what strange, self - inflicted claws scratch lovelorn breast, carve the very path to immortal dream, to temptation. deign he revolt, for she has accompanied him here. to retreat to a refuge wrought with longing ... with potential. how misled the she-elf is, to believe it fashioned from mere memory. their meeting belongs to possibility, a revelation he yearns to force her reluctant gaze toward. brittle vessels shatter, yet galadriel emerges from the wreckage. her pale bones are built not fragile, for her very marrow is set with conviction.
why do you always meet me here ?
❝ why do you always return ? ❞ he barks back cleverly, though fondness swells innate like a purr, akin to the feline thralls that circled melkor's throne, for how alike the twain are ! every act of violence, every inability to let go. both defined by their relentless pursuit, wresting the past in a grasp that refuses to yield. spake she of the darkness within herself, regarded with neither worship nor denial. oh, how he envies her.
& yet relentless seeking strikes perilously akin to a wound. was it here you felt most yourself ? words threaten to tear crevices deep within him, gaping & open, where vulnerability threatens to seep as poison, as awakening, as confession. & he is affeared of the truth that lies dormant there. as her eyes close, as he falters towards her, closer, he seizes his opportunity & bends the obedient world around his discomfort. everything shifts. salt becomes soil, birdsong decorates the wind, the board beneath his boots rots to sodden earth, thick with fallen leaf & spread roots, a canopy above.
here. this feeling he has held on to.
( doth his evasion, this very place, not give answer to her question ? )
the forest in half-light, the cusp where day intertwines with night. shadows linger mercurial in wooded hollows, met by sun's dying glint that slips through branches bowed reverent above. pensive he lingers, deep in thornless wilds that possess a bliss he canst wholly devise. twilit moths flit the moss-scented air. brambles heavy laden with incense of berry, clustered, crimson as the gambeson skirts that fall from his waist, metal-clad chest glinting rust. the very armour he fought in by her side. armour fit to claim a kingdom, to begin a life.
all roads lead back to her, even those he took to forget. how contemptuous she turns from him ! strides so nimble through the bracken, not one step disturbing a single leaf. to walk & leave the earth so unmarred ... her lustre interwreathes the gloaming, tresses adorn'd with gilt shimmer, hair flowing like song from a harp. clad silver & shining as moonlit stream, dove-footed she glides just as silent. & lest galadriel vanish, halbrand follows in the shade. as ossë wishing to be guided by uinen, she his salvation, his release from melkor's corruption, a promise of dominion over all seas. to hearken to the light ... through ancient darkness that obscures his sight, eyes devise for her a crown. the southlander steps forth now, reaches through the drowsy shade to catch her slip of wrist, a grip to hold anchor her. the touch burns beautifully, as do her eyes upon his. what earnestness blooms across cocksure countenance, the shadow of stubbled jaw giving contour to his features. ❝ galadriel. ❞ tone drips as honey from tongue, whet with hope, with ruin. ❝ back there, at the beginning, you were certain every shadow concealed a threat. ❞ & now brandishes he the rough cadence that rattles forth from man's honest throat :
❝ ⸻ yet still you reached for my hand. ❞ ( iron grasp loosens gently, thumbs curious at the touch of immortal pulse, yet refuses to let her go. ) the haunting of all that had lived & died betwixt them ... he writhes under its burden, yearns to get 'neath her skin as she is under his. he pulls her closer, autumnal gaze enfolds in clutches of her gentian sky. ❝ here was the only place either of us stopped running. you from your war. and i from mine. here you were by my side. ❞