2. Something that does glimmer
This is planned to be based more off of the books than the movies. Both will be incorporated, but if you get confused as to how events are different, it is because they are more from the novel. That is not to say I will exclude all things from the movies! Both are good and neither are owned by me.
The next several weeks passed quickly, even though news traveled faster through Rivendell than time. During that period, Aragorn found that Arwen had become nearly unbearable with her constant companionship, parading her around the city like a show horse.
Her unusually loud chattering, overly merry laughing, and affectionate batting hand wherever they walked caused quite a ruckus around every single populated area, as well as unpopulated ones. Come every meal time she ensured 'her king' had a seat next to her, and practically clung to Aragorn's arm the entire time. Aragorn wanted to think of her as a leech, though she was far too beautiful for such a term.
Seeing as how Aragorn never had a female friend before, she simply wrote it off as how a woman normally acted. It was nice having a friend like herself (a woman) that she could let herself go around, even if it was only slightly. Arwen still didn't know Aragorn was truly a woman, and Aragorn wasn't sure if anybody other than Elrond should be trusted with such a secret. Still, she enjoyed the false companionship of Arwen for the next several days until the others Elrond spoke of began to make their way to his hospitality.
The dwarves showed up seeking council several days after the hobbits did. Around that same time, several men of Gondor entered the gates and Arwen was pulled away to conduct her maidenly duties to greet and welcome all, leaving Aragorn some peace, quiet, and giving her time to find a place among the other warriors.
The most animated and lively among them was Boromir, and in him she found a fast friend. All day, and late into the night, they swapped common adventures and ideas.
Finally, come dinner time their stories dribbled into short anecdotes, though even the dwarves seemed entertained by the claims. By then even they had joined in on the conversation, along with Glorfindel, several older warrior elves, and even some of the hobbits. Elrond was sadly not there to regale them on the true accounts of many of the tails, but by then it really wouldn't have mattered. Many things were blown out of proportion to such a degree that no amount of wine could have made it sound true. The entire room was so caught up in the amusement of it all that they didn't notice the arrival of a fourth new group as it entered the dining halls.
"Excuse me, miss, do you possibly know where we could find Lord Elrond?" A melodic elven voice broke out amidst overpowering laughter. While others sobered up from the joke Aragorn reached out to take another sip of wine... until a hand placed itself on her shoulder.
"Miss?"
At that very moment her heart ran cold as she suddenly understood who the elf kept referring to as 'Miss.' She was hoping beyond all hopes that there was some sort of misunderstanding made, but when Boromir's drunken laughter rang through the room, quickly followed by the others, she knew there was not.
"Aragorn, I can't believe that I did not see it before, but you do look rather feminine!" Boromir suddenly barked as he slapped her back. She shot him a dangerous glare while he continued in his drunken laughter. Aragorn hoped Boromir wouldn't remember this in the morning, and if he was as drunk as he was acting he most certainly would not.
To all that looked at poor Aragorn, they may have thought the warrior's face was turning red with rage, which she was rather thankful for. In truth her face was burning with embarrassment. How could some common elf see through the disguise that she had worked all these years to perfect? Honestly, that wasn't the issue at the moment. What she really was worried about was if he kept talking.
"You have made a mistake, my friend," Aragorn grumbled quickly shooting out of her chair to face the stranger. What words she made ready died in her throat as her gaze fell on his fair face.
He stood several inches taller than her, and his deep, misty-blue eyes pierced hers, cornering her in the lie before it could form on her lips. His blond hair shimmered more beautifully than any golden crown she had yet to lay her eyes on. To put it simply, he was beautiful. Perhaps he was more beautiful than any creature she had yet to see in her life. Never before had Aragorn the need to deal with one such as him before, and to be honest, it suddenly made her feel nervous. And sick, though she suspected that it was mostly the wine's doing.
