Chapter Five: Sleep Well, My Lady

The window beside her cast strange shadows across her marred face as he sat across from her. Only moments ago had his confidences given way to the silence that surrounded them now. He had spoken with her, as he had every morning in the week since her forgiveness, for the past hour as they ate breakfast together in their outer chambers. Her soft answers were short but were all the encouragement that he needed to continue in hopes that he would one day be able to coax her to let him see her deep eyes again.

He had seen there a pain that haunted him more than the deaths in any battle he had ever fought and he longed to replace it with the joy he had always seen in even the saddest of elves. He sighed as he finished his tea and felt sadness in knowing he had to leave her for the day. He stood slowly, seeing her tense as he moved, and gathered their dishes onto the tray he had brought them on.

"May your day be pleasant, my lady, and I shall see you again this evening."

"Until then, your majesty," she answered him softly as he knocked on the door, signalling the guards to open it for him.


Maeve sighed deeply; her concern for her lady growing. She had been here two months and still locked the pain that was clearly written in her every movement to herself. She wondered how long the poor creature had been held against her will. She wondered too who she was made to leave behind. Surely she must have had a life before. She was overjoyed at the change in the king. She had thought that perhaps he would be able to help her lady, but she gathered from his sorrowful eyes that morning that he was as unsuccessful as she.

She looked up from her stitching and studied the frail child before her, for curled up on the pelts that lined the floor before the fire that is what her lady appeared. A lost and broken child. Saeorii was oblivious to her observations as she sat with her back against the high hearth, a book in her lap unopened as she stared at the rain chasing its was down the panes of glass that sheltered them from the outside. Maeve watched as a shadow trailed down Saeorii's pale cheek, and realized only as the child reached up to brush it away that it had been a shadow of a different kind. The shadow of pain.


"I have been expecting you," stated Aragorn as a familiar presence filled the small room in which he stood, "or one of the others, to come."

"I should think you would have."

Silence fell between them. Neither moved from where their last words had left them, until at last the silence was broken. The visitor stepped from the shadows, his staff resounding dully on the floor of stone. His voice before had been harsh, but the expression on his old face now was one of compassion.

"I have not come to condemn you, Aragorn, although I must admit that thought crossed my mind during my travels here."

"Does Lord Elrond know that you are here?" he asked quietly as if fearing the answer.

"No. Nor shall he unless I feel that it is necessary. I am here only as counsel to you, and" he paused, embracing the great king of Gondor as a father embraces his long lost child, "as a friend."


Saeorii had nearly cried out as she heard the knock at the door, her mind had not been within the walls of Gondor. Maeve quickly answered the door, and Saeorii heard the voice of the king and stood, trying to straighten her long dress. She heard the door close and the king and another walk towards where she stood.

"My lady, this is my friend…" the king was interrupted.

"Elebreth, save me!"

Saeorii looked up, knowing before she did so who she would see. The wizard moved quickly past the king and she felt herself drawn into the comforting arms of a past before her pain. Remembrances of the time before that she had made herself forget in order to survive, came flooding back as she smelled on him the familiar scent of his pipe. She felt the tightness in her chest from unshed tears and untold pain break as she allowed herself for the first time to cry for all that had been done to her.


Aragorn watched from where he stood frozen in place. He hurt to see such a beautiful creature in such anguish. His heart ached to see her weep for what his heart told him was the first time in her years of pain. He could see little of her tiny frame amid the wizards white robes; only her slender hand that clung to them as if they were her tie to life and her raven head which the wizard stroked gently. The wizard had sank gently to the floor and sat now with his back to him, Saeorii still held to him tightly, but Aragorn did not have to see to know the tears that were upon the wizards face and left quietly knowing that for the moment the wizard would do her much more good than he himself could.
Aragorn was startled from his brooding thoughts at the sound of the door to his right opening. The wizard seemed truly old, and looked as if a great weight were upon him. The dark afternoon had given way to a night darker still. He had returned a short time ago with tea and hopes of learning something from Gandalf about her past. The wizard nodded appreciatively as Aragorn handed him a steaming cup of tea and sighed as he took the first drink. Aragorn knew the wizard well enough to know that it would do no good to press him, and so waited for his friend to speak.

