Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own any of the character, places, names, or anything associated with the works of J.R.R Tolkien or the Lord of the Rings (books or movie, whatever). My characters are Anita, Leila, and Arlandria and that is all.

Chapter 31: Helpless

Anita awoke wrapped up in her towel, Legolas' strong arms holding her close to his body, her head perched against his shoulder and his cheek resting atop her head . With the need for them to keep their affair a secret for fear of retribution from the family there wasn't a whole lot of time for simply enjoy the other's company. Contented, she snuggled closer against her lover's body, and in return he wrapped his arms around her just a little tighter. Legolas adjusted slightly so that he could brush a kiss across her forehead, his gentle and soft fingers moving her bangs from her eyes first.

"Good morning," He whispered, his breath tickling her eye lashes. In response she tilted her head back and placed a butterfly lite kiss on his mouth, reveling in the way he sighed whenever they kissed.

"Thank you, for staying with me." Ani wasn't even going to pretend like she hadn't been a huge mess the night before, she had been so greatly distressed by the events of the day. But the way he held her close through the night, it had calmed some of the demons that were plaguing her. Wriggling her way out of his arms, Ani held the towel tightly around her form as she left the bed ready to start the day. Glancing at her bedroom door, she wasn't terribly surprised to see that it was still latched tightly, the lock in the same position she had set it the night before.

"How is it no one has noticed you sneaking in and out of my bedroom window this whole time?"

Legolas laughed as he reached over the side of his bed to retrieve his boots, "Because they are far too concerned with hiding those climbing in through their own windows."

Anita let out a full laugh, kicking the pile of yesterday's bloody clothes aside as she walked to her armoire, selecting a tunic and pair of leggings at random. Legolas wasn't wrong. If there was one thing that Anita had learned in her years living in Rivendell, it was that everyone had skeletons in their closet, everyone had a secret they desperately didn't want society to know about; it was one of the many reasons lying had practically become an art form in these parts.

Ani dressed for the day, buttoning the silver tunic and pulling the black leggings over the under garments she had picked without really caring. Normally the elf took far more care in her clothing choices, but seeing as how her lessons with her grandfather were temporarily suspended as well as her position on the guard, there was no reason for her to be picky in her outfits. Actually the more she thought about those two facts the more she realized there wasn't a reason to get out of bed much less fret about her ensemble.

Shaking her head to put such melancholy thoughts aside, she tied her flowing obsidian locks back in a simple low pony tail using a leather strap. As her fingers worked the leather into a knot behind her head she felt two strong arms wrap about her middle, and a gentle kiss was placed on her shoulder.

"I am sorry," Legolas whispered into her ear, his warm breath sending shivers down her spine. "I should have told you."

Ani sighed as her arms fell back to her sides. She didn't need him to explain any further. It had dawned on her when her grandfather finally came clean about the mysterious 'item' that was being hidden in her home, that was the reason the emissaries had been called, that was the reason for the summit meeting. Meaning that the man she had been sharing a bed with, had been in on the lie all along. Her dark eyes caught his, so filled with regret, in the reflection of the mirror.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Legolas sighed and hugged her tighter, "I didn't have the heart to explain such dark tidings to you. I mistakenly believed your father, though his intentions were good, that hiding the truth of such evil would protect you from it. I never intended, I never wanted, for you to have to defend yourself against them , to take a life."

She flinched as images from the day before flooded her mind again. With an unsuppressed groan she slide from his grasp to walk over to her window; the view from the balcony overlooking the small courtyard, but beyond that there was an uninterrupted view of the surrounding mountain ranges. It creeped her out to think that there were more of those goblins, vile creatures, hidden up in the rocky crevices waiting perhaps for their turn to attack. If goblins were suicidal enough to attempt to infiltrate Rivendell, what would happen when the hobbits took this evil item out of her people's protective land? What else was out there waiting for the opportunity to take it?

"You aren't going are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"To take it out of Rivendell, to destroy it." Anita turned from the panoramic scenery to face the elven prince again. She barely caught the sight of him faltering, it happened in flash as Legolas fastened the hook on his belt, his finger slipped when she asked the question. He recovered quickly.

"Why would you ask such a thing?"

Legolas' response, answering her question with a question made a knot grow in the pit of her belly. "Because I'm not stupid. If this thing is really as dangerous and evil as Elrond said it was, no one in their right mind would send a four foot nothing hobbit to destroy it alone. They would send an army. But we don't have an army here, we have a wizard, a dwarf, a few hobbits, and some jerk from Gondor. And you."

The elven prince finished dressing himself and came to stand beside the smaller girl, reaching up and brushing her bangs from her eyes as he so often did. "Does this thought distress you?"