"Perhaps, you have made a mistake," She finally forced out after overcoming her initial shock, accidentally repeating her words with less conviction than before. "You see, I am a warrior. No woman in her right mind commit to such a task." Aragorn let out a slight chuckle at the thought, privately hating how she had to scoff at her true gender to be accepted amongst men while staring down her intruder with unbridled rage, hoping he would conform to her way of thinking if she glared at him hard enough.
"Then, is it possible that you are not in your right mind?" The creature mocked, reaching around her shoulder for a hand full of grapes from the table, getting unbearably close as he did so. His innocent, pure features almost did not match his deep, jeering tone. He shot Aragorn a light-hearted smirk as he popped a grape past his lush, pale pink lips that she irritated decided were more feminine than her own.
Aragorn followed the grape to his obnoxiously white teeth and growled angrily at the offending elf when the fruit's juices sprayed her in the face while she was trying her hardest to be serious. He simply laughed at her while she wiped her face on her shirtsleeve.
It was obvious he was trying to get Aragorn to back down from her claims, the way he stood so intimidatingly close, eyeing every emotion that flitted across her features.
Aragorn, however, just stood there, shocked at his audacity while a new round of laughter erupted throughout the hall.
"Who are you to-to say such things!" She roared, smacking the grapes out of his hand. For the first time Aragorn noticed three more elves standing behind him as they suddenly jumped forward at her assault on their companion. Aragorn's hand just as quickly found its place on the blade at her hip, but before anything could happen the blonde elf raised his hand to stop them in their movement.
"I am Legolas of the woodland realm of Mirkwood, son of Elf King Thranduil." He frowned as he watched a grape come to a teetering halt at the heel of her boots. "May I ask as to whom I might be talking to?"
"Aragorn II, child of Arathorn II and heir of Isildur!" She swiftly drew the hilt shard of Narsil out of her leather sheath and held it where all could see. "To speak such offensive words to any man might just be enough to start a fight!" She hoped this would be enough proof to convince him that she was what she said she was. This entire conversation was beginning to make her nervous, and she really hoped it wasn't showing.
Legolas's eyes suddenly lit up with amusement, quickly covering his mouth before mumbling, "Good thing I do not speak to a man," he whispered, just loud enough for the 'man' in front of him to hear, but the other mortals in the room were clueless as to what had just transpired. The other elves, though, heard it as clearly as though he said it in their pointy tipped ears.
"Perhaps we should take this into another room where we can converse freely without involving others?" Aragorn growled as she put her blade away, taking a step forward to glower at him as best she could. Much of her menace was lost in their height difference.
"That sounds most agreeable. You lead the way- after all, 'ladies first.'" He chided in elven. It took all of Aragorn's willpower not to bury her fist into his flawless face.
Legolas honestly found the mortal before him most amusing. Having grown up in a kingdom of elves he found that he never tired of their antics. He had never come across a woman pretending to be a man before. In elvish culture they did not differentiate between genders as much, but it was well-known that humans had several set gender roles. He almost found it laughable that a woman would challenge such a thing when it could very well be her death. She could be hanged for such a claim.
"That was uncalled for! I have fought alongside Aragorn his whole life, and he has been nothing but a true and strong warrior! To make such insinuations is cruel!" Aragorn turned to find that Glorfindel had risen to defend her honor as a warrior. A little too late, sadly.
"Worry not, my friend, we just need to have a talk. I will return within the hour," she tried to wave him off.
"Do not do anything rash," he warned as the two walked out of the room. Aragorn had no intention of fighting the other, but he was being a rather irksome pest. If she didn't straighten it out soon, others might think the elf's words less as a joke and more as a truth. If that happened, all that she had given up in her life would be for not, the world of men would fall, and her people would be ravaged by the oncoming war because they had no leader to unite under. No king to rule them in the coming chaos would spell their doom.
Storming down the empty hallway, Aragorn scoured the Home for the first empty room and stepped inside. Legolas sauntered in after her, long legs easily making up for his slower pace. When she turned to confront him, she was irritated to see that he was grinning ear to pointy ear.
