Hello all, and an early happy Valentine's Day to ya! I probably should have waited and dragged more reviews out of you dear readers, but to be honest, I couldn't help it. However, don't expect two updates a week, or even on a week; I tend to take forever when it comes to new chapters. I'll do my best, but I can't promise anything. Just ask the poor readers of my Tamora Pierce fic Sondra's Visitors. Goodness goodness...
Anyway, I'll let you read this now. Sorry for the delay folks, and *please* remember to REVIEW!! Have a great Valentine's Day and enjoy the chapter!
Oh! Just in case!
*emphasis*
'thought'
"speech"
^*^ - time lapse; beginning/end of a chapter
^*^
The Dark Star
Part Two:
Rúmil, Haldir, and Orophin of Lórien
Haldir decided that he had never met a more timid girl. He'd heard of shy, of course, but this was ridiculous. She had treated that gelding as her one and only lifeline, and that that one lifeline was fraying. Perhaps it was true; she was obviously quite distressed. And her words just before she had passed out, 'I beg of you, whoever you are, shoot me. My life is undeserved,' bothered him. Her torment was so great that she wanted her own life ended, but why?
He sighed and sat at the edge of the flet. It would be so easy to slip away, to escape back to his post. But duty tugged at him, and responsibility did the same as an undertone. It was his duty to restore this girl to health, and that was the end of it. He would not, under any circumstances, allow his personal wishes to interfere with his duty. It was simply out of the question.
"I don't know what to do, Gil-luin."
Haldir frowned slightly. The voice belonged to the woman - Adariel Morelen. 'She must have climbed down when I wasn't paying attention,' he thought.
"It's... oh, I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't be here. I'm not sure. But *they* shouldn't be dead. I should. It's my fault anyway; it's all my fault. It was my idea in the first place. I have to go back, but... will they let me? I've only met one of them, but if they're all the same, I'm not so sure."
He supposed she thought she was being quiet enough that he would not hear, but Haldir heard her clearly. A perk to being lead Marchwarden of the northern and western borders was the requirement of excellent hearing. She paused, then sighed.
"It's beautiful here. I don't even mind the cold much. I feel as if I could stay here forever." A pause, then, "And I feel childish! As soon as I have the slightest semblance of proper health, I'm leaving. I have to go back. No one but us knows that they're dead, and those back home have to know. And they need a decent burial. I refuse to let my brother and sister be buried at the east gate of Moria like some pair of common Dwarves. I'll just gather my weapons - hopefully they'll be able to give me a replacement string - and-"
She stopped abruptly. Half a moment later...
"My bow."
He turned and raised his eyebrows questioningly, though he knew what she was speaking of.
"Where is my bow?" It was phrased like a question but said as a command. Something he himself was used to, though more prone to giving instead of receiving.
Haldir walked over to where a very small arsenal of extra weapons lay, and picked up a bow made of a deep, red tinged mahogany and etched with gold spirals and Elvish writings. A russet colored quiver held arrows of the same coloring and design. Both he handed to her.
She glanced at them as she took the set, then back up at him, slightly amazed. "The string has been replaced."
"Yes, it has," he remarked, voice chilly. He walked past her and back to the western edge. She stared after him.
"Why?"
"Because it was broken."
It was clear to Adariel that this man had little - maybe even no - patience. "Quite obviously, but you were in no way obligated to replace it. And yet you do so without request. Why?"
"How else can you protect yourself?" he demanded. "You will not defend yourself very well on hopes and dreams."
That shut her up. She looked down for a moment, then slid her quiver onto her back. She pulled a bit of the lembas out of her pocket and ate it, then walked over to the northern edge, fingering her bow. Adariel sighed as she pulled at the string gently, then laid it back in place.
Suddenly she laid the bow on the wooden platform, then took her quiver off her back and did the same. That done, she found a thick branch that the platform had been built around, and deftly began to climb. Of course, this feat was easy to accomplish, as she was an Elf, and soon she poked her head through the leaves and turned to the east.
The sun wasn't rising yet, but that didn't matter. She was going to stay up there anyway. Aradalien had always been the one to drag her to the tops of trees to watch the sunrise or sunset. More often the latter, as Adariel had never been a morning person. Aradalien had been the one to be up before sunrise and ready for a great day with the dawn.
She closed her eyes and could picture her sister perfectly. They had looked exactly alike during their first five hundred years, but after that, the difference was easy to most, if not all. Aradlien grew to be a full four inches taller than her sister, and her blue eyes had shifted to a beautiful hazel hue. Her straight black hair had changed to gentle spirals, and she had cut it to just below the middle of her back instead of her waist. Her skin, once just barely past white, deepened to a cream color as her lips darkened to scarlet. The arch of her nose strengthened, and was a bit too strong for natural beauty, but it suited her. Compiling it all, Adariel saw a dark haired, creamy skinned, hazel eyed beauty who stood anywhere between eye level and equal height on most Elves and whose slight figure was fully developed, if even a bit curvaceous.
