A Rose By Any Other Name

~~~A Rose By Any Other Name~~~
Chapter Twenty

Ascadholiel’s voice was a little thick from her tears as she and Galadriel walked back to the elven city, her face a little flushed and her eyes bloodshot and tired looking. “Thank you Lady, for everything. For letting me stay here and being so kind and concerned about me. I really don’t deserve it.”

Galadriel smiled that knowing smile at her. “No thanks are needed pen-neth (young one).” They walked in silence for a few more minutes before Galadriel lead her up the stairs and down the pathways to her and Legolas’ talan. The Lady took it upon herself to help Ascadholiel undress, the dress in a sleeping shift.

Ascadholiel crawled under the blankets and laid her head down on the pillow that still smelled deeply of her beloved. She sniffled again and closed her eyes trying not to think about how lonely she already was without him there.

Galadriel smoothed Ascadholiel’s hair back and hummed lightly from where she sat on the edge of the bed.

Ascadholiel sighed and smiled a little at the comfort. She had never known her mother, but she imagined that this is what one must be like. She was almost asleep when she murmured her thoughts. “If I ever get to be a mother, I want to be like you.” Then she drifted off, happy dreams in her mind, not seeing that knowing smile and the odd twinkling in the old, bright eyes that watched her.

She didn’t hear the whispered, “You will be, and mayhap, you will be better, we will soon see.” Galadriel smiled down at the sleeping human, a slight maternal feeling she had buried since her own daughter crossed to Valinor rising for this girl who had never had a mother. She pressed a gentle kiss to Ascadholiel’s brow, smiling again as the sleeping one whispered the name of her journeying husband. The lady stood and then smoothly glided out of the room, shutting the door behind her with a quiet click.

Ascadholiel woke again a little after noon. She sat up and looked around at her empty room. Sure there was furniture and beautiful structures, but her heart was achingly absent. She got up though, fighting against the depression that was threatening to pull her down. She wished more than ever that she had the meds from her world, since she knew the signs of depression well. That worried her a little. She knew her depression would pop up at some point. “I’ll have to talk to Galadriel about that,” she said to herself.

Ascadholiel knew that it would do no good if she got suicidal. She had something, someone, to live for now and she had promised that she would wait for him. She stood, the dressing gown falling about her feet. She put on the silken forest green robe that Legolas had used when he had been here, even th it it was far to long for her, and walked over to look out the balcony, not actually stepping onto it.

A few minuets later, a knock came on the door of the talan and Ascadholiel called for whoever it was to enter without turning around, half lost in her own thoughts. The door slid open and one of Galadriel’s handmaidens entered the talan. “*Princess, the Lady Galadriel bid me attend you.*”

Ascadholiel would have objected but really didn’t want to be alone right then, and knew besides that she would most likely need assistance getting into whatever gown she would choose. So she nodded, but didn’t turn from where she was looking, her accented voice soft, and a little sad. “*Thank you*”

Ascadholiel heard the handmaiden open the wardrobe and then the rustle of fabric as she shifted through the collection of fine gowns and robes that Galadriel had gifted her with. She turned finally and walked over to stand next to the elleth (she-elf). She raised a hand and lightly fingered a gof paf pale green, like weak green tea, that had a darker trim like mint, with shining emerald-like threads of beading and embroidery around the hems and neckline. “*This one.*” She whispered, “*He always favors greens.*”

The handmaiden smiled. She approved of this woman whom the prince of Mirkwood had chosen. The only problem she and many other elves would fine with this union, would be the same as they found in the union of Aragorn and Arwen.

Though Legolas could not choose to become mortal, as Lady Arwen could, he could still choose to fade. When the humans died, so too would their mates, mates who were never born to die.

Still, she had seen the happiness and love that these two shared, and that was well enough to nullify any objections that she herself had. “*A very good choice Princess. Why don’t you go freshen up while I lay this out.*”

Ascadholiel nodded. She and Legolas had bathed that morning, so she simply walked to the end of the bed where the customary basin of fresh water, and a clean towel lay. She splashed the cool water on her tear-tracked face and scrubbed with her fingertips a little, pushing her loose hair back from her face as she struggled not to start crying again.

She failed and a sob broke free. The thought just suddenly hit her that for the first time since coming to middle earth, she was without the only person, besides the unborn child that she had lost in her old world, she had eve truly loved. It wasn’t like it was in the mines of Moria when Legolas would go scouting with Aragorn. At that time they had been traveling together heading for the same place, both of them moving.

Now, he had left, while she had stayed, and even as she thought this, she knew that he was moving farther and farther away, heading closer and closer to danger and possible death.

It hit her. It hit her hard, and she sank to her knees, still clutching still clutching the table as more sobs escaped her, her tears mixing with the water on her face. She stopped fighting and let the pain escape her again, the tears coming faster now.

Naurwen, the handmaiden, rushed to her side, dropping to her knees beside the distraught human, and tried desperately to calm her, her hands going to Ascadholiel’s shoulders. Try as she might though, she could not seem to reach her. Naurwen looked up when a gentle hand fell to her shoulder. She stood up and backed away, letting the new arrival take her place.

