Falling For You*

Risen From the Ashes
Note on the text:

Title: Risen from the Ashes
Author: Aewnaur
Disclaimer: If I owned them, I would be to busy with an elf to write!
Rating: Mature Adult
Pairing: Aewnaur/Legolas
Archive: Just let me know where so I can go admire it.
Summary: AU alert! Original Female Character falls into Middle-Earth! Tenth walker tale.
Aragorn finds a girl in the woods, a girl not of his world. Legolas finds peace in an unlikely companion. Renee-Aewnaur finds out where she really belongs. Warning! First chapter (non-graphic) sexual assault minor mentions thereafter.
Author’s Note: Okay, call me crazy but I love these stories so I took everything I love about them and put it all into one story. This is loosely based on a blending of the book and the movie, but my girl just has to meddle! So call this an AU. And I like Haldir and I want him at Helm’s Deep so I will borrow that from the movie. Though in my world he does not die! Also I must note that there will be a lot of songs in the story. I am trying to be true to the spirit of the book. Also there are going to be several times you recognize lines or phrases from the book, I will not note them each and every time unless it is a full paragraph or something of that nature.

Contents

Book Two: Falling for you

I. To Boldly Go
II. Sense Memory and the Long Dark
III. The Bridge of Doom
IV. They Might be Giants
V. As the World Falls Down
Six not written
Seven not written
Eight not written
Nine not written


Risen From the Ashes

Book Two: Falling for You

Chapter One: To Boldly Go

I could be most anything, There is so much to see. I'd live a different story, If you were next to me. ~Erasure~


The company stood at the foot of the great steps. The Last Homely House stood behind them. Echoing off the mountains around them the trumpeting of the Great Horn of Gondor still rang. Most of them carried little gear of war. The men carried only what personal items they could fit in the packs on their backs and their personal weapons. Bill the pony carried everything else.

Renee stood next to Aragorn garbed in clothing similar to his. Dark brown knee length boots and black trousers; she had giggled when she put them on. The pants laced up the front and for some reason she had found it vastly amusing to imagine the feared Strider lacing up his pants and catching his manly bits in the ties. Her dark brown shirt was itchy and if Arwen hadn’t given her a silk undershirt and breast binding she might have refused to wear the thing. She carried her sword aptly named Eddor Naur meaning Outland Flame. The small bow her friend Figwit had crafted for her; he was a much better craftsman than archer much to his own dismay. Two small daggers from Legolas were crossed over her back and twin finely crafted axes from Gloin strapped to either thigh. She felt like a walking armory. All of her weapons weighed her down and if she had still been human she probably would not have been able to walk. She wore her rusty dark green cloak over all this. Quite literally she looked like Aragorn or should she say Strider’s sister.

Legolas rested behind her carrying his bow and a quiver at his back with his long white knife at his belt and matching long knifes strapped across his back. He was dressed in the silvery green and brown of the Mirkwood elves. They waited now only for Elrond to give any last words before Frodo set them off on their journey.

Renee listened to the farewells with half an ear. She concentrated instead on keeping her mind quiet. It had been quiet disconcerting to learn that loosing control of her visions had set her back in her lessons. Legolas had been in the back of her mind almost constantly in the last week since Aragorn’s return. It was strange speaking mind to mind with someone when all you wanted to do was be silent. Fading into the background and being nearly forgotten after the drama of the Visions was all she needed to get her mind straightened out. Yet neither Legolas nor Aragorn would let her be alone for very long. Arwen had been assigned to make sure she made it to dinner at night, using the excuse of primping to show up in her room every evening. Renee had finally stopped rolling her eyes at the excuse. They really hadn’t made much of an effort to hide it, especially when she wore the breeches and tunic Aragorn had bought her more than she wore the pretty dresses Arwen would always lay out.

The hobbits had also been drafted into Renee-watch. She really had missed listening to their idle chatter in the last month but to have them thrust upon her every morning just after breakfast; their second her first of the day. It was a good thing she was an elf and didn’t need much sleep. Though it did warm her to see Frodo so alive and healthy. No wound to be getting over and constantly pain him.

