Estateillio

Dark Whispers

• The cliffs had started reaching new heights when the Nazgûl finally arrived at the Anduin four hours later and it swooped down, nearing the ground, and Estateillio and Legolas stood up in the boats, bows in their hands, and as the fellbeast started to circle, its rider no doubt searching for something, they waited for it to draw nearer and on a sign from Aragorn shot it down, killing it with one arrow to the head and one to the heart as they had decided upon earlier, and the Nazgûl screeched as it fell from the sky and landed with a crash on the eastern shore.

• Seeing that it did not appear to check who had shot it down, the fellowship continued to paddle down the Anduin, which lay quiet now, though its waters still rushed and quickened their journey. They stopped around noon for a quick break and Boromir grew more solemn with the minute, casting furtive glances over to Frodo, and even as Pippin and Merry started quietly singing some merry hobbit song during the afternoon he stayed silent and Estateillio noticed it, for ever had she been paying close attention to those people around her.

• And thus, when Boromir offered to take third watch, she decided to join him.

• She did not need to be woken, for she was aware of everything around her in her sleep, but Aragorn alerted her nonetheless. They sat in silence for the first 30 minutes, Boromir staring across the water and Estateillio watching all around them, but as expected there was nothing dangerous here what with the river in front of them and rocks all around them, and so the elleth eventually spoke: "What is on your mind?"

• And the gondorian was startled out of his brooding and looked at her in surprise, not having expected her to say anything, but then he simply shrugged and answered: "Many things." Estateillio slightly raised an eyebrow and cocked her head, a clear request for the man to say more, but he stayed silent, and thus the elleth questioned further: "You worry about something, do you not? Your mood is dark and grim and you brood all day, yet say nothing."

• And Boromir sighed and said: "Indeed, I worry about many things. What if this quest fails? What if, in my absence, Osgiliath falls, Minas Tirith falls? What if Faramir dies? There is so much that can happen."

• "Yet you could do nothing against it", Estateillio told him, "If your brother is killed, you'd have to be incredibly lucky to do something against it, to be near enough to save him. And if Osgiliath fell? I doubt that one more man can prevent that. Those are battles, high-risk battles, and everyone fighting them knows that and does their best to win them. If the combined minds of all of Gondor's tacticians cannot succeed, I doubt you could do much to help them. And if this quest fails? If this quest failed, I would do my best to help you survive, to help you endure. I would fight Sauron openly and with all my power, one last great fight against the darkness, so that those who wish to can rally their forces and the others can escape to relative safety. But we will not fail, for I will not allow it and you will neither and so will Aragorn and Legolas and Gimli."

• And Boromir looked at the sleeping fellowship, those who had dedicated themselves to this cause, those who would die for it, and his gaze paused on the sleeping form of Frodo as the whispers in the back of his mind welled up again, speaking of doom and the fall of his home and promising him the power to prevent it, and suddenly Estateillio clasped his wrist in an iron grip and the man jerked around, the whispers dissipating and being replaced with pure light for a second, before that too retreated, and then the elleth let go of him again.

• "What the Ring promises you is a lie. It serves only one master and that is Sauron, the master of lies", she spoke, before he had even opened his mouth to ask why she had done that, which he did now, and Estateillio smiled solemnly and explained: "I knew that the Ring would try to seduce you, but I could not see its presence around you, so I thought little of it until now that I saw it reaching out, strengthening. I wished to see how I missed it, so that I may not do that mistake again. And do not worry, I did not look into your mind, I merely looked at it and expelled the darkness clouding it."

• And Boromir thanked her, for now the whispers were gone and he could finally think with a clear head again, and then they sat in silence for a few minutes, before the gondorian spoke up again: "How do you do it? How do you resist it, the promises?"

• And Estateillio frowned, thought for a moment and then answered: "I know what Sauron is capable of doing, I know he's a liar and a torturer, he's an oath-breaker and will not hold to his word. He tricked my cousin into trusting him and then he killed him. He did this", she stopped for a second to gesture at her scars, "to me. He destroyed so many I love, in body or soul or both, and I hate him for it and this hatred makes it easy to push aside the whispers. But the power of the Ring, even without this hatred, I would never take, for I do not like relying on foreign powers. I have my own powers and now I have the power of my father's sword, which is mine now by right and would do everything I asked of it, and if the need arises I will ask those I know I can trust. But the Ring? No, I do not know it, I know next to nothing about it and thus I know not if it would betray me and since it is of Sauron, I am certain it would. I do not trust it and I hate its master, whence its power comes, and so I would never take it and thus are able to ignore the whispers to the point that they have become nonexistent to me."

• "I don't know whether I would be able to do such thing", Boromir admitted and frowned and the elleth said: "You don't need to. Find another reason not to take it, another way to resist it. That which applies to one, rarely fully applies to another, if at all", and then she smiled, "Take heart, Boromir, the darkness cannot prevail if there is a single star still shining and there are still many who will fight and protect your home."

• Above them, Gil-Estel shone bright in the sky.

[《◇》]

Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoyed (if anyone is still reading this)!It seems like FotR will still take two or three chapters, as I had predicted, but then the plot will finally really divert from canon.AT