Kizár Elená Durin · @SilmarilNaro
24th Jan 2015 from TwitLonger
Stone-verse: Shakurán
After http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sjve64
Elennárë goes to talk to Shakurán.
@Morgulwarrior @SilmarilNaro @Boromir_Aesir
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Shakurán
Shakurán sat in his cell, a small dark room somewhere under the main fortress and waited. The Rangers who had searched him had been thorough, they had found the capsule, though they had no clue what it was. Usually that would be no worry, any attempt to open the capsule without the proper knowledge would see the content destroyed. Only... this time the content was too important to be lost. Shakurán knew that returning without this report would bring him more than just trouble. He tried not dwell on it. He needed to find a way to re-acquire the report and then escape.
<DO not fail. You know the price of failure.> The message had been clear enough, and he knew better than to fail again. He sighed, in a way Boromir had helped him to some much needed rest and sleep, that would make it easier to plot a new strategy now. While the guards were careful with him, not all were Rangers, and while at least three were overeager to show their disgust in the East through various abuses, one of them was in a way fascinated - and probably disgusted by his own fascination. A dangerous trait that Shakurán might be able to exploit when the man came back on guard duty during the night. Hopefully he'd be alone... that would be a start.
Elennárë
Events had taken a turn that meant Elennárë having to interrogate their captive may not even be necessary but as it was she was still going to visit him. A metal capsule in his possessions was the current focus of interest and Kíli was already looking into it, as Boromir preferred to let someone with an eye for the arcane work on it, lest it had some dangerous trap inside. Elennárë knew why he thought that, a couple of times in the past he had encountered strange items that ended up in more or less disastrous results.
For a moment she stood silent and unseen to mundane sight, just inside the doorway of the prison, watching Shakurán. He looked rested, which she knew Boromir took some pride in not mistreating prisoners and Shakurán in particular... there was a history there that she had seen. She knew her protector refused to acknowledge that he felt anything beyond respect for an honourable enemy, but she knew something had long lurked unacknowledged.
Elennárë quietly shook those thoughts from her mind, since she knew there was something far more sure in Boromir's life now. With that she stepped closer to the cell, wondering how quickly Shakurán would notice her presence.
Shakurán
There was a sense here, something brushing against his waking mind, that was not the wind, nor any indication that some of the guards were returning. Shakurán looked up, focusing on the shadows, the shadowed eyes, to see more. He smiled when he found he was right.
"There were three sisters side by side...."
He let the first line of the song hang in the air and looked at the ghostly appearance of Elennárë. "I wondered if I should see you again," he said. "and I have to thank you. You gave me some nice riddles to occupy my time down here."
Elennárë
That brought a smile to Elennárë's face. "That is good, I am not one who likes to see prisoners mistreated. I have seen enough of that in the past." As she spoke she came and sat on neatly folded knees. "I suspect that no matter what happens you may have to put up with being in our company for a while, but I would see you treated... as kind as a captive may be. I know Boromir has that view as well."
Shakurán
The way she sits down is that of a Lady, she truly has an almost queenly style. Shakurán could well imagine her by Boromir's side as the Lady of the White City. As much as he can imagine any Lady at Boromir's side. Her words also make clear that she does not know about some of the guards... and with his own plans for escape she better does not learn about them.
"You can tell Boromir I have no complaints, his hospitality is truly impeccable," he says with a small grin. "and I am looking forward to enjoying his company..." he leaves that last sentence with all it's double meaning. "though your company is much welcome too. For all that meditation is a good thing, a cell gets boring after a few days."
Elennárë
"I am sure you will get a visit from him, once he has had a chance to look into some matters around the attack... certainly there is a bit of curiosity about some of the items you were carrying." She shrugs. "We will see on that, we have the blessing of a *talented* smith in the camp right now." He could probably guess who she meant by that, since he knew who Kíli was, though how much Shakurán would know of Kíli's current skills is unknown, given that Elennárë got an impression that Kíli learned a lot of his craft after he took shelter with the dwarf who helped him after his people rejected him.
"It is a pity I never looked closely into my family's craft, but despite some games I played in my youth, I never truly had solid hands to speak of." Another step in her game of riddles, wondering how far he got on guessing who she was.
Shakurán
"I am not sure if your family would have been... open to you taking up their famous craft," Shakurán smiled at her, his eyes sparkling, he enjoyed playing that game and he had days to think on her riddle. "and with anything but your true form, I doubt you would have survived the fall of the Great Fortress of Shadow."
Elennárë
"Oh, I don't know about that, my sister learned some of the theory about how crafting goes, while I only ever learned the most basic manner of imbuing something with power." Elennárë shrugged. "I suspect she would have made a great weaponsmith if she had the hands for it, but you have a point about Angband, and not just the fall. If we had forms less... impenetrable, the harsh treatment we lived through would have killed us within the first century there." Very few knew the extent of Melkor's attempts to understand the nature of Elennárë and her sisters, or how much they hurt. The only reason why Elennárë could look back on it without too much disturbance was because she had the Deep Fire to compare it to. She wondered at times how Lossanárë and Elenlossë had come to terms with those memories.
