Wow, you know what I just realized? I only write when I'm at school! No,
really. everyone hates school, ya? And when we hate school, and are stuck
in it for, what, 7 hours a day, we get bored, right? So when I get bored, I
start writing in my really big notebook entirely devoted to Whatever-
crosses-my-mind-at-the-moment, and then it's usually this story, then I get
home and am bored once again because I have no life so I type everything
out and then voila, the next day everyone finds that I've posted two, three
chapters! And then everyone's happy except my teachers because I do no
work! It's a win-win-too-bad-you-don't-count situation! *Ex-cellent!* taps
fingers together à-la Mr. Burns
Yeah, I know I'm weird. Maybe it's in the water or something.
Disclaimer: I really wonder where the word that everyone had to have a disclaimer, because, honestly, does any really important big-shot-like guy ever come here and read all the stories and pick out which ones don't have disclaimers so he can sue them? Or is this all some big kind of government conspiracy?
Irrelevant warning: Most Internet users are FBI agents posing as 14-year olds.
I swear to whatever-deities-happen-to-be-available-at-the-moment: the next chapter will have no useless ramblings from the author.
Chapter IX oantië vaháya
[Went away, Far away]
"Has anyone seen Lórëala around?" Aragorn asked. He looked to the faces around him, who only shook their heads.
"She hasn't come back yet?" Frodo asked worriedly, gazing up at Aragorn. He shook his head.
"How long has she been gone? I've been looking for her for maybe an hour or two. Has she been gone longer than that?" Aragorn asked, not showing any emotion but sensing that something indeed may be wrong. She had promised to meet him earlier that day, and when she had not been seen, Aragorn began to worry.
"She left last night." Frodo said strangely, as if he had his mind on something other than the conversation. Aragorn nodded and left, Frodo following him as they walked a little ways from the camp.
"We were talking last night, and something she said made me think. I took out the ring and asked her if she could have taken it to Mordor if she were faced with the task. She said no, but she seemed afraid of it- terrified, really. She then disappeared, but I thought I saw a ball of light in her place -an orb with wings. It might have been just a trick of the light or perhaps I was seeing things, it was rather late in the night." Frodo confessed as they followed the path that lead to the centre of the city, where the Galadhrim resided. Aragorn spoke nothing more, but the brooding look on his face did nothing to comfort Frodo.
A light haired elf walked down the paths towards them, and the halted when the noticed the familiar garb and face of the elf.
"Legolas! How fare thee?" Aragorn asked as he approached, and Legolas looked up, smiling slightly. "Have you seen Lórëala per chance today?"
"She is with the Lady Galadriel, when last I saw her. She does not seem in spirit to wish to speak with anyone though." he said wistfully, sinking deep into his thoughts again. Aragorn frowned.
"Is she alright?" he said, concern masking the usual harsh voice he portrayed. Legolas looked up again, and he seemed uncertain whether the answer was yes or no.
"I am not sure. From what I could gather, she was distraught about something, perhaps a few things. Galadriel told that she would return when she felt ready, but until then, she said there was nothing to do but wait for her to return of her own free will."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Floating was all that was known. Floating, and sadness. Hurt, pain, pity, even apathy, they all existed.
Nature shifted as floating continued. Differences. Trees, Flowers, Beings.
Suddenly something was very close. A being.small, and young. The youngest.
Other feelings from this being. Person. Wonder. Amazement. Those foremost. Then happiness for this place. Then duty, fear of future. Friendship. There, hidden, was a child. This child that felt the wonder and amazement.
So I hung around. Here. was contented for the time being.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sam and Merry walked through the tall grass, looking for Pippin, who had also seemed to disappear that morning. They had followed the advice of the elves they had passed, saying they had seen him come through here earlier in the day.
"Pippin! Pippin? Where have you hidden yourself?" Sam called out, looking around the trees and bushes in the flowering meadow for the small hobbit.
"Oi! Peregrin Took, you come out this instant!" Merry called out, growing annoyed at his disappearance.
"You know, I was talking to a bunch of elves earlier, and rumour has it there's a faërie hiding 'round in these woods!" Sam said.
"I heard that! Not many have seen it though, and besides, I didn't think faëries existed! Well, maybe not anymore, because I mean, if there are so many stories, maybe they did exist at some point, but still. d'you think it's true?" Merry asked, calling out Pippin's name again.