As Gimli and Elrond exchanged a few final words she turned to look at Legolas. Somehow she had known he would be staring at her. He offered her a small smile but his eyes were full of apprehension. She leaned back a fraction intending to ask why his eyes frowned when Boromir caught her attention. The human wore his Gondorian sword and shield as was fitting for the son of the Steward the White City. But the look in his eyes as he looked at her was disparaging. It didn’t take her using her power to figure out that he didn’t want her going on this journey. The few times they had crossed paths since the companions had been announced he had sneered at her and muttered about the place of women on journey’s such as these; one step behind the horses.

She must have broadcast her discomfort through the link, Legolas stepped close enough that their bodies were only a hair’s breath apart. She could feel comfort and concern echoing back through the link.

‘I’m sorry,’ she thought to him.

‘One day we will break you of that. You have nothing to apologize for, the human’s problems are his own. You are of Eldar blood, you will not be a burden on this quest,’ he thought back sending her his love along the link.

She sighed and pulled away from the warmth of his body subtly. Perhaps she wouldn’t be a burden but that didn’t mean she would be a help either. She would let Gandalf fall and she would let Boromir die. Would the others understand why she wouldn’t warn against or prevent these things. Aragorn may, but the others… No, she thought. The story, the one she knew had been fought and won without her. How then could she help? These depressing thoughts plagued her through the first week of their icy flight south.

As the small group of walkers headed up the mountain trail their leave taking was heralded not by the normal sounds of laughter or songs the Vale was usually filled with but with the ringing sound of near silence. She glanced back once at the house of Elrond thinking with a giggling sense of irony that this view was filled with as much longing as her first had been filled with dread. She would miss her rooms here and strangely enough she would miss Lord Elrond. His steady quiet presence had eventually grown on her. He seemed to always find her in the gardens when she would wander at night. Softly spoken words of comfort always ready and appropriate.

At the Ford of Bruinen they left the well trodden road and instead turned down narrow winding paths. Gandalf and Aragorn leading the way, heads bent in whispered conversation. They walked in near silence, stopping only once to eat, until nearly dawn. When the hobbits began to stumble and fall Aragorn finally called a halt to the days march. Whispered conversation was stilted as they made camp. The hobbits were asleep moments after eating, the crumbs still dusting their faces. Legolas volunteered to take first watch though Renee knew she would not sleep either she didn’t argue.

Renee laid staring up at the early morning sky letting her mind wonder. The night had been overcast, with a brisk autumn wind. She couldn’t remember how long this weather lasted. She hadn’t paid much attention in the last few readings of the book to the weather on the quest. The action parts drawing her attention and the movie had glossed over much of the mundane walking scenes. In fact the movie had them walking during the day, though the sunlight barely filtered down to them through the clouds. It had taken all of a minute and a half for the company to reach the mountains of Caradhras in Peter Jackson‘s version. She sighed and turned to her side. Legolas looked tense which was unusual for him. Maybe she had taken blocking him out a bit too far. He had said on several occasions that when he couldn’t feel her at all it was like a piece of him was missing. She did have a tendency to over react sometimes and in the need for her own privacy she might be hurting him. One thing she under no circumstances wanted to do. She lowered her mental shields a fraction.

The lines around his eyes eased a bit as he turned his head towards her. The last week had been hard for him. Wanting to go to her and keep her close in his arms yet knowing, feeling her distress when he stood too close. Realistically he knew it didn’t have much to do with him specifically. When any one stood too close she would pulse a moment of panic through their bond. He knew when she sensed his awareness because she would immediately shut the bond down completely.

His head had begun to ache as they walked all night with the flares of her emotions. His watchful eyes tracking his soul mates’ expressions. Aragorn was the only person she seemed completely relaxed around. Gandalf and himself caused only mild concern and confusion. The dwarf Gimli caused strange emotions in her. Respect and amusement being the most frequent. The hobbits seemed to overwhelm her and she retreated to nearly silent watchfulness around them. Boromir however cause a great deal of panic. Legolas watched him most carefully all night and had yet to see a cause for her anxiety other than his views on females. Still, her mind would shut to him even as she sensed the human approach her.

