Beyond the Stars Chapter 3

Rose G

Halbarad glanced up at the taller man, again surprised by how different he was. Too many years in Gondor had greyed his hair, exhausted his spirit but now he seemed to be if not the young boy that Halbarad remembered from his own childhood, then at least the Ranger who had ridden alongside him for so many years. There was a companionable silence between the two; the sort of relaxed familiarity between old friends that might have seemed strange to the Hobbits, or even the Rohirriam, but to the reserved men of Gondor was as natural as breathing.

All around them were the great weavings of everything that had ever happened; all life on Middle Earth represented there. Halbarad had long since stop wondering at this, but Aragorn looked at the depictings of Beren One-Hand, of Turin mastered by doom and Earendil the Mariner, the Downfall of Numenor; the tales of battles and war, of Gandalf the Grey, of the Ringbearer; of himself - the Renewer. Entranced, he could not stop looking.

How long he looked, Halbarad grinning mockingly at him he did not know. Aragorn did not notice the ease with which he walked the freedom and spring of youth in all his muscles, his eyesight keener than he ever remembered it being. The surroundings seemed so profound that they answered every question that he had ever asked, or thought of. Apart from one…

'Halbarad, what lies beyond here? These halls, everything stretch out as far as even the Dunedain can see, but there is something else, isn't there?'

'The stars, Aragorn. Men go beyond the stars when they die and have left this place, or so it is said. I have no knowledge of how, or why, only that it will happen one day. More I cannot say; maybe you should have asked Elrond your father or Gandalf the Grey who died and was reborn. And maybe you could go and speak to the Hobbits before they completely derange poor Boromir.'

Smiling, Aragorn followed the other Ranger until a sudden movement over to the left caught his eye. Dropping one hand to his belt only to find that Narsil wasn't there, he walked towards it. Halbarad, who knew vaguely what this was followed, smiling. Again, the air stirred, the person moving out towards him and for an endless second he stood frozen, every muscle tense. Midnight hair blew back from his face, his cloak whipping in the air behind him. He looked every inch a king, a great ruler from over Sea.

'Arwen?' He mouthed the name, then repeated it. 'Arwen!' His voice sung with joy, and Halbarad tactfully went in search of the Hobbits himself. There was all eternity for talking to Aragorn - this minute belonged to the lovers. Arwen smiled at her husband, touching his face with one hand. 'Hello, Estel. A wanderer in death as in life, but I found you again.'

Aragorn felt her lips brush his in the softest of kisses, their hearts beating as one and he could not tell how long the moment lasted. Dead and beyond the stars he might be; his proud body rotting in Pelannor Fields with Gondor in his sons hands, but Aragorn had never been happier.