Chapter 48 - Compassion
Legolas headed around the side of his home to find Aragorn reclining on his porch, smoking a long pipe. In that moment, he did not appear as the king of Gondor, but as the ranger from the north. Often he and his small family would covertly leave the city walls and enjoy a few days in Ithilien among the Elven colony now housed there; not only to reconnect with nature but to spend time with dear friends.
After approaching his friend's side, regretful words poured from Legolas's mouth, "I should have accompanied you. I could have seen her again."
Aragorn removed the pipe from his lips and encouraged his friend to sit by his side. "You could not have known she would greet us in Rhovanion," he told him consolingly.
Resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together, Legolas settled his regret with a deep breath. He knew this was true; nor would he have taken up arms when his commitment was to the Elven colony in Ithilien. But reading her words reminded him how much he missed her and how he desired to be with her again, even if just momentarily. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Did she appear well?" Aragorn shifted the pipe in his hand slightly; the uncharacteristic gesture immediately alerted Legolas that the question made his friend uncomfortable to answer, for Aragorn did not often fidget. Legolas intervened calmly, "Aragorn, please tell me the truth. I desire to know."
Aragorn's impression of Vez was unsettling and he wondered if it was simply due to several years having passed such that his memory of her personality faltered. "She appears changed somehow," he spoke carefully, "Not only in appearance for her hair has grown and she is well-decorated, and she holds herself with the rank that that regalia signifies," he paused, noting Legolas concentrated stare. Aragorn breathed in uncomfortably before telling him, "She remained distant when I spoke of you. I would have thought she did not desire for me to bring you word of her if not for handing me that letter before we departed."
Legolas furled his brow as he contemplated this, but after reading her letter he realized this offered him little concern, "She yet wears her mental armor."
"She is an Easterling general now," Aragorn added, "Perhaps that is why I did not see the Vez I met ten years ago when she was free of such obligations."
His need to mention her being Easterling led Legolas to wonder, "Did her actions cause concern?"
Aragorn tilted his head to the side, again uncomfortable to answer but he did want to be honest with his friend."Rhun is admittedly different in how they approach war and its victims..." He proceeded to explain what had happened in Rhovanion, and the destruction of the homesteads and those that had been taken as prisoners. He spoke of her handling of the old woman, the total lack of compassion she seemed to possess when confronted with her plight.
"But the fort was taken back, and the prisoners released?" Legolas asked, now unsure whether to be troubled.
"Aye, and with precision, but not many prisoners survived..." Aragorn further told him.
Legolas peered out into the woods ahead of them and explained his thoughts calmly, "It is not Gondor's way, nor the way of the Elves, but I do not believe she or the Easterlings lack compassion for those wronged. But as their general she needs to keep her mind to task, to appear strong even if that means a detachment from those around her."
"Her letter must reassure you of this," Aragorn pondered.
Legolas shook his head slowly side-to-side, confiding, "It has not reassured me, nor am I any surer that she will return. But I know she is yet safe and remains the Vezely I remember. That is enough."
Arwen returned with her daughter holding her hand and apologizing for being back so soon due to the eagerness of a four year old to play with her favorite "uncle."
The dark haired, grey eyed child leaned against Legolas where he sat, asking curiously, "Mother said you needed to speak to father about someone special to you?"
Legolas smiled endearingly at her, "Yes, someone very special to me."
"Oh," the little girl tilted and scratched her head, "If they are so special then why are they not here with you?"
Legolas momentarily admired the blissful simplicity of a child's thoughts and he explained to her softly, "Someday they will be, but there are important tasks they must do first." Then hoping to remove his mind from the pain of her absence, he looked upon the child playfully, "I suspect that on a hot day like today, you want to go swimming?" The child clapped her hands together and nodded cheerfully, afterwards instinctively placing her arms around his neck as he hoisted her onto his back. He would take her to the lake nearby, giving Arwen and Aragorn time alone to enjoy Ithilien's serenity.
"I worry for him," Arwen spoke quietly to her husband after the two were far from their sight, "He is torn between here and the sea. I have seen it before between lovers who did not equally hear the call. He does not admit it, but it will continue to pull him apart."
Aragorn had not noticed this. After returning from his travels with Gimli and a brief stay in the Woodland Realm assisting his father and grouping with members who would then migrate to Ithilien, Legolas worked diligently to tend the war torn forest, and he seemed to be at peace here. He would not often speak of Vezely, nor would he ever mention the desire to leave these shores. Of course, Arwen often could see things others could not. "He will wait regardless," Aragorn conceded, looking to refill his pipe.
