Melting a Heart of Ice

“Just run! I’ll meet you in Rivendell! Find Lord Elrond, and give him this necklace, he’ll know what it means!” a young woman, with long green, almost blue hair ordered as four men stood behind her with their weapons drawn. “No! We will not be leaving you!” one of them argued. “I can handle these ones, there aren’t that many. Two of you are under my command, and I order you to go!” she spat, tightening her grip on her sword and facing the trees in front of her. The man sighed heavily, and ran off with the other three following closely behind him. He wasn’t under her command, but he knew there would be no arguing with her, and if she were to die it would be her own stupidity to bring her death. “This war will end, Sauron, and it will not be you standing victoriously at the final battle.” She spat under her breath as she walked out of the forest they had just run into, and stood face to faces with a massive army of orcs, giving a great, lung-shattering, war cry to vent her fear and anger as they charged her.

The men heard her, and quickened their pace. “Nothing like a ferocious war cry from the girl you helped raise, to fuel you dedication for a cause.” One of them panted. “Pure truth in those words, Lyle.” One of the others nodded. “How many do you think there are?” a third asked breathlessly, constantly glancing behind him as they ran. “With the way she screamed back there, a lot.” he sighed. “Enough, Tomas, Thellen, I know you are both thinking of her not surviving this battle. What were her words? Do not let your fears, become self-fulfilling prophecies!” Lyle ordered. “But her words were also, ‘Fears can also be a warning, and shouldn’t be so easily dismissed. Keep your head, and be wise.’” The other, Myrin, pointed out. “Yes, Myrin, keep your head you two!” Lyle nodded and continued to lead the others to Rivendell.

While the boys ran to the elfin city she had been called to, Triina, their leader, stood stock still as the mass of orcs charged. She swung her very thin bladed sword with lightning speed, and fought with expert skill as the fight began, showing no mercy as they held the same for her. Her dress became too restricting to her, so she cut it off and fought in the leather leggings she wore beneath the skirt, drawing the second sword that she had on her back and fighting with even more ferocity as her stamina wavered. An orc hit her across the face, and she slit his throat. Another cut her arm, and she removed his before running him through.

Her strength was fading, and it was beginning to get hard for her to draw breath as exhaustion set in after hours of fighting, and slaying orcs, but she wasn’t ready to stop. As if the fates themselves were watching over her, it began to rain. Again she cried out, but this time in celebration, excitement, and hope as the rain turned to ice shards around her, and assisted her in killing her attackers. The water coated her swords and turned to ice, sharpening, and lengthening her blades as her eyes went from having bright crystal blue irises, to the entire eye being an icy blue glow.

She threw her swords down and brought her hands up, forming a wall of ice around herself before shattering it and sending shards like razors, which were no smaller than her swords, in all directions.

“What are you?” one of the smaller orcs breathed as she picked up her swords again and walked over to him as he cowered in fear. He was one of the last surviving few of the battle, and she, aside from her exhaustion, few bruises and one cut remained unscathed. “I am Sillis Triina of Til’Arin, daughter of Sillis Arrine of Til’Arin,” She answered, watching his eyes grow wide before she drove both of her swords into his throat. With a wave of her hand, she again turned the rain to ice and killed the last few orcs and slowly walked into the forest to continue her way to Rivendell, pulling the hood of her cloak over her head as the rain stopped.

She walked for the rest of the day, and well into the night when she couldn’t go any further and collapsed on the narrow dirt road. She only slept for a few hours when she felt someone’s hand on her neck. She wanted to move, to attack and defend herself, but she had used too much energy fighting the orcs, and had sustained more injuries than she thought, she knew that after realizing that at the moment her entire body hurt. She slowly opened her eyes and looked into a very concerned set of soft, brown ones. “Are you hurt?” he asked gently, glancing down at her body to look for serious injuries. “No, not dangerously.” She answered, surprised by how hoarse, and weak her own voice sounded; it must have been from screaming at the orcs for so long. “You’re bleeding.” He pointed out, nodding to her arm.

