Elwing walked into the brisk night with her cloak wrapped around her shoulders, her hood pulled up to hide her face. She walked through the streets of Edoras making her way towards the stables to see Farsha when a familiar laugh clear, and joyous rang in her ears. Coming to a stop she glanced in the direction from which the laughter came making her way to one of the houses. Peering through the window she smiled at the sight that greeted her eyes, Asterin sat within the house a brilliant smile stretching from ear to ear. Happiness like she'd never seen sparkled in her friend's hazel eyes. Laughter danced in the air, a single heavy braid laying plainly down her back the flowers of the field entwined with Asterin's golden-brown hair.
Around her sat the children of Rohan, the young children smiling up at her friend as she told the story of the thirteen dwarves captured in the spider lair. Talking animatedly about the very amusing attempts to conceal their many weapons, "though they did not succeed in hiding any it was quite amusing to watch them try." Her friend took the hands of two small children standing with a soft smile on her face, that's when Elwing noticed something else. Her friend wore a simple linen tunic and pants, the clothes of a commoner in Rohan.
Joy like she'd never felt before poured through her, a smile unlike any she'd had in many years gracing her face. She happily told them the stories of their people and would have for the remainder of her days before her journey to the halls of Mandos. Her hair heavy with the flowers the children had braided into her hair, she told them the tales of the thirteen dwarves and of the maiden Luthien. When a young girl who looked as though she had not seen six winters asked, "may I, would it be, may I touch your ears?"
A woman who seemed the girl's mother came forward giving her an apologetic look, but she held up a hand and knelt beside the girl tilting her head to the side with a welcoming smile on her face. She felt the girl's small fingers brush against the arched point of her ear and she swiftly moved to the side sweeping the girl into the air with a shout of delight. Laughing she placed the girl back on the ground and with a teasing smile she dashed out the door calling over her shoulder, "come, let us play a game." Snatching her cloak from the stand beside the door and clasping it she swept one of the running kids up onto her shoulders with ease and joined the crowd of young kids and laughed, her happiness pouring out in a pure laugh that surprised even her.
It was now she realized why the men were so very different from the stories in her homeland, for Thranduil had not ever been truly kind in the portrayal of the others of the three kindreds. Why they fought with the fury she had seen at Helm's Deep, because of the young children around her she swore that not without help would the race of men fight the shadow of Mordor. For she would fight alongside the men until the shadow was defeated or she found herself entering the halls of Mandos, where she would find her fallen friends and one of whom she to this day missed dearly. As she moved through the streets, she made her way into the fields and found herself grinning as one of the young boys picked up a long stick pointing it at her with what was clearly an attempt at a valiant face, "back, back I say."
Snatching a branch of similar size, she chuckled as the boy charged forward and the smile on her face widened. Sparring with the boy she saw all around her the children watching with smiles, the boy leaped forward and the rest of the children came towards her grinning and shouting, "bring her down!" or, "for Rohan!" She grinned as the children stood and she raced off towards the city once more a smile on her face as she brought the children back to their houses and families. When the last child had returned to their house, she began walking to the Hall of Kings only to stop at the steps hearing what she knew to be muffled crying, and turned back into the city.
She knocked lightly on the wooden door she opened the door with hardly a creak, and she saw a young boy who looked frightened and small. She pushed open the door motioning for the boy's mother to come whispering to her, "did he fight." Sadness shone in the woman's eyes as she nodded and Asterin said plainly, "may I help?" Another nod answered her and she moved further into the room sitting down lightly on the chair beside the boy's bed. She thought back through her many years before opening her mouth, and she began to sing.
Her voice was quiet and comforting as she sang an old elvish lullaby, the same she had grown up hearing before tragedy had struck. A song to soothe fear and help calm those who heard it, the lyrics pouring out and the boy began to relax laying back against the bed as she sang slowly and softly. The boy's grip on her hand loosened as she reached the second verse and poured every drop of compassion and kindness into her voice with a gentle note that soared near as silent as a bird on the wind into the rafters.
She knew as the song came to a close the boy had fallen into a peaceful sleep, and as the final quavering note faded to silence, she freed her hand from the boy's and stood. Making her way over to the woman who stood in the doorway swaying slightly to the song now silenced. Asterin smiled waving aside the woman's gratitude stating simply, "it is the least I can do for one who was forced to fight for his country at a child's age." Ducking out the door she left pulling her hood over her head and raced up the steps to the King's Hall.