Adariel, however, was in her own opinion far from her sister's beauty. She remained short, and her eyes changed to a violet tainted sapphire. Her lashes were just as full, long and dark as her sister's, but her curves didn't hold a candle to Aradalien's. Which was just as well for her, Adariel had always said; Gil-luin was a better companion anyway. She had not only left her hair at waist length unlike her sister, but Adariel had grown it out until it was at her hip bones before finally keeping it at a specific length. Her facial features had remained soft-boned and delicate, her full lips a pale, natural pink, and her skin was just outside of white. Her build was just as slight and fragile-looking as ever, and the ends of her hair curled ever so slightly.
Adariel opened her eyes once again, fingering the gray-green cloak hood as the sun peeked out from the horizon. Her sister's hazel eyes had always sparkled, except for two days out of her whole life. Well, three, the third being the day they were permanently extinguished, but she hated thinking of that.
Yet it was all that occupied her thoughts. The three days the light in her sister's eyes had gone out, the third being predominant. The first being the day "aunt" Celebrían was forced to the Undying Lands due to a poisonous wound she had received a year before. The second, the day their own mother followed Celebrían for the same reasons. Their father had gone over a month later, not only because he missed his wife so dearly, but because he swore to his greatest friend, Lord Elrond, that he would keep Celebrían safe. The third was the moment that she had discovered that her brother had fallen.
The oranges and blues of the sunrise promised a beautiful day, and yet Adariel herself couldn't see how it could be so. Realizing her thoughts, she sighed. She deserved no pity, let alone self pity, and she was letting her self pity distract her from her duty. She frowned and started climbing back down to the flet.
Back on the platform, she saw Haldir of Lórien standing at the eastern edge, near the bed she had lain on. "Someone is coming?" she asked.
"Yes."
She spun, for the response had come from behind her, not from Haldir. Two Elves, who looked much like the said Elf, yet somewhat unlike, stood behind her. One, she could tell, was younger than the other. Perhaps it was the way he grinned flagrantly at her, while the other offered a very small smile and a slight bow.
"My brothers," Haldir said simply from behind her. "Rúmil and Orophin."
"A pleasure, my lady," the younger one said. "I am Orophin, the youngest of us. Haldir is next, then Rúmil is the eldest."
Despite her slightly bedraggled appearance, she swept a curtsy any female would have been proud of. "Well met, good sir. Adariel Morelen of Imladris."
"Adariel Dark Star?" he queried, and she nodded. The translation of 'Morelen' was indeed 'dark star,' a name her mother had been quick to give her, yet not her sister. She felt that her Aradalien was more deserving of the title.
"A well suited name, Lady Adariel," he said, flashing a charming smile.
Though she may not have been charmed by this somewhat young Elf (somewhat younger than *her*, anyway), she did find him amusing, despite her state of self-loathing. She swept into a second curtsy. "You are all too kind, Lord Orophin. Your flattery is too much, and wasted on one such as myself."
Perhaps he would have gone on, but Rúmil cleared his throat ever so slightly - looking most certainly amused - and Orophin looked down with a faint blush. She smiled faintly and walked back to the northern edge and picked up her quiver - which went straight to her back - and bow as the two brothers joined their kin.
After a furtive glance at Haldir and his brothers at the eastern edge, Adariel walked over to the hole in the center and started down the ladder. As soon as her head was half a foot below the flet, she leaned around the tree, looking to the east as she clutched at the ladder. She couldn't see them yet, but she knew someone was coming.
As soon as she saw movement to the east, Adariel ducked back, then peeked out, watching them as they approached. The stopped just below the eastern edge of the flet and looked up. "Haldir!" one of them called.
"I am here," a familiarly cold and arrogant voice replied.
"You brought an Elf maiden into our woods, did you not?"
It never occurred to her until then that Haldir could have gotten into trouble by bringing her into Lothlórien. She bit her lip.
"Yes, I did."
"Lady Adariel Morelen?"
She bit back a squeak and flew back up the ladder. She stared at the backs of Rúmil, Haldir, and Orophin for a moment, before turning and facing the west.
"That is her."
"The Lord and Lady wish to see her. You are to take her to Caras Galadhon as soon as she is able to travel," the lead newcomer said. There was a pause, then Haldir said, "Very well. I shall speak with the lady, and we will leave as soon as possible."
