A/N: Bonjour, all! Sorry this chapter is late... I've been really busy with school. (Damn AP classes...) But never fear... for it is here!
Disclaimer: (Sung to "Milkshake") My characters bring all the fans to the yard, and their life is better than yours, damn right, it's better than Tolkien's, I could seize his, but then I'd be sued...
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Chapter 9 : The Girl that Died
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get away from him.
And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make herself hate it.
Caen and Legolas were spending nearly all their time together. Their matching wits and constant bickering were obvious signs to the people of Rivendell that they had a new pair of lovers on their hands. But to Legolas and Caen, their friendship was simply deepening.
Or that's what they told themselves.
Legolas was in the dining room with the group of elves he had traveled with to Rivendell. They were chatting merrily and he was ignoring them.
He looked up from his plate and spotted Caen walking out of the room. He'd been purposely avoiding her all day because of the constant taunting from his fellow Mirkwood elves. During the short time Legolas had spent with his friends, they had constantly teased him about spending his days with Caen.
So Legolas stood up from the table and left the room. He called a lame excuse over his shoulder to satisfy his friends, and followed Caen out of the room.
"Stop trying to be silent, Prince. I know you're there," Caen said. She was sitting on a bench and had a book in her hands.
"I'm not trying to be silent," Legolas said. "I am succeeding in being silent."
"Obviously not, because I heard you."
"Well then, you must have magical powers with which you use to hear me. And so I request your magical presence to accompany me on a walk," Legolas said, not missing a beat.
"Was that almost a compliment? And don't we spend enough time walking?"
"It was most definitely not a compliment, and no, we do not spend enough time walking," Legolas replied.
"What, then, will persuade me to go on a walk with you?" Caen asked.
"My charming disposition and my dashingly good looks?" Legolas tried.
"How about the promise of intelligent conversation?" Caen supplied.
"Ah, yes. Intelligent conversation," Legolas agreed.
"Then I will most definitely accompany you on a walk." Caen took Legolas' proffered arm and they walked. Caen left her book on the bench.
Caen had spent all day wishing that Legolas was there with her, and yet being glad that he wasn't. When Legolas was there, it unsettled her. Countless years of service to her father had proved useful, however, because Caen was able to mask her discontent and replace it with confidence. This was proving to be a difficult task, though. Legolas' earlier outburst about his father's pressure on him showed Caen that Legolas trusted her enough to tell her information he probably did not tell anyone else.
Her father would be delighted to find out that Legolas trusted her. But Caen wanted to vomit. She'd already told herself that she wasn't going to fall in love with him, and she certainly was not going to fulfill this mission.
She would not. She would not. She damned well would not.
Legolas' trust in her made her want to spill out her deepest and darkest secrets to him. And those secrets were most definitely dark.
"Why are you so quiet?" Legolas asked softly. They came to a fork, and they took the right fork in the road, leading into the forest.
I'm brooding because you trust me and I hate that. It makes my life too easy. WHY CAN'T YOU HATE ME!
"Oh, no reason," Caen replied.
"You can tell me. I'm a friend, not a foe," Legolas smiled down at her sweetly. That made Caen want to melt.
Stop that.
"I can't tell you," Caen said, shaking her head. Not now. She couldn't tell him ever.
"I know we only met a few days ago, but you can trust me. I keep secrets well," Legolas assured. This was one of those rare, but becoming more frequent, moments when these two elves didn't feel the need to bicker.
There was a long pause. "No... we didn't just meet a few days ago, Legolas," Caen said softly, in a very desperate voice that she didn't know she possessed.
"What do you mean?" Legolas asked, confused.
"I remember it so well. Don't you remember?" Caen said. Legolas heard the masked pain in her voice and wondered whether this was what he had observed her thinking about the day before yesterday.
"I'm afraid I don't follow," Legolas said, confused but eager.
"You were young, I was too. I was in a small room, and you sat next to me. Your father was there, and a brash healer, too. I did not speak to anyone but you. Do you remember now?"
"You... were that girl?" Legolas asked, suddenly seeing the connection between the haunting girl of his past and the brazen girl of his present.
"I am not that girl," Caen said darkly. "I am her, but now molded into what others want me to be. That girl died that day, along with her mother..." Tears threatened to fall, but Caen refused to let them. She blinked until they disappeared, and then mentally hit herself because she had almost cried.
Legolas was speechless. He had never forgotten that girl. She had disappeared the very next day, and Thranduil had refused to tell Legolas where she had gone. Legolas had wanted to play with her. It had made him very sad that she had left. But now with that girl in front of him once more, it made him realize that even the smallest occurrences in life could make the largest impact.
Caen certainly had.
Caen was staring at the ground with a blank stare that Legolas knew was masking her pain. But when he lifted her chin up with gentle fingers, Legolas only saw determination and power behind those green eyes.
So Legolas did the only thing he could think of. He drew her into his arms and held her tight.
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A/N: So the plot deepens... do they have feelings for each other? Or will something go very, very wrong... More coming soon!
Muchas gracias go to... Padme4000, Tigerlili Brown, Lady Anck-su-namun, geminitwinz, and Eye of Fantasy! Celeborn-shaped cookies to all of you!
So chapter 10, depending on my (evil and hectic) schedule should be coming to you as soon as possible. But this was the last complete chapter that I have written and complete in my little Box. But I'll hopefully have it winging its way to you in a week!
-Ivy
9/9/06
