Melting a Heart of Ice

Gandalf led the Fellowship through the Dwarf City of Dwarrowdelf. Triina was in awe of its beauty, even in its empty abandoned state. With it’s high pillars, and intricate carved designs. For a short moment, she had forgotten what happened only hours ago, and turned back to comment on the beauty to Lyle, only saying the first sound of his name before stumbling in her renewed sorrow.

Legolas steadied her but said nothing as they stared at each other. She was searching his calm eyes for some comfort, and he was admiring the beauty hers held, even as pained and sorrowful as they were. Gimli cried out suddenly and ran ahead, pulling them out of their daze as Gandalf called after them.

They followed, and found him kneeling over a tomb in a chamber not far from them, sobbing over the stone casing. Boromir put a comforting hand on his shoulder as he cried, and Triina leaned against Legolas as tears poured down her face. There was too much death in this place for her. Seeing Gimli cry only made her think of her desperation to save Lyle. “Triina,” Legolas muttered. “I despise this place, Legolas. With every bit of my soul, I despise it.” She whimpered through gritted teeth. “I know.” He sighed, as she quickly wiped her tears and walked a few steps away from him. “‘Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria.’ He is dead then. It's as I feared.” Gandalf announced, reading the tomb’s inscription, and only making Gimli’s sobs ring harder in her ears.

“She seems so fragile.” Legolas commented to Aragorn as Triina looked aimlessly around the room, and Gandalf read from a large book he had picked up. “They have taken the bridge… and the second hall.” He read.

“Yes, and she is. He meant more to her than she let on. His death has inflicted a wound deeper than any dealt in combat.” Aragorn sighed.

“We have barred the gates… but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes.”

“How can this wound heal, if she is only surrounded by death, and has not the time to grieve? This journey will not allow her the time she needs.” Legolas kept his eyes on Triina, whose eyes were darting around the room, but empty.

“Drums… drums… in the deep.”

“Make no mistake, it will be difficult for her, but she will recover from this. She only needs time, and comfort.”

“But what comfort can we offer, when she shies away from our every attempt?”

“When she needs you, Legolas, she won’t turn away. When you pulled her from Lyle, she held to you tightly. Even when you don’t mean to offer comfort, you have been. Every time your eyes meet, you offer comfort.” Aragorn nodded, realizing the true nature of Legolas’ question.

“We cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark.”

Triina held onto every word Gandalf read, scanning the room in horror as if watching the events take place. Pippin was backing away with Gandalf’s staff and hat in hand with a fearful look in his eye. Boromir was listening in uncomfortable silence, and Legolas and Aragorn were talking quietly, but were listening carefully. The more she looked around her, the more she realized how uncomfortable the Fellowship truly was.

“We cannot get out, they are coming!”

They stood in silence, taking in everything they had just heard until an echoing crash rang out around them. She gasped and spun around at the same time as Gandalf to see Pippin standing beside a well, looking positively guilty. She moved to catch the body that was about to follow its head down the well that Pippin had knocked it into, whimpering when she wasn’t fast enough. With each wave of sound, both she and Pippin winced painfully.

“Fool of a took! Throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity!” Gandalf scorned, tearing his belongings out of the hobbit’s grasp and walking away, leaving him standing awkwardly in silence.

The silence was broken by the sounds of drums echoing in the distance. “Frodo,” Sam said nervously, keeping his eyes on his sword, which was now glowing, blue. “Orcs!” Legolas announced as the drums grew louder and closer.

Triina swallowed hard, and moved closer to Legolas, as Boromir went to the door to have a look. Arrows hissed through the air and struck the wood just inches from his face. Triina jumped when Aragorn dropped his torch and went to Boromir, and had to swallow her fear when he ordered the hobbits to stay back, and stay with Gandalf. “What is that?” she asked nervously when a bellowing roar echoed from the other side of the doors. “A cave troll.” Boromir answered in sarcastic relief. “A w-what?” she stuttered, looking up to Legolas who was throwing things to Boromir and Aragorn to brace the door.

Gandalf gave sort of war cry as he threw his hat down and drew a sword. The hobbits drew their small swords, Gimli drew his axe and positioned himself atop Balin’s tomb, “Let them come! There is one dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath!” he growled, gripping his axe handle eagerly.

