𝑪𝑨𝑳𝑳 𝑶𝑭 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑬𝑨 ¹ ↳ 𝒍. 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏

lxxxvii. start of the end

The family she created with the love and companionship shared between her and a certain Mirkwood Princeling. The family she created when their bond was strengthened with light and adoration through the physical connection of their faer as their entire beings intertwined that night. The family that now lives within her stomach, waiting for a new life to come.

The family that she would do anything to protect.

But what about her people? She had come to Middle Earth to protect them, and she had the power to do that...but would she sacrifice millions of her people — her subjects — for a fetus growing in her stomach?

Unfortunately, the brunette mermaid barely managed to maneuver through that thought. Aragorn begins to stir quietly next to her, just as the sunlight begins to stream in from the horizon, generating a glow as they flow through the outlines of the mountain. Vera inhales deeply, waiting for Aragorn to regain consciousness, consequently beginning the day. She adjusts herself a little bit so that he is more comfortable when he awakens, and she offers him a smile when his half-lidded eyes lazily meets hers.

"Hi," Vera chirps cheerily. Well, as cheerily as she could so early in the morning. Vera did not like waking up, but she seems to be doing that a lot.

"You...are awfully happy this morning," notes Aragorn with a tired frown, "considering what was said the night before." His frown deepens. "I don't think I said my regards."

Vera dismisses him. "In truth, Aragorn, I don't remember what was said last night...and I honestly don't want to remember. There's too much on my mind..." She flashes him a quick smile to pacify his frown.

It worked, though, because Aragorn was too tired to even notice the small things. Vera lets herself frown; they all seemed to be tired. Aragorn must be working as hard as possible, especially now that he was disregarding sleep completely to catch the fires.

Vera furrows her brows, turning her head a bit to stare off into the mountains. She had forgotten the entire reason why they were even on those steps, overlooking the regions of valleys and such things.

The mermaid slowly detaches herself from the Ranger next to her, slipping off to stand comfortably on her feet — which takes a few moments as her legs are just as numb as her shoulders — while she spreads out to look out into the canvas in front of her. The mermaid pulls her cloak closer to her body, turning around to check on Aragorn, before rotating once more to meet the mountains in which the fires should be found...if they were lit.

Vera focuses her eyes completely over the view. She controls her orbs into trying to look as far as possible, concentrating her mind on attempting to find the orange flames that should be seen from miles away. They remain in that wooden shelter for a long time, waiting and waiting for the Firehole atop Rohan's mountain to be alit, providing them with the warning signal from Gondor.

By the time Vera managed to spot the tiniest spots of orange in the distance, the sun was already up and the people of Rohan are awake.

"Hey, Aragorn?" Vera calls out as her clear eyes finally recognize something glowing in the distance...something that is alighting nearer and nearer. "Do...you see that?"

Aragorn grumbles from behind her. "See what?"

Vera doesn't answer this time, her eyes trying to regain more clarity in order to decipher what that thing is in the case that it may be a false alarm, or simply her imagination. This causes Aragorn to grumble more grumpily, muttering to himself about her inability to reply, but he was quickly shut up when Vera gasps softly.

"Aragorn..."

"What?"

"Aragorn...!"

"What?!"