Eliza's Adventure (Aragorn Love Story)

- 14 -

The next morning I was one of the first members of the company to be awake. I sat up and noticed a beautiful elven dress beside me. I stood and grabbed it to go and change but next to the dress I noticed a roll of bandages with a note that said, "For the blisters and bruises on your waist".

I frowned. I thought I had hidden those well but someone had noticed. I walked a little ways from the rest of the company to try and dress my blisters. I was really struggling to wrap them well, when I heard some twigs snap behind me. I turned and noticed Boromir walking toward me.

"Good morning, Eliza." he greeted me.

"Morning," I muttered in return.

"How are you doing after the events of yesterday?" 

He seemed genuinely interested to know if I was doing okay, but I wasn't ready to talk about what had happened the day before, so I just shrugged in response and turned my attention back to the bandages in my hands.

Boromir tried again to start a conversation. "I never got the chance to thank you for watching my back during the battle yesterday," he started.

I shrugged again, "Don't mention it."

"The least I can do is help you dress your wounds?" Boromir asked, reaching out for the bandages.

I really didn't want Boromir of all people, helping me but I couldn't dress it well on my own so I begrudgingly handed him the bandages.

He started to gently dress my waist. "So, I noticed some tension with you and Aragorn?" I tensed up, but didn't respond. "I think he is being ignorant. He is once again only looking out for himself and not caring about those around him..." Boromir continued.

My blood started to boil as I heard him insult Aragorn. I cut him off, "Thanks for your input on the subject, Boromir, but trust me when I say, it is extremely unnecessary." It was impossible to miss the anger in my voice.

He frowned. "I am trying to comfort you! Why are you acting so selfish and rude? You seem to think you're better than all of us, don't you? That we aren't justified in having our own problems?" His voice had risen several octaves and he was now roughly wrapping the bandage, making me wince as he tightened it out of anger. However, I knew that he wasn't truly trying to comfort me when it came to Aragorn. He wanted someone to help him put Aragorn down, and that wouldn't be me.

"I'm sorry but I didn't ask for your comfort or your counsel," I responded, trying to stay relatively quiet and calm. "Thank you for trying to help with the bandages, but I can do the rest."

"I'm almost done." He growled in response and I grimaced as he tied it off, the bandages extremely tight around my stomach and waist. Then, he stalked off without another word.

I stayed where I was, trying to decide if I should try and redress my waist or just deal with it as Boromir had left it. But I could feel the bandages chaffing against the blisters, so I worked on picking at the knot Boromir had tied to undo the dressings. I was so focused on the task at hand that I failed to notice another person walking toward me.

"I see you found the bandages I left for you."

I jumped and turned to face the one person who could make me feel better about the events of yesterday. "Um, yes, thank you Aragorn." I whispered, unsure how to act in his presence.

"And, you're untying them because...?" he trailed off.

"They just got a little tight, that's all." I explained, continuing to pick at the knot.

"Will you allow me to help you?" Aragorn asked me quietly. I simply nodded and he knelt next to me on the ground and pulled at the bandages around my stomach and waist. "These are extremely tight! What are you trying to do, cut off all of your circulation?" he asked in shock.

"Boromir tied them for me when he saw me struggling earlier this morning but I made him a little upset and he unknowingly tightened them a painful amount," I said.

Aragorn sighed, pulled out his dagger, and cut the bandages to start retying them. "You should've woken me up. I would've helped you."

"How was I supposed to know that?" I whispered, tearing up a little as I remembered the hurtful words he had yelled at me the day before.

Aragorn sighed again, much more heavily and didn't respond right away. We both watched his gentle hands finish dressing and tying the bandages. "Better?" he asked me.

"Yeah, thanks." I said, quietly, and stood up to walk away, not knowing what else to say.

Aragorn caught my wrist though, and gently pulled me back to face him. "Eliza, I can not say how sorry I am for my actions yesterday. I was upset and I let grief cloud my mind and I unleashed it on you and I apologize." I nodded, but kept my eyes fixed on the ground. "I know how much Gandalf meant to you," he continued, softly, "and I know if you could've done anything to change that outcome, you would've. I'm so, so sorry."

I finally looked up at him and saw the sadness and the worry in his eyes. "It's okay, I forgive you. I think I knew deep down that you didn't really mean it and it was just the grief talking. I let my own grief get in the way as well." 

He let a small smile of relief make its way onto his face. "From now on, I promise to trust you and to be there for you when you need someone to comfort you. I'm sorry I wasn't that person for you yesterday." I smiled, too, finally feeling a bit of the gloom lift as he brought me into a hug.

We sat in the woods for several hours, as I told him about my meeting with Lady Galadriel as well as my encounter with Boromir that morning. We both were able to take comfort in confiding in the other, something I had been worried I had lost yesterday.