The Light Between Our Scars | Adar x Galadriel | Rings of Power

Chapter 9: Closer than ever

The next morning, Galadriel felt restored after a good night of sleep. When she came out of the tent, she met an Elf that was carrying two buckets of water.

"Lady Galadriel!" He greeted her.

"Belanor!" At first, she hadn't recognized him without the poorly fitting armor, but she perfectly remembered his fierce, blue eyes. She noticed he had thick, long red hair, and he was thinner than he appeared with the Elven armor.

"I'm trying to help" he smiled, hinting at the buckets.

"Well done, Belanor!" She nodded.

Talindra came out from behind the tent with warm bread in her hands but suddenly stopped.

"Good morning, Lady Galadriel, I brought you some... oh! Belanor?"

"Talindra?" he responded, looking surprised. They stared a bit at each other, then blushed violently, with a lot of amusement from Galadriel. Belanor quickly greeted them and left.

"Do you know each other?" Galadriel asked Talindra while setting off in the King's tent direction.

"We did, a long time ago, when we were kids..." she responded.

Galadriel was curious to know more about their story, but more important things were waiting for her that morning. She and Gil-Galad would meet Adar to talk about their offer, and she felt slightly nervous to encounter the Uruk again. If what she knew - or thought to know - about the old Adar was already very little, the new Adar was even more a mystery to her, and she really couldn't say how those negotiations would go.

In the refuge of a hidden cave, at a certain distance from the Elven camp, Adar woke up feeling a lot better than the morning before. The stabs were scarred over and although he could sense the darkness of Morgoth trying to break through his hidden defenses again, he had enough energy to contain it and not let it take control of his body as had happened before. He stood up and found a lean breakfast waiting for him beside the meager bed of leaves and moss. He went out to the threshold of the cave and saw the Elven soldiers in the same position as he had left them the night before; he couldn't say if they were the same soldiers or if they had turned shifts during the night, as they all looked the same to him.

A feeling of resentment, the same feeling he had felt for ages against the Elves, rose inside him, but Adar didn't let it grow. Those times were past, and he felt that a new path was awaiting him. When he wore Nenya, everything appeared clear, giving peace and meaning to who and what he was. He could still partially feel that sensation in him, united with a hidden desire to hold that power in his hands again. A desire he had controlled, giving up the Ring for the good of Middle-Earth.

He glimpsed Gil-Galad and Galadriel approaching through the woods. Galadriel wore a simple but ethereal Elven dress, her hair shining in the early morning light. She was the perfect image of Elven feminine energy, and in that white dress she seemed to spread light on her own. That sight hit Adar more than he could admit, and a sparkle lit up his green, deep eyes. He quickly hid it, preparing for the meeting.

Gil-Galad signaled Galadriel to wait outside the cave. He wanted to talk with Adar alone, without being influenced by her. She frowned but accepted. The High King asked the soldiers how Adar had behaved during the night, and they confirmed he had been calm and had put up no resistance to their presence. Gil-Galad raised an eyebrow, then entered the cave, greeting the Commander of the Uruks with a serious voice.

Galadriel could only hear their indistinct voices, without being able to clearly distinguish the words. She nervously started walking up and down, regretting her docility in accepting the order to wait outside. She should have been present at the negotiations; Adar talked with her first about his offer of an alliance. At some point, the voice of Gil-Galad raised, with a surprised tone, then he came out of the cave with a shadowed face.