Undomiel
Ortanë (Evenstar Rising)
by Queen of Gondor
Chapter 21
“He should sleep easier now.” Elrond said softly to Figwit. “Now that I
have removed the sliver of blade.” Elrond pulled the blanket up over
Frodo and watched him for a moment. “He doesn’t seem as pale now.”
Elrond turned and walked for the door. “Keep a good watch on him for a
little while, and if Arwen comes close to the door, send her away. She
has to rest.”
“Yes, my lord.” Figwit moved to stand by the door as Elrond left.
Elrond smiled and nodded his head before leaving across the terrace to
his own room. Figwit looked across the room at Frodo, making sure that
he was still sleeping. A warm breeze blew through the window. Figwit
walked outside. The starlight shone brightly down. He smiled and then
noticed a shadow walking towards him.
He sighed as he realised he would now have to fend Arwen off. “My
Lady.” Figwit nodded to her as he moved to stand between her and the
doorway.
She smiled warmly. “Figwit. Will you let me go in?”
Figwit paused for a moment before speaking. “Will you not go in?”
“What?" Arwen questioned, confusion washing over her.
“You are to rest.”
Arwen sighed. “Ada…” She looked at Figwit. "Please, just for a moment
of two." Arwen smiled. Figwit could see something was wrong, he could
see it in her eyes, and feel it in the way she spoke.
Very reluctantly, Figwit moved out of the way and allowed Arwen to
enter. She walked to the bed and sat down on the chair beside it. She
watched Frodo as he slept. Her smile vanished from her face.
“Why do you smile?” Figwit took his place by the door again.
Arwen looked up, slowly, from watching Frodo. “Do you not want me to smile?”
“No! That is not it at all. You are not happy, why do you smile if you are not happy?”
Arwen sighed and did not answer. “He seems so helpless. He made a
choice to do this, even if it was not what his heart wanted.” She
looked up at Figwit. “You see, I am unlike him in that way.”
“How so?”
“I would make a choice because it is what I want to do. He made a
choice because it was something that, he….had to do.” She paused. “You
do not know how I feel.”
“I do know, though.”
“How can you?”
“Because I have to make the same choice. I have to choose whether or
not to remain here, or go across the sea. As does all of your kin. We
are all letting go of something, no matter what choice we make. It’s
just, my lady, everyone seems to be letting go easier that you are.” He
paused, unsure if he should go on. “Lady Arwen, you have to learn to
let go. For no matter the choice you make, you will have to let go of
something. Though, it is up to you how easy it will be to let go.”
“Wise words, mellon nin.” She smiled sadly to herself.
“I have learned to be so.”
“From who?” Arwen looked up at him and smiled, tears stinging her eyes.
Figwit gazed at her. Her false smile was piercing his heart, and her
eyes were speaking volumes, that she would never speak. At last, he
answered. “Lord Elrond.”
“Of course.”
Arwen stood quickly. “Thank you for letting me in.” She made her way
out of the room. As the moonlight and starlight shine down upon her,
she let go of her smile. Yet her tears would not fall, not yet. She
looked down at the glittering lights coming from the lanterns in the
valley before. And Figwit’s words continued to echo in her mind.
Everyone had to let go of something, yet she was making it harder and
harder by the day. There was less time now to choose. But chose she
must.
Arwen walked along the terrace until she got to her room. The light shone in an lit up the bed.
She sat down slowly on the bed, and released her tears. Arwen lay down
slowly. Would her choices be the end of her. And only now, at this
moment, did Arwen realise that her choices affected not only her, but
the people around her, the people who cared most for her.
She closed her eyes and wept.
Chapter 22
As the sun began to rise slowly, the clouds were a rosy colour
surrounded by an emerald blue sky, which was still a little bit dark. A
shadowed figure stood silently on one of the many terraces of Imladris,
admiring the bright beauty. His face was expressionless, but for a
small curve at the end of his mouth which was struggling to turn into a
smile. Elrond’s eyes gazed sadly though at the view in front of him.
This beauty which had ever been the same since he had first built this
haven, would change. It would change into a cloud of swirling dust,
which would blow away into the ever changing wind, and be lost forever
as only a myth.
“My lord, you asked for us?” Elladan stopped behind Elrond with his brother, Elrohir, at his side. “What worries you, ada?”
After a moment of silence Elrond turned and looked at both of his sons.
“What do you both believe has changed the most about this splendour,
this beauty of Imladris?” Elrond said. “The sounds the bird’s make in
the morning, the songs that our kin sing or lament with, the trees?”
Elrond gazed at his son’s with a far away look in his eyes. As if he
had been transported back to Gondolin, back to the days before the war.
Elrohir glanced sideways at his brother. Where could this question be
coming from? He spoke. “We believe, my lord, that you are the one who
has changed the most. Everything stays the same, but you move ever
farther away from what is, and you move to what could be… You remind us
of Arwen in that sense, ever looking at the future, but not at the
current time.” Elrohir stared directly into his father’s eyes. “But
where, ada, does this question beg from?”
“From the last threads of happiness that still linger on in my
heart…the happiness that says all is well, and wishes I could go back
to what was, and not have to suffer through what is.” Elrond sighed. “I
wonder, though, how dost thou think I have changed?”
Elladan breathed deeply. “We do not see any happiness left within your
being. Slowly it has drained out of you, ever since…ever since she
sailed…so long ago that was. You miss her, and we see it in your eyes
every day, everything you say seems to have a touch of sadness hidden
deep within it.”
Elrond looked away back at the rising sun. “Go now…I seem to have
forgotten why I called you here in the first instance. It is amazing
how a simple sunrise can tear you away from your important thoughts,
and pull you to an area of great emotion, and deep sadness.” He stopped
for a moment. “I have forgotten that you are both so wise. You tell me
I have changed most, and yet I have seemed to refuse to see it that
way. Go, I will call when I have regained my thoughts.”
Arwen found her breakfast on a silver tray in her room. A white plate
with a crystal glass sat there, with a pitcher of a clear liquid, and a
little bit of food. Though, what really caught Arwen’s eye was a white
piece of paper, and in an elegant script on it, it said ‘Arwen’.
Arwen gently picked up the piece of paper and unfolded it to reveal a note, written in the same elegant script.
My Lady, please meet me within the woods by the closest waterfall to the entrance gate, tonight. I wish to speak to you.
Aegnor
Arwen read carefully, and sighed. “I dread this meeting. Must I really
go?” She said to herself. “What does he need to say, I wonder?” She
slipped the note into her cloak and sat down in front of the tray. “Ah
Figwit, what is it?” She thought to herself.
The day passed slowly without much incident, but the nagging at Arwen’s
mind and heart had not stopped. She wondered endlessly what Figwit must
be up to, and even though she knew it must not be something incredibly
important, she dreaded the meeting with each passing hour. Now the
night had closed in on Imladris and the sky was becoming speckled with
small shining stars. Arwen walked down the wide stairway. Her cloak
sweeping the stone. She moved across the grounds, and to the forest.
The moonlight shone down upon the trees, and as Arwen moved through the
trees towards the closest waterfall, she saw a figure huddled up at the
base of it. As he heard her approach, he turned his head around and
looked at her. His eyes shone, and his dark hair lay down upon his
shoulder. He smiled at her and spoke. “My lady, it is good to see you.”
