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"You ask too much," you insisted as you walked across the forest floor.
The Lady Galadriel stood on a pedestal in the center of a clearing. Branches reached high over her head and the moon shone at her back. "I ask only as much as I require." Her feet remained still while yours paced the floor. Her eyes glittered like stars and tracked your movement.
You stammered out some sounds that sounded like the beginning of a sentence that you couldn't quite get out. "Tha- That's preposterous. You can't- How do you require my life?" With your dramatics, the dress you wore dragged the ground and the sleeves flailed with your gestures. The silver fabric glittered like stars and left a trail behind you as you paced. The gown was originally Galadriel's, made obvious by the sleeves that fell beyond your fingertips despite the adjustments. The layers of fabric seemed too much for you due to the height difference between yourself and the she-elf, but it let you be barefoot and not feel embarrassed. Nothing harmful littered the forest floor, and Galadriel enjoyed lifting you up and carrying you around. It also didn't quite look the same on you as it did on her. Galadriel was a star and she shined from within. The dress looked elegant but lackluster on you. You just liked that it reminded you of her. It smelled like her, held some of the warmth she gave off naturally.
For a moment, the elf let the ages she had lived through appear on her face and you could see the pain in her eyes, the losses more numerable than years that have been counted. She had just made a request that you should have seen coming, but you had relied too much on her acceptance of the inevitable. She was Galadriel, the Lady of Light, ring-bearer, and greater than any mortal known. You were a mortal. You had come to Galadriel by injury, enduring her interrogation and piercing knowledge with wit and sarcasm. While her underlings and husband had been offended, Galadriel had smiled and instructed you be taken to the healers. Somehow, you had stayed, invited and accepted. Despite the vastness that came with her age and reputation, Galadriel had a soft and witty side she showed you. You opened up to each other in mundane ways that became bigger than they ought to be. Weeks became years and you loved one another, sharing intimacies that were both complicated and innate. But you looked older than you did when you first arrived. Of course you did. You had barely noticed but it startled Galadriel one morning and you'd seen it weighing on her for some time now. It seemed she had reached a conclusion that she shared with you a few moments ago. A bond deeper than the one you both already shared. A ritual that would merge your energies, your lives, and keep you from aging any further. It was too much, particularly for having just learned about it. "It is already mine, is it not?" You turned away from her, but there she was, blocking your path. Those radiant hands cupped your face, fingernails burrowing into your hair line. "Heart, soul, life. You promised those to me. Forever. I am offering forever."
You shook your head, tried to look down, away, tried to pull away. She let you but you felt her attention follow your movements. "I did," you confessed solemnly. You thought hard. "I know I did."
Bare feet peaked from the hem of her glowing white dress as she crossed to you once more, like a wave that refused to abandon the shore. She stopped in front of you but didn't speak or touch you. She was simply there, like an idol statue, accepting grief and offerings.
"Forever is a long time," you whispered.
"It is."
"You're already-" You didn't want to risk upsetting your lover though she was not sensitive about her age. You looked up with red-rimmed eyes and grief in your body language. She knew you worried how the smallest things could affect your relationship. Despite her many reassurances that she did not share her heart so easily, you thought she would end what you shared or banish you and disappear and you would be alone. "But men are not built for-" You went to looking back at your feet.
Porcelain hands reached out and lifted your chin. You met eyes that could guide a ship home. "I wish to have you by my side for eternity. You will unburden my days, and I will not allow the unending to consume you." However serious the topic, Galadriel wore hope on her face. "And you... are not a man."
You wanted forever with your best friend who you loved, but you had enough problems in your short time on this earth. Could you survive an eternity, so to speak? Even with Galadriel by your side, nothing was certain. She knew that better than most. But imagine the sights you would see, the experiences, the sunrises and sunsets, the animals, the lives you'd touch. You met Galadriel's gaze because you did not currently have a choice. "I need to think about it," you admitted.
A gentle smile donned the Lady of Lothlorien. She moved closer still, enveloping you in her smell, her alluring energy, and pushing hair from your face. She let herself be led back into the motion and brushed all the way through your curls. "My girl. You worry so much, you would have accepted our courtesy if you hadn't been affected by that illness." Her hand moved to the back of your head and cradled it closer to her. "And when you finally were healed, you worried you were taking from others. Your nearly overthought yourself back outside of our borders." She brought her knuckles down your forehead, cheek, and neck. Then she returned her hand to your forehead and began again. "I do not want to risk you refusing a beautiful gift for fear."
Both of your temples were slowly filled with a light, spinning sensation. A stinging ache rested behind your eyes. You frowned in confusion and looked up at your taller lover but the exertion on your eyes caused you to tear up. You squeezed your eyes tight, rubbing your tears away with your sleeve- her sleeve. You rubbed your forehead and she trailed her fingertips behind yours, leaving sparkles in place of confusion. Your arms must have had mellyrn hanging from each from how heavy they were. One hand was limp at your side and the other hung between your Lady and yourself. They brought your shoulders down into a slump and you leaned against her.
Galadriel's hand traveled down your head and back again, scratching tenderly at your neck. She spoke in the melodious language of her elves, seemingly singing to you.
