Wanderer

46 - Night and Dae

Don't wake me up...

Jade, it's all right. I won't let anyone in. El's voice.

It's too bright...let me sleep....My own voice, infinitely weary.

Jade...Elrond's hands pulled me into him. I'll protect you.

It must have been hours later when I awoke. The light had changed, and Elrond was slumped over the edge of the bed, asleep.

How am I supposed to get up with Elrond draped over my feet?

Then all the memories of the previous day flooded back to me. I remembered my plight on the cliff, my near death, and Elrond's timely intervention.Erenion bleeding all over his fine robes, the throbbing pain of my ankle, the orc's scowling face. None of the them were good memories.

Elrond, you can stay as long as you want.

I laid my head back on the pillow and closed my head again. It felt good to be doing nothing, at least for that moment.

It wasn't to last.

My door creaked cautiously open, and Elrond raised his head wearily. "Jade...said...no visitors." Each word was pulled from the mires between waking and sleeping.

"El, is that you?" It sounded like Erenion's voice. "Why are you in Jade's room?"

"No visitors." Elrond persisted firmly but blearily. His head dropped onto my  injured foot, eliciting a strangled yelp from me.

I opened my eyes and sat up. No use pretending anymore.

"No visitors, Elrond? I do believe she's up. Not like you're abiding by that policy, my supine friend." Erenion stepped into my room. "Are you OK, Jade? You had a crazy night."

"I'm fine now." I touched the bedspread. "Come sit. Let me see you."

I traced a cleaned cut on Erenion's forehead, near his temple. "Beautiful. Is that all? Man, you bled a lot if it is."

"I know." Erenion looked rueful. "But...well..never mind. All's well for today, at least. Right, El?"

Elrond snored blissfully.

"Definitely." His gaze flicked to the window, then back to me. "Jade, Daeron wants to see you."

"Is he OK?" A quick, cold flutter of fear arose in my stomach.

"That's just it. We found him early this morning. When the gates fell, he was on the wall above it. He fell almost twenty feet."

No, oh Valar, no. Not Dae.

I was up and out of bed before I realized that I was only clad in my underwear. Elrond didn't flinch.

I hobbled across the room, my ankle flaring in angry protest. I opened my wardrobe and yanked out long pants and a shirt, not caring if they matched or not. I couldn't have cared less.

"Jade?"

"Yeah?" I struggled to put my hair in a braid.

"He's not in a good way." The immense gravity in his voice made me believe him.

"I want to see him anyways."

"Come, then."

We left Elrond oblivious, Erenion supporting me by the shoulders to keep me upright. It was a bright morning, with sunlight streaming through the windows of the Elite wing.

The air of the people that we met wasn't always as cheery . We passed wounded men, hardly more than boys, limping through the empty wing that now serviced as a hospital, mothers in various states of grief and shock, and high-ranking elves with hollow or pained expressions. I was glad, with a shiver, that our king was helping me along the hallways instead of lying on one of these beds.

Erenion pushed open a door into a room dimly lit. "Here. You'd better go in alone."

I cautiously put a foot inside the room. "Dae?"

"Jade?" The voice was just barely recognizable as Daeron's; rasping, slow, and with pain behind every word.

My heart twisted as I adjusted to the dimness and saw his wounds. He'd broken at least three ribs, and, from the ring of cotton on his side, some of them had punctured his skin. The whole left side of his face was a bloody pulp, just shy of his bright left eye.

"It was worse before they took the rocks out." Dae said drily.

I crossed the room in one stride and took both of his cold hands. "Daeron!"

"Now you care," he said roughly.

I decided to change the subject. "Why don't you have the curtains up, Dae? It's beautiful out."

When he didn't answer, I opened them for him. Turning back to him, I saw why. Tears slid down his cheeks unchecked.

"Oh Daeron, dearest...it's OK...I don't care; cry." I sat down beside him on the bed and hugged him. Dae started sobbing quietly.

"Jade...I kept waiting in the dark...and hoping....and thinking that I wouldn't see you again before I died...I'm so glad you came...I know I've never been enough for you but I'm just so happy you're here..."

"Shh, Dae." I pushed his sweat-soaked dark hair from his eyes. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Stay...Jade..." His grip on me tightened.

I laid down on the bed beside him, feeling his arms tight around my shoulders. I thought back to the first time I had seen Daeron. My first thought had been unattainable. Now it seemed he'd always thought the same for me.

"Daeron, the question's always been..." I started to say, twisting around to look at him.

"Answered." He broke in. "Jade, I love you. I guess it doesn't really matter now, does it?"

He doesn't want to get better just to see me with Elrond.

I had an idea. "Daeron, it can matter."

"What?" With the nearness of his body, it sounded like a rumble.

"If you get better, I'll kiss you."

"Since you're offering, I don't think I'll wait until I'm better." Daeron said huskily. "Cause it's not going to happen."

"Dae, what?"

His mouth claiming mine drowned out my protests.

Now I really used to enjoy kissing Elrond. He and i used to share kisses that were tender and sweet. They were the kind of kisses that I didn't mind someone watching. But then they evolved into  kisses that went deeper. Ones that we'd come away from both hot, blushing. The kisses came to the climax with the one Daeron interrupted. 

Now, with Dae, I'm right back to the beginning. It's like my first kiss again.

"Dae..." I murmured as we drew apart. "I'm sorry it took me so long."

"Jade." He pulled me close again, and my tears mingled with his.

Elrond or Daeron?

Night or Dae?