Adult-FanFiction.org : Lord of the Rings

Nothing Gold Can Stay	By : TAFKAB Category: +Third Age > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 5309 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 21
- 22
- 23
Gimli awoke to a strange, heavy silence, as though the entire forest had ceased to breathe. There was no sound, not even the crackling of a morning fire. He opened his eyes, finding himself within the dim grey of a tent, which had apparently been pitched over him while he slept.

When he parted the flap an inch or two, he found a blanket of snow covering the ground, thick and wet, weighing down the branches and trees and lying in pure perfection everywhere. Tents had sprouted in a ring around the clearing while he slept, and the fire had gone out. Haldir sat watch, sheltered in his cloak, a thin layer of snow gathering on the hood. His keen eyes darted to note Gimli’s movement.

Since there was no breakfast and no coffee, Gimli let the flap fall and sat back, stifling a groan. Snow was a misery for travelers.

With a bright flare of light, Legolas threw aside the tent flap and came inside, bending and taking up his half of the ground. “The snow is still falling,” he said. “I brought waybread for you.” He laid a leaf-wrapped packet on Gimli’s blanket.

“No fire,” Gimli muttered. “No coffee.”

“The wood is wet,” Legolas agreed. “I have been scouting in the snow. The world is made new, a strange enchanted place.”

“A wet and chilly place.” Gimli ate his waybread. “Will we journey on today?”

“We will wait until the snow stops before we ride.” Legolas twitched the blanket, smiling. “Will you arise and cut more wood for us, so that we may build a new fire?”

Gimli did, taking his axe into the woods, hauling back a large sack filled with lengths hacked from a deadfall log. When he returned, Legolas and Haldir were gone.

Gimli bowed to the lady. “Sit at your ease, my lady, and I will build a fire to warm us.” He stacked the wood swiftly and got out his flint, but everything was so wet he could make no headway.

“Here, stand aside,” Gandalf told him, and put his staff to the pile of kindling, he muttered beneath his breath. A puff of smoke heralded flame, and Gimli hastily knelt to tend the blaze, adding wood bit by bit until it burned strongly.

“We have rabbits left still,” Strider said, and began to roast them on skewers. Gimli went to the river to find water, frowning at the tracks of the elves as he crossed them. They had gone downriver over ground covered the previous day, moving fast.

They did not return, though day passed and night fell. Still the snow sifted down from a leaden sky, never entirely stopping.

The lady spent much of her time in speech with Gandalf and Strider, but as evening fell she ventured forth toward the river, and Gimli followed her, his axe in hand. “To ease my mind, my lady,” he told her. “We know not what may walk abroad in the night.”

“You may come, if you would see me greet the evening stars.” She smiled on him. Leaving armor and weapon behind, she went out, barefoot into the snow, wearing only her light riding clothes, but the cold did not touch her. He followed near behind, sinking deep with every step, but she walked lightly atop the drifts, and she had loosed her hair to blow in the gentle wind. Flakes of snow settled in it and gleamed with brief glints of starfire, taking Gimli’s breath for sheer beauty.

She went to the bank of the river, where a skim of ice formed over the shallows, and lifted her hands to the skin, dancing slowly, her dress billowing in the breeze. Gimli’s heart caught in his throat, and he watched entranced, listening to her sing, her voice soft and low. The clouds rolled back as if listening to her, and the sky shone forth, velvet-black and glimmering with a dusted net of diamonds, each gleaming star piercing Gimli’s heart with wonder.

When she finished, Gimli bowed his head, clutching his axe, unable to speak. She came to him, smiling. “Let us go back to the camp,” she said. “We will sing and tell tales until the others return.”

Gimli only nodded, abashed by her beauty, and followed her back to the camp, where she made Strider sit with her by the fire. The two of them sang many songs in Elvish together, their voices blending in the night. Gandalf sat smoking, and Gimli joined him, pulling out his pipe.

At last Galadriel stopped and smiled at Gimli. “We have sung many songs, though perhaps they were not to your liking. Will you not sing us one of your own?”

