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'Til Death Do Us Part  by Haleth

The sun’s warmth brought Haleth back to consciousness. She was upright, leaning against something warm.

‘Good morning.’ Inglor said as he released her. The events of the previous day flooded back with returning awareness. 

‘Did I startle you?’ he asked, smiling.

‘A little,’ she admitted.  ‘I’m not used to awakening with anyone so close to me.’

‘Neither am I,’ he said lightly.  ‘But the experience is quite delightful.  In time we will doubtless grow accustomed to it.’

Haleth’s breath caught in her throat.  The world dissolved.  All of the self-pity, all of the homesickness faded to insignificance.  A silly, lop-sided grin spread across her face.

 ‘Have you thought of a plan to test the island’s enchantment?’ he asked.

The real world returned with a bump. ‘Yes,’ she said sourly. 

‘What is it?’ he asked when she was disinclined to give any further information.

‘I’ll tie a rope around myself and swim in to shore. If I fall asleep we’ll know the enchantment is still in place.’

Inglor studied her in silence for a long, drawn out moment. ‘That is your plan?’ he asked.

‘At the moment, yes,’ she replied.

‘Very well, but I believe I should be the one to test it.’

‘No,’ said Haleth adamantly. 

‘You can pull me back into the ship even if I fall asleep,’ she said before he could protest.  ‘I doubt I could lift you into the ship without help.’

His misgivings, though characteristically mild, were plain to see.

‘Unless you don’t mind being towed back to Tol Eressëa,’ she said.

‘No,’ he said.  ‘But I do not approve.’

‘You don’t need to approve. You just need to pull me back into the ship if I fall asleep.’

After a meager breakfast of salted, dried meat and a mouthful of water, Haleth began her preparations.  A short time later she was swimming towards the three inert forms that lay upon the beach.

The water was bracing.  She was wearing little more than her tunic and undergarments.  It was far from decent.  Before yesterday she would have been embarrassed to have Inglor see her this way.  Today she was writhing with shame.  She only hoped that her tunic would remain where it should and not ride up to her neck if she fell asleep and he had to haul her back to the ship.  The thick rope had been tied into a harness that ran beneath her arms, around her body and between her legs.  It was cumbersome and the rope grew heavy as it absorbed seawater. She was already tired by the time her feet touched the bottom of the cove. 

The sand bottom was smooth beneath her feet as she trudged towards the shore. It felt as though she had been walking for hours without progress. A voice rang faintly in her ears.  She ignored it.  She was too far away to hear and too exhausted to care.  If only she could reach the shore, she could rest. 

The white sands of the beach looked very inviting. It would make a beautiful soft bed where she could rest her weary head.  There was something she had meant to do, some errand she had meant to accomplish, but she was so tired that she could not recall what it was.  If only she could sleep for a little while, she was certain the memory would return. 

It seemed to take the better half of the day to reach the shore. Fighting off the urge to immediately lie down and sleep, she doggedly trudged up the beach.

There were three other people sleeping on the beach.  They certainly looked comfortable.  Her eyelids were so heavy.  Without another thought she lay down and stretched out, marveling at the sand which was softer than a feather bed.  The waves sang a lullabye as they washed upon the shore.  Sleep beckoned her to pleasant dreams.  Haleth closed her eyes and felt the warmth of the sun upon her face.  Peace washed over her.  It carried her to a blissful, beautiful place where the water was sweet and thirst never known.  Her only regret was that Inglor was not with her. 

The next thing she knew she was lying in the bottom of the ship, once again wet, cold and thirsty with Inglor standing over her, his features arranged in an expression of mild concern.

‘Why did you wake me?’  she grumbled. She was strongly tempted to roll over and fall back to sleep.

‘Because I have no wish to be married to a sleeping bride,’ he replied.

That wakened Haleth completely.  She pushed herself upright and shook her head.

‘I imagine it would make things somewhat awkward,’ she mumbled.

