Mistress of the Fellowship (LOTR)

* 68 * The Color of Sorrow

Flowers were all around and their delicate fragrance made the stench of death fade and disappear but still the weight of such great loss weighed heavy on all. These days of celebration could not be enjoyed and so most men, women, and children went about the task of burying their dead and destroying the enemy while others cared for those wounded and sick.

Aragorn's coronation was yet to come and not one of the member of the fellowship seemed to wish to cross paths with another. Each, excluding the hobbits, visited the recovering Frodo Baggins, the hero of Middle Earth, but Aragorn did not visit while Legolas or Gimli visited the grand hero and they had done the same.

Hearts were weighed down with reminiscing of the gory battle and with the unknowing of what was to come next.

Time which had been such a precious and evading gift was now their enemy as it slowed and gave them time to grieve and ponder the unknowing.

A coronation was to come for the crowning of the great Aragorn who was also haunted but that was perhaps the furthest thing from his mind.

In a room where the light only touched when it was far to the west laid a mangled and tattered body having lost her strong heart beat long ago and left most of her blood on the battlefield. Many were mourning greatly for the Last of the Wilds.

Legolas had been with her until her tenacious heart finally gave up the fight and in the darkness Legolas shed many tears before taking leave which brought in Eomer who's stoic demeanor shattered as his heart broke and he sobbed over the loss of his friend for over an hour. The following visitor was Aragorn who made his peace with the fallen warrior woman. He told her how sorry and foolish he had been. He told how he had fallen in love with her the first moment he looked into her frightening golden eyes, he told of how honored he would have been to have her by his side as not only queen but as a friend. He wanted that chance so greatly. Tears flooded to his eyes and he let them fall freely as he begged her to forgive him in death. The following to visit were Eowyn who cried and Arwen who whimpered and finally Gandalf came in but said not a word rather just sighed in a defeated manner but before he left he said, "You deserved to experience life little one." And tears fell from his tired eyes.

No one else entered the room, they left her alone, unwanting of what they knew must be done and the changing color of the evening blossom made it even greater. The innocent white blossom had turned blue making it known that much sorrow was upon Middle Earth and those who knew Kordelia knew the significance of the evening blossom. It had saved her life and in some ways, helped to heal her tattered heart.

But it had to be done.

Aragorn summoned those who knew her, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Arwen, Eowyn, and Eomer.

When they met in a private chamber silence filled the air with sorrow making all those present shiver and sigh unwanting of accepting the end however Aragorn knew it was his duty to honor the wonderous and mysterious woman who no one really knew.

"She shall have a fire pyre."

Gandalf spoke next, "Yes, the Alexzandron people honored their dead in this manner but it must be done with significant trees and flowers. I think we can agree that the flowers shall be the Evening Blossom."

They all nodded gravely and once again silence took over for some time before Legolas softly added, "The blue aspen."

They all looked at him and he continued, "I will proudly bestow my weapons to her pyre."

Arwen spoke softly, "I shall prepare her once you have gathered the evening blossoms and blue aspen."

Eowyn spoke next, "I shall sing for her. I do not know the songs she sung in Rohan but I will do my best to honor her the best I can."

Eomer spoke next, "I shall gather her belongings and will acquire the man of her mare, Epona, and a few feathers of her lady hawk. They shall go with her along with that in which I discover with her supplies."

For an hour they spoke softly of what they would do to prepare for her final passage into death before leaving.

Legolas went out alone to find the rare Blue Aspen as Eowyn, gathered evening blossoms, Gimli found a forge where he began to create a crown for the Alexzandron, the warrior queen, Aragorn went about the library in attempt to find anything about Alexzandron culture while also carving an evening blossom on a sapling he had found which was a white tree and he was going to bring it back to replace the dead white tree in the city. Arwen went to scrubbing Kordelia's cold skin and draping her with silk and Eomer found himself just sitting alone by the river with Epona next to him. She liked this man and shared her sorrow with him while he shared his with hers. His sorrow was too great to think of cutting the mane from Epona

The coming evening was to be perhaps the hardest of any of their lives.

Legolas brought back the blue aspen and after some time Arwen exited the room wiping her eyes and Legolas was the first to enter.

She was stunning. A sword lay on either side of her, her father's on her right, and the woman's sword on her left, all dirt, trace of blood, and hauntings were removed leaving a beautiful body which portrayed the true innocence of the warrior queen. The sight was nearly too painful to bear and Legolas found himself unwilling to let go.

And so he left the beautiful woman and retreated back into the woods to deal with his grief.

*~*~*~*~* So how much do you hate me?