Hope in the Darkness

Hope in the Darkness Part 16

It has been three days since she woke and she is standing and moving around for the first time and although she is tired and aching she is happy to be finally out of bed. She had never liked being still and it always made her restless when she was confined to her bed for some reason. Despite being told to rest she felt she couldn't and so made her way carefully and slowly to the outside and breathed the cool air in as she stood, leaning heavily against the wall.

"My lady, what are you doing out here, you'll catch you're death? You should be resting," Eowyn exclaims as she finds her a few minutes later and Meduineth smiles slightly as she turns her head to see the woman staring at her, hands on hips and looking quite disgruntled.

"I have done nothing but rest these past few days it is driving me mad," she pouts in response and Eowyn sighs although there is a small smile on her lips, this girl reminded her much of herself and whilst she felt jealousy deep in her gut as she thinks about the fact that this is the girl who holds Aragorn's heart as she so wished to do she couldn't help but admire and respect her too.

"Let us sit a while inside where it is warm then," she says instead trying to get her inside but Meduineth merely smiles slightly and shakes her head.

"I cannot," she replies quietly, "I have a feeling they will be back this night and I must be waiting for them to arrive," she finishes as an explanation and so with another sigh Eowyn turns and offers a shrug of resignation to Haldir before moving silently back into the building to prepare food for the King and the rest of his party.

It is a further hour and the sun is just beginning to disappear behind her when she spots them, her entire being feeling lighter as she searches the party and sees Aragorn among them and for a second is reminded of all the times she had stood like this back at home waiting for Aragorn's return. She had a lot of practise when it came to wait for hours on end for him to come back to her, only now, now there was the knowledge that he loved her, that she held his heart as he did hers and she longed to be back in his arms.

Aragorn is deep in thought once more as he rides silently with the others of his party and the others were all worried about him. He was always quiet that was true but none had missed the worried crease in his brow that had been ever present since he had left his Meduineth back at Helms Deep. He longed to be with her, so much that it was almost a physical ache that pulsed within him constantly.

"Estel, look," Legolas murmurs beside him, pulling the ranger from his musings as he follows Legolas' finger and his heart lifts as he sees her. An angel, standing up on the battlements, dress billowing in the winds and hair flying everywhere, as they draw nearer he can see plainly the black and purple bruises and bloodstained bandages that stand out in stark contrast to her pale skin and cream dress but he had never seen anything more perfect.

"Melamin," he whispers so quietly that even Legolas nearly misses it but Aragorn pays the elf nor any of his companions any heed for his mind has transported him back by nearly eleven years, to the first time he returned to see her, she was still just a child then but his heart had lifted at the way she had been waiting impatiently for him to arrive, the way she had flown into his arms as soon as he dismounted, at how healthy and well she looked. She truly looked her age at last, she had been eight when he found her but had looked more like a five year old such was the state of her but now, she looked every bit the beautiful little princess and he had told her as much, laughing when she had blushed bright pink and hidden her face against his chest.

Then his memories shift again and she is a teenager now, fourteen years old and he realises instantly that something is wrong. She is still happy to see him, her face lighting up in the same way it does every time she sees him, in a way that makes his heart sing with an unparalleled joy but she is not moving so freely and as he approaches and dismounts she doesn't leap towards him and he notices now she is holding her arm in a peculiar way.

"What is wrong Medui?" he asks the second he is in front of her, examining her with open concern painted across her face.

"Nothing, I was training and I fell from a tree and broke my arm, it is nearly healed now though," she replies with a smile and he sighs as he pulls her gently into his arms.

"I do wish you'd stay safe," he whispers into her hair and she laughs a little, the sound muffled in his chest.

"I am training to be a warrior Aragorn, I think it is inevitable that I will sometimes become injured in some way," she smiles and he sighs again.

"You are far too precious to me to be injured so," he mutters causing her to flush again before he clears his throat a little, "so which of my brothers is responsible for this?" he smiles as he gently holds her arm.
"It was not their fault really," she explains, "I was learning how to wait in silence before launching an attack, I was in a tree and was supposed to be laying in wait for them so I could launch a surprise attack when they came by but my legs went a bit numb and I, well, I fell out of the tree rather than jumped," she mutters in embarrassment.

"Aragorn," it is the almost breathless relief and joy that brings him back to the present to find himself in front of her once again, so beautiful, so alive and he feels tears build behind his eyes as he falls to his knees in front of her his arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her towards him as he buries his face in her stomach and her own fingers gently weave through his hair as she whispers to him, repeating all the things he had told her over the years, the things that Arwen and Lord Elrond had told her.

"It is good to see you looking so well my little friend," Gandalf says quietly as he ushers the others passed the pair and into the great hall to eat.

"They are gone melamin," she whispers to him sometime later and he finally moves to stand before her, his fingers tracing the contours of her face as she stares up at him.

"I love you, so much," he says when he thinks he has control over his voice and emotions once more and she smiles, warmth spreading through her entire being at his words and a flush settling on her cheeks and she thinks for a brief moment that she will never get used to him saying that to her.

"I have missed you, promise me we won't spend so long apart again," she says in response and he smiles as he leans forward and captures her lips in a fierce kiss.

"I never wish to be apart from you, although I will never regret doing something to keep you safe," he adds and she pouts at him, knowing full well that further arguments as to whether she should fight were on the horizon.

"My Lord, my king bid me to fetch you and lady Meduineth, we are to feast tonight to celebrate our victory," a servant says and Aragorn acknowledges him smiling as he sees Meduineth blushing at being called my lady. It is in that moment that he decides to wait no longer, he would ask her tonight. He had wanted to take her back to their swing but he could not wait any longer, he would ask her tonight if she would be his forever.