"Rian?" Taelen asked for the third time.
Rian finally looked away from the fire to see his face in the opening of their shelter.
"Huh?"
"It is your watch," he said, "but if you need to rest, I can-"
"No, sorry," she muttered as she climbed off her bedroll and grabbed her sword and quiver. "I can take over."
The darkness of night wrapped around Rian like a thin blanket as she took her place in the lower branches of a tree on the edge of their campground. She hoped the silence would soothe her heart and allow a few hours of peace.
Aside from the moments of annoyance toward Taelen and Hanna's stolen looks and hidden hand-holding, Rian had felt numb to emotion. She frequently forgot to eat, or couldn't eat when food was prepared. The number of days since leaving Lothlorien was vague, everything blended into a long rainy stretch of despair. She was grateful they were near their destination.
Rian caught her breath when the silence was disturbed as a low hum started floating through the air. The black shapes of trees and bushes darkened, and Rian could barely see the outline of her bow in her hands. Before she could climb down and alert Taelen and Hanna, a tall, dark figure appeared. The humming stopped, and night returned to normal shadowed terrain.
"Good evening, my child," the figure spoke.
Rian squinted, and in the sparse starlight, she could make out the face of her father.
"Why are you here?" Rian whispered. "I did not expect to see you again."
He walked toward where she was perched, motioning for her to climb down and join him. She hesitated a moment before jumping off the branch and onto the ground.
"After our last interaction, I could not stop wishing to see you once more. How has your journey been?"
"I- it's been fine," she lied.
"That is good. I had worried your love for Mithrandir would prevent you from focusing."
Rian could not tell if the concern in his voice was for her, or for her mission to retrieve the Silmaril from the north.
"I do not let emotions prevent me from clear judgment," she answered after a moment.
He nodded and said, "Of course not."
The two of them were silent, and Rian could hear Taelen and Hanna talking just a few feet away.
"Would you like me to ask them to come out?" Rian asked.
"No," he shook his head, "no, I can only speak with you. I am risking a lot to even visit you now."
"Then why risk it?"
He ignored her question and reached a long, pale finger toward her and looped it under the black chain barely visible among her dark clothing. He pulled on it, bringing the red pendant out from under her shirt, and smiled.
"I am glad you are wearing this."
"How did it make my powers stronger?" Rian asked, taking a deep breath as he dropped the necklace and pulled his hand away.
"It made your powers stronger? I suppose in a way, it could have helped, but I believe that has more to do with you than the necklace," he answered. "Rian, I do not have much time, but I needed to give you some instructions."
Rian nodded, glancing at the shelter where she could still hear Taelen and Hanna talking. Firelight flitted from the opening, and Rian wished its warmth could reach where she stood. The air had gone cold, and she was worried they would see snow before the night was up.
"It is important you tell no one I am asking this of you - or that I have even been here."
Rian felt a chill run down her spine and looked at her father with scrutiny.
"Why do you ask for secrecy? Can you not trust the others?"
He shook his head, "It is not a matter of trust. They are well-intentioned, but I do not believe they have had the experiences necessary to guide them to correct decisions in the end."
Rian nodded. She would be lying to herself if she did not admit that she'd had the same concern. Growing up as a Ranger had given her a breadth of understanding she knew Arien and Taelen did not have due to their recluse lives in Rivendell and Lothlorien. They'd been waited on, taught, nurtured: they were soft. And Hanna had been alone, secluded in Mirkwood, and only now was learning truths about the real world.
"I understand," Rian replied at last.
"Good," he smiled. "Then know this: when you recover the other two Silmarils, you must keep them in your care. The others must not have them. Protect them until I come for them, and only then shall you surrender them. They must be kept safe at all costs."
Rian did not answer immediately but nodded to show she had heard what he said.
"I am counting on you to not let the others use the Silmarils for their own devices."
Own devices? The only indication of using the Silmarils she'd had was a conversation where Arien talked about the possibility of using them against Melkor.
"Once you have gathered all three then I shall meet with you again and we will talk about the last obstacle preventing you from returning home."
The last obstacle… Rian had hoped once they defeated Melkor that they'd be able to return to Valinor. Now it was confirmed, and she would let nothing stop her from joining her family.
"I will do as you say," she replied. It was not in her nature to trust blindly, but what he was asking made sense. Protecting the Silmarils until the Valar gave them more instructions would be wise - they wouldn't even know how to use them without help.
He smiled at her and reached out to touch her face. His hand was surprisingly cold, but Rian did not mind. She closed her eyes and allowed his touch to linger in her memory.
