Since there is a flashback in this one, and the italics don't work, I've decided that *\/*\/* will signal the beginning and end of flashbacks, as well as signalling breaks in the flashback for little blips that occur in the present. Does that make sense? I hope so... Stupid italics...
Oh, and by the way, this chapter is kinda... weird. It isn't nessisarly written very well, either. Sorry 'bout that. But, in any case, on with the show!
^*^
The Dark Star
Part Four
Tours and Destructive Memories
The next morning, Adariel was adjusting her hair in front of the rectangular mirror, pulling her dark locks into a half horse tail and pinning it in a frosted silver, ivy vine patterned clip. It had dried into ringlets during the night, which was a rare occurance, but one she treasured everytime it *did* occur. Aradalien had always insisted that Adariel looked beautiful no matter what her hair did, but she knew that Aradalien had only said it to make her feel more confidant around the men-folk. Adariel had always known that her twin's efforts were in vain.
There was a gentle knock at the door. "Come in!" she called, putting a curl in place before leaving her bedroom and entering the main room.
Vinya, wearing a green and white gown much like Adariel's, her blond hair shining and her light blue eyes sparkling, entered the talan in a friendly whirl.
"Did you sleep well?" she asked.
"Yes, thank you." Adariel didn't mention that most of her night had been spent in tears for her siblings.
"If you're ready, I've found you a guide. I've arranged to have someone stock the room while we're gone-"
"I wasn't planning on staying long; I must get back to Rivendell."
"Nevermind that for now," Vinya said, waving the dark haired woman's statement away. "But are you ready? He's waiting for us."
Adariel nearly asked who 'he' was, but decided against it. "I am as ready as I will ever be," she said with a sigh.
She followed Vinya out the door, and they walked down the flight of five steps and turned right. They passed over a walkway, and turned right again to walk down the steps surrounding a mellorn tree. That entrance to the stairway was about halfway up the steps, she noted as they walked downward.
When they were near the bottom, she finally lifted her eyes up and was surprized to see Orophin standing on the ground below. He was dressed in a white tunic made of fine material with green trim, and green trousers with black boots. The two looked very much coordinated, and Adariel bit back a small smile. One couldn't help but wonder if that had purposely been arranged by one or the other.
The young marchwarden turned as Adariel and Vinya decended the last few steps. He grinned rather cheekily at them. Adariel inclined her head, but Vinya returned a beaming smile. It seemed to the Rivendell-Elf, however, that he carefully avoided Vinyaandúnêwen's gaze.
'She was right: Her name truly is a mouthful,' she thought as Orophin moved forward.
"My Lady, I am honored to be in your presence once more," he said with playful flamboyance.
She graced him with the small smile she had held back. "I am equally honored, Marchwarden Orophin."
He offered his arm. "Shall we begin, Lady Adariel?"
She gently laid her hand on his forearm, glancing at Vinya. To her shock, the normally cheery girl looked... despondent. A small frown creased her brow, then eased as she faced the marchwarden. "We shall, Lord Orophin. Vinya, you will come with us, won't you? I do believe I shall require a female point of view as well."
The girl looked at her strangely for a moment, then broke into a smile. "Of course, Adariel. I would be loath to miss it."
"Wonderful." She looked to Orophin. "Shall we?"
The tour went as well as to be expected, if not better, with Vinya and Orophin happily giving full (and sometimes lengthy) answers to all of her questions. In fact, by the time they were nearly finished, Adariel was in a much better mood, for all the fact that her siblings' blood was on her hands was continuously lingering in the back of her mind.
"And now, my lady," Orophin said as they turned back toward the east, "we head for the ranges."
A part of her lit up, but something happened, something that instantly extinguished her enthusiasm. Archery ranges. Something her brother would never visit again.An ability her sister would never gain. Adariel fought for breath as they proceeded, her antics unseen.
"You said that you could use a bow, my Lady, would you like to show us?" Orophin was asking. It was amazing that she could even hear him, let alone understand.