He took the first watch in hopes that they would have a moment together for he knew she would get no sleep this day. Her sleep patterns were erratic even for an elf. Soon he would have to teach her the waking sleep she would need to make it through the long journey ahead. He turned to her as she lowered her shields further than they had been all night.

‘Lirimaer, you should rest.’

‘I’m not tired. Not really. How are you?’

‘I am fine, it will be several days before I will tire at this pace. And you, how are you really?’

‘Fine. Scared of what is to come. But fine.’

‘Boromir scares you,’ he said concern lacing his thoughts. Setting a watch this close to Rivendell was a formality and setting his mind at ease as well as her restless spirit was his first priority.

‘Boromir is,’ Renee sighed. She stood and moved closer to Legolas, sitting herself on the ground at his feet. ‘There is much that will happen on this journey that I know but cannot share. But I think I can tell you this, so you may be watchful. Boromir will eventually try to take the ring. The lust has already settled in his heart. It is merely waiting for the right moment to take his mind.’

‘If you know this you should have spoken to Lord Elrond of it. He should not have come.’

‘He will be needed. In the end you will understand.’

Legolas narrowed his eyes, she was hiding something from him. ’What else?’

She sighed she really should have known he would not settle for that explanation. ’He just reminds me of someone,’ she shivered with the thought. His size and that wild look in his eyes. ’I don’t trust him, well of course I don‘t but even without the ring lust. I…’ she cut off the string of babble her mind was about to go on. Unconsciously she leaned against his leg seeking comfort that she couldn’t ask for from him yet. She stared straight out into the distance not daring to look up at the beautiful elf that was hers.

Legolas laid his hand carefully against the top of her head and let the contentment flow through the bond. It pleased him greatly that she had come to him, that she would accept this small amount of comfort from him.

The two elves kept watch through the afternoon neither aware of the silver-blue eyes looking on them in amusement. Aragorn woke several times; his body trained to need almost as little sleep as the elves he was so close too. The journey had not been as hard on him as it had been on the little hobbits and they had been traveling over paths he knew like the back of his own hand. Over the last week he had been woken several times by Renee sneaking into his room as she had not done since the first weeks in Rivendell. It seemed this time she had found another companion. He let himself drift back off to sleep sure in the knowledge that his sister would be taken care of.

*

The second night of their journey began in much the same way as the first missing only the Homely House behind them. They readied themselves in silence the weight of their journey still heavy upon the small shoulders of their smallest yet most important companions. Renee split her time walking beside Aragorn in the front of the formation and Legolas walking behind. Many times she looked to her bonded mate wishing she had something to talk to him about but the words never came. Disappointed and unsure of herself, she would rejoin her brother in the front.

The evening wore on long and hard and the hobbits began to stumble much earlier than before. Aragorn turned to her just as the sun began to rise.

“Keep them distracted, muinthel. They must get used to the pace I set if we should finish this journey in a timely manor. Get their minds active again on something other than the danger ahead,” he requested.

Renee thought for a few minutes but all she could come up with on her own would be more depressing than she thought the others would appreciate. “I-I can’t think of anything, Aragorn,” she whispered. It was the first she had spoken since leaving Rivendell and her voice stuttered.

“Sing to them.”

“Of what? Dangers untold and hardships unnumbered,” she sighed in disgust at her inability to think of anything.

“Sing of my love for Arwen. I find myself missing her face already,” he smiled gently.

Renee cleared her throat as she thought of a song for a mortal’s love for an elf lady. “Let me get a drink of water.” She sighed as a song came to mind. It wasn’t perfect but at least she knew all the words. She slowed her steps until she paced even with the hobbits. Then lifted her voice quietly in song.

