Syah's Tears

Syah had to force herself to leave the warm water of the bath. Ariana had put in bath scents, they smelled a lot like Lavender or maybe Lilac. She had washed her hair and it felt wondrous to be clean. When she had finally gotten out of the bath she noticed that Ariana had left her a dress to wear. A dress. She hadn’t worn a dress since her mother’s funeral, and even then her aunt had to practically put it on her herself. After drying herself Syah walked over to the dress and touched it. It was soft, with lace and silky cloth- though she wasn’t certain it was indeed silk. She looked at it for several minutes before deciding what to do.

“Oh, what the hell!” she said to herself. “All my cloths are being washed anyway.”

She put the dress on, which was slightly harder than she thought it would be. She felt...feminine. Like a woman, no, like a lady. But, how did she look?

She walked over to the mirror in her room, full length, and looked at herself. Was that really her? She didn’t look like herself in this dress. She was not as tall as the female elves, not by far. She was only 5’4. But the dress fit her like a glove. It hugged all the right places without making her look...well, like a wanton. The dark green and gold colors matched her eyes and went well with her brown-blonde hair. Or would go well with her hair, as soon as she did something with it.

Just as she was sitting down to comb her hair there was a knock at the door. “Come in.”

And in stepped Ariana. She smiled widely when she saw that Syah was wearing the dress. *Let me help you with your hair.*

Syah allowed her to take the brush out of her hand and comb her hair. Ariana let it dry some before styling it. She took only a few strands from both sides of her head and made to small braids, tying them loosing together in the back. Then she placed the loose strands of Syah’s bangs, which were almost as long as the rest of her hair- that was down to her mid-back- and feathered them to the side of her face.

Syah looked again into the mirror. She almost looked exactly like her mother. She turned to Ariana and said, “Thank you.”

Ariana smiled. *You are very welcome. We should head to lunch, Lord Elrond is awaiting you.*

Syah didn’t understand how she had what Ariana had said, but she did. Not in exact words, but something inside of her knew what she had said. She followed Ariana outside to a small balcony. There she met Legolas, Elrond, two men and a woman she had never met. She took the hand that Lord Elrond offered and sat down at the small round table. She was seated between Legolas and Elrond, and that was a comfort to her.
*This is my daughter, Arwen.*

“Nice to meet you,” Syah said, a little taken back by Arwen’s beauty.

*It is my pleasure,* Arwen said. Syah saw the same look most of elves who met her in Arwen’s eyes. *Forgive me, Syah. You take me by surprise.*

Syah had figured this to be an apology and simply shook her head. “Do not worry about it.”

“i eneth nín, Aragorn.”

Syah noted that this man was older than he looked and that he was some sort of...Ranger maybe. He looked like a man who could survive in the wild. “Syah.”

*And I am Gandalf.*

Syah looked at this man. He looked like a wizard. Well, what the people in her time would consider a wizard. She nodded at him. She had a feeling that this small group was due to Legolas. He knew that she would be uncomfortable with all the eyes that would be on her else-wise. She gave him a grateful look and, in turn, he gave her a small smile.

*She seems to understand us well for someone who is a stranger to this land,* Aragorn said as they began to eat.

*She has been like that since her arrival,* Legolas said. *It seems to grow stronger by the day.*

Syah knew they were talking about her. It made her feel uncomfortable because she knew that they knew, at least in part, of who she was. She looked at Gandalf and asked, “Are you a wizard?”

Gandalf looked at her and nodded. “Yes, my lady, I am a wizard.”

Syah was shocked for a moment. She could understand what he was saying. She could hear and understand his words as clear as day. Her eyes must have been huge because the wizard laughed.

“Do not fear, child. I had a feeling you would understand Entish.”

“What is Entish?”

“The language of the Ents, of the trees. Legolas told us of your...run-ins with the trees and I had a gut feeling you would understand what I was saying.”

“That is what the trees are speaking to me? Entish?”

Gandalf nodded, seeing the relief in the girl’s eyes. This young lady was beyond anything he had met before. He could feel and see the spirit of the forest in her eyes. But there was something else, as Lord Elrond had said. Something inside of her he couldn’t name. And her spirit was tired. He could see the walls she had put around herself. This young lady, she was...special.

“Do you know of why I am here?”

“Not in certain terms, no. I know there was one like you before but you are more than she was. There is something inside of you beside the forest.”