"No!" she cried, startling Vinya, Orophin, and every other Elf nearby. "No! No archery, no ranges!"
*\/*\/*
"Nurar, do you smell that?" Aradalien asked.
He lifted his chin slighly, watching their surroundings as they went rode ever-south. "Yes," he said finally. "Yes, I smell it."
"What is it?" she asked fearfully. Unlike Adariel, and most certinaly unlike Nurardion, she'd never truly grasped the art of any weapon, and had been forced to leave them behind. Who would want the unnessisary weight of a weapon that wouldn't be used?
"Orcs, I think," Adariel said softly. Her brother nodded verification as she continued, "We *are* near the Goblin Gate, anyway."
"And we're making our way towards Moria," Nurar pointed out.
"We can't make a more direct path for Lothlórien?" Aradalien asked.
"It's best to stay near the mountains," Adariel said honestly, though it sounded as if she wished they didn't have to. "For all our brother's excellent sense of direction, I fear we may accidentally end up in Southern Mirkwood insted of the Golden Wood."
Nurardion snorted. "With you as my aide in this, I wouldn't be surprized if it *did* happen."
She made a face at him. "Hush, you. Who, pray, is the one who taught me?"
"Me, but that means little."
"Whatever you say," she muttered.
"Adariel!"
*\/*\/*
"Lady Adariel!"
She pulled away from Orophin, staring with wide, over bright eyes that were nearly overflowing. Vinya looked concerned and afraid, and those emotions were copied on Orophin's face. The eyes of any and all passersby were trained on her. Yet she felt none.
Adariel's hands moved up to cover her mouth as she backed away and began to tremble.
*\/*\/*
"Aradalien, perhaps you should stay closer to Nurar," Adariel said. She did *not* like the feeling emenating from the stones of Moria. Something was very wrong.
"Nonsense," was the brisk reply. "I trust you. You're as good an archer as he is, at any rate."
Adariel didn't reply and looked up at the over cast sky, it's gray hue a rather foreboding color. She squinted at it as her eyes saw flurries of snow. That's all that would show, unfortunately. Flurries. She most certainly would not have minded true snow.
"Adariel?"
"Yes?"
"Do you hear that?"
She focused, and realized that her thoughts had taken her away from her surroundings. For the first time she noted a harsh yet forcefully soft scuffling against the ground, and a low growl. She gasped.
"Run!"
*\/*\/*
Orophin moved toward her, but she scrambled away as if he were her greatest enemy. He extended a hand to her. "Lady Adariel, please, what is wrong? What troubles you?"
Still she backed away, and Orophin was left at a loss. He whirled. "Find my brother. And a healer!"
"Which one?" someone - he didn't notice who - asked.
"Which ever you find first, now go! Someone else, go to Lady Galadriel!"
*\/*\/*
Adariel raced back to their small camp, Aradalien right in front of her. She hesitated in yelling to Nurardion, but decided to do so anyway, since herself and her siblings were already found. "Nurar!" she yelled. "Nurar, Orcs!"
She ran to Gil-luin and hauled her pack, bow, and quiver off of him. "Gil-luin, run. Run as fast and as far as you can. You'll know when - if - to come back."
Knowing that her gelding understood, Adariel raced over to her sister's mare, pulling her long hair away from her quiver. Within an instant the mare was weightless and following Gil-luin. She did the same to her brother's mare, then ran to stand near her sister, watching and listening to their surroundings. "Nurar!"
"Nurar!" Aradalien called. "Nurar, where are you?!"
"Nurar!"
Adariel cut off abruptly when her brother appeared from a small group of tall rocks, fending off an Orc. Aradalien screamed and grabbed her twin's shoulder, who quickly pulled away, yanked out an arrow, and shot her brother's opponent. He nodded to her.
"Thanks," he called.
"What on earth was *that*?" she demanded irritatedly. "No more stunts!"
"I never- Look out!"
