Hope ↠ LOTR

VII. Healing

It was a long time until she was able to stop the tears from flowing freely down her face, and it was even longer until Legolas released her from his arms. When he did he silently helped her stand up onto her feet, her legs shaky beneath her as he guided her to perch on the end of the dusty bed. He left her momentarily before returning with medical supplies and taking a seat beside her—Gimli still keeping guard outside the door.

He gently took her hand in his and began to clean her wound, mumbling out an apology when he felt her flinch from the stinging pain that cleaning it caused her. She felt exhausted but at the same time she felt as if the weight she had been carrying for so long had lessened. By no means had she recovered from their deaths but she felt like she had taken the first step that she needed to in order to heal. She had finally let the pain in, allowed it to consume her and devour her whole, and now she was left in the aftermath. For years Athena had tried to keep herself from breaking, tried to keep the grief at bay but now she realised that feeling the torment was what she needed to recover from it. Now that the tsunami of emotions had washed through her she was finally allowed to pick up the scattered pieces and build herself back together, brick by brick.

"Thank you," she whispered when he finished binding her hand with a piece of cloth used as a makeshift bandage.

He softly smiled at her in response. More than anything he was thankful that she had allowed herself to feel the grief that had watched her for most of her life. He had seen firsthand what happened to people who pushed it away, he had watched his father become distant and cold after the death of his mother and it lightened his heart when she did not fall into the same chasm that he had done.

They sat there in silence for a moment before a commotion was heard outside, the people whispering to themselves and huddling together. Out of curiosity and confusion the two of them stood up and walked out of the room, Gimli nowhere to be found anymore.

"What's happening?" Legolas asked the first person that they saw.

"He's back! The Ranger is back!" They responded cheerfully.

Athena stared at the woman who had answered them, her heart threatening to stop at her words. It couldn't be true, could it? Though she had seen him fall hours earlier a newfound hope surged through her for she knew deep in her heart that it was not a mere lie she was being told. She immediately took off running in the direction of where Théoden was staying, she knew that he would go straight to the king upon his return. She pushed past the gathered people in the streets, not bothering to mumble out apologies as she had done earlier.

She rounded a corner and ran up a set of stairs and her eyes widened when she saw a man clad in black with a green cloak, his scraggly hair reaching his shoulders. He turned around as if he had sensed the presence of his sister, sending her a small smile. As soon as his lips curved upwards she rushed forwards and flung herself into his arms, her arms wound tightly around his shoulders while his went around her waist, her feet leaving the floor momentarily from the force in which they held each other. When her feet touched the ground again she pulled away from the hug and brushed some of his hair out of his face, scanning his features to make sure that he was really in front of her. When she was confident that he was she leaned forwards and planted a loving kiss on his forehead before pulling back and resting her forehead against his, tears welling in her eyes.

"I thought you were dead," she whispered to him.

"You promised you would never leave me. Did it never occur to you that I had vowed the same?" He responded, raising his hand to brush away a stray tear that escaped from her eye.

She chuckled happily before the two of them fully pulled away from one another, Legolas approaching them with his own smile at seeing his friend back with them.