Adariel turned as she felt a presence come toward her - one could never hear Elves unless they themselves were an Elf, and only the trained ones even then. Though they both knew she had heard the entire exchange, she raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel wish you to hold an audience. We must leave as soon as possible; when will you be ready to travel?"
"I am ready now," she said, voice devoid of emotion. If he could hide his emotions so well, then by Elbereth so could she!
Before anything else could be said, she turned and went down the ladder using one hand, the other clasping her bow. Other than Gil-luin, her weapon was her only attachment to a life she had once loved. Gil-luin was by far the greater of the two, of course, but she wasn't willing to give up either connection.
At the bottom of the rope ladder she turned and found herself face to face - or, eye to neck - with a border guard of Lórien. She swallowed and moved out of the way. Two others brushed past her, and Adariel had to wonder of Orophin was the only Lórien Elf who wasn't so cold. The Elves back home had all been warm and friendly. Well, most had been friendly...
Turning around as if turning from the thought, she walked over to Gil-luin and patted his nose. "I am ready to travel, but are you? I'll not go if you have need of rest. I'll refuse," she whispered. He shook his mane, clearly telling her that he was *tired* of resting.
She gave him a sad smile and rubbed his forehead. He turned his head and peered at her with one eye as if to say, 'What on earth is the matter with you? You were always so pleasant before this trip. And certainly not so soft-spoken; you were bold and straightforward then. Go back to how you were before!'
'I wish I could,' she thought, 'but it's just a bit hard to forget your siblings' deaths.'
Suddenly Gil-luin lowered himself to his horse-knees, his own way of saying, 'Mount up, silly Elf.' Adariel smiled slightly and did as ordered. She placed her bow across her lap diagonally, the top of the weapon near Gil-luin's left ear. She turned him with her knees as she gathered the reigns to face the ladder, and was surprised to find Haldir standing at the bottom of it.
'Stupid Lórien marchwarden. I hope the other Elves here aren't like you or your border guard friends, because then I'll have gotten my siblings killed for even less of a cause then I've got now. At least your brothers are decent.'
"Are you ready, my lady?" he demanded. His tone suggested that they were leaving whether or not she was ready.
"I am," she replied simply. She glanced up and saw Rúmil, then Orophin, climbing down the ladder. Hope rose within her; if they were to come, perhaps Haldir wouldn't be so cold.
Orophin moved forward and took the reigns from her, throwing her a smile. She smiled faintly in return and inclined her head toward him. Rúmil took a single step forward. "We shall be accompanying you as well, my lady. I hope it isn't a trouble."
"No trouble at all, Lord Rúmil," she said. It wasn't worth the bother of telling him that she shouldn't have even been alive.
"Let us go," Haldir said. He walked briskly past her, and she watched him as he did so; if she hadn't, she would have missed the slight glance the threw her as he passed. Of course, she read that glance as well she read him when he had met her eyes head on, but she couldn't help but feel that there was some hope for the cold marchwarden. Not much, mind, but some.
^*^
"If you don't mind my asking, my lady, how do you fair with that excellent weapon you carry?" Orophin asked. Until then, they had been traveling east in silence, and Adariel was grateful for the break in the quiet.
"I do not mind, Lord Orophin. I fair well enough, but, while everyone may benefit from practice and improvement, I in particular would better from it," she replied. 'If I had continued going to the archery range despite *him* I may have been able to save them,' she added in her thoughts, but didn't dare speak aloud; because then they would want to know who 'he' was, and that was another subject she didn't like to speak of.
"Perhaps we may help you better yourself," he commented. "What of your skills with a blade? I see that you do not carry one."
"Because I cannot use one," she replied. "Despite the teachings of family and friends, I never could grasp the use of a blade as well as that of a bow."
"Ah," he said. "We cannot allow that, my lady. Not at all. However, I myself am in no position to instruct you. Perhaps Haldir or Rúmil would aid you."
"Alas, I am not one to come to for teaching in blade work," Rúmil said. "Haldir is the one for that, if any of us are."
'I'd rather swallow an Orc blade. And I suspect he feels the same.'
"I am not certain that I'm the best for it," Haldir said from the front of their very small procession.
'An evasive maneuver if I ever saw one,' she thought wryly. "If it's all the same," she said, deciding to let Haldir off the hook, "I believe a very dear friend of mine has offered lessons."
"You said before that the teachings of friends had given no result," Orophin pointed out.
"Yes, but those teachings had been by her brothers, not by her."
"And who is this friend that you believe can train you?"
"Arwen Undómiel."
She felt all of the focus of all three marchwardens center on her, but only Rúmil glanced at her; Orophin simply stared for a moment. "The Evenstar?"