Ascadholiel felt gentle hand pull the hair back from her face, then pull her against the warm body those hands belonged to. She automatically shifted her grip from the table to the person holding her. She cried for a long time before her tears finally slowed and then stopped. When she looked up her eyes met the crystal blue of Lady Galadriel’s.

The Lady smiled gently at her. “There now. All is well. Legolas would not wish to see you weep so.”

Ascadholiel’s voice shuddered and was thick with spent tears, her poor nose feeling like it had swollen to the size of an apple. “That’s just it. He’s not here to see me weep.”

Galadriel cocked an eyebrow, that ever present smile still on her lips. “Would you have had him stay?

Ascadholiel wiped her eyes and face on the moist cloth the handmaiden silently passed to her. “I wanted to. I didn’t want him to leave, but I knew in my heart it was for the best, and meant to be. He was meant to be part of the fellowship. They need him. They needed him before I did. But knowing it was right, doesn’t make his absence hurt my heart any less. I’m aware that I’m being selfish, but I’ve never had something that means this much to me. I’m afraid. Afraid here without him, and afraid for him, and I can’t stop feeling that way.”

Galadriel nodded and then helped her stand. “I know this. Take heart. It will get easier to deal with, with the passage of time. My Lord and I are here for you whenever you have need of us, as are others in this forest I suspect. We will help you through this. Come now, it is almost time for the evening meal.

So it was that Galadriel once again assisted Ascadholiel in getting dressed and braiding her hair. When Ascadholiel stood before Lady Galadriel, ready to go, the Lady smiled at her. “Tell me child, where do you keep the braid your bonded gifted to you this morn?”

Ascadholiel raised her hand and showed Galadriel the golden braid she had wrapped around it. “I want to keep it with me always, but have no other way to carry it than this.”

Galadriel nodded, the smile still on her face. “I foresaw this gift and had something commissioned for you.” She held out her hand, in which rested a pendant/locket made of clearest crystal, veined with clear jade. Engraved in the middle was a symbol, wrought in mythril, the whole thing hanging from a delicate mythril chain as it sparkled, the colors dancing.

Ascadholiel was speechless and reached out to take it, seeing that it could be opened. Ascadholiel fought off tears again as she looked at it. “What… what is that symbol? It looks familiar.”

Galadriel smiled a little wider. “That is the emblem of the royal family of Mirkwood, and only they may wear it. This pendant will be a safe place to keep that plait of hair, and keep it always next to your heart.”

Ascadholiel was crying again quietly and her hands shook a little as she looped the braid enough to tuck it gently into the pendant where it could be seen through the crystal, and then locked the pendant closed again.

Galadriel stepped closer to her now. “Here. Turn around and I shall put it on you.”

They did so, and when that was done, Ascadholiel turned again and threw her arms around Galadriel and hugged her tightly for a moment. “Hannon lle (Thank you).” She whispered, then let go again and turned to look in the mirror. She touched the pendant where it lay over her heart and smiled as she felt her heart beat beneath it, knowing that because of their bond, Legolas’ heart beat the same as hers and would forever, from the day they became as one.

**********

Galadriel and Ascadholiel walked the paths high in the trees towards the grand hall where the Lord and Lady usually dwelled. Ascadholiel had been there a few times with Legolas, and some times with some of the other fellowship as well, usually Gimli, to listen to the elves sing or recite poetry. It was now a place of peace for her and held nothing but good memories.

As they walked some of the other elves they passed bowed or nodded their heads respectfully. Ascadholiel leaned over a little bit and whispered, “Does it get tiring having people do that?”

Galadriel smiled and spoke in elvish. “*It is a show of respect and reverence, and they do it now for you as well.*”

Ascadholiel looked up at her, now a little shocked as they kept walking, and spoke in elvish as well to better further her skills. “*Why? Just because I’m a princess now? That’s not right!*”

Galadriel shook her head again. “*They feel you deserve it now, else they would not do it.*”

“*But what did I do to deserve it? I can think of nothing I did to earn their respect.*”

Galadriel looked at her out of the corner of her blue eye. “*You let Legolas go, even though it hurt you, because you knew that without him, the fellowship might fail. You put other before your own obvious wants. This is a sign of a truly respectable ruler.*”

Ascadholiel shook her head. “*I do not view myself as a ruler. If I must be bestowed with a title such as that at all… it would, at most, be something to the effect of co-leader. I do not believe that anyone has the right to rule a free peoples, but they might possess the knowledge, skills, and above all else, passion, to lead them.*”

Ascadholiel then blushed as she noticed the elves they had passed who had heard the comment smile widely and nodded at her. She looked back over at Galadriel. “*I am a little nervous, as I do not have the first clue as to how to be a proper princess.*”

“*You are already off to a good start. All you truly need now is some lessons in proper court etiquette.*”

**********

A.N.: I know I keep on apologizing for being so late in getting these things out. Thank you all for reviewing again! I don’t have much time to type write now or I would thank you all individually, I just want to get this out fast. I’ve been bogged down with RL issues. Moving and the like. Well, keep reading loves! Sorry this chapter is so short. ^^ Enjoy! Namaarie!

~Celesta Hellewise Harman