But somehow the pain never came and instead she felt so tired that she soon was asleep. Or the pain was that much that she had fainted and didn't remember it. When she woke up, Fíli was still sitting next to her, holding her hand. But he was smoking his pipe and watching the river and didn't even realise she had woken up. As seconds passed, her senses enhanced and she started noticing a lot around her. The sound of the river, Aragorn and Legolas discussing in Elvish, Kíli and Gimli practicing combat. Suddenly Fíli turned to her and a big smile spread on his face when he saw her and moved even closer. He then explained she had been asleep almost half a day.
"Do you think it's over now? I didn't even notice anything when Legolas healed it, maybe it wasn't too bad?" for a while he was silent and his face bore an expression of remorse.
"You did. Aragorn told me that Legolas wouldn't wait until three and do it on two" she gasped
"I can't believe you tricked me like that!"
"It was for your own good. Like this, the pain was more of a surprise and probably not as bad" she didn't reply and tried sitting up instead, letting her husband help her.
"Have you been with me all the time I was asleep?"
"I have because I just needed to be close to be with you in case something had happened" she smiled and leaned against him and now the others too noticed that she was awake
"Do you feel well enough to come with us? Or will you stay behind to rest more or return to Lothlórien?" Legolas asked after Aragorn had urged them to leave
"No one will be left behind" Aragorn said.
"It is not leaving her behind but allowing her to have more time for rest and healing. And it should be her decision what she wishes to do"
"I will not leave my wife here all alone. I'll stay here with her if I need to"
"But I want to come with you anyways"
"There you have it" Kíli muttered with a grin and now Legolas was the one to remind them to hurry.
"Oh right. Merry and Pippin" she muttered as Fíli helped her up "Do you think they're alright still?"
"I hope so. To their luck the Uruk-hais believe they have the ring. That might be the only reason they're still alive" she gave a nod and then her husband handed her the coat he had given her but then stopped and grinned
"You ruined my coat" he mock-protested as he stuck his fingers through the hole the arrow had caused "The coat was completely new"
"Well then give me your old one if you're that worried about the new one" his grin only goat broader
"So you can ruin that one too?" they both started laughing until Kíli stood in front of them, putting his hands on his hips
"Fighting again, you two?"
"No, your brother just accuses me of not being careful enough with taking care of his clothing" she replied while nudging his side. Obviously, Fíli didn't trust her to walk on her own why he supported her and also Kíli stayed close, probably for the same reason. She wasn't sure if she liked it or not but had to admit that after a while she was glad for the help.
-oOo-
But a couple of days later, she had no more strength left. Despite the little breaks they held sometimes she was overchallenged and it got too much for her. So much that she couldn't even get up properly anymore. Often, Legolas offered her to just stay behind and rest and then join them again somewhere. At that point she sometimes even regretted it and realised he had been right. Then again, she didn't want to be out here all alone. But to her utter relief Aragorn then said during one of the little breaks:
"We have now reached the kingdom of Rohan, home of the horse lords. Edoras is about three days from here. Lhindril, you better head there while the rest of us follows the Orcs" he asked if either Fíli or Kíli wanted to go with her and both agreed. But since they didn't know the way, they decided to continue with the others for a while, since Aragorn knew the way and could send them off from another place too. As she tried to get up, she could only remain on her feet because her husband and his brother held her. Fíli seemed to notice.
"Can you walk?" she gave a shrug but then shook her head. With a nod, Fíli knelt down in front of her and told her to climb on his back which she did a bit reluctantly and with Kíli's help. "Don't fall" he joked before continuing to walk. With a relieved sigh, she buried her face against his back while she held onto him tightly.
For a couple of hours everything went well with that new situation but then Aragorn told them to watch out and find cover which wasn't that easy on these huge fields. When Lhindril looked around she saw the huge flock of riders coming in their direction. Luckily, her brother found a stone behind which they could hide so the riders passed by them. However, Aragorn got back up showing himself to the others.
"Riders of Rohan...what news from the Mark?" he called and the rest of the group came out of the hiding place. The riders returned and started circling them so that Fíli put her on the ground and grabbed his swords instead. The others got out their weapons too or at least gripped them tighter; only Lhindril sat on the ground, not sure what to do but trying to hide behind her husband.
"What business does an Elf, a Man three Dwarves and a wench have in the Riddermark?"
"Call her that again and I'll chop off your head" Fíli growled
"I'd do that same, if it stood but a little higher from the ground, Dwarf" he dismounted and came even closer to them. Desperately, she clung to Fíli's leg
"Leave him alone, no" she breathed and was glad Legolas intervened too, pointing his bow and arrow at the stranger.
"You would die before your stroke fell" Aragorn made everyone calm down and then introduced his friends.
