#karmasainted | Galadriel

[elerondo]

The familiarity of her gaze on him was like water upon flames; it splits and sparks and irritates Elrond. As though at a courtly party, he was a stranger, stiff and glaring.

The crown prince has never been a stranger to truth and its harsh realities, and Ereinion Gil-galad was ever at his mercy when he spoke at length.   ❝ You facilitate the gap well enough. ❞   Elrond came out the womb of the wild wielding the sword before he could climb, and many old ministers would say he is too much like Maedhros.   ❝ The divide you are causing m— Ereinion’s kingdom warrants the crime of treason. ❞   Elrond stops short of calling Lindon ❛ my people ❜. There would be less of a disappointment when all things break and sunder as they are meant.

❛ i fear that if we drift much further apart, the rift between us may never be healed ... ❜ a calm exterior betrays deeper feelings that bubble beneath the surface, galadriel's bright gaze dimming, lifting to drift across the face of her friend. a face she has seen grow from childhood, the noble brow of his father and calm steadiness of her mother. elrond is a heart she feels responsible for in a way few others can comprehend. a politician he may be, but her kin he is - first and foremost.

❛ so speak - say your piece. i would rather stand the lash of your words than the silence of your judgement ... ❜

starter for @elerondo

[mvndrvke]

@karmasainted gets a starter! ft. celeborn

He doubted he would ever see her again. Celeborn had left long enough ago that the memories are blurry. Decades have passed with the clarity of glass when he looks back upon them, but this? Celeborn isn't sure if it has been months or years or centuries that have gone by in the darkness. He does not look much like the elf he'd been when he'd gone to war. His long hair is gone, shorn short enough that his hair is a mess of curls. His once smooth face has stubble too; does anyone even recognize him here? Will Galadriel even know him when she sees him?

Will she even still want to?

Lothlórien is unfamiliar to him. He looks around with brows slightly furrowed, taking in the halls he could've once navigated blind. He feels uncomfortable, shifting restlessly in his too-soft clothes. The sound of the door opening is a welcome distraction, until he turns and sees Galadriel standing there.

She's just the same as ever, except for her eyes. He can see the time passed there, the weight of life that has come to rest upon her shoulders. It takes a moment of him staring at her before he dips his head in a small bow. He's not sure what else to do; he feels more lost than ever.

"My Lady Galadriel," he murmurs. His expression is soft when he looks at her again, albeit nervous. He manages a little smile, but it fades quickly as he looks down at himself again. "Forgive me for not seeing you sooner when I arrived, I was...." He was what? Haunted? Filthy? At a complete loss for who or what he even was besides alive? "Unpleasant to behold."

[oakthcrn]

𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐒𝐖𝐈𝐅𝐓 𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆'𝐒 𝐏𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄. Within her arms were two beautiful blades wrapped delicately in cloth. Lark found the person she was looking for. Her bright sapphire hues shone with excitement as she drew near Lady Galadriel. She quickly bowed her head in respect.

❝ 𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐥, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤! ❞ she beamed as she unwoven the cloth around the two blades.

❝ 𝐌𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭! 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟! ❞ She held up the one with the curved blade at the end.

❝ ��𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐪𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 ! ❞ she then shifted to the other blade, simpler in design but no less beautiful.

❝ 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚 ! 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧. ❞

@karmasainted 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫.

[nurturingscul]

@karmasainted liked for a starter

Halbrand looked to the elf as she was imprisoned within his home. He glanced to the bars that surrounded her, a smirk on his lips. “Such a shame, you would have been more suited to join me rather than be trapped on the other side of these bars” he stated and kept the smirk plastered against his lips. “I guess you’ll just have to get comfortable in your new home within these cells” Halbrand stated and let out a deep breath. He despised the elf, loathed her and yet — something within him was yearning for her, something that Sauron had never experienced before.

No matter how much he wanted to end her life, he could not bring himself to do it. “No one can save you now, Galadriel. You’re mine” he stated in a whisper, turning to look deep into her eyes.

[mvndrvke]

The light behind Galadriel makes her appear as one of the Ainur, glowing in celestial light as she walks towards him. Beautiful and bright as the moon, and who is Celeborn if not the tides pulled ever in her direction by her will? If he had seen her before he'd washed and prepared himself, he's certain such a sight would've brought him to his knees. Even so, the step he takes towards her is unsteady.

"I've missed you," he whispers. His own voice still sounds foreign to him, but hers? He has thought of little else in all their time apart. Their home, the peace they'd once enjoyed before.... It feels impossible, and yet within his grasp as he looks at Galadriel.

Celeborn takes her hand gladly, gently squeezing it in an attempt to reassure both of them that the other is real.

"It is a long story," he says. "One that is not pleasant to hear. I escaped on foot and was found by the marchwardens along the border. They brought me back here, and...." He gestures vaguely to himself. "Time has blurred; I can hardly remember how long it's been since I've last stood in these halls. Since I've looked upon your face."

She did not think she would see him again - and yet here he stands, so greatly changed, alien to her eyes in a way that is beyond all material expressions of self. But he is here nonetheless. The doorway behind her bleeds with light, a glowing majesty that she has curated and fostered here in a way not known anywhere else upon Middle Earth. A light she has needed to guard herself against the ever encroaching darkness that lay across the Anduin. It is a light many have sought, coming to Lórian to bathe in the safety of the Mallorn and the peace her ring gifts - defending the trees and the elves who chose to foster themselves within.

She did not believe he was alive. How could he be ? After everything, after the centuries that have bled to a millenia between them. Her eyes graze his face, lips parting but no sound escaping from her - no words can be found that would suffice. Instead there is a slow and thudding silence between them as the ichor in her veins fills her ears and she studies him as if to prove to herself he is real. He has been hidden from her, even now with the power of the three - the true realisation and the burn of anger drifts further down to settle against the rest of her many frustrations.

But he is real. He stands here before her. Long and bountiful curls gone and shorn, flesh that looks more human than elven, uncomfortable in the soft linens he now wears - his body stained and married by injury that she can only imagine. Her feet carry her forward, barefoot across the floor of the room toward him as his head bows and she wishes he wouldn't - not here in the quiet space that exists simply to show her that he is alive.

When he breaks the silence, she stops to listen - the hands that hang by her sides furling and unfurling as nails press with strength against her palms as he speaks and she feels her walls breaking down, stone by agonising stone tumbling away and revealing her softness. The sting holds her steady, the ache that sits above her heart - the one that is always there - throbs as if in warning of something darker than she wants to comprehend. Much that once was, is now lost.

Yet Celeborn remembers ...

❛ I have missed your voice. ❜ Her words mirror his own, soft and unsure as he calls her lady and she remembers vividly their first meeting - the way he had reached for her and she had been pulled so easily into his arms amongst the flowers. When the world seemed young and innocent - when they had been nothing more than a reflection of Eru's will and Valinor's grace. ❛ You have come home - how are you here ? what path have you taken to return ... ❜ To me, words unspoken once more as a hand leaves Galadriel's side and reaches the small distance toward one of his own.