*\/*\/*
A wave of relief washed over Orophin as he saw this older brother walk briskly up to him. "It's lady Adariel," he explained to Haldir. "I don't know what is wrong! She looks as if I were her most feared enemy, and that she is in a place that is not Lórien. She keeps going on about her brother and sister, how it's her fault, whatever 'it' is. She was fine one moment, the next-"
"Hallucinations," Haldir muttered. He'd seen it before, in Elves who had suffered through terrible horrors. It simply hadn't occured to him that there was more behind her ill health than malnourishment. He took a cautious step toward her, extending his hand, almost like a peace offering. "Lady Adariel, listen to me..."
*\/*\/*
Adariel whirled, shooting an arrow at the beast behind her. "It's an ambush! Adariel, Aradalien, run!" Nurar yelled, ripping his sword from his sheath and defending himself against several Orc attackers.
"You heard him, Aradalien, run!" she snarled through gritted teeth, firing arrow after arrow.
"No, I won't leave you!"
A cry erupted from Adariel's left, and she whirled to find her brother falling to his knees, his posture stiffened in pain and surprise. She jerked her dagger from its sheath, gave it absentmindedly to her sister, and ran over to him.
She caught him as he sagged to the ground. Unable to support his weight, she sank to her knees, holding her brother up the best she could. "Nurar!" she cried.
"Run, Adariel," he gasped. "Take your sister and run..."
Tears began streaking down her cheeks as she gripped her brother. The cause of his suffering was obvious. A rusty ax lay in the stiff hand of the Orc he'd just killed, the same ax that had sliced his back instants before. She shook her head.
"No," she said bluntly, her voice choked with tears. "I won't. Just lie here and pretend..." She couldn't say it. "I'll fend them off. Gil-luin will be back soon, and I'll take you to Lórien. I hear they have decent healers..."
With visible effort, Nurardion reached up and cupped her cheek. "I am so sorry..." He hand faltered, then slid away from her face and fell onto his own chest.
"Nurar." Adariel shook him slighly. He didn't move, didn't respond. "Nurar!" She shook him again, a bit harder, and still he stared blankly up at the sky, and did nothing else. "Nurardion!"
Adariel gently laid him back, struggling to keep herself from screaming in agony. His sword was still clasped tightly in his hand. She grabbed it and savagely attacked the first Orc she came across.
She fortuitously killed that beast, then another, but it was only a matter of time before the blade was knocked out of her hand. She snatched her bow, but the thing slid in and swiped at her, doing its best to hit *anything*. And it succeeded: the bow string was sliced neatly in two, a rust color remaining on the area that was cut.
There was a scream behind her, and she whirled to find Aradalien. Her twin was, however, no where to be found. "Arada-" Her cry was cut off short in a scream of pain as the rusted blade sank deep into her right shoulder.
Someone spun her around. "Adariel!"
She frowned. No one was there. Yet the voice was slightly familiar...
"Lady Adariel, listen to me!"
*\/*\/*
"Adariel!"
She gasped and did her best to pull away from whoever had a grip on her shoulders. When they didn't let go, she looked to see who it was with wide eyes. But instead, she broke down and sobbed into their chest.
^*^
Adariel stared at the mug of tea in her hand with red rimmed eyes, a blanket over her shoulders and sitting in a feeble position of insecurity, her posture something that would have made even the most relaxed (or, indeed, strongest) manners instructor faint. A few curls fell forward to frame her face as Lord Celeborn sat down on the small couch before her. His Lady sat beside him, and Marchwardens Haldir and Orophin both sat on a small sofa to her right, Vinya beside the younger of the two. Adariel avoided the gaze of all.
There was silence for sometime before the Lady spoke. "What happened, child?"
It was clear to all present that Galadriel wasn't looking for a technical term of explanation, nor a healer's diagnosis. Adariel closed her eyes and sighed.
