ā we are not as we once were, but you are no stranger to me. ā he is broken, but not beyond repair. a soft stroke of gold and light, the kindness of touch and adoration will restore him no matter how long it may take, their lives stretch on for centuries and all they have is time. for better or for worse, galadriel feels herself bend toward him just as a flower may search out the sun no matter how deep it may find itself buried. she can feel the ache in his bones, the pain wrought upon his fea. the endless nights he faced and she is all the worse for it. responsibility sinks inside of her as if a boulder plunged into the depths of a bottomless ocean.
ā meleth nin... ā he speaks of her happiness and she feels the emotion swell within her chest, a raw force of nature - tidal as it sweeps over her and sweeps doubt aside if only for a mere moment. ā all i have done, all i will do is for the safety of our people - if i am at fault it is my own doing. there has been no day that i have not thought of you and your loss. happiness has never come easily and i have never sought it - ā blood and sweat. tears of rage founded in a crucible of her pain. revenge and clarity come all at once, hand in hand as she sinks toward him and lowers her forehead to meet the swell of his shoulder beneath the soft gowns of recovery he wears.
ā we are both changed - but you were never forgotten or replaced. i do not owe you this but you deserve it... ā she thinks of those that took him from her, took finrod and all of those she held close to her heart. she thinks of elrond and his endless patience, his care and love. she thinks of what her heart had always wanted and the darkness that now pricks against her soul beneath the wound she had taken in desperation - spreading like vines beneath her chest and closer to her true nature than any other.
ā ā¦perhaps i chased the darkness because i believed it would bring me closer to the truth. but i have found nothing but my own heart, the light below bound deeper and stronger. ā
her breath is slow and even as she tilts her head to look up to him, lithe hands finding his own, her fingers threading between his own. the healers will complete their work, this she knows. but celeborn's pain is more than that of his flesh. and she will tend to it just as she ought to. just as she should. galadriel feels young again, just as she did when they were bound together underneath the dappled light of doriath. she did not fully understand then what they would mean to each other, but she does now. love is various in shape and size and her love for him knows no limit or form.
ā my light has always been kindred with own. i care for you more than i can express or understand. i will see you well again, i will find that which was lost within you and bring it to the surface once more. i would not be parted from you again to face this world alone... ā