Travel
The next events where a blur to Takabi. Frodo had awoken a while later, and Strider had returned, treated Frodo, consoled Sam, and left once more. Takabi tended her own wounds too, which were healing steadily, though she longed to be able to fly, so that she could continue her journey uninhibited. She loathed to be stuck on the ground with the barbarians, as they were already slowing her progress down significantly. But what else could she do? Takabi was helpless without them - she could not navigate this foreign land when confined to the ground, and couldn't hope to defend herself against odd creatures in such a state.
Strider returned with the sun, bringing with him a dark, jagged blade, which he talked excitedly to the Short Ones about. Takabi hung back, as she was useless at treating wounds and had no idea why the blade was important – in fact, the thing gave her an odd, uneasy feeling, and repulsed her. As Frodo's condition grew worse, Strider busied himself with making some sort of medicinal herb that she didn't care much for, until it gave off a beautifully soothing, refreshing smell. She had a feeling that if she brought some of that leaf back, it would quickly become a luxury item, and made a mental note of that.
Already, she could feel her thoughts sharpen because of the refreshing scent, and she methodically planned her next steps. Takabi would need to study the barbarian language, in order to communicate more efficiently; there was no better time to do it than when she was focused. While she read, the tenklaki woman watched the barbarians converse out of the corner of her eye. The wounded Short One did not appear to be worsening in condition, though he did look pale and weak. But then, who is to know what is considered healthy for these creatures? To her, they were all a shade too pale. Meanwhile, the others discussed their next move in whispers too rushed to follow.
After what seemed like ages, she saw movement – mainly the barbarians milling about, packing their belongings. Takabi herself followed suit, grabbing her own bag. Annoyingly enough, her daggers were still not returned to her, presumably because they were still somewhat suspicious of her. She didn't press the issue, since she was merely a visitor in a strange land, and it would be best not to argue when she was outnumbered. In fact, she decided to attempt to earn more trust by offering to carry a few of the barbarian's belongings, which earned her hesitant but grateful smiles.
With their injured companion riding on an unidentifiable beast of burden, the journey started, as they set off to 'Rivendell', where the 'elves' resided. It was relatively easy for Takabi to scale the edges of the hill, but as she saw the span of grasslands and forests on the horizon, her stomach dropped as she realised that the whole journey would have to be made on foot.
Throughout their trip, they had one or two close encounters with those things that had attacked them, yet there were no battles to be had, thankfully. The journey was grim – both she and the rest of the group were weary and silent, and the scenery was grey and dismal. Takabi was definitely not used to traveling long distances by foot. Her endurance was reasonably honed, but her legs were not, and they ached and weighed her down with every step. By the end of the third day of travel, Takabi's feet started to bleed, as the scales on her toes became tender and painful. Strider had noticed her tending to the uncomfortable sores, and advised her to bathe them, before binding them in clean strips of cloth.
To distract herself from regular aches and podiatric injuries, Takabi took almost every rest break as a chance to memorize the words in her language scrolls, though avoiding actually engaging with the barbarians. The rest of most of the trip was like this, and it all blurred in Takabi's mind, with the occasional 'oh yes a river in the distance', 'oh yes a bridge', 'oh yes a pretty green jewel; I do not know why this is significant but I will pretend to be interested, anyway', 'oh ruins', and finally, 'because of all that excitement and intrigue you lead me to believe that those large statues were alive'. Even as the landscape changed frequently, it really was only a different shade of unfamiliar and threatening to the tenklaki soldier.
Her wing healed steadily, and so did most of her cuts. However, the sores on her feet were going bad, secreting puss and smelling foul. Strider provided her with salve from those weeds, but they only helped the worst of it. Takabi realised that her life was in real danger of being lost because of infection.
Finally, an odd song (about 'trolls' and bones?) and more walked miles later, they encountered some interesting noises in the distance, and Takabi followed their lead when they hid in nearby bushes. An unfamiliar barbarian mounted on a beast larger than but not dissimilar to their own rode past, its long, yellow fur on its head actually looking rather majestic as it blew in the wind.
When Strider sprang up to greet him, Takabi realised that he was, indeed, an ally, and quickly dug through her bag. She was eager to follow along with any conversation that may take place, so that she may not be left behind in a swirl of unfamiliar events. The language scroll was withdrawn…
"Ai na vedui Dúnadan! Mae Govannen!"
…only to be roughly shoved back into its bag by an angry hand.
When they were promptly called from hiding, and Takabi peered at the newcomer. He was tall, fair and oddly graceful for a creature stuck on the ground; this could only mean that he was a Tall One – an elf.
"This is Glorfindel, who dwells in the house of Elrond," said Strider, and Takabi was impressed and relieved when she heard formalities that she understood.
"Hail, and well met at last!" The Tall One said cheerfully, full attention on Frodo.
An odd mixture of apprehension and eagerness pooled in Takabi's stomach. She had not met such a being, and she had read of these Southerners wielding magic. How would such a terrible, beautiful being react to her?
"I was sent from Rivendell to look for you. We feared that you may have encountered danger upon the road-" The elf-lord's voice trailed off, and Takabi knew that she was finally noticed.
Quickly, she remembered her duty as a diplomat of the Emperor. She withdrew one of the gift bags and bowed respectfully, holding the silk package in offering. "Hello, I am Takabi. I am please to meet you." Inwardly, she congratulated herself on her improvement with complete sentences, not moving from her position. After all, it was rude to look into the eyes of nobility.
