𝕰𝖑𝖊𝖓𝖆

Chapter Forty-Seven: The Forest And The Sea

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"Visit your room, walk through the Pines, go and see your father, Elena," Legolas said gently, clasping my hand and cracking a gentle smile, "I've suffered worse from encounters with the kin of the great spider Shelob's in my homeland. I'll survive this with a little rest."

"I don't understand why I cannot stay with you," I said.

"Because I know how you long to explore the halls of your home once again, after so long a time," he replied, "Now go."

I released a sigh, feeling my own lips pull up into a smile.

"Be well," I said softly, stooping to level with him, who was seated on a bed by the window.

I planted a gentle kiss on his forehead, before turning out of the guest bedroom.

I made my way with slow steps down the hall towards my own bedroom, my eye raking my surroundings as though for the first time. I focused on each minute detail for what seemed like a century as I stalked past them. The clean white-grey brickwork that made up the walls of the castle gleamed in the yellow sunlight that glinted off the gently lapping waves outside the window and beyond the bluffs. The smooth royal blue carpet laid out in the centre of the hall, crinkled here, smoothed-over there.

I ascended a gently winding staircase that let out to a hallway lined with poplar wood doors. At the very end of the hall, the door opened to a rampart that connected the main body of the castle with the corner tower that was my room.

The door to my room, poplar like all the others in the castle, had a long window down the centre, but the view into my room was obscured by a sky blue curtain. I reached my hand to grasp the cool, silver doorknob, twisting it open. A gust of wind flew into the room behind me, billowing the curtains and causing them to dance wildly. I shut the door. The curtains floated gently back down.

I looked around. A strange feeling took over me, as I trailed my eyes about the room. It seemed smaller than before, the books lining my walls seemed less numerous, the maps on my desk seemed fewer. I stalked over to the large, floor to ceiling window that overlooked Aerith's southern shore. The distance from the castle to the bluff appeared so much closer than it ever had. The mountain peaks in the distance looked shorter, barely managing to scrape the bottoms of clouds as they drifted slowly by.

I turned back to my room, and my eyes drifted to my bed, upon which was laid out a sage coloured dress with golden ornaments flecking the rim and the cuffs, as well as the neckline. The gold caught in the sun, glinting.

I removed my clothes, peeling off the sticky, bloodied, mud-covered articles and discarding them behind the folding screen in the corner, where a basinet of cool water awaited me. I scrubbed off the dirt and blood from my skin, lightly towelling myself dry before slipping into the airy gown.

When I was done, I came back to the window, my eyes falling to the armchair positioned across from it.

Upon it lay a crinkled piece of paper atop a red-sealed envelope.

I picked it up, and with a hitch in my breathing, perceived that it was the letter I'd written my father before I left for Rivendell. The faint dark stains of tears were still visible all over the wrinkled sheet. I held it to my chest closely, wondering how many times my father had done the same. Wondering how many nights he sat up, looking out over the waves and waiting for me to come home. For Cyne to come home.

For a fleeting moment I felt as though I could offer my father forgiveness.

But I thought, then, of the pendant that lay hidden away in one of my pockets. I thought of my powers. Of my mother. And I knew I never could.