The orcs began pounding on the door, and Legolas, Aragorn, and Triina all positioned to shoot. Though Triina wasn’t as experienced with a bow as they were, she wasn’t a bad shot; she just hoped her luck in Rivendell would be the same in the mines of Moria.

A hole was knocked through the door, and Legolas fired letting a shrill cry from an orc echo over the drums. Aragorn fired another arrow, followed by Triina’s before the door came down completely. Triina quickly put her bow away, and drew her swords, once again fighting with her abnormal speed and grace. “Do not let blind rage and grief lead you in battle, Triina. Keep your head!” Aragorn ordered. “And he means that quite literally.” Boromir nodded as they both ran their swords through the same orc. “I’m not… fighting in blind… rage or grief! I’m fighting… for… Lyle!” she bellowed, hacking her way through the swarm of orcs, “I promised… to fight… for us both!”

She turned from the two men and helped protect the hobbits, since she hadn’t really seen them fight, other than Bormomir’s swords lesson, which wasn’t that impressive. She turned around to see Sam standing perfectly still, staring up.

Following his gaze, she and Aragorn noticed the cave troll breaking through the doorway with chains at the wrists leading like a leash to an orc. Legolas shot it in the shoulder, but it only growled in response. “I think you made it angry.” She said blankly, as they glanced at each other and went back to fighting. Sam kept staring, and didn’t move when the troll swung its mace down at him, so she tackled and rolled with him to get him out of the way.

She hit her head against the wall, hard, and Sam wasn’t frozen with fear anymore but had no escape. The troll cornered them as it turned to face them, and Triina was unconscious. He cringed as it raised its mace, ready to strike, but instead it fell back as Boromir and Aragorn got behind it and began pulling its chains. In retaliation, the troll twisted its arm and threw Boromir against the wall. He wasn’t knocked out as Triina was, but he was dazed.

Sam turned around from his place leaned against Triina’s chest, and tried to wake her, but she wouldn’t respond. All he could do was stand and fight to defend her seemingly lifeless body.

Legolas noticed, and was at his side in an instant, fighting off the orcs enough to look over her. Her body wasn’t cold, so he knew there was no blood loss, but he couldn’t figure why she wasn’t awake. “Triina!” he yelled over the battle, shaking her, “Triina, do not do this, come on, and wake!” he tried desperately, but nothing. “TRIINA! DO IT FOR LYLE!” Boromir bellowed. Those must have been the magic words, because her eyes slowly opened, “Yes! Wake and fight for Lyle!” Legolas breathed, relief washing over him. “No, I fight with Lyle. This fight is for Frodo.” She grunted, forcing herself to stand. Aragorn smiled as he fought a few feet from them, seeing her spin one of her swords before swinging right back into action.

The battle went on, but Triina lost track of how long. Her mind only had a few thoughts at the moment. Fight for Frodo, keep your promise to Lyle, protect your friends, kill the orcs, kill that blasted troll!

She was about to behead an orc, which would make six that lost their heads to her blades, but was stopped when out of the corner of her eye she saw Frodo hiding behind a pillar, and the troll peering around to find him. It would look left, he would silently move right, it would move right, he would quietly shuffle left. She stabbed the orc in the throat and fought her way to him just as the troll found him and lifted him high into the air. “Aragorn, Triina!” he yelled, seeing that they were the only two near enough to hear him.

Both were exhausted, but continued fighting to get to him. “Frodo!” Aragorn yelled, acknowledging his cry so that he knew someone was trying to help him. He picked a spear from the ground and threw it at the troll. It did no damage, but kept the troll from killing the hobbit for the time being. Triina began slashing at him, moving with a shocking grace to the rest of the Fellowship as she dodged all attacks and kept the beast distracted. Merry and Pippin threw anything they could pick up to distract the troll from Triina, but she was still hit and sent flying across the room as Frodo was dropped to the ground.

“I’m all right, Frodo. Get out of the way!” she yelled, trying to stand to push him, but feeling one of her ribs were broken she collapsed back to the ground in severe pain, unable to help him as the troll took a spear and stabbed him in the chest.

