9. Running
"All farewells should be sudden."
Sardanapalus. Act V- Lord Byron (1821)
Minas Tirith January 1/42 Hrive 2970 III Age
Aragorn stared off into the space he'd seen the tiny woman disappear into for what felt like forever. She knew who he was. Who he really was. Only the elves and Galdalf knew. So how or why did she?
She hadn't tried to kill him or take him to Sauran so she wasn't one of his. And the look in her eyes when she spoke to him last haunted him. They pulled at him. To a memory long buried underneath the weight of the world.
They reminded him of his last night in Rivendell.
Aragorn took a deep breath only now realizing that he had been holding it and made to move after her. His progress was however stopped by a large group of other captains.
After almost an hour of being forced to stay he finally made his was to the doors.
He moved quickly through the city heading for the rooms she kept.
Taking the stairs three at a time he didn't bother to knock but barreled in.
Only to find the room empty.
Completely empty.
Uttering a string of curses he made for the lower level where the owners would be found. His knock was answered after several long moments by a woman.
"Where is she?"
"Who my lord?"
"The woman that was renting the rooms from you."
"The lady has left my lord. By now she should be near the outer gate."
Aragorn didn't bother to reply but ran.
After twenty minutes of hard running he stopped in front of the guards of the gate. They looked at him strangely but held their tongues.
"Has a woman with long golden hair left through the gate?"
"Yes sir. She left some time ago riding hard. She is hard to forget."
"Why is that?"
"She had a bow, quiver and two large knives strapped to her back as well as a sword on her hip."
Aragorn blinked in surprise and then turned to stare off into the distance of Pelinor Fields.
She was gone.
And he now had even more questions about her.
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