What About Now?
Disclaimer: See Chapter one.
She made it back to their camp faster than the others, leaving them behind her as she set about her task. Frodo and Sam had made their choice but Merry and Pippin hadn't and she still had a lot to do with or without the others.
She reached the camp on swift feet, sprinting through the forest with as much or more energy than she'd felt after the Master had killed her and she'd been brought back.
She'd worry about what was going on with Narya later.
And berate herself for taking off her Mithril vest later too.
Had she had it on she wouldn't have been in this mess.
Instead she opted getting things done.
She reached the camp and snatched up her pack quickly, heading for the cover of some tall bushes near the water's edge. In less than a minute she had a tunic of such dark green that it was almost black out along with an undertunic. She dropped the pack down with both tunics on top and spent the next two minutes stripping off what weapons and clothing were in her way.
Washing the blood off didn't take her long either as she used the ruined clothing as a wash cloth to get the blood off of her face and skin. She rinsed her mouth out as well, the coppery taste of blood one of her least favorite things.
By the time she'd gotten both of the fresh tunics and mithril vest on she heard the others approaching but she didn't slow down, fingerless gloves went on with her bracers, leather vest, coat belt and weapons.
She was going to be traveling even lighter than normal so she pulled out her spare pouch of supplies and threaded in onto her belt with her other two pouches. Knives she kept elsewhere. Finally she secured her coat and strapped her modified baldric back on and came out.
To find the others gather up things as well.
She didn't say anything to them as she went over to the supplies and picked up several packets of lembass to add to her pouch, popping a stray piece into her mouth to kill the last of the taste of. Blood. That didn't mean she couldn't feel the sense of unease around the four males
At the moment she didn't care and she didn't know how to explain Narya to them.
She felt a set of eyes fall upon her and looked over to find Aragorn looking at her, his gaze feeling like it was trying to see everything about her.
"We hunt." she said, it wasn't a question, but a statement of fact. Whatever else they were and whatever else they were to each other they were loyal and hunters more than anything and they understood it about one another. His gaze felt as though it bulled back and the weight of it shifted into something more akin of understanding.
"We hunt." he agreed.
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The pounding of her heart was constant, continuous, like the pounding of a war drum. It was a sound she'd come to expect for three days now.
For three days they'd run.
With no sleep, no real meals no rest.
And there would be none until they had Merry and Pippin again. Ahead of her Aragorn lay with his head to the stones beneath them.
"Their pace has quickened." he said looking up to met her gaze. "They must have caught our scent."
"Then we better move faster." she replied and set off ahead of the others. She knew that Boromir and Gimli were brining up the rear, the Godorian wasn't used to this type of hunting and Gimli simply had shorter legs than they did.
They ran for hours and hours more still, the time giving Buffy a chance to think about what had occurred three days before. She wasn't quite sure what had happened but it was a safe guess that Narya had a problem with her dying.
Not that she was going to complain about that but she'd seen the questioning looks in the others eyes. They wanted to know what had happened. And she had no idea how to tell them. Because to tell them would only complicate matter further.
How was she to explain that she'd had a free ring of power on her hand for thirty six years now?
Aragorn would not be happy and without Gandalf to ask the advise of she wasn't even sure if she was allowed to reveal the ring that remained hidden to all on her finger.
So she remained silent.
She remained distant.
She remained determined.
She would find Merry and Pippin and she would save them.
She'd given them her word that she would be there for them and so far she'd failed.
She wouldn't fail them again.
Late in the day Aragorn found a Lorien broach and they knew for certain that less than a day before Merry and Pippin had been alive. Another thought for her was that they'd passed into the Riddenmark, a reminder for her of the dreams she'd had and the battle she knew was coming. She knew Rohan well, she'd ridden one end of it to another more times than she could count.
And the Uruks were taking Merry and Pipping to Isengard.
And so they continued to run.
Through what remained of the day and through the night as well.
It was in the early embers of light that they paused, herself standing in between Legolas and Aragorn as they stared into the sunrise.
"A red sun rises, blood has been spilled this night." Legolas said and she didn't wait. She moved.
She didn't slow, she didn't waiver and she ignored the tension she could feel from the others.
They were worried about Merry and Pippin. And they all knew she was keeping something from them. Near mid afternoon on the fourth day they paused for a moment while Aragorn tracked. She could have done it but even she had to admit that Aragorn was a better tracker than she was. Instead she used the time to allow her body to get the rest it so desperately needed.
That was until she heard it. Until she felt it. Riders were coming. Lots of them.
The Riders of Rohan were approaching.
The others ducked low, hiding from the Riders she could now see cresting the hill small distance away. She knew the Riders, their patrols, their habits, their loyalty to the Mark. Che climbed up on top of the boulder the others were behind and called out.
"Riders of Roshan, what news from the Mark?"
It seemed they heard her over the pounding of the hooves and she jumped down, the others following her as the Riders turned and made their way back as the until they were meant to be. She knew their tactics, their habits and as they circled them in an ever tightening circle until no room was left for them to move lest they impale themselves on one of the spears held on them. She chanced a look at the others, of course she could see them running the threat assessment of the Riders in their eyes.
Aragorn smartly kept his hands up and away from his sword, none of the others seemed to want to follow his example.
"What business does a woman, an Elf, a Dwarf and two men have in the Riddenmark? Speak quickly." he demanded.
"Give me your name Horsemaster and I shall give you mine." countered Gimli and she had to suppress a groan. For Eru's sake, she was getting tired of so much testosterone.
"I would cut off your head, Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground." the marshal threatened only to have Legolas prove that sometimes he didn't have as much patience as she thought he did by drawing an arrow and aiming it at the marshal.
"You would die before your stroke fell."
"Lasseg, cut the testosterone." she told him. Best friend or not she wasn't in the mood to be fighting a group of Rohirric riders because a bunch of males got their panties in a bunch.
"I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn. This is Boromir of Gondor. Gimli son of Gloin. Legolas of the Woodland Realm and Raina of the Golden Wood. We are friends of Rohan and of Theoden, your king."
"Theoden no longer recognizes friend from foe. Not even his kin."
"Theodred?" she questioned. The child she'd saved would have been about the same age by now. A strange thought considering but then she was still adjusting to the fact that she had lived so long even now.
"No my cousin is wounded by those under the Saurman. He has poisoned the mind of the king and claimed lordship over these lands. My company are those loyal to Rohan. And for that we are banished." he told them and she felt something in her clench. She'd seen Theodred born and while she'd never seen him grow into a man she still felt protective of him. Perhaps it was because she'd loved his mother, perhaps it was because she'd help bring him into the world or perhaps because she'd been the first person to ever hold him she didn't know but at the moment she didn't care.
"We track a party of Uruk-hai westward across the plain. They have taken two of our friends captive." Aragorn offered and she knew he was doing what she was and trying to diffuse the situation.
