A/N: Ok, Please don't kill me! *hides behind shield* I am not going to make up an excuse, I forgot and that is that. I hope you enjoy the chapter and will forgive me for my tardiness if I bribe you with lembas *waves lembas in the air*. Anyway, On with the show!
Disclaimer: We own nothing but the Ocs
Chapter Eighteen – What is it Like to Die?
Kels POV
Seph and I woke up at the same time the next morning; I had carried Pippin back to his own bed earlier. Goldberry was floating around the room and she broke out into a wide smile. Goldberry was indeed beautiful; no words could truly do her justice. Her hair was brighter than spun gold and her eyes were a deep cobalt blue, deeper than the oceans and yet brighter than the sun. Her skin was creamy and smooth, no blemishes marking it and her face, well, if she were a flower than all other flowers would appear to be dead in comparison. And the hobbits had said we were as fair as she! Not likely I must admit.
"Good morning Goldberry!" Seph said sitting up. She placed a hand over her mouth and blushed slightly. "Sorry milady I spoke out of turn." Goldberry's laugh tinkled through the air and she opened the yellow curtains.
"Worry not daughter of Manwe, I would prefer that you called me by my name." Smiling I slid out of bed. Looking out of the window I giggled.
"Looks like it's gonna rain," I said merrily.
"Typical British weather!" Seph and I said simultaneously and we began to laugh merrily.
"It is time for breakfast," said Goldberry in a singsong voice. "You may change into the dresses I have provided."
Quickly sliding into the golden on the foot of my bed, Seph and I pattered down the corridor barefoot to get to the dining room.
Tom and Goldberry were not present but the hobbits were already there, eating their way through the food on the table.
"I hope you left us some!" I joked, ruffling Frodo's hair as I walked past. As we ate we could hear Tom crashing around in the kitchen and singing loudly as he went about his daily chores. The window looked out over the valley and we could see the rain falling and the rivulets of water trailing down the window. Goldberry came floating in, singing a rain song.
"Hello my little lilies," she said in a sing song voice as she walked past. "I do doubt that the rain will ease up any time soon," and with that she walked past and floated out.
After we had finished our meal, Tom came trotting in from outside and grinned.
"This is Goldberry's washing day," he said, "and her autumn cleaning. Too wet for hobbit-folk and pretty little lilies - let them rest while they are able! It's a good day for long tales, for questions and for answers, so Tom will start talking." Shaking her head Seph turned to me.
"First blessed ones, then daughters of Manwe and now lilies? Soon it's going to be the lilies of Manwe! What did I do wrong?" I snorted and grinned at her.
"What we did wrong, dear sister, was use that soap yesterday." We both chuckled. The effects of the soap hadn't worn off and I was beginning to wonder if it ever would. Not that I really wanted it to of course. We turned back to Tom who was telling remarkable stories. Often he would break out into song, get out of his chair and dance. He told us of bees and flowers (lilies made a repeat appearance), the ways of the trees, ents, evil things and good things, things friendly and things unfriendly and tales of the forest that surrounded us. Tom continued talking but I got up to get some food. Seph immediately stood behind me and followed me out.
"Kels," she whispered. "I've been thinking about what Goldberry said last night."
"As have I."
"When we reach Rivendell we have to join the fellowship." I raised an eyebrow and nodded for her to continue. "Goldberry says that we have a part to play in this war. I doubt that it involves sitting idly in Rivendell, waiting for the battle to come to us." I nodded and smiled at her.
"We can't let our little brothers and lost sisters go on their own either, I am most certainly not letting them have all of the fun." I pointed out. Giving me a crooked smile, Seph grabbed a cookie from the countertop and headed back to the living room.
I came back in to hear Tom talking about his age.
"Eldest, that's what I am. Mark my words, my friends: Tom was here before the river and the trees; Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn."
"Wow, that's pretty darn old," muttered Seph half-heartedly from her place in the armchair where she was half asleep.
"Indeed," replied Tom chuckling. "You too are older than you think."
"So I'm not a nineteen year old with anger issues?" she asked, opening one eye. The hobbits and I burst out laughing and Tom grinned.
"Aye, neither you nor your sisters are quite what you seem." I raised an eyebrow.
"So I'm not an eighteen year old with the mental age of a five year old?" I asked, cocking my head to one side.
"You are in this life," he winked. "But in your previous life you were something else entirely."
"Well that's comforting," said Seph, standing up. Her ears pricked slightly and we turned to see Goldberry in the doorway, candle in hand.
"The rain has ended," she said.
In other words its stopped raining. Why can't people speak normally?
The rest of the day passed without much to report. We slept better that night, no hobbits came to us (much to Seph's relief) and we rose bright and early. Light filtered in through the open curtains and bathed the room in a golden glow. Breakfast was eaten in relative silence; Goldberry and Tom were off somewhere so we were left alone to eat our meals. I watched as Seph found our travelling clothes and lay them out on our beds. Sliding the silky dress up over my head I changed back into the slightly rougher material of our hunting clothes and packed all of my things. Walking outside we moved to the top of a small hill where Tom, Goldberry and the hobbits were already waiting for us. My heart felt slightly sad as we turned to bid farewell to our lovely hosts. The hobbits stood in silent awe as they were given food to eat and partings were exchanged. Seph looked slowly around, face melancholy.
"I fear we will never see this place again..."
"I know," I whispered back and nudged her arm, trying to coax a smile out of her but failing. A solitary tear trailed down her cheek and she wiped it away on the back of her hand.
