Melting a Heart of Ice

Triina wasn’t able to stay asleep for long, only for the rest of Aragorn’s watch. Minutes after he fell asleep, she was awake again and unable to return to slumber. She noticed that it was now the elf’s turn to keep guard over the Fellowship. She sighed and walked over to where he was standing, and watched the horizon silently beside him.

Although the glow of morning lit the mountains, the sun had hours yet before it would rise over them. Aragorn had made it clear that he did not want to travel until then, so both Legolas and Triina knew they would be the only ones awake for quite some time.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked curiously. Even as it broke the silence, his voice didn’t change the peaceful scene before her. “An old ghost story I was told years ago. At the time I couldn’t understand it… but now that I’m older I understand every word.” She sighed. “Tell me the story,” he requested, looking at her with an almost hopeful glint in his eyes. “It isn’t a pleasant story, there is no happy ending at the end, but if you still want me to tell it,” she warned, but he cut her off by nodding and sitting on the rock beside her.

“Many hundreds of thousands of years ago, the Til’Arin were forbidden to associate with anyone outside their own race. There was one, though, who broke the laws and ventured out of our city to explore what was so terrible about the outside world; what she found only made her loath such a ridiculous rule.

“She traveled into a forest and was stopped by the head of an arrow touching the hollow of her throat. The elf before her lowered his weapon the instant his eyes met hers, so full of fear and confusion. He explained to her that he meant no harm to her, he was a hunter and thought she was a deer walking through the forest, but she spoke no elfish.

“She stood still as a statue, and watched him carefully as he neared another step. She read in his eyes what he had tried to tell her before, and placed her hand over her chest. ‘Eevalin’, she spoke softly, giving him her name. ‘Lelir’, he replied, mimicking her actions.

“In separate tongues they each got to know the other, and by their destined connection, each learned to understand the other’s language. Lelir told her of his home, and ways of the elves, and she listened with the greatest of curiosities. She had never heard of elves before, and now couldn’t understand why her people were forced to stay within their city’s walls when there was so much to explore outside.

“She told him about the rule, but also of all the wonderful things about her home. The way the people changed the flow of water, created ice, and brought rain, and explained that her people all had hair color that was similar to hers, which he told her reminded him of the forest at morning. He told her it was a beautiful color, one that was only fit to grace her lovely form.

“But even as they both knew they had fallen in love, they forced themselves to bid farewell to the other, and return to their homes. Eevalin quietly returned to her house the same way she had left, and avoided the Til’Arin guards with ease. She had exchanged her ring, with the water crystal that was very common among her people, for one of his arrowheads. ‘If ever you need a path, let it point your way’ he told her, and she cherished it deeply.” She paused as one of the hobbits stirred behind her. “What happened after their return to their homes?” Legolas questioned in a hushed tone. “The first night, nothing. But as time went on, both Lelir and Eevalin found it unbearable to be away from the other.

“He had been told by his father, and his king, not to follow her. That their love was forbidden, and could never be. The elves had never heard of the Til’Arin, but they did know of water witches, which were a traitorous race and as evil as Sauron himself.

“She was told by her mother, who was the maid to the queen never to leave their house again, until her love for this creature was forgotten. Very few Til’Arin had ever heard of an elf before, and were unsure of the strange new race.

“Both ignoring the warnings, they set out three nights after their meeting. Eevalin threw his arrowhead to the ground, and followed the direction it pointed her in, and Lelir followed the direction in which her ring rolled.

“They met together, both unknowingly being led by a sorceress to her dwelling. ‘You wish to have your love?’ she asked, appearing before them as a beautiful woman, with pale skin, long dark hair, deep red lips, and a black and blood red gown. Both nodded and held the other closely. ‘But this cannot be… you, elf, are immortal. You will not age as she will, though her life is long, she will die.’ She sighed, ‘But I could remedy this… I can give you immortality, Til’Arin, should you ask it of me.’

“Eevalin nodded without giving it a second thought, and with a laugh the sorceress granted it to her and disappeared. At the moment she departed, soldiers both Til’Arin and Elfin surrounded the lovers. Both were loyal to their people, and could not fight. And both were loyal to the other, and wouldn’t dare harm their people, so they followed their only option and ran,” Again she stopped as another Fellowship member moved. “Forgive me, continue your tale.” Boromir smiled, he had been awake for half the story now but was trying not to disturb her. She nodded as he joined her and Legolas, and continued the story.

