Note: You asked for it, you'll get it, chapter two...
BE WARNED: I'll be slow on updates, I working at a daycare from 9-5 atm and the little lovely monsters really get me tired, so I'll only be able to write on weekends and as I have two other stories to continue..well, you get the pictures.
Remember when the muse is triggered with many encouraging and constructive reviews, writing is goes so much faster ;-P
[Forgive me if I make some timeline-mistakes, I'm only recalling this from seeing the movie when we rented it two weeks ago...so it will most likely be flawed in continuity concerning the movie but I hope you can look past that.
If it annoys you too much, please point it out and I will try to adjust.
Thank you!]
EDITED to coincide with the movieverse-timeline!
Chapter Two
Running
I left the elf to himself short after. His presence irritated me. I didn't want to risk becoming infatuated with him, I saw Éowyn acting beside herself when with Aragorn after just the short moments of having laid eyes on him, I did not need this kind of distraction, not if we were really going into a war.
Still, I couldn't help but be distracted from the beautiful stranger with his warm smile, I'd never been this close to a man before that I found attractive, given that, I thought I'd done surprisingly well. For all I knew I could have fallen to my knees, begging him to let me give him my hand in marriage. I did not, which was certainly a good thing.
When I came through the Great Hall, Éowyn and Aragorn were talking quietly, she didn't seem to mind the diversion and it wasn't long until Gandalf and my uncle returned, with two children who looked battered and exhausted. They had apparently come from a village that had been burned down by wild men, causing Théoden to consider for the whole of Edoras to run to Helms Deep as we had already suspected. He would be telling us the next day at noon.
The walk would cost us at least one and a half days, so we should all be well rested.
Gandalf did not seem to agree with the plan of action, he wanted us to stay and fight but Théoden firmly made his point; "I don't want to risk open war"
"Open war is upon you, whether you want to risk it or not", Gandalf said but it didn't do any good, my uncle was too stubborn to let the wizard advise him, understandable after what had happened with Wormtongue.
So then, we were all waiting, walking around the halls, trying to make sense of everything.
I was getting more and more concerned when the sun went down and I found myself pacing across the backside terrace, glancing into the valley anxiously as if every minute there could come an army of orcs or wild people to kill us all.
Éowyn wasn't talking much, she was busy thinking about the stranger and worrying like me. Normally I would have gone to her, to talk and try to cope with what was ahead of us but tonight I couldn't, I didn't like how her eyes glistened in the face of terror, she seemed to like the idea of going to war, not liking the prospect of extinction but liking the thrill. Peaceful and reasonable Éowyn liked to fight with swords and blades and she did so more ruthless and more skilful than the most men I knew. But that wasn't my nature. I would fight to protect those I love but I wouldn't go to war for the sake of amusement.
"Milady", the sudden sound made me jump and I turned to see who spoke to me.
"Legolas", he stood before me in his under-shirt and pants, no shoes on, the hair that had been braided before fell loosely over his shoulders and into his face. I gasped at the sight.
"I couldn't help but notice your uneasiness", he smiled wryly, "You've been passing my window all the while"
"Forgive me", I apologized for disturbing his rest sheepishly, "I don't seem to find peace tonight"
"Few of us do", he stated and looked at me for a moment, "You haven't seen much evil in your life, have you?"
The question surprised me for no concrete reason, "Ah...no, I don't think I did, not more evil than Gríma at least"
He let out a short, brittle laugh that sounded sweet and true, I liked the sound of it.
"Why do you ask?", I wanted to know.
"I wanted to confirm my initial idea of you", he answered as lightly as ever.
"You had an initial idea of me? When was that?", I asked before I could stop myself, I was too curious, as always.
My question seemed to make him feel uncomfortable, he stuttered ever so slightly, shrugging in an awkward fashion when he spoke again.
"Just, when I saw you for the first time", he tried very hard to sound untrodden, "my first impression of you was that you were...innocent"
I felt his eyes on me and it appeared for a moment like he attempted to go on, to tell me something more, something bigger but my senses must have tricked me, he remained silent after a brief moment of hesitation that one wouldn't have caught who hadn't fixed him so fiercely.
