The sun was out fully, shining across the landscape as Gandalf and Pippin ride atop Shadowfax at breakneck speed to Minas Tirith.
"We've just passed into the realm of Gondor," the wizard stated for the halfling's benefit as they came atop a hill to see the bleached stones of Minas Tirith in the distance. "Minas Tirith. City of kings."
Once within the city's borders, the sounds of Shadowfax's hooves clacking against the stone echoed up the many levels they crossed. Gandalf spoke above the noise to alert the pedestrians to part ways, though it was unnecessary. It wouldn't have been difficult to discern the sound of a horse galloping up the city streets.
It was in the courtyard that Gandalf helps Pippin down from the horse. His stride is long, making it difficult for the hobbit to keep a steady pace, especially when he noticed the large white tree resting in the middle of the area. "It's the tree. Gandalf. Gandalf!"
"Yes, the White Tree of Gondor. The tree of the king." Gandalf did not turn to acknowledge the tree, having seen it many times before. "Lord Denethor, however, is not king. He is a steward only, a caretaker of the throne." At the entrance of the hall, the wizard paused, considering who was with him and the possibilities that could occur. "Now listen carefully. Lord Denethor is Boromir's father. To give him news of his beloved son's death would be most unwise." He paused again. "And do not mention Frodo or the Ring." Another pause. "And say nothing of Aragorn either." Finally, "In fact, it's better if you don't speak at all, Peregrin Took." His tone held a hint of amusement and tiredness from the journey. It's not that he intended to insult the hobbit; Gandalf knew that he seemed to lack timing at the worst occasions and saw fit to set some ground rules before they entered.
The doors parted at last, and the two slowly stepped through the doorway. The room was very bright and open. It would have been inviting if not for the slouched posture of a man dressed in dark robes sitting atop a dark chair at the end of the hall.
Gandalf chose to speak forth before they reached the man to alert him of their presence. Best to start buttering him up before he gets to the matters at hand. "Hail Denethor, son of Ecthelion, lord and steward of Gondor. I come with tidings in this dark hour and with counsel."
When Denethor looked up, it was not the look of welcome that one would have expected. Instead, the aged and gray face of the man showed grief and confusion, with possibly a hint of bitterness. "Perhaps you come to explain this." He held up the severed horn that Boromir carried. Gandalf looked surprised, but Pippin understood. He vividly remembered watching the man from this city take repeated arrows to the chest and continue to fight to protect Merry and himself. "Perhaps you come to tell me why my son is dead."
"The beacons of Minas Tirith! The beacons are lit! Gondor calls for aid!" Aragorn was out of breath as he came bursting through the doors of the Golden Hall.
Theoden looked up from the map spread across the table he was leaning over at the exclamation. Everyone in the room was now focused on the response from their king. Eowyn had jogged up to Eomer's side at the sound of the noise in hopes of catching her uncle's response. He didn't respond at first, but calmly proclaimed, "And Rohan will answer!"
Shortly thereafter, Theoden came striding out of the Golden Hall in his armor, throwing orders left and right to his nearest men. "Muster the Rohirrim! Assemble the Men at Dunharrow. As many Men as can be found. You have two days. On the third, we ride for Gondor and war. Gamling!"
"My lord." Gamling was at his side nearly an instant later.
"Make haste across the Riddermark. Summon every able-bodied man to Dunharrow."
"I will."
Meanwhile, down at the base of the Golden Hall, the few ready to ride out were finishing prepping their horses. Aragorn took notice of Eowyn leading her horse out to join those prepared.
"Will you ride with us?" he asked.
"Just to the encampment." She answered calmly. "It's tradition for the Women of the Court to farewell the men."
Aragorn lifted the saddle blanket of her horse up to reveal the concealed sword. The shieldmaiden snatched it back down, hiding the sword again, giving him a slightly dirty look that said 'Don't you dare tell'.
"The men have found their captain. They will follow you into battle, even to death. You have given us hope." She turned away, leaving him to think over her words. Back at the top of the stairs, Merry kneeled before Theoden with his sword.