Everything seemed to stop then. Gandalf stood and stared, Merry and Pippin stared in horror, Triina couldn’t breathe, and even the troll seemed to be in shock. After a moment though, Merry and Pippin attacked it with a vengeance. Sam rushed to Frodo’s side, as Boromir, Aragorn, Gandalf, and Triina joined Merry and Pippin’s ruthless attacks. Legolas took aim, and waited for his chance, shooting an arrow through the troll’s mouth and into its brain as soon as it opened its mouth. Finally, the troll was dead.

The Fellowship stood in silence, except for the shuffling of feet as Gandalf and Aragorn rushed to the fallen hobbit’s side. Triina felt her blood turn cold as she swallowed hard, and her tears froze on her cheeks. This had only happened once before, but she knew what was happening; to prevent herself from crying, she was freezing herself as if she were bleeding severely. She did not know, however, that she was holding her breath until she felt Legolas’ hand brush against her shoulder. After that, her breaths were sharp and shaking as she watched Aragorn roll Frodo’s body over.

“He’s alive!” Sam breathed with slight relief as he gasped and groaned in pain in Aragorn’s arms. “I’m all right, I’m not hurt.” He assured quietly. “H-how?” Triina whispered, unable to make her vocal chords work properly. “I think there is more to this hobbit, than meets the eye.” Gandalf smiled as Frodo moved his shirt to reveal a shimmering under shirt. “Mithril! You are full of surprises, Master Baggins!” Gimli smiled happily. Though their happiness was interrupted by the sounds of more orcs in the distance. “To the Bridge of Khazad-dûm!” Gandalf ordered urgently, and again they were off through the mines, but this time there was an entire army of orcs chasing behind them, and unlike the small army Triina had defeated on her way to Rivendell, they were too great for her to oppose.

Suddenly the orcs fled as a light appeared in the far end of the hall, accompanied with a low, but threatening rumble. “What is this new delivery?” Boromir asked worriedly. “Another troll?” Triina replied, gripping her swords tighter. “No, a Balrog – a demon of the ancient world.” Gandalf answered quietly. Triina glanced over to Legolas who although trying to seem calm, could not hide the fear in his eyes as the creature was heard again, casting a fiery light on the pillars. “This foe is beyond any of you… run!” Gandalf ordered. Triina for once had no objection to fleeing; she could not risk another death to these mines.

They ran through a small doorway and down narrow flights of stairs that were high above another seemingly bottomless pit, with no railings; only stone pillars connected by narrow stone stairs. Suddenly Legolas stopped sharp, pulling Boromir against him and backing into her. She quickly gripped his shoulder to keep herself from falling over the edge, and noticed there was a missing segment in front of them, that Boromir nearly fell through. “Gandalf!” Aragorn shouted, as unsure of what to do as the rest of the Fellowship. “Lead them on, the bridge is near!” he ordered. She looked and saw the bridge he was referring to, but could sense that he wasn’t planing on following them as closely as she would want. Aragorn moved closer to him, and was shoved away. “Do as I say!” he ordered as the Balrog roared again, sending a tremor of terror through her body.

“Legolas,” she whispered as the light from the Balrog got closer. “Do not fear, Triina. As Gandalf said, the bridge is near.” He assured, though everything about him showed fear at the moment.

They continued on until a larger gap cut them off. Legolas easily jumped across as the Balrog roars again, causing rocks to fall around the Fellowship. Legolas offers his hand and Gandalf jumps next, followed by Boromir, who was carrying Merry and Pippin with him. Aragorn threw Sam, who was caught by Boromir. Gimli refused to be thrown by anyone and jumped on his own, nearly falling to his death and having to be pulled up by his beard by Legolas. “Triina, jump!” Aragorn ordered, but she was paralyzed by fear as a shower of arrows was fired by the orcs on the higher levels around them. “Triina!” he yelled, grabbing her shoulder, “If you do not jump, I will throw you across.”

With a shaking nod, she leapt across the gap, grabbing both Boromir and Legolas’ outstretched hands as only half of her feet met the staircase. “Are you all right?” Boromir asked. She nodded and moved out of the way for Aragorn and Frodo to jump.

More rocks and stone slabs fell, and Aragorn had to shove Frodo to safety to keep them from being crushed. As they stood up, the Fellowship grew silent, looking at the now widened gap in front of them. The Balrog was getting closer, making more and more collapse as it neared. Another large stone slab came down behind Frodo and Aragorn, breaking through the staircase and forming another gap, leaving them stranded on top of a pillar with nowhere to go as their section of the stairs began to wobble.

