The Last Dreamwalker

Reunited Once More

She sat tall on her horse, the fate of generations on her shoulders, bruises from her last fight dusting her face, her crippled hand in her lap, and the burden of war weighing her down.

Despite all of this, on her face was a smile and on her lips was a ghost of a laugh that hung in the air. Her warrior side was strong and she knew, that in the long run, these burdens would make her even stronger.

The only flaw to that reassurance was the question, "Will there be any outcome to look forward to?"

But Lessien rather not think of it that way.

It was, after all, her only reassurance.

Since Lessien was the only one smiling, to any new member of this group, it would look like she was the best off.

Perhaps, in a way, she was.

The group's mood was dark. The gloominess seemed to loom over them in thick clouds. The end seemed ever so near.

Gandalf muttered, Aragorn thought too long and too deep, Legolas tried to distract himself from Lessien, and Gimli fretted over the Forest that they now traveled through to Isenguard.

The men rode with heavy hearts.

It seemed that the only thing that was keeping them going was the possibility of being reunited with their long lost friends, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took.

Merry and Pippin.

It had only been a couple months since the little hobbits had been captured by the Uruk-Hai and thought dead.

Lessien remembered yelling and being so upset because she had failed to protect them. She always blamed herself.

She remembered that far-off day like it had been yesterday, though she hardly recollected the last month altogether.

Lessien didn't like the silence that pressed in now. It made her uncomfortable because it left herself to her thoughts and that was a dark place she did not dare go. Thoughts of Arwen and their broken contact, the silly prophecy about some forbidden child, and Legolas.

Above all, Legolas.

Had Lessien made the wrong choice?

No, she reminded herself. This is the unselfish thing to do.

She remembered when she had rejected Legolas and seduced Lord Terrance to make him angry.

She tried to recall the last time he had kissed her but couldn't bring herself to remember, not when she had worked so hard to keep her distance.

Closing her eyes and half chuckling, Lessien told herself that she was being annoyingly repetitive.

"What do you think is so funny?" Aragorn finally said, cutting into the silence. His eyes caught her thin smile.

Lessien shrugged and made something up. "You."

Her father raised a questioning eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Deciding to make some fun of this, to drown out the quiet, Lessien continued on lightly, "You heard me. You. You're a joke. See, remember when we used to play around? You went through this whole grumpy phase and now look at you. You're a strict army general. Your crow's feet are turning into frown creases," she pointed out as proof.

Aragorn's fingers went to the sides of his eyes, where he knew were smile wrinkles, to cover them defensively. "I do not have frown creases," he huffed angrily. "At least I didn't go through a repetitively annoying prat stage. Oh, wait. You're still in that one," he countered.