"Yes, he will wait for her return," Arwen replied stoically, "As he will wait until all those he loves depart before him." The perishing of his mortal friends another burden he must endure.
As in the decade before, in the decade that followed, Legolas spoke little of Vezely. Many in the colony who never met the estranged Elf knew only that he waited for his betrothed to return, and they said nothing out of politeness and slight pity for a betrothal to stretch so long. He kept her letter in his home, enclosed in the book he had in his possession when she left, First Age Poems of Love and Lament. It was tucked away in his cedar trunk aside her plum coronation gown. He rarely opened the letter to read it again for it only reminded him that time continued to pass and her absence grew more pronounced.
He was content in Ithilien; the beauty of the forest, the constant company of his close friends, and the fulfillment he found in leading the colony all helped assuage, even if it did not diminish his desire to sail West. Often he would imagine what life would be like there with Vezely in it. He wondered of her presence alongside him when doing mundane tasks like cooking or tending the garden; or even more simply waking up next to her in the morning. Rather than pain him, such imaginings further comforted for he knew that someday she would ride into Ithilien on a black horse, clad in Easterling attire, and her entrance would amusingly stir the quiet colony from its idyllic slumber. And that day he would mark as the start of their lives together. It would only be a matter of time, he told himself, before his imaginings would become reality...
The People of the Dark Lands ceded from the Reunited Easterling Coalition after a heated council meeting in which the leaders of the five other provinces brought charges against them for claiming an outpost by force and almost starting a war with the West. While the Dark Lands' leaders tried to deny these charges and deem the Elf General unfit to believe, the evidence brought before them was overwhelming. The prisoners Vezely and her forces transported from the outpost were interrogated and the full plans of their leaders revealed. This, along with King Elessar declaring the People of the Dark Lands enemies of Gondor, was enough for the five other provinces to desire disassociation.
The leaders from the Dark Lands would leave the assembly room peacefully, but not without first cursing their former allies. They called upon Melkor to avenge them, deeming all those who allow a "white fiend" higher rank over men, traitors to the one true Master of Fate. When they then cursed Vezely by name, she did little more than provide them a disinterested glare as they exited the meeting hall. She was content in knowing they would find the heads of the southern post's usurpers lining their path out of the city.
The first act of the defense force after the secession was to abolish support to the two posts which sat within the People of the Dark Lands' borders. It was no secret that the People of the Darks Lands maintained their own standing army, but they had manned these posts under the banner of the defense forces in respect to the Peace Treaty. It also became necessary to increase reserve numbers in the posts in Agasha Dag, which was the province that bordered the Dark Lands. While many were suspicious of Agasha Dag's friendship with their neighbors, the province currently desired to remain within the Coalition and accepted the increase in troops.
Vezely decided it would be a good idea to travel to these outposts, not only to inspect them, as her job entailed, but to reconnect with Kor, who was the Lieutenant General of the Agasha Dag's forces. Captain Samsara and a smaller subset of her cavalry would accompany her.
Samsara poured Vezely another small cup of warm rice wine. They lounged in a private dining room at a local eatery, having stopped to rest in the city of Kug that sat on the borders of Agasha Dag and Logathavuld.
The warm liquor felt soothing as it passed down Vezely's throat; a welcomed means to relax after a week of hard travel. Vezely had reestablished her tolerance for alcohol since returning to militia life, where too often a meeting was followed by obligatory drinking and a lack of coin was no longer a deterrent in indulging.
"I'm quite looking forward to a change in scenery again," Samsara reclined back slightly after taking another sip. Despite the hierarchy that existed between the two women, they did interact informally when off duty.
Vezely cocked one eyebrow up, "Is it the scenery change or a change in sleeping arrangements?"
Samsara laughed, "I admit to again desiring a warm bed as summer passes into fall."
Vezely smirked slightly, for she knew Samsara partnered herself with Kor and that their relationship started the last time they visited the outposts.
Samsara then added still amused, "A woman has her needs." And Vez lifted her glass and then drank more in agreement. After mirroring her, and proceeding to refill Vezely's cup and her own with more wine, Samsara indulged her curiosity, "And how about the general? For one in your position, admirers are not in short supply and ones bed would never need to be cold."
"I prefer to kill my men than straddle them," Vez replied sarcastically; these assumptions were still common amongst lower ranked officials she realized, when in reality many leaders had little time for such frivolity.
"Not men then, women perhaps?" she proceeded to ask, but Vez shook her head followed by a curious stare to show she was wondering her reasons for this interrogation. Samsara then realized a different possibility, though finding it the least probable, "It would not be a preference for your own kin?"
