to his
friends.
" I hope Gandalf is not to mad" Pippin shuddered "I do not think I can take his anger one more time"
"Of course not, we rescued Feavair and Legolas" Sam said reassuring.
"And almost got our self killed in the process" Merry added as they rode past the Old Guesthouse. "It was not our fault goblins dwelled in that wretched cave, and imagine what would have happened had we not arrived, they would have been ripped to pieces" Frodo said and Sam nodded.
When they reached the stables, the captain of the guards told Legolas that if they
went to the Houses of Healing, their wounds would be tended to. The elf prince nodded,
grabbed Feavair's hand and led them down towards the house.
"I do not think they know who we are," Legolas said thoughtfully as they walked slowly down
towards the large c-shaped building.
"Neither do I...I...I would wish to keep it that way...for a while" Feavair said, limping slightly as they walked up the stairs.
"What do you mean?" Legolas asked confused.
"I...I just think I can't face everybody.....not until I am sure..." she trailed off.
"Sure of what?"
"Sure of what happened"
Frodo was sure he had to face the wrath of Gandalf the White, and the wizard had more then one word to tell the hobbit for causing them concern. Sam stood by his side all the time while the wizard continued his tantrum, Aragorn, sat on his throne, watching the whole
scene play in front of him. Gandalf was pacing while muttering things like; ignorance, imprudent and folly.
Nevertheless, Frodo just smiled, and never tried to argue or explain him self. At last, Gandalf could not ignore the grin either, and he said grumpily.
"Why are you smiling?"
"Because we found them!"
"Found who?"
She sat in the windowsill, her knees drawn up under her chin and her arms wrapped around staring at the star lit sky. Her hair flowed freely, like silk, down her forearms and the light from the moon made her hair glow.
"We were trapped in the darkness, waiting for death. Your mother bought her freedom with you and with the prize of the world"
Her mother's sin had been justified when she believed that what she had done, she had done out of love for her own child and out of fear for the people she cherished. But, she had done it out of greed. She had been nothing more then an object for her mother. She was a thing that was supposed to protect the Dark Lord's spirit so that he could live forever.
"Spirit Weavers can not bare children. Our powers descends upon the child, and as it does, we die"
"The Dark Lord fooled you mother. She believed that she would carry his child, live, and then rule the shadows"
Her mother had believed that if she granted the Dark Lord a child that would protect him, she would join in his reign of terror. She was deceived, her powers descended on her daughter and she died.
Feavair closed her eyes and she was brought back to the Tower. She could not yet understand how he could have had the strength to find her. But he had, the orcs had seen her, grabbed her and dragged her to the tower.
His spirit appeared before her, as he did in her dreams. He had whispered to her on the Black Speech words so harsh they could only have been the truth.
All that she had believed in were lies. The ones she thought cared about her had wanted nothing more then to use her for their own selfish reasons.
She sighed deeply and gazed on the skies again. The sky turned brighter and the clouds were colored in blood as a new day broke.
Lord Laivindur should not be praised as protector of her life; her mother was not another innocent pawn in the Dark Lord's games. Today she would tell them truth, they had to know who's fault everything was. That it was her fault.
I sit beside the fire and think
Of people long ago
And people who will see a world
That I shall never know.
The door opened and she heard the sound of his gentle, almost noiseless, footsteps. He stopped in the doorway before he walked over towards her.
"They are waiting for you"
The early hours of the morning had passed and sun was climbing on the sky. She turned towards him and said.
"I am coming" but she did not move and she turned her eyes towards the skies again.
"Are you sure you need to do this?" he asked and she nodded.
"If they had known before, then perhaps……." she whispered.
"Why can I not come?"
She turned toward him again and said.
"To them I am the last Spirit Weaver. I do not want to be the Spirit Weaver anymore. With you, I forgot who I was, only my name reminded me of the past. Please, let me just be Feavair"
"You will always be Feavair" he assured you.
"If you had known what I was, would you have let me go?" she asked.
He swallowed and his body tensed he clenched his fists and did not answer. He had already told her what he would have done. He had already done it; he did not let her go.
She swung her feet down from the windowsill and slid down on the floor.
"I need to clear things and put it behind me, before we go home." She whispered, and then she brushed past him and walked out of the room.
Thank you for reading, and thanks for your review.