"The uruks are destroyed. We slaughtered them during the night." he told them and yet another part of her clenched. She felt as though if another thing inside of her got tight she would explode soon and that wouldn't get her anywhere.
"Merry and Pippin." she heard Boromir say behind her.
"There were two hobbits. Did you see two hobbits with them?" asked Gimli.
"They would be small, only children to your eyes." Aragorn clarified. Hobbits were a rarity outside the shire and she doubted any of the people of Rohan had ever met one.
"We left none alive. We piled the carcasses and burned them."
"Dead."
"Then we have failed them." stated Boromir behind her as though echoing her own thoughts.
"I am sorry." Eomar offered, she knew who he was now. He was Theoden's nephew, born only weeks before Theodred.
"Bring them!." Eomar called and four horses were brought forward to them. "May these horses bear you to better fortune than their former masters. Farewell." he told them and remounted hos own stallion. "Look for your friends but do not dare to hope, it has forsaken these lands."
"Mount up. We ride." she said taking the reigns of one of the horses from Aragorn's hands and throwing herself up into the saddle. She wasn't giving up. To give up was to accept defeat and she'd yet to be truly defeated.
"Dwarves were not meant for horses." grumbled Gimli as he gave the horse a wary look.
"You'll get over it." Buffy told him and forced her mount into motion. She wouldn't give up until she had proof that they were dead.
And if they were she'd rip Saurman apart piece by bloody piece instead of simply seeing him dead for hurting Theodred. She'd brought him into the world and it was Saurman who had tried to remove him from it.
The ride did not take overly long, little more than an hour but by then the sun was already beginning to sink into the horizon. They reigned in, Gimli looking a little worse for wear as the stench of burning orc flesh rolled over them. Most would have gagged but she'd been burning the bodies of orcs for decades now and she almost didn't notice it. Boromir's expression showed that he wasn't as used to it as she or Aragorn were but she doubted the Stweard of Gondor's son would be.
When Gimli found one of the hobbit's belts that her naneth had given them she felt her heart clench
She'd failed them.
Legolas' intonement of "Hiro hyn hîdh ab 'wanath." was ignored. Aragorn's temper tantrum was ignored. Everything was ignored.
She'd failed them.
A hand on her shoulder startled her and she looked up to find Boromir looking down at her with grief in his own eyes.
"There is no more that you could have done." he told her.
"I failed them." she said, almost to herself. They were her responsibility, her friends. She felt the weight of her failure like a pressure upon her chest as she stared off into space.
"A hobbit lay here, and the other." Aragorn began and she looked over to where he kneeled on the ground. "They crawled. Their hands were bound." he went on moving with the tracks. She felt hope rise inside of her as she and the others followed Aragorn. "Their bonds were cut." he told them holding up a piece of rope in his hand. "They ran over here. They were followed. The tracks lead away from the battle...into Fangorn Forest." he finished as they looked into the forbidding mass of darkness and growth that was Fangorn. She'd been a lot of places in her time in Arda but Fangorn wasn't one of them. She didn't know the forest but if there was a chance that Merry and Pipping were in there, alive or not she was going.
"What madness drove them in there?"
"I don't care what drove them in. I'm not stopping until I find them." she told them and headed into the dark and dank abyss.
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For nearly half an hour they made their way though Fangorn before she felt it, like a prickling along her skin.
Power.
She could hear Legolas say something to Aragorn but ignored it, instead focusing on where the power was coming from and getting ready for when who or what ever it was made its appearance.
"We must be quick." whispered Aragorn, she could feel Narya suddenly pulse on her hand and knew that if it was her versus Saurman she fully intended to end him, White Wizard or not.
A bright white light suddenly came from behind them and she turned, Ruin drawn and put an end to him. The sword in her hand grew hot for a moment before it suddenly cooled. In the moment it took for that to pass Aragorn and Boromir had drawn their swords and Legolas fired an arrow only to have them have no effect. As Aragorn dropped his blade only an instant after Boromir she felt Narya begin a steady pulse that rolled up her arm like a wave, a calming feeling settling over her. She'd been told to trust her Narya as it was the only free ring of power and not bound to evil but part of her was reluctant to trust the feeling Narya was giving her. Telling her that the White Wizard was not evil.
"You are tracking the footsteps of two young hobbits." came a voice from the mass of light and something inside of herself stirred. She knew that voice.
"Where are they?" demanded Aragorn.
"They passed this way the day before yesterday. They met someone they did not expect. Does that comfort you?"
"Who are you? Show yourself!" Aragorn demanded again and the light embracing the figure faded and she knew why she knew that voice.
There before them stood Gandalf.
"It cannot be." came Aragorn's voice in wonder. Not that she blamed him for finding it hard to believe. Coming back from the dead wasn't normal. Well at least for most people. In her life it was a recurring occurrence it seemed. And she wasn't talking about just herself.
"It is not possible." concurred Boromir. The Gondorian looked shell shocked and she found she just had to smile. Gandalf was alive and Merry and Pippin were safe if she had to guess.
"I should have known you'd be too stubborn to die." she said good naturedly to the old wizard who gave her a small smile.
"Forgive me! I mistook you for Saruman."
"I am Saruman. Or rather, Saruman as he should have been." Gandalf clarified and she let her mind wrap around that. Gandalf had just gotten a promotion so to speak which meant they had a little power at their disposal not.
This was a good thing because they were going to need all the help they could get and then some.
"You fell?!"
"Through fire and water. From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak, I fought with the Balrog of Morgoth. Until at last, I threw down my enemy and smote his ruin upon the mountainside. Darkness took me. And I strayed out of thought and time. Stars wheeled overhead and everyday was as long as a life-age of the earth. But it was not the end. I felt life in me again. I've been sent back until my task is done." Gandalf told them and she felt something inside her clench for an instant. They'd sent him back. She wondered if they'd do that to her or if they'd already found their way of keeping her alive. She should have been dead when Merry and Pippin were taken but Narya had stopped it, had healed her with Boromir and some part of her now had the sickening feeling that this was the Valar's way of making sure she didn't die on them before she kept her end of the bargain. That she'd been manipulated in some way. At least until she thought about it for a moment and realized that Narya had admitted to choosing her for the ring's own sake to gain freedom.
"Good to know I'm not the only one this has happened to Gandalf." she told him.
"Gandalf? Yes... That was what they used to call me. Gandalf the Grey. That was my name. I am Gandalf the White And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide." he told her and she could see it in his eyes. He knew about the dreams she'd had. He knew what she'd requested.
"Its about to get ugly out there isn't it?" she asked him even though she already knew the answer. She could feel it in her bones. She'd been through a lot of battles in her life but now she was about to walk into a war and not look back. Being the slayer had never been a war when it came down to the world ending things. It was one fight, one battle that settled it. And generally it was just her and a few others facing it with everyone else blissfully unaware. That wasn't what was going to happen here. This was a war and there would be thousands involved and this would was very aware of the threat and that meant all of them were a potential casualty. Some part of that should have frightened her but it didn't and she wondered when it was that finally finished getting to the point where she could be the kind of person who could take on the role she was.