The dizziness intensified and you swayed where you sat. You went to rub your face but couldn't get your hands high enough nor your face low enough. Your chin slumped against your chest and hers, hearing and thinking turned fuzzy. It felt like you were ill and helpless, the world moving through tar and time working backwards, and a high-pitched whine echoed around the clearing. As fingers crawled under your knees, you realized it was you. The ground fell away and you were laying almost entirely on top of or in the arms of Galadriel. She held you close, fingers tangling in your curls by your temple to scratch. You felt rather than heard the soothing sound made against your hair. That hand gathered one of yours, holding it to her chest. You felt quick puttering under your fingertips, and your eyes fell shut, the feeling of relief sending your head spinning even faster. A solid warmth settled on your chest and your eyes fluttered open enough to see it was only her hand.
She shushed into your hair then returned to her singing. Your awareness seemed to expand and focus at the same time. Like you had more opportunities and continued as you were. You felt a slight burn under her hand and winced, turning your face away from her. She only held you closer, so you buried your face in the swan neck offered. She seemed to be speaking to you but all senses were tunneled into a single jarring experience. In a single moment, the overwhelming influx of sensation gave way to a heightened access to something much bigger than you. Your eyes rolled back in your head and you went limp in her grap. Before the last of your awareness disappeared, you heard Galadriel speak in your language, "Rest now. And be born."
When the world came back, everything was different. On the surface, you could see nothing was different. You were in the same bed you and Galadriel shared, in the same talan you always stayed in. But given a few moments, you could see better details in the walls within your talan, in the leaves growing all around you, in the features of your lover's face. You could hear her breath and the wind blowing high above the mellyrn. Everything was more intense yet less dire. You looked up at the Lady Galadriel who still kept you in her arms. "My love?" you questioned gently. Nothing was inherently wrong, but the lack of normal was disarming. You pushed yourself to sit up and noticed the ease that accompanied it. Usually there was a strain in your arms and the occasional ache when you changed positions.
Not supporting you, Galadriel let her arms trickle around you and out of the way like a stream disrupted by a rock. She maintained physical contact while allowing you to adjust. The silence was more telling, you knew she was waiting more than observing. She was not choosing silence to ignore or irritate, but because she had the time to wait. Her entire gaze rested on you in its entirety. Her hands held your arms in a hold you now knew was secure but not firm. You could break free if you so chose. Every second seemed to pass in a thousand and the air stayed still, but not stale.
You looked around the room, spotting engravings and the art of nature you had missed before. Moving your legs, you felt the gossamer that the dress was made of. Before, it weighed an average amount for clothing. You pulled the sleeve and even the seams were like water droplets running down your arm. "What... have you done?" you asked in bewilderment. You looked at the hands that pulled the sleeve and tracked the skin that used to be marred by freckles, wrinkles, and hangnails. Mere hours ago, there were lines on your palm.
Galadriel let her hand rest on your wrist, joining your line of sight. "You are no less than you were."
The vagueness of her response made angry tears flood your eyes. You looked at her with a fury she had not been on the receiving end of. "What then."
She regarded you with a carefulness that you half-recognized. "I could not lose you." That was still not an answer. You did not speak for fear of your rage spewing loose. You held your tongue for longer than you expected; the urgency you'd experienced your entire life was gone. Like you had nothing but time. "Not even in 50 years," she declared. There was no option for argument in her voice, the decision of Ages in a single sentence.
You pulled further away from her, out of her hands, and turned around. "What. Have you. Done?" you demanded with a trembling voice. A tear tickled its way down your face. You raised your chin in defiance to the pity on your love's face. Your feet touched the ground to give you the superior footing, pun not intended.
"You will not age." If she thought that was enough, she was sorely mistaken. She tilted her head. "You will remain as you are, as long as you are."
"Galadriel!" you scolded.
"Your soul has been bound to mine, my love. I ensured you will remain with me for as long as I shall live." She remained on your shared bed, looking exquisite and relaxed.
Your mind could not grasp the confession. "You... you're proud?"
Crystal blues pierced your very soul and the Lady laid back on the bed. "A problem for the future has been solved. Neither of us need fear our separation, by mortality nor morality. You are mine." It was plain, with no room for confusion. If anything, she seemed content.
You stared at her in complete bewilderment. You didn't understand how you could love someone who would disregard your wishes so easily. More than that, she seemed to have intended to do this the entire time. From your argument last night to the ritual itself, she knew her intentions contradicted your desires. "Why.... How could you...? Knowing that I did not want it." You looked at your hands again, so changed yet still so unchanged. But it was those hands that chose Galadriel, that grasped for her when you were scared or uncertain, that held tight to the bonds you'd selected, that pushed away everyone else. You'd made the wrong choice. "You cannot make these decisions about my life." You looked back up at her, something cracking open in your chest and releasing a flood.
Galadriel eased from the bed to stand before you. "It is my life as well. It is our life now. My darling, you wished to delay to create some reason why we should not be together forever. I say now that I will love you until the sun burns out. Until all the memories of the stars have gone." She held the side of your face and you couldn't help nuzzle her palm. Even the feeling of her skin on yours was heavenly. You never thought her touch could improve in any way, but this heightened sense of touch made her even more intoxicating, all the way down to her scent.
"Humans are not meant to live for as long as elves," you argued into her flesh. "We have no conception of the repercussions."
Galadriel eased her hands around your waist, slowly encompassing you in inevitability. "Yes, but I will be with you. I will not allow anyone to take you from me, not yourself, not time, and certainly not death."