“A thousand years, a thousand more,
A thousand times a million doors to eternity
I may have lived a thousand lives, a thousand times
An endless turning stairway climbs
To a tower of souls
If it takes another thousand years, a thousand wars,
The towers rise to numberless floors in space
I could shed another million tears, a million breaths,
A million names but only one truth to face
A million roads, a million fears
A million suns, ten million years of uncertainty
I could speak a million lies, a million songs,
A million rights, a million wrongs in this balance of time
But if there was a single truth, a single light
A single thought, a singular touch of grace
Then following this single point , this single flame,
The single haunted memory of your face
I still love you; I still want you
A thousand times the mysteries unfold themselves
Like galaxies in my head
I may be numberless, I may be innocent
I may know many things, I may be ignorant
Or I could ride with kings and conquer many lands
Or win this world at cards and let it slip my hands
I could be cannon food, destroyed a thousand times
Reborn as fortune's child to judge another's crimes
Or wear this pilgrim's cloak, or be a common thief
I've kept this single faith, I have but one belief
I still love you, I still want you
A thousand times the mysteries unfold themselves
Like galaxies in my head
On and on the mysteries unwind themselves
Eternities still unsaid
'Til you love me”

“That was beautiful, Ms. Renee. Sing us another,” Merry said with a brighter smile than they had seen in days.

“Yes, another or tell us a song like you did before,” Pippin chirped.

And so the dawn wore into morning with the soft elvish voice drifting through the company of companions. She let her songs trail off as they stopped for the afternoon and made camp. Legolas and Aragorn scouted on a little further looking for a stream to refill their dwindling water supply.

“Her voice is very beautiful. I do not believe I have ever heard her say so much in one day,” Legolas said as they knelt by a small trickling stream.

“Aye, she sang for us on the way from Bree. It lightened the hobbits spirits, and truthfully today the silence was beginning to get to me. How went the watch last yesterday?” he smirked as his friend blushed.

“She came to me Aragorn. I expected her to go to you when she first stirred. But she came and sat beside me all during the watch. We have spent more time together than that before, during her lessons with the bow. But this was different. It is the first time since the bonding that she came to me for comfort,” Legolas smiled softly. “My heart was full near to bursting, mellon nin.”

“I am happy for you gwador nin,” Aragorn smiled and clasped Legolas’s shoulder.

*

The new morning dawned bright and warm. It had been nearly two weeks since they had been graced with the presence of Anor. Two weeks of sunless days and icy blasts of wind. The sight of the sun brightened everyone’s spirit’s. Even the two elves had begun to dread another dreary day.

Several days more marching and Aragorn called a full night of rest. They were atop a rocky outcropping on the side of a small mountain. Boromir huffed at the delay under his breath but took the opportunity to test the hobbits with their swords. He had begun their training even before leaving Rivendell but so far on the journey they had not had a chance to practice. Boromir said a lot under his breath. Whispers so soft even Renee’s elf ear had trouble catching all he said. Many times he muttered about the Ring and how it could save the White City of Gondor; those whispers he kept the lowest. Though barely even attempting to disguise his mistrust of having a female even an elf female on a quest of this import.

Renee found herself sitting well away from the males of the group using one of her dagger’s to trim her fingernails. She had never kept them overly long but it seemed that as an elf they grew nearly as fast as her hair. Before long she would make good on her ongoing threat and cut her hair. Already it grew heavy and uncomfortable. She would, however, wait until after the wintry weather of Caradhras perhaps even until they entered Lothlorien.

She inspected the dagger as she cleaned it. It was very beautiful, elvish inscriptions along the blade be-spelling it to always hold it’s edge and strike true. The squeals of Merry and Pippin startled her into dropping the dagger and the blade slid along the underside of her arm as she reached to catch it. Blood welled up quickly. Bright red and running free. Quickly she closed the bond before Legolas could sense her pain and come running. She was enjoying the time in relative peace.

She hadn’t felt the need to cut herself in months. Not since arriving in Middle-Earth. The sight of her blood was disturbing. A song came to mind immediately. She had been singing nearly every night and for the first time in her life she felt completely comfortable singing in the presence of others. She hummed a few bars to herself and sang a bit. Making sure to keep her voice low she sang “I hurt myself today. To see if I still feel, I focus on the pain, The only thing that's real.”