I had the strangest thought that he was going to court on me but after all, he barely even knew me, he couldn't have deeper interest in my person, not in times like these. He seemed to be a warrior, not an elf looking for a bride, I told myself firmly.
Yet, the image tickled me in places I had never felt much before...me, his bride.
Still, even if we weren't in for a war...why would he pick me? I was not extraordinary, merely a princess of Rohan, a human, vulnerable and fragile.
Not strong and beautiful and immortal as the elves, not worthy of such a superior creatures affection. I was barely even a woman to start with, still just a girl in many ways. So why would an elf see anything more in me? He thought I was innocent. He'd expressed that and it was the truth. He didn't mean anything more by it and he wasn't going to say anything else in order to clear up my confusion. I was sure.
And I was right.
He soon after retreated with a short goodnight and left me in the darkness, his hushed and mumbled 'goodnight' left me puzzled still. He'd looked exposed, he'd seemed to feel found out. Though he wasn't. Was he?
I couldn't possibly be right with my dizzy, mislead inkling that he was going to tell me I had woken his interest. That was not at all plausible.
I was well aware...but the seed of suspicion was planted in me, a suspicion that filled me with dazzled thoughts and romantic fantasies that I was ashamed of as they played inside my mind, yet I wasn't capable of stopping them. And I I had to be honest, beneath my rationality who advised me otherwise, I wasn't willing to.
I returned to my room, changed and lay down. I kept distorting my sheets, kicking and turning in bed, the exceptional strong and new feelings, that had seemed to bloom out of nowhere, my issues with said feelings and the fear of an inevitable battle and horror mingled into a blur of concern in my had that had me wide awake.
When I finally found sleep it was his voice that haunted me, he said 'innocent', he said 'so young' and it sounded like he wasn't talking to me but to himself, like I was invading his thoughts. He seemed to be arguing, like he was telling himself that he shouldn't risk to develop feelings for me.
It didn't make sense, during the dream I felt sneaky, like I had trespassed his innermost thought, though that was a pointless assumption because only wizards were capable of such things.
Nevertheless, when morning came I was everything but rested.
The first thing I did after I finished washing and dressing, was going down to the lower part of Edoras to see the only thing that could ease my mind, and that was Connyn, the son of our guard Rhedry Dúnadan, he was ten months old, nothing more than a toddler but he had captured my heart right when I first saw him.
His mother had died in childbirth and from then on, I spend almost every day taking care of him when his father was on duty. The boy had no other family and I knew Rhedry was glad to have me to assist him with the education of the child.
Of course, at first he had protested for a princess to take care of a simple soldiers son but I was quick to distort those worries. I loved the child and having him around made me happy like few other things.
Though Rhedry wasn't around the Golden Hall today, I decided to pay him a visit, maybe he could eat in peace if he would let me watch Connyn.
I hadn't stepped fully out of the house when I heard the voices from the town, people were talking, some were starting to gather their belongings, it looked as though word had gotten out about my uncle's plans of evacuation. The seemed to already know what the decision would be, if I was honest, so did I but I wasn't sure how my sentiments towards running away were.
Rhedry's house was not more than a shed and the door was open as usual, when he was in and as I'd suspected, Connyn sat on a fur on the wooden floor, playing with sticks while his father prepared their food.
I knocked politely and waited for him to notice me.
"Milady", he said surprised when he did and bowed his head, "It's good to see your uncles betterment"
"Oh, you have seen him already?", I asked and entered the parlour.
"Just yesterday, when he threw this ghastly figure from our grounds", he answered lightly, only to bite his tongue a second later as he remembered how that scene had continued...with my uncle realizing that his only son had died.
I nodded quietly to ease his worries that he had insulted me or my family in some way.
We sat in silence for a little while and I watched Connyn on the floor, the boy hadn't seen me yet.
