Melting a Heart of Ice

Triina lay still and seemingly lifeless in a small bed as her fellows sat around her. Aragorn came and went as he treated other wounded around them, but his concern for his friend never let him go far. Jokhi sat atop a burned out candle with his arms around his knees and wings twitching anxiously as the other faeries darted to and fro, concerned about their wounded friends.

The houses of healing were aglow with the flickering of faerie wings, and hummed with the soft chatter and cries of the small childlike creatures. The remaining Til’Arin took it upon themselves to stand guard, as they healed much faster than the others with the aid of the water. Only one Til’Arin remained inside the healing quarters as he guarded his fallen queen, watching from across the room as her friends crowded around her.

“The other people with colored hair like hers, they healed so fast! We gave her water! We’ve soaked her, bandaged her in wet bandages, poured buckets on her, why isn’t she awake?!” Jokhi demanded, standing and flying to another surface in annoyance.

“I cannot say,” Legolas muttered, clutching her hand in both of his and sitting with his eyes closed, unable to see her in such a deathly state. The only thing that kept her from being pronounced dead was their hope that she would live. All others had given up hope, but had not the heart to tell her Company.

“But she will wake, won’t she?” Pippin questioned, looking around and receiving no answer. “Aragorn? She’ll wake, right?” he pushed as the troubled and tired man returned to check on them, and bring more water for Triina. But the only answer was silence as the hope that filled their hearts began to dwindle, and turn to despair.

“Do not give up hope.” Lelir spoke, suddenly appearing at the foot of Triina’s bed, startling those soldiers who had yet to meet the ghostly lovers into drawing blades.

“Why hasn’t she woken?” Legolas pleaded desperately, looking up at Lelir with tired and heartbroken eyes.

“She rests now, for she has not chosen to wake. This is of her own choosing, my friend.” Lelir informed in quiet yet firm Elvish.

“Impossible. She could not have chosen to die! She would not come so far simply to give up on us all!” Aragorn snapped, leaving the others around them confused as he, Legolas, and Lelir conversed in a language unknown to them.

Tears slid from Legolas’ eyes once again as he looked down at his love, feeling his heart ache with loneliness more with each passing moment. The news that she had chosen to leave them, chosen to leave her people in their highest time of need, and to abandon him and his love for her, it was too much for him to accept. Though however much his heart and soul pleaded for her to wake and stay with him, if only long enough for him to say goodbye to her, he couldn’t help himself from beginning to believe what the others around his company believed; Sillis Triina was forever gone.

“You misunderstand our situation, Aragorn.” Lelir frowned as if annoyed with an impulsive child, “Yes, she has chosen to remain in the Waiting Halls with her mother and Lyle, but it is not eternal. She has received news from others in the Halls that must be addressed before she returns to this world; the fate of Middle Earth depends on it.”

“What is this news?” Legolas questioned.

“If I was given that information I would have told you the moment I came to you. Eevalin, my dearest love, has refused me the courtesy of sharing what she has learned.” He answered with a hint of bitterness and frustration.

“Excuse me!” Jokhi interrupted, stomping his foot on the table with a light thud, “What are you talking about? You appeared here and scared us all. Then you say something that made Aragorn yell, and then you made Legolas very sad! Who are you, why are you here, and why are you upsetting my friends?!” he demanded.

“Forgive me; I felt it better to discuss this matter privately before sharing with the entire room.” He bowed, “My name is Lelir; I am a friend of this company.”

“Friends don’t make their friends so angry or sad.” The faerie retorted skeptically.

“Jokhi, he speaks the truth; we are friends in this war.” Aragorn sighed while allowing the small creature to step into his hand so that he could be placed on his shoulder. His wing still hadn’t healed fully from his first meeting with the ranger but it was making an acceptable recovery.

“Then why does he scare people, and make you angry, and Legolas so sad?” he demanded, “I don’t trust him.” He added, whispering into Aragorn’s ear so that Lelir wouldn’t hear him.