"Sweet lily, cry not..." Goldberry floated over and smiled at her. "You are free to visit again when you wish." Seph nodded, putting on a brave smile. I felt lost, I felt so at home here. I began to sob and I closed my eyes. I felt Seph put her arms around me and mutter soothingly in elvish.
"Hebo estel. Tolo hi, no thalion. Have hope. Come now, be strong," She tipped my head up to look at her and smiled "All will be well," she whispered, ruffling my hair. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned. Goldberry stood, smiling sweetly down at me, golden
hair dancing in the faint breeze.
"To remember us." She took a necklace from her pocket and placed it around my neck, the pendant was a golden lily with a diamond inset in the centre. I hugged her in thanks and she smiled down at me. She moved over to Seph and removed a second pendant from her pocket. This lily was in a golden cage.
"For you, lily of the wild. To help you remember that one day, someone will open the cage around your heart and see who you truly are." Seph snorted and shook her head.
"Like that's gonna happen, but thanks anyway." Goldberry gave her an affectionate smile like a mother would and kissed her forehead before placing a kiss on my own.
"Off you head. Journey safely!" we began off and I watched until they were small specks in the distance.
Walking over the hills with the sun on our backs was calming. We sang slightly as we made our way over the smooth grassy plains on our way to the road which would lead us to Bree.
"The hills are alive with the sound of music," Seph sang sweetly, her voice filling the air with music.
"With songs they have sung for a thousand years,
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music,
And my heart wants to sing every song it hears."
I laughed and punched her arm lightly.
"How you can still remember that song is beyond me." She shook her head and laughed causing her curls to bounce.
"I have a thousand different musical soundtracks on my iPod dummy." The hobbits began to laugh and Frodo slipped his small hand into mine.
"Please sing again," he begged, giving Seph his best puppy dog face. She laughed at his efforts and ruffled his hair.
"Sure thing ringo."
After Seph had sung almost the entire Sound of Music soundtrack and sung 'Dancing through Life' from Wicked we sat down and ate our fill of berries and honey comb from the supplies. We got up and continued on but somewhere in the middle of it we fell asleep. I woke up surrounded by stones in a small hollow. Mist covered the ground in a thick white blanket and the whole place was eerily quiet. Seph sat up next to me and rubbed her eyes.
"We appear to have a mysterious tendency to wake up in unfamiliar places with no memory of how we got there," She muttered as she pulled herself up. I chuckled and grabbed her hand as she pulled me up. Seph turned to Frodo and shook him awake. Sam also awoke relatively easily; he obviously didn't want Seph throwing water on him again. Pippin and Merry were another story entirely. They would not budge, not an inch, not half an inch. They were completely and totally oblivious to all of our efforts and slept on. Seph stood over the two of them and began to create a growling noise in her throat, slowly getting louder until it filled the small hollow. Pippin and Merry began to roll and squirm, uncomfortable with the animalistic noise she was making. Seph stopped and winked at me before letting out a screech, similar to that of the ring wraiths who had been following us. The two hobbits leaped sky high and it took several minutes for me to convince them that there was, in fact, no ringwraiths nearby. We soon headed off with Seph teaching Pippin how to screech like a ringwraith. The mist slowly became thicker until you could hardly see twenty feet in front of yourself. We had to walk single file; holding onto the person in front's garments so we didn't get lost. Large pillars of stone rose out of the fog and it began to feel like they were closing in on us, trapping us.
The mist slowly became colder and damper and my hair hung dripping down my back and my fringe was plastered to my forehead. Seph was constantly cursing as the hobbits tripped and fell over invisible stones. I hoped that we would reach the road soon and that we would not be stuck out here. I took hold of my pendant and prayed feverishly to Manwe or whatever God was there to listen that we would not die.
"Where's Frodo?" I turned to see that Frodo had indeed vanished.
"I'll go look for him." Sam ran off into the mist and Seph shook her head.
"We need to stay together!" But it was too late; Pippin had already run off with Merry close on his heels.
"I feel dizzy," Seph whispered. "I must be delirious." I nodded as my head span and we stumbled onwards. I saw a shape that looked like a doorway and ran ahead but it was just more rock.
"Well that was-" I turned to my horror to find that Seph was gone. The fog was now so thick that I could hardly see my hand in front of my face. I tumbled over a rock and scraped the palms of my hands on the rough surface.
"SEPH!" I yelled, getting up and stumbling on.
"SEPH?"
"Kels?" The voice sounded far away but I knew it was her.
"SEPH!" I screamed running forwards. Suddenly another cry rang shrill through the air.
"Help! Help!" It sounded strangely like Pippin.
"Hel-" The voice was cut off and I screamed for Seph again, terror flooding my body. Tears stung my eyes as I ran on, desperate to find my sister. I stopped as I reached the top of a hill. The temperature had dropped and an icy wind was biting at my face. Wrapping my arms around my body for warm I felt tears slide down my cheeks, freezing in their place.
"S-S-Seph..." I said, teeth chattering. "Where are you?" I closed my eyes and not for the first time I wished I was back in Bag-End.
Opening my eyes I was shocked to see a dark clad figure standing in front of me but I was too cold to care. He touched my shoulder and ice seemed to creep into my bones, through my veins and into my very soul. The edges of my vision began to go black. My head pounded and the world around me span.
So this is what it is like to die...
I closed my eyes and I remembered no more.
A/N: Dun dun DUN! Cliffhanger! I thought of adding more but I'm so changeable ;)
Hope you enjoyed and please review, constructing criticism is welcome.
P.S. Please please please please please don't kill me *offers lembas*! I can assure you that Finn didn't make it.