The snow white petals of her royal roses cuddled the tip of her nose as she inhaled their lofty scent. These had always stood apart from their more colorful brethren - not as heady in scent, but still retaining the elegant integrity of the rose. Danel's instructions on the scents of Thargelion came in good time, just as the edges of her lavenders and herbs began to crisp and dry. As she bent over the bedside table and deposited the roses into a bowl of pine branch clippings, the bristle of the pine needles began softening at the gentle velvet touch of the large rose petals. Together they created a scent reminiscent of both the inner courts of Thargelion and the pine forests that stood outside.
After tucking the coverlet around Estarfin's form, Eliriael threw open the windows to let the sunshine throw its healthy glow and warmth into the room. The fresh wintry air rushed in, pulling a few strands loose from the arrangement of Eliriael's hair and spread itself to cleanse the stench of sickness from the room.
All of the valley still remained covered in a snow that sparkled and refracted the light of the sun pleasantly. Underneath, surely, the flora and fauna slept buried underground and in their dens until spring. The House too passed the winter remaining securely in the nest of the valley. Yet, instead of following the wisdom that nature portrayed all around them, they paced restlessly in the halls and busied themselves with preparations for war.
As she leaned forward, resting her arms on the window sill and drinking of the outside air, a lone water droplet slid down the icicles clinging to the edge of the roof above and splashed onto Eliriael's hand with a chill nipping. Looking down at the small remnants of the droplet, she recalled the tears that fell from Uilossiel's eyes the previous afternoon. Restless and distressed she had been lately, haunted by the real wounds of battle and burdened by the tension in her relationship with Dolthafaer.
Another droplet from above touched her, joining with its friends on the back of her hand. Her thoughts turned to Danel, who had also walked beside her in an unsettled manner that morning. Eliriael had not questioned the remnants of dried tears hidden in the edges of her healing eyes, but continued to tell one of her childhood tales of Gondolin. This winter was suffocating, restraining the House from the actions and freedoms they yearned to take, and she hoped spring would come soon for all of them.
She had learned from a young age that to be a healer was to bear the burdens of her patients, and not only the physical. The better she understood their pain and anguish, the better she could remedy their hurts. It was a wisdom from Valinor that passed into the First Age with her kin that made her open herself in this way.
"The spirit knows the body better than the body is able to say for itself at times," her mother had counseled.
It was in this way that she healed the broken bodies and spirits of the many battles of Beleriand until it was no longer a conscious practice of effort but a natural state of being. Yet it weighed upon her greatly at times and the only relief she could find was in wandering the wilderness, abandoning her cares as her spirit danced freely to the song of the wind and streams. It had been some time since she had been able to do so, with the House preparing for war and the conditions of Estarfin and Danel.
Hearing a single long sigh behind her, she glanced over her shoulder at Estarfin's resting form.
"Perhaps he is in the Halls of Mandos with Lord Estarfin," Parnard's words rang in her ears.
Eliriael knew that he had likely spoken in haste at the disappearance of Estarfin into the Hithaeglir. Though, could she take Estarfin's return to Imladris as a hopeful sign that Belegos too had not yet abandoned his bodily form in Arda, his spirit gone into the west? She looked out into the distance where she knew the road winded up the cliff-side and lead out of the valley, and she felt her heart sway towards it. Yet, after a pause, she remained where she was, taking her lesson from the nature around her that slept peacefully beneath the blanket of snow.
