These Lovely Scars (Lord of the Rings Fanfic)

All Shall Fade

I hear something in the distance. The sound seems so roar in my ears. "Do you hear that?" I whisper to Legolas sitting in front of me.

He nods. "We're coming towards a waterfall."

"What?!?!" I don't know how he says it so camly. My heart rate picks up, and I can feel it beating rapidly inside my chest.

"The river is ending." Legolas shouts back to Aragorn, who is a few strokes behind us. "We'll have to stop here and continue the rest of the way on foot." We begin to turn the boats to the left, where a dense, green forest borders the shoreline. Land looks amazing compared to the water. I paddle faster, eager to get to dry land.

"Where was all that energy when we needed it earlier, lassie?" Gimli asks.

"We didn't need any earlier," I reply. "So I didn't use it." He grumbles at my response. It seems that Gimli likes to grumble at anything anyone says. Maybe we humans, elves, and hobbits aren't good enough for the bearded-folk?

Eventually, all three boats have made it to shore, and we all work on setting up a little campsite. Sam cooks a little meal with the help of Pippin, and the others work on sorting out the supplies and discussing the path we'll take now that the river. This is my chance, I have to take it. "Aragorn!" I shout, catching his attention. He comes over to me. "I'm going to go look for some firewood, okay?"

He hesitates for a moment, but then replies. "Okay, but don't go too far." I nod and dart off, almost too eagerly. Not wanting for Aragorn to get worried or suspicious, I slow my pace and turn back to give him a smile. He raises his eyebrows suspiciously.

Once he turns around, I hurry into the woods, out of sight. I don't care what Aragorn said; it's not like I'm going to get abducted. I just need to get away for a few moments.

I run through tangles of weeds and and through the trees. The atmosphere gets darker and more secluded the deeper I tread into the forest. When as last I think I've distanced myself enough, I stop. My chest tingles slightly from the exertion, but I don't waste my time thinking about how tired I am. I'm eager.

I touch the key at my neck. To my surprise, I find that the little silver disk I had been wearing when we departed from Rivendell is gone, as if it morphed into the key pendant and disappeared entirely. How odd. But I don't think about it for too long. I've got other business to take care of. I concentrate on my emotions: love, hate, grief. Nothing happens, and my heart sinks.

But I can't give up.

I try again. This time, I concentrate harder, trying to feel all the emotions I've always concealed so well. It hurts, it hurts so badly. I have to bite my lip to keep from crying out. Surely something is about to happen... And it does. Just for a fleeting moment, but it's enough to make me squeal with joy and forget all about the pain. A dim, white light begins to glow from my outstretched palms, but it's only for a second. Still, at least I know now. I know that I do have power. But what does it do?

The feeling of cool metal against my throat snaps me back to reality. I am in chokehold position, and I cannot see my attacker who is behind me. I struggle for my sword, and the attacker unhands me. It's...Aragorn? "Wha - "

"Adrianne." Aragorn cuts me off with a stern voice. "What are you doing?"

With a chill, it occurs to me that I may have been gone for more than just a few minutes. "How long has it been?" I ask quietly.

"Almost two hours! Where - why are you this far away? And what have you been doing this whole time?"

I don't even try to make up an excuse or pick up a twig from the ground. I'll just have to tell him the truth - there's no way around it. "I'm sorry if I worried you. I...I was...testing my powers."