Thanks to my reviewers mad, lady lily, I-Love-Legolas, and of course, Dana (Pippin). I hope you're still reading this! By the way, I will read anyone's stories who review mine. (Hint hint!)
Leaving Exile
Fiondra surveyed her small bag of items that she was taking with her. Two skirts, two tops, stockings, and underclothes. A brush and mirror that had been her mother's. "So few belongings," Fiondra mumbled to herself. "What else can I take?"
She went to her quiver and added arrows until it was full again. Fiondra laid down the quiver and her bow by her bedside and turned back to her pack. "My herbs," she murmured. "They would be a useful addition. I would need some for healing, and some for cooking. And I'd need some cooking dishes and food." She started out of her room to get the herbs, the food supplies, and the dishes.
The dried bundles were hanging from the kitchen ceiling. Fiondra realized that she would have to creep past her slumbering guests to get what she needed. She peered at the sleeping figures. Gimli was indeed snoring as Legolas had said he would. As quiet a sleeper as the dwarf was loud, the blond elf lay close to the wall that bordered Fiondra's bedroom. His face was relaxed in sleep, and Fiondra smiled at it, in recognition of how he had become so familiar to her in the last day.
Remembering her task, she went into the kitchen quietly and took as many bunches of herbs that she thought her pack would hold. She also grabbed some cooking dishes, along with lembas bread and other food essentials. Fiondra hurried back to her bedroom, her arms laden. She placed the dishes in first, then the food items, neatly wrapped in a linen napkin, and lastly the herbs, taking care not to crush them. Fiondra broke off a few sprigs of athelas and tucked them into her ever-present pouch, in case there should be an injury that needed its healing powers.
Fiondra put a small number of her parents' possessions into her sack and then closed it. She tested the weight so that it would not add to Etul's burden on the lengthy trek they would be going on. Satisfied that her packing was complete, Fiondra changed into her nightgown, and slid into bed. She fell asleep immediately, dreaming of Mirkwood and freedom.
Legolas awoke early. He stood up and stretched his long arms. Through the window, the sun could just barely be seen, peeking over the horizon. Legolas turned away from the sunrise to look down at the still snoring Gimli. Rolling his eyes, Legolas gave the dwarf a swift kick to his rear end. Gimli snorted, rolled over, and blinked the sleep out of his eyes.
"Come Gimli, we need to leave shortly," Legolas said to the grimacing dwarf.
"Right in the middle of a dream about a fair dwarf maiden too. You know, lad, all you'd have to say would be, "wake up, Gimli" and I'd do just that," Gimli grumbled, while rubbing his sore backside.
Legolas smiled and shook his head, and walked to Fiondra's closed bedroom door. He rapped on it lightly with his knuckles, and called, "Fiondra, it is morning. We need to be off." When he got no answer, he slowly opened the door and glanced in. The lady elf was lying curled up in her bed, with her mouth slightly open. Legolas went over and knelt by her. For a moment, he thought to brush a kiss over her parted lips, the very lips that had beckoned to him the day before. His mind intervened though and reminded him of the heartbreak he had suffered so long ago. Fiondra stirred, and instead of kissing her, Legolas brushed back a strand of brown hair that had fallen across her face. "Milady, we must leave shortly."
Fiondra woke up to see the elf's blue eyes scrutinizing her. She gasped and sat up in alarm. Legolas repeated his statement, "We need to be off, Fiondra." He added, "You might like to start by getting dressed and gathering your things." Legolas looked at the soft curves her nightgown could not hide, unable to avert his gaze. Inwardly, he chided himself.
Fiondra frowned in thought, but realized how thin her nightgown was and that his staring at her made it seem that the clothing was completely transparent. Quickly she pulled the quilt up to her chin, and she blushed heavily. "I certainly won't be dressing as long as you remain in my room," she told him huffily.
Legolas grinned. Forlorn, he said, "Ah, well, it was worth a try." He chuckled at Fiondra's indignant glare and closing the door, he went out to ready the horses for the trip.
Arod and Etul had been saddled and fed when Fiondra finally walked out of the house, dressed in a blue skirt and tight-fitting top. She slung her quiver and bow on her back, over her long, gray cloak. Throwing Legolas another look, as he was still grinning at her, Fiondra attached her pack and bedroll to the back of Etul's saddle.
A bit more sober, Legolas handed her a piece of lembas bread that she started to eat in small bites. "Are you ready to leave?" Fiondra finished the filling food and shook her head.
"I've said goodbye to my house," she responded, "But I've one last thing to do." Fiondra walked to her parents' graves over which the yellow elanor was blooming. She pulled a single blossom from each grave and added them to her pouch. So soft that neither the dwarf nor elf could make it out, she whispered, "I am free Mama. At long last I am free, Ada. I wish that you could be with me now to return home. I'm never coming back to this terrible place. Never. I miss you both so much. I love you Ada. I love you Mama." Fiondra started to weep and a hand came to rest on her shoulder.
It was Legolas. "Hiro hyn hîdh ab 'wanath." Fiondra brought her hand up to rest on his and thanked him. He noticed the gratitude in her eyes and it warmed him, to know that he had done something that someone would appreciate. Fiondra pulled her hand back down from where it had been resting. She pressed her palm to her lips, and then touched it to each grave. Legolas took that as her final farewell to the parents she had known and loved. He gave her his hand and she grasped it. Legolas gently pulled her off of the grass. "Now?" he asked her.
Fiondra nodded. "I am ready to go home." She mounted Etul and watched as Legolas helped Gimli to the saddle and then as he himself swung up on Arod. The white horse led the way out of the clearing in the woods and Fiondra on her brown mare followed. Not once did she look back at the home that for her held only memories of pain and sorrow.
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Yellow elanor - A flower borrowed from LOTR: FOTR. It was mentioned while the Fellowship was in Lothlorien and later on, Sam names his first daughter Elanor, after this very flower.
"Hiro hyn hîdh ab 'wanath." – "May they find peace in death." This I borrowed from the Two Towers (movie, not book). It was used in the scene in which Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn all believe the two hobbits, Merry and Pippin, to be dead. Legolas said it in the movie, as well as in my story. It seemed to fit for my scene perfectly so I decided to use it.
Please review. I love writing this story, but if you write any stories on fanfiction, then you know as well as I, that half the fun's in getting reviews from people who enjoy your story. It also helps when you get suggestions from others, as I know that I someday hope to be an author. Thanks to all.
Next chapter will be the start of the journey: Fiondra's first encounter in the "outside world" in centuries.