Head wounds were not fun to deal with, whether the recipient were elf or human. Anna wasn't too sure exactly when she'd decided to pass out, but when she woke she was no longer being carried like a princess. Instead, she found herself on top of one of the comfiest beds she'd ever laid on, and that was including Shannon's memory foam mattress. The thought made her flinch ever so slightly. Her second death was still far too fresh, and she'd never really gotten over her first. She hadn't spent enough time in the Halls of Mandos for that. She hadn't regained the primitive innocence and grace of the eldar... if she'd ever had any of the latter to begin with... well, she didn't think she had, but perhaps her time amongst mortals had impacted that. Either that or she was just sent back because of him. Because he was too important. Anna sighed, gingerly reaching up to touch at the bandages wrapped around her temples. Sure, elvish healing was far quicker than that of the edain, but it didn't mean all wounds vanished after one healing session.
Still, at least her head wasn't pounding as much as before. She could barely remember having a headache like the one she had before her first death.
The sound of her name was static to her ears as her head ached. "Are you well?"
"I am fine," she grumbled, looking determinedly away from the golden-haired ellon creeping ever closer. His concerned stare made her stomach flip and her cheeks redden – there was no way she was going to let him see that last reaction though. "Stop hovering around. All is well, so be on your way."
She tried to reassure herself it wasn't disappointment she felt when he did as she'd asked.
Anna buried her face in her hands, groaning quietly. She didn't want to remember things like that. Didn't want to remember how much of a shy and cowardly elleth she'd been when it came to her feelings for a stupidly sacrificial golden-haired idiot. Really, living as one of the edain for thirty odd years had really changed her perspectives on things. Something that would no doubt be integrated back into her elvish mindset soon enough – so she'd stop thinking of them as separate. Anna, that name was part of her, part of the elleth whose name she couldn't remember.
She felt lost. She was lost. All because she couldn't remember two measly names. Though they weren't really all that measly. They were important. So important... and she loathed the fact she couldn't recall them.
The door clicking open had her eyes snapping back open, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling as two unfamiliar elves walked in close behind one another, the lady bringing in a cup of a drink she knew to contain medicinal herbs. The smell was certainly strong enough. They were both dark-haired, just as both Elladan and Elrohir had been, and Anna had the distinct impression they were related, both to the twins she'd met and each other.
"You have woken," the lady spoke, pressing the cup into her hands, and Anna took it without protest. Her mind was oddly numb despite the obnoxious pounding in her head. "I am glad. My brothers feared you might not wake again because they did not find you soon enough..."
Anna blinked, staring between the cup laced with pain relief and numerous other types of herbs she couldn't quite place. She'd been a warrior rather than a healer for a good reason, despite the number of incidents which brought her in front of one. That number was irritatingly high, and she had a horrible feeling it'd only grow higher with the days ahead of her.
"Drink. Your head hurts, does it not?" the lady continued, and Anna sipped from the cup, barely tasting the wonderful concoction. Medicine never tasted nice.
Her tongue felt heavy as the words rolled from it. "Who are you exactly?"
"I am Arwen. Well met, Anna," she spoke, smiling widely, and Anna was reminded painfully how beautiful the eldar were. Well, compared to the mortals she'd been living with for the last few years. "My brothers spoke to me about you," she explained, before gesturing to the taller elf standing by her side. "This is my father, Lord Elrond, who wishes to speak with you... especially regarding your memory difficulties."
"Well... met..." she mumbled, relaxing back against the headboard of the bed she sat on as she tried to figure out what to do and what to say, because there were going to be questions. There were too many unknowns for there not to be. Everyone was suspicious. Especially in war.
"My sons tell me you have trouble even remembering your name." His voice was smooth and clear, and it cut straight to the heart of the matter. "That you came to in the wilds without a clue of how you came to be there."
Anna nodded, swallowing back her apprehension. What he was saying was technically true. She had no idea exactly how Mandos had thrown her into that particular part of the forest.
He took a seat in the chair nearby her bed as his daughter moved to change the bandages on her feet. "Would you perhaps be able to tell me the last thing you remember? Anything to do with your parentage or birthplace would be ideal to aid us in ascertaining your identity."