"Well, I mean, maybe. I've got nothing saying they don't exist. but then again, until a while back I didn't really think elves were much more than story tales."
"Pippin! Where are you?!? You don't come out soon we're gonna leave without you!"
"You know, I don't think he'd object to being left here. I sure as heck wouldn't!" Sam laughed, catching himself as he stumbled over a tree root.
"Will you guys keep it down already?" a voice shouted from their left, and they looked over to see Pippin's head sticking out around a tall willow tree, it's long branches blowing slightly in the breeze.
"There you are, fool! D'you know we've been looking for you all morning! You missed elevensies! And Lunch even!" Merry cried, hopping over a log to where he sat, his vest folded in his lap.
"I found something much more interesting that food." He said simply, and the other two hobbits did a double take. Something more important that food???
"Well what is it then? I can't think of anything more important to you than food!" Sam cried, exasperated at Pippin's unusually quiet mood.
Pippin motioned them closer, and as they knelt beside him, he took his vest and unfolded one side. Sam gasped and Merry blinked, amazed, as they looked upon the silvery light - with wings - that lay curled up in Pippin's vest.
"What is it?" Sam asked, bringing a hand over to touch it. The wings fluttered, and he snatched his hand away, whether afraid to touch it or hurt it he couldn't tell himself.
"It's a faërie, you dolt!" Pippin said knowingly, rolling his eyes.
"How do you know?" Merry shot back.
"Well, one day, you probably remember, Merry, when I. well, accidentally broke all mother's dishes. Gandalf was in town, and she thought that sending me to him would be plenty enough punishment. But Gandalf instead starting telling me stories, and one was about faëries. They sounded wonderful, the way he described them. 'as innocent and playful as hobbits, but much more timid. They look somewhat like elves, and they can shrink to the size of an apple, glowing like lights of red, green, and all other colours.' I was interested in them, and he said he had once had the pleasure of meeting a couple."
"Well, it sounds right. and there were rumours." Sam admitted.
"So what are you going to do with it. well, he, she, whatever?"
"I don't know. It hasn't left me since this morning, when I saw it while going for a walk. Darn scared of the elves, though, every time I passed them it would try to hide."
"D'you think we should just let it follow? We do need to be getting back." Merry said, and they all stood, Pippin still gingerly holding the light wrapped in the cloth. The light dimmed slowly, turning darker, and a flash later it was gone, though not without being replaced by someone different.
"That-it's- . Aíca???" they all cried, turning and looking at the small girl, seeming much smaller than before, clutching Pippin's vest around her shoulders.
"You're the faërie everyone's been talking about!"
"Scratch that, you are a faërie! HA FINALLY, WE KNOW WHAT YOU REALLY ARE!!!" Merry cried, laughing. She blushed and turned back to Pippin, taking the vest that hung over her shoulders.
"Thank you very much, Pippin. I needed someone to make me feel more comfortable around here." She said, handing him his vest.
"Can you do that again?" he asked, his excited voice a little higher than usual. She blushed again a deep red and swatted him playfully on the arm.
"So there, you know what I am now. happy? Could you just, um. not tell anyone else? Please??? I don't want anyone knowing that, especially the elves around here, and Boromir doesn't know yet, lets keep it that way. oh, please???" she begged them, her round eyes worried as she looked to each one in turn.
"Sure, I guess. why keep it a secret? I think it's wicked that you just did that, and you can fly??? What I wouldn't give to be able to do that!" Pippin said excitedly, and the others nodded. Haíthwen smiled gratefully.
"Well, lets go back to the other's, and on the way, if you all promise that you'll not breathe a word of this to another soul, living or dead, I'll tell you some stories."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"To go or not to go?" Haíthwen asked herself aloud as she sat on the edge of a very high platform, hundreds of feet above the ground.
Well, if I go. I'll be helping Aragorn. Truth be told, he is a strong leader, and will no doubt go on to accomplish great things. but he does not realize so. He is lost after the loss of Gandalf, and since he knows not what Gandalf planned to do after LothLórien. He is faithful to Frodo, and I know his heart well enough that he will follow him to Mordor though Hell may bar the way. He does not know exactly how he should deal with the hobbits sometimes, but that's only because Pippin's such a cutie. they are a handful. I'm not sure about Frodo. not that I doubt him, in fact he may be our last and best hope, but I believe the Burden will change him. as it changes others with whom it is surrounded by.
