It was night. The three hunters and Mithrandir would reach the Golden Hall of Meduseld the next day. From their encounter with Eomer and his riders they knew that something was wrong with King Theoden, so what was going to happen tomorrow was anyone's guess. Right now all they could do was try to relax at their makeshift campsite. Mithrandir and Aragorn sat together smoking their pipes while Legolas sat staring at the stars.
Gimli flopped on his back next to the elf. "By Aule, laddie," he said. "Don't you sleep?"
"Not really," answered Legolas. "We elves require little sleep. Even when we do rest, it's not what you would call 'sleep.'"
"Hrrumph," grunted Gimli. "I feel sorry for you then. There's almost nothing as satisfying then a good, deep sleep when you really need it."
"Is that why you snore?" asked Legolas curiously. "Because you're satisfied?"
"I don't snore!"
Sitting a few feet away with his back to the pair, Mithrandir chuckled. "There seems to have been a change in that relationship," he commented.
"It happened in Lothlorien," Aragorn told him, allowing himself a few seconds to get lost in thought and memory. "A lot of things happened after you fell."
"Oh?" asked Mithrandir. "Things in your relationship with Legolas, perhaps? Come now, tell a wise and noisy wizard all about it."
"Legolas and I - our relationship - it's different," said Aragorn. Mithrandir raised his eyebrows, silently urging him to continue. "It's not a bad change. I still love him with all that I am, and he loves me." He sighed. "I don't think I know the right words to describe it."
"Well, what exactly has changed?" questioned the wizard.
"Little things," answered Aragorn slowly. "He still knows my thoughts and my actions; but he's more likely to help me rather than playfully tease when I'm flustered. And, on that day at Amon Hen, I saw him fighting the uruks and I was proud of him. I've never been proud of Legolas. I've never -"
"Felt worthy enough to think you had the right to be proud of him?" supplied Mithrandir. Aragorn nodded. "Congratulations."
"What do you mean?"
"You two have gone beyond the thrill of young love," explained Mithrandir. "Before, even as a man, you still saw Legolas through that ten-year-old boy's eyes: as someone you didn't deserve but got anyway. You two loved each other, but circumstances kept that love from deepening for a long time. When you were finally able to spend some time together, such a love must either wither or deepen. You're now looking beyond the childhood fantasies to see Legolas as he really is. The relationship is now one between partners, equals, and that is the key to any long-lasting love."
"It feels good," admitted Aragorn. "It feels right. I just hate to lose all the emotions that go along with young love."
"You won't lose all of them," said Mithrandir, his eyes twinkling with mirth. "After all, what would you and Legolas be doing if Gimli and I decided to take a long walk right now?" He laughed at the grin that covered Aragorn's face. "See? I don't think you need to worry about it."
"Are you and Gimli planning on taking a long walk?" asked Aragorn hopefully.
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The reek of despair clung to Rohan. Upon arriving in Edoras, they found a king aged and wizened before his time, a frustrated and cold young woman trapped by the circumstances, and a greasy, conniving worm of a man in the middle of it all. Though Mithrandir freed King Theoden from Saruman's spells and Wormtongue's poisonous whispers - an act that brought much joy to Eowyn - not all could be mended. The king's son was dead and nothing could be done to change that.
Now, after the funeral of Theodred, Theoden lingered by the burial mound. Mithrandir stayed close by and Legolas stood next to the wizard. He couldn't tear himself away. This was the first time he'd attended the formal funeral rites for a Man and the grief in the air almost choked him. Though he was silently berating himself for his newfound morbid obsession, Legolas' recent encounters with death and the threat of it left him with an almost irrational need to learn more about the emotion of grief.
"Alas that these evil days are mine," said Theoden. "Why do the young perish and the old linger? Why cannot it be me buried in that mound instead of my son?"
"Theodred's death was not of your making," comforted Mithrandir.
Theoden looked hard at Legolas. "Do you have words of wisdom or comfort for me?" he asked with desperation and a little hostility. "Is that why you linger?"
"I don't have any words that would be helpful to you right now," admitted Legolas. "If I could say anything that would comfort you I would in a heartbeat."
The king's expression softened into kindness and sadness. "There are no words," he told the elf. "Nothing can take away the pain of burying someone you love. No parent should have to bury their child." Those words seemed to break what strength was left of Theoden's spirit and he fell to his knees sobbing.
Mithrandir spoke some words, but Legolas didn't hear them. He was suddenly struck with a waking dream of his greatest fear. He saw himself dressed in black, walking through a hall of death. As he passed by the tombs, he could see the names of the hobbits and Gimli engraved on plaques. Even his elven footfalls seemed to echo in that cold stone place as he walked towards a stone coffin; out of its lid came a statue that bore an image of Aragorn lying down...
The sound of Mithrandir's cry brought him back to reality. He turned to see a little boy and girl sitting on a brown horse. The little boy looked at them for a moment before falling off in a dead faint. Legolas broke out into a run towards them.