She looked over and gasped when she realized how much blood had soaked the sleeve of her once light green shirt. “I was fighting off some orcs, and one of them cut my arm… I never thought it was this deep.” She explained quietly. “May I have a look at it?” he asked softly. She nodded and he helped her sit up, and leaned her against a tree.

He watched her carefully as she rolled her sleeve up to her shoulder, revealing the shockingly large gash that stretched nearly the entire length of her forearm. “Your skin is like ice.” He gasped as he gently touched her arm to assess the wound. “Don’t worry about that, I’ll be fine.” She assured softly. He still held his frown as he took a pack from one of the few others that were with him and dressed her wound.

“Thank you.” She smiled once he had finished. “You’re welcome. What is your name?” he asked while he and another helped her to her feet. “Triina.” She answered kindly, feeling the warmth return to her body. “Triina, that is not a common name, may I ask where you are from?” he questioned.

“Very far from here, by the icy waters of the north.”

“Why are you here?”

“I was summoned by an old friend, to attend his council. Apparently my skirmish with the orcs took more energy than I had thought, and left me collapsed on the road.”

“Where is your friend? Perhaps we can help you to there safely.”

“Don’t worry about me, as I said before I’ll be all right. Believe me, I have had far worse injuries than this scratch on my arm; this poses no danger to me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. May I have your name stranger, so that I may thank you properly for your help?”

“Legolas, of Mirkwood.”

“Legolas of Mirkwood, I thank you for all your concern, care, and assistance. Please, take this as a token of my gratitude, it has always brought me luck on my travels, I trust it will do the same for you.” She smiled, removing her ring and placing it in his hand, “It will also protect you, should you need it.”

He didn’t take his eyes away from her shockingly pure blue ones as he took the ring and watched in both awe and confusion as she walked away from the path, into the trees, and disappeared. “We must continue our path to Rivendell.” One of the others pointed out after he stood staring after her a moment. “Of course.” He nodded, snapping out of his gaze and mounting his horse.

The entire ride to Rivendell, Legolas thought of Triina. Her eyes were captivating, her voice, although still soft, was strong and confident, and she had amazing grace. Even with his elfish senses, he couldn’t hear her as she ran though the forest after giving him the ring; it was as if she had faded into the trees themselves.

He looked down and admired the ring in his hand. A silver band, with a deep blue gem that looked almost like it had water inside it. He held it up to his ear and shook it slightly, in awe at the fact that the large blue gem really was filled with water!

Triina ran as quickly as her legs would carry her, thankful for her unusual grace and light build as she traveled silently through the forest at a speed that anyone around this area would find abnormal for someone who was not an Elf. She could tell that her wound was bandaged enough to stop the bleeding finally, because her body temperature was returning to almost that of other beings; her people had always had a lower core temperature than other races.

To the men who originally traveled with her, she was simply Triina: Adopted daughter of King Radill. Unbeknownst to them, and anyone else outside their kingdom, she was Sillis Triina Til’Arin: Daughter of Sillis Arrine Til’Arin, and rightful heir to the throne of the Til’Arin kingdom. King Radill was her birth father, but he had never married Arrine, and kept their lovechild a secret from his wife, and kingdom. He only took Triina in when she and her mother’s lives were threatened, and Arrine refused to allow her only child to stay in such danger.

At the age of only two years Triina was brought to him, and a year after that King Radill’s youngest son was killed in battle, and his wife died from grief. Every month a visitor from Til’Arin would visit Radill and tend to Triina, helping him to learn how to cope with her “differences” to the other children he had raised. But he never really helped her himself.

Triina’s people had very strong magical abilities that he thought were only myth until seeing them first hand with her. When she was wounded enough to draw blood, her temperature would drop enough to slow the bleeding by essentially freezing the blood to keep her from losing too much. As soon as the bleeding stopped, her temperature would return to normal again. When she was upset, water would move, freeze, or even boil and evaporate, depending on the extent of her emotions, and which emotions she was feeling. Her hair had always been it’s unnatural green/blue, and for that she was always shunned by most of her father’s kingdom.