"Yes," she replied. "We grew up as cousins - more as half-sisters, in fact - though we have no blood ties. Our parents were very close in friendships, and it carried to their children."
"Then the departure of Lady Celebrían grieved you?" Rúmil asked, as if testing her. But Adariel didn't fault him for it; placing herself in their position, she herself would have been skeptical.
"Yes," Adariel told him. "Very much so. It is one of the worst three days in my memory."
Before Orophin could stop himself: "And what of the other two?"
"I wish not to speak of them," she said shortly, and the discussion was ended abruptly. But the thoughts had already lodged themselves in Adariel's mind.
Her mother and father gone from Middle-earth, her brother and sister dead, Adariel found that she had no purpose left. No true purpose, anyway. What was her point?
'Then again,' a small voice countered, 'if your life was centered entirely around you family, what was you point before?'
Adariel saw the point in that, but accepting it felt wrong. What point did her *siblings* have now?
'Would they want you to abandon their life?'
True...
'Would your parents have their only child left waste away into nothing?'
No, they would not. Her friends would not have her throw everything away, and neither would her family. But, one thought swiftly darkened the others, and just as quickly abolished them:
It was her fault that they were dead. A small part of her couldn't pull away from that fact that she was to blame for her siblings' deaths, and that was the end of it.
A tight band squeezed at her heart, and she raised somewhat teary eyes to the forest canopy. If only she hadn't suggested...
Voices pulled her back to the present. "-ly silent, Haldir. What troubles you?" Orophin was saying.
She looked at the ground to her right. Adariel had the impression that he was uncomfortable speaking of the cause of his silence in front of her. But she didn't comment on it; instead she stated, "Silence can be golden, Lord Orophin. Do not be so swift to judge it when you encounter it."
He attention shifted to her as Haldir looked back at her. Had he been anyone else, she would have sworn that she'd seen surprised gratitude. But of course, he was himself, not someone else, and Adariel decided that she must have imagined it and merely inclined her head toward him.
"Some silence is golden my lady, but not all," Orophin said, drawing her attention. "And it seems that the most encountered kind is the least favorable."
"Really?" she replied. "Most of the silence I myself have encountered is the thoughtful sort. Reflective, or simply just companionable. Then again, I have never been offered a chance at being a border guard nor marchwarden. Though perhaps they are the same, I see marchwarden as being a higher honor."
"A great honor it is," Rúmil said. "And those greatest among us are of such an order." Adariel saw him glance at his younger brother up at the front, who to all appearances was totally ignoring them. But Adariel felt otherwise, though she had no way to prove it.
"I find that believable," she replied simply. It was at that moment that, at the bottom of a slope, Gil-luin chose to slow and stop, refusing to take a single step forward. Adariel herself didn't try to coax him into moving; she knew that when he truly chose to stop, there was no moving him. She herself was tired anyway, and they hadn't stopped at all throughout the day. Her aches, which had faded, were returning in full force, and her body was *tired*. She wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep forever.
"I think," the eldest of the three brothers said with a half-smile, "that our four-legged companion is trying to tell us something."
Haldir turned from part way up the slope and looked at the gelding, then at her. Though Adariel felt as if she were hiding her weariness well, he must have seen it; the evidence was in his words.
"Perhaps we should stop for the night. The Lord and Lady will understand."
Of course, there was no evident compassion in his voice, but Adariel didn't mind. She was tired, and as a healer herself she felt that her shoulder needed to be tended to. Adariel dismounted and led Gil-luin over to a patch of grass, where she took the reigns off of him and let him graze. There was, of course, no saddle to tend to, as Elves rode bareback. She walked back to where her escorts were and found that there was already a small, protected fire blazing, with a bed roll set near it, and the three were positioned around the fire and bed roll like some sort of guard.
It was some time later, after Adariel had tended to her shoulder (with the help of Rúmil, as she was right handed and the wound was on her right shoulder), when Haldir stood and said quietly, "My lady, if you would follow me."
Intrigued, she pulled the Lórien cloak about her tighter and followed him up the slope. At the top, there was a bit of a clearing, and from her high view point she saw the most magnificent trees she had ever dreamed possible. They were enormous, even from her distance, and golden leaves shone in the fading sun.
"Caras Galadhon," he told her quietly as she stared in awe. "The home of the Galadhrim, and Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel."
There was silence for a moment, and in the evening sun, watching the gently drifting golden leaves of the mellorns at the City of the Galadhirm, Adariel nearly forgot her troubles. Nearly.
"We should be there tomorrow, before the sun reaches noon point. We have made good time."