Shakurán
Deep down Shakurán wondered if she did truly remember Shangraile, or what she did remember of him. The bits and pieces he had been able to learn of him bespoke a fascinating story. "I doubt that you were made to last in an environment that harsh," he said gently, for it was the truth. "and while I know you were not there willingly - your presence left traces on more than once life - even though it was on those you'd call the enemy."
Elennárë
"Those who I remember kindly stand out more in my memory than most. Besides Toronatar, a few soldiers here and there had a kind enough word for a spirit of the Light, but most would simply curse us, or if they had any concept of who we were, try to usher us back to the Dark Lord." She shakes her head. "I have been thinking about that story you told, of the one who you referred to. Next to Ravenér, he was maybe one of the kinder souls there. He was there when three became two and heard our songs of both hope and loss for the one who escaped." She paused for a moment. "Eonwë would have executed him on the spot when he found us, but he held back on our word."
Shakurán
"Your songs..." It is a detail that remains in only one source, one that Shakurán knows is known to few enough. "he wrote of those, long after the fall. His writings say... or indicate... that he could still hear you sing in his dreams." He shakes his head, dark hair brushing against his shoulders. "It is strange, Elennárë, you saved his life, even from the herald of your Lords... and doing so, you changed many things. I might not be here to annoy your chosen brother, had you chosen differently."
Elennárë
"That makes me wonder how different things would be. I have seen quite a bit of how you and Boromir have challenged each other... what would this world be without you?" Elennárë tilted her head thoughtfully as she looked at him. "I would think it would have been worse. Too many people do not have your sense of honour. No matter what side it falls on, honour has value. We may not know for a long time yet what mine and Little Star's decision has truly come to."
Shakurán
"A world without Boromir? It would be lessened..." Shakurán replies, leaning back against the wall. "he is one of those Númenorans, the ones who truly made them legend. I'd miss him, were he not here any longer. There is no one else who is quite the same." He made it sound light, but it was the truth, he'd miss Boromir, maybe miss more than just the challenge of the next battle. He leaned slightly forward to look at her. "No one knows what fate brings, little Firestar, but I know that you and your sister spared a man's life, so that he could come home, he found family there, had children, who in turn had families and lived their lives as good or bad as they knew how. I would not call that too bad a result. We all end in ashes one day... what we do with our lives till that point, is what matters."
Elennárë
"That is the best to hope for, I suppose." Elennárë agreed. "The idea of a world without Boromir... that I would not want to think of. He came too close to being lost when I first found him..." She stops, the memory of what really happened in the Morgul Vale coming to mind. Boromir did not remember most of it, he had been too ill, the damage of what had been done to him still too strong, the pain of what Elennárë had to do to save him too much, and it had taken only the slightest nudge on her part for him to bury it so deep he had yet to have it come up again. "I fear what would happen if the forces of Minas Morgul truly tried to attack him again. They would have to face my fire if they got too close." That comes out in a hard tone, one that hinted at something dangerous under her gentle manner.
Shakurán
Minas Morgul... Boromir's escape from Minas Morgul... it is something Shakurán rarely contemplates. He made his decisions back then, with all the consequences that came of them. "And rightly they should," he replies to her harsher words. "he is your brother and you would protect him." He does respect her will to protect her chosen brother, to shield him. "Though sometimes the soul is much more vulnerable than the flesh."
Elennárë
"I know. I never saw something like that darkness put into a person, even in Angband. The Dark Lord's methods were a lot more subtle than something so brute-force." Elennárë frowns, then shakes her head. "But that is long over. I dealt with it then and there. Best think to how things will go now and wonder what will happen once things are decided about you. Maybe Boromir will be able to sue for some leniency, but you had best be ready for any eventuality."
For a moment she turns to look away towards something unseen. "I think something has changed... Something has been found and it has to do with you."
Shakurán
"I doubt he could... nor should he try to spare me." Shakurán replies. "I have no fears, little Firestar, even the harshest execution that the Lord of this land can think of, will be quite alright compared to a bad mood of the Witch King." Not to mention what will await him if he returns having failed. Even when a man thinks he has got nothing to lose, the Lords of the dread city will show him that he still had a lot of things that can be taken from him.
He sudden listening to something far away makes him tense and her words confirm something... so it has happened. He nods calmly. "Elór tar, jetar tenor..." (The time has come, embrace the void.) he said in his own tongue, before catching himself and the usual confident mask snaps back into place. "Tell your brother that I will miss our little flirts."
Elennárë
"Don't." The hard tone is back again, her hands slapping down on the floor either side of her, fire sparking in her eyes. It cannot be seen to the normal eye but bright fire spreads out from her hands, passing unseen, unharming through stone and metal as it is manifesting purely in the spirit world. It circles Shakurán, cutting off anything from outside.