As she got older she learned about her mother’s people, and their other talents and abilities. Moving water, creating weapons from it, extreme tolerance of the cold to the point she could stand in a thin linen dress in a snowstorm and not even shiver. Upon visiting her birthplace, on her twentieth birthday, she learned of their long lives. She wasn’t immortal, but the life span for the people of Til’Arin were five, to six times longer than that of a normal man. She also learned that if she were to freeze her wounds, or submerge them in water for long lengths of time, they would heal within a day for most; although it could take up to three days, if the wounds were lethal, or if she were very weak. Something about her that was rare to her people though, was her grace and weight. She was Very light, and could move like an elf without even trying.

For hundreds of thousands of years her people had been a passive race, only fighting if it was necessary, but now it was time for them to join the fight. She had met Lord Elrond about twenty years ago when she ran off from her father’s guards after accompanying him on one of his travels, and gotten lost. He was also traveling to meet with some allies of his, but was traveling a forest road with some of his men, while her father rode outside the woods. After finding her sitting against a tree juggling rocks, he helped her to find her father. They quickly became friends, and after hearing about her abilities he offered for her to stay with him in Rivendell, so that he may also help her learn to control them. It was still too dangerous for her to go to her stay at her mother’s home and learn it, and now they couldn’t send a visitor to her either, so she quickly accepted, even though her father objected greatly.

A wave of relief passed over her when she finally reached the gates of Rivendell. The guards recognized her, since her hood was now down, and she was the only one they had ever seen with that hair color. She smiled and waved at one of them, knowing him personally, and he nodded as she walked into the city. “Beautiful, it’s always so beautiful.” She muttered to herself, caught in awe as always. “I’m glad you were able to make it here safely, your men told me of the orcs; I was just preparing a search party to find you.” A familiar, but stern voice commented behind her. She spun around and hugged him, making him chuckle lightly. “I would have gotten here a long time ago, but I collapsed on the road after fighting the orcs; fighting off an entire army is very exhausting, Lord Elrond.” She sighed. “So I see. Come, your arm needs to be properly taken care of.” He ordered.

She nodded and followed him to the healers, and sat down on the bed as he had a tub of water brought out for her. “I apologize for my lateness.” She sighed, taking the water and freezing it around her wound. “I summoned you for this meeting. The meeting has yet to begin, and we are still awaiting other guests; I wouldn’t say that you are late.” He replied calmly. She smiled at him and put more ice around her arm, casing it in a glassy bandage.

“How long until this meeting?” she asked.

“It will be in the evening.”

“Good, that means my arm has some time to heal.” She smiled.

“Who bandaged it? I know you couldn’t have done it on your own.”

“Why, because he did a good job?”

He frowned and waited for her answer, making her laugh a little.

“His name, I think, was Legolas.”

“Of Mirkwood?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“He is here, also called to the council meeting.”

She frowned and looked out the window. “Do you not wish to see him?” he asked in a fatherly tone, gently placing his hand on her shoulder. “No, it isn’t that.” She replied a little too quickly, making him smile. “What?” she asked. “You are confused by your feelings.” He explained calmly. “No, it isn’t that. There is darkness here, which I haven’t felt before in this city. It worries me.” She explained. He nodded and leaned back slightly in his chair.

“You know what it is, don’t you?” she questioned. He nodded silently, looking out the window as well.

“Tell me.”

“You have not the authority to make such demands here.”

“Lord Elrond, what is it?”

“I will explain everything this evening. For now rest, and recover from your injuries. I will have Arwen leave some clothes for you in your room. I trust you still remember your way there from here?”

“Of course I do, how many times have I walked that path?” she smiled. He chuckled slightly and stood up, giving her a smile before leaving her alone with her arm encased in ice.