But I cannot enter Mordor. though I wish it wholeheartedly to be of any assistance to the Ringbearer, one) I have not the will or heart to enter Mordor and forsake my people, two) it would only draw the Eye of Sauron to Frodo and the Ring, if I were to accompany them.
If I was to go to Minas Tirith, should the path lead south. I must be strong, but the race of Men scares the living daylights out of me! Sooner or later I would be found out. and Father knows what Men would do to a Faë should I be discovered. Aragorn, and Legolas and Gimli, they would protect me, perhaps, should that come to pass, but surely not forever. and Boromir I should not trust farther that I can throw him with my own strength. there is just something about him of which I fear, whether for my own safety or the Fellowships. maybe I am being too hasty? I have not really talked to him, nor him with me, and perhaps I was too quick to judge. I suppose I should try. No guarantees.
But if I was to not go. would I stay here? No, I wish not to rest here ever again. LothLórien is no longer my home, not since my child passed away, and it shall forever be a lost memory. but I can not go near the mountains, for Saruman watches them with too keen an eye. The forests no longer are safe. could I return to my homeland? I fear it too ravaged for my heart to bear, perhaps further North? I know the Dúnedain, enough to pass along and continue further north. or maybe Greylin? Too close to Angmar? Grr! I need to find Cemendur, he would know where to go.
"Lórëala!" a loud voice scared me out of my thoughts for a moment, and I whirled around, to see Boromir, of all people, standing behind me a ways, looking rather impatient and annoyed, I quickly rose to my feet. "We've been searching for you for a while now." He said briskly, looking around.
"My apologies," I said, trying to remain polite to him as I said I would, "Is there a problem?"
He looked me over a moment before rubbing his chin, studying me for some reason. "We are holding a council to help decide which course to take when we depart from this wood. Aragorn requests," and there was some way about how he chose his words that unnerved me, "your opinion in the matter."
"I'm very sorry, Lord, I suppose we should return at once?" I asked, forcing a smile and walking towards then past him and down the stairway. I could feel his eyes burning into my head as we descended, could feel my wings shudder underneath the cloak I wore and the hairs on my neck stand on end.
I used all the strength I had to endure it.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Yeah, I know I'm weird. Maybe it's in the water or something.
Disclaimer: I really wonder where the word that everyone had to have a disclaimer, because, honestly, does any really important big-shot-like guy ever come here and read all the stories and pick out which ones don't have disclaimers so he can sue them? Or is this all some big kind of government conspiracy?
Irrelevant warning: Most Internet users are FBI agents posing as 14-year olds.
I swear to whatever-deities-happen-to-be-available-at-the-moment: the next chapter will have no useless ramblings from the author.
Chapter IX oantië vaháya
[Went away, Far away]
"Has anyone seen Lórëala around?" Aragorn asked. He looked to the faces around him, who only shook their heads.
"She hasn't come back yet?" Frodo asked worriedly, gazing up at Aragorn. He shook his head.
"How long has she been gone? I've been looking for her for maybe an hour or two. Has she been gone longer than that?" Aragorn asked, not showing any emotion but sensing that something indeed may be wrong. She had promised to meet him earlier that day, and when she had not been seen, Aragorn began to worry.
"She left last night." Frodo said strangely, as if he had his mind on something other than the conversation. Aragorn nodded and left, Frodo following him as they walked a little ways from the camp.
"We were talking last night, and something she said made me think. I took out the ring and asked her if she could have taken it to Mordor if she were faced with the task. She said no, but she seemed afraid of it- terrified, really. She then disappeared, but I thought I saw a ball of light in her place -an orb with wings. It might have been just a trick of the light or perhaps I was seeing things, it was rather late in the night." Frodo confessed as they followed the path that lead to the centre of the city, where the Galadhrim resided. Aragorn spoke nothing more, but the brooding look on his face did nothing to comfort Frodo.
A light haired elf walked down the paths towards them, and the halted when the noticed the familiar garb and face of the elf.