There was a confused, uncomfortable silence, until Strider spoke up. "We happened upon her at Weathertop, wounded after she was attacked by Crebain. Takabi claims to be an envoy from her people, the…"
"Tenklaki," Takabi offered helpfully, still facing the ground in a sign of respect.
"…Yes. Her people are being affected by the dark activities of The East. She seems to be no servant of the enemy. I decided that it would be wise to bring her alone, unarmed, to meet with those who may be able to aid her."
Takabi finally straightened, still feeling dwarfed by this stranger's presence. More terrifying still, he did not accept the gift – why did she think she would be meeting someone civilized in the first place? He was still regarding her with suspicious eyes, and she grew uncomfortable with the mixture of fear and admiration he inspired. Truly, these 'elves' harnessed some form of magic.
Regardless, Takabi stood strong. "I only wish to serve my Emperor," she stated, struggling against giving in to the temptation of hiding behind Strider.
"So be it," Said the elf, finally. "You must prove your case in Rivendell."
After a moment of silence, Frodo spoke up. "Has Gandalf reached Rivendell?"
This lead the conversation to a new tangent – one that Takabi could not and didn't care to follow. The conversations were far too long and mentioned words, places and names that she was nowhere near familiar with. After all this hardship, she had not died yet, and she prayed that they would reach the leader of these 'elves' as soon as possible.
Apparently, it was time to move on, with this 'Glorfindel' leading them, and he was even worse than Strider. They stopped little, and, laughably, it was lucky that Takabi was running out of food, since it appeared that the barbarians relieved themselves not nearly enough as she had to, and she wanted to avoid the elf as much as possible. She could feel his gaze ever on her, waiting for her to make one wrong move.
Even the small barbarians, who were used to walking, were exhausted, and could not walk as fast as those with larger strides. Takabi found herself trailing behind them, not having the heart to push past, instead encouraging them in her own odd way, with her silent presence. When they did rest, Strider had checked her wing to make sure it was healing properly, and Takabi noticed that most of the cuts on her skin were long healed. Her feet were still angry and raw, aching dully.
The next day was quite possibly when Takabi reached the peak of exasperation and exhaustion, as she realised how unbelievably long the damn journey was. At this rate, her wing would heal before the journey ended. She awoke irritated, and hoped for something, anything, to signal that she would finally reach her destination.
A loud cry of warning startled her out of her brooding, and a Short One dragged her down sloping terrain. With no choice but to follow, the bandages on one of her feet ripped, and raw flesh dragged on rocky ground, and it took all of her resolve to not yelp like a child as the creatures rode down the road. Through a haze of pain, Takabi didn't even notice that a particular Small One was gone, and only focused on her breathing.
Takabi looked back and saw a red trail of blood. It was only a foot wound, right? A concerned hand tugged on her arm and grey eyes locked with hers, asking questions that she couldn't understand, that she realised that her awareness was fading. She frowned, trying to formulate words, until her world started to grow dark.
She swore in her native language, and then succumbed to sweet unconsciousness.
There was a buzz of activity in Rivendell as Elrond and his healers frantically tended to the wounded hobbit that had arrived. However, there was also another arrival that ignited more confusion amongst the elves – the curious being that appeared almost dead from exhaustion and infection. No one could place where exactly they were from, or their intentions. That is, until a figure slipped out of Rivendell's library.
When the being's injuries were finally bandaged and the healers left her to rest, a pair of bright, curious eyes observed her. The elf studied the new being that was brought in, regarding her eagerly. What they said was indeed true, there were talons, wings, and various other curiosities. Clearly female, though she did not possess the chest of a woman or elleth's. She also had broader shoulders, though they were soft as with one of the female persuasion. Long, fine brown feathers stood in the stead of hair, and her olive complexion and facial features bore a striking resemblance to an Easterling.
While many were starting to believe that she might be a spy for the enemy, he was not so sure. Her species was obviously far too exotic to come from somewhere as close as Mordor, or they would have heard about them by now. If she was created there, she was not nearly as twisted enough, in his opinion. Besides, he had read of such winged beings somewhere, though he could not quite place where.
A healer walked into the room, and then stopped, blinking. She hadn't seen this face outside of the library save for when he appeared to gather more food from the kitchen, or sitting at the Hall of Fire. "…Beridhren?"
The elven librarian answered to his name but briefly, nodding his head in acknowledgement, though still scanning the database of information in his mind for answers. "Yes… I do believe I have the answer to this riddle," He declared, before elegantly withdrawing back in the direction of the library, leaving the surprised healer standing in the room.
Beridhren had some research to do.
A/N:
Ooooh ~
what shall we do with this boring chapter
what shall we do with this boring chapter
what shall we do with this boring chapter
in this god damn fanfic?
I have finally found the downside to writing in book-verse: you end up being as boring as a physics lecture. Also, I'm late. Really late. I'd say I have an excuse, but I don't. Uni exams happened, and then the holidays did, and I couldn't be bothered to go through the stress of publishing such a piece of shit part of my writing.
However, at least we've gotten somewhere! The journey's finished, Takabi is at Rivendell, and I'm relieved that no one is paying that much attention to this fanfic anyway. I'll try to be on schedule next time, but once again: no promises.
Still, I guess I'd appreciate a review, if you could spare the time and the energy to give me an ego boost or constructive criticism. I can't take a writing course at uni, but I'd love to improve my writing. So, yeah. Thanks!