"This is Gimli, Glóin's son, Legolas of the Woodland Realm, Fíli king of Erebor, his brother Kíli. And my sister Lhindril and I, Aragorn, we are the children of Arathorn and friends of Rohan and Theoden, your king"
"King under the mountain to be correct" Fíli muttered but at least put the swords away. The leader of the horsemen introduced himself as Éomer, kin of the king who apparently couldn't tell friend from foe anymore – having banished Éomer and his companions. Then he implied that thought the fellowship to be spies of Saruman. Lhindril immediately noticed that this did not please Fíli and he got worried about her once again.
"We are no spies. We track a party of Uruk-hai westward across the plain. They have taken two of our friends captive" Éomer told them that they had slain a pack of Uruk-hais that night and hadn't seen the Hobbit and killed everyone they saw.
"Does that mean it all was for nothing?" Kíli said quietly. Éomer said three names and then men with three horses came towards them
"May these horses bear you to better fortune than their former masters. Farewell" he put his helmet back on and mounted his own horse " Look for your friends. But do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands" then they rode off. Aragorn distributed the horses and then wanted to know if Lhindril wanted to go to Edoras now.
"I think I'll come with you. There is less hurry now and we have horses"
"Then let's go" Gimli decided before asking if they needed to share horses
"Well, I suppose no one wants to walk" Kíli retorted and Lhindril wondered how they could do it, seeing that only Aragorn and Legolas were probably tall enough to ride a horse. Well, maybe she too could do it but not right now with her lack of strength. "I wish we could have had ponies" her thoughts went in the same direction and she knew that Dwarves weren't too fond of horses.
"Still better than walking" Fíli just said, first letting his wife down and then helping her onto the smaller horse before mounting as well.
-oOo-
Some hours later they reached their destination, a pile of smoking Uruk-hai corpses, just like they had been told. Gimli soon found one of the Hobbits' belts in the pile. Lhindril looked down and closed her eyes in sorrow and grief, hoping the Hobbits hadn't suffered too much. She felt angry with the Rohirrim that they didn't pay more attention to who they killed. Her brother kicked a helmet and then sank to his knees with an anguished cry. And Lhindril could only admit that she felt the same. They were too late and their friends were dead. And what if it was her fault? If they had been able to leave sooner maybe they would have been there in time. Even though she was glad that the Uruk-hais were dead she wasn't happy about it like she had been when Azog died. Too big had been the pain and grief. After a short while, Aragorn stirred and examined the ground.
"A Hobbit lay here. And the other" he muttered before starting to trace something on the ground "They crawled." He got up, telling them that their hands were bound. He started walked and saw even more things that could tell them what exactly had happened to the Hobbits. Lhindril was amazed by the skill, considering there had been a battle going on and her brother still found out the Hobbit's ways. Fíli joined her, asking if she wanted to try walking by herself. She nodded, hoping he wouldn't need to carry her anymore because she found it embarrassing to be carried and also didn't want to bother him. So her husband helped her up and just when she wanted to take a step, she stumbled but to her surprise didn't fall and smiled broadly. Kíli joined them too so he could support her if she needed it but for now it was enough to lean against Fíli.
"Aragorn's tracking skills are very impressive, don't you think?" he asked "I mean I always thought I was decent at it but I would have never seen what he sees. Except maybe how they cut the bonds"
"It is. And no, I don't know how to do it either, if that was your next question" by now they were standing in font of a forest
"Fangorn? What madness drove them in there?" Gimli wondered
"A battle perhaps? Would you rather be in it without any means to defend yourself or flee into a forest?" Kíli asked. "Although I am able to understand that forest part" he muttered, making his brother grin.
"If I'm not mistaken, there is some ancient magic that made the trees come alive" she explained
"Alive? How?"
"I'm not sure if it is true but when I was younger, my parents told me legends about the beginning of time and the Valar. When Aule, or Mahal, as you Dwarves call him, made the Dwarves his wife, Yavanna, feared that they would not pay any respect to nature. And well, nature was what she found most important. So she approached Manwë, the highest of the Valar and asked him to make the plants alive so they could defend themselves and punished those that heedlessly harm nature"
"Ah now it's our fault, huh?" Fíli jested
"As I said, I don't know if it's true. But it is possible, knowing Dwarves and all" she repeatedly poked his side "But I still love you so much"
"Do you agree with Yavanna that Dwarves do not care about nature and are greedy?"
"For some it might be true. But I only know the greed for gold or other valuables. After all that's what I experienced myself with Thorin"
"What now? Do we enter the magic forest of fright?"
"Definitely" Aragorn said and stepped forward, and the others entered the forest as well
"I swear, if something bad happens in that forest I will never enter one again in my whole life" Kíli muttered and Fíli agreed, adding that if he saw another Elf but Legolas he would simply kill him.
"We might see the White Wizard. It's said he goes for a walk in this forest sometimes" Legolas explained
"Saruman?" Lhindril asked
"There only is one White Wizard"
"And what shall we do if we see him?"
