A Burden

The next day, all of Edoras started the long journey to Helm’s Deep. Only a few were on horses, and most of them were the guards and remaining Riders. So the procession went very slowly. And, unfortunately, Raina was not in a patient mood as she rode beside where Legolas walked.

She watched the Elf, as he walked with the grace of a cat, saw with the vision of an eagle, and could hear with the precision of a bat. He was perfect, in every way: handsome, selfless, brave, hardworking, and committed. When he smiled the world seemed to get a tad brighter. So why couldn’t Raina learn to love him in the way that he seemed to love her?

She looked back down at the reins in her loose grip. She could just pull these slightly, like the Elf had shown her, and just ride -- as fast as she could, away from these problems and pain. Ride back to the Shire, where everything was simpler. Closing her eyes, she could see Hobbiton the way she had seen it all her life. Her fingers closed around the reins, about to pull them tight, drawn by the temptation.

But the vision changed. As she walked into the town, everyone she knew, all her old neighbors scowled at her as they would a stranger. She swung around, looking to her right for Bilbo or Frodo or Pippin to be at her side, but none of them were present.

Her fingers loosened their grip once more, and the thin rope slid from them as she stared ahead blankly, tears starting to form in her eyes. She knew now that she would never go back to the Shire. She had changed… too much, and now she was an outsider... and would not be welcomed back as a friend any longer.

She thought about Pippin, and how they had used to be friends, all those years ago. It hadn’t been the Fellowship and the journey that separated them, but simply time. They had both grown up a bit while in the Shire, and couldn’t run around and play all day together anymore. They had had responsibilities that pulled them apart. And Rosie Cotton, they had gone to classes together, to learn to read and write. They had been god friends, and ate lunch together often.

A tear slid down Raina’s cheek, but the wind swept it away and behind her before anyone had noticed it. She wished she could go back to a time when she could still be a child.

Looking up at the horizon with tear filled eyes, she finally remembered why she couldn’t love Legolas. She had completely forgotten the strange dream she had had in Moria... and her Faramir.

As she stared into the mountains to the east, her focus faded, until she could feel herself being pulled toward them… and quickly.

Raina blinked a few times, and finally focused. Ahead of her, two familiar Hobbits lay crouched under some brush. She had to suppress a cry of delight when she saw her brother and Samwise once more.

Beyond them, a massive army of foreigners and Oliphants were marching. As she watched, archers from the bushes nearby shot down several of the foreigners, one of the bodies landing too close to the Hobbits for Raina’s comfort.

“Go!” she cried, praying that they could hear her. Both of the Hobbits stirred, but didn’t seem to hear her command. “Frodo!” she yelled again, close to his ear. With this, he jumped.

“Did you hear that?” he asked Sam. Sam nodded his head slowly.

“I heard… something. Someone familiar,” he said slowly

Frodo nodded. “It was Raina. She spoke to me. You don’t suppose that means…” Frodo trembled at the thought of her being dead.

“Of course not, Mr. Frodo,” Sam said stubbornly. “Must be Elf-magic or something.” Frodo nodded uncertainly, and turned to leave as Raina had said to. Raina turned with them, intending on going back to the fields outside of Edoras where she was physically. But instead, a hooded Man stood over them. Although she was not there, she stumbled back in surprise.

The archer towered above them, his men standing behind him with their arrows pointed at Frodo, Sam, and Gollum.

“Ah!” Sam cried out as he, too, stumbled onto his back. “Wait! We’re innocent travelers!” as he spoke, his speech became slower and more slurred. Raina peered at him in concern, but found out it was her mind, not their speech, because her sight was becoming blurred as well.

She looked up at the hooded figure, and although she could not see his face clearly, she knew who it was.

Faramir spoke, but she could not hear his voice clearly. Slowly, her vision became more distant as she was pulled farther away from the scene. "There are no travelers in this land, only servants of the Dark Tower."

Raina stood and crept closer to the Man. Leaning up on her tip toes, she whispered in his ear:

“They are innocent of harm,” she breathed praying he could hear her as well. “Let them go. I beg of you, for the fate of our lives rest upon their shoulders!”

Faramir blinked, looking slightly uncomfortable, but otherwise did not seem to hear her.

And her hold on the vision was fading. She could feel herself being pulled back to Rohan, back to Legolas, back the evacuating city.

She gritted her teeth and tried to hold on to the vision as best she could, desperate to hear the Man’s voice once more, and missed what Frodo said. Before she was completely gone, she heard him speak once more.

“War will make corpses of us all…”

And then she was back.