Title: Solace
Author: Elly
Character: Aragorn, Theoden- A/T pairing
Rating: PG
Summary: With swords and mail gone, they sat alone and unarmed against the silence.
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The rain fell and the battle raged. They fought together, though not side-by-side, and when it was over they sat together. Two kings together in silence, the kind that only occurs when so much death in the air. With swords and mail gone, they sat alone and unarmed against the silence that was threatening to break them both. Aragorn turned to Theoden and wondered at the age he saw in a man so many years his junior. He often thought of the years between them- Theoden was only a lad when he saw him last. Nay, he corrected himself, not a lad but a young man, nearly ready to help his father defend their country. But that little mattered now, the time that had passed between them in these moments eclipsed the remaining years. He tried to find words to sooth the age, to unburden the sorrow of years. Though they were companions now, he remembered the young man. But when eyes met eyes Aragorn realized there was naught to say. And he felt young. Not they way he felt when speaking to the lady Galadriel- as though he were simply a moment in time, and not the way he felt as a child under the gaze of a stern Elf or kinsman. He looked at Theoden and saw the frailty of life, the nearness of death and something that at first he did not recognize. He saw, in the lines and crevices, someone who knew the joy of living as well as the sorrow. Someone who knew the glory of riding a horse at full gallop, one who appreciated the sweet sound of a woman’s voice, the power in the taste of wine. And so there was naught to say. He had been humbled. There was a time when Aragorn thought he had done much in his life- but no longer. The man before him had mastered a kingdom and done it with great love. And when Theoden kissed him, seeking comfort from a life that was past, Aragorn allowed it. Some kinds of solace went beyond words. |