Renee was so focused on the song in her head that she didn’t realize cutting Legolas off completely would draw his attention just as much as the momentary flash of pain. As he knelt beside her he heard the rest of the words to the song and wondered at the world she was from. That someone had written a song like this and that she knew the words so intimately. Her eyes were closed against the sight of the blood though her head was still lowered. When his hand touched her arm she flinched but he didn’t let go. The wound was shallow and had already stopped the free bleeding.

“You should let Aragorn put salve on this and wrap it,” he whispered thumb caressing the pulse point on her wrist.

“It’s fine, just a scratch really,” Renee whispered back and unrolled her long sleeves. Before she could refasten the bracers around her wrists Legolas caught her arm.

“It could get infected. Salve and wrap. I insist. Or should I call Aragorn over and tell him you are being stubborn,” he gentled the reprimand with a smile and softly spoken words.

“Fine but,” she paused at a shout from Sam.

Legolas looked over her shoulder with narrowed eyes. “Crebain from Dunland,” he shouted and pulled her down to the ground. He rolled them close to the outcropping of rocks she had been sitting behind and drew his cloak up over them. The green grey of the cloth hopefully acting as a shield from crow eyes.

She was being held down. Pain biting into her back. Her body was completely covered. It was dark. There something weighing her down. Before the panic set completely in Renee felt a presence pushing at her awareness. Love. Warmth. Comfort. Safety. Her eyes fluttered open. Renee stared up into sapphire blue eyes scant inches from her own. Legolas.

“Hi,” she said breathlessly. ‘Good grief that was stupid. Oh, God he needs to get off of me though. I can’t breath.’

Legolas shifted as much as he dared. The Crebain were flying low. Looking for them. “Mae govannen melethnin,” he whispered back smiling down at the frightened girl. “Goheno nin but I can not move just yet. Crebain are spies of Sarumon. They would send our location back to him and by nightfall this mountain would be covered in orcs.”

“Okay,” she cursed as her voice shook. “But um, could you move your leg?” she blushed even mentioning it considering where his leg was pressed.

Legolas bit the inside of his lip she was so innocent. He shifted a bit but could not move his leg from the apex of her thighs. If he shifted even a bit more the cloak would pull down off of them and they would be unshielded completely. He felt her feminine curves as he shifted and caught a scent of her. He called upon the Grace of the Valar to leave his body unmoved by the contact. “I can not move or we will be uncovered.”

“Right. So um, talk to me. Distract me or something,” Renee muttered, blush staining her cheeks.

Legolas swallowed a moan. Distract her? Sweet Eru, distract him! He took a deep breath that just pushed them closer together and had to stifle a moan. ‘Get control of yourself. You are of the Eldar, act like it.’ he thought. Barely he hid the thought from leaking through the link.

“Your voice is very beautiful. I have much enjoyed hearing it this last week,” Legolas whispered.

“Thank you. Aragorn lets me sing a lot even though I know he wants us to be as quiet as we can. He knows I like to. My d-dad didn’t like it,” Renee babbled.

“May I kiss you?”

“Huh?”

“I didn’t actually mean to say that out loud but now that I have, I would very much like to kiss you right now,” Legolas whispered watching as her tongue darted out to wet her lips. Then to make matters even worse she started chewing on her bottom lip again.

‘Oh sweet Lord above! How do you say no to that?’ Renee questioned herself a little to loudly.

‘You don’t,’ Legolas thought back as he lowered his head.

Their lips met softly. Just a small meeting of mouths. Renee drew in a shaky breath and Legolas took advantage momentarily to taste her lips. A whimper escaped her and her eyes fluttered closed. Her first real honest to goodness kiss. Wow. Legolas tasted like berries and spice. They hadn’t had either on this journey so far but she swore that was the taste. Her trembling came back but this time the cause was so much more pleasant. She moaned from deep in her chest.

Legolas couldn’t help it, their souls hadn’t been joined long and she kept such a distance from him, this was the first real chance for him to immerse himself in their bond. He reveled in the small whimpers and moans from his mate. His body grew hard despite the rigid control he attempted to exert.

Renee felt him grow hard against her leg and forgot about the Crebain. He held her still when she tried to squirm and the panic returned. The pain from the rocks biting into her back, being held down and entire intimacy of the situation overloaded her sense of time and place. Once again she was being abused by her father.