"Indeed dagnir. Your naneth bids me remind you of your gifts, your strengths and that your path is before you." he told her and she had the distinct urge to beat her head against a tree while cursing in the best language she knew for cursing, Rohirric, but she knew the trees would object.
That and she was getting a little too old for a temper tantrum.
"I hate it when she's cryptic." she grumbles to herself.
"Indeed. One stage of your journey is over, another begins. We must ride to Edoras with all speed." replied Gandalf and began striding past them heading for the closest way out of Fangor. She'd admit that the forest held its own dark sort of beauty but she didn't like it. She was used to singing trees and these weren't singing and were downright angry.
"Edoras? That is no short distance!" Gimli complained as they followed Gandalf's lead.
"We hear of trouble in Rohan. It goes ill with the king."
"Yes, and it will not be easily cured." agreed Gandalf.
"Then we have run all this way for nothing? Are we to leave those poor hobbits here in this horrid, dark, dank, tree-infested..." Gimli began and the trees stared to protest, rather loudly in her opinion but she could hear them better than any human or dwarf could and Gimli look a little worried. "I mean, charming, quite charming forest." he finished trying to appease the trees who began to settle. They didn't like outsiders and that was exactly what they were. Pissing off the trees in this forest was a bad idea she was guessing.
"Gimli, don't antagonize the trees." she warned.
"You believe they are truly alive?" Boromir asked her and she gave him a look. Sometimes she would forget that she wasn't considered fully human any more and that trees being alive in more than the most basic of terms was unusual.
"They don't sing like the ones in Lorien but yes they are." she told him. He gave her a bit of a strange look but who was she to get offended? She wasn't normal by any standards any more.
"It was more than mere chance that brought Merry and Pippin to Fangorn. A great power has been sleeping here for many long years. The coming of Merry and Pippin will be like the falling of small stones that starts an avalanche in the mountains."
"In one thing you have not changed, dear friend." commented Aragorn to Gandalf.
"Hm?"
"You still speak in riddles." Aragorn whispered conspiratorially but she heard him even from a few feet behind.
"He and my naneth spend too much time together. Their rubbing off on each other." she agreed with a bit of a grumble. She was good at translating cryptic speak now, she'd had to learn to speak it in order to deal with her naneth. Didn't mean she was fond of it though.
"A thing is about to happen that has not happened since the Elder Days. The ents are going to wake up ... and find that they are strong." Gandalf informed them and she knew what he meant. Things were really about to get interesting.
"Strong?! Oh, that's good." Gimli commented with more than a hint of sarcasm and concern.
"So stop your fretting, Master Dwarf. Merry and Pippin are quite safe. In fact, they are far safer than you are about to be." chided Gandalf and she felt her somewhat lightened mood drop like a stone. They were about to go to Edoras and once she got there she knew what was coming.
War.
And it was coming far faster than what she'd planned for.
"It could perhaps be worse." commented Boromir from far behind her where he was lagging a bit with Gimli.
"I don't see how laddie."
"It could be the lady grumpy." she heard Boromir whisper.
"Right you are lad. Right you are." agreed Gimli.
"I heard that!" she called back over her shoulder and though she didn't see it she heard the two of them both stumble a little and stop for a moment as she crossed the tree line and was greeted by the bright sunlight of the Riddenmark. Gandalf gave a long and loud whistle unlike any she'd ever heard and after a moment she saw a white stallion crossing the distance. The horse came closer and greeted Gandalf like an old friend.
"That is one of the Mearas, unless my eyes are cheated by some spell."
"Shadowfax He's the lord of all horses and he's been my friend through many dangers." Gandalf said and swung himself up with more grace than someone that looked his age should have been able to do. Buffy followed suit. She knew what was coming, she could feel it even without the dreams she'd had.
Time was running out and her naneth's words had reminded her of what lay before her. Helms Deep would see war she knew but it would not stop there. War would come to Gondor, to Minas Tirith and something inside of her was telling her that she would be there.
That she would do all she could to make sure Aragorn had something to lay claim to when the time came.
She mounted her horse, her mind working over everything as they set out at a gallop.
Things were moving more quickly now and if she wanted all of them to survive this then she was going to have to be ready.
They rode for little more than two hours before the sun fell behind the horizon and they were forced to make camp. She, for one, was grateful for the chance to rest. Her body could do far more than than any normal human thanks to her slayer powers and her elven blood but even she was feeling the fatigue of running for days on end with no sleep.
They began to set up camp, Legolas and Aragorn going hunting while she and Boromir looked for kindling for a fire. She remained lost in thought for most of the task until she turned to find Boromir standing there looking at her with an expression she couldn't read.
"What Boro?" she asked him.
"I do not know what magic you preformed to save my life but it is no small thing." he told her and she knew that she really really didn't want to confront anything about Narya at the moment.
"It wa.."
"Wait. I wish to finish. You are as queens described in tales of old. You are my Queen and I will follow you and my king both into the very fires of Mount Doom." he said and his voice and expression was serious, dead serious and it frightened her.
"I don't want to be a queen Boromir. I don't want to lead." she told him.
"Whether you wish it or not, others will follow you as I will." he said and walked away, back to the camp to start the fire. She just stared after him for long minutes wondering when her life had gotten like this and wishing she could just go run and hide.
But she couldn't, she'd made a deal. Made a choice and as much as she hated to hear it her naneth's words or Gandalf's lips floated through her mind.
"This destiny crap was supposed to have ended when I came here." she grumbled as marched back to where Boromir had the fire lit now and the others when about their business.
Her life was getting way too complicated and she didn't like complicated. She only wanted a few things in her life, safety, her family and friends and her freedom. Now all three of those things could or had gone away and she wasn't happy.
And she still had no idea what to do about Aragorn or Narya.
But at least now she had Gandalf to ask about Narya.
The meal went quickly enough and she found herself keeping quiet during it. It wasn't that what they were discussing wasn't important it was that she was distracted. When Legolas volunteered for first watch she didn't argue, instead she simply went about getting herself ready for sleep and laying down. For the whole of the night she'd felt Aragorn and Boromir's gazes on her from time to time but she ignored them.
Gandalf seemed as disinclined to sleep as she was but unlike her he didn't pretend to even try, instead moving off to the edge of the camp to smoke his pipe. With her cloak beneath her and her coat forming a pillow for her head she kept her eyes closed as she waited for sleep to claim her.
It wouldn't.
After perhaps half an hour she noted the sounds of movement and when Gandalf's soft voice cut through the distance to her she paid attention.