"I'm not sure I know. Lord Orophin mentioned archery, and I went... beserk. Mad." She opened her eyes, which were once again brimming, and looked at the Lady. "I- I saw them die. I saw the whole thing, again."
She stopped and looked down again, closing her eyes once more. She knew she should have been humiliated by her behavior, but somehow she couldn't be. But the catch was that she didn't know what to think anymore; grieving for her siblings was self-pity, and she deserved no pity whatsoever, much less that from herself. But with that thought gone, her mind was confused, baffled. The only solidity in her thoughts was the concrete idea that she was to blame. So she anchored herself to that, clinging to a believed truth, desperate for some sort of genuine fact that was so stable in her unstable state.
She closed her eyes again, coming to a decision: She could stay here no longer. "My lady, I believe-" she paused, then forged ahead, "I believe that I should return to Rivendell. My siblings deserve a burial, and we have very dear friends back home that have the right to know... what happened."
Galadriel smiled gently, knowing that the girl had finally made a wise - though rather rash, considering her current state - decision. "I had been expecting this, if not quite so soon. An escort will be assembled to accompany you when you leave tomorrow."
Adariel looked up and opened her mother, and everone knew that she would have protested the use of an escort on her account, but she seemed to realize that this insistance would be brushed aside, and therefore fruitless, and closed her mouth again. She looked back down at the mug in her hands as she whispered, "All right."
"Perhaps," she looked at the speaker, Celeborn, "Lady Vinya will help you prepare, Morelen."
Adariel nodded rather vaguely and stood, shifting the blanket from her shoulders. She laid it gently on the table and placed the mug beside it as Vinya stood, looking uncharacteritically somber. Adariel followed Vinya toward the door, keeping her eyes on the ground. She had lost controll completely...
She paused at the door, her hand resting on the handle. Adariel stood there for the smaller part of a moment before saying to the handle, "Thank you, my Lord, my Lady." She actually look at them when she said, "For everything."
She looked back down at the floor and left without another word, not waiting for a reaction.
^*^
"Marchwarden Orophin, you may leave," Lady Galadriel said gently. "But, I would like to speak with you, Haldir."
Was this about his part in breaking the Morelen from her hallucinations? Or did this have something to do with his letting her into the Wood in the first place? Haldir didn't know if it was either of those, nor if it was anything else. For all he knew, Lady Galadriel wanted to know if he thought the sky was blue, though he doubted it would be something so trivial as sky color. Besides, with the winter storm just passing over, finally moving on, leaving snow in its wake, he doubted that the sky was even blue at that exact moment.
His brother bowed to the Lord and Lady, clasped Haldir's shoulder, perhaps in a good luck gesture, and left. Haldir was on his feet as soon as the Lord and Lady made an attempt at standing. Galadriel watched him for a moment before moving toward the door. "Walk with me, Marchwarden," she said. Haldir detected no emotion other than amicable kindness, though it was placed at a short distance.
He nodded and followed, just as he was expected, careful to keep his confusion from his expression. Emotions had never done anything except get in his way; therefore, it was easiest to act as though they didn't exist. It had made his life a little easier, at any rate.
Until they were in the Lady's Glade, there was silence; but not long after they had stepped into the garden, Galadriel said, "I must ask you to lead Lady Adariel's escort when she departs for Imladris."
When he didn't respond - or perhaps because of the lack - she continued. "You have shown me something that I believe is required when watching over this woman. She is vulnerable, and will need someone who will aide her in coping that vulnerablility."
"With all respect, my Lady," he said hesitantly, "I believe that matters of the mind are not exactly my... specialty."
"This is no contest of specialties, Marchwarden," Galadriel told him. He couldn't tell what she was thinking. She turned to face him directly, and Haldir was forced to meet her gaze. "Adariel Morelen was once a strongwilled person, but has since been weakened, and not merely by the death of her siblings. She cannot do this alone, despite what she may say."
What was he to say to that? Haldir hadn't the slightest idea. So, he merely nodded. "Yes, my Lady."
