Master Apprentice  Archive Across The Great Divide 4/12: Both No
and Yes |
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Rating: PG
Category: Non Q/O, A/U, Q/other
Disclaimer: Qui-Gon belongs to George, Aragorn and Middle-earth belong to Tolkien, the positions I put them in belong to me and my demented mind.
Archive: master_apprentice, SWAL, Tolkien Slash, LitSlash; anywhere else, just ask, I won't say no.
Series: Yes. "Across The Great Divide." 4/12
Warnings: We got Aragorn and Qui-Gon, *reallyreallyreally* attracted to each other. If this scares you, run away and don't stop. This is a crossover between Tolkien's _The Lord of the Rings_ and SW Episode 1. If you haven't read LOTR or seen Star Wars, you won't get it.
Spoilers: No, I don't think so.
Summary: Quiet days in Rivendell.
Feedback: Compliments are recieved with hugs and kisses and wots of wuv and are treasured forever. Criticism is recieved just like Tolkien recieved it--I'll either start over, or cheerfully ignore it. Flames just disappear into a big black hole.
Aragorn stood on the warm grass of the meadow in the Valley of Imladris, idly watching the
river rush by below, clinking and gurgling over the rocks on the streambed.
He'd come out here under the late summer sky for no particular reason, just to walk and think.
Remembering the events of a month ago, Qui-Gon's visit and their amazement at each other, resulting in a night of delicious pleasure but a lonely morning, Aragorn considered.
Did he do right? Yes. But why? Why had he and the Jedi Knight, so far apart otherwise, been brought together, fallen into a strange sort of love, only to be ripped apart by unseen forces as they slept?
The whim of some bored Higher Power? The thought occurred to him and he laughed it away.
Some lesson intended? That was what he had told Qui-Gon that night, speaking out of a love-filled hazy instinct.
That was what it must be, but what was the lesson? And when would he see his Jedi again?
Snapping out of his reverie, he glanced up to see Halbarad, his cousin, walking toward him.
"My lord--" Halbarad began, before Aragorn could speak.
"You know better than that," Aragorn said, referring to the form of address.
Halbarad looked slightly chastened.
"I'm sorry, Aragorn, but it's hard to not call you that when that's how I think of you."
Aragorn smiled faintly, a brief warning.
"You should change the way you think of me, then," he answered, too mildly.
Then he reached out, caught Halbarad's hands, and pulled him so close that their bodies were separated by only a whisper.
"Am I royalty? The way you treat me, you'd think I was some long-lost prince, perhaps," Aragorn laughed.
"You know you are, Aragorn," Halbarad said quietly. "But on the throne or in the wilderness, you are my lord."
"I am truly honored by such devoted service, Knight," answered Aragorn, still laughing. "But if I am King, then you must be my Captain."
Halbarad's eyes flickered up to catch his, faint amusement locked behind the grey.
"Then let it be as my good lord wishes."
Their hands separated then, and the game was over. Aragorn turned away, sighing softly.
"Be my friend, Halbarad, before you are my Captain. I need that more."
Halbarad nodded and they fell silent, gazing out over the river valley.
Moments went by as each were wrapped in thought, until Halbarad caught sight of a movement across the river.
"What's that? Who enters the Valley?" he asked, pointing. Aragorn cast a glance that way, and exclaimed happily.
"It's Qui-Gon! The Jedi Knight I told you of, remember? Let us go and meet him!"
They raced together over the field, to the riverbank, where Aragorn halted, looking across the water.
"Hail and well met, Jedi Knight!" Aragorn proclaimed, laughing. "Would you enter the Valley of Imladris? On what errand do you come?"
Qui-Gon, across the water, threw him a *look*.
"I come to see my friend, Aragorn son of Arathorn," he said, smiling. "Perhaps you have heard of him and might lead me to him?"
Aragorn, in a mocking moment, considered.
"He is now at leisure and would see you. You may cross the river."
Qui-Gon nodded and walked over the river on the stepping stones, careful not to get any part of his clothing wet.
On the other side, they faced each other, both almost forgetting Halbarad still standing silent a few steps away. Their hands met in greeting and in something more -- affirmation. They each now *knew* the other was not some fancy of the night.
Halbarad, watching them, tried to be jealous of the Jedi Knight who had so suddenly appeared out of the blue and taken every fragment of Aragorn's attention away from the universe...away from him. However, he stopped somewhere short of envy and settled for quiet contemplation of the blue-eyed, dark-haired man who was so absorbed in his lord.
Halbarad deeply loved Aragorn and would have done anything at all in the whole of Middle-earth to see him happy, so that he could not even be truly jealous, seeing his friend's lover before him.
Instead, he merely stood silent, watching as their hands met, as they looked into each other's eyes, as they spoke words too quiet for Halbarad to hear.
Days went by this time, no single night of dreamy bliss. They spent hours talking and laughing with each other, with Halbarad, with others. Mountains were climbed, stars gazed at, and all sorts of things, from harvest celebrations to starship travel, were discussed.
Neither knew how long they would have together, so every moment was treated as though it would be their last.
Eventually, of course, the day came when Aragorn woke up alone, knowing instinctively that Qui-Gon had returned, willing or no, to his home.
After that, happy as the months were, they were lonely. Aragorn found himself becoming closer in friendship to an all-too-willing Halbarad, though they kept each other in some ways at arm's bay.
Things went like this until Aragorn woke somewhere he had never gone to sleep...where everything was strange and new, yet vaguely familiar.