"Why do you so obviously disrespect me in front of my kindred?" Aragorn hissed, slamming the door and rounding on the elf in one swift movement. In a fluid motion she had an accusing finger digging into his chest. "Whether you think I am fit for the position or not you have no say in such matters! I do not even have a say in it! If the Valar wish it, I will be King! Now- I demand of you some form of respect!"
Legolas let out a simple laugh and took the threatening hand in his, softly holding it against his chest. As he suspected, it was the hardened hand of a warrior and not of a maiden, but it still gave him little doubt on the matter. The creature before him was a stubborn woman who would sooner swallow her tongue than admit he had caught her in a lie. "I mean you no disrespect. From what I understand of human culture it is proper to respect a woman by calling her 'miss,' or 'lady.'"
It was almost as if he was mocking her, yet some form of truth rang in his words. "Why do you insist I am a woman? Nobody else sees me as such." Aragorn insisted, quickly pulling away from the elf's sickeningly sweet grip as though it burning her. Her stance on the matter suddenly faltered as she began to fear others might take notice too.
"Obviously they are blinded with what they want to see."
"Oh, and that makes perfect sense! Pray tell, what is it that they want to see?" Aragorn quickly shot out, trying her best to sound sarcastic about his remark. In truth, she really did wonder why he was seemingly so sure.
The blonde beauty just stood back to ponder the question for a moment, then began to circle the creature before him as he thought aloud, "A brave warrior, a future king, a leader. As for why the elves could not see through your lie, I do not know. Perhaps they have just known you for too long?" He answered. He found it quite amusing how she fidgeted under his gaze and froze like a stalked rabbit when he left her line of vision.
"What about me makes you so convinced I am a woman? My hair is short; my skin is dark and rough. Am I not taller than a woman? I am stronger! Why, even my name is masculine!" Aragorn scoffed, trying not to sound as frightened as she truly was. "Am I to be queen, and not King?!"
Legolas quickly brushed aside the matter of her kingly title. "Do you wish to know how I am so certain of your gender?" He inquired as he began to circle her once more, a shadow of a smile ghosting his coral lips as she froze.
"Yes! Well... Tell me why you think the way you do! It's not like you are right or any-!"
Aragorn was abruptly cut off as the tall, blonde elf, who had just circled behind her, grabbed her by the hips and pulled her body flush against his. His body heat scorched her back more than she thought possible.
"Your body is too slender-" Legolas purred from over her shoulder, feeling her entire body go ridged under his touch. "Even with its added muscle," One of his hands suddenly darted across her toned stomach, causing a slight hitch in her breathing. He smirked at the mortal's reaction. "And your hips are far too wide." At this jest she angrily attempted to pull herself free, but found that was going to be a much more difficult task than she originally thought.
At the first sign of her struggles Legolas repositioned one arm around the small of Aragorn's waist, while the other traveled under her arm, lifting it slightly from behind till his hand rested at the collar of her shirt, accidentally brushing against her chest as he did so. Such a move halted her in her escape attempts, causing her to let out a hissing breath between her teeth, slamming back into the elf's chest in her struggles to evade the wandering hand.
Legolas ignored her efforts of running and continued with his explanation, quite amused that he was being proven right at every turn. As a prince, he loved being right almost as much as he loved getting his way, which was rare but not unheard of.
"The fact that you are wearing a light elven shirt enables me to see that you either have a chest injury, or have bound yourself," he chuckled. His first-finger and forefinger tugged at the already low-cut, embroidered elven shirt, only to reveal a thick layer of bandages beneath.
Aragorn quickly shifted and rammed her elbow into his stomach, readjusting the clothing when his arms loosened.
She had been touched by many a creature before, most of them fellow warriors during a spar. Never before had she been touched in such a way, though. It was almost sickening how this warrior had her under his thumb so fast. Had this confrontation been a sword fight she wouldn't have been short of breath in such a short amount of time, yet she was already panting.
She spun to face him and was surprised at how quickly he had already recovered.
