The Forgotten Princess

Ten Thousand Uruks

Lessien stared as she saw her father limp into the hall, his vision disregarding of her entire existence, and his eyes for the king and only the king.

It made Lessien feel as if she were the ghost, the one who had been dead for a week, and no one could see her.

Worry was apparent all over his face and his eyes appeared glassy with exhaustion. "King Théoden, I request a moment of private with you, a long with my friends."

Was that all he had to say? Lessien thought, for she wished to embrace her father, just to make sure he was real.

These thoughts were cut off, for she noticed Aragorn's attention turned to her. Lessien's emotions were so intense, she could just stare at him, hardly daring to move.

She got too wrapped up in her thoughts, for the next thing she knew she was enveloped in her father's embrace. He was taller than she remembered but the safe feeling she had around him never left. She held him tighter and tighter and knew that if she ever lost him again it would be the end of her.

Lately, things had been hard. Aragorn seemed to be cutting her off and Lessien returned the favor due to the anger she felt towards him and Eowyn. But when Aragorn had supposedly died, it seemed to have opened up both of their eyes and it was now how it once had been a year ago.

"I am so sorry, Father," she murmured against his chest.

"No, forgive me," Aragorn comforted and Lessien wondered how she could have ever held a grudge against him. She didn't ask how he got back, or how the battle had gone, and he didn't ask anything else in return.

Lessien could only thin. How could she have ever been angry at her father who knew her better than anyone in the world?

-

Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, and Lessien had been gathered to consult with Théoden, all eager or worried for news.

Lessien, Legolas and Gimli stood back, while the king paced and Aragorn stood as spokesperson for the small group.

"Saruman's arm has reached far, relentless and merciless. He has released a great host upon us."

"A great host, you say?" Théoden replied gravely, after a moment of thought.

"All Isengard is unleashed," Aragorn said these words strained and clipped so Lessien knew he was worried. He might have went on if Théoden hadn't easily cut into the conversation again.

His footsteps' echoes seemed to be the loudest thing in the silent hall. Gimli and Legolas's faces were solemn and Lessien's unreadable, for as for the moment she was occupied hanging onto Aragorn's every word. War was upon them, that much was sure, but the question was: what were the odds against them?

"How many?" When Theoden finally managed to get the words out, they seemed demanding and stressed.

"Ten thousand strong, at least," Aragorn replied.

Surprise was written all over Théoden's face and even Legolas, whom usually remained passive, seemed shocked.

"Ten thousand?" the King exclaimed in disbelief, barely a whisper.

"It is an army bred for one purpose," Aragorn began.

Théoden turned and took a few steps towards him, as if that was his plea for Aragorn to answer.

He regretted it.

"To destroy the world of men."

The darkness in the room seemed to thicken, the small patches of sunlight that fell upon them from high windows and the pathetic glowing torches left the council in what felt like a dense darkness. From the loss of hope, or a process of eyes adjusting, no one knew.

For Lessien, though, the darkness seemed to tighten around her.  The familiar feeling of invasion returned and then symptoms of severe fever showed up in Lessien from nowhere. Never had it showed itself physically.

She felt her legs go limp under her and the sides of her vision slowly, ever so slowly, go black.

The ocean noise returned.

The last thing Lessien saw was her father looking down at her with wild eyes, full of surprise and worry.

-

Once again, Lessien was in her dream world, but it wasn't her rose garden. It was plainly complete darkness and confusion. She didn't remember what had happened and she didn't know why she was dreaming.

Suddenly, she was standing beside Legolas, with sword in hand, standing in a line of archers.

In front of them was the army of ten thousand Uruks, prints of white hands pressed onto their faces and shields. They were all howling in delight of the thought of that the loomed before them.

Visions of a certain stream that served as Helm's Deep's source of water and the gate it passed through flashed through Lessien's mind.

Uselessly fired arrows.

An explosion.

Screaming, crying, sweat and tears.

Weeping mothers.

Mixed blood of the colors black and red.

Blood staining Lessien's hands as she screamed at the dead body laying before her but whoever she was crying over, telling to wake up, she couldn't see his face. All she knew was that it was someone she cared about.

Fleeting images of Aragorn telling Théoden of the coming attack flashed around her in the whirlpool of darkness, and his words echoed through her mind over and over and over.

"Ten thousand strong at least."

And then it was over. Nothing more made sense, if anything, things seemed to be more muddled.

Lessien had the vision of the dead body of somebody she had cared for still fresh in her mind.

-

Things came back into view the way she had blacked out. It seemed as if she was heading towards a small light in the distance and it grew and grew until she could see light again. It was unclear and fuzzy. Slowly, her vision focused.

Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn all circled around her. What was she to say?

Lessien was on the ground and she hadn't been out that long, that's what she knew by the position of the sun patches on the floor.

"Are you alrigh', lass? What bothered you so much that made you faint? Surely the idea of war didn' scare you tha' much?" Gimli asked and if he jousted or not, Lessien could not tell.

Legolas gave his friend a hard look. 

For some reason, she did not feel like telling them why she had really blacked out. Telling them what she had seen. If she did tell them, they might think she was insane, and, in reality, she couldn't make much sense of it herself. Besides, they had this huge battle to worry about.

"It's just my knee. It isn't healed. Sometimes it pains me," Lessien explained.

Aragorn glanced at Lessien and grimaced. Clearly, he did not believe her.

Legolas and Gimli helped her up and the two approached Theoden again, who was addressing a handful of men on how to proceed.

Aragorn stayed nearby and grabbed Lessien's arm. "What's going on?" he asked.

Lessien gulped. "Nothing."

"You saw something," he insisted.

"It's just my knee."

Aragorn looked at her for a long time before letting go of her arm, and instead put his arm around her, holding her close. "I love you, Les," he murmured and followed his comrades to King Theoden.

Lessien smiled a little bit to herself.

It had been a long time since her father had called her that.