There was silence again, and Adariel turned away, her shadow returning. She had no right to be in Lothlórien while her siblings lay dead. That, above all things, was what she was most sure of.
^*^
Well? Reviews are really nice... the perfect Valentine's Day gift for me...
Anyway, I'll let you read this now. Sorry for the delay folks, and *please* remember to REVIEW!! Have a great Valentine's Day and enjoy the chapter!
Oh! Just in case!
*emphasis*
'thought'
"speech"
^*^ - time lapse; beginning/end of a chapter
^*^
The Dark Star
Part Two:
Rúmil, Haldir, and Orophin of Lórien
Haldir decided that he had never met a more timid girl. He'd heard of shy, of course, but this was ridiculous. She had treated that gelding as her one and only lifeline, and that that one lifeline was fraying. Perhaps it was true; she was obviously quite distressed. And her words just before she had passed out, 'I beg of you, whoever you are, shoot me. My life is undeserved,' bothered him. Her torment was so great that she wanted her own life ended, but why?
He sighed and sat at the edge of the flet. It would be so easy to slip away, to escape back to his post. But duty tugged at him, and responsibility did the same as an undertone. It was his duty to restore this girl to health, and that was the end of it. He would not, under any circumstances, allow his personal wishes to interfere with his duty. It was simply out of the question.
"I don't know what to do, Gil-luin."
Haldir frowned slightly. The voice belonged to the woman - Adariel Morelen. 'She must have climbed down when I wasn't paying attention,' he thought.
"It's... oh, I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't be here. I'm not sure. But *they* shouldn't be dead. I should. It's my fault anyway; it's all my fault. It was my idea in the first place. I have to go back, but... will they let me? I've only met one of them, but if they're all the same, I'm not so sure."
He supposed she thought she was being quiet enough that he would not hear, but Haldir heard her clearly. A perk to being lead Marchwarden of the northern and western borders was the requirement of excellent hearing. She paused, then sighed.
"It's beautiful here. I don't even mind the cold much. I feel as if I could stay here forever." A pause, then, "And I feel childish! As soon as I have the slightest semblance of proper health, I'm leaving. I have to go back. No one but us knows that they're dead, and those back home have to know. And they need a decent burial. I refuse to let my brother and sister be buried at the east gate of Moria like some pair of common Dwarves. I'll just gather my weapons - hopefully they'll be able to give me a replacement string - and-"
She stopped abruptly. Half a moment later...
"My bow."
He turned and raised his eyebrows questioningly, though he knew what she was speaking of.
"Where is my bow?" It was phrased like a question but said as a command. Something he himself was used to, though more prone to giving instead of receiving.
Haldir walked over to where a very small arsenal of extra weapons lay, and picked up a bow made of a deep, red tinged mahogany and etched with gold spirals and Elvish writings. A russet colored quiver held arrows of the same coloring and design. Both he handed to her.
She glanced at them as she took the set, then back up at him, slightly amazed. "The string has been replaced."
"Yes, it has," he remarked, voice chilly. He walked past her and back to the western edge. She stared after him.
"Why?"
"Because it was broken."
It was clear to Adariel that this man had little - maybe even no - patience. "Quite obviously, but you were in no way obligated to replace it. And yet you do so without request. Why?"
"How else can you protect yourself?" he demanded. "You will not defend yourself very well on hopes and dreams."
That shut her up. She looked down for a moment, then slid her quiver onto her back. She pulled a bit of the lembas out of her pocket and ate it, then walked over to the northern edge, fingering her bow. Adariel sighed as she pulled at the string gently, then laid it back in place.
Suddenly she laid the bow on the wooden platform, then took her quiver off her back and did the same. That done, she found a thick branch that the platform had been built around, and deftly began to climb. Of course, this feat was easy to accomplish, as she was an Elf, and soon she poked her head through the leaves and turned to the east.
The sun wasn't rising yet, but that didn't matter. She was going to stay up there anyway. Aradalien had always been the one to drag her to the tops of trees to watch the sunrise or sunset. More often the latter, as Adariel had never been a morning person. Aradalien had been the one to be up before sunrise and ready for a great day with the dawn.
She closed her eyes and could picture her sister perfectly. They had looked exactly alike during their first five hundred years, but after that, the difference was easy to most, if not all. Aradlien grew to be a full four inches taller than her sister, and her blue eyes had shifted to a beautiful hazel hue. Her straight black hair had changed to gentle spirals, and she had cut it to just below the middle of her back instead of her waist. Her skin, once just barely past white, deepened to a cream color as her lips darkened to scarlet. The arch of her nose strengthened, and was a bit too strong for natural beauty, but it suited her. Compiling it all, Adariel saw a dark haired, creamy skinned, hazel eyed beauty who stood anywhere between eye level and equal height on most Elves and whose slight figure was fully developed, if even a bit curvaceous.