“As I was saying, they ran bonded by their grasp on each other’s hand. But as they fled through the thick forest, their bond was broken and they were separated. Lelir escaped unharmed, but Eevalin was cornered by both Til’Arin and Elfin soldiers. As the weapons of her own people came down on her, the arrows of her lovers’ pierced her body, leaving her with no chance of survival. Both groups left without a word and returned to their cities.

“She was in agony, but could not die. When the sorceress promised immortality, she gave just that. Instead of matching what Lelir had, she made it so Eevalin could never die. Not from illness, or injury, nor from heartbreak. Eevalin’s life would ever last.

“As she removed the arrows from her body, Lelir searched endlessly for her. They had both lost the other in the thick forest. He found her blood soaked cloak and felt his heart break at once, but it was nothing like the stories he head been told about the affect of heartbreak on an elf. The sorceress had also made it so he would live eternity in his heartache, searching for her.”

Her story ended, and she found that Frodo, and Pippin had both joined their group of awakened Fellowship members as well. “Did he ever find her? Were they reunited?” Pippin asked hopefully. “No. The legend says that she still wanders the forest, using his arrowhead to point her way to him, and he still wanders restlessly, wearing her bloody cloak and clutching her ring, searching desperately for her.” She sighed. “That’s terrible… to be so close to the one you love, but unable to reach them, or even see them.” Frodo muttered sadly. Both Triina and Legolas sighed and avoided the other’s gaze. “I’ll bet they’ve passed each other a thousand times over, without even knowing it.” Pippin sighed. “That could be, little one, or perhaps the Elf, and the Til’Arin woman found each other by different means.” Boromir stated and left to pack up the camp as Gimli and Aragorn woke as well, and woke the last remaining hobbits.

“Triina, are the Til’Arin laws still the same?” Legolas asked quietly as they packed up their own belongings side by side away form the rest of the Fellowship. “No, my grandmother changed them, actually. As far as the Til’Arin go, the change is still very recent, but we prefer it this way; so that no one will be forced to meet the same fate as Lelir and Eevalin.” She answered. “What about the elves, have they changed their views on the Til’Arin? I know Lord Elrond only changed his mind after we first met; until then he had never personally dealt with my people.” She asked. “I’m not sure, until meeting you, I knew very little of the Til’Arin, and many of the things I did know were rumors and myths. We do, however, have a story similar to yours about Lelir and Eevalin. The elf’s name is even the same, only the woman has no name; she is a Water Spirit, and he drowned himself to be with her.” He answered.

“Why did he drown himself?”

“No one knows, his body was never found. Nor was hers, for that matter.” He shrugged.

“Perhaps they are still wandering the forest, then.” She sighed, liking her version of the story better. “I’d prefer to believe that, instead of her deceiving and abandoning him, when she held the whole of his heart.” He replied in a similar tone. “I wouldn’t abandon you,” she muttered, before even realizing what she had said.

His eyes locked on hers immediately as a light blush spread across her face. The question was shared between them, had she just admitted to loving him? For once she didn’t look away from him, she held his gaze as he placed one of his hands on her face.

“Are you injured?” he asked worriedly, as soon as he came in contact with her. “No, why?” she asked confusedly.

“Your skin is cold,”

“I’ve used too much energy these past days, without enough rest; I have less immunity to the cold at these times.”

He nodded and put his cloak around her, standing very close to her and keeping his hands on his shoulders. “When he has his hand on your shoulder, begging you to give him a small sign of your love, give it to him!” Aragorn’s words echoed through her mind as she looked up at the elf before her. With a nervous smile she placed her hands on his forearms. She would have rested them on his shoulders, but with the way they were standing it would have been impossible for them to stand comfortably that way. His hands slowly moved to the backs of her shoulders and pulled her closer to him at the same time she wrapped hers around his neck, but before they could meet she pulled back. “What is it?” he asked curiously.