"The veiling shadow that glowers in the east takes shape. Sauron will suffer no rival. From the summit of Barad-dûr, his Eye watches ceaselessly. But he is not so mighty yet that he is above fear. Doubt ever gnaws at him. The rumor has reached him. The heir of Númenor still lives. Sauron fears you, Aragorn. He fears what you may become. And so he'll strike hard and fast at the world of Men. He will use his puppet, Saruman, to destroy Rohan. War is coming. Rohan must defend itself, and therein lies our first challenge for Rohan is weak and ready to fall. The king's mind is enslaved, it's an old device of Saruman's. His hold over King Théoden is now very strong. Sauron and Saruman are tightening the noose. But for all their cunning we have one advantage. The Ring remains hidden. And that we should seek to destroy it has not yet entered their darkest dreams. And so the weapon of the enemy is moving towards Mordor in the hands of a Hobbit. Each day brings it closer to the fires of Mount Doom. We must trust now in Frodo. Everything depends upon speed and the secrecy of his quest. Do not regret your decision to leave him. Frodo must finish this task alone."
"He's not alone. Sam went with him."
"Did he? Did he indeed? Good. Yes, very good."
She knew all that, but she knew something else was well, something that Gandalf hadn't told Aragorn. Saurman didn't just want the One Ring, her wanted Narya as well. The One Ring for his master and a free ring of power for himself.
And that above all else made her a target.
And she still had more questions than answers when it came to the silver and red ring on her finger.
Questions she hoped Gandalf could answer for her.
She continued to lay still until she heard the steady tread that signaled that Aragorn had decided to return to go to sleep for the night and silently counted to a thousand before slipping up from her place and following the same path he'd taken to get to Gandalf. The old wizard stood staring off into the distance, his pipe between his teeth with a look of contemplation on his face.
"You are troubled." he commented and she gave a snort before replying. "As observant as ever I see."
"One does not change so greatly even after they fall."
"Preaching to the choir. I did it twice already remember." she sent back and he nodded before he replied. "Indeed I have heard the tales. What troubles you?"
She thought about all her troubles and the only one she knew she'd be willing to speak with him about was on her finger. "Narya."
"Your bond grows, I can feel it like steel being forged. Soon the two of you will share a bond that cannot be broken." he told her and she considered that for a moment. It was true that she'd used Narya more in the last few months than she had in all the years before total but she'd never thought about it that way.
"Is that why it won't let me die?" she asked him. He was quiet for a moment before replying. "Little is known about the ring you carry and nothing about how the rings shall be once they are free. You are unlike any before you dagnir."
"One girl in all the world." she commented as the old phrase came back to her. At least a few things in her life were staying constant.
"Indeed." he agreed with a slight twist of his lips and she decided to get on with her next problem where her fashion accessory of annoyance was concerned.
"They saw me use it Gandalf. They saw me heal Boromir and myself."
"And you are unsure what to tell them. I cannot tell you what is best dagnir, only remind you that you are being hunted as Frodo is. What you decide to do is now in your hands alone."
"You're no help at all you know that." she told him. She needed advice not this.
"I would think at your age you could make your own decisions." he commented giving her a look which promptly move into snark mode. "And I would think at your age you could at least offer some useful advice." she countered. He was quiet again for a long moment and after so many years she knew that with him that that was rarely a good sign for her.
"This war is far from over and it will be your strength that will determine if the race of men survives."
"I'm not their leader Gandalf." she informed him, Boromir's words still fresh in her mind. She had a job and she'd do it but she didn't want the responsibility of leading them. Keeping them safe she could do, leading them wasn't what she had in mind for the rest of her life.
"No you are not. You are their protector and it will be your strength that drives Aragorn to claim his rightful place with you by his side to lead them."
"This wasn't what I signed up for when I came here." she told him.
"Indeed it is not but the choices you have made have led you to this. Now you must complete the path." he told her and she just stood there in silence with him staring out over the Mark, the red glow of Isenguard in the distance.
Things were just never simple.
After a little bit the smoke coming from Gandalf's pipe dwindled to nothing and he left her still standing with her thoughts. Thoughts that seemed to go around in circles as searched desperately for a way to keep her freedom and still keep her word and protect everyone and everything she held dear.
And what Theoden's reaction to seeing her again after so many years would be.
Seeing her completely unchanged. Explaining that was going to be so incredibly unfun. And that was if he didn't decide to do something drastic. The man had a temper on him and she honestly didn't know how he was going to react.
Footsteps behind her alerted her to someone coming. Someone she could identify by sound alone. Aragorn.
"You have been distant of late." he commented and she stiffened, if she had to deal with any more of this tonight she was sure she'd scream and tell them all everything just to shut them up.
"I've had a lot on my mind." she settled for instead.
"Will you not tell me what troubles you?" he asked, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder. It was a gesture she'd always found comforting, his bigger size giving her a temporary illusion of security and safety that she didn't often get nor allowed herself to admit to anyone. She didn't want to fight with him but she also didn't want to lie to him.
"I came here with one destiny and one only and now instead of being simple its gotten all complicated and bigger. I feel like I've got the weight of everything back on my shoulders." she told him, it wasn't a lie because that was how she felt but it also wasn't the whole truth either.
"You told me that I must face my destiny. Together we will each face our fates."
"Its not potentially dying that scares me Aragorn, I've done that. It's not being free that haunts me." she told him and then left, heading back to her makeshift bed for the night.But despite how tired her body was she found little sleep before they broke camp at dawn
They rode to Edoras hard, pushing their horses to keep up with Gandalf on Shadowfax. Had she been on Asfoloth it wouldn't have been a challenge, he was descended from the meras but even a stallion bred by the horse lords of Rohan themselves could not match the white stallion that outpaced the rest of them.
Past mid day Edoras came into view in the far distance, the Golden Hall a beacon in the middle of the flat plains of Rohan. They continued to ride hard the distance narrowing until the golden hall rose above them. Buffy looked up and found her breath catching in her throat. There on the steps of the Golden Hall stood someone who reminded her far too much of one gone. Of a friend who drew their last breath within those walls.
"Edoras and the Golden Hall of Meduseld. There dwells Théoden, King of Rohan, whose mind is overthrown. Saruman's hold over King Théoden is now very strong. Be careful what you say. Do not look for welcome here." said Gandalf as they rode inside the gate to the city on the rise.
Edoras was not as she remembered it, the people looking tired and worn. This was not the boisterous people of the Mark she remembered and she knew without a doubt who and what was responsible for the change. They reached the Golden Hall and dismounted, moving up the stairs in when the doors of the hall opened to reveal a group of guards.
"Ah."
"I cannot allow you before Théoden-King so armed, Gandalf Greyhame. By order of Gríma Wormtongue." the one in charge stated, not looking pleased to be saying it. He was in his middle years, perhaps half her age with red hair and beard like most of the men of Rohan.
Buffy was about to protest when a look from Gandalf stopped her. He gave them all a nod and they began to remove their weapons, each giving theirs to one of the guards. Buffy began with her twin Elven blades, followed by Ruin and then her bow. By the time the others had finished but she still had weapons to remove. When she pulled four more blades from her body she received strange looks but ignored them. She liked to be prepared and she didn't care what they thought of that.