Adariel, however, was in her own opinion far from her sister's beauty. She remained short, and her eyes changed to a violet tainted sapphire. Her lashes were just as full, long and dark as her sister's, but her curves didn't hold a candle to Aradalien's. Which was just as well for her, Adariel had always said; Gil-luin was a better companion anyway. She had not only left her hair at waist length unlike her sister, but Adariel had grown it out until it was at her hip bones before finally keeping it at a specific length. Her facial features had remained soft-boned and delicate, her full lips a pale, natural pink, and her skin was just outside of white. Her build was just as slight and fragile-looking as ever, and the ends of her hair curled ever so slightly.
Adariel opened her eyes once again, fingering the gray-green cloak hood as the sun peeked out from the horizon. Her sister's hazel eyes had always sparkled, except for two days out of her whole life. Well, three, the third being the day they were permanently extinguished, but she hated thinking of that.
Yet it was all that occupied her thoughts. The three days the light in her sister's eyes had gone out, the third being predominant. The first being the day "aunt" Celebrían was forced to the Undying Lands due to a poisonous wound she had received a year before. The second, the day their own mother followed Celebrían for the same reasons. Their father had gone over a month later, not only because he missed his wife so dearly, but because he swore to his greatest friend, Lord Elrond, that he would keep Celebrían safe. The third was the moment that she had discovered that her brother had fallen.
The oranges and blues of the sunrise promised a beautiful day, and yet Adariel herself couldn't see how it could be so. Realizing her thoughts, she sighed. She deserved no pity, let alone self pity, and she was letting her self pity distract her from her duty. She frowned and started climbing back down to the flet.
Back on the platform, she saw Haldir of Lórien standing at the eastern edge, near the bed she had lain on. "Someone is coming?" she asked.
"Yes."
She spun, for the response had come from behind her, not from Haldir. Two Elves, who looked much like the said Elf, yet somewhat unlike, stood behind her. One, she could tell, was younger than the other. Perhaps it was the way he grinned flagrantly at her, while the other offered a very small smile and a slight bow.
"My brothers," Haldir said simply from behind her. "Rúmil and Orophin."
"A pleasure, my lady," the younger one said. "I am Orophin, the youngest of us. Haldir is next, then Rúmil is the eldest."
Despite her slightly bedraggled appearance, she swept a curtsy any female would have been proud of. "Well met, good sir. Adariel Morelen of Imladris."
"Adariel Dark Star?" he queried, and she nodded. The translation of 'Morelen' was indeed 'dark star,' a name her mother had been quick to give her, yet not her sister. She felt that her Aradalien was more deserving of the title.
"A well suited name, Lady Adariel," he said, flashing a charming smile.
Though she may not have been charmed by this somewhat young Elf (somewhat younger than *her*, anyway), she did find him amusing, despite her state of self-loathing. She swept into a second curtsy. "You are all too kind, Lord Orophin. Your flattery is too much, and wasted on one such as myself."
Perhaps he would have gone on, but Rúmil cleared his throat ever so slightly - looking most certainly amused - and Orophin looked down with a faint blush. She smiled faintly and walked back to the northern edge and picked up her quiver - which went straight to her back - and bow as the two brothers joined their kin.
After a furtive glance at Haldir and his brothers at the eastern edge, Adariel walked over to the hole in the center and started down the ladder. As soon as her head was half a foot below the flet, she leaned around the tree, looking to the east as she clutched at the ladder. She couldn't see them yet, but she knew someone was coming.
As soon as she saw movement to the east, Adariel ducked back, then peeked out, watching them as they approached. The stopped just below the eastern edge of the flet and looked up. "Haldir!" one of them called.
"I am here," a familiarly cold and arrogant voice replied.
"You brought an Elf maiden into our woods, did you not?"
It never occurred to her until then that Haldir could have gotten into trouble by bringing her into Lothlórien. She bit her lip.
"Yes, I did."
"Lady Adariel Morelen?"
She bit back a squeak and flew back up the ladder. She stared at the backs of Rúmil, Haldir, and Orophin for a moment, before turning and facing the west.
"That is her."
"The Lord and Lady wish to see her. You are to take her to Caras Galadhon as soon as she is able to travel," the lead newcomer said. There was a pause, then Haldir said, "Very well. I shall speak with the lady, and we will leave as soon as possible."
Adariel turned as she felt a presence come toward her - one could never hear Elves unless they themselves were an Elf, and only the trained ones even then. Though they both knew she had heard the entire exchange, she raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel wish you to hold an audience. We must leave as soon as possible; when will you be ready to travel?"