^*^
I told you that there was a strange part! Was it too strange? I hope not. A reivew would be really nice, but the way... big smiles
Oh, and by the way, this chapter is kinda... weird. It isn't nessisarly written very well, either. Sorry 'bout that. But, in any case, on with the show!
^*^
The Dark Star
Part Four
Tours and Destructive Memories
The next morning, Adariel was adjusting her hair in front of the rectangular mirror, pulling her dark locks into a half horse tail and pinning it in a frosted silver, ivy vine patterned clip. It had dried into ringlets during the night, which was a rare occurance, but one she treasured everytime it *did* occur. Aradalien had always insisted that Adariel looked beautiful no matter what her hair did, but she knew that Aradalien had only said it to make her feel more confidant around the men-folk. Adariel had always known that her twin's efforts were in vain.
There was a gentle knock at the door. "Come in!" she called, putting a curl in place before leaving her bedroom and entering the main room.
Vinya, wearing a green and white gown much like Adariel's, her blond hair shining and her light blue eyes sparkling, entered the talan in a friendly whirl.
"Did you sleep well?" she asked.
"Yes, thank you." Adariel didn't mention that most of her night had been spent in tears for her siblings.
"If you're ready, I've found you a guide. I've arranged to have someone stock the room while we're gone-"
"I wasn't planning on staying long; I must get back to Rivendell."
"Nevermind that for now," Vinya said, waving the dark haired woman's statement away. "But are you ready? He's waiting for us."
Adariel nearly asked who 'he' was, but decided against it. "I am as ready as I will ever be," she said with a sigh.
She followed Vinya out the door, and they walked down the flight of five steps and turned right. They passed over a walkway, and turned right again to walk down the steps surrounding a mellorn tree. That entrance to the stairway was about halfway up the steps, she noted as they walked downward.
When they were near the bottom, she finally lifted her eyes up and was surprized to see Orophin standing on the ground below. He was dressed in a white tunic made of fine material with green trim, and green trousers with black boots. The two looked very much coordinated, and Adariel bit back a small smile. One couldn't help but wonder if that had purposely been arranged by one or the other.
The young marchwarden turned as Adariel and Vinya decended the last few steps. He grinned rather cheekily at them. Adariel inclined her head, but Vinya returned a beaming smile. It seemed to the Rivendell-Elf, however, that he carefully avoided Vinyaandúnêwen's gaze.
'She was right: Her name truly is a mouthful,' she thought as Orophin moved forward.
"My Lady, I am honored to be in your presence once more," he said with playful flamboyance.
She graced him with the small smile she had held back. "I am equally honored, Marchwarden Orophin."
He offered his arm. "Shall we begin, Lady Adariel?"
She gently laid her hand on his forearm, glancing at Vinya. To her shock, the normally cheery girl looked... despondent. A small frown creased her brow, then eased as she faced the marchwarden. "We shall, Lord Orophin. Vinya, you will come with us, won't you? I do believe I shall require a female point of view as well."
The girl looked at her strangely for a moment, then broke into a smile. "Of course, Adariel. I would be loath to miss it."
"Wonderful." She looked to Orophin. "Shall we?"
The tour went as well as to be expected, if not better, with Vinya and Orophin happily giving full (and sometimes lengthy) answers to all of her questions. In fact, by the time they were nearly finished, Adariel was in a much better mood, for all the fact that her siblings' blood was on her hands was continuously lingering in the back of her mind.
"And now, my lady," Orophin said as they turned back toward the east, "we head for the ranges."
A part of her lit up, but something happened, something that instantly extinguished her enthusiasm. Archery ranges. Something her brother would never visit again.An ability her sister would never gain. Adariel fought for breath as they proceeded, her antics unseen.
"You said that you could use a bow, my Lady, would you like to show us?" Orophin was asking. It was amazing that she could even hear him, let alone understand.
"No!" she cried, startling Vinya, Orophin, and every other Elf nearby. "No! No archery, no ranges!"
