Hello my dear readers.
I'm so sorry that this chapter seems hopeless. I've just been so tired lately as seen on my profile. I have a feeling it's going to be hard for me to update this year. But I haven't even written up to the good stuff and even the beginning of the Fellowship's journey. Next chapter, I swear I'll make it even better. Please don't lose hope on me.
As usual, please enjoy.
Chapter Nine - Rivendell
Chapter Theme(s):
Braska's Daughter - Final Fantasy X OST
Gandalf's low voice was the first thing Valina heard when she awoke.
"So you have awoken from your slumber." He said.
She turned her head slightly, noting that she was in a rather comfortable bed with light streaming through an open window. "Gandalf..." She mumbled when she saw him in his dull gray, sitting by her bedside.
"Do you still feel tired, my dear?"
She shook her head. She was mentally tired, but she felt that her body was absolutely fine. Valina didn't know whether or not she should feel as if she missed Spira or not. She had just dreamt of the farplane...
A sudden realisation dawned upon her.
Frodo!
"Gandalf, where is Frodo?" She gasped as she jolted up and tried to move out of the bed. Gandalf grasped her shoulders and gently pushed her back down to lay back on the bed.
"Stay calm, Valina. Frodo is fine. He awoke earlier than you did." His eyes showed a twinkle of amusement at her outburst and her sudden red glow of embarrassment. "Many were worried about you. Lord Elrond suspected that you had exhausted your body, yet you showed no sign of using too much. What had effected you, child?"
The words were caught in her throat. His words reminded her that she was powerless. Curaga could usually cure anyone, even with the slight chance that they were on the brink of death. Yet, Valina could do nothing at that time when it came to Frodo. "Something is wrong with my powers, Gandalf." She whispered, letting the realisation seep into her mind and cloud it with fear and shock. "In my world- Spira... My spells were so effective, usually I could heal anyone like Frodo in any situation. But... when Frodo was stabbed by the black riders, my powers were so..." She hesitated. "Weak... I could only stop his bleeding and close his wound with my most strongest spell. It felt as if something was blocking me."
Gandalf nodded knowingly. "The poison of the morgul blade repelled your powers. Do not worry about that, it is far too complicated to heal, even for the elves." He then looked into her eyes expectantly. "However, I do know that you are still conflicted about something. I can see it in your eyes."
Valina bit her lip, not wanting to burden Gandalf. He seemed to have enough burden upon his old shoulders. But his eyes looked as if he would reprimand her if she did not tell... "I met an old friend in my dreams." She said softly.
"Oh?" His eyebrows rose in amusement, or was it shock? "And what did this friend tell you?"
She sighed. "I had so many questions for him, yet he was so vague with the answers and... and now, I feel so lost."
The old gray Istar only gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder before standing up. "You will find your answers in time." He spoke before walking towards the door. "When you are feeling well, I advise you to take a walk around. Perhaps it can clear your mind." He smiled as he exited.
Valina did go out of her room when the sun was at the highest point in the sky. She had yet to met the others, but felt comfortable on her own for the moment. Rivendell was truly beautiful and there was certainly no place in Spira like it. Her room was close to the large garden so she leisurely walked to it. The white stone pavement against the heels of her boots made definite clacking noises. Her eyes gazed at the flowers there, searching for any that she recognised.
"Oh!" She smiled as she knelt down under a stone arch. Just growing in the soil behind the pillar was a little shrub. "Rosemary." She breathed and inhaled the aroma. Sam had taught her the little herb. It's delicate blue flowers was pleasing to the eyes and the aroma was lovely, as Sam had demonstrated one night when it came to roasting chicken.
"Valina?"
She turned her head and saw white silky material, fluttering in the slight breeze. Her gaze went upwards before she was greeted with a familiar face. "Arwen." The elven maiden smiled and reached a hand out to her.
Valina readily accepted it and was led to a stone bench on the sides of the garden where they both sat down. "You have been sleeping for a while. How are your faring?"
