A/N A bit shorter than the last few chapters but hopefully none the less enjoyable.
Gearing up for another snow storm here, but hopefully nothing big.
Is it summer yet?
No?
Spring you say?
Lies. All I see is snow.
Lol also I realized today that this time last year we were ALSO in Rivendell having a lot of conversations on a lot of paths. Can you believe we were only in the teens of the last story back then? And now we're in the teens of this story which is also in Rivendell? Trippy AF. What is time?
Honestly though, wtf.
Y'all are fucking amazing to still be hanging with me btw. Heart eyes, everybody, heart eyes. 3 3 3
3020
Nights were the best time, in Josephine's opinion. Once they shut the doors of their bedchamber there were no more duties and they went back to just being Josephine and Aragorn again. Well, barring any disasters, but peace times were treating them kindly in that regard.
Her hair came down and her shift and robe went on. Aragorn threw on his nightshirt and raised his hands above his head to stretch while she ran a brush through her hair, watching him out of the corner of her eye from her seat at her dressing table.
When he noticed, he smirked. "Yes, my lady?"
"Just enjoying the view." She replied cheekily, grinning ear to ear as he stole a kiss as payment.
Reaching down he took the brush from her hands and stepped behind her, running it through her hair slowly. "Every morning I wake and believe you've never been more beautiful, and yet each night I am once again proven wrong." Josephine closed her eyes as he began to braid her hair, his fingers brushing her neck as he worked, tying it tightly at the end.
They slipped into bed and she burrowed into his chest, folding her arms in between them and tucking herself into him completely. "Nobody will miss us tomorrow, let's just spend all day in bed." She joked, voice muffled.
Aragorn chuckled. "And they will certainly not guess where we might be hiding."
"Ciril definitely isn't the kind of woman to make sure we get up and going on time either."
"Our plan is foolproof." Aragorn jokingly agreed.
Several silent moments passed, marking an attempt by them both to go to sleep instead of stay up talking. Their breath evened out and Aragorn said the last words to mark the end of their day.
"Good night, dear Josephine."
"Mm." She sighed. "Goodnight, Aragorn."
But no matter how many quiet seconds passed, Josephine's mind wouldn't calm down. It ran through her to-do list for the next day, her to-do list for the day they'd just had, and then when she tried to derail it into any other subject…it just split off into random things. Which was how she came to break the silence again, rousing him from his dozing.
"You know, one of these days we have to go back out traveling again. Just for shits and giggles." She shifted onto her back and looked over at him.
"...Shits and giggles?" He mumbled, eyes still closed.
"Okay fine, I just wanna see you all tall, dark, sexy, and travel worn again. And maybe, if we stop by Helm's Deep, you can push those doors open again."
"Then I will have to insist you lead a charge of men down to the second level of the city while dressed for battle, for I heard it was a magnificent sight that I'm very sorry to have missed."
"Deal." She took a deep breath and readjusted again. "Sorry, go to sleep."
He kissed her temple and tucked her head under his chin. "Goodnight, meleth nin."
Present Day
Josephine felt like she was reeling from the day as she walked back to her room with dusk quickly approaching. Seeing Aragorn was…strangely enough, not as scary as she'd expected. It was painful, of course, but bearable. Well, she figured it was bearable as long as she didn't run into him again.
She could see parts of the man she would know in his eyes, but he wasn't reminiscent enough of the Aragorn she knew to drive a knife into her gut that wouldn't stop bleeding. The shock had been a lot to handle, but a part of her was glad it had happened so she could stop worrying about it so much. Or maybe it was just being overshadowed by the comfort of being welcomed by Gilraen with open arms.
From ahead, she caught sight of Bilbo hurrying her way, waving to get her attention.
"There you are! I've been worried sick about you." He admonished.
"I'm fine, Bilbo, promise." Only a half lie…she was mostly fine…well, she was okay-ish.
"You ran off looking like you were going to be ill and then Lady Gilraen ran after you and you both disappeared for ages and left me standing there, holding a branch, wondering what in the world just happened."
He had a point that it was all very awkward and abrupt. "Gilraen and I were talking down by the river, I'm sorry."
"No, I don't-" Bilbo huffed and pursed his lips. "I just wanted to know that you were alright, is all. Us odd men out have to stick together, remember?" He finished, cracking a smile.
Josephine shared it and nodded. "Damn right we do."
"So you're sure you're alright?"
"Today? Pretty sure. Tomorrow?" She shrugged jokingly. "Who knows? Wanna go get a drink in the Hall of Fire?"