“Our reactions were to news that we feared would come.” Aragorn answered with a forced laugh for the faerie’s sake and looked emotionlessly to Lelir, waiting for him to give the news to the others.

“But she’s not dead! She’s coming back, right? She’s coming back!” Pippin shouted.

“Calm yourself.” Gandalf scorned, silencing the hobbit before he could make more of a scene.

“Let the lad alone, he has a right to his cries!” Gimli snapped, “We’ve stood by that lass for too long to let her go now! You go back to these ‘Waiting Halls’ of yours, and tell her to wake up this instant, or we’ll drown her ourselves!” he added turning to Lelir who seemed quite annoyed.

“Please,” Legolas spoke in hushed Elvish, “when you do go back to her, give her my love and should she choose to stay, give her my farewell. And should you have such a chance, plead for me that she returns to us. My heart cannot bear losing her, but do not let her know my pain.”

At this pleading the ghostly elf snapped in an eruption of frustration that frightened all those around him, save the Fellowship.

“If I had any such power, I would have used it! Do you think I would have another face such pain that I have suffered, and that you suffer now?! I have no say in this matter, nor have I been given any information on what this forsaken matter is!”
Only silence met him as Legolas turned his attention once more to Triina’s body. Pippin and Merry lowered their heads and fought back tears while Gimli stormed off ranting about ghostly elves needing to mind their words and remember their place. Aragorn took Jokhi off of his shoulder and placed him on the table behind a bucket of water to give him a chance to hide from Lelir’s outburst, while he silently stared him down as if awaiting an apology. Gandalf simply made a small humming noise and walked away after Gimli in hopes of mending whatever damages would surely come from the dwarf's coming outburst.

Just as Lelir was about to fade and return to the Waiting Halls there was a loud crash just outside the healing house windows, followed by many shouts and the sound of battle. All able bodied left the healing house to defend their home leaving the Fellowship torn between guarding Triina, and guarding the city itself.

“Go fight! I will stay with her and keep her safe.” Jokhi announced suddenly, pushing Legolas’ hand away from her body.

“What could you do against whatever new foes push through our gates?” Èomer frowned, coming to stand beside their company.

“I will come and get you if she needs help. The other faeries can help here; you need to fight! So many are too hurt to fight anymore, and too many have died already! We can’t let more die. Go help them; I will keep her safe.”

“Merry and Pippin will wait with you.” Aragorn announced with a sigh, clearly uneasy with the situation, and led his fellows from the healing house to aid in the fight. “Do not let your head be clouded by your heart, my friend. Though you no longer stand at her side, you fight for her safety and very well to save her life.” He announced in Elvish, noticing that Legolas was not himself as he ran with them to meet their new foes.

Before the elf could answer he was nearly struck by a deathly figure, resembling that of a Water Wraith, but instead of a mist these beings were shrouded in shadow, and had bodies of their own.

The Gondorian army fought alongside Til’Arin with all that they had. Strangely their numbers were not outmatched by these shadowy figures, but the creatures were stronger than six men together.

“Ní féidir linn iad a shealbhú as!” a half-breed faerie man bellowed while casting a fire spell to block one of the shadows.

“What did he say?!” Èomer demanded, turning to face Aragorn in a panic.

“Tá siad ag cur aon saol, cad a dhéanann siad cluiche a imirt?” another demanded while running to his side.

“I do not speak their language; though whatever they are saying has them quite concerned!” Aragorn answered.

“He says we can’t hold them back, and she says that they are playing a game, and not killing anyone. He is angry, and she is scared and very angry too. I think she is angry because she is scared.” Jokhi answered, flying to his best ability to Aragorn and Èomer, and falling into Aragorn’s chest.

Aragorn quickly caught him, worrying that he would injure himself farther if he were to hit the ground, and tucked him away in his cloak before returning to battle.

“Why aren’t you with Triina?” he demanded.

“You needed help!”

“You were to watch over her and come to us if she needed our help.” He scorned.

