Térnaleth óvélé
Ivy sat on Legolas' horse with Legolas' arms around her. He claimed he was only doing so to hold the reins of his horse. Ivy smiled wryly. Legolas had not let her out of his sight since their reunion in the forest and his insistence that she ride with him made Ivy feel comforted. It was nice to know that she had been missed.
They rode hard and long into the night. Just before noon they rode into the city of Edoras. She had not yet had the chance to be alone with Legolas to ask him how he had fared since their separation. She wondered if he had missed her as much as she did him. Despite the fact that they had spent most of the time together mounted on a horse he had managed to avoid all but the barest conversation.
As they passed through the city, Ivy looked around at the citizens faces. All were grey and stressed. They dismounted and their horses were led away by the stable boy. The small group made their way through the city. It seemed to Ivy to take an eternity to make their way to Halls of Theoden. All eyes were on the group, but especially Ivy. She felt their gaze resting on her like hot coals. Never had Rohan seen anything so strange and wonderful. Unlike the Elves and Rangers the people of Rohan were ignorant of who she was.
"Do not look for welcome here…" Gandalf muttered as they approached the great carved doors.
A man smaller than Ivy stood in front of the doors.
"I cannot allow you before Theoden King so armed, Gandalf Greyheim. By order of Grima Wormtongue" He muttered the last sentence as though there was a bad taste in his mouth.
Gandalf looked at his companions and nodded to them to relieve themselves of their weapons. Aragorn reluctantly handed over his sword, Gimli his axe and Legolas his bow, arrows and sword. Ivy had no weapons to hand over; her weapon was not one that could be taken away as easily.
"Your staff…"
"You would not part an old man with his walking stick?" Gandalf returned.
Ivy gave a sidelong glance at Legolas and tried hard not to burst out laughing. They all knew, of course, exactly why Gandalf needed his staff.
The man nodded and stepped aside. He announced them and closed the doors behind them. Ivy could see a weary old man sitting on a throne at the head of the room. Weary beyond age it was as if something had leached his very soul away from him. A man in black robes and greasy hair knelt at his side. Ivy could see he was muttering to the man on the throne.
"Your welcome is somewhat lessened of late, Theoden King." Gandalf boomed, his voice resounding throughout the hall. Ivy felt her skin prickling as she felt yet more gazes rest heavily upon her. She saw Legolas flick a watchful glance in her direction and she stretched her fingers and exhaled preparing herself for whatever lay ahead.
"Why should I welcome you, Gandalf Stormcrow?" came the weak reply.
There was more muttering from the man at his side.
"Late is the hour in which this conjurer chooses to appear. Lath spell I name him. Ill news and this woman. Who is she to travel in the company of men alone, demon I name her look at her skin! Cast these evil doers from your halls!" said the man in black, as he stepped forward.
"Silence, Wormtongue. Keep your forked tongue behind your teeth" Gandalf spat as he drew his staff up and stood to full height.
"The Staff!!!" shrieked Wormtongue, "I told you take the Wizard's Staff!"
Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn sprang into action, fending off the guards. Gimli taking great pleasure in pinning Wormtongue to the stone floor.
Ivy pushed in front of Gandalf holding her arm out to keep Gandalf back.
"It is not Gandalf you should worry about. I will cast you from this hall for there is only one evil dwelling here,"
Ivy walked towards Theoden and touched his forehead gently. She opened her mouth and blew out a cool blue mist that encircled the king. She lifted her other hand and the mist wound itself into a small sphere and rested in her hand holding within it all the evil poison Wormtongue had seeped into the king's blood.
"I release you…" she whispered.
Theoden threw his head back and laughed.
"You have no power here, Elven Woman" came the taunting voice.
"You let a woman order you around Gandalf?" his laughter stopped abruptly as he saw Ivy crush the small blue sphere in her grip and it fell to ashes on the ground.
In one movement, Gandalf shucked off his grey cloak and stood before them all in his white glory.
"I am no longer Gandalf the Grey, but Gandalf the White and you would do well to show reverence to my daughter"
It was at this moment that a young maiden entered the hall; she looked not much older than Ivy herself. She darted forward to try and help Theoden but Ivy grabbed her before she could get any further.
"Wait a moment," Ivy whispered.