"I am ready now," she said, voice devoid of emotion. If he could hide his emotions so well, then by Elbereth so could she!
Before anything else could be said, she turned and went down the ladder using one hand, the other clasping her bow. Other than Gil-luin, her weapon was her only attachment to a life she had once loved. Gil-luin was by far the greater of the two, of course, but she wasn't willing to give up either connection.
At the bottom of the rope ladder she turned and found herself face to face - or, eye to neck - with a border guard of Lórien. She swallowed and moved out of the way. Two others brushed past her, and Adariel had to wonder of Orophin was the only Lórien Elf who wasn't so cold. The Elves back home had all been warm and friendly. Well, most had been friendly...
Turning around as if turning from the thought, she walked over to Gil-luin and patted his nose. "I am ready to travel, but are you? I'll not go if you have need of rest. I'll refuse," she whispered. He shook his mane, clearly telling her that he was *tired* of resting.
She gave him a sad smile and rubbed his forehead. He turned his head and peered at her with one eye as if to say, 'What on earth is the matter with you? You were always so pleasant before this trip. And certainly not so soft-spoken; you were bold and straightforward then. Go back to how you were before!'
'I wish I could,' she thought, 'but it's just a bit hard to forget your siblings' deaths.'
Suddenly Gil-luin lowered himself to his horse-knees, his own way of saying, 'Mount up, silly Elf.' Adariel smiled slightly and did as ordered. She placed her bow across her lap diagonally, the top of the weapon near Gil-luin's left ear. She turned him with her knees as she gathered the reigns to face the ladder, and was surprised to find Haldir standing at the bottom of it.
'Stupid Lórien marchwarden. I hope the other Elves here aren't like you or your border guard friends, because then I'll have gotten my siblings killed for even less of a cause then I've got now. At least your brothers are decent.'
"Are you ready, my lady?" he demanded. His tone suggested that they were leaving whether or not she was ready.
"I am," she replied simply. She glanced up and saw Rúmil, then Orophin, climbing down the ladder. Hope rose within her; if they were to come, perhaps Haldir wouldn't be so cold.
Orophin moved forward and took the reigns from her, throwing her a smile. She smiled faintly in return and inclined her head toward him. Rúmil took a single step forward. "We shall be accompanying you as well, my lady. I hope it isn't a trouble."
"No trouble at all, Lord Rúmil," she said. It wasn't worth the bother of telling him that she shouldn't have even been alive.
"Let us go," Haldir said. He walked briskly past her, and she watched him as he did so; if she hadn't, she would have missed the slight glance the threw her as he passed. Of course, she read that glance as well she read him when he had met her eyes head on, but she couldn't help but feel that there was some hope for the cold marchwarden. Not much, mind, but some.
^*^
"If you don't mind my asking, my lady, how do you fair with that excellent weapon you carry?" Orophin asked. Until then, they had been traveling east in silence, and Adariel was grateful for the break in the quiet.
"I do not mind, Lord Orophin. I fair well enough, but, while everyone may benefit from practice and improvement, I in particular would better from it," she replied. 'If I had continued going to the archery range despite *him* I may have been able to save them,' she added in her thoughts, but didn't dare speak aloud; because then they would want to know who 'he' was, and that was another subject she didn't like to speak of.
"Perhaps we may help you better yourself," he commented. "What of your skills with a blade? I see that you do not carry one."
"Because I cannot use one," she replied. "Despite the teachings of family and friends, I never could grasp the use of a blade as well as that of a bow."
"Ah," he said. "We cannot allow that, my lady. Not at all. However, I myself am in no position to instruct you. Perhaps Haldir or Rúmil would aid you."
"Alas, I am not one to come to for teaching in blade work," Rúmil said. "Haldir is the one for that, if any of us are."
'I'd rather swallow an Orc blade. And I suspect he feels the same.'
"I am not certain that I'm the best for it," Haldir said from the front of their very small procession.
'An evasive maneuver if I ever saw one,' she thought wryly. "If it's all the same," she said, deciding to let Haldir off the hook, "I believe a very dear friend of mine has offered lessons."
"You said before that the teachings of friends had given no result," Orophin pointed out.
"Yes, but those teachings had been by her brothers, not by her."
"And who is this friend that you believe can train you?"
"Arwen Undómiel."
She felt all of the focus of all three marchwardens center on her, but only Rúmil glanced at her; Orophin simply stared for a moment. "The Evenstar?"
"Yes," she replied. "We grew up as cousins - more as half-sisters, in fact - though we have no blood ties. Our parents were very close in friendships, and it carried to their children."
