The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings one shots and Imagines

Healer - Part 2 - Bard x Reader

"(Y/n)!" A sweet voice exclaimed as a little girl rushed through the sick and injured people, to where the half-elven was wiping her hands on her apron. Her long, delicate fingers having just applied a herb infused poultice to a wound, before wrapping the man's arm in the cleanest strips of cloth that she could find, to secure it in place.

Since (Y/n) had arrived at the tumbled down Dale some time ago, she had managed to change many of the dissenter's minds. The residents of the slowly growing and changing city, nodding and smiling respectfully to her each morning as she passed by. Their smiles, at least in (Y/n)'s mind, growing broader with every smudge of dirty that appeared on her once pristine gowns. Their respect for the half-elven growing, as she helped them rebuild the tumbled down walls, or created some new tincture they could help the sick. (Y/n) sure that she felt more home in Dale surrounded by the mortal men, than she had ever really felt with her mother's kin.

"Tilda? What are you doing here? Does your father know that you have left the house?" (Y/n) asked, as she turned her attention from her patient to Bard's youngest child. (Y/n)'s nimble fingers making light work of another bandage, so that she could give her full attention to the beaming child.

Since the moment that Bard had presented (Y/n) to his children, Tilda had been like the half-elven's shadow, following her everywhere. Even to the small room that (Y/n) had set up, so that she could help the city's sick and injured.

Bain had not been too different. The young man seeming to have fallen under (Y/n)'s spell as his father had. The boy sitting himself next to her, as their father had introduced them. Eager to find out more about her. Sigrid had been a little cooler to begin with. Yet as the two had continued to talk, the oldest girl had let down her walls and begun to accept (Y/n) being around all the time.

(Y/n) had been astonished to discover that Bard's children knew as much about her, as she knew about them. Bain interested in her father having been a Rider of Rohan. And Tilda about what life was really like in Mirkwood. The young girl telling (Y/n) that she had even asked her father if she could accompany him on one of his trips up the river so that she could meet the elf, that he spoke of so highly. And as (Y/n) spent more and more time with the family, she had begun to realise that she had come to love the three young ones, as much as she loved their father.

"It's alright, (Y/n). Father, Sigrid and Bain are outside. He is talking to Godfred, and he said it was alright to come in and show you something." Tilda explained. Her smile growing even bigger as she pulled her simple doll out from under her skirts and held it out for (Y/n) to look at. The half-elven wiping her hands again on the stained apron that covered her clothes, before she dared take the precious item from the little mortal's hands.

"Sigrid helped. I told her that I wanted my doll to look more like you. So, she sewed a new dress, and I drew on ears just like yours." The child exclaimed proudly, as she pulled back the dolls hair to show the pointed ears that had been marked onto the cloth.

"I want to make a little bag for her too. Just like the one have when you pick the herbs and flowers. And father said that Tate might even be able to carve me a horse, if I ask nicely. One that looks like your horse, Faerverendir. Or a horse of Rohan, that your father might have had." Tilda added, as she jumped up onto (Y/n)'s lap. (Y/n) slowly becoming accustomed to the shows of affection that were so normal for mortal men, but unusual for the elven world.

"She is beautiful, Tilda. The most beautiful half-elven that I have ever seen. And do you intend to give her a new name as well?" (Y/n) asked softly, as she brushed her fingers gently through Tilda's brown hair.

"I wanted to call her (Y/n) after you. If that's alright?" Tilda replied. (Y/n) unable to stop herself smiling as she nodded.

"I think I would like that a great deal, little one. A great deal." (Y/n) told her, as Tilda snuggled under her arm, and wrapped her arms around her waist.

"(Y/n). Do you love us. Do you love me father?" Tilda enquired. (Y/n) slightly taken aback by the question. The half-elven knowing that there was only one way that she could answer.

"Of course, I do, Tilda. I would not be here if I didn't. I would not have left my mother's kin if I didn't care. Why do you ask?" (Y/n) told the child. Tilda raising her head to look into the elleth's shimmering eyes.

"Would you stay with us forever if father asked you to? For your whole life? Father says that you could choose a mortal life if you wanted. That you could live like us. Like......like me and Bain and Sigrid. Would you do that for us?" Tilda continued. More interested in asking her own questions, than answering (Y/n)'s.

"Oh, I...........well. Forever has different connotations for elves and mortal men, Tilda. Forever for you, is just a lifetime. Forever for an elf, is more than several lifetimes. Though if you would like, I would be happy to spend a whole eternity with you and the others. And........your father is right. I could indeed choose to give up my immortal life if I so wished. I have already lived for many years, seen many things. Yet, I feel happier here than I have ever been before. I feel useful. Needed. And being around you and the other mortals, has made me realise where I should be. Where I should always have been. So, perhaps, if your father were to...........I mean.......that perhaps there may be a good reason for me to surrender my immortality. But......I really don't think that your father cares for me in such a fashion. But, I promise that I will remain with you until you a have become a very old lady. Until you have children and grandchildren of your own. I will remain until you have passed into the next world. And then, I will probably journey to the Undying Lands." (Y/n) sighed as she cradled the young girl in her arms. The half- elven wishing that Bard did feel for her as she felt for him. That he would ask her to surrender her elven life and stay with him until the end of their days. Yet despite all the time she and Bard had spent together since she had made the journey to Dale. Despite all the long nights they had spent talking, laughing. Bard telling her of his plans. Yet none of those plans seemed to have included her. (Y/n) slowly coming to terms with the fact that her beloved bowman may never see anything in their relationship other than friendship. Yet a friendship was better than nothing. And she had grown to love the children too much to leave. So, in Dale she would stay.