“Well a ghost lady is sitting with her now, and she yelled at me to come to you!”

“You should go back to her,” Legolas announced while running by them.

“I can’t!”

“Why not?” Èomer demanded while dodging a shadow before it threw him into a wall.

“My wing hurts to badly, I can’t move it anymore, I’m sorry!” Jokhi cried, shamefully hiding in Aragorn’s cloak, disappearing from view.

With a frustrated sigh Aragorn shook his head and continued to fight, every so often hearting a muffled yell from the faerie in his cloak until shrill cries rivaling a Wraith’s shriek echoed from the healing houses.

At once the company fled their battles as countless soldiers flooded the healing houses to see Lelir, Eevalin, and the ghosts of Lyle and Sillis Arrine standing in a circle around a shadowy figure that stood over Triina’s bed as she sat staring defiantly into its eyes.

“One move to harm her and you will be destroyed by two worlds,” Lyle warned darkly, earning a chuckle from the shadow before them.

Legolas tried to run to her side but was stopped by Gandalf and Aragorn both. Forced to stand back and watch his love finally woken from her deathlike rest to face a new threat.

“Do. Not. Interfere. Again!” the Shadow seethed as its hooded and darkened head turned as if glaring at the ghosts around Triina’s bed.

“We did not interfere!” Lyle shouted but was silenced by Sillis Arrine.

“You interfere,” The Shadow hissed, “Every time you pass between worlds you interfere!”

“We do what we must to protect this world from the war that tears it apart.” Eevalin explained calmly.

“What’s happening?” Jokhi whispered in Aragorn's ear as the others watched the shadow that towered over Triina, but the faerie received no answer as the argument continued.

"Do not interfere again." the shadow ordered again, and as suddenly as they had appeared, all shadowlike wraiths disappeared from the world of the living.

There was a moment of still silence before Legolas tore away from Gandalf and fell at Triina's side, holding her hand in both of his and resting his head against it as he cried his thanks to all powers responsible for her return to him. The spirits around them began to move about the room, assuring the Men and Til'Arin, as well as their faerie companions that all was well.

"But what was that?" Jokhi demanded, stomping his foot on Aragorn's shoulder and earning a sigh from anyone who had come from the spirit world. Lelir tuned to offer the troubled companions of Sillis Triina an answer but found Arrine was much quicker, and less tactful, than he.

"Death." Arrine answered bluntly, earning a scowl from the other ghosts, as well as Triina.

"You don't have to be so blunt." Lyle muttered as Eevalin sighed and announced that they had to return to their own world before Death returned to punish them all. Before anyone could ask their questions the dead departed, leaving the living in confused silence. The only sounds to be heard were the pained moans of the wounded, and Legolas' tearful reunion with his beloved.

Triina clung to her Elfish lover as tightly as he clung to her, muttering softly to him in his own tongue her apologies for wounding his heart and causing such fear in him during her time in the Waiting Halls. She also confessed to him her own fears, seeking comfort in him that no one else had the power to offer her as he joined her in the bed and began to sing gently to her, calming the tears that threatened to fall.

"This war has gone farther than any of us could have imagined. Death itself is taking part now and has taken no sides; it fights against us both! Til'Arin armies fight in the surrounding lands of the city against creatures unknown to any kingdom I have seen, and behind the Black Gate I fear we will both meet our deaths." she muttered quietly, speaking in broken elvish tongue to prevent the others around them from being worried more than they already were.

"Do not fear; we will see the end of this war."

"My Love, you have not seen what I have seen in the Waiting Halls. The battle that took place against Death and his many hands moments ago was merely a warning."

"Could Death truly side with our enemy and cause risk to our allies?"

"Death chooses no sides in earthly war. For what we have already done, in his eyes we are who must be dealt with for interfering with the passageways between realms."

"Beloved, worry yourself no more this night. Let your wounds heal, all will be righted with time."

Legolas said nothing more as he hugged her close to him, lulling her to a restful sleep with his gentle singing and the sound of his beating heart.