She fiddled with her brown locks of hair, feeling rather nervous and self conscious. Arwen was a fine example of an elven maiden. She was beautiful, wise and to Valina, she was very kind. Arwen's long waves of raven hair looked silky smooth and her porcelain skin looked as beautiful in the sun as it would be shining in the moonlight. Everything about Arwen looked clean and pristine. Valina knew she had darkness occurring underneath her eyes, yet it had faded slightly due to her relaxing time with the hobbits and Gandalf. Her hair felt greasy and messy and she knew she had braided her hair wrong this morning. Her clothes were dirty and had wrinkles all over it, not flowing and smooth like Arwen's gown.
"I am fine." Arwen's delicate eyebrow rose and Valina was forced to continue. "I don't feel tired now." Her voice made it seem uncertain, as if she were a child trying to please an adult with the right answer.
"Many worried about you. Aragorn had to carry you here for most of the way, I have heard." Arwen said with an amused twinkle in the depths of her eyes.
Valina was confused. "Who is Aragorn?"
"Oh, I have forgotten he goes by many names. Aragorn is Strider."
"What? He carried me here?" She exclaimed as she stood, alarmed and embarrassed. Arwen laughed and gently grasped her hand to pull her down to sit again.
"Well he could not leave you lying there nor let the hobbit folk carry you."
Valina blushed crimson. "Well, no. Of course not, but... I am not the..." She struggled to think of the word. "I am big." She said bluntly, having no idea how else to say it.
Arwen let out another soft laugh, especially seeing Valina's face turn bright red. "You are not big at all. You are little compared to Aragorn. If you are saying that you are heavy, then I am not sure. But Aragorn is strong. Perhaps you should thank him for carrying you."
Heavy? I should ask Gandalf what that word means... Valina thought before nodding to the elven maiden.
Arwen seemed to notice Valina's odd habit to play with her own hair and said. "Would you like to bathe? You look uncomfortable." Arwen almost looked as if she was going to frown, but a second later her placid expression remained.
"Well, my room has no..." she hesitated as she thought of the word. "Bathing room?" She noticed that Arwen nodded for her continue, patient with her stuttering and stumbling words. "But I would like to have one, if it doesn't trouble you."
Arwen touched her arm with a gentle smile. "Of course I would not mind. You are a friend of mine and I allow my friends to use what I use." Amusement fluttered across her face for a moment. "Or do you not remember how much you insisted so?"
The splash of red reappeared upon her cheeks. Her lips parted and wobbly as if trying to think of what to say. The memory of when she first entered Rivendell pushed it's way into her mind like parents telling embarassing childhood stories.
Gandalf stood tall within the room with Lord Elrond and Arwen. "Good evening, my old friend."
"Gandalf." Lord Elrond inclined his head slightly in greeting. "I did not expect you to come to Rivendell without notice." His eyebrow raised in wariness.
"No, I did not expect so myself. However, I am in need of a rest - more so my new companion."
That seemed to surprise the elven lord. "Companion?"
The sounds of gray robes shuffling as Gandalf motioned the foreign girl forward from behind her. She seemed very shy all of a sudden and Gandalf did not understand why, but did not ask. Mostly because they both wouldn't be able to understand each other unless they took minutes trying to decipher each other's crude way of communication - hand movements.
Ever since Valina had entered Rivendell, she had taken one look at the elven people and see their delicate pointed ears. It was almost entertaining to Gandalf to see her gasp and stare before shifting her eyes down to their arms. Her eyebrows would slant downwards and a frown would appear. "Guado?" She had whispered in confusion. Gandalf did not know what a 'Guado' was, but assumed it was something similar to an elf. It was troubling to him that he did not know what it was.
"Valina, meet Lord Elrond and Arwen. They are friends." Gandalf spoke, motioning to them each as he spoke their names. At the strange looks both elves had given him, he explained. "She does not speak Westron nor Elvish. She speaks a language of her own."
Elrond said. "She is... touched in the head, you presume?"