He stuck his hands in his pocket and gleefully turned back the way he'd come, waiting for her to follow. "I can't think of a better way to finish out the night."
On an armor rack by the door hung the things she'd requested for the journey ahead. The usual light vambraces and greaves, supple elven made boots, and a deceivingly delicate looking tunic. Taking inspiration from Aragorn's days wandering the wild, she opted for an oiled leather coat and hood with an added cloth mask to hopefully hide her in the fray of dwarves when they entered Goblin Town and keep off some of the rain they'd be dealing with in the mountains.
All of this had been inspected carefully by Gilraen when it arrived and made Josephine sad to think about how soon she'd be leaving. Once she left the valley, she'd be saying goodbye to Gilraen for good and it was hard to reconcile how short of a time she'd have. She should've approached Gilraen right away, but despite the very clear reality of time travel in her life, she couldn't go back and change that, so she'd have to let that regret go. Josephine would let it go, because if this was her only time with Gilraen then she'd do her best to take it in unencumbered.
Since the day Josephine had come clean, Gilraen had taken hold of her afternoons, arriving at her door or finding her in the valley with a basket of sewing on her arm. So that afternoon was just like all the others.
Gilraen sat with her on her balcony, a pile of brown fabric on her lap and a needle with red thread in her hand that she pulled through it. It was intricate work as designs appeared along the edge of the fabric and Josephine hadn't a hope in the world of mimicking it on the scrap of fabric she held.
Josephine had sewn a bit back home, just small repairs and the vaguest knowledge of how to use a sewing machine. During the war she'd done a few hasty repairs by hand on her clothes but nothing more. Everything she wore in Minas Tirith came from a true seamstress and the construction of it all baffled her.
Embroidery was a whole different animal, but Gilraen was patient and encouraging. She paused in her own work to inspect Josephine's sampler, offered advice, and went back to her project. There was only so much of Josephine's life they could talk about, and while Josephine enjoyed Gilraen's stories about Aragorn, talking about him took its toll too quickly. So they went back further and Gilraen talked about Arathorn and her life with him in Taurdal, her childhood in the north, and things her mother had imparted on her that Gilraen seemed excited to get to pass along.
The mere handful of years between them seemed to simultaneously draw them closer in friendship and then stretch in length when it came to Gilraen bringing Josephine under her wing in a very motherly sort of way. Josephine was content to nestle under that wing for as long as she could, finding the comfort of it the only thing softening her pain over the uncertainties ahead.
With a summer sun shining down on them, Josephine found the peace of Rivendell she'd been searching for, ignoring the worry that Gilraen might ask of their future together, if they might meet again someday. She'd hardly been young when she'd passed, but Josephine wasn't ready to draw attention to Gilraen's own mortality or bring her the disappointment that she'd die before she'd see Aragorn marry.
It almost seemed like Gilraen was avoiding the subject on purpose, asking questions with an attempt that they be ones that could be answered vaguely. Maybe a part of her guessed that they would never meet in the future and didn't want to know the answer. Maybe she was giving Josephine the grace of not having to tell it was, Josephine was grateful.
Smiling, Gilraen held up the hem of the fabric she'd just finished embroidering. "There. What do you think?"
Josephine's eyes ran over the smooth embroidery, woven to look like loose feathers along the edge. It was reminiscent of the Gonorian's preference to use the image of the wings of seabirds as decoration but clearly separated by time and distance. "It's beautiful. You're really good at this." She doubted she'd ever reach that level of skill, but she'd settle for passable.
"Thank you." She said gratefully, moving the project back to her lap and turning it to begin on the other edge. "I thought I might give it to Estel one day, for when he is older and has need to travel."
Josephine hadn't seen it before, but he would've worn it so long ago that by her time he had likely worn it to shreds. "I think it'll serve him really well."
"Perhaps you should make something for him as well? A token you can bestow to him upon your return." Her hand touched Josephine's knee lightly. "And until then it will keep him close to your heart."
Gilraen never spoke in ifs when it came to Josephine going home, it was always firmly decided that she would and had best prepare for that eventuality.
Josephine looked down at her messy sampler and doubted it would be anything half as nice as what Gilraen was working on, but the idea of making something for him appealed to her hope so she nodded. An idea had already come to mind, simple as it might've been. "I think I know what I could do."
She told Gilraen what she had in mind and she left Josephine on the balcony for a few minutes while she went to get what they'd need. Coming back with her basket she handed Josephine a small cut of pale blue fabric, a charcoal pencil to mark a design, and a spool of gray thread to fill it with. Something small that she could tuck away safely through all the dangers ahead.