Reminders Of Home

Reminders Of Home

Posted: August 31, 2007
Title: Reminders of Home
Author: Alex
Fandom: Tolkien
Genre: FCGen
Characters: Gil-galad, Oropher
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do not own them but I do love them.
Author's Note: This is a 500 word ficlet for Luin from my challenge offer at Alex's Story Book Yahoo Group

Summary: Two old warriors take a moment to rest from their battles.

*****

Gil-galad was tired. So tired of dirt and smoke and the awful stench of Mordor. It smelled of death and fire, its sulfurous odors penetrating everything so even the food they ate tasted of it. He sat down on the stump of a dead tree, not unusual since all the trees were dead around this forsaken land, and pulled off his boots.

His head ached with the sounds of drums, that awful sound of the armies of darkness within the gates of Mordor. He wished he were somewhere else, anywhere but here.

"I wish this were over, even if we lose." Gil-galad whirled around with his spear in hand only to see the one elf he did not care to see. Oropher, the most stubborn elf he had ever encountered, the King of the Green Wood.

"I do not intend to lose, King of the Green Wood."

"Nor do I, but I do long for sweet fruits and wine that does not taste of vinegar. I wish to smell flowers and trees, not the rotten smell of Mordor."

Gil-galad nodded his agreement and pointed to another stump nearby. "Sit a bit with me then. Perhaps we can convince each other that other places do still exist away from this plain."

Oropher sat and lay his arms down on the soot-blackened earth beside him. He grunted like an old man as he sat. He did not look old; he was very fair, as a matter of fact, with his long dark hair and penetrating blue eyes.

Gil-galad reached in his pack and brought out a bottle of wine. "Try this. It doesn't taste like vinegar yet." He uncorked it, sipped it himself then handed the bottle to the other elf. Oropher drank a deep swallow and handed it back.

"I'd wager you've saved that for a long time."

"It's the last bottle from Cirdan's stock. We may as well drink it. There may be no other day to enjoy it." He drank again and handed it once more to the other elf.

"I long for the forest and this," he gestured to the bottle, "this reminds me of home, of blue skies and sunshine."

"It reminds me of the sea and the sand," Gil-galad mused as they handed it back and forth until it was gone.

"Do you think that we are like that wine? Soon to be gone forever from this place?"

Gil-galad said nothing for a moment then nodded. "I fear so, but I mean to take Sauron with us when we go to foul this world no longer with his awful stench."

"I guess we'd better get back to it then, Noldor. He won't wait forever." Oropher rose, picked up his arms and waited for Gil-galad to put his boots back on, then held his hand out and helped the other warrior rise to his feet.

Oropher threw his arm around the other elf's shoulders and they walked back toward their camps and the dark smoke of Mordor.

*****

THE END

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