*\/*\/*
"Nurar, do you smell that?" Aradalien asked.
He lifted his chin slighly, watching their surroundings as they went rode ever-south. "Yes," he said finally. "Yes, I smell it."
"What is it?" she asked fearfully. Unlike Adariel, and most certinaly unlike Nurardion, she'd never truly grasped the art of any weapon, and had been forced to leave them behind. Who would want the unnessisary weight of a weapon that wouldn't be used?
"Orcs, I think," Adariel said softly. Her brother nodded verification as she continued, "We *are* near the Goblin Gate, anyway."
"And we're making our way towards Moria," Nurar pointed out.
"We can't make a more direct path for Lothlórien?" Aradalien asked.
"It's best to stay near the mountains," Adariel said honestly, though it sounded as if she wished they didn't have to. "For all our brother's excellent sense of direction, I fear we may accidentally end up in Southern Mirkwood insted of the Golden Wood."
Nurardion snorted. "With you as my aide in this, I wouldn't be surprized if it *did* happen."
She made a face at him. "Hush, you. Who, pray, is the one who taught me?"
"Me, but that means little."
"Whatever you say," she muttered.
"Adariel!"
*\/*\/*
"Lady Adariel!"
She pulled away from Orophin, staring with wide, over bright eyes that were nearly overflowing. Vinya looked concerned and afraid, and those emotions were copied on Orophin's face. The eyes of any and all passersby were trained on her. Yet she felt none.
Adariel's hands moved up to cover her mouth as she backed away and began to tremble.
*\/*\/*
"Aradalien, perhaps you should stay closer to Nurar," Adariel said. She did *not* like the feeling emenating from the stones of Moria. Something was very wrong.
"Nonsense," was the brisk reply. "I trust you. You're as good an archer as he is, at any rate."
Adariel didn't reply and looked up at the over cast sky, it's gray hue a rather foreboding color. She squinted at it as her eyes saw flurries of snow. That's all that would show, unfortunately. Flurries. She most certainly would not have minded true snow.
"Adariel?"
"Yes?"
"Do you hear that?"
She focused, and realized that her thoughts had taken her away from her surroundings. For the first time she noted a harsh yet forcefully soft scuffling against the ground, and a low growl. She gasped.
"Run!"
*\/*\/*
Orophin moved toward her, but she scrambled away as if he were her greatest enemy. He extended a hand to her. "Lady Adariel, please, what is wrong? What troubles you?"
Still she backed away, and Orophin was left at a loss. He whirled. "Find my brother. And a healer!"
"Which one?" someone - he didn't notice who - asked.
"Which ever you find first, now go! Someone else, go to Lady Galadriel!"
*\/*\/*
Adariel raced back to their small camp, Aradalien right in front of her. She hesitated in yelling to Nurardion, but decided to do so anyway, since herself and her siblings were already found. "Nurar!" she yelled. "Nurar, Orcs!"
She ran to Gil-luin and hauled her pack, bow, and quiver off of him. "Gil-luin, run. Run as fast and as far as you can. You'll know when - if - to come back."
Knowing that her gelding understood, Adariel raced over to her sister's mare, pulling her long hair away from her quiver. Within an instant the mare was weightless and following Gil-luin. She did the same to her brother's mare, then ran to stand near her sister, watching and listening to their surroundings. "Nurar!"
"Nurar!" Aradalien called. "Nurar, where are you?!"
"Nurar!"
Adariel cut off abruptly when her brother appeared from a small group of tall rocks, fending off an Orc. Aradalien screamed and grabbed her twin's shoulder, who quickly pulled away, yanked out an arrow, and shot her brother's opponent. He nodded to her.
"Thanks," he called.
"What on earth was *that*?" she demanded irritatedly. "No more stunts!"
"I never- Look out!"
