Note:

Hey everyone I'm so sorry that this took so long to get out! I'm busy and frankly I just don't have a whole lot of time to do stuff. But I will try to update every few weeks to every month but if I can't, fear not, because this is far from being abandoned. I would like to put it out there that I'm looking for someone to proof read and help me edit this story so that there are fewer errors because I suck at editing my works unless I look at them like two weeks later. So if anyone is interested please PM me, and I don't expect you to do this with nothing in return. I can't pay you, so money is a no, but we can walk about you getting something out of it. Maybe an OC in the story, a one shot dedicated to you, a spoiler, a Q&A with the characters, or something. Please PM me if you're interested.

Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my ocs.

Chapter 14 – Beauty

Third Person POV

Many pairs eyes looked below the watch towers towards the gate of Emyn Arnen when they saw their rangers return home as the sun rose in the sky. The sun had just started to peek and as the first rays of light hit the earth as the gates opened and many men walked through. They removed their dark hoods allowing their faces to be seen by those around them. They had returned home and many of the women who had woke early that morning wore happy expressions on their faces. Soon they noticed something that was rather unusual about the returning company. There was slim, pale skinned form, in cream and red colored clothing contrasting the black cloaks the men wore. In a mess of curly hair and dried blood did the town realize that in the arms of one of the rangers was a woman. A few brave ladies ran forward when they realized the extra person with the rangers. The ladies examined the injured dark haired woman briefly before they broke off in a small group of three women, including the injured one, and one man carrying the injured. The group of four hurried past the crowd and away from the rangers as they made their way to the house of healing. The look of worry and the urgent way the moved suggested to the masses that the lady the rangers had found was not in good shape.

The crowd parted, creating a direct path through them to the house of healing located a few buildings away from the gates. Few eyes actually turned and watched the rushing forms go past them, the few who turned wondered if that woman was going to be okay. Others looked onward to the rangers and embraced them. The feeling of joy once again filled the air as they hugged the men and kissed their cheeks or lips, depending on their relations to them. The bloodied body of the woman was forgotten just as quickly as the crowd had noticed her. She was not their focus, they did not know the stranger, and so they pushed the image of her to the very back of their minds and the deepest parts of their hearts. She was not one of them and they could not be bothered with her when they had others to attend to. However that was not the mindset of all the people, just the majority. There were others who wondered what her name was, if she would be well, and even prayed for her recovery. They wondered what had happened to the young lady, and they would get their answers out of the men who returned home for the day. Knowing they would leave in the evening. But that would be later, for now they hugged, kissed, and spoke kindly to the tired rangers.

Meanwhile the small group of four reached the house of healing. They rushed her to the side of the room and laid her in the bed. The two women shooed the man away then got to work on the injured young woman after he was gone. They cleaned her up with a soft damp cloth, they washed the blood and dirt off of her face and arms. They cleaned the cut on her forehead near her hairline and tapped a bandage over the cut to keep it from getting worse. Carefully they stripped her of her tattered and bloody clothing, then they carefully washed her body and cleaned any wounds that were hidden by her dress. They quickly redressed her in an off-white loose dress with short sleeves and a low collar. The two women finished their work of cleaning up the woman and started to brush through her long curls. For days it was only these few women who would come in daily and tend to her, there were brief moments when she woke and mumble nonsense when they tried to get her to eat and drink. She barely kept any food down before falling back into unconiousness. They had noticed on the first day that she had applied a circle of red paint on her forehead, for days they left it be, unsure to why it was ever there. But on this day the older of the two women decided that it would be best to clean her off entirely. They had just finished scrubbing down her body and redressed her when they were about to remove the dot.

However at that moment a dark haired elf entered the room. His eyes landed on the newest human resting in the house of healing. He stiffened slightly at the sight of her, it was as if he felt a sudden concern. His body language had become tense and his stared at the woman lying on the bed. Her skin was a paled tan from her starvation and possible illness from being in the elements for so long as well as wounded. She had looked so innocent, so broken and in need of being helped. But he could not have known that days prior to this moment she brutally beat one of her captors to death with a rock. He tried to dismiss any sort of feelings of care for the stranger, but couldn't bring himself to do so.

"I don't believe I have seen her before. Do you know what happened to her?" The Elf asked, startling the two women who were brushing her hair. One of the girls, the older one by a few years looked at the Elf with a mix of surprise and amazement. While the other one looked upon him with a bashful expression.

"You have a good eye then, Master Elf, this woman is not from here." The older one responded in a calm and soft tone, while trying to hide her nervousness at being in the company of a handsome Elf.

"The rangers found her in the forest while they were patrolling. My brother didn't tell me much of what happened, but that she was in bad company and badly injured when they found her." The younger of the two quickly added to answer the other part of his question. Her cheeks were lightly shaded pink, it didn't go unnoticed by the Elf, but he did not comment on it either.

"Found her? No one recognizes her at all?" He frowned, the Elf was likely thinking of the odd woman, Selene, who had shown up similarly. When they had found her she was about to be murdered by an Orc, and yet no one seemed to recognize her. He looked down at the unconscious brunette and noticed something that caused him to jump into action. There was a red dot resting on her forehead, the very one that the older woman was about to wash off.

