Title: elements descend
Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Characters: Lady of the Blue Brooch
Rating: G
Length: 250 words
Author notes: I like to write the lady of the blue brooch as a Caroldan noble who found one of the Nine Rings and became a Black Rider. While technically in the same 'verse as other fics I've written about her, it can definitely be read as a standalone.
Summary: A Caroldan Lady finds a ring, and tries to run from what comes next.

Midsummer's blue night wraps itself around Nînazîr's shoulders as she crossed the treeline, and the shift in the light lets her breathe more easily for the first time all day. Not entirely - impossible to breathe the world's rightness when the ring sways between her breasts like a burning coal at the end of the silver chain necklace, impossible to slow her heart to normal when the soles of her feet are still torn from her flight - but the trees offer a sense of relief that she had hardly known she was looking for.

She hardly remembers why she plucked the ring from the ground, why she hid it in her sleeve when her brother called, asking what she'd found, admonishing her for straying too far from the path. She had needed it, that was all, like she now needs the veiled shelter of the willow branches.

Nînazîr slows, the heady sweet scent of the lilies underfoot rising to meet her as she walks forward. She feels as if she is moving in a dream, as if the sharp red berries would burst sweet and safe on her tongue. Her thoughts slow as she sits back against a tree, the bark rough and warm through her cloak. Plucks a flower, spins it between her fingers, lets the pale white catch the starlight.

And under the willow trees' silent watch, Nînazîr places her hand over the ring on her chest and lets her mind open to the voice trapped inside.