Author: Catriona Greenleaf
Title: Born To Love Again, Again, and Again
Rating: R
Summary: Legolas and Gimli save the lives of two women from the Green Isle
Part One As I stared into the mirror my face was flushed. My breath was rapid as my chest heaved up and down. I could hardly contain myself. Every nerve in my body was singing with excitement. It was my nineteenth birthday and tonight there was a large party for me. It was not only my birthday, but a feast to announce my betrothal to a young man I hardly knew. Our fathers were boyhood friends and this arrangement was made when we babies. I was sure he was a good man, but my excitement was not because of my birthday or my engagement. It was because of dreams and visions that I had ever since I was four years old. I was not marrying Henri Molineau...... there was someone else coming for me.
I had always felt different somehow. My family loved me and I felt the same about them, but I did not even look like the rest of my eight siblings. I was number seven of nine children born to Jean and Claire Vert. Most have dark hair and either blue eyes or brown eyes. I was born with reddish blond hair and big green eyes. My parents named me Marie, but at age four I felt that my name was something else. My child's mind could not grasp the name. I had also been born with a big birthmark on my lower right leg just above the ankle. In my childlike mind I knew that birthmark meant something.
I dreamed of fishing boats, nets, little huts along the sea, giant ocean waves, and sometimes fire..... Oh how I hate to dream of that fire. With each birthday there was a significant dream or event that would leading me to my destiny. The night of the party I would learn of that destiny.
When I was ten my parents hired a new stableman, named Kenyon, and he began giving me riding lessons. Kenyon appeared to be in his mid twenties. He was tall and slender with blond hair hanging just below his ears and blue eyes. On the day he we met he looked at me, and he bowed and said a word under his breath that sounded like "Cat". Then he looked at me and said, "Bonjour mademoiselle Marie." He spoke my native language, but I could detect an accent. I asked Kenyon where he was from and what language did he speak in his country. He replied that he spent most of his life at sea, and on an island across the great ocean. He had also spent time in Gondor, Rohan, and Mirkwood. His main language was Common Speech.
"Oh, our tutor is instructing us in Common Speech. I will be able to practice now that you are here." We laughed and riding lessons began. I must have asked him a hundred questions that day about the sea, ships on which he had sailed, and about horses. He was so easy to talk to. I knew I had made a friend for life. We spoke in his language, and he was amazed at how fluent I was in Common Speech.
I outgrew my pony so I started begging my father for a new horse. Kenyon said he knew someone who had a nice horse for sale, so he and Papa made arrangements to meet the seller. He brought the new horse home for my eleventh birthday. He was a three year old gray gelding, which I named Royal Secret. He became the joy of my life.
One day I was sitting in the orchard with my sketch pad. I looked at the trees as they swayed in the breeze. As I stared at the branches I went into a trance. I saw visions of giant trees reaching unimaginable heights. People were sitting in the trees singing. It was the most beautiful music and singing that I had ever heard, but I did not recognize the language. It started to rain and I came back to the world around me. Immediately I ran to the barn and told Kenyon about my vision. He smiled and told me that indeed there were places like that over across the sea. He seemed to understand my dreams and visions. I could not speak of this to anyone else. No one would understand. They may think I was mad and try to put me away. Next to riding horses, sketching pictures of trees became one of my favorite pastimes.
Part One As I stared into the mirror my face was flushed. My breath was rapid as my chest heaved up and down. I could hardly contain myself. Every nerve in my body was singing with excitement. It was my nineteenth birthday and tonight there was a large party for me. It was not only my birthday, but a feast to announce my betrothal to a young man I hardly knew. Our fathers were boyhood friends and this arrangement was made when we babies. I was sure he was a good man, but my excitement was not because of my birthday or my engagement. It was because of dreams and visions that I had ever since I was four years old. I was not marrying Henri Molineau...... there was someone else coming for me.
I had always felt different somehow. My family loved me and I felt the same about them, but I did not even look like the rest of my eight siblings. I was number seven of nine children born to Jean and Claire Vert. Most have dark hair and either blue eyes or brown eyes. I was born with reddish blond hair and big green eyes. My parents named me Marie, but at age four I felt that my name was something else. My child's mind could not grasp the name. I had also been born with a big birthmark on my lower right leg just above the ankle. In my childlike mind I knew that birthmark meant something.
I dreamed of fishing boats, nets, little huts along the sea, giant ocean waves, and sometimes fire..... Oh how I hate to dream of that fire. With each birthday there was a significant dream or event that would leading me to my destiny. The night of the party I would learn of that destiny.
When I was ten my parents hired a new stableman, named Kenyon, and he began giving me riding lessons. Kenyon appeared to be in his mid twenties. He was tall and slender with blond hair hanging just below his ears and blue eyes. On the day he we met he looked at me, and he bowed and said a word under his breath that sounded like "Cat". Then he looked at me and said, "Bonjour mademoiselle Marie." He spoke my native language, but I could detect an accent. I asked Kenyon where he was from and what language did he speak in his country. He replied that he spent most of his life at sea, and on an island across the great ocean. He had also spent time in Gondor, Rohan, and Mirkwood. His main language was Common Speech.
"Oh, our tutor is instructing us in Common Speech. I will be able to practice now that you are here." We laughed and riding lessons began. I must have asked him a hundred questions that day about the sea, ships on which he had sailed, and about horses. He was so easy to talk to. I knew I had made a friend for life. We spoke in his language, and he was amazed at how fluent I was in Common Speech.
I outgrew my pony so I started begging my father for a new horse. Kenyon said he knew someone who had a nice horse for sale, so he and Papa made arrangements to meet the seller. He brought the new horse home for my eleventh birthday. He was a three year old gray gelding, which I named Royal Secret. He became the joy of my life.
One day I was sitting in the orchard with my sketch pad. I looked at the trees as they swayed in the breeze. As I stared at the branches I went into a trance. I saw visions of giant trees reaching unimaginable heights. People were sitting in the trees singing. It was the most beautiful music and singing that I had ever heard, but I did not recognize the language. It started to rain and I came back to the world around me. Immediately I ran to the barn and told Kenyon about my vision. He smiled and told me that indeed there were places like that over across the sea. He seemed to understand my dreams and visions. I could not speak of this to anyone else. No one would understand. They may think I was mad and try to put me away. Next to riding horses, sketching pictures of trees became one of my favorite pastimes.