"Daro!" (Stop!) He shouted in elvish and quickly caught her hand with the cloth in it. The older lady dropped the cloth in shock and cried out in alarm. The dark haired Elf quickly released her arm and offered her an apology. Then he looked at both the women in the eye.

"You mustn't remove that dot, I think it may be a way to place her. Please, refrain from doing anything farther." He said in a stern but gentle tone, the two ladies numbly nodded their heads in his direction, and it did not go unnoticed by the Elf how they seemed to put some distance between them, the bed, and himself.

"Now, did you two notice anything else that you have already washed off? Anything that may have been abnormal to see on a human?" He asked, the women looked at each other for a moment before answering.

"Well, Master Elf; there were circles, similar to the one of her head only larger, on her hands." The younger of the two said, the Elf nodded and walked past them back to the door.

"Please refrain from touching her farther unless it be to help feed her or give her water. I'll be returning shortly." With that said he walked out of the room and headed down the long halls in a brisk way. Soon he could tell he was reaching his destination by the light giggles and whispers of the handmaidens about a certain Elven Prince and to whom he was giving his attentions to. The dark haired Elf had to stop himself from shaking his head at the very thought, Legolas rarely gave any women that sort of attention, and he certainly would not be giving it to a human. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, he had more important matters to deal with. As he turned the corner he caught a glimpse of a conversation in that language Legolas was trying to learn.

«Πως λες Greenleaf?» (How do you say Greenleaf?) Legolas' voice floated from the room with the slightly ajar door. The dark haired elf quietly peaked into the room. Legolas was sitting at a small table in the room, while the strange human Selene was sitting on the window cell looking outside.

«Πρασινοφυλλος.» (Greenleaf.) She answered. She paused after that, simply looking outside as the clouds slowly rolled by, and then she turned. The sunlight hitting her skin in a way that almost made her glow. Then she looked at Legolas and spoke again.

«Πως σε λενε?» (What is your name?)

«Με λενε Λεγκολας.» (My name is Legolas.) She smiled slightly and then they switched, honestly it was rather impressive that they were learning each others' languages so quickly, although they had been spending all day doing nothing but lessons for the past couple days. It started as writing and then they started trying to talk. Legolas caught onto more of Selene's language than her catching onto his. They paused again and the fair haired elf motioned to Selene start.

"S-Suilad." (Greetings.) She stuttered slightly and lowered her voice a little, probably some sort of nervous habit.

"Man eneth lín?" (What is your name?) Legolas asked.

"Selene… I eneth nín?" (My name is… Selene?) The human sounded slightly unsure as she spoke, Legolas nodded his head, signaling that she was correct. Then the elf pushed a journal across the table and motioned for her to walk over to him. Selene hesitated before she walked over to the table and sat down and opened the book. She looked a little surprised when she opened it and the journal was empty.

"Teitho." (Write.)

"Τι?" (What) The human looked confused for a moment before Legolas wrote a little bit on the paper and then handed her the quill. It was at that moment that the dark hair elf decided to make his presence known. He lightly knocked on the door, drawing both the attention of his leader and the woman before he entered the room.

"Valdon? Man le carel sí?" (Valdon? What are you doing here?) Legolas asked his friend, Valdon did not usually come into the lessons, he often asked the fair haired Elf about it afterwards but Valdon didn't really like being around Selene it seemed.

"There is something you must see, my lord." Valdon said, glancing at the woman who was now paying more attention to him, he wondered how much of that she caught. Legolas arched an eyebrow but quietly stood and looked at Selene.

«Θα τα πουμε αργοτερα.» (We will speak later.) Legolas said kindly and then Valdon turned and walked out with his leader following after him.

«Ενταξει, θα τα πουμε, λοιπον.» (Alright, goodbye then.) Selene answered as they walked out of the doorway. She was confident she had been heard, she had learned recently that Legolas, and the people who looked more like him had very good hearing. She sat there in thought for a moment before she quietly got up and put the book on the table along with the quill. Selene brushed the wrinkles out of the dress she wore and walked out into the hall quietly, she began walking down the hallways hoping to see where the two men had gone.

Change of POV – First Person – Selene

I had been slightly surprised to see Valdon come into the room, he briefly spoke to Legolas and from the few lessons I have had I was able to pick out the words "you—see—my lord." It was rather curious to hear him say that, from what I gathered this place belonged to Eoywn and Faramir, not Legolas, so what did Valdon need to show him? I couldn't help but be curious so I wanted to see for myself what was so interesting. As I walked I glanced out the windows I passed, from one of the windows I could see two children playing in a fountain, their hair and skin tones reminded me of Aither and I when I was younger. I felt a bit of a squeeze on my heart and looked away from the windows as I came across two halls leading in different directions. Choosing the one of the left I walked down the hall and thought of Legolas and Faervel, of Eoywn and all of the nice people I met so far.