"Excuse me. I have a sword. Please accept it. I offer you my service, Théoden King."
Theoden smiled slightly, brining the hobbit back to his feet. "And gladly I accept it. You shall be Meriadoc, esquire of Rohan." Merry smiled with pride as he sped off down the steps to prepare to leave with the others.
Of the few actually ready to depart were the small collection of elves and one dwarf. One dwarf that was already beginning to gripe.
"Horse-master. I wish I could muster a legion of Dwarves, fully armed and filthy."
Legolas pursed his lips and refrained from making a smart comment. There would be plenty more opportunities in the future. "Your kinsmen may have no need to ride to war. I fear war already marches on their own lands." He looked to his side to see Haldir observing the Men of Rohan. "What is the real reason that Lord Elrond asked for your troops to stay?"
Haldir looked back to the prince. "These men will be outnumbered. You are aware of that, and you continue to stay."
"I made a vow back in Rivendell that I would see to it that Frodo gets the ring to Mordor-"
"You also told Ithilwen that you would be there when I go to bring them back from that world-"
"I intend to keep that promise." Legolas assured him. "You are here as well, and you know the risks," he turned the words back on the marchwarden.
Haldir nodded. "By order and by choice." At Legolas' perplexed look, he added, "By order of my lords and by my own choice to make sure that you keep your promise to my daughter."
Gimli's grumbled complaints turned to chuckles listening to the two elves converse. Legolas would have thwacked him if he wasn't behind him on the horse. The twins rode over to the small collection of outsiders after directing orders to the other elven troops that had volunteered to stay behind.
"We heard something about a promise-" Elladan started.
"-and our dear cousin. Now what is this-" Elrohir continued.
"-that we have missed? Again, if we might add," they finished.
Haldir rubbed his face. "I wish that the two of you would not do that," he spoke.
The dwarf chose the moment to fill them in. "The lass has been told that after the war has passed, her father and the lad here will be finding a way to get to their world to bring them home. Haldir intends to make sure that Legolas doesn't break his promise."
There was a pause as they contemplated this information, followed by the chorus of, "We want to go with you."
"What?" Haldir asked.
"We want to go!" Elladan repeated.
"She's my daughter," the marchwarden said.
"She's our cousin," Elrohir stated.
"She's Legolas' lass!" Gimli threw in, not able to resist.
"She is not!" Legolas blurted out. Gimli laughed, because he made his friend uncomfortable. Haldir was giving him a funny look, which made the dwarf laugh more. Elladan and Elrohir were beginning to smile deviously, catching onto his words and storing this bit of information away for future use. "She is just a friend!" he reiterated. He was beginning to lose count of how many times he's had to correct that assumption.
No more words were said on the matter, though Haldir was beginning to wonder if there was merit to the dwarf's teasing as they rode out. Eomer was on his horse, shouting out to the Rohirrim as they began to move.
"Now is the hour! Riders of Rohan, oaths you have taken. Now fulfill them all! To lord and land!"
"Ow…ow….ow….OW! DAMMIT ALL TO FREAKING HELL!"
To say that Ithilwen was making progress on her Sweet Pea costume would be a lie. Well, not particularly a lie, as there has been progress, just nothing significant that day. It seemed like her emotions were on edge ever since she started working to pin the lining to the leather. She couldn't figure it out. She had woken up with no issues. Nothing was particularly wrong that could be fixed quickly, so why was she so antsy?
She rocked back on her heels to survey the damage of her fingers. The dress mannequin stood almost mocking her frustrations. If it had a head she would have done cut it off twenty pricks ago. Her fingers were getting tender, and she absently wondered if she hadn't already lost a pint of blood from all of the little holes littering her skin.
Ithilwen sucked her thumb, her newest civilian caught in the crosshairs, as she pondered about what could be wrong. The radio playing in the background switched back to the dj who talked about the weekend events. Normally she wouldn't pay much attention, but once it hit her that it was nearing the middle of the month, the gears began to turn.