"Fight him of course. But we must be quick or he will put a spell on us. Do not underestimate him."
Not much later, Legolas did indeed warn them that something or someone was out there and they should be careful. Again Aragorn explained them what to do if it was Saruman and almost in that instant a bright light lightened up the forest behind them and they turned, the two bowmen shooting arrows at the wizard but they got deflected by a spell. The weapons of the others began to glow so brightly they had to drop them. Lhindril also closed her eyes when the light made her head ache again. Saruman began talking, telling them he knew that they were looking for two Hobbits. Suddenly, she felt Fíli grab her arm and hold onto it as if he feared something would happen to them which probably was quite a valid fear. What else could they do if they were not able to defend themselves? And also fleeing seemed out of option since their opponent was a wizard.
"Who are you? Show yourself!" Aragorn ordered and finally the light started to dimmish until they could see the wizard. Slowly, she opened her eyes again and thought she didn't see right. Could this really be Gandalf or was she imagining things? Or a trick from Saruman? It simply couldn't be. Gandalf was dead and even if he survived the fall, he wasn't a white wizard.
"Is it just me or is this really Gandalf?" Fíli whispered to her
"Mahal, how is that even possible? Gandalf?"
"Gandalf?" he seemed confused and a glance to Fíli told her he saw it too "Yes. That was what they used to call me. Gandalf the Grey. That was my name." perhaps he had lost his memory? "I am Gandalf the White" he continued to explain how he fought and defeated the Balrog what had indeed killed him. But he was sent back to Middle Earth.
"Forgive me. I mistook you for Saruman" Legolas said while bowing and the others did the same.
"I am Saruman" oh she just had thought this couldn't get more confusing. Then again, when had Gandalf ever been not confusing? "Or rather, Saruman as he should have been." Then finally he told them about Merry and Pippin, whom he had seen too, in the care of an Ent, one of the oldest beings in Middle Earth. Somehow, Lhindril and the others were glad that the wizard led them out of the forest and would be staying with them. Outside the forest, he whistled and shortly after a beautiful white horse approached.
"That is one of the Mearas unless my eyes are cheated by some spell" Legolas suggested
"Just admit that you too can be wrong, Mr Elf" Fíli growled next to her. Then Kíli too started complaining silently when he realized that Gandalf had his own horse, while the rest of them had to share horses and he still would very much prefer a pony. "However" Fíli said after the had been riding for a while "to come back to the topic of the Valar and the creation of the Dwarves… What did you hear of that?" she grinned broadly and nudged his side
"Scared I heard bad things about your race?"
"No, I'm just curious how the legend is told among others" with a nod, she told him what she had heard about it. How Aulë wanted children of his own, just like Illúvatar who also was the only who could give them life and free will. When he found out, Aulë felt remorse and tried to destroy what he had created but the Dwarves evaded him on their own. Then Illúvatar too stopped him and wanted to give his Dwarves life but only after his own children, Elf and Men had woken for the first time. So Aulë brought the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves to a hall under a mountain for them to wait, giving them the typical Dwarvish traits so they could endure it well.
"And what do you know about the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves?" he wanted to know
"That from each of them, a different folk descended. And I only know more about Durin, the one that woke first. His nickname is Durin the Deathless because he was said to be reborn seven times. Or six. And you are Durin's heir..." when she had been a child she almost couldn't believe all these legends thinking them to only be stories. But since she knew Fíli she began to take them more seriously. Somehow it felt strange to be talking about legendary Durin while she was married to Fíli, who descended from him. Just as it had been weird to remember that she descended from Isildur who kind of was the reason they were on this quest now. And she also remembered that she had never told her husband about her heritage so she told him about the her ancestor and his deed in the first war against Sauron. Since he didn't know much about it, she just told him everything.
"So it kinda was like with Azog… he cut off his hand, thinking he was dead but he wasn't and now he's back"
"In a way but worse"
"And you are saying you are a direct descendant of this Isildur what gives you the right to claim the throne of Gondor?"
"Right, but I won't do that. No way" he chuckled
"I just remember how on the journey to Erebor you thought you couldn't be with me because I was royal when you yourself were royal too. To become the mightiest person from the race of Men."
"I know but somehow I never wanted to believe this. And maybe I had kind of forgotten what it meant during my time I spent in the wilderness"
"But that still can't make you forsake the throne like that"
"No, I made up my mind. I am not leaving you"
"Don't you worry about me. This is a great privilege you have and it would be unwise to just throw it aside without further thought"
"Fíli" her voice was only a whisper "I thought you would support me. Don't you understand that I don't want to be separated from you, which I would have to if I was to claim the throne? I want to be with you for the rest of my life that's what I've sworn at our wedding, don't you remember?" he only smiled
"I do"