The Parting Glass

Her eyes slowly came open and she found herself staring up at wooden rafters. She tried to remember what happened, but it was all just blurring together. Nothing was making sense, all she knew was they her body was aching. Nerida grunted and moaned in pain as she tried to sit up, but end up laying back on the small cot. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing, but it was better than laying on the hard ground. She let out a breath and tried to calm her nerves. There was no way she would be able to think or remember what happened if she didn’t calm down.

“Oh you’re finally awake,” a woman spoke softly and walked further into the room. She was holding a small tub in her hands and had a wash cloth draped over her arm. As she walked up to the bedside table, she put the tub down. “I came to change your bandages. You’ve been out for two days.” The woman turned to Nerida and smiled warmly.

She was an older looking woman with curly copper colored hair and cerulean eyes. There was no doubt the woman was a human and she wore a long flowing dress that was ruby red that was hemmed with gold. Her lips were thin and her skin was pale. Nerida doubted she was a slave with such fine clothes and flawless skin. Her beauty even rivaled some of the elves she had met.

“Where am I?” Nerida asked and swallowed, trying to sit up again.

The woman quickly forced her back down. “Easy now, you don’t have to be afraid.” She turned back to the tub and put the wash cloth into the water. When she pulled it out, she wrung the excess water from it. “You need your rest. You’re lucky to be alive.”

“You don’t understand,” Nerida explained softly, shaking her head. If it had been two days since the attack, Oren would send in more by tomorrow evening. She couldn’t waste time, if she left this village could be spared. After what happened to the Blue Mountains, Nerida knew she had to leave. “They’ll come again.” Nerida could feel the tears forming in her eyes, she didn’t want anyone else to die because of her.

The woman looked at Nerida sympathetically and dapped the cloth on Nerida’s forehead. “It’s alright, you’re safe here.” The copper haired woman put the cloth on the bedside table and carefully began to remove the bandages wrapped around the side of Nerida’s head. “My name is Alice by the way.” She took the bandages and examined Nerida’s wound just above her eyebrow. It was still tender and swollen, but overall Alice believed it would heal up nicely. She grabbed the wash cloth and started wiping the dried up blood from Nerida’s skin.

“Alice,” Nerida began, meeting the woman’s eyes, “helping me only leads to suffering.”

The woman stared at Nerida for a moment, but shook her head. “Hush now, you need to rest.” Alice wasn’t going to change her mind. Knowing that these people and the entire village would be in danger if she did not leave soon, Nerida assumed the next best thing would be to heal herself. As soon as Alice left the room, she would use the stone to heal her bruised and scratched body. It was probably the stone that kept her alive from that fall.

Everything had started to come back. She had left Kili and as she was crossing Dunland Oren’s ruffians had found her. If it weren’t for the men on the horses, Nerida would have been killed. They would have gotten the stone and Oren would have everything he needed to bring destruction to Middle Earth. She looked at Alice, who was preparing the bandages and dabbed some sort of cream onto her wound.

Nerida was going to ask what had happened in the two days she was out, but a knock came to the door. Both women looked at the door and Alice told the visitor that they may enter. Moments later the door creaked open and Nerida’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Kili!” Nerida gasped as the handsome dwarf walked into the room. “I thought...” she trailed off and looked away. A wave of guilt came over her, she shouldn’t have just taken off. When Nerida looked back up, Kili was standing at the foot of her bed. His expression was unreadable, she was uncertain if it was relief, anger, or maybe just indifference.

“May I have a moment?” Kili asked, looking to Alice.

The woman had just finished changing Nerida’s bandages and nodded her head. She explained she would get some food for Nerida, assuming she was probably hungry. The moment that Alice had left the room and the door closed, Kili turned back to the fairy princess. She remained still in the bed and avoided eye contact with him at all cost.

“Why did you leave?” Kili questioned, taking a seat at the edge of the bed. He was no longer looking at her, he was staring across the room. There was a single rectangular shaped window allowing in the evening sunlight. The room had a faint red tint and it was very warm from the late summer heat.

“Because,” Nerida mumbled, looking down at her hands.

“That’s not a reason,” the handsome dwarf retorted with an eye roll, glancing at Nerida. “I told you, I am going to help you.”

Nerida sighed heavily and stared into Kili’s eyes. He smiled at her weakly and she shook her head. “I don’t want your help,” she said harshly, but her facial expressions showed that she was lying.

“It’s not a matter of wanting my help,” he interjected, standing up from the bed. Kili dipped his hand into the deep pocket of his coat and pulled out her necklace. Nerida’s eyes widened in shock and her hands quickly darted to her neck. “It’s a matter of needing it.” He held the necklace out to her and she took it from him.

“How did you get it?” Nerida asked as she slipped it around her neck.

“I found it,” Kili told her. “The place that the wargs got you.”

She touched the pendant for a moment and looked back at Kili. He was looking back at her and made his way over to the window. When he got to the window, he rested his arms on the sill and stared out at the vast plains of Dunland. Nerida swallowed hard and closed her eyes, quietly singing her healing incantation.

A few moments later, the stone began to glow and her wounds slowly vanished. Kili turned around and saw that Nerida was getting up from her bed. He walked over to her and gently pushed her back down. She glared at him and he smiled softly at her.

“We need to leave,” Nerida explained to him. “Or I need too.” She looked down at the floor and slowly lifted her gaze back up to Kili.

“I’m going with you, but we can’t leave during the night,” Kili pointed out. “We’ll be walking right into our graves if we do.” He took a seat beside her and ran his fingers through his hair.

“How did you find me?” Nerida asked.

“I’m an excellent tracker,” Kili said with a smirk. The fairy maiden stifled a laugh and shook her head. “I’m being serious, but after I saw your pony I assumed you’d be here. And I had to fight off three wargs to get that.” He pointed to her necklace.

Nerida looked down at the stone for a moment and nodded her head, turning her attention back to him. “Thank you,” she whispered, nudging him gently. “Maybe...I need your help...only a little though.” She was biting her lip to keep from smiling.

“Or a lot,” Kili said with a chuckle.