Theoden landed on the floor in a heap. Ivy released the maiden and she ran forward and helped him up. Legolas forcefully lifted Grima buy the shoulder of his robe and carried him to the steps of the great hall and cast him down them.
Inside Gandalf handed Theoden his sword and smiled.
"Your hands might remember their strength if they grasped your sword…"
Theoden was assisted by the fair maiden to the steps outside. He raised his sword to strike Grima down. Aragorn darted forward and stopped the King before he could swing his sword down.
"No my Lord! Enough blood has been spilt upon his account" he cried.
Theoden stopped and looked around at the villagers that had gathered around to see the spectacle. Aragorn leant forward and held his hand out to help Wormtongue up. Wormtongue spat on his hand and crawled away.
Theoden turned to the maiden who had made her way to watch Wormtongues fall from grace.
"Where is my son?" He asked.
A small group of Theodred's closet friends and his only family, Eowyn and Theoden, joined the remainder of the Fellowship around his grave. Ivy looked around and saw the despair on everyone's faces. She had never known Theodred but could tell by the people's grief he was a good man. They watched in silence as two of his soldiers started to build a mound over his tomb so he would rest beneath the earth eternally.
As they neared the end of their task Eowyn burst out into a song to speed Theodred's spirit to realms of the afterlife.
Slowly the small group broke apart until only Gandalf, Ivy and Theoden remained.
"When will Simbelmynë grow upon my son's tomb? For I greatly anticipate the honor that will show to him,"
Gandalf shook his head slowly.
"Only time can tell my friend,"
Gandalf rested his hand on Theoden's shoulder and they turned to leave.
"Wait," Ivy whispered.
She stepped forward and placed her palm flat to the ground. Small white blossoms opened over the fallen Princes tomb. Gandalf smiled at Ivy.
"Thank you," said Theoden, inclining his head to Ivy, "Oh I am ashamed of myself. In this confusion I have neglected to learn you name maiden…"
Ivy frowned slightly, pondering for a moment.
"It was not meant to be a hard question," Theoden felt a smile tug the corner of his lips despite himself.
Ivy puzzled a moment longer. Ivy had been her name in the past, before she had fulfilled her true nature. Yet she could not think of what else she ought to be called.
"Ivy," she said with a large smile.
"Yes Ivy," she nodded.
"Well Ivy," Theoden wrapped his arm around her shoulder, "Let us go and partake of a feast to celebrate the life of my son, for he well deserves such a feast!"
The events that followed soon after were filled with laughter and music. Drinking and games. Yet Ivy felt as though she could not join them. Her heart seemed to weigh heavy and her mind was elsewhere. The shadow, ever growing, was clawing at her. Ivy wondered how her mother managed to carry the burden for so long.
"Where are your thoughts Ivy? For your not here with us and you are missed" said Legolas as he sat beside her on the ledge outside.
Ivy looked at Legolas, tears filling her eyes. Legolas brought her to his breast, his hand stroking her hair and running his fingers through it.
"Since I got my full powers Legolas, the shadow always pulls at me. By the end of the day I feel so drained and empty that I feel as though I cannot bear it a second longer. I bear my mother's burden and it is not a light one,"
Ivy raised her head to his and stared into his eyes. Legolas leaned down and brushed his lips against Ivy's. It was only meant to be a reassuring kiss, but somehow it became more heated in a matter of seconds. Ivy clung to him, pulling him closer, desperate to feel. She wanted to feel anything but the darkness, and his lips were so soft so warm, nothing like the cold black tugging at her soul. Legolas was the first to pull away.
"We should stop melamin…" Legolas said, resting his forehead against her own.
Ivy nodded slowly, feeling the darkness sink its claws in again as they separated and stood. Together they walked back into the hall. She wondered if he knew how much she had needed that moment when the darkness lost its grip, how it had given her new strength to fight it. She lent her head on his shoulder and stopped him just before they went in to the hall again.
"I don't want to go back in Legolas," she pleaded.
"But it is expected of us,"
Ivy slid her hand into his and tugged gently drawing him away from the door and back to her rooms. She pushed open they door and drew him into the darkness. She turned to face him wrapping her arms around his neck and reaching up kissing him. She slid her tongue forward touching his lip gently inviting him to deepen the kiss. He did so at once shutting the door and the wrapping his arms around her lifting her off the ground slightly and walking her towards the bed.
