The Exile's Daughter

The Fallout

"Sweet Ness." He said softly. "Think what he has done, and what he might have done."

I didn't answer him, but put my hand against the wall, struggling to stand. Legolas' eyes widened in understanding. Aragorn took the man from him and he strode over, pulling me carefully to my feet. "I should have known", he muttered. I swallowed, for a moment thrown by the unreadable expression on his face.

This, perhaps, was where Fëanor's blood showed itself in my own heart. My house, after all, was known for seeing things through to the bitter end, for revenge against those who had wronged them. This man had murdered my family. Surely, it was right I return the favour.

"Do you think I'm right?" I muttered under my breath to Legolas. His face softened. Once more, he unsheathed my sword from his belt, handing it to me hilt-first.

"You have the only right."

How true that was, and how little he knew it. I stumbled away from him and walked towards the man who had stolen everything from me. So many nights I had wondered what I would say, if I ever met him. So many times a lust for revenge, or a fear of seeking it, which I knew not, had coursed through me. Now I saw him, however, I could not think. Nothing I could spit at him would bite as much as his blade had, or as mine would.

There was no valour in the way he struggled against Aragorn's untenable strength, in the sweat on his upper lip, or in the panting breaths ripping out of him. Legolas went to help Aragorn, and they threw him, none too gently, against the wall of the cave, earning a grunt of pain which sounded more like a whimper. Even so, he still wished to taunt me.

"Cat got your tongue?"

"I have nothing to say to you." I said coldly.

With that, I pulled back my blade and sunk it into his chest, sliding it between his ribs and hitting the stone behind him with the force of my thrust. I felt his breast bone crack and hit something soft and pounding. He choked, blood spraying from between his broken and rotting teeth. I smelt, once more, that rancid breath, the memory of which had haunted me for months. He gasped inconsequentially for a few moments, then slumped, eyes open, in Legolas and Aragorn's hold. They dropped the corpse roughly to the ground.

I swayed, the last of my energy spent. My sword fell to the floor with a clatter, and a sharp pain like a bolt of lightning blurred my vision. Legolas stepped over and caught me, sinking to the ground with me cradled against him. "You're safe", he murmured gently. 

"He killed them", I gasped.

"We got here in time", he soothed, stroking back my hair when I could no longer hold back my tears, "he had no chance to kill anyone."

"No." He didn't understand, of course. How could he? "Legolas, he killed my family."

There was silence in the cave around me. I could feel the others staring, dumbstruck. Legolas pulled me closer and, for the first time since we left Imladris, I wept like a child.

"Get out." I heard Aragorn bark. "All of you. Now. Elladan, leave them."

When we were alone at last, Legolas bent his head until he could kiss the crook between my neck and my shoulder. "Nesseldë, Nesseldë". He nuzzled into me, muttering an endless stream of words into my ear and stroking my hair with his long fingers. I felt his own tears drip onto my bare skin. I clutched onto the back of his tunic, almost afraid that, if I let him go, I would be lost to him again, this time so utterly there would be no going back.

Hours seemed to pass. Eventually, his words turned into a song, so soft I almost thought I was dreaming. His voice was clear and fair, like the trickling of a tiny stream whetting the ground of a land in drought.