Chapter 2 - The Larks of the Morning

"Listen, Gimli! Can you hear them?" Legolas raised his thin face to the trees above him, and his eyes searched the leafed branches eagerly. "Larks! I have never heard them before here in Gondor. There, do you see them? There in that high branches above us. Ai, if I could but climb to those branches still and speak with these visitors."

Elves. They speak to birds and converse with trees! Even the rivers sing to them, and the stars whisper their names. Only the earth spoke to Gimli, the solid earth and the enduring rocks of Arda. Sensible things, for he was a dwarf.

Gimli’s heart ached as he saw the shadow of loss touch the elf’s face yet again. No longer could his body carry him into those beloved trees.  Gimli, who ever said that dwarves could bear what Aulë sent them, could not bear to see the yearning hand stretch towards the high branches where the larks sang.

This is my fault. I am the one who has cut this tie with his very soul. Because of me, he lies here upon a couch in Arwen’s garden and aches for the trees he can no longer reach. To even walk the path to lie here, he must lean on me and walk slowly. Some days we must carry him he is so weak, but today he seems a little stronger somehow. Just a little. Never enough. He tells me ever that there is no blame at what has happened, but I know better. But for me, never would he have come to the Glittering Caves that day. He said he saw their beauty, and I know that he does not ever lie to me. Still the closeness of them always frightened him, made him feel cut off from all that he so loves. Their beauty could not change that for him. For my sake alone, he came with Aragorn’s delegation. For my sake, he bore the company of the mortals of Gondor. For among the miners who worked with us in the caves are those who so distrust the elves that they will not stand near them for fear of their spells. I should have known this. It is my fault that I did not.

Because the king did love the elves and set one as their queen, no word was ever spoken to be overheard where it might be reported to him. But the fear was ever there. Superstition and ignorance whispered in the dark alleys and behind the doors of the houses of the mortals, No elf in Ithilien’s colony walked without knowing of this shadow that still lay on Gondor. All knew and yet, none ever spoke a word against it. The Lady would keep this pain from her king, and the elves were her kin. They loved her and kept her silence. They treated fairly with the people of Gondor, and hoped that one day the shadow would pass

Gimli himself had only recently become aware of the whispers. He was a dwarf and they kept mainly to themselves and cared not at all what Gondor might think of them.

As they walked throught the streets of the City, Gimli had not been surprised when the young child tottered on unsteady feet towards the elf. Children seemed drawn to Legolas and he to them. The only surprise was the child’s mother. She had run to snatch the child from their path and spit words at them in a language Gimli did not understand. Then, she had run quickly from their sight.

He told me the woman said, "Evil one, you shall not have my child!" And then he told me of their beliefs about elves cursing children, who would then sicken and die. Not all of Gondor, he said, but the poorest and most ignorant believed these things. I wanted to tell Aragorn, but he forbade it. He told me to speak would cause Arwen pain, for she did not wish her husband to know that he had brought her to a place where people could think her evil.

Fire they thought could break the curse of the elves. I did not know that then, but I do now. Feeling the hostility of the miners at the sight of him, Legolas had withdrawn from the rest of us and stood to the side of the caves, near a tunnel that was seldom used.

I should have checked that tunnel. It’s been collecting debris for far too long. Too many things carelessly left behind or thrown there for want of a better place for them. Too many places to hide.

I didn’t see that fool sneak away from his fellows. I was concentrating so much that all would go well that I missed the worst. They say his child died, and he blamed the elves. Perhaps that is true. He is dead now. We will never know. None of us saw him in time as he ran with his torch toward the side of the cave where Legolas stood. None of us saw him in time as he hurled his torch at the elf and cursed him. And he didn’t see the children hiding in the tunnel to see the king’s party.

Only Legolas saw the children and leaped to thrust them away from the danger of the burning torch. His body covered them just as the torch found Saruman’s powder in the unexploded metal that none of us knew was there.

"Gimli, look! The larks are coming to me!"

The dwarf turned and watched the pure joy on his friend’s face. For the larks had indeed heard the elf call them. He watched as the birds flew to his friend and perched all around him in the low branches of the flowering shrubs near his couch. They let him touch their soft wings and whisper to them. And the larks sang for Legolas and made him happy and did not leave him until they had lulled him to sleep with their songs.