"Oh f-" Then the pains hit.
Sprinting up to the bathroom, she had nearly shook the mirror over the sink with the force of her tossing the door closed. The pains didn't make it easier for her to unbutton her jeans, and if she was assuming correctly, she'd be trading them in for sweats anyway.
If anyone else had been in the house, they would have heard silence, followed by colorful string of curses. "DAMMIT ALL TO HELL!"
At Dunharrow, Legolas was walking with Gimli as they surveyed the area when he felt something strange. It was a sharp pain, like a knife ramming into his abdomen. Peculiar, since he was physically fine, but that didn't stop the next sharp pain from making him take a breath and nearly bend over where he stood.
"Ye alright, laddie?"
Legolas was about to answer when another pain hit, and all he could do was shake his head. Gimli was surprised by the elf's reaction, having seen him take bigger hits at Helms Deep. He noticed that Eowyn was feet away and made to flag her down.
Taking note of the clearly-in-pain elf at the dwarf's side, she jogged over to meet them. "What is wrong?"
"Not sure, my lady," Gimli shrugged. "Legolas was fine minutes ago, until he grabbed his stomach and bent over like that. Do you happen to know if there are any healers around?"
Eowyn shook her head. "I will see what I can do." She took Legolas by the arm and carefully led him over to a nearby tent, with Gimli right behind him. Once she had the elf sitting down on a cot, she began to run through a series of questions that might pinpoint the problem. "Where do you hurt, my lord?"
Legolas motioned to his stomach and hip area. "It feels as if I am being stabbed by an orc blade repeatedly," he breathed out. "I am fine, but if feels as if I should be bleeding profusely." His face changed from anguish to worry as he looked to Gimli. "You don't think it is Ithilwen?"
"The lass? I hope not."
Eowyn watched the exchange, realization beginning to dawn on her. "This Ithilwen, my lord. She is the woman that you speak to in dreams?" Gimli had spoken of Ithilwen to her on their way to Helm's Deep, long before the surprise warg ambush. She was skeptical at first, but thinking over it, she knew that she did not know all there was about elves and filed it away as a mystery. Now that she saw the effects of the empathic connection, it made more sense. Upon Legolas' nod of confirmation, she continued. "My lord, I believe I know the answer to your ailment, and it lies with Lady Ithilwen."
"You believe she is hurt?" He asked in a panic.
She shook her head. "I believe that she might be in pain, but pain that she has already experienced." Legolas did not catch on to her hint, so she had to try again. "Every woman goes through this pain, usually a few days each month…" When he still didn't comprehend she had one last attempt, but by this point she was looking flustered. "It means that she is not with child!"
Gimli blushed, once he realized what she meant, and it wasn't long before the elf's face turned an interesting shade of pink all the way to his ears. "You are implying that…" He couldn't even finish the sentence.
"Yes, my lord," Eowyn smiled. "I will see about finding a brew of tea for your… pains." Before she turned to go, she looked back at the prince. "My lord, I may speak out of turn when I say this, but you have been given a gift. Not many men can claim that they know the pains that a woman experiences."
After she left the tent, Legolas laid back on the cot and groaned out, "Doesn't seem like a gift to me." Outside, passerby near the tent were startled to hear the raucous laughter of Gimli echo out and across the camp.
Haldir entered with the cup of tea made for Legolas much later. "Lady Eowyn asked me to give this to you for…pains." After handing him the cup, he added, "This connection you have with my daughter is becoming disturbing."
"You don't say," Legolas replied dryly, sipping the tea. Gimli broke out into chuckles again.
Ithilwen was standing in the bathroom, stripped down to her underwear glaring daggers at the bucket that sat in her bathtub, filled with water and her soiled garments. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't surprised that she started late; being so upset lately must have caught up to her cycle. That still didn't make it any better, she thought, wincing as the cramps got steadily worse.
