DISCLAIMER:
I do not own, or have anything to do with Lord of the Rings and the story's related characters. The characters Taryn, Nefiáthiel, and Nefára belong to me, everyone else is property of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Elvish in the Chapter:
Mellyrn = if we don't know it by now...we may have some trouble...*tsk,tsk*
talan = a platform built into the Mellyrn trees of Lothlorien.
Namarie, mellonim. = Farewell, my friend.
Namarie, Legolas Thranduilion. Quel anduune. = Farewell, Legolas. Good night.
Haldir o Lorien = Haldir from Lorien
eldar = true love; soulmate
The council had ended, and that night, the Fellowship slept on the ground, much to the liking of the hobbits, where the entire Fellowship sat and discussed what it was the Lady of the Wood had said to them as Taryn neared their camp to welcome them herself.
She overheard that some had thought it was a trick, trying to keep them from finishing their quest, some who believed in the Lady's deeds, and yet others were suspicious of all of the Lady's motives.
"I do not feel too sure about this Elvish Lady and her purposes." Boromir spoke carelessly, just as Taryn walked up to the Fellowship. Aragorn fixed Boromir with a stony glare.
"Speak no evil of the Lady Galdriel, Boromir!" He demanded, and then rose as Taryn walked up to them with a look of disappointment on her face.
"Speak nothing against her, indeed," Taryn spoke coolly, not letting one inkling of emotion cloud her face. "She opens her home, her kingdom to you, Boromir of Gondor, and still you speak uncaring things of her? I am shocked that Lord Elrond would have allowed such an arrogant fool as yourself to be in the midst of such a powerful group."
Silence came from the men of the Fellowship before Legolas let out a hearty laugh. Aragorn's laugh followed next, and then one emanated from the dwarf, Gimli. The hobbits stayed silent; however, and looked from Boromir to Taryn, who hung her head in embarrassment, and back to the Man from Gondor.
He looked up at Taryn, a blush on his cheeks as he spoke. "I am sorry, Lady...?"
"Taryn, Taryn Moynihan." She extended her hand to the Man of Gondor and the two shook hands. "And I believe I should be apologizing to you, Lord Boromir. I should not have jumped at you."
"Apology accepted, although it is not necessary. I misjudged your queen, apparently. Why is it that you jump to defend her so quickly, if I may ask?"
Taryn looked to the ground and rearranged the dark brown dirt with the toe of her Elven boot. "She is not my queen. I am merely a guest here...and stumbled upon this amazing place, and its inhabitants, quite by accident."
Legolas' eyes narrowed. "Accident?"
Taryn shook her head. "That is a very long story, and not one to be told right now. Besides, I think Haldir could better relate that tale than I could. I was...unconscious when I was found," The girl paused, wondering why she hadn't asked Haldir about how she had come to be found before. "But that is a tale to be told in morning hours, not now. Rest now, especially you, Frodo, nothing will harm you in Lorien, and especially not when Haldir is on watch. I am going to my talan myself to get a good night's rest. I highly suggest that you all do the same. If you need me, any of the Lorien Elves know where to find me. Just ask," Taryn gave a curt nod, locked eyes with Aragorn and Legolas, and turned to leave.
"Namarie, mellonim," A fair voice called out to my back, and I turned to see Legolas smiling faintly.
"Namarie, Legolas Thranduilion. Quel anduune."
Taryn had nearly made it back to her talan, and was quickly becoming overtaken by sleep, when a familiar voice called out.
"Taryn." She whirled, her tunic flapping with the swift movement.
"Haldir," She smiled, and instantly found herself in the arms of the Marchwarden. Whether it was of his doing or hers, she didn't know, and found she didn't even care. "What are you doing here? I thought you had to go back out North..."
"I do," he hung his head. "But I came to warn you of a certain....character." His eyes danced over in the direction of the Fellowship's camp.
"Boromir?"
Haldir nodded and Taryn raised an eyebrow.
"Is it because of his demeanor, or his...lack of respect that worries you, Marchwarden?" Taryn gave a half-laugh.
"It is no laughing matter, Taryn. I do not trust him, but Lady Galadriel bids that we must trust the Company." Haldir's eyes narrowed and he seemed to bristle in anticipation of a confrontation with the Man from Gondor, showing off his subborn attitude and arrogance that he was known so well for throughout all of Lorien.
"I know quite well all that he has done and will- and is capable of doing, Haldir. Let it rest. Go to your brothers, keep swift eyes, Haldir o Lorien, I get the feeling they will be needed soon, and this Fellowship will be here for quite a while. You might as well get used to them," Taryn gave Haldir a wink and a chaste kiss before raising the hem of her gown in frint of her and skipping off through the forest to her talan, Haldir's eyes on her retreating form the entire way. As soon as she had disappeared from his line of vision, he swept his eyes in the direction of the Fellowship's camp one more time.
What was it that Taryn was going to say? She was still hiding things from him, even though she said that she wouldn't. Perhaps even she did not know all of the mechanics of how she had come to be in Lorien. The Man he held in question danced in and out of his sight, and his eyes narrowed.
'Let it rest.'
Let it rest, indeed. Haldir planned on doing nothing of the sort. He knew the Man was up to something, and he intended to find out what. Haldir turned on his heel and headed out toward his brothers and for the fences of Lothlorien, grumbling the entire way.
