I do not own Lord of the Rings or any of it's memorabilia.
- - - Grace - - -
We waited all day. Gimli, Legolas and I. They had given us our own little room, complete with dirty old mattress, and then left us to ourselves. I think they knew we wanted it that way. Our own time to grieve. I still couldn't believe Aragorn was gone. Even after several hours it still hadn't sunk in.
And so there I was, lying on that dirty mattress - probably getting several hundred diseases in the process - and staring at the ceiling. It had cracks in it. Lots of cracks.
"Do you think he could still be alive?" I asked no one in particular. They didn't have to ask who I was talking about.
"I do not know. I do not see how he could be. But we must not lose faith," was Legolas' reply.
Yeah, well, know what I know? I know someone had to fix that roof or when it rained there would be some very wet, very unhappy people. Also known as me. And what's this about "But we must not lose faith"? Helloooo! You just crushed my hopes and dreams with the "I don't see how he could be" comment.
I think Legolas got that impression when I rolled over and faced Gimli instead of him. Hey, lookee, cracks on the wall too. This whole place was going to collapse on my head, I just knew it. Oh goody. This just wasn't my day, was it?
I honestly don't think any of us slept until early morning. Well, Legolas rarely sleeps but I know Gimli and I didn't. Instead, we talked about all the things we had been through. They told me what had happened with the Council and in Moria. Then we talked about our homes. Wait. They talked about their homes. I didn't say anything about mine. I know Legolas wanted to ask but he was too polite to. It was then I realized that Gimli didn't even know about my suicide attempts. Unless Aragorn (when I thought that, I let out a sob and they both looked at me like I was crazy) or Legolas had told him.
Finally, at first light, I dropped off. Gimli was sleeping and Legolas looked pretty deep in thought. I was probably only sleeping for an hour before Legolas (did I say he was polite? I'm sorry, I take that back!) decided to wake me up. We needed to go for a walk. Actually, I'm glad he woke me up. I had been dreaming of Aragorn and it was driving me insane. We wandered around the fortress for a good portion of an hour.
Hásfeld, a man who I had met on the way there and wasn't too fond of, saw us and called my name. I took one look, saw who it was, grabbed Legolas' hand a ran. Soon it was him dragging me around. He pulled me into what had most likely been a food-storage at one time. It was a small room with cupboards on all sides, so as soon as Legolas had shut the door I was pressed up against his body.
I could feel him moving his hand down near my waist. It brushed mine and for a moment I thought he was going to link his fingers through mine. Instead, he brought it up and brushed a strand of my hair off my cheek. His fingers lingered there and I could feel shivers running down my back. After a moment he seemed to realize what he was doing and quickly moved his hand away. I could still feel his warm fingers on my cheeks and I bit my lip, turning my head to door.
"Is anyone out there?" I whispered, knowing he'd be able to tell better than I would.
Gently he pressed a leaf-shaped ear to the door. I had always wanted to touch his ears. I guessed that since he had let his hand wander on my cheek, I could take this opportunity and touch his ears. Lightly, I touched the top of his left ear and he froze. I heard him take a breath and I think I'm right in saying it was slightly shaky.
I let my fingers trail on his ears for maybe a minute before I let my hand drop to my side again. Legolas' eyes were closed and he swallowed. He looked shaken and I thought maybe he was sick. Can elves get sick?
"Legolas," I said quietly and he opened my eyes. "Are you alright?"
Swallowing again, he nodded. "There is no one out there," he said, and this time I knew his voice was wavering.
I reached for the door knob at the same time he did. His hand bumped mine and I quickly muttered an apology and withdrew mine. He gave me an odd look, you know, the ones you can't read, and opened the door. Of course he was right. There was no one there. We strolled back to the open air where we could see for miles. I watched Legolas scan the horizon and remembered the shivers I had gotten when he touched my cheek.
- - - Gimli - - -
The elf and the lass were already outside when I appeared. Clouds were hanging over us and I knew it would rain before the end of the day. There was a pain in my back from riding that blasted horse all day yesterday.
Then the fair lady Éowyn graced us with her presence and the day seemed a bit brighter. She reminded me of the fair Lady of Lórien. Her hair spread around her hair when she walked. It caught the light and made me think if the Lady's hair. Unconsciously, I reached and touched the hair I had from the Lady. I would treasure it always. Then the elf let out a cry.
"What is that in the distance?"
- - - Legolas - - -
I knew none of them could see it. But as soon as I knew who it was, I ran off, Grace behind me. She called me and I came to a stop.
"Legolas," she asked, "what is it? What did you see?"
"Estel," I said.
Her eyes widened and she started to run again. Easily, I caught her and took her hand so I could lead her along. As soon as she saw Aragorn I felt her hand tighten painfully on mine. Then she let go and ran forward, screaming. I stopped and watched her, smiling.
"ARAGORN!"
He almost fell over when she hit him. I could see a cut on his right arm and I didn't think she had seen it yet so I moved forward and gently grasped her wrist as she was about the throw herself on him again. I nodded to his arm and her eyes widened.
"You're hurt!"
Aragorn looked terrible. Tired, cut and bruised. But happy. Happy to be back with us. Then an angered look came onto Grace's normally striking face. She let out an infuriated noise and was about to say something when Gimli came up beside her.
"Aragorn," he said pleasantly and clapped him on the shoulder.
"Gimli," Estel replied, smiling. He soon stopped smiling when Grace hit him on the shoulder. "What was that for?" he asked, bewildered.
"Why did you do that?" Grace ranted. "They wouldn't let me come after you." She pointed to me and Gimli, who shared an amused glance. Aragorn shot a smile at me and I took my opportunity to get a word in.
"You're late."
Then I handed him Arwen's necklace. If you had not known him as long as I had, you would not have even seen the look of relief that crossed his face. I barely saw it. Grace looked back and forth from my face to his. Then she seemed to realize how tired he was.
"Come! I'm gonna take you to sleep on the lumpy mattress and clean your arm."
Aragorn laughed weakly at this and followed her.
(A/N: Mwahaha, they get closer and closer… will it never cease!? I dunno… Stay tuned to find out! Same bat time, same bat place! Don't forget to Review!!!)