"Feels like the battle for Middle Earth is going on in my damn uterus," she grumbled, making her way out of the bathroom to her closet. As it was, there wouldn't be more work done on her costume today unless the ibuprofen she needed to take worked quickly. All she wanted at that moment was to put on some baggy sweats, a t-shirt, and gorge on a big bowl of icecream.
The elleth grabbed the first two items she saw and moved to sit on the edge of the bed to dress. As she sat down and looked at herself, she finally noticed. "Bruises." Ithilwen looked down her legs, across her abdomen, and with some interesting twists, she saw a few on her back. "The hell?" She took the chance to poke one of the bruises on her left thigh. "Huh, doesn't hurt. How about that." So why did she have them? She obviously didn't get them, or she would have remembered hurting herself…unless…
"Legolas." That elf had told her that he was exhausted, but he didn't say anything about getting hurt! Annoyed now, she shrugged on her change of clothes and wobbled down the hallway to the stairs. "He's gonna get an earful the next time I see him-" She winced again from another wave of cramps. "-after ice cream. And ibuprofen."
When Ithilwen realized she was in the dream plane, she noticed that she was outside once more, an encampment, more or less minus the snores of the soldiers that would have been there in reality. She hiked her gown up and padded through the camp, relieved to find that she was sans-cramps here. She found him standing a ways off looking out into the distance. Ithilwen thought the moonlight reflecting off him was a nice touch, even serene, but then she remembered her discovery from earlier. "Do you mind telling me why you forgot to mention that you got hurt at Helms Deep, Legolas?"
"Hurt?" He whipped around to find her standing a few feet away. Her gown was bunched up in her hands, showing off her bare feet and calves. The scene would have been adorable if it weren't for the pouting look of anger that she sported. "I wasn't hurt-"
"Bullshit," she interrupted him, "I saw the bruises. I have the bruises!"
Legolas would have laughed hearing her swear, but her admission startled him. "Bruises?"
"Yes!" She said exasperated. "On my stomach, legs, back…probably in places that I didn't know I had!" In a few steps she found Legolas kneeling in front of her, raising the fabric of the gown a few inches to see one of the bruises just above her left knee. "Hey, what are you doing?!" she shrieked, letting the fabric fall to the ground.
"Why didn't you tell me that you were hurting?" he retorted, ignoring her question.
Ithilwen stood there dumbfounded. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "I didn't hurt myself- okay well I did prick myself with some pins working but other than that I've just got cra-" Frozen mid sentence, she kneeled down to his level when she asked, "You've got my cramps, don't you?"
"That is what Lady Eowyn assumes," he replied, feeling uncomfortable about the whole conversation.
She couldn't help but laugh; the concept alone was amusing. "Poor baby," she cooed, silently forgiving him for neglecting to tell her about the bruises. The cramps were payback, it seemed. "You did know that women-"
"Of course!" Legolas said indignantly. "I just didn't know that they hurt so much. If more men knew of this, they might take women more seriously when they say that they are unwell. I must admit that being here is a relief; I do not feel them anymore."
"Enjoy it," Ithilwen said, moving to sit and stretch out her legs. "Cause mine usually last for about two days, including the day it starts. I've been taking some medicine, maybe it will help on your end."
Legolas mimicked her movements. "Anything would be a blessing. Gimli is far too amused at this news. Haldir, on the other hand, finds it disturbing." He reached down and took one of her hands in his to inspect it. "You said that you pricked your fingers earlier. Does this have to do with your costume?"
Ithilwen nodded. "I was trying to pin the lining to the leather of the cloak, but it seemed like each time I got the pin through the fabric it went through me." The elf beside her softly rubber the hand he held between his, and the action was so relaxing to her that she might have fallen asleep if she wasn't dreaming already. "So where are we now? Last time we met you guys had made it back to Edoras."
"Gondor has sent a request for aid," Legolas explained. "We are at the Dunharrow, according to King Theoden. In two days we will ride to Gondor...at least, they will. Aragorn, Gimli, and myself will be taking another path. I suspect your adar and cousins will be joining us, regardless of Aragorn's wishes."