"It breaks my heart to see her this way." He paused. "Terrible things they did to her Aragorn. Things that should be done to no man, but even less, to an elf." His voice wavered slightly, "She has been gone from us for many years. They have stolen so much from her that no one shall ever be able give back."

"Faramir told of the torture they put her through."

"I am afraid that he does not even know the beginning. I am afraid that the most painful scars are those that you cannot see. Men have done terrible things to her. They did not just beat her. They did not just force her to work as their slave." His voice was rising with anger. "They took away from her something that can never be gotten back."

Aragorn had never seen the wizard so angry and felt himself leaning back slightly as the wizard seemed to grow more terrible and powerful with every passing moment.

"I do not understand you, my friend. Please, tell me what has made you so angry."

Gandalf's voice was filled with venom and he spat his words as if they tasted bitter in his mouth.

"They killed those who protected her. Hunted her down like some beast. Took her with them and beat her for their pleasure, and when that did not break her they, they, they stole from her, her most precious gift and used her as they wished!"

Aragorn now fully understood what had been done to her and felt ill with the growing anger and hatred towards those who had done it to her. The wizard sat down as if drained of all his strength shook his head sadly before lapsing into complete silence.

"I would like to help her," Aragorn told him softly.

"Indeed," the wizard answered absently before seeming to fully comprehend what the man had said. He looked towards the door from which he had just come, and then back to Aragorn. "Go to her then. She does not sleep."

Aragorn obeyed the wizard willingly and closed the door quietly behind him. The room was dark except for the light of the ill-tended fire and a candle that sat flickering beside the bed. He strode quietly towards her, not moving to quickly so as to frighten her for he knew he was hidden from her by the curtain which had been half drawn across the bed. He looked at her as he sat in the chair that had been pulled next to the bed.

She would not look at him. She lay on her curled up on her side, her entire body tense at his mere presence. She shivered which to him, did not bode well for elves do not shiver from the cold of the air, but of the heart and of the soul. He reached slowly towards a blanket that was draped across the end of the bed, she flinched at his movement. Her breathing grew quicker with fear as he moved to cover her tiny frame. Instead of returning to his chair though, he sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her, sadness weighing heavy on his heart.

Time passed, although he could not say how long, and she glanced timidly up at him. He smiled. He then began slowly to reach out his hand towards her face. Her eyes left his only long enough to glance at his hand and then return to his eyes showing her own filled with fear and apprehension.

"Please, I beg you not to fear me, lady. I am not like those who held you; my hand will not stray."

With that spoken he rested his hand on her soft cheek. He could feel her pulse racing and hear her uneven breath's. He did not take his hand away; slowly her pulse returned to normal, her breath's falling into the even rhythm of life. Her eyes did not leave his and he could see within them the silent struggle. The fight to keep herself from pulling away from his touch, and hiding from men forever. Moments passed silently before he returned to his chair. He blew out the candle beside him, smelling the smoke as it wafted towards the open window.

"Sleep, my lady, for you are weary. Sleep and I shall stay here at your side until you wake. I shall not move from where I sit, to touch you or harm you in any way. Sleep well, and know that none who mean to harm you shall ever pass through here. Sleep well, my lady. Sleep well. Sleep."

To Be Continued...

Actually know what I'm doing for the next chapter so it should be up pretty soon, might be a little short though.

Estel-Ara: Definately!It was so hard to make Aragorn seem like such a terrible person at first though because I really do like him. Oh well, I'll just have to make up for it in future chapters!

Blacksand: Thank you so much for all of your encouraging comments and I'm glad that you like the idea. Everybody won't, especially those devoted to A&A, but I don't have anything against them but their story's already been told. I'm going for original!

Hwena: Totally not gonna bail! Have to admit though that my other story has been slightly neglected since I started this one, but I'm think I'm getting the hang of ballancing the two. Thanks so much for your review!

Amelia: Thank you so much. Gonna do another chapterfor this story before I do another for "Born of Hope", but still keeping on with both of them. Thanks for all your encouragement!

Christina Anderson: Thank you so much for your wonderful review! I've always wanted to do a romance with him in it but there aren't many so I wondered what the response would be. So far its been good, thanks again!