"Oh, no. Never. I am certain her mind is clear and able." Gandalf's amusement was clear within his blue eyes. However, the darkness of secrets and knowledge were also buried within. "She is just different - unique is perhaps the better word."
Arwen looked to the brown-haired girl with interest. She looked so small and insecure in such a large room with two men speaking a language that is foreign to her. While the two men talked quietly, Arwen stepped forward towards the girl and held up her right hand in greeting. "Welcome, Valina." She spoke gently, as if coaxing a child to come out of hiding. The girl's timid appearance did make her seem like a child after all. "I am Arwen. A friend." As she spoke friend, she used her other hand to touch her heart.
Unexpectedly, the girl mimicked her movement. "F-Friend?" The words that stumbled from her mouth was accented with the strange language. It was quite endearing to see the girl shuffle in uncertainty, again making Arwen think of her as a lost child.
She smiled. "Yes. Friend."
"Friend..." The girl's voice trailed off, as if contemplating.
Ever since that meeting, Arwen offered little conversation, but immense patience and kindness towards the foreign girl. She wondered if that was how it felt like, having a little sister or perhaps being a mother to an elfing. In any case, she had found it odd how Valina always called her 'friend' and never her name.
It was one day, when Valina came running to her, frantic with her hair messy and wild and kept calling, "Friend! Friend! Friend!" that she realised that Valina had thought her name was 'Friend' not Arwen.
Gandalf couldn't stop chuckling when he was told.
Arwen was still smiling serenely as Valina stuttered. "It was- I just... Y-You should not make me remember!"
Now, it looked as if Arwen's smile was a little too serene. Valina could see the laughter in the Elleth's clear gray eyes. "I am jesting with you, my friend." She stood and motioned the younger female to do so too. "Come, I shall help prepare a bath for you."
They walked out of the gardens and to Arwen's bathing room. Valina noticed how gracefully Arwen walked and how she held her head up high making her regal authority very apparent. Valina knew that some little dark part of her mind was envious of the elleth's beauty and her knowledge for things. How could she be so perfect and flawless when she was not a full elf? Surely, a part of that human blood must have faults... But she realised a long time ago, that she did not need that beauty or knowledge. No, not for her path. She was fully human and with so many flaws. She had to learn to accept that. Perhaps, Arwen had some flaws that was never exposed to her.
I must repent for my sins... For Spira's sins...
"Valina? Valina, are you listening to me?" The elleth's smooth voice interrupted her thoughts.
She quickly nodded, hoping not to offend her friend. But Arwen never seemed to get offended by anything. She saw two elleths walking out of the room with buckets in their hands. While she was daydreaming, it seemed that her friend had asked for the bath to be drawn.
"You can bathe here. Would you like me to bring you some new garments?"
"I cannot wear any other clothing. I... I made made an oath." Valina hesitated. "But, I have a spare set in my bag I left in the room. It is slightly dirty and wet, but-"
"That is fine. I will clean and dry it for you. It will take a while to warm the water and fill the bath. I am sure that is long enough to dry your clothes." Arwen moved towards a table in the room which had several glass bottles and wooden containers. "Here are the soaps you can use."
"Bathe as you like, I will leave your garment on my bed." She smiled at Valina before exiting the room.
Valina, now being left alone, took her time to look around. The room was small compared to the other rooms she had visited in Rivendell. But the perfume of flowers was pleasant and bade her to relax. In the middle of the room was a wooden tub and next to it was the table of the soaps. The corner of the room had a bronze chamberpot and several wooden buckets.
Taking her time, Valina patiently waited by smelling the different soaps. All of them were floral and lovely though she could only name one or two of the flora used in them.
Soon enough, the elleths from before had arrived with buckets of warm water.
When Valina slid into the perfumed water, she felt her body loosen.
Let me forget just for a little while...
When Valina had changed into her new clothes, she realised that her pouch had been ripped and Arwen had given her a tanned leather satchel as a replacement. The fights with the black riders had probably caused it to rip beyond repair, but it was mostly her fault for stuffing her things into such a small pouch.