The little girl cried out: "Eothain!" Legolas pulled her off the horse and she dropped to the boy's side. "Eothain, it's me Freda!"
"What happened?" asked Legolas urgently.
Freda looked up and gaped at him. "Are you an elf?" she asked in wonder.
"Yes," he answered. "But more importantly, I'm a guest of your king. You need to tell me what happened."
Freda's face crumpled. "The wild men," she sobbed. Legolas reached out and held her as she cried. "They burned our village to the ground."
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Eowyn sat rigid at a table in Meduseld, the devastation in her eyes belying her expressionless face. She'd cried at Theodred's funeral, but was determined not to break down again. Rohan didn't need her sobbing; she now had not only her duties to attend to, but also those of her cousin and her exiled brother.
Aragorn approached her. "Your song was beautiful," he said gently. "I know it was a comfort to your people in such a sad time."
"I wish I could be more than a comfort to my people," replied Eowyn stiffly. "We are in need of warriors, not troubadours."
The White Lady of Rohan reminded Aragorn a bit of Legolas when they'd been reunited in Mirkwood when he was 21: full of frustrations that were contained only by a sense of duty. "Am I correct in guessing that you would like to be one of these warriors?" he asked.
She whipped her head around and looked at him sharply. "Do you think I couldn't be?" she demanded defensively. "I'll have you know that the women of this land learned long ago that those without swords can still die upon them. I fear neither death nor pain."
"What do you fear, my lady?"
"A cage," she said as her voice faltered. "To stay behind bars until use and old age accepts them and all chance of valor has gone beyond recall or desire."
Yes she was a lot like Legolas was back then, trapped by the fear that all he'd ever be seen as the Sun Star sitting on a stool. "You are a daughter of kings," Aragorn told her firmly. "A shieldmaiden of Rohan. I do not think that will be your destiny."
The emotion in Eowyn's eyes was decidedly different from sadness when she looked at Aragorn again. He grew very uncomfortable. 'Uh, oh,' he thought. 'I hope she doesn't think that-'
"Make way!" shouted a voice from outside. The king rushed into the room, ordering for two bowls of stew to be prepared and brought immediately. Mithrandir came in next, supporting a filthy and weary-looking boy and Legolas followed with a similar-looking girl in his arms. They set the children down at one of the larger tables while Theoden's orders were hastily obeyed.
Eowyn gazed at Aragorn for a moment longer before going over to the children. Legolas passed by her as he made his way over to the ranger. "Is there anything you want to tell me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at his lover.
Aragorn's face flushed. "I just told her that I didn't think she'd be trapped in a life she didn't want," he protested. "Now she's looking at me -"
"The same way we look at each other," Legolas concluded for him.
"Are you upset?"
"I trust you," assured Legolas. "Is that trust unfounded?"
"Only a fool would leave you," smiled Aragorn, looking him straight in the eye and taking one of his hands. "And I am no fool."
"...And now the wild men are moving through the Westfold, burning as they go, rick, cot, and tree," Eowyn was saying.
Theoden held his head in his hands. "This is but a taste of what Saruman is planning," Mithrandir told him. "You must ride out and meet him head-on."
"I will not risk open war and the deaths of more of my people," protested Theoden.
Aragorn sympathized with his plight, but couldn't hold his tongue any longer. How could the recent outbreak of sudden attacks and the constant threat of more be called anything but open war? "Open war is upon you whether you would risk it or not," he declared.
Theoden gave him a contemptible look. "Last I checked," he condescended, "Theoden, not Aragorn, was king of Rohan." Aragorn had much more to say, but wisely ceded to the king for now.
"Then what does the king command?" asked Mithrandir.
Theoden looked torn. "Helm's Deep," he finally said. "Hama, send out word that all people must prepare to go to Helm's Deep."
"If that is your will," said Mithrandir as Hama hurried out, "then my companions and I must prepare as well." Gesturing for Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli to follow, he left the room.
Once all four were outside of Meduseld, Gimli exploded. "Helm's Deep!" he burst out. "He'd rather cower in the mountains than fight against this evil. Who will protect his people if he won't?"
"He thinks he is," said Aragorn. "I don't agree with him at all, but he thinks he's doing what's best for his people."
"That may be," said Mithrandir, "but in reality he's leading them straight into a massacre."
"What can we do?" asked Legolas determinedly.
"I'm going to find what help may be out there," answered Mithrandir. "You three must stay with the king and the Rohirrim no matter what happens. He'll need all of you, especially you Aragorn. The defenses have to hold."
"They will hold," Aragorn vowed grimly.
"I will come at first light on the fifth day," Mithrandir promised as he mounted his horse Shadowfax. "At dawn look to the east."
With those words he took off, leaving the survival of Rohan and its people in the hands of the three hunters.
To be continued...
I just want to say thank you to all of my reviewers and readers for taking the time to read my story and encouraging me to continue!