"He missed you", Rhedry finally said when he followed my glance, "Connyn, look who's here"
The little boy tried to see past the table that hid me from his sight and seemed puzzled that he had been addressed. I took a couple steps towards him and then his face lit up to that beautiful three-toothed grin. Dark curls framed his pretty little face and his cheeks had a rich blush as he brought up his sturdy arms, a plea for me to lift him up.
I did so without hesitation, loving the feel of the baby in my arms and if you'd seen us from afar, you would have thought he was mine. Just when you came closer you saw that my complexion was a little darker, his hair more auburn than mine, his curls more defined and his eyes less of an almond-shape.
He chuckled and grabbed the skin of my neck into his little hands and squeezed them together, he was grabbing everything all the time, but this was different, this was him greeting me, showing me that he knew who I was.
"I missed you too", I cooed and placed him on my hips, "yes, I did"
"Is it true that we're leaving for Helms Deep?", Rhedry asked me after a while that I'd been singing to the child.
"I don't know yet", I answered him truthfully.
"If we do, would you take Connyn for the way? I don't know who else to trust him with, I know it's a lot to ask, Milady, but.."
"Of course, good Rhedry, of course I will take him", I nodded forcefully, "It would be my pleasure"
I had just left Rhedry when I heard Gamling, my uncle's right hand, declare that the decision had been made, we would all run to Helm's Deep and as I made my way back to the Halls, Gandalf and Aragorn passed me. The wizard seemed strain and I looked after him for a while, until he disappeared into the stables.
Not long after that, we started moving, Rhedry had brought Connyn over and I saddled one of the horses to follow my cousin to the middle of the track.
Éowyn seemed distracted.
"It will be fine", I said, to ease her worries but it took her a while to even acknowledge that I had spoken.
"Lord Aragorn called me a shield maiden of Rohan", she finally said.
"He could tell by your anticipation for the battle", I half-joked, because that was most likely.
"He saw me practice with my sword", she answered.
"You brought your sword?", I asked startled, "What for? We are not going to fight"
She left that uncommented and kept riding and after a while we found ourselves near Aragorn and Gimli, the sturdy dwarf.
He was quickly engaged in a conversation with Éowyn about dwarf-women and that it was a wide spread myth that there weren't any dwarf women, I saw Aragorn mouth "It's the beards" to Éowyn and they all laughed.
I could tell from the look of her face that she was as lost in infatuation as I was.
We had left the shelter of our homes for several hours already when I had the chance of catching a glimpse of Legolas. I wouldn't have admitted to myself that my turning and observing had been for him and not primarily to look out for the people we were leading but when I caught his eye, his look sent a flash down my spine. Like the first time, he seemed to glance right down to my soul.
And then he noticed the child in my arms and seemed surprised but he looked away too quickly to even try to explain. And then he let himself fall back, picking up the bearded dwarf at the end of the procession and keeping his sight on the group.
I scolded myself internally for being so distracted by him, distracted from my duty, to lead and to keep an eye out for everyone when I had only eyes for him.
It was a bad time for romance now, especially when there was no hope for my feelings to be returned, it was a waste of time and attention that could become fatal.
But as much as I tried to, I could only peel him away from my mind so much that I could ride forward and secure the child that I kept clutching with one arm while holding the rein with the others.
And so I was fleeing, from my irresponsibility and growing attachment to the mysterious elf and, as the all the others surrounding me, from a vague but taunting threat.
Little did I know as the horse carried me and Connyn over the realms of Rohan with steady rocking rhythm, that this thread was very much concrete and already plotting to attack the running people of Rohan.
Sooo, I know, the romance comes quick in this one but I found that in the movies, especially with Éowyn's feelings for Aragorn, romantic feelings come up fairly quickly and for me it also needs to happen fast to fit right into the story arc as I have planned it.
Still, I'm used to giving romance more time and room to grow, so it might feel rushed to you (as it feels a tad bit rushed to me – but it has to be this early) and again, if it annoys you or you really feel like you can share some advise on how to make the fast romance seem more legit and natural, do tell.
I'm thankful for any advise and opinion. :)