She looked over to find Gandalf with a twinkle in his eyes and just shrugged and she could see the look of amusement well hidden in the others' faces as well Gandalf made a move to continue now that they were 'unarmed' but he was stopped by the head guard once more.
"Your staff."
"Hmm? Oh. You would not part an old man from his walking stick?" Gandalf asked and Buffy knew he was playing the old man card up. She fought the urge to smile and just allow the old wizard the pull his little trick. The guard hesitated for an instant but waved them in and Buffy didn't fail to see Gandalf's wink back at them as she moved up to allow him to lean on her arm.
On old man leaning on a young woman's arm rarely looks threatening. Of course, that was only if they really were an old man and a young woman. When it was a wizard and a slayer it really was threatening, most just didn't know it yet.
They entered the hall and Buffy found it as changed inside as it was outside. It was dark and cold, the fires and warmth she remembered only a memory in the tomb it had become. The doors were closed behind them and locked but she didn't pay them much heed, she knew other ways out if it became an issue. What she was concerned with was the guards that kept pace with them on the other sides of the pillars. They were a potential threat.
"My lord, Gandalf the Grey is coming. He's a herald of woe."
"The courtesy of your hall is somewhat lessened of late, Théoden King." Gandalf commented and as though by some unspoken command she and the others began to fall back and spread out. She knew why she, Legolas and Aragorn did it, long years together had taught them to act as a unit in combat. She trusted them in a fight more than she had ever trusted anyone save Spike.
She spared a good look at Theoden and her steps almost faltered. The man she'd known had been young, though he'd appeared older than her and yet sitting before her sat a man who appeared even more ancient than Gandalf.
With someone that reminded her a lot of a greaseball vampire whispering in his ear.
"He's not welcome."
"Why should I… welcome you, Gandalf… Stormcrow?" asked Theoden and to Buffy his voice even sounded different.
A just question, my liege." commented the vampire wannabe before he stood and began down the steps to meet Gandalf. "Late is the hour in which this conjurer chooses to appear. Lathspell spell I name him. Ill news is an ill guest."
"Be silent! Keep your forked tongue behind you teeth. I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a witless worm!"
"His staff! I told you to take the wizard's staff!" pasty face said backing away as the guards came for them. Not one of them wasted any time and suddenly Buffy was glad that Legolas listened to her better than the gwenyn did. One of the guards came for her, obviously thinking she was the easiest target only to be met by a roundhouse kick to the head. Another attacked charging at her, she allowed him to reach her and when he did she rolled with it, falling backyards and using his momentum and her legs to launch him across the room and into a pillar. She continued with the roll coming up in time to sidestep and take the sword from her final attacker with one hand while her elbow made hard contact with his nose. Turning he saw her holding his own sword on him and stilled.
The fight was over and they'd won barehanded.
She watched as Gandalf faced Theoden, the light when Galdalf removed his cloak bright. It seemed he could turn off and on the glow like she could. It was a good trick for her a least as it kept anyone from realizing what she was unless she wanted them to.
"I will draw you, Saruman, as poison is drawn from a wound."
Movement caught her eye as a blonde young woman entered the room and began to rush to help Theoden. She couldn't intercept the woman from where she stood fast enough but Aragorn did it for her, grabbing the young woman by the arm and holding her in place.
"If I go. . . Théoden dies." said Theoden't body, but it wasn't his voice. Buffy knew Theoden's voice and there was one thing that never changed very much about a person no matter how long they were alive. Accents could change, hers had, but the sound itself never did.
"You did not kill me, you will not kill him"
"Rohan is mine!"
"Be gone!!" ordered Gandalf and Theoden lunged from the throne at him only to be thrown back from where he had come. Theoden began to slump forward in his throne and Aragorn released the young woman who rushed to him. She knelt down and Buffy watched as Theoden began to change before their eyes, the years seeming to melt away from him as his eyes cleared.
"I know your face. Éowyn… Éowyn. "
"Gandalf?" Theoden asked seeming to realize that they were there. Not sure how best to approach the situation once Theoden realized she was among the group she kept to her place near the back.
"Breathe the free air again, my friend."
"Dark have been my dreams of late."
"Your fingers would remember their old strength better... if they grasped your sword." Gandalf advised and she watched as Theoden took his sword. Movement caught her eye as well as everyone else's and from memory alone she knew that the vampire wanna be was going to get it.
She wasn't far off.
She watched things play out before her as Theoden acted as she'd expected him to and when pasty went flying out the doors and down the steps she lagged behind the others, handing the sword back to its owner who gave her a cautions look. Not that she blamed him too much. Female fighters were a rarity and being one of the king's guards and getting your butt handed to you by a girl made you look bad. Of course she had the advantage of being almost three times his age and was dangerous unarmed but he didn't know that.
She watched from a distance as Aragorn kept Theoden from killing the slime ball Grima and watched as the people bowed before their king.
"Where is Théodred? Where is my son?" she heard Theoden ask.
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She felt numb, cold even as she stood in a corner of the main Hall. Her weapons had been returned but that was of no comfort to her, nothing was. Elfhild's son was dead. The very son she'd help bring into the world. The child her friend had given her life for.
Saurman would pay.
It seemed Legolas had taken to acting as a buffer between her and the rest of the world and thankfully Theoden had not realized yet who she was. His grief and the funeral were enough to keep him occupied. But she knew it wouldn't last.
"Lady, may I have your name?" asked one of Theoden's guards, the one who she'd taken the sword from if she remembered right.
"She is Rhiannon though how she still lives unchanged I do not know." commented Theoden with a look on his face that she remembered. He wasn't happy and she didn't blame him. He had no reason to not hate her in her opinion. She hadn't been able to save Elfhild.
"Theoden-King, this is Buffy a Ranger of the north." Gandalf said introducing her to the king. She realized that they were keeping her name among the Eldar and anything relating secret still and she knew why.
"How is it that you still look as the last time I laid eyes upon you? Theoden asked her, suspicion and more than a little anger in his voice. She opted for the same line she'd given Boromor because technically she wasn't lying when she said it. It was how they took it that determined who or what they thought she was. And the fact that most still took her for one of the Dúnedain even though they all looked like Aragorn. Dark haired and gray eyed and tall, the polar opposite of her.
"I carry old blood."
"My wife loved you as a sister and I was told that it was you that saved my son, for that alone I will forgive your fleeing into the night." he told her and walked away. She felt like a great weight had been lifted from her chest. She knew he didn't like or approve of her but he would tolerate her and at the moment that was enough.
"Buffy." Legolas said as she rose and made her way to the doors that lead outside.
"I'm fine. I just need air." she told him and went out into the sunlight.
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The funeral was a somber affair as all funerals are, the setting sun in the distance a reminder that a life would no longer shine among them. Every second of it hurt her, her mind flashing back to the last moments of Elfhild's life as she struggled to bring to life who was now being placed in the ground far too soon.
