SOOO, I'm not even going to try and give an explanation as to whyyyyy this has taken me so damn long. I won't lie, I honestly wasn't feeling this story after the last chapter I posted. I thought I was, I thought I knew where it was going. I know HOW I want it to end, but the getting there is the hard part. At least making it interesting and worth yalls time hard. But anywhooooo, I got a lot done today as I had a bit of free time and managed to pump out not one, not two, but threeeeeee chapters. And I'm gonna go ahead and post all three chapters because you deserve it. And I'm not gonna promise it, but I will try my damned to not make you wait ANOTHER two years without updating. Anyway, ONTO THE STORY!

Thranduil stared at the body next to him. Her chest rose and fell with every breath that she took. He feared that any moment, if he were to move, then the dream would fade. These past few days have been life altering for him.

When he heard word that the Ring had been destroyed and that Sauron was finally vanquished, he felt that he could breathe easier. The messenger that carried the letter from his son that he, along with all others, were well and that their quest had finally come to an end, he felt relief unlike any other.

He knew in his heart of hearts that if Legolas and Annalynn were to have fallen in this war, that he himself would surely begin to fade. For without his children, who was he?

It was a similar idea that he had when he lost her. His sense of identity was gone and for centuries he struggled within himself. He shunned everyone and kept them at arms length. Even his own child. His flesh, his blood. He knew that Legolas respected him as King, but he was always unsure of where he stood in the child's heart.

He molded himself into a cold and calculating heartless King.

He trusted no one and he could feel the sentiment being sounded within his halls.

Then the battle for Erebor happened.

He could not tell you what it was about those events that changed his heart. Tauriel's love for the Dwarf, his son's love for Tauriel. The want to protect your home and your kin from those that would seek to do you harm. The kinship that the Halfling felt for the Dwarves.

Any other those could have been a reason, or perhaps it was a culmination of all those. No matter the cause, that time had an effect on his heart that changed him entirely.

He let himself become more open, more caring. His world was changing and even if he tried, nothing could have stopped it.

In those times, he was so unsure of himself.

He let Legolas go after the battle.

Perhaps the one and only thing keeping him in this realm of Men, he let leave his side. Yet, he could not bear to sail without his son. The one thing that tied him to his earth, was out of his sight.

And yet, he returned.

Legolas had returned home and Thranduil felt a calm wash over him in that moment.

Much like the very calm that came over him when he saw her face.

Not his wife's, but hers.

The mortal woman that he dared to call his daughter.

He knew it folly to make connections with mortals. He felt sadness when Bard had succumbed to the fate of all men. In all his years, he never had a friendship like as he did the bowman.

He saw his likeness in her, perhaps that is why he was so drawn to her. Or perhaps it was the vitality that he sensed from her. Or his own selfish need. No matter what reason, he felt the need to protect her, care for her, love her.

He felt a strange longing for the mortal woman. It excited and terrified him at the same time. He, unsure of his own intention, kept her at a distance. When he was around her, he wanted nothing more than to be in her presence. To stand, sit, or be next to her. Her life force pulled him in, in an unknown way.

Eventually he only saw her as this being that needed to be protected from the world, knowing well enough that she was strong in her own right.

Her fierceness was unlike anything he had seen in a woman. Mortal woman that is.

Yer, there was something underneath her fierce quality that caused him to want to protect her. He never could explain why, he never understood why.

And yet, after all settled and calm took over him, he found himself again.

With his children by his side, he found the man that he was meant to be.

He was a King, a friend, a father.

His life had found purpose again.

He found joy in those times. Peace and happiness that he had not felt in ages.

Yet, that happiness was not meant to last.

War threatened to take all that he held dear.

He marched on Dol Guldur.

His son joined the Fellowship and marched towards the gates of Mordor.

His daughter left his side to protect her kin.

He let each of them go, knowing that it was right and true.

Each day that passed with little to no word, Thranduil felt his world darkening again. He tried to keep in good thoughts. Tried to not let the darkness take over again.

Then the time came again.

Time for him to call up his armies to defend his home.

To defend all that he worked hard to rebuild.

He had to defend his home, their home.

It was a long battle, but in the end they were the victor. Then word came that the Ring had been destroyed.

He knew that it was only a matter of time before he was reunited with his children again. Yet, he claimed so much more in this reunion than he ever thought possible.

The body beside him proved just that.

Never did he think that he would see her again.

After the events in Gundabad, he was sure that he had lost her. He thought that his wife and unborn child were gone forever.

Yet, here they were.

Indanna gave him a brief summary of what happened, and yet despite what she said, he could not find it within him to be angry at her. The torture that she had suffered at the hands of the Orcs of Gundabad had left a mark on her that undoubtedly affected the life growing inside her.

