Remains of the Banished | Aragorn || Lord of the Rings

XVII

As the sun set, the five stopped to rest, and Eadrid took to lighting a fire. Her, Gimli, and Legolas sat around it as Gandalf and Aragorn sat far off to talk with one another. 

"Lass, I must ask... What is the tension between you and the Ranger?" Gimli said, looking up at Eadrid.

"I must admit I have been wondering the same." Legolas said, a smirk playing on his lips.

Eadrid kept her eyes on the fire.

"At first it started off as tension as though you wanted to tear his shirt off-"

"Gimli!" Eadrid gasped and looked up to him.

Legolas chuckled and sipped his water.

"Let me finish." Gimli held up his hand. "But now the tension is unbearable between you two! You two can barely even look at each other, but you still act around him like you want to tear his shirt off!"

Eadrid stared at him, mouth agape, trying to fight the smile threatening to show.

"Legolas, anything to add?" Eadrid raised her eyebrows.

Legolas muttered something as he went to take another drink.

"What was that?" Eadrid asked.

"He looks at you the same way." Legolas said with a smirk.

Eadrid couldn't help but burst out laughing, and was joined by the other two, their laughs echoing around them.

As they caught their breath, Eadrid sighed. "I fear I have no explanation for you two, the only thing that is between us is, I suppose, the tension you see."

They nodded in understanding.

"Eadrid!" Gandalf called.

Eadrid nodded and left Legolas and Gimli to join Gandalf. Aragorn left where he was to join the two, passing Eadrid with no more then a glance.

"Eadrid." Gandalf smiled as she sat next to him, facing the rolling hills before them. "I take it you have been told the meaning of the poem."

"Yes... Gandalf, I-"

"I know it is more to bear then anyone believes they could." Gandalf paused. "The only one who can really understand what you carry is Aragorn."

"I do not want-"

"Aragorn carries a fate vary similar to yours, as you know. And your poem clearly for tells that you are to reign together, as one." Gandalf took a deep breath in. "Aragorn does not know that you are her. He knows of the poem but swore to himself long ago that he will never put that weight on anyone. He has promised himself, and The Benevolent Queen, that he will never fall in love with her, so that she may not have to bear the weight that holds him the same."

Eadrid took a deep breath in, looking back on the words Aragorn has said to her.

"Sauron fears you, Eadrid. He fears what you and Aragorn are destined to become. He has sworn to destroy man, and he will start with Rohan. They are weak, as you have seen. They need their Queen."

Eadrid nodded and looked at her dirty hands.

"One of you cannot succeed without the other, so Sauron will take every chance he can to destroy you. You must be ready."

"I will be."

"I know that your heart is heavy from the poem's lines. Eadrid," Gandalf turned to face her. 

Eadrid scoffed.

"You do not think you deserve him, is that what troubles you?"

Eadrid looked over her shoulder to see him smoking his pipe, smiling with Legolas and Gimli.

"I know that I do not."

"And why is that?"

Eadrid could think of twenty reasons that she could never deserve him, and fifty more after that. Aragorn was the fiercest and strongest leader she had ever met, but he was never afraid to show emotion or care about others. Eadrid admired that about him, among so many other traits.

"You should hear the way he talks of you, Eadrid." Gandalf said after Eadrid did not respond.

"You should hear the way he talks to me." 

"I understand that he has distanced himself, and so have you, but you must understand that it is from no place of dislike. You are important to him, and he fears that he will hurt you, and that is the last thing he desires to do."

"So how, and when, will he know that the poem speaks of me?"

"He will know, and you will know when he knows."

"Thank you, for being so vague."

"Well, all that I know of your future is what of the poem says, so speak to the fates if you wish." Gandalf smiled.

Eadrid smiled back and nodded, then looked quickly up at him. "You dissolved my blade." She remembered.

"Yes, I have a gift for you! And the only way I could think to get rid of that dull blade was to turn it to ash. It was really to save you from ever having to endure that sword again." Gandalf chuckled. 

He reached into his robes and pulled out the most beautiful sword Eadrid had ever laid her eyes upon. The hilt was laid with gold, and ornately carved into it was a tree on the left side of the hilt, and a horse on the right, connected by intertwining vines and leaves. Eadrid unsheathed it to find that the blade was decorated with emerald green in its center, the golden vines continuing to the sharp point. Its grip was the same green, matching her necklace, as Eadrid noticed. "This was created long ago for you, and for only you, Eadrid. Its name is Adoness, which means Peacekeeper."

Eadrid sheathed it and turned it around in her hands. "It is... more than beautiful, I do not have the words... Thank you, Gandalf."

"You are very welcome. Use it well." He clasped his hands together and stood up. "If Aragorn sees that hilt, he will know that you are The Benevolent Queen."

Eadrid nodded, looking back at the hilt. Nimloth, the white tree of Gondor, and the White Horse of Rohan.

"But perhaps that is how he is to discover it! I cannot be sure." Gandalf said with a smile.

Gandalf left her to herself, and she continued to move the sword in her hands.

"He has promised himself, and The Benevolent Queen, that he will never fall in love with her, so that she may not have to bear the weight that holds him the same."

Eadrid turned those words over and over. Aragorn did not know that she was that Queen, but in any chance that she was, Aragorn would not dare to risk it. He could not let himself get close to Eadrid if there was any chance it was she to rule beside him.

He was doing the same she was.

The past few days had been agony for Eadrid. Though she didn't want to fall into fate, she had already fallen into Aragorn's gaze. The looming thought of the Fellowship and its duty was always crowded with thoughts of him as he walked in front of her or slept next to her. 

And now that she knew that Aragorn is only staying away to keep her safe...

Eadrid slept surprisingly well that night, and only woke as the sun began to rise over the horizon.

They packed their things and began the ride to Edoras. Eadrid had a long ride ahead of her, that she used as needed mental preparation for whatever was to come.