To be there for the beginning and to see then end of an entire life was something she wasn't sure how to deal with. Death was something she'd become accustomed to but not in such a manner.
It felt like some unknown part of her had died with Theodred.
She stood completely still for the funeral, Legolas, Boromir, Gimli and Aragorn making up a sort of wall to protect her from the world.
They kept close to her all the way back to the Hall before Aragorn disappeared for a few moments only to return with a goblet of water for her and the others forcing her to sit.
She appreciated how they were trying to protect her but it wasn't them she wanted.
She wanted Arwen.
Relaxing her body she forced herself to focus, knowing that she'd reached Arwen before over such a great distance.
"Arwen."
"Buffy! Are you well?" came Arwen's voice and she realized that she hadn't known just how much she'd missed the elleth until now.
"I'm fine and so is everyone else. How are things in Rivendell?" she asked, brushing off the worry for their safety.
"When last I was there they were well."
"Last you were there? Where are you?" she asked as alarm bells starting ringing in her head.
"Perhaps two days from Dunland." came Arwen's reply and there was not even a hint of anything to it but determination.
"Arwen! What are you doing?" she demaned. Oh dear Eru if Arwen was in trouble there was going to be a real problem. Her grief could wait. She'd deal with this and crush Saurman and then she'd have her breakdown to Arwen.
"If you and by brothers may fight to protect us all then so can I." the elleth stated boldly. Buffy could have sworn she felt her heart stop at those words.
"You're going to get yourself killed."
"It is no greater risk for me than it is for you." Arwen countered and as much as she hated it her best friend had a point. Given Elrond, the gwenyn, Legolas, Aragorn, her naneth and ada were going to have fits about it but Arwen was right. She couldn't tell her family and friends that she was willing to die to protect Arda and then have a fit when Arwen wanted to do it too. Besides, Arwen knew how to fight and wasn't a child by any means. At least that was one comfort to her, she'd spent the last three quarters of a century teaching Arwen every trick she knew, honorable or not. The elleth knew how to fight dirty if she had to.
"Point taken. Where are you going?" she agreed. She knew for a fact that their family was going to have her head for this but she'd worry about it later, or hide behind Arwen and hope to Eru Elrond didn't kill her for being a co conspirator.
"To Gondor."
"You do realize a war is going to happen there in a month or less right?" she asked as a plan began forming in her mind.
"And I will be there to help fight it." Arwen told her.
"Arwen..."
"You cannot change my mind mellon nin." the elleth said and Buffy knew that tone, all she could do now was make sure Arwen didn't die from lack of warning about certain dangers.
"Fine, but just do something for me. Make camp and stay there for a week."
"Why?"
"Because I know for a fact that an army is going to be coming out of Isenguard and I don't want you near it alone." she answered.
"Very well. Buffy?"
"Yeah?"
"Please be careful."
"I will. You be careful too. Anything happens to you and it won't matter if I survive the war, Elrond will have my head." she replied and the connection ended. She was about to pull Legolas and Aragorn aside and let them know what Arwen was up to when the doors to the Hall opened and Gandalf and Theoden came in followed by two attendants carrying children.
Eowyn instantly took to them, ordering food and blankets as she went about mothering them in a manner that Buffy knew she'd have never been capable of. She kept her silence as things happened, already knowing what had occurred to bring this about and knowing that in a matter of days war would fall on Helms Deep.
And that it was too soon.
She was running out of time and they were running out of options and with an army the size of what she'd seen in her dream they stood little chance without help.
"They had no warning. They were unarmed. Now the wildmen are moving through the Westfold, burning as they go. Rick, cot and tree."
"Where's mama?" asked the little girl and Eowyn shushed her and stroked her hair.
"This is but a taste of the terror that Saruman will unleash. All the more potent for he is driven now by fear of Sauron. Ride out and meet him head on. Draw him away from your women and children. You must fight."
"You have two thousand good men riding north as we speak. Éomer is loyal to you. His men will return and fight for their king."
"They will be three hundred leagues from here by now. Éomer cannot help us. I know what it is that you want of me. But I will not bring further death to my people. I will not risk open war." countered Theoden.
"Open war is upon you. Whether you would risk it or not." Aragorn said and she felt the tension in the room go up about two levels.
"When last I looked, Théoden, not Aragorn, was king of Rohan." replied Theoden in a tone that she remembered and knew what it meant.
"Don't. Aragorn." she said softly and Aragorn gave an incline of his head to Theoden.
"Then what is the king's decision?"
"Helm's Deep. We shall go to Helms Deep."
"And so it begins." she wishpered to herself and felt as though time was slipping away from them as she stood and began to make her way outside once again for air.
"What do you mean?" inquired Boromir as he fell into step with her as she paced outside.
"The war begins now."
"You cannot thin that it will come to war."
"I don't think Boromir, I know." she told him, the images of her dream flashing through her mind.
"Then this is folly." he said, his blue eyes telling her exactly what he thought of Theoden's plan. It was folly and it was coming too fast and she knew that in just a few days an army would march on Helm's Deep and the backup she'd planned on them having wouldn't be there. If Rohan fell she knew what would happen and she couldn't let it. And now she had a plan and a way to kill two birds with one stone.
"I know. Do you trust me?" she asked him.
"It is not a question you need to ask."
"I need you to ride west and meet someone." she told him.
"Who?"
"The lady Arwen. She is on her way to Minas Tirith. Meet her and see here there safely, then prepare the city. War is coming and the White City must not fall." she told him and she saw the understanding bloom inside of him. Before her stood a son of Gondor, the son of the Steward and she knew he'd do everything in his power to protect Minas Tirith and Gondor itself.
"As you wish." he agreed.
"Go prepare your horse, I will gather you supplies." she told him and made her way back into the Golden Hall and slipped through servants and guards all intent on following Theoden's orders. Slipping into one of the storage rooms and gathering food was an easy task amongst the chaos that was erupting.
Slipping back out without the others noticing proved to be a bit of a bigger challenge. Because if they found out where Boromir was going and who he was meeting before he left she was sure Aragorn and Legolas would have fits. They had their protective moments of her from time to time but with Arwen it wasn't time to time, it was always. They tried to shelter her from danger at all cost and now Arwen wasn't having it any more. She didn't like the idea of Arwen in battle herself but she trusted the elleth to know how to protect herself. After all, she'd spent nearly seventy years training her on top of what Arwen had already known.
She reached the stables to find Boromir ready to leave and handed him what she'd gathered.
"The river that marks the border between Dunland and Enedwaith, you know it?" she asked him.
"I do."
"Meet her there. And hurry."
"Yes my Queen." he replied and his horse took off at a gallop, leaving her standing there with his words a reminder of yet another thing she would have to address sooner or later.