“Triina, Legolas, we’re leaving are you ready?” Aragorn asked suddenly as he came around the rocks to check on them. “We’ve just finished packing up,” Legolas answered. The ranger nodded and went back to the other Fellowship members. “How did you know? Even I didn’t sense him coming.” He asked in awe as she smiled at him. “You would have, had you not been so… distracted.” She smirked, “The water warned me that someone was coming. There was no danger in the warning, only that we would have been seen; can you imagine if it had been Pippin to see us?” she mused as she walked away.

She was glad to be distracted by the task of keeping up with Aragorn’s pace, and unable to think about Lyle and Gandalf’s deaths. The grief was still painfully strong, and at every time they stopped to get their bearings it hit her with the force of a hurricane, but if she was focused on just running and making it to Lothlórien, she was unable to feel it.

Finally they came to a green field, and crossed it to a forest. “Stay close, young hobbits! They say a great sorceress lives in these woods, an elf-witch of terrible power. All who look upon her, fall under her spell!” Gimli announced as they walked the narrow path through the trees. Triina ignored him as she tried to escape the memories that were flooding her mind.

It was her seventeenth birthday, and Lyle had taken her into the woods for a test of her scouting abilities. He purposely got her lost, and then ran and hid from her so that she was alone. She was afraid, and angry with him, and followed his path to a clearing where he and her friend Christian had a small meal set up. “Happy Birthday!” he grinned.

The entire day was spent laughing and celebrating, and for the first time he didn’t act like her father toward her in the company of someone else. He acted like her brother, even with Christian standing beside him. Christian pulled out his fiddle and played while she and Lyle danced around the clearing until neither could stay standing. She had never been so happy before, nor had she really celebrated her birthday before. “From this day forward, I vow to protect you, Triina, and take it upon my own responsibility to see to it that you have a proper celebration every year, on the day of your birth!” he announced, and had kept to his word every day since.

She was pulled from her thoughts when the Fellowship halted suddenly, and she noticed that a group of elves had them at arrow point. Legolas had his bow drawn, and everyone looked quite alarmed.

A tall blonde elf stepped forward and looked down at Gimli. “The dwarf breathes so loud, we could have shot him in the dark.” He spoke, making Gimli growl bitterly. Though Triina found it amusing, Gimli did breathe quite loudly at times. The elf greeted Legolas in elfish, and greeted Aragorn as well in the same tongue. The only things Triina could understand were names, when she leaned that the elf was named Haldir.

There was tension in the air that Triina could feel. Once again unable to focus on the conversation she leaned against the tree behind her with closed eyes and listened to the emotions. Haldir and Gimli already didn’t like each other; Haldir had made it clear that the Fellowship could go no further, Aragorn pushed for him to change his mind… Legolas was worried about something, and his concern was overwhelming her read on everyone else.

“Triina, what is it?” He asked softly as Aragorn and Haldir argued in elfish. “Emotions. The emotions within the Fellowship are stronger than usual… and these elves too have strong emotions. I can’t focus on words right now, Legolas. I try but they all blend together and I’m unable to comprehend them. So instead I was listening to our emotions to tell what was happening, but your concern now overwhelms me. I now can only feel what you feel, above everyone else except myself.” she answered quietly. “And what do you feel?” he asked. She took her eyes away from him and looked at the ground.

“I can’t find my way anymore. Even when he would dismiss me in the strongest forms, Lyle always pointed me to the right path. Without him… I feel lost,” her voice broke as she stopped her answer to take a breath, “To know, that he truly is gone and will never point my way again… to know that he is d-dead,” that was as far as she could go. Saying those last words brought on more sorrow that the moments when she realized she couldn’t dig him out in the Mines.

“Triina,” he whispered as she silently cried, but she was unable to reply. She was too focused on keeping back her tears to answer him.

Haldir finally agreed to lead them, and she followed at the back of the Fellowship, with only Legolas beside her. “Triina,” he spoke so quietly even the elves ahead of them would have trouble hearing him. “Yes, Legolas?” she answered. “To help you find your way,” he smiled, and placed a head that he had broken from one of his arrows in her hand. She smiled despite the grief in her heart and held it tightly, “Thank you,” she nodded and followed in silence until Haldir stopped the Fellowship at a sort of overlook.

“Caras Galadhon… the heart of Elvendom on earth. Realm of the Lord Celeborn and of Galadriel, Lady of Light.” He announced as they looked upon the glade of trees that rose above them.