When she opened her eyes he was gone, but she felt renewed. She re-took her watch in the tree and began going over their plan for retrieving the Silmaril, thinking clearly for the first time since joining Hanna and Taelen. And as she planned and re-planned, images of Valinor as her father had described in Lothlorien gave her comfort and purpose.
Morning came, and the snow Rian had expected was nowhere to be seen. All night she had shivered, huddling near the fire as she kept it ablaze even after the wood had all burned up. Talen and Hanna made no mention of hearing her conversation with her father, and she kept her promise and did not speak of it with them.
She rode most of the day in silence, as was usual, while Hanna and Taelen chatted. They would reach the Ice Bay before sundown, and though she was glad the first half of their journey from Lothlorien would be done, the instructions from her father ever ran through her mind. Would Taelen and Hanna be alright when she insisted the Silmaril stay in her care?
By mid-day, they had passed out of the last mountains in the north and could see dense fog miles ahead that marked where the temperature was coldest around the water. They had decided days before that Taelen would be the one to retrieve the Silmaril - he could hold his breath underwater longer than Rian or Hanna and was (as expected) a strong swimmer. He and Rian had poured over Arien's detailed map of the bay to find where his best point of entry would be, and Rian had been satisfied with their plan. The only thing that worried her were the notes Arien had made in the corner - they didn't make any sense.
Maedhros
Dagor Dagorath
Taelen had reassured her he had seen Arien make random notes on plenty of her resources as they traveled from Rivendell, and that these must be something she wanted to research later. But it still did not sit well with Rian.
"We are close!" Taelen called out, riding out ahead of Rian. "I can feel the water clearly now!"
"Turn to the north," Rian called back to him, speeding up so as to not lose him in the fog.
They sped along the coast, the smell of the cold sea exciting as the dirt they rode on turned to black sand.
After another hour of riding, they reached the point of entry they'd planned and dismounted, tying their horses to a lone dead tree about fifty yards from the water.
"Are you ready?" Hanna asked Taelen, pulling him into a hug.
"Of course! It is merely black, freezing water with floating chunks of ice. How hard can this be?"
Despite Taelen's laughter, Rian could see his hands shaking. She hoped it would be over quickly.
Taelen approached the water, stripping his shirt and boots off and handing them to Hanna, who was blushing. She held another pair of his trousers and a blanket he could use to dry off with when he returned, and Rian dug a small hole in the sand for a fire.
"If you are not back in three minutes, I will come down after you," she called to Taelen. He nodded and placed his hands in the water.
"It is down there!" He cried with enthusiasm as his teeth chattered. "Arien was right!" He glanced one more time at Hanna, and then with a nod to Rian, he said, "Three minutes," and dove head-first into the water.
A moment later, the surface was motionless. The shining black abyss filled Rian with dread. Despite all their preparations, and her faith in Taelen's abilities, what if something went wrong?
The minutes passed slowly. Rian used her finger to mark in the sand the seconds gone by, hoping with each one that their plan would work, but as she reached two minutes, she started taking off her layers of clothing.
"I cannot see anything in the water," Hanna said, her voice trembling, "I know Taelen can see down there, but will you be able to?"
"I have to try," Rian stated, taking her boots off and placing them next to her cloak and thick outer-tunic. She shivered in her shirt and leggings, not enjoying the feeling of the coarse black sand on her feet. "It's been three minutes."
Rian dove into the water and the cold shocked her lungs so quickly she had to resurface immediately so she could take another breath of air. Hanna yelled something at her, but she could not hear it over the rush in her ears, and she dived below once more. As she struggled to move in the cold water, a warm feeling began to spread from a small spot in her chest. She glanced down and the red pendant was glowing. It allowed her lungs to relax, though her hands and feet still felt frozen.
The water was nearly too dark to see through, and the bottom seemed to go on for miles. She glanced around frantically, unable to see Taelen anywhere. Panic grew in her chest, which was burning from lack of air, and she knew she had to resurface soon, but just as she began to pull herself through the water to the surface, a light glinted to her left. She broke for air and shouted to Hanna,
"I think I found him!"
She dove for a third time, kicking hard as she tried to reach the light before it moved. As she got closer she could identify the shape of a large stone arch and several walls that had once been connected to it. Rian rounded the corner of one, and the sight before her made her freeze in the water.
Taelen was holding the Silmaril in one hand, but the other was grappling with a strange glowing figure.
Rian felt the burn of her lungs again and knew she did not have much time. She swam as fast as she could toward Taelen, whose face was deathly pale. The figure spotted Rian, and as it did, she could see it had the face and body of a man. He was nearly translucent in the water, emitting an eerie glow. His eyes looked alive, widening as Rian drew near, and his mouth formed words she did not understand.