The kiss became more heated and Legolas placed Ivy on the bed, she lay backwards and he leant in over her. She moaned into his mouth as he settled between her legs feeling his body against her she ran her hands down his back and his mouth left her tracing a line down her jaw to her neck, and along the curve of her shoulder until he hit the material of her dress. Legolas tugged down slightly revealing the swell of her breast. Ivy heard him groan softly as he pushed against her and squeezed her left breast with one hand gently feeling the warm mound of flesh as he lavished the top of the other with kisses.
Ivy sat up and reached behind her trying to unlace her gown, she tugged at it and finally succeeded. The dress fell off of her shoulder revealing her white cotton undergarments. Legolas helped her slide out of her dress completely. He knelt up and took off his tunic. Ivy missed the contact; she needed to touch him, to feel him. She reached out to him willing him to fall back into her arms. He did so happily feeling her hardening nipples through her undergarments against his chest. New experiences rushing through him that he had never experienced before. They were perfect because they were with her and in that moment Legolas doubted not the slightest that Ivy was his térnaleth óvélé.
Legolas let the thought go and concentrated on removing Ivy's undergarments from her body. He slid the top half of the bodice off and took in the sight of her milky white body before him, her chest rising and falling with quickened breath, the gentle swell of her ample breasts. He kissed her softly this time but still passionately.
"So melamin those vines go all the way," he whispered, the warmth of his breath tickling her, smiling Legolas traced the patterns along her body with his gentle finger tips and then his lips.
Ivy looked up at the ceiling as Legolas gently touched her markings. Tears welled in her eyes as she realized that she wasn't doing this for Legolas but for herself and certainly not for the right reasons. She knew elves did not touch intimately until they had found their térnaleth óvélé. She did not want to use Legolas to hold the shadows at bay.
She had no doubt that he was her térnaleth óvélé but her reason for doing this was all wrong. She shoved him off her and before he realized what was happening he had landed on the floor with an ungraceful thump. Ivy grabbed her cloak which was hanging on the back of the door, wrapped it around herself covering her now ice cold body. She ran from the room her disheveled hair flowing behind her. Before she realized where she was going she found herself in the stables. The warm smell of hay and the horse's soft breathing comforting her.
She snuggled into a hay stack careful to cover herself. Only then did she let the tears flow down her face and let the darkness have a little bit more of her. She deserved it; she had almost ruined Legolas' eternal life out of her own weakness. She knew he cared for her now and she knew she only wanted to be with him, but she could not compromise his life for her own piece of mind.
And then a worse thought struck her and her sobbing renewed. What if Legolas had mistaken his so called love of her for reverence? She was cherished and greatly respected by elves, well her mother was, or was it the Earth they loved? Her thoughts swirled around in her head and she could no longer figure out where she began, her mother was and where the earth finished.
Ivy shivered against the cold, curled up tighter and cried herself to sleep.
In Ivy's room Legolas sat on the floor and blinked a few times before he actually realized what had happened. He sat there shocked for a few moments longer and then started to pull on his tunic. He stood and straightened himself, gazing over at the bed, making sure the covers were ruffled and that he had not just been dreaming. He left her room in search of her. As he neared the great hall, the door swung open and Gandalf came bursting out. He saw Legolas and putting a hand on his chest slammed him against the wall, pointing a sword at his throat.
"Where is she? What have you done to her! I'll spill your blood this night, Legolas Greenleaf if you harmed a hair on her fair head!" Gandalf boomed.
Legolas was shocked but he quickly regained himself.
"I don't know where she is, but I did nothing. I swear to you on my family honor," he said, still baffled by the evening's events.
Gandalf released him.
"Then tell me this, for even though my bond with Ivy is not closely forged I am still of her blood, and the scream of pain and anguish that ripped though her was labeled by your face, I felt it like a blow to the stomach," he said emotion filling his voice.
"We must find her," Legolas started towards the outer doors. Ivy would most likely be outside. Of course he thought, close to the earth!
Gandalf stopped him.
"Nay, young elf, leave her, there will be time enough in the morrow,"
With that Gandalf turned and walked away. Legolas walked slowly to his own chambers and dropped on the bed, he spent the night staring at the ceiling, very aware of the cold empty bed beside him.