“Please, please don’t fall. Please don’t fall, please.” Triina muttered quietly as she watched breathlessly, and helplessly. “Hang on, lean forward!” Aragorn ordered to Frodo, who followed his lead. Shifting their weight, they controlled where the pillar fell, and sent it crashing into the stairs where the rest of the Fellowship was waiting.

They ran as quickly as possible down the stairs as the Balrog followed them in a wall of fire, and the staircase collapsed behind their feet. Legolas unconsciously took Triina’s hand to keep her with them as they ran, after she stumbled and dropped one of her swords into the abyss.

“Over the bridge! Fly!” Gandalf ordered as they ran past him. Following his orders, only because Legolas was nearly dragging her, she crossed as he turned around behind them to face the wall of fire from the Balrog. She gasped and stumbled backward when the creature itself emerged as a great shadow, with ash black horns and eyes of white fire.

“You cannot pass!” he shouted at the creature. Triina was in pure dread, feeling once again the looming danger she felt before Lyle’s death; Gandalf was not going to survive, and she knew it. She was already crying for him, but the others assumed it was fear as Frodo called after the wizard.

The Fellowship watched as he faced the creature, only backing up a few steps when it went to join him on the bridge. Triina’s tears were still streaming down her face, and she was shaking quite hard, wanting to look away but unable to.

“You, shall not, pass!” Gandalf bellowed, bringing his sword and staff together in the air, and bringing them down onto the bridge. Blue light shot out and surrounded the wizard, but the creature continued to approach. As it neared Gandalf, the bridge collapsed and sent the Balrog falling in front of him. Gandalf watched it fall into darkness, before turning back to the relieved Fellowship. Triina most relieved, he wasn’t going to die after all.

Before she could release the breath she had been holding, the Balrog’s fiery whip came up from the cavern it had fallen into, and wrapped around Gandalf’s ankle, dragging him over the edge of the broken bridge and leaving him hanging onto the ledge.

Frodo screamed his name and ran forward, only to be restrained by Boromir, and Triina collapsed to the ground. Legolas quickly picked her up, trying to revive her, but to no avail. He was surprised to feel that her skin felt as if she had a fever, instead of like ice. “Fly, you fools!” Gandalf ordered, and let go, falling to the same fate that met the Balrog.

Frodo screamed, feeling the same pain Triina had felt when Lyle was crushed to death. Boromir pulled him out of the cave as Legolas carried Triina, and Aragorn brought up the rear, dodging the shower of arrows that once again rained down on them.

Only when Legolas set her down in the snow, did Triina’s eyes flutter open. “Gandalf?” she whispered focusing on his eyes as she waited to hear his fate. “He fell… I’m sorry.” He muttered as he watched her carefully. She nodded as more tears formed in her eyes. “C-could I have helped him, if I h-hadn’t collapsed?” she asked painfully. “No, I don’t think so.” He sighed, sitting very close to her as the other members of the Fellowship mourned the wizard.

He reached up and wiped away some of her tears, letting his hand rest on her face, feeling the soft, once again icy skin against his own. Her hand came up around his wrist and pressed his hand closer to her face as she cried, before she fell into his chest in open sobs. “I w-was not prepared… for s-such death!” she cried angrily. He said nothing as he held her as tightly as he had when they lost Lyle.

When she looked up at him after a surprisingly short amount of time their faces were so close they could both feel each other’s breath dance across the their lips. Neither of them really knew who had moved, only that their lips touched so lightly it could hardly be felt before they both pulled away awkwardly.

“Legolas, get them up!” Aragorn ordered, either not noticing the kiss, or choosing to ignore it. “Give them a moment, for pity’s sake!” Boromir shouted, almost angry with Aragorn for his quick decision. “By nightfall these hills will be swarming with Orcs! We must reach the woods of Lothlórien. Come, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli, get them up!” he replied, making a very solid point. “Come, Triina, we must continue our journey.” Legolas whispered as he pulled her to her feet. She nodded but leaned her full weight against his chest again, now realizing that the only cure for the pain she felt was to feel his body against hers. Aragorn was right; she had two options, accept what her heart desired, and risk heartache, or deny herself, and ensure a lifetime of this torturous pain. With another comforting hug from Legolas, she followed Aragorn to the woods of Lothlórien silently.