Author: Thanks to all the reviewers! yous are the best. Hope you enjoy this next chapter.
The singing of the birds as a breeze rustled through the trees calmed her troubled conscience. It had probably not been the wisest of ideas when she had taken on some of what Frodo was feeling, it had affected her balance and in truth she should not at this moment in time be seeking out the remaining members of the Fellowship in her present state.
"Unfortunately time is one thing we do not have much of."
A new sound interrupted her musings as water spilled over rocks and stones nearby. She sensed him and another, an elf if she was not mistaken. They were arguing over something, mutterings which she could not distinguish over the gentle tumbling of water, birdsong and rustling leaves. Turning into a small, sapling bounded grove she waited patiently.
The flowers, in full bloom, never ceased to give her pleasure no matter how many times she sat among them. Their perfume and colours were delightful to experience and, she was sure, of medical benefit since Celebrian had been the partner of Elrond for countless years.
She had not been there long when a tall figure strode past the grove lost in its thoughts. Silently she rose and followed it at a distance through Celebrians' gardens. Catching a glimpse of him she rounded a sloping bend revealing his destination, a slightly overgrown patch to the extreme West of Rivendell.
"Of course," she breathed. "He does not forget what value there is in stone."
She watched as he caringly pulled the vines from a granite statuette of a beautiful woman who looked kindly upon the tall man before her. He said nothing as he cleared the years of foliage from her head and vegetation from the foot of the memorial. It was only when he had cleared every last stem did he permit himself to look at its face. Slightly worn by the elements it had still not lost the grace and loveliness which it had embodied the day it was sculpted. A soft sigh escaped his lips, slowly he positioned himself on the ground immediately before it allowing him to look directly into its face.
"It is an excellent likeness even after all these years." she whispered after allowing him some time to think.
Promptly he was on his feet and staring at her unblinkingly. The decades had only just begun to show on his face, russet shoulder-length hair, tanned skin and roughly dressed he wordlessly stood his ground.
"You are your father in everything except your eyes, you have your mothers' eyes." she murmured.
His grey eyes registered shock but for a second as he assessed the woman in front of him.
"You knew my parents?" he voiced questioningly.
She couldn't help but smile inwardly at his disbelief, youthful she appeared yes but so did he. We both seem much younger than we are. Outwardly she betrayed no emotion but passively stepped towards the weather-beaten man steadily.
"I did Aragorn, son of Arathorn and Gilraen, Elessar to the elves, Strider to the hobbits and Thorongil to men long passed."
He did not move away as she approached, maintaining his intent examination. Close enough now to reach out and touch him she stopped and deliberately looked over his shoulder.
"She was a good mother to you and a good wife to your father. In all my years I have yet to meet one equal to her in capability and strength."
She tore her gaze away from the statue behind and once again focused on the astonished man before her.
"How do you know me?"
"I met you a long time ago as well Aragorn, you were only a boy and your mother had recently suffered the loss of your father. I promised her I would keep a check on her beloved son when she left to join her husband. I can tell you now that she would be very proud of what you have achieved."
He took a moment to study her face once more. It was familiar in a distant way that only the deepest memories recalled, those memories that he had closed off many years ago. None of his more recent recollections included her face, he was sure he would have remembered her if he had chanced upon her for she resembled his beloved in more ways than one.
Truly it was only her forest green eyes and slightly more distinctive features that clearly marked her as not being Arwen Undomiel.
"My Lady, forgive my rudeness but you know my name may I know yours?" he requested.
"I am known as Indil."
A slight creasing of his forehead indicated his confusion as he processed the knowledge she had imparted.
"That is an elfish name I am sure but by all accounts you seem to be mortal like me."
"Indil is my name as Mithrandir is Gandalf's name. It is the name I prefer to use and for practicality it is the only name I shall go by in view of the fact that the hobbits are already grappling with yours and Gandalf's many titles." she smiled conspiratorially.
"So you know Gandalf well?"
She nodded slightly while stepping around him and closer to the statue behind.
"I am what you would call an associate of Gandalf."
Realisation flooded his countenance as grey orbs followed her every move while she circled the headstone.
"That explains your youthful façade. Excuse my confusion my Lady I know all that remains of my kin and most of the elves that live in Rivendell therefore I could not make sense of you knowing me when I was just a boy."
She glanced at him before returning to her study of the surrounding plinths. Carefully she pulled at the vegetation marring another statue. Repeating the exercise she unmasked a further two while Aragorn copied her example at the opposite end of the patch.
His clothes upon closer inspection were not as rough as previously thought. They were made of stern fabric that had obviously seen him through many years as had his boots that were mud caked from travel.
"That ornament hanging around your neck is of no numorean origin."
Briefly he touched the silver necklace before returning it to its hiding place beneath his shirt.
"It was a gift."
Calmly she pressed the undergrowth with the toe of her boot as she considered his answer.
"It is a symbolic gift is it not?"
His silence confirmed that which she had already believed. He continued to relieve the various monuments of their blindfolds methodically as if she had not uttered a word. A slight tensing of his hand resting upon the shoulder of one statue was all that betrayed him to her trained eye.
"It is as your mother said 'your aim is high' and yet I perceive hope. Many years have passed and even so she remains loyal to you, what have you done to deserve such you ask yourself daily. It is not what you have done but her faith in what you will do that sustains her hope."
"Enough. I do not want to talk of the matter anymore."
Sympathy evident in her eyes she joined him at the very last statue in the garden. Regardless of his tense back she continued on.
"Here the elves have let such memorials fade with the years for often time passes more slowly for them. Still these old stones hide such beauty and remembrance."
Facing the last in the line of the Kings she held his eyes solidly unbendingly upright in her posture.
"You are a memorial to those who have gone before you. Do not be blinded as these stones have become but rise above your ancestors. Be a testament to all those who have hope in these dark days Estel."
There they remained, silent and motionless; one could have mistaken them for the statues that surrounded them.
Breaking from her look Aragorn returned to his mothers' headstone. Tenderly touching the coarse cheek he contemplated her loss so many years ago. A voice drifted from the entrance to the now identifiable patch.
"Speak with her Aragorn she is listening. Share your burden for nothing is safer than stone when confiding our deepest fears and hopes."
Leaving mother and son Indil moved in the direction of the stream once more. Beyond the brook, the archery fields and yet another Fellowship member to be met with before the dimming of the day.
"This will be interesting." She grinned to herself preparing for the coming introduction.