Adult-FanFiction.org : Lord of the Rings

Nothing Gold Can Stay	By : TAFKAB Category: +Third Age > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 5311 -:- 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
- 28
- 29
- 30
“Odulen an edraith angin.” A voice, familiar, came faintly to Gimli him as though through cotton wool, penetrating the mists of sleep. He would have turned away from it if he could, but he was seized with the paralysis of the dreamer, and he could not. Rest and warmth beckoned, and Gimli sank toward them. But hands intruded, scrabbling about his body, refusing to let him drift away. They were hot against his body, so hot they burned, and he remembered the wraith’s vision. Legolas. Legolas, bringing all his skin to life, such pleasure awakening in the touch it all but seared him.

Gimli struggled-- or tried to, but he could not move.

“No dirweg!” A sharper voice intruded. Gandalf. Now more hands moved Gimli, and pain came to him. He hissed, struggling, but his limbs still did not want to answer his call.

“Boe de nestad, hiril vuin.” Strider babbled in the elven tongue, for it came as naturally to him as Westron.

“Naur an edraith ammen! ….Tolo anin naur.” Gandalf again, underscored by a crackle of flame and a puff of smoke.

“Speak the bloody common tongue!” Gimli forced the words through his numb lips, but they would not obey him, and he could not make himself understood.

Hands touched him, lifting him, and he could feel the fire begin to warm him on one side, awakening new pain in limbs all but frozen.

“Do not be afraid.” That was the lady, and Gimli relaxed at last, hearing her voice among the others. “We have crossed through the pass; you fell toward the western side. You will be well as soon as you are warm.”

Snow was falling, crystalline flakes winking gold in the firelight as his eyes opened. Galadriel smiled down upon him. She lifted a flask from her belt and opened the cork, pouring a little of the fluid it held into Gimli’s mouth. An elvish liquor, potent and sharp, its warmth bloomed on Gimli’s tongue and swiftly flowed through his limbs as he swallowed.

Then the lady moved aside, and Legolas appeared in her place, gazing down into Gimli’s face, his eyes still bright with fading fear.

“Our score is now even, yet I count you the victor, for your quick thinking saved the lady Galadriel and Strider. They might have perished under the stones you struck aside before you fell.” Legolas laid a warm hand on Gimli’s brow.

The snow was yet falling, swirling down in a thick canopy that threatened to extinguish the fire, though it burned hot and quick in branches of pine and fir. Gimli blinked flakes out of his lashes, looking up into a face he had never hoped to see again, and wondered at how the sight warmed him. It struck him strangely, of a sudden-- this face, once so hateful to him, once so terrible and haughty, now looked on him with tenderness, and the sight of Legolas's countenance made him more glad than any other, even the Lady.

“Be swift in tending him, Strider.” Gandalf scowled up into the swirling blizzard. “We must move on. We are not beyond danger yet.”

“I will sing again now that we have found him.” Galadriel rose, and Gimli heard her chant begin anew.

Legolas chafed Gimli’s arms and Strider his legs. They gave Gimli Galadriel’s flask to sip and helped him sit up to warm his limbs at the fire. The lad tended the many cuts and bruises Gimli had gathered on his face and fingers, but he was not too damaged.

Strider laid hands on Gimli, testing his bones and watching his face for signs of pain. “Fortune favors you, dwarf. Either you lead a charmed life and missed striking the stones, or you are in fact as tough as the rock itself!”

“That I am,” Gimli said stoutly, feeling more himself with every mouthful of the lady’s cordial. “The rocks moved aside rather than risk me splitting them asunder!”

Legolas laughed, pulling off Gimli’s boot. “Your toes are cold, but they are not gray,” he murmured with relief, and began to rub them between his long-fingered hands. “We feared the worst every moment you remained unfound.”

Gimli stared down in wonder at the elf tending his feet, kneeling by him humbly. “Aye, well.” He could think of no more to say for a moment. His toes stung as warmth began to penetrate them. Legolas tugged off his other boot as well, helping him prop his feet near the fire. “Would that my father were here now to see the Prince of Mirkwood kneel before his son and rub his toes!”

Legolas’s ears flushed deep pink, but when he looked up at Gimli, his eyes were merry. “And would that my father were here as well to scold me for it, so I might tell him of your valor!”

The snow lessened gradually in response to the lady’s chant, and Gandalf kept watch in case a new storm arose, but it did not.

As soon as he had finished the cordial, Gimli declared himself recovered. They set out with caution, but it seemed the mountain had spent its fury.

“Can we be sure it was Saruman who sent the storm?” Strider walked alongside the wizard while Gimli accompanied the lady.

“The spell was surely his.” Gandalf scowled. “I knew not that he could reach so far abroad.” He huffed displeasure. “We must be cautious.”

They rode on, reaching the tree line near midmorning the next day, and proceeded down in cautious stages. Galadriel seemed weary after the long days of singing her spells, so Gimli took pains to serve her convenience, aware of Legolas watching without comment as he did. Gimli wondered at the constant, steady regard, but did not change his attentions to Galadriel, for she had grown dear to him. If Legolas was so surprised Gimli might willingly befriend another of elven-kind, then let him stare.

Gimli also noticed how Legolas now stayed every night in the tent next to him if one or the other of them were not on watch, taking pains to speak pleasantly with him before they slept. Gimli made no remark upon it, but he found himself growing ever more pleased by Legolas's companionship.

Soon after passing into the foothills they reached Rivendell. The valley opened without warning one afternoon to spread before them in beauty, delicate pillared walks and elegant buildings perched on the verge of a canyon cut by swift-flowing waters.

"Imladris," Gandalf sighed with relief. "Here we may rest a while and take counsel with Lord Elrond."
Notes:

Odulen an edraith angin: I'm here to save you.
No dirweg!: Be watchful!
Boe de nestad, hiril vuin: It's necessary to heal him, my lady
Naur an edraith ammen! ….Tolo anin naur.: Fire for the saving of us! ....Come near the fire.

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/ !
- 28
- 29
- 30
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