Legolas pulled back at the sharp biting panic. Cold water could not have calmed the fire in him any quicker. He was calling her name and pulling himself off of her without a single thought to the spies of Sarumon.

“Renee, calm down. It’s Legolas. You know I would never hurt you. Aewnaur, feel me. I‘m there in your heart. I couldn‘t hurt you. Aewnaur,” He repeated the words through their bond. It took several minutes of soft calming words before the panic fully receded.

And embarrassment hit.

“I’m so tired of freaking out, Legolas,” Renee whispered as she hid her face in her hands. “I knew it was you. I wasn’t really scared. I don’t know why I did that.”

“Lirimaer, it is alright. You had something very traumatic happen to you. It is normal to remember it at odd times. Fear is a perfectly normal reaction. You must not let it control you and you don’t unless you are in a blind panic. You are handling things fine, I do not believe you are ’freaking’ out on purpose,” Legolas continued to reassure her.

“Maybe not on purpose but I keep doing it like a big ole drama queen,” Renee scoffed. She suddenly felt very naked sitting there talking about this with Legolas. She wanted Aragorn’s steadying presence. Were was he? She hadn’t heard him when the birds flew over. She had changed the story enough that Frodo had been training with Boromir. What if she had changed it enough that something bad happened in this part of the story while she wasn’t paying attention. What if Aragorn had been hurt?

“Where’s Aragorn?” She asked looking up suddenly.

Disappointed Legolas looked up towards the Men. “He is ducked into a crevice with Frodo hiding from the Crebain that are fleeing back to the south.” He stood and held out a hand to Renee. Hoping he had not undone the small steps forward they had made between them in the last weeks. Hoping she would take his hand even if she would not take comfort in and of him.

Renee shivered once and took a deep breath. Legolas could see Aragorn and he was fine. There really wasn’t anything wrong with him. He was fine. She just needed to see for herself and perhaps it mightn’t be too improper to go get a hug. She took Legolas’s hand and let him help her up. Once they were both standing she looked up into his eyes and could see the hurt in them.

‘I’m sorry,’ she hadn’t meant for the words to sound like a sob but it was very hard to hide emotions when one spoke mind to mind. She swallowed thickly and turned towards the others. Unconsciously she held Legolas’s hand pulling him along behind her. The others were just standing and gathering their gear for a quick get away. The day and night of rest would still be in their future.

Aragorn stood with Gandalf and Boromir discussing the direction they should take. Not which path would be the best or the easiest but the one that would be the least dangerous. Legolas joined them Renee still holding on to his hand. He was amused to see her position herself unobtrusively behind Aragorn and rest her head on his shoulder. Without thought her small hand gripped her brother’s waist. She just didn’t know how to ask for comfort. From now on he would make more of an effort to offer. He honestly didn’t think she would ever come to him if he attempted to wait her out.

From the corner of his eye Aragorn could see Legolas wasn’t paying attention to the discussion but to Renee. When she leaned against him seeking comfort it took everything in him not to turn around. She needed to learn it was ok to ask; learn that she deserved comfort. When her hand gripped his shirt and he felt her head lower to his shoulder he looked to Legolas. He understood the hurt yet he also understood why Renee came to him for comfort. As he caught the Elf’s eyes he looked down to their joined hands. Pointedly looking back up to see that Legolas noticed that it was Renee holding Legolas to her not the other way around. When Legolas lowered his eyes in acknowledgement Aragorn turned back to Gandalf’s words. He reached across his waist to catch and hold his sisters hand under his. It was the only sign he made to her that he was there for her.

Legolas narrowed his eyes as he watched the Man, Boromir. He eyed Renee with a barely disguised look of equal parts lust and distain. He and Aragorn would need to be on their guard. He didn’t think the Man would challenge either of them for her favor but one could never tell, especially if he fell to the ring as Aewnaur had predicted.


tbc...


In order of appearance
~A Thousand Years, Sting~
Gwador nin - my sworn brother
Anor - the sun
Mae govannen melethnin - hello my love
Goheno nin - forgive me
~Hurt, Kurt Cobane~