She felt herself begin to fade. She felt the life inside of her beginning to fade. Taking what little control that she had, she chose to take her own life, thus taking the life inside of her.

Yet, that was not her fate.

He should have known. He had always felt her presence beside him, but he took it in the form of his own guilt. Never once did he try to think that perhaps their connection, their bond, was not severed that day like he had thought.

"You'll soon make yourself sick with all these thoughts."

"How long have you been awake?"

"Long enough."

Indanna rolled over on her side of the bed to face him. "I do not blame you for not looking for me Thranduil. I too would have assumed the same."

"No you would not." He placed a careful hand to her cheek. "You were always much stronger than I. More in tune to our connection." She pressed against his palm with soft sorrow. "I should have returned. You had much to care for, and I left you to manage it all."

"I fear that I did not take my responsibilities as important as I should have."

"Legolas grew up just fine. And besides, you took care when it was needed most."

Thranduil laid back quietly while Indannna moved closer to him. "Has she been told yet?"

"To which 'she' are you referring, and to what matter of subject?"

"Annalynn? Has she been told that she cannot stay in the realm of Men?"

Shaking his head, Thranduil sighed heavily. "I haven't the heart to tell her. Lady Galadriel spoke to her in regards to the spirit of the Vala that resides in her, yet I fear that she did not take it upon herself to speak of times to come."

"I have seen the way she speaks to and cares for the Rohirrian King, and I have seen inside his heart. Perhaps it is best to speak with her soon before further damage can be done."

"I fear for her."

"I do not know her as you or as Legolas do, but the ways in which you speak of her offers me to believe that she is stronger than she or I give her credit for."

"She is strong, but I fear that her armor is breaking."

"Take her back to the woods. If anything is to be believed of what Legolas has told me, she thrived within the Woodland Realm."

It was not a thought that he himself did not conjure. Since he saw her inside her room, he wanted nothing more than to collect his children and return home. "Even there, I do not believe that she would find the solace she seeks. Annalynn is a mortal woman to the end. She cares for nothing more than the peoples of this earth and she would cast her own life aside for theirs. To take her away from that, I am sure would be the end."

"Something must be done Thranduil. You have eyes as clear as my own, she is but a stone's throw away from death." Indanna removed herself from the hands of her husband and rose from their bed, "Tomorrow the Elders shall be within the Capitol. Perhaps they can offer advice on how to proceed?"

"I do doubt that Galadriel or Elrond can offer any such guidance." Thranduil sat up in his bed, staring at his wife. "Very few times in this life have I been as incompetent and useless as I am now."

"Perhaps simply telling the girl the truth is the only answer here. Now before her heart can be any further broken."

Thranduil wanted to cast aside the notion. If it was in his power, he would take his family, Annalynn included and sail for Valinor. Where they would live peacefully and the Valar could perhaps save Annalynn's soul. Yet, he had no power when it came to the mortal woman. She was a force of nature that very few could stop, much like that damned horse of hers.

"Perhaps…." A new thought formed that for the first time since he arrived in Gondor that he smirked when he thought of Annalynn.

"I know that look, what has your mind wandering?"

"Merely a thought, nothing more." He smiled at her when he caught her eyes shift towards the room next to there's. "What has your attention?"

"Nothing you need be concerned with right now."

Indanna sensed her daughters worry as she snuck from her room. She paid no mind to it, but she knew that she would need to speak to her daughter soon about the mortal boy she wandered off to meet.

It was near midday when the pair reached the small lake that they were journeying towards. They had left before the dawn to avoid watchful and suspicious eyes. If they had been seen together, then all their planning would have been for not.

Bringing the horse to a stop, he was the first to dismount, carrying her down after him.

"I knew that it would be worth the travel."

She had to admit it as well. The lake was secluded in trees with a small mountain at its back. A small stream cascaded down from the rocky slopes into the lake that let out a quiet sound that lulled her senses.

As they set out their things, she could not help but wonder why she was here. Not in a metaphysical nature, but as to why she chose to be here with this mortal man. The past days have caused her to rethink much of her life.

She went from a slave to a princess.

Her mother had never mentioned that she was once the queen of a sector of the Elven race. Never once said that her father was a King, and her brother a prince. Let alone that she had a brother at all.

She began to doubt herself. She was not like her mother. Her mother was the embodiment of grace, a quality that was needed in any queen. Yet she, she was born and raised in savage lands, as her mother called them. She has no qualms with the way she grew up. If in fact, these Westerners were strange folks to her. While she was most accustomed to the free nature of where she lived, the customs of the west baffled her.

More to the point, all the sneaking that she and the mortal man had to do in order to spend time together. As he put it, it would be highly frowned upon in society, that rumors would spread of the untruthful indecency of their relationship.

