Chapter 39
It was a few hours later when Natasha awoke, feeling refreshed and ready to face the day. Beside her, still curled up under her arm, the hatched dragon watched their surroundings, eyes flitting this way and that as it took in everything. One eye fixed on her, and she felt him gently brush against her mind, seeking entry.
"I trust you slept well, Natasha?" he asked, when granted entrance. "I managed to keep you from being disturbed a few times, but I was afraid that perhaps one of them had interrupted your rest."
"I slept quite well, thank you. But didn't you say you would't be hatching for a couple more days yet"
"I felt your grief through our bond. I felt it would be better to hatch early than to try to comfort you from within the confines of my egg. I found that the Elves I lived with, responded better when there was something physical to touch, to cuddle. I thought perhaps humans might be similar."
Natasha nodded with a smile and sat up. The dragon climbed into her lap and curled into a ball, keeping one eye always on her face. Gazing down into the eye, Natasha felt as though she were looking into the heart of a nebula, swirling clouds of different colors flooded her vision, inviting her to free fall into their depths. Pulling her gaze away, the dragon's body proved to be no less mesmerizing. His opalescent hide sparkled and shimmered in the midday sun. His fore limbs proved to be more like arms than legs, each claw being very hand like. Natasha watched him as he delicately plucked a blade of grass and twisted it into an intricate knot as he continued to speak.
"We should decide how best to reveal me to your companions. The dragons of the enemy seem to be their only experience of my kind and I'd rather not end up with an arrow in my hide."
A rustling came among the branches of the thicket, and branches were parted to reveal Legolas and Aragorn. They froze when they saw the tiny dragon nestled in Natasha's lap, their eyes going wide with shock and confusion as their mouths working soundlessly.
Sighing, the dragon pulled himself out of the comfortable nest of Natasha's lap, and stood looking up at the two elves. He studied them for a moment, and then bowed deeply, speaking into their minds.
"Greetings, son of Thranduil, and son of Arathorn and Elrond. I am called Kirigan. It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. I'm afraid our friend Gandalf hasn't been terribly honest with any of you, though I won't scold him for it as it has kept me safe all these years. Please have a seat, Natasha and I were just about to discus how best it would be tell the rest of the fellowship of my arrival."
The two elves sank rather ungracefully to the ground, twin thumps the only sounds they made. Natasha studied their faces anxiously, seeing the fear, confusion, betrayal and finally anger flit across their faces.
"This is what was in the satchel Gandalf entrusted to me." Natasha started, showing them the two halves of the dragon egg. They were heavy and dull now that the dragon...Kirigan no longer lay within. "He hatched only a few hours ago."
"Though I am much older than either of you, and your father's combined." Kirigan added, a soft warning clear in his voice.
"Gandalf would never have carried something so vile." Aragorn protested vehemently, gathering his breath to continue.
"You're calling me a liar?" Natasha asked, arcing an eyebrow dangerously, her voice very close to ice.
Aragorn's breath left him in a rush and he stared at Natasha stopped, uncertain how to continue, and if he should. It was Legolas who answered, "Natasha, the dragon has clearly bewitched you, even from within the egg. There is no good in these creatures. You know of the dragon Smaug and how he devastated my people and others through the years of his reign of terror. Please come away with us now, we shall return and deal with this...creature"
"Are you then saying that I've been bewitched as well, young prince?" came the voice of Lady Galadriel as she entered the thicket.
"My lady...we must-" Legolas protested, but was stopped by the harsh look from the Lady of the Wood.
"I can personally vouch for this particular dragon. He was a dear friend before he went to egg, so many millenia ago." Galadriel smiled down at the dragon, bowing her head in greeting. "Welcome to Lothlorien, Kirigan. You have been greatly missed."
"And missed a great deal, it seems. Did you say millenia? I hadn't realized it was that long. Course Gandalf never did tell me what year it was. Never told me much of besides the basics, so I never really felt the need to hatch, cunning old codger."
Galadriel smiled and sank to the ground near Natasha, slowly reaching a hand towards Kirigan. he met her half way, touching her fingertips with his nose and allowing her hand to glide over his sleek head. She scratched at the base of his skull and his eyes closed in contentment as a strange rumbling sound filled the thicket. Kirigan continued his tale, his voice soft and yet deep in their minds.
"Gandalf found my egg nigh on a century ago. And glad I am that he did. The area I had thought safe several thousand years ago, is now riddled with orcs. I should have chosen a higher nest to egg." he snorted, sending two puffs of dark grey smoke onto the grass, startling everyone. "Still, Gandalf found me and has kept me safe all these years. He's told me a bit about the world as it is now, though never enough to make me want to leave my egg, crafty old bugger. Now you two, pay attention."
One eye fixed on Aragorn and Legolas, and theirs glazed over Aragorn's and Legolas' eyes glazed over as if they had fallen in reverie, but Natasha saw Kirigan show them the history that they had never been taught. Of the time when dragons and elves had lived and worked together, teaching the race of men when they came and how they had all fought together to keep Middle Earth safe, until finally they were shown the final memories, as the dragons of Illuvatar were forced to withdraw from the world, and to hide, as the greater numbers and ruthlessness of the Enemy's dragons drove them into hiding, and finally into near extinction save for himself and those currently being held by an unknown captor in an unknown location. The elves had experienced great pain with each withdrawal, each death, losing friends and companions of many centuries, until finally the pain became to great and they chose to no longer speak of it to anyone, nearly a century before Legolas' birth. And Men? The memories of Men are short and they soon forgot there had ever been two kinds of dragons. They feared anything that looked like one, slaying all they could in their ignorance.