*\/*\/*
A wave of relief washed over Orophin as he saw this older brother walk briskly up to him. "It's lady Adariel," he explained to Haldir. "I don't know what is wrong! She looks as if I were her most feared enemy, and that she is in a place that is not Lórien. She keeps going on about her brother and sister, how it's her fault, whatever 'it' is. She was fine one moment, the next-"
"Hallucinations," Haldir muttered. He'd seen it before, in Elves who had suffered through terrible horrors. It simply hadn't occured to him that there was more behind her ill health than malnourishment. He took a cautious step toward her, extending his hand, almost like a peace offering. "Lady Adariel, listen to me..."
*\/*\/*
Adariel whirled, shooting an arrow at the beast behind her. "It's an ambush! Adariel, Aradalien, run!" Nurar yelled, ripping his sword from his sheath and defending himself against several Orc attackers.
"You heard him, Aradalien, run!" she snarled through gritted teeth, firing arrow after arrow.
"No, I won't leave you!"
A cry erupted from Adariel's left, and she whirled to find her brother falling to his knees, his posture stiffened in pain and surprise. She jerked her dagger from its sheath, gave it absentmindedly to her sister, and ran over to him.
She caught him as he sagged to the ground. Unable to support his weight, she sank to her knees, holding her brother up the best she could. "Nurar!" she cried.
"Run, Adariel," he gasped. "Take your sister and run..."
Tears began streaking down her cheeks as she gripped her brother. The cause of his suffering was obvious. A rusty ax lay in the stiff hand of the Orc he'd just killed, the same ax that had sliced his back instants before. She shook her head.
"No," she said bluntly, her voice choked with tears. "I won't. Just lie here and pretend..." She couldn't say it. "I'll fend them off. Gil-luin will be back soon, and I'll take you to Lórien. I hear they have decent healers..."
With visible effort, Nurardion reached up and cupped her cheek. "I am so sorry..." He hand faltered, then slid away from her face and fell onto his own chest.
"Nurar." Adariel shook him slighly. He didn't move, didn't respond. "Nurar!" She shook him again, a bit harder, and still he stared blankly up at the sky, and did nothing else. "Nurardion!"
Adariel gently laid him back, struggling to keep herself from screaming in agony. His sword was still clasped tightly in his hand. She grabbed it and savagely attacked the first Orc she came across.
She fortuitously killed that beast, then another, but it was only a matter of time before the blade was knocked out of her hand. She snatched her bow, but the thing slid in and swiped at her, doing its best to hit *anything*. And it succeeded: the bow string was sliced neatly in two, a rust color remaining on the area that was cut.
There was a scream behind her, and she whirled to find Aradalien. Her twin was, however, no where to be found. "Arada-" Her cry was cut off short in a scream of pain as the rusted blade sank deep into her right shoulder.
Someone spun her around. "Adariel!"
She frowned. No one was there. Yet the voice was slightly familiar...
"Lady Adariel, listen to me!"
*\/*\/*
"Adariel!"
She gasped and did her best to pull away from whoever had a grip on her shoulders. When they didn't let go, she looked to see who it was with wide eyes. But instead, she broke down and sobbed into their chest.
^*^
Adariel stared at the mug of tea in her hand with red rimmed eyes, a blanket over her shoulders and sitting in a feeble position of insecurity, her posture something that would have made even the most relaxed (or, indeed, strongest) manners instructor faint. A few curls fell forward to frame her face as Lord Celeborn sat down on the small couch before her. His Lady sat beside him, and Marchwardens Haldir and Orophin both sat on a small sofa to her right, Vinya beside the younger of the two. Adariel avoided the gaze of all.
There was silence for sometime before the Lady spoke. "What happened, child?"
It was clear to all present that Galadriel wasn't looking for a technical term of explanation, nor a healer's diagnosis. Adariel closed her eyes and sighed.
"I'm not sure I know. Lord Orophin mentioned archery, and I went... beserk. Mad." She opened her eyes, which were once again brimming, and looked at the Lady. "I- I saw them die. I saw the whole thing, again."