«Αιθερ... αυτος ειναι αραγε ο τοπος που ελεγες?» (Aither… I wonder if this is the land you once spoke of.) I mumbled to myself quietly before I saw a flash of blonde hair.

I quickened my pace and turned the same corner that I saw the flash of blonde go, I noticed it was Eoywn briskly walking down the hall into a large room. I heard voices that I recognized as belonging to Legolas and Valdon. Quietly I approached the archway leading into the room and saw that Legolas, Valdon, and Faramir were speaking to one another while glancing at someone in bed. Eoywn made her way over to them. All I could understand was, mark—similar—Selene—think—she'll know? I felt confused and tried to lean towards the room without entering, however I was holding onto the wall wood on the arch creaked under my weight. My face heated up when Legolas and Valdon's heads snapped up in my direction followed by Faramir and Eoywn, I was caught ease dropping.

"Selene, come in." Eoywn said somewhat slowly and it took a moment for me to process what was said and I slowly entered the room and walked towards them. That slow moving process soon turned into a sprint when I recognized the woman lying on the bed. I sort slipped on my dress in the rush to the bed, causing me to stumble forward and fall to my knees beside the bed, forcing the others out of the way in the process. I shakily took her wrists and felt relief flood my veins when I felt the steady pulse.

« Την... Την ξερω!»

"Legolas, do you know what she said?" Faramir asked.

"Yes. Selene said that she knows her. Selene, who is she?" Legolas asked but I barely heard him, my focus was on Ramini, she was still and if I had not felt her pulse I would have thought her to be dead. There was a jumble of words in the background, but I paid them no mind until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I didn't bother turning my head but I heard Eoywn speak.

"What's her name?" There was silence.

"Selene?" More silence.

"Her name, Selene. What is it?" Valdon's tone was slightly annoyed, I snapped out of my daze and glanced back at them, all I really got was name but I knew what they wanted already.

"Ramini."

"Ramini? Is that her name?" Legolas asked.

«Ναι.» (yes.) There was silence for a moment and Faramir opened his mouth to speak but his mouth snapped shut when they noticed the stirring beside me. I felt her moving in my grasp and quickly turned back to Ramini. Her brow scrunched up slightly and slowly her eyes opened, there was confusion as she stared at the ceiling then her brown orbs moved to me. Her eyes grew wide and she sat up fast. The blanket falling to her waist and she swayed slightly, probably from the rush of sitting up.

Change of POV – First Person – Legolas

We watched as the unconscious stirred fully awake for the first time in the past few days according to the two women who had been tending to her the past few days. They said that there were moments of her waking, dazed and mumbling gibberish before falling into unconsciousness, or waking slightly as they fed her or gave her water, but it never lasted too long. They complained that it made it hard to really feed her, they'd get a few bites in before her body shut down and she was unconscious again. I did not have time to really think of what the women had said to us when the two, Ramini, as Selene had called her, and Selene rushed into a conversation.

«Βασιλισσα μου!» (My Queen!) Ramini spoke rapidly, giving a slight bow of her head before holding her forehead with a slight wince.

«Συγγνωμη, σ' απογοητευσα τοσο πολυ! Επρεπε... επρεπε να ξαναψαξω.. θα 'πρεπε να-!» (I am sorry, I failed you in so many ways! I... I should have double checked, I should have-!) Ramini continued to speak quickly, the regret clear in her voice and eyes as she stared down at her lap, not meeting Selene's eyes. For a moment I wondered if she was listening at all for she looked as if her thoughts were elsewhere and she gave the dark haired woman a dry laugh.

«Οχι, φιλη μου, μη κατηγορεις τον εαυτο σου. Λυπαμαι.. Εγω φταιω που βρισκεσαι εδω.» (No, my friend, you cannot blame yourself... I am sorry. It is my fault you are here.) Selene shook her head as she spoke, a sad smile gracing her lips as she rested a hand on Ramini's shoulder. Ramini opened her mouth, her expression making me believe she was going to argue but she was silenced by a sharp look from Selene.

"Do you know what they said Legolas?" Faramir asked.

"No." I answered, pausing for a moment. "They were speaking too fast for me to catch." I lied but no one seemed to notice and I thought back on everything that I was able to understand. From everything I understand on Ramini's side on the conversation was: My—sorry—failed you—checked. With Selene I only caught the words: blame yourself—sorry—my fault. I couldn't understand anything else but I knew something bigger was going on here and I started to think that Eoywn's initial idea about Selene was not so far off and this mystery woman was just another piece of the puzzle.

Note:

And this is where I leave you for now. I'm so sorry it took so long to get this chapter out and I can't say it will be any faster in the future. I want to know your thoughts and remember, that if anyone wants to help me with editing my story I'm looking for someone to help me. PM me and we can talk about it and what sort of reward you will get for helping out.

Also if anyone was curious about the title of the chapter and Ramini's meaning. Ramini in a Hindi name meaning "Beautiful Woman" (roughly that anyhow) and so the chapter name is representing getting to meet her on more of a personal level. Fun Fact: EVERY name you come across in this Fanfiction has a meaning to the person connected to it, just in case you're interested.