‘Yes,’ he agreed amiably as he hoisted the anchor into the ship.

She watched him in a daze as he took the oars and began to row.

‘Where are we going?’ she asked stupidly.

‘To Tol Eressëa,’ he said.  ‘The enchantment is still in place.  Now that we know we can bring aid to rescue the sleepers.’

‘Wait, Inglor, wait,’ she said, grasping his hands to stop him.

‘Haleth, be reasonable.  You said you wanted to test if the enchantment was still upon the island.  You have shown that it is.’

‘But I have an idea,’ she said.  ‘How much better would it be if we arrived at Tol Eressëa with three of the people from legend?’

‘Your legend is my history and I will have neither interfere with our future.’

‘So you would just leave them, then? Just like everyone else has left them for the past three thousand years?’ she demanded.

‘No.  I would return with a larger, better equipped ship and crew to rescue them.’

Haleth gazed longingly at the three figures on the beach. 

‘Inglor, I have one more idea I would like to try,’ she said.

‘Can you not try it later from a larger ship?’ he asked.

‘I doubt it,’ she said.

Inglor began to row.  ‘If you have doubts it is because it is too dangerous,’ he said.

‘No.  Inglor.  It is because I’m mort…It’s because I was born mortal.  I’m slower, weaker and less agile than any of the Elves.’

‘All the more reason for us to return to Tol Eressëa for help,’ he said reasonably.

‘Inglor, please.  They’re my family.  I’d like to try.  You can always pull me back if I fail’ she pleaded.

‘You mean you are too proud to be bested by another,’ he countered.

‘Well…yes, but I’d still like to try,’ she said.

‘What if the effect grows stronger each time you set foot on the island?  What if you will not awaken the next time?’ he asked softly. 

She stared at him in dismay.  In the past she would have simply shrugged off his objections and gone her own way.  But things had changed; she owed him more than a toss of her head and a disdainful eye roll.

‘I cannot guarantee that it would not happen, but I must try. Everyone is better than me at everything. Please, Inglor. This is the one thing I can do that no one else has done before. I ask you to find it in your heart to allow me this challenge.’

Inglor gazed at her intently.  ‘Is that why you were so angry when I found the Ringbearer’s button?’

‘Yes,’ Haleth said, the heat of a blush rising at the memory. ‘Finding things is the only useful skill I possess, but you’re better at it than me.’ 

‘Haleth, you have already found Idril, Tuor and Voronwe.’

‘No, Inglor.  You found them.  You saw them first,’ she said, shaking her head.

‘But I would not thought to come here without you,’ he insisted. 

‘Do you think anyone will care? People will say it was you.  Everyone remembers you.’

Inglor rubbed his forehead and muttered under his breath.

‘Please, Inglor I would be most unhappy if I was not allowed to test myself,’ she said.

‘Yes, I know better than most,’ he said.  ‘And perhaps my test is to watch you put yourself in danger.’ 

‘You can always pull me back to the ship,’ she said.

‘What is this plan?’ he asked reluctantly. 

‘It all depends on my grappling hook still being onboard,’ she said. 

A short time later Haleth was inching her along a rope that was suspended over the water.  One end was firmly anchored in the ship.  The other was attached to her grappling hook which was embedded in a tree.  It had taken Inglor several attempts to get the rope attached at the proper height above the ground. 

He remained in the ship, occasionally pulling on the oars to insure the rope stayed taut enough to keep Haleth from sinking onto the sand. 

The rope was smooth beneath her bare feet and she found herself wishing for the rough, thick rope made by mortal hands rather than the thin, delicate stuff fashioned by the elves.  It was difficult to balance, especially with the makeshift harness fastened around her and the second harness and rope attached to her waist. 

The rope began to sink.  She waved, shouting her distress to Inglor. 

The rope tightened and rose as he repositioned the ship.  A flock of gulls had been attracted by the action and noise.  They wheeled overhead, scolding each other. 