Its surprise was all Taelen needed to break free of its grasp. He started swimming to the surface, much faster than Rian could have imagined, but the figure followed him, rushing past Rian without further acknowledgment.
Soon they were out of her sight, and she pulled her way through the water to the surface once more. She gasped for breath and cried out in shock as she saw Taelen lying motionless on the beach. Hanna was standing over him, one hand wrapped around the Silmaril and the other holding Rian's sword. The spirit from the water was standing on the beach several yards away from Hanna, his hands outstretched.
"Give me the Silmaril," he commanded. His voice was stronger than Rian expected of a spirit. "Give it to me, and I will not harm you."
"Who are you?" Hanna asked, matching his vocal strength. Rian reached the shore at this moment, pulling herself out of the water as she crawled over to Taelen.
"In life, I was Maedhros, son of Fëanor. My brothers and I gave our lives to regain the Silmarils, and in death, I now protect it from those who would be as greedy as we were."
Maedhros! Arien's notes had not been mindless scribbles, but something she suspected. Rian regretted not going back for her as she touched Taelen's motionless body. He was breathing, but just barely, and his skin was colder than Rian's.
"I am Hanna, daughter of the Valar Yavanna and Aulë, and we have come to gather the Silmarils and prevent the return of Melkor. I command you to return to the Spirit Halls of Mandos and leave the Silmaril in our care."
"Fools! Do you think you can best Morgoth? He can only be contained by the power of all the Valar. The Silmaril will not help you." He took a step toward Hanna, and she moved her hand sharply. Several spikes of dark earth shot up from the beach, impaling Maedhros, but he kept moving, unaffected by them. "Your meager powers are nothing compared to the terror Morgoth can conjure. He would kill you, just as we shall!"
In a flurry of movement, Maedhros rose above the ground, beckoning to the sea with his arms. Several other spirits rose from the waters, rushing toward the beach. Large waves started crashing on the sand, the sound deafening. Rian stood shakily, trying to take her sword from Hanna as she shouted over the roar, "Protect Taelen!"
She turned from Hanna and thrust her free hand out in front of her, spraying large flames toward the spirits, who slowed their approach but did not stop moving toward her with glowing swords raised over their heads.
"We shall not let you have this last Silmaril!" Maedhros yelled, flying at Rian with alarming speed.
She tried to lift her sword, but her arms could hardly move, and it slipped from her hands. Desperately, she fell to the ground, trying to pick it up as Maedhros's blade missed her by an inch. As she struggled to wrap her frozen fingers around the hilt of her sword she noticed a light appearing in the center of her palms. An image of the gigantic wolf that attacked them at the feet of the Misty Mountains flashed in her mind's eye, and she grinned.
Maedhros approached her again, and stretched her arm out to place her palm on his chest. He screamed in pain and fell to his knees.
"How- why?" One of the other spirits exclaimed. Rian wanted to ask that too: when she touched the wolf, it had dissipated into black smoke. She obviously was affecting this spirit, but not in the same way.
"She has the touch of Morgoth," Maedhros coughed out. "Do not approach her."
"Morgoth? You are mistaken- my father is Mandos, I-"
"You are filled with lies," Maedhros spat, standing and floating over to the other spirits. "You shall turn the Silmaril over to him- you will destroy Middle Earth!"
" I am telling the truth!" Rian screamed, but a moment later, a wave taller than the Mallorn trees of Lothlorien crashed into her and pulled her out into the frozen sea.
She gasped for breath when she surfaced twenty yards from the shore. Her sword was lost to the deep water, and she could barely move to stay afloat. Hopelessly, Rian looked to where Hanna knelt by Taelen, but he was still unconscious. She bobbed up and down as the water moved with the waves. Another large one headed toward her, and she grabbed onto a large chunk of ice, holding her breath as the wave pushed her under. The ice pulled her back up, and she coughed as she resurfaced.
"You will drown out here," Maedhros laughed coldly as he floated through the air toward her. "These waters are unkind, and shall not grant you the mercy of escaping their dark depths."
Rian did not doubt him. Hanna could not swim out to save her, and Taelen was not waking up. Despair filled her mind, and she thought of Gandalf. He had fallen down an endless mine shaft to save his companions from a Balrog of Morgoth. Now she too would fall for her companions, into the bottomless waters. She would finally return home.
"You will have to pull the Silmaril from my lifeless body," she cried, letting go of the ice and letting herself fall into the water. She knew Hanna still had the Silmaril, but she hoped to buy her and Taelen time to leave.
The crushing cold squeezed the air out of Rian as she let herself fall. The spirits of Maedhros and the others surrounded her, but she could not feel their hands on her frozen body. The last thing she saw was a brilliant flash of light, and she hoped Gandalf was on the other side.