*
Taryn flopped herself down upon the bed in her talan, and clasped her hands behind her head with a sigh. Haldir was so on edge about Boromir. She couldn't recall him being so...objective to Boromir in the books, or even in the movies for that matter. Perhaps it dealt with the fact that he was not one of the main characters that Tolkien chose not to go into detail about the Marchwarden and his family. Rumil and Orophin had been but ghosts in the novels, and in the movies nothing more than scant figures in a scene. Taryn was confused. The whole matter was confusing.
Taryn sat up and casually took the Necklace off of her neck. For the first time since Galadriel had removed it from her neck, Taryn felt the weight of the stone in the palm of her hand. Indeed, it was a heavy trinket. The stone swirled in her hand and if she listened close enough, the Necklace seemed to make a purring noise just as would emanate from a content cat. Taryn smiled. Such a beautiful object...surely it couldn't hold powers as Galadriel had said in the Library. Just as Taryn had that thought, Something happened, and Taryn was taken somewhere else entirely where the ground was covered with a dense fog, and her surroundings were a dark blur.
Taryn stood, her dress ruffling in the slight breeze. To herself, she wondered where she was.
"Hello, Taryn," A disembodied feminine voice spoke to her. "Do not be afraid."
Taryn whirled. "Who's to be afraid?" She spoke with a trembling voice.
The voice laughed, and Taryn watched as a woman, as beautiful as she had ever seen, stepped from the shadows and materialized before her.
If possible, this woman seemed to Taryn to be a beauty to rival Galadriel. Her hair was of gold and had the silkiest consistency that Taryn had ever seen. Her eyes were the bluest of blues that sparkled with life and excitement. She was an Elf, Taryn knew. The first thing that caught her eye was the woman's ears. Her cheekbones were brilliantly sculpted, and her build was lean and toned. She was quite the beauty, and for a moment Taryn wondered if she was Luthien Tinuviel re-embodied.
"I see you have found my Necklace," the woman smiled and motioned to the Necklace that Taryn still held in her hand. "A good thing as well. I thought it would never come to you at that rate."
Taryn glanced at the woman in a confused manner and then looked down at the Necklace, which was now swirling at a dangerous rate. "Your Necklace?"
She nodded sadly. "I was the original Bearer of the Necklace, but when I found my eldar I was told that I had to give up my posession because he was not one who could wield its mate properly. It was my greatest weapon and ally."
"Does it grieve you now that I have it? That you cannot be its keeper any longer?" Taryn stepped forward, wanting to get a closer look at this mysterious woman.
"No," She smiled a smile that was so familiar to Taryn that the girl felt a bit dizzy. "I believe that the Necklace was meant for you...and I was merely its Guardian. That makes me your Guardian now."
"My Guardian? What am I that I need to have a Guardian?"
The woman stepped closer to Taryn and took her hand in hers. It was then that Taryn noticed how pale the woman was. Her green eyes danced up to the woman's blue eyes, and the Guardian smiled.
"Your eyes..," she sighed. "I must tell you a story, sometime, Taryn," she paused shortly and gathered her thoughts. "You, little one, are a Bearer who will bring peace to Middle-earth by aiding the Company in destroying the One Ring, and the length of that peace will be determined by your loyalty to the Company, and moreover, when you realize who it is that you truly are."
"Who I truly am? I'm an eighteen-year-old girl trapped in a 3,000-year-old Elf's body. What more do I need to know?" Taryn cried, wanting to hear everything, and then again wanting to hear nothing of what this woman had to say.
"You need to know that you are noble. You are respected. You are the daughter of noble patronage..."
"Noble patronage my ass!" At that, Taryn rose from her seating. "I never knew my mother...and as far as I know, she never even existed! And my father! Let's not EVEN get me started on him!"
"Your father did what he thought was best..."
"Well, he thought wrong!" Taryn turned about and took three strides away from the woman before turning back to see hurt dancing in her eyes. The look in the woman's eyes never even registered with the fuming girl, and Taryn continued on. "You know....there's something wrong with a man who leaves his only daughter, the one remaining piece of proof that he had loved, and had been loved in return, with someone she never even knew existed. I never knew my grandparents until HE pawned me off and left me on their doorstep," by this time, the tears were raging down Taryn's face, her normally placid features wrenched by years of not letting out her frustrations. Somehow this woman was capable of getting out of Taryn everything she had ever held inside, and it ate at her that this strange woman could hold such power over her to accomplish such a feat as this.
"Taryn..."
Taryn looked up, wiping away her tears angrily. "How do you know my name?"
The woman's eyes widened in shock, and her mouth opened and closed time and again without emitting a sound.
"How do you know my name?! How do you know everything about me? And how can you get me to tell you everything about my life that I have never told another living soul?" Taryn fell to her knees and the woman rushed over to embrace Taryn. The girl was too tired and exhausted to shove the woman away, otherwise she would have done it at the first touch the woman gave her.
"I know everything about you, because you are a part of me, and I am a part of you. Our connection runs beyond this Necklace, or anything worldly. My name is Aisling in your tongue, but to the Elves, it is Taraedhel."
Taryn looked up at the woman, and in her eyes something familiar burned that only Taryn could recognize. A flame burned in her eyes that Taryn knew was hard to quell. She knew because that flame was mirrored in her own eyes.
"To you," the woman, Taryn's Guardian, Taraedhel continued. "I am your mother."
Taryn's eyes widened in shock, and then everything faded to black.
Go to story...
Prologue - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8
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