Silence reigned in the thicket as this history was absorbed. Tears streaked down Galadriel's cheeks but a smile graced her lips.
"There are more? My heart sings for you."
"As does mine to lay eyes once again on you, golden one." Kirigan replied slyly, with a sound like a cat's purr rolling in his throat.
"Stop flirting with my wife, dragon." came the voice of Lord Celeborn as he too join them in the glen, though the smile on his face belied the sternness of his words. "You know it's no use."
"Celeborn! You old fox. Wife? Ha! How long did it take you to catch her?" Kirigan's eyes shone and whirled silver and gold in his joy.
The three lovers were soon forgotten as Kirigan, Celeborn and Galadriel reminisced on old times together, back when the world was younger, the days brighter and the future a distant thought. Eventually, after many detours, the conversation returned once again to their current dilemma. They still had to reveal to Kirigan's existence to the rest of the Fellowship, though it was generally agreed that the secret would not be revealed outside Lothlorien for the time being.
"Perhaps some of the old ones could be persuaded to share their memories. It would be painful but it may also bring a measure of healing to their hearts for the telling, especially when they are told that a dragon is back among us." Celeborn thought aloud. No one had a better suggestion.
So it was agreed. The formal presentation to the fellowship would be in a fortnight after many stories and histories had been discussed at, and after, the evening meal. Clapping his hands in satisfaction, Celeborn took a moment to look around him, taking note of the bedrolls. Rolling his eyes, his hands landed on his hips as he turned to face Natasha, Legolas and Aragorn.
"Surely you are not planning on spending all of your nights here? I understand the need for privacy, but this is a bit much. I'll arrange for you to have a talan for the duration of your stay. You are here to rest, and sleeping on the forest floor, even a forest such as this is not the most comfortable."
And with that, he marched away, an elf-lord on a mission, muttering about crazy grandchildren, their human lovers and not using beds that had been provided for them. Lady Galadriel watched him leave with no small amount of amusement, before turning her attention back to the three that had so vexed her husband. She studied them with knowing eyes, before speaking.
"I felt the forest awakening last night. Did you feel it? It has not done so in many hundreds of years." she searched their faces, betraying none of her amusement as they turned red with embarrassment, Aragorn and Legolas glancing uncertainly at Natasha.
Kirigan snorted and chuffed with laughter, a wave of affection flooding through all their minds, before he finally withdrew, and pulled himself out of Natasha's lap with a gentle shake of his whole body.
"I find I am very hungry, after being in the egg for so long. And now that I know that Natasha will be well taken care of in my absence, I will go hunt and return before sundown." He said, launching into the air.
"But won't you be seen?" Legolas asked. "It would not do for anyone to see you before even the first stories have been told."
"Your concern is noted but here...look!" Kirigan commanded, and with a shimmer of his scales, he vanished from sight. Aragorn and Legolas gasped and scanned the glen for any sign of the dragon, Lady Galadriel merely rolled her eyes.
"Still ever the show-off." she muttered, her eyes flitting about the glen as well.
"Behind you, and to your left. Third branch up." Natasha finally took pity on her companions. Kirigan's invisibility could not affect her bond with him and she had tracked him through his flight to the specified branch.
"Well done." Kirigan cheered, becoming visible once again. "Worry not that I will be seen before the time is right. All will be as we have planned it." And with that he took off into the canopy, and vanished once again from sight.
"Well, I suppose that is my cue to leave as well." Galadriel sighed and rose gracefully. "Celeborn tells me that your talan is ready for you when you wish to claim it. Do claim it, he will worry at you until you do."
With those parting words, she left, as silently as the barest of whispers through the leaves. Aragorn and Legolas stared at the space where she had left, silent and alone in their thoughts, minds still reeling from what had just been revealed to them. Natasha watched them nervously, fidgeting where she sat.
"I did not know what it was that Gandalf had given me." she said finally, unable to bear the silence any longer. "I only found out yesterday when Lady Galadriel told me. I did not keep it secret from you. I truly did not know."
"We do not doubt your words, meleth." Aragorn said with a sigh and sat beside, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "It is just difficult to believe that so much of our history has been kept from us, has been taken from us."
"Sauron has much to answer for." Legolas agreed, stroking a hand through her hair. Natasha leaned into the touch, her eyes closing in contentment and relief. "This does however complicate things somewhat." he continued with a smile.
"Oh? How so?" Aragorn asked, raising his head to look at his husband.
"With that dragon around and bound to Natasha, it will be very difficult to do much more than this." Legolas grinned and planted a searing kiss on Natasha's lips.
Moaning softly, she opened to him only to growl with frustration as Kirigan chuckled in her head.
"I will do my best to stay out of the way, young ones. I have never stood in the way of young love before, nor will I do so now. Simply ask me to leave and I will do so." the dragon said before leaving her head completely, the barest of hums in her mind letting her know that he was safe and well, giving her the privacy she...they craved.
With a chuckle, Aragorn pushed off the ground and held his hand out for Natasha, pulling her to her feet.
"I suppose we should take Grandfather's advice and sleep in the talan during our stay. It will certainly guarantee us some privacy."
They set about clearing their little hideaway, with much bumping and stolen, breathless kisses along the way, and made their way to their talan, thankfully not too far away. Kirigan did not interrupt them again, nor did anyone else disturb them for the rest of the afternoon.
Note on pronunciation:
Kirigan is pronounced Keer-ih-gun, with a rolling of the r, and a very short ih sound.