The Edge of Night

The Battle is Over; The War Has Just Begun

The air surrounding those gathered by her bedside was charged thick with emotion, practically crackling. "Haldir?" Elfwyn asks, blinking as her eyes adjust to the harsh light of the midday sun from where it was coming in through the windows above them.

"I am here my beloved. And I am not the only one that is cross with you."

"You always knew that this was how this night was going to play out."

"But your father did not."

At the mention of her father, and by extension her family, Elfwyn sits up from the cot they had placed her on. Eowyn was crying into Eomer's shoulder; however, Elfwyn could tell it was no longer tears of mourning. Cautiously, she turned to face her father. "This was my choice." She says, her new voice tinkling as was the way of the elves.

"I would have a moment with my daughter." He says and their gathered friends and family all move out in opposite directions, self-preservation kicking in. "Why did you not tell me of this??"

"There was never going to be a right time."

"So instead you let me suffer with the knowledge that my daughter, the last of my children, would die before the sun rose, all for an elf."

"All for her husband."

"Much has changed about you daughter. The girl you were before would never have kept something like this from me."

"It was never my intention of keeping such a big secret from you. And had I returned to find things more or less the same as when I was forced to leave, I would have. But Theodred was dead, and you wanted to retreat, of which I do not think you were wrong. But there was not a good opportunity to tell you all that I had been through while Saruman made sport of your mind."

"I believe now then, is as good a time as any."

She sighs, and stands up, swaying a little as she does so. She rights herself, far quicker now then she could have ever done before, and turns to face him. "Wormtongue forced you to sign a betrothal contract between him and myself. I had to leave; escape Rohan before the Enemy had a legitimate stake in the throne. So Eomer helped me leave, under the cover of night. And on my way out of our country I came across Gandalf, who explained what was happening and pushed me in the direction of Rivendell, where I learned that the One Ring had been found and a Fellowship was formed to see it to Mordor to be destroyed. Along the way I made friends." She stops, thinking about Legolas and Aragorn, of Merry and Pippin. "And we lost some." She pauses again, thinking of Boromir, who died valiantly; of Sam and Frodo who she could only pray were still on their way to Mordor. "And by some intervening powers, love." She turns towards the door that Haldir walked out of. "After we lost Gandalf in the Mines of Moria, we sought refuge in Lothlorien. I met Haldir there, and after some very intense dreams, and conversations with Lady Galadriel, I grew closer to him. He taught me of his people, and in turn I taught him of mine. Somewhere in all of that, I fell in love with him. We were bound in the ways of his people before the Fellowship left the Golden Wood. But this war is no place for such frivolities and I foresaw his death, should I not interfere. We argued incessantly about this, until we had no choice but to confront the future I had foreseen. What I hadn't been shown... was this. My fate."

Elfwyn takes a deep breath before turning her eyes to look upon her father. For the first time in her life, he looked small, fragile. "You are an elf." Theoden states.

"I had no way of knowing this would happen, not until last night."

"And you are content to live with this future; to watch your family grow old and perish while you remain young?"

Her heart breaks at this. "I never wanted to know what life will be like after you have passed into the halls of our forefathers. But living a life where I will constantly be putting the man I love in harm's way and knowing that when I inevitably die it will kill him too, I cannot even begin to describe to you the pain that that caused me. I am his, just as he is mine and so I sacrificed seeing my brother again, seeing you again when that time comes. Please, you must know that this decision was not one made lightly and I will have to live with my decision until the end of all days."