"Legolas! How fare thee?" Aragorn asked as he approached, and Legolas looked up, smiling slightly. "Have you seen Lórëala per chance today?"
"She is with the Lady Galadriel, when last I saw her. She does not seem in spirit to wish to speak with anyone though." he said wistfully, sinking deep into his thoughts again. Aragorn frowned.
"Is she alright?" he said, concern masking the usual harsh voice he portrayed. Legolas looked up again, and he seemed uncertain whether the answer was yes or no.
"I am not sure. From what I could gather, she was distraught about something, perhaps a few things. Galadriel told that she would return when she felt ready, but until then, she said there was nothing to do but wait for her to return of her own free will."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Floating was all that was known. Floating, and sadness. Hurt, pain, pity, even apathy, they all existed.
Nature shifted as floating continued. Differences. Trees, Flowers, Beings.
Suddenly something was very close. A being.small, and young. The youngest.
Other feelings from this being. Person. Wonder. Amazement. Those foremost. Then happiness for this place. Then duty, fear of future. Friendship. There, hidden, was a child. This child that felt the wonder and amazement.
So I hung around. Here. was contented for the time being.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sam and Merry walked through the tall grass, looking for Pippin, who had also seemed to disappear that morning. They had followed the advice of the elves they had passed, saying they had seen him come through here earlier in the day.
"Pippin! Pippin? Where have you hidden yourself?" Sam called out, looking around the trees and bushes in the flowering meadow for the small hobbit.
"Oi! Peregrin Took, you come out this instant!" Merry called out, growing annoyed at his disappearance.
"You know, I was talking to a bunch of elves earlier, and rumour has it there's a faërie hiding 'round in these woods!" Sam said.
"I heard that! Not many have seen it though, and besides, I didn't think faëries existed! Well, maybe not anymore, because I mean, if there are so many stories, maybe they did exist at some point, but still. d'you think it's true?" Merry asked, calling out Pippin's name again.
"Well, I mean, maybe. I've got nothing saying they don't exist. but then again, until a while back I didn't really think elves were much more than story tales."
"Pippin! Where are you?!? You don't come out soon we're gonna leave without you!"
"You know, I don't think he'd object to being left here. I sure as heck wouldn't!" Sam laughed, catching himself as he stumbled over a tree root.
"Will you guys keep it down already?" a voice shouted from their left, and they looked over to see Pippin's head sticking out around a tall willow tree, it's long branches blowing slightly in the breeze.
"There you are, fool! D'you know we've been looking for you all morning! You missed elevensies! And Lunch even!" Merry cried, hopping over a log to where he sat, his vest folded in his lap.
"I found something much more interesting that food." He said simply, and the other two hobbits did a double take. Something more important that food???
"Well what is it then? I can't think of anything more important to you than food!" Sam cried, exasperated at Pippin's unusually quiet mood.
Pippin motioned them closer, and as they knelt beside him, he took his vest and unfolded one side. Sam gasped and Merry blinked, amazed, as they looked upon the silvery light - with wings - that lay curled up in Pippin's vest.
"What is it?" Sam asked, bringing a hand over to touch it. The wings fluttered, and he snatched his hand away, whether afraid to touch it or hurt it he couldn't tell himself.
"It's a faërie, you dolt!" Pippin said knowingly, rolling his eyes.
"How do you know?" Merry shot back.
"Well, one day, you probably remember, Merry, when I. well, accidentally broke all mother's dishes. Gandalf was in town, and she thought that sending me to him would be plenty enough punishment. But Gandalf instead starting telling me stories, and one was about faëries. They sounded wonderful, the way he described them. 'as innocent and playful as hobbits, but much more timid. They look somewhat like elves, and they can shrink to the size of an apple, glowing like lights of red, green, and all other colours.' I was interested in them, and he said he had once had the pleasure of meeting a couple."
"Well, it sounds right. and there were rumours." Sam admitted.
"So what are you going to do with it. well, he, she, whatever?"
"I don't know. It hasn't left me since this morning, when I saw it while going for a walk. Darn scared of the elves, though, every time I passed them it would try to hide."
"D'you think we should just let it follow? We do need to be getting back." Merry said, and they all stood, Pippin still gingerly holding the light wrapped in the cloth. The light dimmed slowly, turning darker, and a flash later it was gone, though not without being replaced by someone different.