Her mouth went dry, and she sipped at her bitter medicine, setting it down on the bedside table before she stared at her hands. She couldn't tell him about her mortal years... but the last of her elvish memories... Her hand went to her neck, examining the unblemished skin there. It had been burnt before. She could still smell the scent of her flesh burning. Still remember the sticky sensation as burnt skin met the burnt tissue of her bloodied fingers. Her body had been a patchwork of second and third degree burns by the time she'd died. Funnily enough, the place most untouched had actually been her face. Everything underneath that had been fair game apparently though. Anna shuddered, reminding herself that she wasn't there. She wasn't in Gondolin. Gondolin was destroyed – along with all the records of her birth. But she could hardly tell Lord Elrond that. She didn't particularly want anybody to connect the dots and figure out she'd died. She still wasn't over it, and it was a private affair. She hadn't been strong enough to survive, and the thought burnt at her pride. Talking about that fact would only make it worse. Plus there was the fact that she wasn't ready to face him, and if he lived there he'd no doubt be called to see if he could identify her.
She didn't want that. It couldn't happen. She couldn't risk it. There was too much she didn't know still. She didn't even know the date yet.
Panic clawed at her chest, but Anna was too preoccupied with those spiralling thoughts that she wasn't ready to face him. Wasn't ready to talk about how she'd died in a burning city however many months or years ago. "Anna?" Bright grey eyes peered into her bluish ones, the hands on each of her shoulders warm and comforting—not burning like her neck was. "Anna! Calm yourself. You are safe here within the walls of my father's dwelling."
Anna blinked, staring at Arwen as she dragged herself out of her thoughts, hand moving down to rest over her aching chest as her breathing slowed back to its normal rate. Well if that didn't blare the warning signs that something was up, she didn't know what would. Her shoulders slumped ever so slightly. Why couldn't something not go wrong for her for once in her extraordinary long life?
A loud sigh escaped her, and she desperately tried to dredge up a happy memory with which to distract herself. She smiled softly, sinking back into the soft pillows as she recalled the first time she'd met the Lord of the House of the Golden Flower after reaching her majority.
The hallways were long and decorated with paintings and tapestries, each depicting something different, whether they be warriors, scholars or scenery. She sighed quietly to herself, eyes lingering on stitching of a golden armoured warrior. Male, as most of them tended to be, and something stirred inside her. A feeling she couldn't quite place. Admiration? Longing?
Shaking her head, she continued on her journey to where her mother had asked, books and scrolls in hand as she walked towards the office. There were quite a lot bundled up in her arms, but she'd long since perfected the art of balancing scrolls and the like with one arm, so shifting them into one hand to knock on the door was a simple task.
"Enter!" the clear, musical voice rang out cheerfully from inside.
Vaguely, she wondered what sort of elf could sound happy whilst being forced to do paperwork. Her father had more often than not complained it was the bane of his existence more than once when she'd passed his study in the evening.
The door opened with a small click, and she let herself into the office without any fuss. "My parents and their associates asked for me to bring you their quarterly reports," she said, peering around the large stack of various paperwork she carried.
"Ah, take that to Lachon." The golden-haired elf behind the desk nodded to the ellon standing on a ladder in front of the tall shelf taking up one entire wall of the airy office. "He will sort that out, and I shall look over that this evening."
Nodding, she walked over towards the ladder, ignoring the nobly dressed elf standing beside her Lord's desk, talking to him in hushed tones as she offered the stack she carried up to the silvery-haired ellon on the ladder. "Can you manage it all at once?" she asked, musing whether she should split the pile in two or not.
"If one such as you can, I am sure I am similarly—"
She almost blinked in surprise as his arms gave way seconds after receiving the stack of assorted scrolls and heavy tomes, his foot slipping, and then he was falling to the ground.
"Lachon!"
She barely registered the shout behind them, already moving, foot lancing out to catch the pile of books while her arms darted out to catch the falling elf. It wasn't in her best interests to be the part of the cause that sent another to the hospital, and a nasty fall would've done just that. Plus it wasn't the greatest impression to send to the lord of one's house. "Are you well?" she asked, staring down at the ellon safely bundled in her arms.
"Uh, yes," Lachon mumbled, looking vaguely shell shocked, and the slightest bit of comprehension flickering in those brown eyes of his. "If you could set me on my feet again, I would be most appreciative," he said, and she did as asked, handing him a smaller portion of the hefty pile of paperwork to take back up the ladder with him before gathering the few scroll and books that had escaped her.
