Melting a Heart of Ice

Triina was fighting a small army of Uruk-hai beside Legolas and Aragorn, praying that Frodo would make it to safety. After the Fellowship noticed his and Boromir’s absence, the water from the river gave her an urgent warning that something terrible was going to happen, and she knew it would happen very soon.

She left the camp before anyone else, fearing for Frodo and Boromir’s lives. Legolas and Aragorn, who led the rest of the Fellowship in their search for their missing members, followed her closely as she ran, swords drawn, through the forest in search of her friends. She felt the same sense of dread as she felt before in the mines, just before Lyle and Gandalf’s demise. This time she wasn’t going to collapse, or stand by helplessly while her friend was taken from her. This time she would fight to save them, even if it meant her death.

Now she was fighting an army of Uruk-hai, for Frodo. She knew he had run, after Aragorn sent him away from the fight; She, Legolas, and Gimli found them just as Frodo ran out of their view. The Ice Blades felt weightless in her hands as she sliced her way through two Uruks at once, and stabbed a third with both blades. By now her old swords would be feeling heavier and more difficult for her to wield, but the Ice Blades felt weightless still, and guided themselves in a way. They felt almost as if they were created for her to wield.

Neither Aragorn, Legolas, Triina, nor Gimli knew really how long they had been fighting, slaying orc after orc, and cutting through countless Uruk-hai when the sound of three blasts of a horn echoed through the trees around them. “The Horn of Gondor!” Legolas announced. Triina’s heart tightened, “Boromir!” she whispered. Aragorn said nothing as he started fiercely battling his way to where the horn’s blasts were coming from. Triina shook her head to drive out her shock, and attacked with twice the drive Aragorn showed, and sliced through with more speed and accuracy than she had used ever before in her time with the Fellowship.

Her attack of choice was to deliver a fatal slash across the neck, often resulting in decapitation. Her swords looked like pale blue streaks of ice swirling around her as she fought, showing her why they had been named the Ice Blades. Legolas fought close by her, watching her as closely as he could during such a fight. He was greatly concerned for her; he had seen that look in her eyes twice before. Once while she was trying to dig Lyle out of the mines, and again when they watched helplessly as Gandalf fell after fighting the Balrog; he did not want to have to see her in that pain again.

Aragorn was separated from the other three as they continued to fight their way to follow the sound of the horn. Triina couldn’t help but to take out her frustration on her enemies, making her slashes even more brutal. By now her swords were coated in their blood, and she was screaming at them the same way she had before this journey had began, on her way to Rivendell, when she fought off the entire army of orcs. She would glance over to Legolas every so often, and see him fighting just as aggressively, or make eye contact with him for a second or two, just long enough to know that he was worried about her.

Finally, after fighting for what felt to her like far too long, she, Legolas, and Gimli reunited with Aragorn and Boromir. Triina was behind Legolas, and unable to see why the other two had stopped walking so suddenly. She quickly stepped around him and froze. A few feet from them, Aragorn knelt beside Boromir’s lifeless body. There were arrows sticking out from his body, and his skin was paled; there was no mistaking that he was dead.

Legolas put his arm around her waist to help keep her standing as tears built up in her eyes. She shook her head; unable to believe that after all her fighting she was still unable to prevent another death of a friend. Gimli bowed his head and sadly turned away, and Legolas looked sadly at him before focusing his gaze on the green/blue haired woman beside him. Tears were running down her face as she stared painfully at the corpse of her friend. He tightened his grip on her as her swords fell from her hands and landed on the ground. “They will look for his coming from the White Tower. But he will not return.” Aragorn spoke as Triina gave a quiet sob.

“There was nothing we could have done, lass, it was his time.” Gimli spoke softly as Legolas and Aragorn carried Boromir’s body to the boats. “I know, but I still feel that I should have fought harder, or ran faster, or done something to prevent it.” She muttered. “Aye, we all do.” He nodded sadly. They walked in silence after that, each focusing on their own thoughts as they transported the body.

Boromir lay in a boat with his sword clutched in his hands, his shield above his head, and his split horn at his side. Triina cased the boat in thick ice, to form a crystallized coffin around him as they set it drifting in the river, over the falls of Rauros. She had given a similar memorial to him, as she had given before for Lyle and Gandalf, and now was standing and watching sorrowfully as the third fallen member of the Fellowship disappeared.

“Hurry! Frodo and Sam have reached the Eastern Shore!” Legolas announced while pushing a boat into the water. Aragorn stayed silent, and said nothing. “You mean for us not to follow them?” he asked. “Frodo’s fate is no longer in our hands.” Aragorn sighed. “What do you mean? Did we not swear to protect him?” Triina demanded angrily. “He has made his decision to continue alone.” He answered. She would have struck him, had Legolas not put his arm around her. “Then it has all been in vain! The Fellowship has failed.” Gimli sighed. “Not if we hold true to each other. We will not abandon Merry and Pippin to torment and death. Not while we have strength left.” Aragorn replied while putting his hands on Gimli and Legolas’ shoulders. Triina stood across from him and mimicked his action, holding eye contact with him and nodding her apology for her earlier hostility.

“Leave everything that can be left, we should travel light.” She announced. He nodded as Gimli and Legolas exchanged small smiles. “Let’s hunt some orc.” Aragorn grinned. “Yes! Ha, hah!” Gimli cheered. Legolas looked at Triina, whose eyes were sparkling with hope, and smiled before chasing Aragorn, who had run into the woods.

Triina stayed a short way behind the other Fellowship members, limping slightly. They had no time for her to heal herself, and she had gotten a deep gash on her inner thigh. She was able to hide the blood with her dark leggings and cloak, but the pain was terrible. She refused to announce it, for multiple reasons. Legolas would be horribly worried about her, Aragorn may not want her to continue the journey, and she did not want to seem the weak woman Boromir first thought she was. So instead she dealt with it and endured the pain while running through the woods, weaving in and out between trees, and ducking under low branches and vines.