❝ a mermaid belongs to the sea. she cannot stay on land without the guarantee of her death. ❞
❝ yes, but her heart belongs here. ❞
↳ gandalf the grey to queen marella
╔═══ -ˋˏ *.·:·.⟐.·:·.* ˎˊ- ═══╗
she belonged...
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THE NIGHT IS SILENT AND STILL as the people of Rohan sleep without a single sound resonating through the Keep. They sleep with the assurance that there is nothing out to get them, that nothing can ever touch them again because they have survived and they will endure. They sleep with their loved ones, either reunited after the battle or together in death. They sleep with nothing but the peaceful air surrounding them, the worries of tomorrow long gone as they finally grant themselves the privilege of rest. Rest after a life-sucking battle. Rest after an entire day of work and sorrows. They sleep with the comfort that they will see the light of day tomorrow once more and it will continue like that till the end of time.
But the horrors of the mind are hard to escape, even harder when in your subconscious state.
Deep within the walls of the towering, stone stronghold, through the narrow corridors and wide halls, and into the farthest room of the Keep sits a certain elven prince with strikingly pale hair and sickly gray woman with a dull and miserable appearance planted onto her unusually lifeless form. Her glowing, brunette hair is now pathetically limp, appearing more ghostly than her ordinary character. Her eyes are shut closed and her friends fear that they would never see the radiant pool of hazel circles filled with the illuminance that came with Vera ever again. Her skin is deathly white, looking more ethereal than the solidness of Vera's lustrous, fair surface, looming closer and closer to the inevitable end of her life. Her family and friends alike are terrified for their special girl, praying and hoping to the Valar that she would come back to them just as she had been before the war even happened.
To coil their pain and fear, the blended group of diverse races indulge in different activities to distract themselves from the imminent report of her wellbeing. Starting from the King of Rohan, Thèoden entertains himself by throwing himself into the workings of his Kingdom and the welfare of his people to hide his growing worry over his new family members. Along with Èomer and the Ranger, Aragorn, the trio of strong men divert their attention from Vera to the other people of Rohan. After ensuring that the majority of women and children are alright, apart from the grief towering in their hearts, Aragorn and Èomer had moved to the soldiers of Rohan who have fought in the battle beforehand to report on their wellbeings while Thèoden often wandered to those who are dead. Èowyn had noticed his new aberration and would often muse her thoughts to the sleeping beauty inside the Healing Halls of Helm's Deep.
There are a few people who manage to enter the Healing Halls and face the lifeless form of the woman they once knew, and the shieldmaiden of Rohan is one of them. She would regularly visit the brunette woman when she isn't busy handling the remaining provisions or assisting a family into their broken homes, sometimes expressing her worry over Thèoden and the speculations behind his newfound distraction and unhealthy habit of visiting the dead — one of them being that he is reminding himself of the pain and torment they have faced under his reign, unintentionally heightening his insecurities and punishing himself — and sometimes she would plainly update Vera on everything happening in Helm's Deep as if she could hear every word that she is saying. Èowyn would repeatedly ponder if Vera can even hear her or if Vera is going to respond soon, or stay unresponsive and stuck in comatose like her grandfather Elfswith, but the daughter of Kings would never lose hope.
