*******
After a week of walking in the tunnels, and having lost Lothiri on the way, Mallyra and Merry were so close to reaching their destination. Both were tired, hungry, and beginning to grow fed up of the darkening tunnels. A second before Mallyra finally snapped, Merry piped up,
"C-can you feel that?" He ruffled his hair, before holding his arm out to the left. Mallyra copied him, and felt a ripple of relief pass over her as she felt a cool breeze flow through her fingers.
"Where's it coming from?" She gasped, spinning fully to the left to follow the cold air. Rushing forward, Mallyra almost dropped to her knees once her eyes fell upon what looked like a door. It was solid stone, but shards of light poured into the caverns from underneath it. Mallyra looked across at Merry, as they both dashed towards it. They pushed hard against the stone for what seemed like an eternity, before it began to give way. One final push lead to the door opening outwards, and a rush wind blowing inwards. Merry blinked hard, as he stared out into the open, his breath catching in his throat. It was almost like paradise after being trapped down in those tunnels.
"Bless my soul.." he whispered to himself as he stepped out onto the frosted grass. He was met with the sight of a hazed sky, cream coloured streams of cloud sailing across it. In the distance stood a small forest of trees, and behind that, a lake, leading up to the foot of the purple silhouette of the lonely mountain. Nothing could have prepared him for this view. After a moment of silence, Merry turned to where Mallyra had been stood, only to see her sprawled on the grass laughing softly to herself.
"Mallyra?" Merry chuckled to himself, walking over to her. She sat up, before smiling up at him,
"I have never ever been so happy to see grass." Mallyra sighed, laying back down on the grass. Merry joined her cautiously, as he too stared up at the sky. They lay rather peacefully for about five minutes or so, before something began to scratch at Merry's mind. He propped himself up, and peered across at Mallyra, who now had her eyes closed, and her thick hair laying on the grass behind her.
"Mallyra.. I have a question to ask." He said, causing her blue eyes to open.
"What's wrong, Merry?" She replied, blinking up at him.
"What's going on between you and Pippin?" He blurted, immediately regretting his decision of asking that question after seeing her reaction. Mallyra sat up abruptly, and stared blankly back at Merry.
"Nothing. Why would you ask that?" She hisssed, turning and looking up at the view.
"Well I heard about the kiss, and I've seen the way you look at eachother so there's no point in denying there's something. But just answer me this.. why can't you be with him? Can't you see how madly in love with you he is? It's tearing him up, and I have never seen him like this before after being friends with him for as long as I have." Merry placed a hand on Mallyra's shoulder.
Mallyra felt a lump form in her throat.
"It's.. because I can't." A tear rolled down her cheek as she took in Merry's words. "Loth- I mean.. Uryté.. told me it was for his own good. I read that Etani would require something personal.. something loved dearly.. and she said that if I told Pippin how I felt, or showed it, he could be what Etani takes from me. That is not what I want to happen.. simply for the fact that I do care for him a great deal, and I think that I-if I wait until we get home, we can be together, as he wants us to be.. I mean.. that's if we ever get home." Her words echoed in her mind, as she watched Merry's face fall.
"W-what?" Merry choked. "You're joking.. right?" Mallyra rubbed her temple,
"I wish I was Merry, but I'm not. And it's killing me just keeping that from him." She sat back again, listening to the wind rustle through the nearby trees. Dazed, Merry sat in silence too, not knowing what to say. They then sat, not saying a word, both not knowing what to say. That was until, the surrounding wind seemed to pick up.
"What the?" Merry questioned, frowning lightly as he saw a shadow pass over the ground. It didn't take him long to figure out that the shadow had wings, and immediatly felt a sharp tang at the back of his throat. "Mallyra, get down!" He ordered, watching as the young hobbit dived behind a nearby rock. From the spot which the two had chosen to hide, they observed the white shape of a dragon glide across the land, and settle down on the land nearest the trees. As the dragon landed, it shook it's head gracefully, sending ripples of energy down it's neck. No sooner had the dragon folded it's great wings to it's side, three figures jumped down from it's haunches. Two were rather small, but the other was taller and well built. Mallyra drew a breath,
"Pippin?" She whispered. With a sharp turn of the head, she looked from the dragon, to Merry and then back to the dragon. "Oh my, Merry... It's them!" She exclaimed, before bolting from her hiding place, and thundering across the ground between them as to greet her friends.
*****
"Pippin!" He heard his name faintly in the distance, but chose to ignore it. Probably just a figment of his imagination. "Pippin!" There it was again, but slightly louder. Pippin frowned across at Frodo, before Frodo himself looked at where the noise was seeming to be coming from.
"Pippin.. isn't that?" Frodo muttered. Pippin turned, looking to what Frodo was now pointing towards. That instant, he felt his heart leap into his mouth,
"Mallyra?" he called out, his eyes wide. "MALLYRA!" Pippin yelped, feeling his feet go from underneath him as he involuntary charged in her direction. The pair ran to eachother as fast as their small hobbit legs would carry them, until they thudded together, the two of them falling backwards onto the crystallised grass.
"Pippin, I have missed you so much!" Mallyra squealed, before pulling him into a tight hug.
