Thorns & Roses (Legolas Love Story)

37. Ephemerality

There's an old saying about those who cannot remember the past being condemned to repeat it. But those of us who refuse to forget the past are condemned to relive it.

***

My bare feet padded on the cool marble floor at the courtyard of Minas Tirith. The golden sun shone brightly, the air blowing softly against my face, carrying soft fragrant scent of the flower petals of the high-esteemed White Tree.

Some of the white, pinkish petals came off of the tree, being swept away by the gentle wind. Whoever had the job of keeping the courtyard clean would have a lot of sweeping to do, at least until Winter starts.

I was too absorbed into admiring the way the petals floated around, that I failed to notice a lithe, tall figure standing with his back on me. His long, silky hair fell down his sculpted back neatly. I saw his head moved a little, having noticed my presence. He looked back at me and a pair of icy blue eyes gazed at me warmly in a way that made my stomach fluttered. I smiled back at the handsome elf and waved at him.

“Suilad (Greetings),” he said to me, tilting his head a bit in a gesture to join him.

I loved it when he speaks in his native language. It sounds beautiful coming out of his lips. I made my way towards him to the front of the White Tree. As I got closer, he stretched a hand for me, his palm open just as his eyes were. I went to take it, but a barrier suddenly came between us.

An invisible wall stretched between us, preventing me from getting to him. I looked at Legolas in alarm. But before I could even asked him what was going on, the sky suddenly darkened and the wind seemed to stop moving altogether. Everything was still.

Too still.

An eerie cracking sound came from behind me. Warily I turned back to see what it was. The beautiful White Tree suddenly shed all of its petals altogether, leaving its stem bare and dry. Dying.

The many petals that I saw earlier was now pooling at the base of the tree, decaying at an unnatural rapid speed until it turned black. My heart thundered against my chest as I observed how they turned into liquid ink that was as black as the night. The black ink suddenly came to life. It crawled on the ground, consuming everything in its path–and it was coming after me.

Panicking, I turned back and began to yell for help, banging on the invisible wall. But Legolas was not there anymore. I felt the black ink reached my feet and I shrieked in terror. The dark creature was slithering up my body, swallowing me alive. With one last breath, I screamed:

“Help me!”

I woke up with a long, quick gasp from the nightmare. I panted as I realized that it was just a dream, but my heart still thundered in my chest.

My friends had told me the general story of the events that I had forgotten since I found myself in Middle Earth. They say I had been here for more than a decade, and that I was here to honor someone important to me. I knew they were keeping essential details from me, but they agreed that I should have the time to recall those memory myself.

They couldn’t exactly hide the fact that I was the Weeping Woman, though. People were talking about it every time I went on the street the other day. Hence I understood why the earliest thing I remembered about this place was me kneeling at the courtyard.

It was still pretty surreal to me though.

The memory of the dream made me shudder. Nightmare had been a multiple occurrence now since I found out about the Weeping Woman story.

Deciding I wasn’t going to get any sleep anytime soon, I slid off my bed and put on my flats. I made my way out of my room, to the halls and into the courtyard.