Vez smirked through some discomfort and then turned over her cup on the table, alerting her partner that she had enough to drink for the evening, "I think I will retire instead of continuing this conversation."
"I am right!" Samsara spoke with awe for having figured out a mystery to her, "I would not have assumed, seeing as you do not dwell with them."
Vez breathed in deeply, thinking she should provide partial answers to her assumptions, "I have not dwelled with Elves since I was a child. But I have shared my bed with men in the past."
"But no longer?" Samsara wondered, closely observing her reaction.
"No longer," Vez stated while appearing unfazed and immediately afterwards rose to her feet. Samsara tilted her head down respectfully, taking the cues that she had received all the information her general would allow her for that night; though it only furthered her curiosity.
The first day at the main outpost in Agasha Dag was fruitful, as Vezely and Kor held council on the necessary amassing of troops and strategies for possible future attacks from their eastern neighbors.
"...We are to remain a defense force," Vez reminded Kor with her back turned to him as she momentarily admired the brush work on a scroll painting which hung on the wall.
Kor replied smugly, "You mean until they attack. I am surprised the council did not consider the takeover of the western outpost an act of war."
"They did," Vez confirmed after turning around, causing Kor some confusion, "But I swayed them from declaring it. I wanted to give us more time."
Kor considered this further, realizing another part of her strategy, "And to go against their expectations."
Vez nodded, though her demeanor displayed some uncertainty in her actions, "An attempt to stay one step ahead of them."
"Then perhaps we should not be upping our ranks at the obvious outposts," Kor reasoned, "For is that not what they expect?"
"I have sent word to the weakest of our posts in the southlands," Vez added, "And intend to swell ranks there in due time. But your posts are too valuable to neglect and I do not trust the leaders of Agasha Dag."
"They are rather chummy with the neighbors," Kor shared his annoyance, "But for them to shift alliance, it would be economic suicide."
"Indeed," Vez rejoined, stepping over to the table where several maps were laid out, "And even more so after their neighbor's failed attempt to break the Coalition's trade relations with the West."
Kor wondered with a smirk, "It seems you are suggesting Agasha Dag backed this coup?"
Vez shrugged, "That I cannot say for certain."
"Well," Kor laughed, for he was unconcerned one way or another, "It's a good thing a Variag runs these posts for the Coalition. Agasha Dag better not test me."
Vez smirked, amused that her old friend was characteristically being his mirthful self despite the tension growing in the lands around him. She then added, "Samsara will assist you here as I travel south to tend to these posts and hopefully hold council with the Variags. The Captain would hear me out," referring to the man they left Minas Tirith with; though he was no longer Captain but General of the reformed Variag forces.
"Khand will place themselves on standby as usual," Kor remarked in a huff, knowing his kin were not quick to pledge allegiance to any side. And though he would not admit it, he was grateful to hear Samsara would be staying longer.
That evening Vezely stood alone on top of the rampart, staring out at a now clouded sky. She rested her elbows on the top of the cold stone wall and mindlessly her thumb turned the silver ring around its place on her finger.
She heard Remi's footsteps before he appeared and the man positioned himself next to her casually, "Figured I'd find you here."
"I've become predictable," she replied dryly, though a small smile stretched across her face. She always appreciated Remi's frankness with admitting his intentions; most men would not.
Remi leaned his back against the wall next to her, "Aye, you have. You never rest, and if starlight presents itself, you are staring up at it." Upon hearing this, Vez quietly reprimanded herself for indeed becoming boringly predictable. He added slyly, "I promise not to alert anyone to this, of course. You must remain mysterious to all others."
She glared at him from the corner of her eye, "But not to you?"
Remi crossed his arms, "I have known you for a long enough time and before you became the stone cold general everyone fears."
"I can say the same about you," Vez turned towards him, "Before you held the respectable title of captain and were the divinator who betrayed those who put trust in you."
He placed a hand over his heart, saying feigned, "You wound me with your words."
Vez shook her head at his jest and turned back to peer over the ledge into the darkened landscape, "We are both not who we were," she stated calmly a moment later.
Remi copied her stance, "Our titles have changed, this is true, but between us, not much else has changed."
"And would you have it changed?" she asked narrowing her eyes.
"You know what I would have," Remi added sincerely while looking at the side of her face; his own eyes not hiding the despair this desire caused him.
Vez turned to him, but her eyes were kind rather than condescending, "I know, and that I could convince you of its hopelessness. You need to move past it." She then placed a hand on his forearm, squeezing it lightly before deciding to leave his side.
"You would spend these years without affection for a slim chance of returning West to the one you left?" He called to her back, and she halted her steps.