"Do you think there is any value in giving up? What would have happened if my sisters and I had given up in Angband? The last light of our birth parents dead with us. The Witch King can come and face me if he objects, I have burnt bigger and badder things than him. I have even burnt his master for daring to get too close to me."
Boromir
As Boromir steps into the makeshift prison he can hear Elennárë's words and though he cannot quite see it, he can feel her power alive and hot.
"Don't." He echoes her words. "You are the only example I have truly ever seen that would stay my hand against the Empire. You die, I will see it fall... and burn."
Shakurán
Shakurán could not see it, but he could feel the wall of flame surrounding him, cutting off the echoes, even the faint echo of their Lords any soldier from Minas Morgul felt in the back of their minds. It had been long that he had not felt it, it felt odd... and he knew that by the same moment the Witch King would sense his vanishing from his presence.He wants to tell her that sometimes dying clean is preferable to other ends, but the words are cut off when Boromir enters the cell.
His words... half of them have Shakurán touched that he would regard him that highly, but the other half... there is a confidence, an utter strength that he has not seen before, or maybe he does now see more clearly? Shakurán does not know, yet he pushes himself to his feet. "You honor me, Son of the Sea Kings," he replies, tilting his head slightly. "and I am almost intrigued at the choice you seem to leave me." His eyes go to the ghostly Lady who now is brightly alight to his eyes. "And you, little Firestar... you are all they say you were, too gentle for you own good. Once I am dead, no one can rip your secret from me, except the Great Lord and he would know either way. Wouldn't that be better?"
Elennárë
"And what do you think would happen if my secret did get out? Anyone who tries to take me against my will, will burn in White Fire. No one can ever claim to *own* a Silmaril ever again... even the *Great Lord*. You have no idea what six thousand years subject to the Deep Fire can do to a soul."
Boromir
Boromir has to keep a fierce grip on himself not to show a reaction to his sister's words, but as she says it, all the clues she has revealed settle into place and it all fits.
"So there is no way for you to live? Not even if I kept you from the executioner's axe?" A grim frown settles across his face as his heart shakes from a mix of both grief and anger.
Shakurán
"No, I don't know what six thousand years in fire can do to a soul," Shakurán admits, looking at the bright, blazing figure. "and I hope that your secret will be kept, for I wish you no ill, little Firestar."
His eyes go to Boromir and the mix of grief and anger in his eyes, makes his heart clench. It seems the strangest thing, that the one man who is considered his prime opponent would also be the man who'd grief for Shakurán's passing. Walking up to Boromir, Shakurán very lightly touches his shoulder with his hand. "Would you? Would you take the risk to leave me alive?" he asks softly. "Even if... even if I were to accept the name of traitor could you afford the risk, Son of the Sea Kings?" They have been there before, but maybe never so serious. "For if it is true that you found my secret - I might as well die here instead of returning."
Boromir
"Eärnil of Lebennin and Aldamir of Pelargir." Boromir states the name of the two double agents still alive, as he steps close enough to Elennárë to brush fingers over her shoulder, feeling the sharper tingle of her blazing power. "I would risk it, to save a friend and someone who I respect more than many I can speak of right now. Even if I could not prevent it, I would not hand you over to the death you would face with them."
Shakurán
So the secret is found, and with it stands the sentence for Shakurán. He watches Boromir retreat to his sister, when they stand close he can see her light reflect on him. Who knows... maybe he spoke in anger when he swore to burn the Empire and maybe... maybe he is the one to do it. Maybe Shakurán always believed in him. "Dying alone would be right preferable to their company." he replies dryly, it was always easier to trade barbs with Boromir, or to even flirt to confuse him... it makes Shakurán less vulnerable. And right now he has to decide. Can he do it? Can he become a traitor to his homeland? Deep down he wonders if he could ever give up his faith. With any other person than Boromir he would laugh that thought off, but with him... with him it is different.
His mind made up, Shakurán straightens up, squaring his shoulders. "Add the name of Brannor of Lossarnach to the list." he replies, his voice even, not showing how hard going through with this decision is. "He keeps his secrets - letters and things - in a hidden wall-cache right in your western tower's cellars." Somewhere inside Shakurán something gives in, or maybe it is simply the knowing he made his choice. Whatever will come of it, life or death, even the despise for the name of a traitor, Shakurán is alright with it, for he made that choice on his own terms.
Boromir
For a moment he does not react, but then small shakes take Boromir over. It is the stress and worry manifesting in a physical manner, and his shoulders slump. "I will make sure you get through the trial that will come, alive. Better yet, asigned under my watch."
To distract himself he looks to Elennárë who seems to be occupied with the power she is using to hold this place secure.
Elennárë
"I should stay here." Elennárë says. sensing Boromir's attention. "They cannot reach him without risking their very lives in my fire, even the Witch King could burn in it, after all, I am no man." The tale of the Witch King's confrontation with the forces in the North are well enough known in Gondor and the prophesy of Glorfindel along with it.