It seemed that she had moved just quickly enough to because not five minutes later Gandalf and the others entered
"They flee to the mountains when they should stand and fight. Who will defend them if not their king?" asked Gimli.
"He's only doing what he thinks is best for his people. Helm's Deep has saved them in the past." countered Aragorn, ever the diplomat as Gandalf met her gaze.
"I trust you have seen to your business dagnir." he asked her and she didn't even think twice about how he knew what she'd just done. He knew what she was capable of and the lengths she'd go to.
"I have." she agreed with a nod and the Wizard returned to what he had been about before he's addressed her.
"There is no way out of that ravine. Théoden is walking into a trap. He thinks he's leading them to safety. What they will get is a massacre. Théoden has a strong will but I fear for him. I fear for the survival of Rohan. He will need you before the end, Aragorn. He will need your gifts Buffy. The people of Rohan will need you. The defenses HAVE to hold." he told them and mounted Shadowfax.
"They will hold." said Aragorn and she could hear the steel in his voice. He was stepping into the role she knew he was meant to fill. She just had to make sure he lived though it and that there was something for him to lead when the time came.
"The Grey Pilgrim... that's what they used to call me. Three hundred lives of men I've walked this earth and now I have no time. With luck, my search will not be in vain. Look to my coming at first light on the fifth day. At dawn, look to the East."
"Go." ordered Aragorn and Shadowfax took off, Legolas leaping back to avoid being run over.
"Where is Boromir?" queried Aragorn and she realized a flaw in her plan.
"He's gone." she answered, not wanting to give anything away.
"Where to lassie?"
"To help me make sure all of us survive this." she answered and walked out of the stables to go see what needed to be done. She knew her way around still and she was prepared to help. She slipped into the kitchens, dodging bodies that were busy at work and gathered up the herbs and other supplies she would need and taking them to one of the smaller storage rooms where she knew the spare linens were kept. Grinding and mixing the herbs with the other ingredients she'd gathered she searched the room until she found a wooden box to store the mixture in. She repeated the process three more times before she'd filled the box, the contents enough to help speed the healing of almost a hundred men. Pulling some of the leather cord from her pouch she secured the lip to the box and set about her next task.
Half a dozen sheets had succumbed to one of her knives when Eowyn came through the door and stopped in surprise. "What are you doing?"
"Making bandages and a healing poultice." she told the other woman as she cut another strip of sheet and then laid it with the others in a pile that she would roll later.
"Some of the women said you were a healer but some of the men say that you are a Ranger. Do they speak the truth?" the younger woman asked and she stiffened. She hadn't been a healer then but she was now, but the knowledge wasn't the least bit comforting to her at the moment.
"I learned to heal from the Lord of Rivendell." she replied stiffly.
"That is how you saved my cousin when he was born."
"I couldn't save Elfhild." she said, the words coming out a bit more emotion filled than she'd intended them to.
"I have heard the tales, both would have died if you had not intervened." asked Ewoyn and Buffy felt her place a hand on her shoulder. "You loved her very much didn't you?"
Buffy looked over at the younger woman who reminded her so much of Elfhild. "She was my friend."
"Is that why you help us?"
"No, I help because when the time comes someone must stand and fight." she said and pulled herself back together in less than the space of a breath, cutting through the last of the sheet in her hands and moving away from Eowyn to get another one.
"They tell tales of you, the last shield maiden of Rohan. Stories that my brother says cannot be real." commented Eowyn after a moment.
"Do you think they are?" she asked as she cut through yet another sheet. She knew she had a lot of supplies and that it might look like overkill but she knew what was coming.
"Meeting you I believe that there must be some truth to them. That women are meant for more than the hearth."
"Being a fighter doesn't have anything to do with being a man or a woman, it has to do with your heart and if you refuse to give up. Now, do you have something I can store these in on my saddle?" she answered. She liked Eowyn, there was something about the younger woman that reminded her of herself.
"I believe I can find something." Eowyn agreed with a hint of a smile.
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They were leaving at dawn and she was up and ready well before that. She'd set the beginnings of her own plan in motion over a month before and now all she could do was rely on others to do what they were meant to. She'd spoken with Arwen again and helped Eowyn until the younger woman had convinced her come to sleep. They'd shared a room even, Buffy refusing the bed much to White Lady of Rohan's displeasure and taking up an extremely comfortable pallet on the floor.
The sun was just cresting the horizon when she found herself in the stables readying the last of the medical supplies she'd gathered when she heard the horse begin to protest.
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He was crossing the stable to join Buffy in the stall that held their horses with his saddle when he saw it. The stallion was beautiful, wild and something had stirred it until it would not remain calm.
It reminded him of Buffy.
He set his saddle down, approaching slowly a calming tactic he'd learned not only with beasts but the woman who held his heart.
"That horse is half mad, my lord. There's nothing you can do. Leave him."
He paid the stable hand no head, approaching slowly, careful to show no threat to the beast as he took the line and spoke calmingly to it in Rohirric
Hwæt nemnað ðe? Hm? Hwæt nemnað ðe?" he questioned, wishing to know its name. The horse did not answer as he stroked it but another voice did.
"His name is Brego. He was my cousin's horse."
He gave the young woman a look, considering the name before turning back to the horse, it had calmed now but would spook easily still.
Yes, very much like Buffy. She had quite the temper, a fiery disposition that he both loved and hated depending on whether it was directed at himself. He continued to sooth the stallion in Sindarin, asking it what had troubled it.
"I have heard of the magic of Elves, but I did not look for it in a Ranger from the North. You speak as one of their own." the lady Eowyn said from where she'd come to stand on the other side of Brego. Her words gave him pause, a reminder that none save himself, Gimli and Legolas knew who and what Buffy truly was. If the lady had known she perhaps would not have been surprised.
"I was raised in Rivendell ... for a time." he replied remembering his last night in Rivendell, the first time he'd seen Buffy. Since they'd left Lorien she'd been troubled but had not confided in him and he knew that he had let it go for far too long. Tonight he'd learn the truth from her. "Turn this fellow free. He's seen enough of war." he told the fair haired young woman and strode away, taking his saddle from the hand who held it for him.
When he turned the corner and entered the stall he found it empty save for his horse.
Buffy had already gone.
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Buffy would easily admit it, Eowyn was growing on her. The young woman was a strange mixture of Elfhild's queenly grace and her own spirit. With the stubbornness of them both and an innocence neither of them had had. But then Eowyn was still young, maybe in her mid twenties if she had to guess. The fact that someone in their twenties seemed young to her wasn't a thought she liked but she guessed it was karma for her always hearing Elrond or her parents call her young.
Which was kinda scary considering she was coming up on her first century.
But she liked the younger blonde a lot and as different as they were in some ways they'd already struck up a friendship even though Eowyn was trying to mother hen her a little bit. The other blonde had argued with her until she'd given up her clothing to be washed and had even taken a bath the night before as a compromise for making sure Eowyn took the bed. The woman was stubborn as a mule and she was glad for it.