Legolas made that clear that day at the river. She was unsure of why he was so upset that she was riding with him the way that she was. Or how the other women of the capital stared at her as she walked the halls.

She first thought that it was her nature, being an elf. Having learned that that was not the issue, she began to wonder what it was. Her mother explained it as that they were uncomfortable with how she carried herself and how she dressed.

Naurhin was increasingly confused by how her dress and mannerisms caused the feminine nobility to turn their nose at her. Or how it caused the men of the West to stare at her like they did.

Perhaps she could use this outing as an attempt to gain some answers to the questions that she held. She turned her gazed the Garreth, but for a moment, her questions were gone as she stared at him.

His hair showed fiery golds as the rays from the morning sun hit it at angles. The quietly creeping of the night sky cast a shadow of his figure in great contrast to his hair. She could not quite explain it, but she felt a dull beat in her chest. One that grew stronger as he set his eyes onto hers.

"I hope you're hungry. I managed to swipe some breakfast before we left." He caught her stare and recoiled a touch. "Is there something on my face?" He wiped his fingers over his cheeks with a look of horror on his lips.

His lips.

They were small, yet looked so soft and full.

Throughout her years, she had never met a male that looked like him. Most men that she had seen in her days held darker features. Yet he had hair that reminded her of fields of wheat, skin that almost matched her own, and eyes that paralleled clear streams.

She shook her head, turning away from him. Her face felt warm as she continued to look at the ground.

"It's the scar, isn't it?" His fingertips tracing the lining of the mark on his face.

Now ashamed, she did her best to quell his insecurities. "No, no. It's quite handsome." No sooner than the words left her lips did she regret them.

"Handsome, you say?" The boyish grin on his face caused her blush to intensify and the only thing she could think of doing in response was to shove his shoulder.

He tipped over jokingly, but realization dawned on his face as he felt gravity take over. Grabbing her wrist to keep himself from falling only ended with both of them tumbling to the ground. With laughter surrounding them, they lay tangled up in each other.

His laughter died, but the twinkle in his eyes did not dissipate. He smiled at her, and she could not help her own smile from her face. The man had caused her to feel things that she only heard of. When she ventured off on her own, she witnessed things that her mother would be horrified by. She had seen couples sharing intimate moments, nothing quite like what she stumbled upon at a brothel, but simple enough. A touch, an embrace, a kiss.

She wished that one day someone would look at her the way that these couples looked at another. She knew it would never be true though. While she saw the beauty her mother possessed, she felt that she could never compare. To her mother, or any of the other women that she had seen throughout her years. With the exception of her mother, they were all olive and tanned skinned, with burning brown and green eyes. Thick locks of black or brown To her, they were gorgeous creatures. She felt no prettier than the plain maids that lived in Gondor.

So, what hope would she ever have of someone loving her in such a way?

She felt him shift beside her as he sat up. "Here. You must be hungry."

"I learned to live with hunger."

He gave her a quizzical look while handing her a piece of bread. Taking a small bite, she stared at the bread and the cold memories came back. "Growing up, this is all I would have for weeks."

"Well, bread is good for you."

She almost smiled at his joke, but held the piece up for him to inspect closer. "This right here. This portion is all I would have for weeks." She took a small bite out of the loaf, feeling his eyes on her. "I grew up in slavery."

"Naurhin.." He trailed off as he looked at her. "There is no need to.."

"'It's okay." She took another small bite of her bread. "You've told me much about your life, I feel that it is only the respectful thing that I tell you mine." Taking another small bite, she carefully swallowed, thinking back on her life. "However, there isn't much to tell. I was just a babe when my mother was sold to an Easterling merchant. We stayed with that family for a long time. It wasn't until after our master died that we were sent to live with another family. It went like that for years. Once our master died, we would be sold to a different family."

Garreth stayed quiet while she told her tale. Listening intently, but she could see the trouble and sadness in his eyes. She did not have the powers her mother possessed when it came to empathy, but after her years on this earth, she had learned a trick or two.

"My mother fell ill while we were on our way to our new masters. She never spoke of it, but I think I understood what happened." She pulled at a loose stitch in the blanket. "Her physical body was fine, but her soul is so tattered and worn that she started to fade."

"I've heard of that." He finally spoke up.

He delicately placed his hand over hers. To him, it was almost a perfect fit, and his calloused hands did not seem to bother her in the slightest. Bringing it to him, he gave it a light kiss. "I'm sure that she will return to normal soon enough." Without letting go of her hand, he went back to biting into his bread.

Naurhin felt a comfort with her hand in his. Something that she's never quite known before. She knew that in her heart this wouldn't last. He was a mortal after all.

She wasn't blessed with the option of choosing immortality like other Elves were.

She could spend what days with him that she could, but they could never be together.

With a new sadness in her heart, she held onto him tighter and they ate in complete silence.