Live and Love

Recap:

Gwenneth nodded, and waited for him to continue. "Emotionally, she is badly wounded and scarred, but since she will not tell me by what, I am of little power to help her," Aragorn looked sadly at the young girl, silently hoping that his prayer would be answered in this girl, that she would help him to heal Tithen's wounded soul. "The only thing I know for sure is that it has something to do with your death."

Back to the Story.

Gwenneth bowed her head. What should she do? Tell him all? Tell him only as much as he needed to know? Tell him nearly nothing? Should she burden him this way? Such thoughts were foolish, she reminded herself. The Valar would not have let her do this if they did not think it wise, for her, Meren or Aragorn. Too much was now at stake.

"You are right, of course," she began softly, gathering all her strength and courage to tell the story. "All of Meren's troubles begin with me. I believe she has told you of what happened when I was two and she six?"

"Yes, she has," Aragorn replied, watching the child in front of him intently. The joy that had emanated from her earlier had dissipated, to be replaced by sorrow. "But you survived, so that cannot be what haunts her."

Gwenneth took a deep breath. This was not easy for her.

"It is not what haunts her, but it is where the trouble started. Do you know what happens the first time an untrained, but gifted healer brings back someone from the brink of death?"

Aragorn shook his head. "No, only that it is not good for either the healer or the healed."

"Precisely. Lord Elrond is very wise to teach you that," she paused, thinking of the best way to describe it. "When Meren's healer spirit took over and she followed me into the spirit realm, she had no knowledge to draw on, only instinct. When she saw me passing through the veil, her instinct told her to step part way through as well, and then draw both of us back to life, which she did, not knowing better.

"But she should not have stepped through the barrier, even part way. When she did, she connected herself, ever so slightly, to the side of death; a lifeline, a spiders thread of sorts, if that is not contradictory.

"But even beyond that, because of the way she followed me and healed me, because we went part way through the veil together, and she did not know how to prevent it, our spirits were…welded…or fused, together. Our spirits became like conjoined twins."

"Ahh," Aragorn said, beginning to understand. He had heard of such things from Elrond, and he knew that a milder form of this occurred in all twins and multiple-birth children, like his foster brothers.

"Fortunately, she subconsciously learned after we joined not to do it. It is the burned hand that teaches best the lessons about fire," Gwenneth assured Aragorn. "But we were joined, and neither of us knew of anyway to undo it; we did not know that it had occurred.

"But from that moment, Meren took on a burden that no one should, or indeed can, carry—she made herself guardian of my life. She felt that she was the only one who could protect me, heal me, and that if I died, it would be her fault."

Gwenneth looked at Aragorn with eyes blazing with sorrow and anger. "She was a six-year-old child! No one could have done what she tried to do. She had taken the weight of the world, her world, on her shoulders, and it was slowly crushing her. She was a child, growing up under that weight!"

She calmed herself with effort. She needed to tell him, but only enough. He would have to hear Meren tell it if she were to heal.

"The winter I was six, and she ten, I contracted pneumonia. You may remember that Meren told you I had never been strong, and that the midwife had not actually expected me to live more than a few days. My parents knew that I was with them on borrowed time, and knew that this was most likely to be my last sickness. But Meren refused to listen to reason. She had made herself guardian of my life, and was determined not to fail.

"Meren was ten," the little girl emphasized to Aragorn. "A child. You, a fully trained healer, could have done nothing for me. She was untrained, and trying to save her world.

"She had been awake for five days, trying to keep me alive and heal me. My parents had wanted to fetch the healer as soon as they noticed me coughing, but a storm had started and they knew better than to rise out in it. They would have gladly risked their lives, but they knew that they would never make it to the village to fetch the healer, let alone bring her back.

"Finally, the storm subsided. Desperate to save both their daughters, they agreed that Ada should take Meren with him to fetch the healer. They could see that she was as close to death as I was, and hoped that she would sleep during the ride."

"What happened to her after that, I do not know. My parents will not tell me, and I do not have any knowledge of it simply because I am dead. I know she must have felt the tearing as my spirit, and part of her's, crossed the barrier, but I have no recollection of dying," she concluded regretfully. "You will have to press her for information. You will have to gently force her to tell you, or she will never heal. Now, it is time for you to return to a more restful sleep. There is much I must tell you, and we have much to do before my sister can truly heal, so you will be seeing more of me," Gwenneth lay her small hand on Aragorn's head. "Go now, with my blessings, that you may be a blessing unto my sister. When she wakes, tell her this. 'We live and we love. We forgive. We never give up.' She will understand." And Aragorn knew no more.

AN: "We live" etc is taken from a Superchick song of the same name.

Eleanor Rigby- who says the story ends when the snow melt? It's going to take more than one story to completely heal this girl. (This, by the way, is a shameless hint that there is a sequel in the making.)

Luinthien- well, he learned something, but not everything. Hope you enjoyed it!