Legolas was once again stalking towards her while she backed into a wall in a sudden surge of surprise, which was something a true warrior never allowed themselves to be placed against. Even more surprising was the fact that the elf had yet to give up on the matter.
"Also," he purred, "you may be tall naturally, but I noticed earlier that your boots have a slight platform to them. This, I presume, enables you to be taller than most men." He pressed her back against the wall to observe her full height next to his. To get the full effect of how tall she was he closed the gap between the two so they stood within an inch of each other's faces.
While Aragorn was busy trying to sink further back into the wall to avoid the overly observant elf, he grabbed her wrist and pulled it up to plant it beside her face to observe. "Also, your hands and feet are nowhere near as large as an average man's." His thumb brushed against her wrist soothingly while it held her in place. Her other hand, however, quickly went into action pushing against him. Her voice had yet to recover from her initial shock, though it was slowly awakening when she let out a high-pitched squeak as she thrashed against the wall.
Aragorn could not believe that she was being found out after all this time! It was horrifying and wrong.
While her free hand was pounding on his back, his was caressing her chin. "On top of all that, your facial features are softer than any mortal maiden's I have seen before." He trickled his fingers from her chin to her neck, then they finally rested alongside her ear, causing a whimper to escape Aragorn's mouth. Thankfully, he ignored it, though there was no doubt in Aragorn's mind that he heard it. In fact, part of her suspected that the noise incidentally spurred the twisted creature on.
He leaned in close, his lips just barely brushing her ear and whispered, "No sign of a beard, even though a true man your age should be shaving twice a day." His fingers skittered back over her face causing her to shiver as they rested, this time, on her lips. "Your lips are too full to belong to any man, and your lashes too long."
As his hand moved around to the back of her neck she pulled her head as far away from his voice as she could muster. The only thing that did, though, was make her suddenly aware of his warm breath on her neck.
"Finally," he breathed heavily, causing a shiver to rack her body. "Even the smallest detail can be the most damning, but has anyone ever pointed out...?" The heat on her neck suddenly became more humid as he held out the dramatic pause longer than would ever be comfortable for such a captive audience. She almost felt his teeth on her neck at his proximity, reminding her suddenly of a warrog going for the kill. "You have no Adams apple."
She let out an audible gulp as she fell limp against the wall, giving up on her attempts at escape or convincing the elf she was truly a man. This was not happening! All that she had worked so hard to hide was so easily seen by one ornery Elf Prince.
Sure she felt violated! Who wouldn't have after having the entire truth about their life revealed, and in such a demeaning way! What was worse was the thought that the entire future of her race rested on her shoulders- and now her life was in his hands to do whatever he willed with it. If he wished to reveal her to others, that would spell the end.
It would spell the end for her, as she would most likely be executed for such an outlandish act as pretending to be a man; It would spell the end for the human race, seeing as how Sauron was rising back to power and no defined leader seemed to be taking place as king. In fact, the world of man was dividing more than it ever had before.
Slowly, the Legolas released Aragorn's wrist and withdrew from her defeated form. Amusingly enough, for him anyway, moments after he released her she crumpled to the floor.
"I have heard of the fall of many great kings, but to have one fall before me in such a fashion is almost poetic."
"Sh-shut your mouth." Aragorn hissed. She didn't understand all of her conflicting emotions. They were almost as confusing as how her body was reacting. She was so cold, so why was she sweating? Why was her heart beating so rapidly? She was shivering more than she had years before when she traveled through the pass over the mountains. And her heart was pounding as though she ran through the woods several times over.
Thankfully, before anything else was said or done, the elvish prince gave a sudden jolt of panic as he stood at attention before the fallen woman. His eyes suddenly darted towards the door, awaiting an unheard approach. The door swung open in haste as the new occupant flew in and slammed the door in an equally hurried fashion, letting his robes billow in the swiftness of his actions.
Elrond entered just as Aragorn collapsed into a cold heap on the floor. And he looked furious.