"Don't you ever go falling down holes again, Ra!" Pippin teased, before he too pulled her into an even tighter hug. The two lay in eachother's arms for another second or two, until the rest of their party had reached their side.
"Merry!" Pippin cried, jumping to his feet, as Frodo cheered, greeting his friend with a warm hand shake. Merry peered round, an expression of confusion on his face.
"Frodo, where is Sam?" He asked, slightly concerned. Frodo shrugged slightly, looking up at Aiwendil, who had been in deep conversation with the white dragon for quite sometime.
"He fell.. from Raena's back... but I assure you, master hobbit, he will be with us by night fall.
"What about Lothiri?" Pippin turned to Merry again, causing Mallyra to shudder.
"She.. Lothiri is no longer.. Lothiri." Merry tried to explain, rubbing his temple, and gesturing the others to sit as he did so.
*********
As the darkness drew over the sky, Raena bowed her head slowly, before bidding the travellers good bye. With three beats of her sharded wings, the white dragon launched herself up into the deep sky, gliding across it like a dimmed shooting star.
Merry had managed to get a fire going, and was now feeding it with the wood Aiwendil had fetched from the edge of the forest. He was sat cross legged, listening to Frodo talk about riding Raena as he did so. Aiwendil simply sat chuckling to himself as he listened to the hobbit tell his perception of the tale. Mallyra and Pippin were both sat by the edge of what seemes to be a small pond, filled with lillypads and a small number of silver fish. Up to that moment, they had been discussing Mallyra's adventures in the dragon tunnels, as she'd so named them, but the conversation switched topics, as Pippin looked across at her. Her hair danced gently in the wind, and as usual, the pale moonlight made her eyes sparkle like the water before them. Pippin caught his breath,
"You know, being away from you for so long made me realise something.." he started, rubbing the back of his neck. Mallyra looked across at him, her cheeks burning lightly,
"W-what did you realise?" She asked, pulling herself off the ground. Pippin copied her movements, before turning to her,
"I realised how much you mean to me, Ra." He said softly, watching as the hobbit in front of him scrunched up the bottom of her shirt nervously,
"I-I d- wait- urm- I" she stammered, trying to think of something to say. But before she could, Pippin placed his hands on her shoulders, and looked her square in the eyes, causing her blue eyes to open wider.
"I love you, Mallyra. Or at least I think I do." Pippin smiled nervously, he too going as red in the face as Mallyra. Mallyra felt herself freeze, before she tears streamed from her wide eyes.
" I- I- can't.. not yet.." she answered quickly. Pippin frowned harder than Mallyra had seen him do before, he went to speak, but Mallyra placed her fingertips to his lips, "I know what you are going to say, and the answer is because it's for your own good."
"You keep saying that, but all I want is to be with you, Ra, and you're not telling me why I can't, so please, just explain it to me!" Pippin replied, sounding slightly frustrated. Mallyra looked up into his green eyes, before sighing loudly.
"Okay, I'll tell you." She said solumnly. "I can't be with you, because I care for you, but if I show my feelings the dragon Etani may request you as the sacrifice for something I love." Mallyra forced out the explanation as quickly as possible. Pippin stood, dazed, flustered and speechless.
"Mallyra," he finally continued, "I don't care if he wants me to be a sacrifice if it means that in my last few days or weeks, I get to be with you.." he smiled, wiping the tears from her cheeks. Mallyra clasped her hand around Pippin's, and for the first time, she broke down in floods of tears, her face pressed against Pippin's chest.
"But I thought that if we could wait until we get home, we could actually be together.." she sniffed, looking up at him.
"If that's what you want, then I won't force you to be with me just yet." Pippin smiled. Mallyra nodded quickly,
"I want to be with you for as long as I can in this life," she grinned through her tears. Pippin cradled her lightly, before having an idea.
"If we can't be together just yet, will you at least dance with me?" He asked, catching her eyes with a small grin. Mallyra frowned at first, but then nodded in agreement. "I just hope you don't mind me singing," Pippin added, resulting in a sarcastic glance from her. "I'll take that as a no.. haha!" Pippin chuckled, as he slowly began to sway with Mallyra in his arms. After a moment of silence, Pippin began to sing,
" It feels like I'm up on a wire,
And you just keep lifting it higher
I'm right on the edge,
And I'm doing my best not to fall
It feels like the world's spinning faster,
Towards a beautiful perfect disaster
The moment you kissed me,
I knew I was risking it all...
The further I run from you,
The closer I get to the truth
And I feel like nothing can save me,
It's something I just can't undo,
Cause I can't not love you"
Mallyra mumbled quietly to herself, looking up at Pippin once more,
"That was beautiful, did you just make that up?" She asked, causing Pippin to smile in reply,
"Yes.. I guess I did. But it's true," he chuckled. Mallyra sighed, peering at Pippin's thin lips.
"I.." she stammered, as she leant forward. But just as she did so, a huge gust of air, followed by the deafening beat of a wing, caused her to nearly jump three feet in the air.
"Wait, that's.." Mallyra choked, a large grin on her face, "Uryté!"