Haleth ignored them and continued making her slow way towards the shore, all of her concentration on sliding along the rope while keeping her balance.

At last she reached land and paused to take in the situation. The rope passed very close to a blonde woman and a tall, strong man who were lying together.  These must be Idril and Tuor.  Voronwë lay only a short distance away, but he was completely out of reach. 

The rope sank again.  Haleth risked a quick glance over her shoulder.  Half of the flock of gulls appeared to have perched on the rope.  Their combined weight was dragging the rope downwards.  She gritted her teeth in frustration.  There was little she could do.  She had nothing to throw at them and yelling was no use; they were already making far more noise than she could ever hope to make.

There came a great row of angry squawks and a flurry of wings as the flock rose into the air as one, scolding and shrieking the entire time. 

She had a brief vision of herself sailing into the air as the weight was removed from the rope, but it only rose a little and she was able to retain her balance.

Inglor waved from the ship.  She may not have any ammunition to disperse the quarrelsome gulls but he was at no such disadvantage.  She vaguely wondered what he had thrown at them.  ‘It had better not have been my boots,’ she thought darkly.

She was very close to her goal.  Now she could see Tuor’s grizzled beard and grey hair.  A small, vain part of her was pleased that she would not longer appear to be the eldest in a society of the perpetually young. 

He and Idril were lying beside each other, her head resting on his shoulder.  Haleth wondered why they had landed on this small island.  Perhaps they had been searching for shelter in a storm and had been taken unaware.

Haleth reached the spot just above the sleeping couple, halted and slowly lowered herself so that she squatted on the rope. 

The plan sounded quite simple.  Attach a rope to one of the trees, walk across, lift the sleepers, secure them in the harness, walk back to the ship and help Inglor to pull them to safety. 

As with many of her plans, Haleth was discovering that she had disregarded several factors when she had made her calculations.

It was far more difficult to maintain her balance than she had thought it would be.  Voronwë was too far away for her to reach without stepping off the rope. Looking at Tuor’s size, Haleth knew there was no possible way she could hope to shift him even if she had both feet firmly planted on the ground.  She reluctantly admitted she would have to content herself with rescuing Idril.

Haleth was far from certain she could move her, either but there was no way she would admit defeat without at least making an attempt.  If Inglor had to pull her back to the ship, she could at least pretend to be sleeping to avoid his ‘I told you so,’ expression.

Taking a deep breath, Haleth steadied herself before reaching for Idril’s hand. 

She slowly pulled Idril upright, marvelling at how heavy such a slender creature could be.  It took a ridiculous amount of time, but Haleth eventually succeeded in getting the rope securely looped beneath her arms.  She waved to Inglor to indicate he should begin to pull the rope attached to Idril. 

Unfortunately there was some confusion, some twisting of the ropes and it was Haleth who was drawn forward.  Shrieking in dismay, she lost her balance. Fortunately she succeeded in catching the rope with both hands. 

Unfortunately her foot slid off the rope and struck the sand.  Pins and needles shot up her leg.  Clinging to the rope and cursing under her breath, Haleth was forced to a painstaking crawl along the rope.  

As soon as she was able she slid into the water and swam towards the ship.

‘What are you waiting for?’ she shouted to Inglor.  ‘Pull the other rope!’

Soon Idril was floating in the calm, azure waters of the cove.  Haleth wrapped her arm beneath the sleeping woman’s shoulder to keep her head above the water and towed her back to the boat. 

Inglor pulled Idril into the ship, leaving Haleth hanging on to the gunwale.

‘Can you not manage on your own?’ he asked.

‘My leg is asleep,’ she had snapped. 

They arranged Idril in the bottom of the bow of the boat, making her as comfortable as they could.  Then Inglor raised the anchor, replaced the mast and the sail while Haleth made helpful suggestions and pounded on her sleeping leg.

 





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