"Then the departure of Lady Celebrían grieved you?" Rúmil asked, as if testing her. But Adariel didn't fault him for it; placing herself in their position, she herself would have been skeptical.
"Yes," Adariel told him. "Very much so. It is one of the worst three days in my memory."
Before Orophin could stop himself: "And what of the other two?"
"I wish not to speak of them," she said shortly, and the discussion was ended abruptly. But the thoughts had already lodged themselves in Adariel's mind.
Her mother and father gone from Middle-earth, her brother and sister dead, Adariel found that she had no purpose left. No true purpose, anyway. What was her point?
'Then again,' a small voice countered, 'if your life was centered entirely around you family, what was you point before?'
Adariel saw the point in that, but accepting it felt wrong. What point did her *siblings* have now?
'Would they want you to abandon their life?'
True...
'Would your parents have their only child left waste away into nothing?'
No, they would not. Her friends would not have her throw everything away, and neither would her family. But, one thought swiftly darkened the others, and just as quickly abolished them:
It was her fault that they were dead. A small part of her couldn't pull away from that fact that she was to blame for her siblings' deaths, and that was the end of it.
A tight band squeezed at her heart, and she raised somewhat teary eyes to the forest canopy. If only she hadn't suggested...
Voices pulled her back to the present. "-ly silent, Haldir. What troubles you?" Orophin was saying.
She looked at the ground to her right. Adariel had the impression that he was uncomfortable speaking of the cause of his silence in front of her. But she didn't comment on it; instead she stated, "Silence can be golden, Lord Orophin. Do not be so swift to judge it when you encounter it."
He attention shifted to her as Haldir looked back at her. Had he been anyone else, she would have sworn that she'd seen surprised gratitude. But of course, he was himself, not someone else, and Adariel decided that she must have imagined it and merely inclined her head toward him.
"Some silence is golden my lady, but not all," Orophin said, drawing her attention. "And it seems that the most encountered kind is the least favorable."
"Really?" she replied. "Most of the silence I myself have encountered is the thoughtful sort. Reflective, or simply just companionable. Then again, I have never been offered a chance at being a border guard nor marchwarden. Though perhaps they are the same, I see marchwarden as being a higher honor."
"A great honor it is," Rúmil said. "And those greatest among us are of such an order." Adariel saw him glance at his younger brother up at the front, who to all appearances was totally ignoring them. But Adariel felt otherwise, though she had no way to prove it.
"I find that believable," she replied simply. It was at that moment that, at the bottom of a slope, Gil-luin chose to slow and stop, refusing to take a single step forward. Adariel herself didn't try to coax him into moving; she knew that when he truly chose to stop, there was no moving him. She herself was tired anyway, and they hadn't stopped at all throughout the day. Her aches, which had faded, were returning in full force, and her body was *tired*. She wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep forever.
"I think," the eldest of the three brothers said with a half-smile, "that our four-legged companion is trying to tell us something."
Haldir turned from part way up the slope and looked at the gelding, then at her. Though Adariel felt as if she were hiding her weariness well, he must have seen it; the evidence was in his words.
"Perhaps we should stop for the night. The Lord and Lady will understand."
Of course, there was no evident compassion in his voice, but Adariel didn't mind. She was tired, and as a healer herself she felt that her shoulder needed to be tended to. Adariel dismounted and led Gil-luin over to a patch of grass, where she took the reigns off of him and let him graze. There was, of course, no saddle to tend to, as Elves rode bareback. She walked back to where her escorts were and found that there was already a small, protected fire blazing, with a bed roll set near it, and the three were positioned around the fire and bed roll like some sort of guard.
It was some time later, after Adariel had tended to her shoulder (with the help of Rúmil, as she was right handed and the wound was on her right shoulder), when Haldir stood and said quietly, "My lady, if you would follow me."
Intrigued, she pulled the Lórien cloak about her tighter and followed him up the slope. At the top, there was a bit of a clearing, and from her high view point she saw the most magnificent trees she had ever dreamed possible. They were enormous, even from her distance, and golden leaves shone in the fading sun.
"Caras Galadhon," he told her quietly as she stared in awe. "The home of the Galadhrim, and Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel."
There was silence for a moment, and in the evening sun, watching the gently drifting golden leaves of the mellorns at the City of the Galadhirm, Adariel nearly forgot her troubles. Nearly.
"We should be there tomorrow, before the sun reaches noon point. We have made good time."
There was silence again, and Adariel turned away, her shadow returning. She had no right to be in Lothlórien while her siblings lay dead. That, above all things, was what she was most sure of.
^*^
Well? Reviews are really nice... the perfect Valentine's Day gift for me...