Syah could see that the wizard was studying her somewhat. “You see my walls?”

“As do we all. The elves can sense something inside of you, as you know well. But we can speak of this later, in private. I believe the others are gawking at us.”

He smiled as she realized that they were being watched. She was so thankful that she could understand someone, and they her, that she had toned the rest of them out. Legolas raised his eyebrows at her, smiling with his eyes. The others as well were amused by this turn of events.

“Sorry,” she smiled.

*Do not think on it,* Elrond said.

The rest of lunch was spent in a comfortable silence. When they did talk it was mostly about their journey from Mirkwood. After lunch, Gandalf asked if she would like to join him for a walk. Syah agreed in a heartbeat and they excused themselves from the others. She turned to look back at Legolas and he smiled at her, his eyes gentle and reassuring. She then turned back to Gandalf, and they walked away from the House of Elrond.

******************

“This place is beautiful.”

“Yes,” Gandalf said. “There are few places like it.”

“I have lost much in my life,” she said out of the blue. “I put the walls up so I wouldn’t feel the pain of loss again. Not as strongly anyway. It brings me fear to think of letting someone inside my soul again.”

Gandalf nodded, sadness in his eyes. He had seen this in people before but not as strongly, not as deep. “I understand, Syah, why you would do that. I see that Legolas, however, is wearing down those walls.”

Syah didn’t speak for a moment as they walked. What of that elf? What could she say? “He...he feels familiar and something inside of me stirs in his presence. Aras and Hathol are becoming like brothers and this scares me. I cannot...I know not the words to describe the fear I have of letting them inside of me. The pain would be too much to bear.”

“You feel things stronger than most,” the wizard said. “The forest feels it, your fear of letting people in. I cannot name what else is inside of you, of what else is in your soul, but I sense that it has something to do with how deeply you feel things. Did your mother feel things as you?”

Sadness filled Syah at the mention of her mother. “She had the spirit of the forest in her as well, though not half as strong. And her sister did also. As well as their mother.”

“So it runs on your mother’s side of the family?”

“Yes. It seems to go back to my great, great, great, great grandmother. No one knows why. So when I began talking to trees and such, no one treated me like...like I was crazy, or out of my mind. Though, it did strike them as odd that it was stronger in me. My aunt told me a story once, after my mother died, about the first time she heard me talking to the trees. No one had ever done that before. The forest was in them and they felt it, but never had they talked to a tree and had it talk back.”

Gandalf thought on this for a moment. “We will try and figure this out. But you should try to let people inside again. Even if it starts with a friend. No one should have to feel the loneliness of life as strongly as you. And, so you know,” he smiled. “You are not in a different world, just a different time. Thousands of years no doubt separate you from our time and yours.”

Syah nodded, glad to know she hadn’t been kidnapped by aliens. “Gandalf, I can feel the darkness in this time. The forests are worried.”

They sat on a bench overlooking the waterfall. Syah found this wizard comforting. Maybe because he could talk to her and understand her, but it was more than that. He had lived a long life and he definitely had knowledge far beyond her.

“There is a darkness rising, an evil. His name is Sauron. And...there is only one way to destroy him.”

“Please tell me,” Syah said, suddenly feeling a desperate need to know what was happening around her. Of why she was here and who she was.

And so it was that Gandalf the Grey told the story of Sauron to Syah. Of the rings he forged and the One Ring to rule them all. She had a right to know what she had been thrown into. And, he feared, the quest she would soon be embroiled in.

**********************************

Legolas watched as Gandalf walked back to the house with Syah. She looked so beautiful, so much like the lady she was. His throat knotted as he rested his eyes upon her. She felt familiar to his soul. Every time he saw her something in him stirred. But his thoughts were interrupted by someone.

“You love her.”

Legolas turned to see Aragorn behind him. “It is more than that.”

Aragorn nodded in understanding. “I know what you mean.”

“She has closed her soul off to people. Not her heart, her soul.”

“She is in fear of what will happen if she lets someone in,” Aragorn said. “She has lost much and her soul is getting tired. Though, you are breaking her.”

“I am trying to help heal her.”

“Give her time, Legolas. Give her time to adjust to this new place, this new time. To you.”

Legolas nodded, and left with Aragorn to greet Gandalf and Syah downstairs. As his gaze met hers in that moment, when he was still coming down the stairs, that his soul acknowledged who she was.

His.

And he was not letting her go.