Gimli hesitated. He could sing one of the songs he had been taught to sing in company with those who were not dwarves, or… this was the queen of the Galadhrim, who had looked on him with kindness and greeted him as an equal.

“It is not possible to sing a dwarvish song properly in the wood. Here no echoes may roll, and you will hear only one dwarf singing, so there will be no harmony. But I will sing a song we dwarves do not sing before outsiders, because it is you who ask.” Gimli set aside his pipe and looked about. Finding a cookpot, he moved it between his knees, tapping on it and frowning. He cast about, then scuffed his feet against the earth-- the leaves rustled, and that would serve.

He began to hum, closing his eyes and tapping his fingers on his makeshift drum, thinking of dark places in the earth. He scuffed his feet, slow and careful. The memory of Caradhras returned to him, and he began half to chant and half to sing, his voice low and deep.

Durin ku bin-amrad
Ugmal sullu addad
Ku bakana
Ana aznân
Undu abad
Ku ganaga
Tur ganâd abanul
Durin ku bin-amrad
Uzbad Khazaddûmu
Ku baraka
Aznân
ra karaka
atkât
ala lukhudizu!
ala galabizu!
ala ukratizu!
Khazad-dûm!
Kilmîn thatur ni zâram kalil ra narag, Kheled-zâram.
Durin tazlifi.

Gimli opened his eyes, staring into the flames, still following the rhythm with his drumming fingers. The fire dazzled his eyes for a moment, but then he became aware of Legolas, who stood just within the circle of firelight. The Prince of the Woodland Realm had appeared without sound to remain aloof, listening with his head tilted-- the very image of Thranduil, remote and cold, staring down at Gimli as though he beheld a worm wriggling in the dirt. Gimli’s voice sank to a whisper as he skipped to last words of the final verse.

Ma nîd sakhu!
Ma satf unkhai!
Atkât zatagrafizu
Zatablugi sulluzu.

He set aside the pot and would sing no more, his gaze resting upon his feet.

The lady rose and went to him, setting her hand upon his shoulder, her voice gentle and warm. “Dark is the water of Kheled-zâram, and cold are the springs of Kibil-nâla, and fair were the many-pillared halls of Khazad-dûm in Elder Days before the fall of mighty kings beneath the stone.”

Gimli lifted his head to her, fierce tears burning his eyes from the kindness and understanding in her voice. “Yet more fair is the Lady Galadriel of Lothlórien, whose beauty is above all jewels that lie beneath the earth!”

She smiled on him and went back to her place.

Gimli rose and retreated to his tent, not looking back to watch Legolas and Haldir take the two empty seats by the fire.

NOTES:

Durin ku bin-amrad: Durin who is Deathless
Ugmal sullu addad: Eldest of all fathers
Ku bakana: Who awoke
Ana aznân: To darkness
Undu abad: Beneath the mountain
Ku ganaga: Who walked alone
Tur ganâd abanul: Through halls of stone
Durin ku bin-amrad: Durin who is deathless
Uzbad Khazaddûmu: Lord of Khazad-dum
Ku baraka: Who cleaved
Aznân: The dark
ra karaka: And broke
atkât: The silence
ala lukhudizu!: This is your light!
ala galabizu!: This is your word!
ala ukratizu!: This is your glory!
Khazad-dûm!: The Dwarrowdelf of Khazad-dum!
Kilmîn thatur ni zâram kalil ra narag, Kheled-zâram.: A crown of stars in the cold, black water of Kheled-zaram.
Durin tazlifi.: Durin sleeps.

(These lyrics are from DURIN’S SONG by Philippa Boyens, with Khuzdul by David Salo)

Ma nîd sakhu!: Do not look down
Ma satf unkhai!: Nor step too close
Atkât zatagrafizu: The silence will take you
Zatablugi sulluzu.: It will swallow you whole.

(These lyrics are from FOUNDATIONS OF STONE by Philippa Boyens, with Khuzdul by David Salo)

A comment response thread for this story can be found at http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/62310-review-replies-for-nothing-gold-can-stay-by-tafkab/ !
- 21
- 22
- 23
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Nothing Gold Can Stay