Turning her head to the side, Vez explained carefully, "I am an Elf, Remi. I remain bound to this world until its end. Whether or not I return hither in your lifetime, time concerns me not as it should concern you."
Remi never did let go of his desire, and in the following years it would turn more to scorn as the wars raged around him.
Surprised, Samsara lifted her head from Kor's bare chest. Starring at him wide eyed she questioned what he told her, "Betrothed?"
"You have seen the silver ring she wears. It is pure silver, worth more than this post's entire armory," Kor explained further, after she expressed being curious about the general's love life.
"How do you know this?" Samsara asked him skeptically.
"I know my metals well enough, so I asked," Kor stated forthrightly, not thinking it strange to have done so.
"And she just told you she was betrothed?" she questioned further, still not believing him.
"She said she was partnered with one of her kin in the West and planned to return to him someday," then he added while laughing, "It explains her avoidance of Remi, does it not?"
Samsara narrowed her eyes finally realizing, "Ah, so those two are not involved."
"Much to the man's discontent," Kor remarked amused by the continual plight of his captain. He liked Remi, but found his infatuation for the General one of his major character flaws.
Samsara scrunched her nose slightly, and as she rolled onto her back and starred up at the ceiling she remarked, "Elves are strange creatures. Even in prolonged absences and with a choice of worthy lovers they would choose to remain bound to one."
Kor got up from the bed to pour them some wine, "Is it so strange for an immortal?" He asked, handing her a filled glass, "Could you imagine being around all your past scorned lovers forever? That is just asking for trouble!"
The war started the following winter when the People of the Dark Lands invaded a city in south. It would begin a game of tug of war. Towns, fortifications, and states were continuously sacked, captured, destroyed, and traded as The People of the Darks Lands curiously refused to put their full logistical strength and manpower into maintaining a lengthy campaign far from their homeland. But unfortunately they did make conquests beyond their borders; the first of which was the state of Uslug in the southeast. The leaders of the Reunited Easterling Coalition desired to focus on maintaining key economic states, and being far from rivers and parse of natural resources, Uslug was not worth the effort to reclaim. Others would similarly fall, and then tensions with the province of Agasha Dag would reach a breaking point.
Agasha Dag broke from the Coalition five years later, and when joined with the Dark Lands, it provided them the strength and manpower for a full invasion.
Samsara, who had remained alongside Kor in Agasha Dag, regrouped with Vezely at the main post in Logathavuld. She fled with as many of her troops as were willing to tempt it; preferring to relinquish their post rather than turn against their allegiance to the Coalition.
"...They killed him and in the way that they deem most fit," Samsara told Vez of Kor's sacrificial death through strained eyes. The captain appeared uncharacteristically weak in that moment as she spoke of her partner, and being in the privacy of Vezely's office, she did not hide her emotions. "He was not even given the choice of turning sides, for they knew well where his allegiance lied."
A deep pain hit Vez in her gut as she came to grips with the passing of her comrade. She cupped Samsara's forearm and looked upon her consolingly in silence as she continued to speak.
"I barely made it out myself. I would have stayed and gladly joined his fate, if not for Kor's insistence..." she hesitated to continue and her eyes looked upon Vezely with apprehension, "He said I could trust you with this, that you would help me." Vez returned an uncomfortable gaze as she proceeded, "I am carrying Kor's child."
Dumbfounded, Vezely backed away from her. It was against regulation to conceive during a two year commitment to the force, while women officers like Samsara who swore lifelong commitments, took a vow to forgo childbirth, and to end pregnancies after their onset. If they chose not to do this, they would be discharged dishonorably, which for Easterlings meant they would be put to death. It was no less severe a crime than deserting from battle.
"How far along are you?" Vez asked a moment later, her eyes diverted.
"Too far," Samsara replied carefully, knowing it was too late to easily cleanse it, "We want this child, General. We knew the consequences, but..."
"But you did not respect them," Vez interrupted slightly harsh, feeling incredibly uncomfortable with the position she was now placed in. Samsara quickly straightened her posture as if awaiting reprimand from her commanding officer. And Vez should have given it to her; first dishonorably stripping her of her title in public and then relaying the sentence of death for breaking her vow. Looking upon her, Vez felt a mixture of disdain and unease, but she also felt something else inside her. And with that feeling, she realized she would go against all reason and do what she thought she could not. "I will help you."
A/N: Hope you all don't mind me adding some micro drama to this macro war.
And just a neat sidenote, the Tumblr (vezely . tumblr . com) has some concept sketches for several of this story's OC's (thanks to TMI143 for her artistic ingenuity!)