Set in Stone - Haldir's Story -

Chapter 20 - Daëra's Pendant

All of a sudden, Legolas looked really sad and Haldir realised they had lost a member of their little group in the mines of Moria. He exchanged another look with his brothers and sighed, defeated. "You may go. I am sure the Lady wishes to see you all." - At that the prince's eyes lit up again. "You are going to present us to Galadriel? And Celeborn?" - Haldir couldn't help but smile. "Indeed, I am." - Although none of the men of the fellowship besides Aragorn had understood a single word of the conversation, they somehow noticed a change in Legolas behaviour and relaxed - sensing they would be allowed to enter the Wood after all. Legolas took a step back and eyed Haldir up. "You have not changed at all, dear cousin. I cannot believe you are the same person I remember from my childhood." - Haldir thought back to all that had happened during the last decades: his travelling, his time as March Warden, Daëra... Slowly, Haldir shook his head. "I do not intend on disappointing you, yet I do not feel that I am."

As they were approaching Helm's Deep, Haldir had a strange sensation... A cold feeling that chilled him to the bones, a blurred picture of an orc swinging a battle axe. Haldir blinked several times, trying to get the image out of his head. Rohir, who was still riding next to him, shot him a worried glance. "Are you quite well, my Lord?" - Haldir never met his gaze. "I am perfectly fine, thank you." He hesitated for a moment and then continued: "Do tell me - do you think we have a say in our fates at all?" - Rohir pursed his lips. "To my mind even the Valar do not know what will happen to us, my Lord. I think if they knew, they would try to help us." - The axe-swinging orc came back to Haldir's mind and he shuddered. "For some reason I have the strange feeling the Valar know very well what is about to happen. I wish they would just kill me without sending me visions first to make sure I knew I was going to die." - "My Lord?" - Haldir shook his head. "It was only a thought. We are almost there."

Daëra had almost forgotten what silence sounded like. She had grown rather used to her thoughts filling the quiet as if they were noises outside her head, keeping her from feeling lonely, keeping her from feeling calm. Now that Haldir had gone, a part of her had left as well, leaving her in silence and lonely, yet far from calm. Daëra had to see the Lady, she had to ask, but at the same time feared the answer she would get. Finally, Daëra couldn't bear it any longer and went to see the Lady of the Wood. That is, at least she left her flet, which was a start. She wondered what her father would say if he knew...

It seemed to take Daëra ages until she reached the highest tree in Caras Galadhon and by the time she had made it all the way up she was sure the war must already be decided. It had to be over and either Middle-Earth was saved or she was in an extremely beautiful version of heaven. But no. Of course it was not decided yet - whether it would be for good or evil, she would definitely know when Sauron was destroyed or resumed word domination.

Galadriel bid her enter before she could even knock. The Lady stood at a window, watching the forest - she seemed lonely too. "I had thought you would come to me right after the wardens had left," she stated. Daëra lowered her eyes. "I did intend to, my Lady, I just..." She let the sentence dangle in the air unfinished, but Galadriel understood. "You should have come. I have pleasant news for you." - Daëra felt relief flooding her. "Thank you so much, my Lady." - Galadriel smiled a sad smile. "Still, I am sure you would have succeeded as well." - Daëra smile suddenly grew fake - like a mask on her face. Then she sighed and let it go. "I didn't dare take the risk. I feared he would not accept it from me." - The Lady crossed the room to stand in front of Daëra. "It is your pendant. You should have given it away." - Daëra nodded slowly. "Yet I do thank you for doing it for me. I am just trying to... well, help him, I suppose." When Galadriel didn't respond, Daëra added: "You do think there is a chance my plan will work, do you not?" - At that, the Lady smiled again. "If I had thought it were hopeless, I would not have given him your pendant."

The Lady stared at her for a while and then said: "There is something else you should know." - Daëra felt all her muscles tense. "What is that, my Lady?" - "Elladan has gone to Helm's Deep as well. He is leading the army of Imladris." - Daëra slowly shook her head. "I cannot save them both." - Galadriel reached out and lightly touched her shoulder. "Perhaps you will not have to." She sighed. "Some things I fear we cannot change. We will be lucky if you will be able to help one of them." - "One of whom?" Celeborn had entered without making any noise at all. Daëra frowned, for how could he not know what they were talking about? - He must have heard most of their conversation while he was climbing the steps that wound around the tree. Yet then, he would have a reason for asking. Celeborn, Galadriel - they always had reasons for what they did. Galadriel looked at her husband. "Daëra is trying to help Haldir and Elladan. She has sent her ring of power away with them." - Celeborn nodded. "I thought so. Hiding it in that pendant was a clever thing to do: Haldir would never have accepted it, had he known how very powerful and precious it actually was." The Lord was silent for a while and then continued thoughtfully: "Still I find I cannot see how Náre could be of use for him. Haldir has never learned to channel its powers." - "He is not supposed to fight with it," Daëra was quick to explain. "Since I am not trained enough in fighting to go myself, I thought my ring could help healing and protecting afterwards and during the fight. I have learned to reach out to it from quite far away." Daëra had seriously contemplated going into battle with Náre, hadn't it been for her lack of proper education in fighting, her unwillingness to kill other people and the fear that she wouldn't be able to control Náre and burn both friends and foes. So the best solution was - the Lady and herself had agreed on that - Haldir taking the ring with him to Helm's Deep and so making it possible for Daëra to be constantly "present" when the armies clashed. By now they would be close to the Rohan city already.

Daëra said her good-byes to the Lord and Lady of the Wood and returned to her flet. Once sitting on her bed she tried to relax and let her mind range wide, feeling the world surrounding her. Slowly, she spread her thoughts in ever growing circles, searching, longing for that certain source of heat that had accompanied her for almost two centuries now. Daëra felt strangely cold without it. The world was cold as well, the last rays of the day were touching the earth but still everything seemed chilled. Finding Náre proved to be a lot harder than Daëra had expected. Usually, she could feel its heat from near and far, yet she had never been parted that far from the ring while being its bearer. In her thoughts she was crossing blurry fields of grass and passing black and grey rectangular schemes that had to be villages, yet there was no warmth, nothing to guide her through the plains of Rohan towards Helm's Deep. She should be going into the right direction though, she had studied several maps for hours and hours. Finally, Daëra changed her strategy and started looking for the army instead of Náre's heat. Perhaps Sauron's shadow had grown so cold it was overpowering the ring's radiation. Despite all her trying, Daëra couldn't find a large mass of people moving into a certain direction. As far as she could reach there was literally nothing. Daëra's eyes opened with a flutter and the sudden colours stung her eyes, even though it was almost nightfall. The army was out there close to Helm's Deep, that much was sure, and so was her ring. Hot as ever, since rings of power weren't destroyed easily. They were there, somewhere, yet Daëra couldn't find them, had been walking in circles. It was plain enough, Daëra just didn't dare to realise it. The ring had ventured out of her reach. Her plans, they were all in vain: Helm's Deep was just too far away.