b2mem | On the Unexpected (B14)

B2MeM Challenge Botany:Lotus, 5 Books 5 Characters: Ecthelion and Rangers of the North: The Grey Company (B14)
Format: Ficlet
Genre: General
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Characters: Aragorn
Pairings: NA
Summary: Aragorn considers his next move
Authors Notes: Sort of connects all the prompts and once again is a post about the thoughts. And yes i did get unstuck eventually.....

As Aragorn greeted his fellow Dúnedain in Helms Deep and thought about their long journey from the North to come to him in his hour of need he also thought about other events where someone or something had come to him un-looked for and indeed unexpected.

The first – and most recent had been the return of Gandalf as Gandalf the White following his battle with the Balrog. He knew the story of Glorfindel and Ecthelion who had faced Balrogs and killed them even as they had lost their hröa themselves. He suspected something similar had happened to Gandalf, who although he was not a man had an earthly hröa that was and could therefore suffer the same fate as the elves of Gondolin had before him.

He had not though much about Ecthelion in years – he had discussed the former bearer of the name with the Steward when he had served in Gondor, and had studied the history of Gondolin when he had been a boy. But the return of Gandalf from the defeat of a Balrog had reminded him of the story which was maybe less told in these days of Ecthelion of the Fountain. He felt that Glorfindel’s tale was possibly better known, saving as it did Idril and Eärendil and hence leading to the birth of Elrond and Elros.

But there had been other occasions in his past when something unexpected had come to him. There had been the time when he had been travelling through Harad and had seen marshes full of white flowers. It had been an unexpected sight on the edge of a river in a land that was mainly desert. A welcome sight as it reminded him of the beauty of nature in what to him had been a barren land on the whole. Used as he was to the green lands of the North the sand and acrid heat of Harad had been strange to him. Those flowers which he had learned were called lotus had reminded that the beauty created by the Music could be found anywhere in the lands – even in the heart of what was enemy territory to the Free Peoples.

Now of course had come this riding of Rangers from the North – gathered by Halbarad in response to a message he suspected had originated with the Lady Galadriel. He was glad they had come and pondered on the words spoken to him by Elrohir from his father Elrond. He did remember the Paths of the Dead, and wandered if the time was now right. But he needed more information on the enemy’s plans and also to make his eye move away from close to Mordor. Through all of this he still remembered the errand of the Fellowship when it left Rivendell and which he assumed in his heart was being continued by Frodo and Sam.

The coming of the Grey Company gave him an option to come at the enemy from an unexpected direction but he did need information. Making a decision he called Halbarad to him with a glance, said to Legolas that he must take thought and then retreated to a high chamber to gather the information he needed.