"You are Estion and Talviel's daughter, are you not?"
She blinked at the sounds of her parents' names. "Yes?" she spoke, swallowing slightly at the sight of those enthusiastic grey eyes locking on her.
"Have you decided on which profession you would like to enter into yet? You recently came of age."
"I have not just yet," she said, stepping back under the feeling of those eyes fixed on her. It was unnerving – being the centre of someone's attention.
"Well there are training sessions taking place in the courtyard at the seventh and eighteenth hours. Do feel free to come along, I have a feeling you will fit in perfectly," he said, smiling brightly, and she blinked yet again, brain struggling to process exactly what was going on. Had he just invited her to training with the rest of the warriors of the House of the Golden Flower?
"Uh, I will, thank you," she said, almost stumbling over her words. Almost. "Well I will be on my way then..." Her hand fumbled behind her for the door handle, relief sweeping through her as she twisted it open without having to break eye contact with the intent stare of the Lord of the House of the Golden Flower. "Have fun with your paperwork."
She hurried out into the corridor, shoulders sinking in relief as she felt those eyes turn from her retreating form.
"Have fun with paperwork?" the black-haired ellon by the desk spoke. "Now that is just a precious thing to say. How adorable..."
"No poaching my house members, Ecthelion."
Her lips curved into a nostalgic grin, and Anna sighed yet again, relaxing into Arwen's touch. It was comforting to be surrounded by her kin after all those years in the mortal world. Their presence made the world seem that much brighter for some reason, and she was far more sensitive to that after her stay with Rochel and her other dear friends. She ignored the pang in her heart that came with those names. She just needed to weather those thoughts. Remember that she'd lived the best life she could with them before moving on as she was supposed to. She'd weather it and that grief would fade in time. She only hoped it wouldn't be replaced by more grief. She'd had about as much of that as she could take.
"I suspect my questions will have to wait a little while," Lord Elrond spoke. "Perhaps until you have fully recovered from your ordeal in the forest? I will see to your housing arrangements for your stay, Lady Anna, so please do not stress yourself so." He stood, and Anna stared at him, confusion and numerous questions she couldn't ask racing in her mind. Why would he leave a strange elleth who'd arrived at his doorstep unquestioned and unsupervised? She could be anyone... and yet something told her this strange elf lord was anything but foolish. She bit her lip. Though if he was smart enough, he'd likely try to figure things out for himself, at least partially, by observing her and listening to any details she might let slip. The truth always came out eventually. It was just a matter of time. A matter of time until she was forced to face him again, and Anna wanted to hold that off for as long as possible. "Rest for now. Healing takes time, especially when it comes to those wounds which cannot be seen by eye."
She felt her eyes narrow. Lord Elrond was no idiot, and he was watching her curiously even then. Those grey eyes glinted with knowledge and power, and he'd been looking at her like she was his next puzzle. There was no mistaking the fact he'd figure everything out eventually. She recognised that telling gleam in his gaze.
"Might I enquire as to how long I have been here?" she asked, hoping to get some idea of the date without asking for it specifically. It wouldn't do to make the game too easy.
"You were unconscious for seven days and seven nights after my sons brought you into my care," he said, grey eyes fixed on her own. They were so different to her own lord's, but oddly similar. They'd both held positions of power – and they'd held them for reasons.
She swallowed, barely concealing the scowl as she was forced to ask the question that had been bugging her ever since her arrival on Arda. "And the date?"
"October the seventeenth," he answered, staring at her levelly as she made her face as blank as possible. Maybe it was only a year or two— "Of the Year 2139 of the Third Age, if you really want to know."
Anna felt something shatter inside her mind, her face unnaturally still as she nodded dully in response to his answer. Her ears were ringing, and she barely heard Arwen say her farewells minutes later as the sunlight began to fade and dusk eventually fell. The Third Age. Her hands shook, and she stared down at them, mind unnaturally blank in that instant as she tried to process the bombshell that had just been dropped on her. She was in the Third Age. Tears rolled down her cheeks, hot and heavy. The last date she remembered was Year 510 of the First Age. A sob escaped her, teeth sinking into her lower lip as she kept her crying as quiet as possible. Just how much had she missed?