"From the sounds of it, he doesn't know you two are going, does he?" Legolas laughed and shook his head. "Where are you going, if not with the Rohirrim?"
"We take the road to the Dimholt. A door lies under the mountain where we will seek our path."
"I think I know of that mountain," Ithilwen began, surprising Legolas. "Is that not where the ghosts of a king and his men lie that were betrayed?"
"Yes, how did you know that?"
She smiled. "Nana has taught me some history of Middle-earth. I'm not stupid, I just lack some of the proper texts."
"I never said you were." He protested.
Ithilwen waved him off with her free hand. Both forgot that he still held her other hand. "You didn't. Some in the past have claimed otherwise because I am female. It's just the way it is in this world, and it's fun to surprise people that don't expect much from you. Keeps them on their toes. By the way," she changed the subject, "how are my cousins?"
"Incorrigible as always," Legolas responded quickly. "They are being brought up to speed on your life and have made it clear that they wish to travel with Haldir and myself after the war. Lord Elrond has sent them with a small number of elves to replace the injured incurred at Helms Deep." A wave of something crossed Legolas' face, making Ithilwen curious. "I fear that our time may be cut short this evening."
"So soon?" Ithilwen almost wanted to whine. "I'll be glad when this war is over and I can talk to you properly."
Legolas stood, pulling Ithilwen up to her feet with the hand he still clasped. "I will see you soon," he said, placing a light kiss on her forehead.
Ithilwen managed to get out a "Be careful!" before she awoke to feel the stabbing pains of cramps once again.
"Just where do you think you're off to?"
It should have been easy to coral his horse into sneaking away from camp undetected. Most were asleep if not on their way there. However, nothing is easy when you have traveled with elves and dwarves.
Aragorn didn't bother to turn around, only sighed. "Not this time. This time you must sta, Gimli." A grunt of disapproval met his ears, making him turn to see Legolas walking up with his horse ready to leave.
"Have you learned nothing of the stubbornness of Dwarves?" he asked smugly, knowing that they had won.
Gimli shifted in his stance. "You might as well accept it. We're going with you, laddie."
Swift movements and muffled hooves appeared shortly thereafter. As Legolas had predicted to Ithilwen earlier, Elladan, Elrohir, and Haldir were packed and ready to go. "Don't go thinking that you will leave us behind, Estel," Elladan said.
"We will all reconvene at Gondor, I see no reason why we should not accompany you on this mission," Haldir told Aragorn with finality.
Moments later, the horses bearing the ranger, dwarf, and four elves calmly made their way through Dunharrow towards the shadowed road that lead to the mountains. Soldiers that were not yet asleep began to ask questions to each other.
"What's happening? Where is he going?" One would ask.
Another shouted out to get the ranger's attention. "I don't understand. Lord Aragorn!" he looked around at his comrads. "Why does he leave on the eve of battle?"
Gamling stepped forward. "He leaves because there is no hope."
"He leaves because he must." Theoden was quick to correct him.
"Too few have come," Gamling insisted. "We cannot defeat the armies of Mordor." His hope was all but gone. Even with the additions that had been gathered along the way, and even with the assistance of the elves, there would not be enough.
His king did not disagree to the statistics. "No, we cannot. But we will meet them in battle nonetheless," he added with determination.
A/N: Long chapter, whew! I have two tests this week (one's tomorrow) that I should be studying for, but I got so far behind with an 8-page paper on Twelfth Night that I've used my writing time to do chapter breakdowns up to chapter 24. Some of them may not be this long, so updates may be quicker or slower. I've got some time before I need to get to bed so I'll be working on chapter 18 and try not to let my Walking Dead feels influence it.
I know I say this every few chapters, but thank you to all of you who have read/favorited/reviewed/alerted! It makes me positively giddy to find out that you guys like this idea (and here I was afraid of it being a mary-sue!).