With any luck it would be what kept her alive through what was coming.
She was sitting at one of the long tables in the main hall eating what Eowyn had shoved before her as the very last of the preparations were made, they were leaving in less than an hour.
When she saw Eowyn draw a Rohirric blade she remembered well and move through some simple forms with Aragorn coming up behind the other blonde her breath caught. Aragorn gave her a look and a small smile as he noticed her and then drew the knife she'd given him and met Eowyn's blade when the other woman turned.
"You have some skill with a blade. Perhaps you should ask our lady with assistance in refining it."
"Women of this country learned long ago: Those without swords can still die upon them. I fear neither death nor pain."
"What do you fear, my lady?" he asked and she knew he wasn't just asking Eowyn, he was asking her as well. They hadn't spoken much since Lorien but still he wore her pendant. She loved him with every fiber of her being but the knowledge that loving him would lead to her living in the cage of royalty for the rest of her life still frightened her more than anything.
She knew she was a hypocrite pushing Aragorn to take up his place as the king of men when he didn't want it and looking for a way to avoid the same fate for herself but she couldn't help it. The Valar knew and understood who and what she was, allowing her the freedom to be a leader when the time came and still keep her freedom but men were not like that. To lead them would forever bind her to a cage of propriety and decorum.
She was no lady no matter what anyone called her.
"A cage. To stay behind bars until use and old age accept them and all chance of valor has gone beyond recall or desire."
"You are a daughter of kings, a shieldmaiden of Rohan. I do not think that would be your fate." he said and she stood up and made her way to the doors, the room suddenly felt small to her and above all else she needed to think. Because never in a million years did she ever guess that he would know her fear.
She reached the stables to find Legolas standing with Gimli, both gave her looks that spoke volumes even though Legolas' face was it's usual almost blank facade. Decades of friendship with someone made reading little signs so easy and she wondered idly how she'd ever managed to communicate without words with the scoobies.
"Are you alright lassie?" questioned the dwarf, she noticed that he was developing into a bit of a grumpy mother hen and that thought reminded her of how mother henning Elrond was which only brought her thoughts back again to her problems.
"I'm fine Gimli, just a little out of sorts." she answered absently.
"Its no wonder."
"Buffy." said Legolas and it was from his tone alone that she knew what he was going to to say.
"I'm fine Lessag, just had a bit of a reality check is all." she answered truthfully.
"May I have a word with my lady?" came Aragorn's voice from the entry of the stable and she tensed. Now of all times she didn't want to deal with Aragorn.
"Of course laddie. Come on master elf." Gimli said and together he and Legolas left the stable, the door closing behind them and leaing her there facing Aragorn completely alone.
"Manen nalye?" he asked her, his eyes holding something she couldn't read and that was never a good sign. (Are you well?)
"Im maer." she answered cuatiously. She had the very distinct feeling this was going to turn into a fight and with their tempers that was never a good thing because usually it ended in yelling when they did do it because she couldn't just beat the snot out of him and be done with it like she could with the gwenyn. Fighting with him was like fighting with Arwen, most of the time if she won she wasn't even sure if she really had by the end of it. (I'm fine.)
"You have been keeping things from me." he stated and she just knew she wasn't going to win this. There was only plan b. Get it over with as fast as possible.
"I have." she agreed.
"You have so little trust in me?"
"That isn't it and you know it. My coming here had rules and I'm trying to follow them and still do what I'm supposed to." she told him. This wasn't about trust because she did trust him. This was about something else entirely.
"Is that why you sent Boromir from us on the eve of battle?" he asked her and she could see the anger in his eyes.
"What happens if we lose? Where do you think Saurman will go next?" she demanded, she didn't want to fight but she wasn't about to let him rip into her. Realization spread across his face and the anger in his eyes quelled.
"Minas Tirith."
"With Sauran and his army coming in from the other side." she supplied.
"You've sent Boromir to warn his father."
"Yeah, had you asked me yesterday I would have told you that." she shot back and his expression changed. The anger was gone and it was replaced by something else entirely when she spoke.
"I did not come to argue with you."
"Then why?" she asked.
"Le no an uir nin?" he asked her and suddenly she felt like she'd been hit by the cave troll again. She couldn't think, she couldn't breathe, and she wasn't sure if she was going to pass out or run away as fast as she could. (Will you be mine forever?)
"Melamin.." he prodded, breaking her out of her stupor to some extent.
"Mani ume lle quena?" she asked, she had to have heard him wrong, there was just no other explanation. (What did you say?)
"I have loved you since I first laid eyes upon you the night I first left Rivendell." he told her, stepping up into her personal space. Her mind was shutting down, completely and utterly.
"You saw me?" was all she managed to get out.
"I have given you my heart and will never love another. I stand before you now as a mere Ranger and ask you for your hand in marriage." he told her as she stared at the pendant that rested between his collarbones. Her pendant.
"Lle lakwenien?" she asked not not knowing how else to react. (Are you joking?)
"I am not." he told her, his voice dead serious.
"Aragorn, I..."
"I know what you fear melleth. I know who and what you are. Be you Queen of Gondor or Ranger, I will never expect you to be other than what you are again." was his reply and something inside of her knew he was telling her the truth. That finally he understood.
"And what of others?" she questioned. He was one thing but everyone else of the world was quite another.
"What they expect does not matter." he told her and she closed her eyes and took deep breaths. She loved him, so much so that living without him felt like a fate worse than any other she'd ever encountered. He'd been her heart for almost a lifetime and now here he was telling her that he didn't care who or what she was and that he'd finally accepted it himself. She'd dammed the opinions of others when she'd chosen Angel, she'd ignored them when she'd stood by Spike. She could do it again.
She would do it again for the man she loved. If she could face death to see him as king then she could face the expectations of others and ignore them as well.
"Tancave." she agreed and opened her eyes to find Aragorn's dace descend upon hers. The kiss was passionate and full of so much fire it threatened to consume her. They came apart he stepped back, holding his hand as though he held something inside it. He opened his fingers and there in his palm sat the Ring of Barahir, the green stone in the center of the two coiling tails glinting in the morning light with a long mithril chain looping through the band. (Yes)
"You cannot give me this. It's part of your birthright." she told him looking down at the ring that was a symbol of who and what he was.
"No more so than what hangs around my neck now." he told her and let the ring drop, the ring dangling from the thick chain as he raised it and placed it over her head. The ring fell onto her tunic just between her breasts would be and it felt like a weight was sitting there. She knew she was still terrified but looking up into his eyes in that instant she knew that she'd face that fear later. For now they had each other and a country to save.
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This chapter was about two thougsand words longer where I have it posted on Twisting the Hellmouth but I'm having to adjust it here. Please remember I post there more often and first. To make the point I've already hit Return of the King there. I'm going to ty and get thing s up to date here this weekend but it is not a promise. If you want to catch up faster go to Twisting the Hellmouth.