"That-it's- . Aíca???" they all cried, turning and looking at the small girl, seeming much smaller than before, clutching Pippin's vest around her shoulders.
"You're the faërie everyone's been talking about!"
"Scratch that, you are a faërie! HA FINALLY, WE KNOW WHAT YOU REALLY ARE!!!" Merry cried, laughing. She blushed and turned back to Pippin, taking the vest that hung over her shoulders.
"Thank you very much, Pippin. I needed someone to make me feel more comfortable around here." She said, handing him his vest.
"Can you do that again?" he asked, his excited voice a little higher than usual. She blushed again a deep red and swatted him playfully on the arm.
"So there, you know what I am now. happy? Could you just, um. not tell anyone else? Please??? I don't want anyone knowing that, especially the elves around here, and Boromir doesn't know yet, lets keep it that way. oh, please???" she begged them, her round eyes worried as she looked to each one in turn.
"Sure, I guess. why keep it a secret? I think it's wicked that you just did that, and you can fly??? What I wouldn't give to be able to do that!" Pippin said excitedly, and the others nodded. Haíthwen smiled gratefully.
"Well, lets go back to the other's, and on the way, if you all promise that you'll not breathe a word of this to another soul, living or dead, I'll tell you some stories."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"To go or not to go?" Haíthwen asked herself aloud as she sat on the edge of a very high platform, hundreds of feet above the ground.
Well, if I go. I'll be helping Aragorn. Truth be told, he is a strong leader, and will no doubt go on to accomplish great things. but he does not realize so. He is lost after the loss of Gandalf, and since he knows not what Gandalf planned to do after LothLórien. He is faithful to Frodo, and I know his heart well enough that he will follow him to Mordor though Hell may bar the way. He does not know exactly how he should deal with the hobbits sometimes, but that's only because Pippin's such a cutie. they are a handful. I'm not sure about Frodo. not that I doubt him, in fact he may be our last and best hope, but I believe the Burden will change him. as it changes others with whom it is surrounded by.
But I cannot enter Mordor. though I wish it wholeheartedly to be of any assistance to the Ringbearer, one) I have not the will or heart to enter Mordor and forsake my people, two) it would only draw the Eye of Sauron to Frodo and the Ring, if I were to accompany them.
If I was to go to Minas Tirith, should the path lead south. I must be strong, but the race of Men scares the living daylights out of me! Sooner or later I would be found out. and Father knows what Men would do to a Faë should I be discovered. Aragorn, and Legolas and Gimli, they would protect me, perhaps, should that come to pass, but surely not forever. and Boromir I should not trust farther that I can throw him with my own strength. there is just something about him of which I fear, whether for my own safety or the Fellowships. maybe I am being too hasty? I have not really talked to him, nor him with me, and perhaps I was too quick to judge. I suppose I should try. No guarantees.
But if I was to not go. would I stay here? No, I wish not to rest here ever again. LothLórien is no longer my home, not since my child passed away, and it shall forever be a lost memory. but I can not go near the mountains, for Saruman watches them with too keen an eye. The forests no longer are safe. could I return to my homeland? I fear it too ravaged for my heart to bear, perhaps further North? I know the Dúnedain, enough to pass along and continue further north. or maybe Greylin? Too close to Angmar? Grr! I need to find Cemendur, he would know where to go.
"Lórëala!" a loud voice scared me out of my thoughts for a moment, and I whirled around, to see Boromir, of all people, standing behind me a ways, looking rather impatient and annoyed, I quickly rose to my feet. "We've been searching for you for a while now." He said briskly, looking around.
"My apologies," I said, trying to remain polite to him as I said I would, "Is there a problem?"
He looked me over a moment before rubbing his chin, studying me for some reason. "We are holding a council to help decide which course to take when we depart from this wood. Aragorn requests," and there was some way about how he chose his words that unnerved me, "your opinion in the matter."
"I'm very sorry, Lord, I suppose we should return at once?" I asked, forcing a smile and walking towards then past him and down the stairway. I could feel his eyes burning into my head as we descended, could feel my wings shudder underneath the cloak I wore and the hairs on my neck stand on end.
I used all the strength I had to endure it.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*