In the brown pouch had several coins of different shapes, sizes and colours. Octagons, hexagons and circles of gold, bronze silver and jade were present and some had escaped from the rips of the pouch and onto the white bed. It was the currency of Spira.
"I thought I had given all my Gil to Kiku." She said aloud to herself as she placed them all into her new satchel.
There were several different herbs and flowers which were shrivelled from being forgotten. Their scents mingled together and lingered in the pouch though it was weak. Once she picked them up, bits had been crumbling off and the beauty of them as well.
Her wooden flute was also in the pouch, disassembled into three pieces for now. They were a gift from Merry and Pippin so she dared not leave it around.
There was a glass vial of green liquid. It swirled with magical potency. It was a Hi-Potion. A concotion that could heal most wounds and make someone feel more alert and awake. She had forgotten she had it and she felt guilty that she did not use it on Frodo when he was wounded. But, if her magic did not work on him then the Hi-Potion would probably be just as ineffective - if not more.
The next thing she found was a brilliant feather coloured like a sunset and fire with tips of black but the bottom was a lovely aqua shade. It was a phoenix down. The item itself was a miracle and could be used to awaken those who could not and heal those who are mortally wounded. She stuffed it in, hoping to never use it in the future.
Gathering the pouch, she was going to take it to be thrown away until-
Clink... Clink...
Two golden rings with a blue dome in the middle, the size of a bulky metal bracelet, fell the round with a resounding echo. They twirled around from the impact before settling down flat. The reflection of the light gleamed back innocently at her.
She froze.
Those are...
It felt as if someone had given her a Soft potion and she felt like she could move again. Gently, she knelt down and picked the objects with trembling hands. They were the size of her palm. The golden rings had etching of Spirian language on it, though they were in the old language and could not be deciphered anymore. The blue dome was a sphere with clear water morphing smoothly and beautifully within it. A small pyrefly circled inside, as if chasing the water in an endless game.
How long has it been since I've played this? She wondered. She placed the duller blue one on the bed and cupped her hands around the other.
She knew she had never touched it since she had come to Middle Earth. Maybe even before then too.
"P-Play..." She whispered, barely audible.
The movie sphere illuminated, casting an eerie blue upon her skin and images were projected up above the sphere.
It was a little girl. A girl so much like her with the same mismatched eyes and brown hair. The child smiled brightly, twirling around in the background of a white beach and the beautiful blue sea and sky behind her...
"Yuna, wave at me!" Her voice echoed from the sphere - though it was a much younger version of her's.
The little girl instantly turned towards the sphere with a giant smile and waved with such happiness. "Hi, Lina!" The girl said with a bounce in her step as she rushed forward, her face pushed against the orb making her face look much more enlarged. "Look, Lina! It's Ian playing blitzball with Wakka!" When the orb stayed focused on little Yuna, she pouted. "Why are you still recording me?"
"Just... Just let me keep recording you, okay Yuna? I can see Ian and Wakka playing blitzball any day."
Yuna looked confused. "But, you see me everyday and all the time."
"I just want to see you smile and remember it. " She could hear her younger self chuckle. "Sometimes I wonder how many times you can smile a day, hm?"
"When Sin is gone for good, I'll smile a lot! I promise!"
She could hear the sharp inhale of her younger self. "I-Is that so...?"
"Yeah." Yuna nodded before twirling around again, her eyes staring up into the endless sky. "Everyone will smile more once Sin is gone. I'm proud daddy made Sin go away."
"Y-Yeah... I'm proud of father too." There was a pause and the camera only focused on Yuna. "Yuna, I promise you... Sin will be gone for good someday."
"I promise you..."
As I've said, I tried.
I'll definitely make it better in the upcoming chapters whenever I update this year.
Oh, a question for all of you:
Should Boromir live?
If so, why?
Please review or PM me and tell me why. You can also do a poll on my profile for it as well.
Thank you for reading and have a nice day!