She stopped and looked down again, closing her eyes once more. She knew she should have been humiliated by her behavior, but somehow she couldn't be. But the catch was that she didn't know what to think anymore; grieving for her siblings was self-pity, and she deserved no pity whatsoever, much less that from herself. But with that thought gone, her mind was confused, baffled. The only solidity in her thoughts was the concrete idea that she was to blame. So she anchored herself to that, clinging to a believed truth, desperate for some sort of genuine fact that was so stable in her unstable state.
She closed her eyes again, coming to a decision: She could stay here no longer. "My lady, I believe-" she paused, then forged ahead, "I believe that I should return to Rivendell. My siblings deserve a burial, and we have very dear friends back home that have the right to know... what happened."
Galadriel smiled gently, knowing that the girl had finally made a wise - though rather rash, considering her current state - decision. "I had been expecting this, if not quite so soon. An escort will be assembled to accompany you when you leave tomorrow."
Adariel looked up and opened her mother, and everone knew that she would have protested the use of an escort on her account, but she seemed to realize that this insistance would be brushed aside, and therefore fruitless, and closed her mouth again. She looked back down at the mug in her hands as she whispered, "All right."
"Perhaps," she looked at the speaker, Celeborn, "Lady Vinya will help you prepare, Morelen."
Adariel nodded rather vaguely and stood, shifting the blanket from her shoulders. She laid it gently on the table and placed the mug beside it as Vinya stood, looking uncharacteritically somber. Adariel followed Vinya toward the door, keeping her eyes on the ground. She had lost controll completely...
She paused at the door, her hand resting on the handle. Adariel stood there for the smaller part of a moment before saying to the handle, "Thank you, my Lord, my Lady." She actually look at them when she said, "For everything."
She looked back down at the floor and left without another word, not waiting for a reaction.
^*^
"Marchwarden Orophin, you may leave," Lady Galadriel said gently. "But, I would like to speak with you, Haldir."
Was this about his part in breaking the Morelen from her hallucinations? Or did this have something to do with his letting her into the Wood in the first place? Haldir didn't know if it was either of those, nor if it was anything else. For all he knew, Lady Galadriel wanted to know if he thought the sky was blue, though he doubted it would be something so trivial as sky color. Besides, with the winter storm just passing over, finally moving on, leaving snow in its wake, he doubted that the sky was even blue at that exact moment.
His brother bowed to the Lord and Lady, clasped Haldir's shoulder, perhaps in a good luck gesture, and left. Haldir was on his feet as soon as the Lord and Lady made an attempt at standing. Galadriel watched him for a moment before moving toward the door. "Walk with me, Marchwarden," she said. Haldir detected no emotion other than amicable kindness, though it was placed at a short distance.
He nodded and followed, just as he was expected, careful to keep his confusion from his expression. Emotions had never done anything except get in his way; therefore, it was easiest to act as though they didn't exist. It had made his life a little easier, at any rate.
Until they were in the Lady's Glade, there was silence; but not long after they had stepped into the garden, Galadriel said, "I must ask you to lead Lady Adariel's escort when she departs for Imladris."
When he didn't respond - or perhaps because of the lack - she continued. "You have shown me something that I believe is required when watching over this woman. She is vulnerable, and will need someone who will aide her in coping that vulnerablility."
"With all respect, my Lady," he said hesitantly, "I believe that matters of the mind are not exactly my... specialty."
"This is no contest of specialties, Marchwarden," Galadriel told him. He couldn't tell what she was thinking. She turned to face him directly, and Haldir was forced to meet her gaze. "Adariel Morelen was once a strongwilled person, but has since been weakened, and not merely by the death of her siblings. She cannot do this alone, despite what she may say."
What was he to say to that? Haldir hadn't the slightest idea. So, he merely nodded. "Yes, my Lady."
^*^
I told you that there was a strange part! Was it too strange? I hope not. A reivew would be really nice, but the way... big smiles