"Of course it does. I spent seven years trying to build a life without you, and the second you stepped back into my home I knew I would give up all that hard work, everything I had gained by playing by the rules if it meant I could be with you again. Don't make me regret that choice by telling me you volunteered for a suicide mission."

Playfully, he tugged on her ponytail. "I did not realize you cared so much."

"Of course I care about you, I …." Biting the inside of her lip, she gave one violent shake of her head, hating herself for simultaneously almost saying something she would instantly deplore herself for admitting, yet at the same time hating that she was too chicken to say it. "Look just…you aren't going right?"

Legolas didn't answer her right away. Instead he cupped her cheek in one hand and leaned in to kiss her. Anita placed one hand on his chest, and pulled herself just out of reach of his lips at the last second. Giving him a hard stare, she made it perfectly clear he wasn't going to charm his way out of this without an answer to her question.

"No," His reply came after a long moment of silence. "No I am not going." Anita visibly relaxed with his answer, the weight of such a heavy thought taken off her shoulders. She didn't question him further, accepting his answer and having no reason to let her trust of him be marred by doubt.

They spent the day together, just the two of them. With Anita's obligations to her grandfather and to Glorfindel no longer consuming her time, she was free to spend her day however and with whomever she wished. Anita took Legolas to one of her favorite places within her grounds of her home; a large ancient willow tree whose thin branches brushed along the ground and stream that passed below. The twisted trunk and intertwining branches offered comfortable nooks to relax, the boughs curving to create lounging chairs. Anita lay across a bough like a panther, one leg dangling off the branch , the weight of her cheek resting against the back of her hand; watching the stream that ran near the base of the trunk as it carried the fallen autumn leaves downstream. Legolas lazily lounged on the adjacent branch, remaining within the girl's direct line of sight. They sat in the old willow tree for hours, talking to each other free from societal structure and without constraint. It came to them easily, the relaxed conversation about nothing important. It reminded Ani of the days when she had first come to Rivendell to live, and her and Legolas had explored the area outside the city together talking about their childhoods. Back when she had just been the girl with the purple hair and he had been the prince in need of some direction in life. There weren't any evil magic items, or goblins attacking.

The whole day got away from them while they remained consumed in each other's companionship. One afternoon of conversation undid the damage done by a seven years absence, drawing upon pent up feelings and emotions that for so long had been held in check. The sun had begun to dance along the far western mountains, the fading daylight doing little to effect the Elves' conversation. It wasn't until a young page boy entered the garden to summon Anita to dinner at her father's bidding that the two of them realized just how intently they had been focused, how invested they had been conversing about how they passed the time in the years they were apart.

Sliding down from the high perch she had been occupying for the past few hours, Anita dusted bits of bark and shriveled leaves from her outfit before following the Prince and the page back to the house, where they were already late for dinner. Before entering the dining hall, Ani wrapped her arm around Legolas' elbow in a fashion all too familiar to be considered appropriate by Elvish standards. Normally he would have chided her for wanting to be so bold in front of her family, or he would have laughed her off; but instead the Elven prince let her hand remain locked around his arm as they entered the dining hall. If it the goal of her behavior was to elicit a reaction, Anita wasn't disappointed.

While the emissaries from the other realms didn't appear to be fazed at all, her family and close family friends gave her exactly what she was looking for. Leila's mouth hung open, her spoon hovering in the space between her bowl and her ajar lips. Aragorn and Arwen in sync both averted their eyes and became very interested in their own food. Gandalf placed his napkin over his mouth, feigning wiping away food particles, but it did little to hide his chuckles. Glorfindel didn't make eye contact, but slowly shook his head at her antics. Elrond pinched the bridge of his nose as if he were fighting off a headache, and Elladan just stared; his eyebrows shot so far up his forehead that Anita had been concerned they were just going to fly off his head altogether. Yes, if Anita had wanted to see the reaction to her and Legolas entering the dining hall as though they were a betrothed couple, she surely wasn't disappointed by what she saw.

Due to their late arrival, the only seat left open for Anita was next to father and uncle, forcing her and Legolas to split ways once they reached the table. Legolas sat across the table and several seats down next to the steward of Gondor. Though conversations swirled around her, Anita quietly focused on her meal, enjoying the seclusion her moment of introversion offered her. Occasionally though she would pull her eyes away from her meal of lentil and squash soup to cast a glance across the table at the elven prince; who would instinctively look up in time to catch her eye and share a knowing smile between them. A smile that didn't go unnoticed by a single person sitting at the table.

After what felt like the hundredth time seeing the little flirtatious smiles the two lovers were not so subtly sharing over dinner, Elladan leaned over to chastise his child. "I think perhaps it is not wise for you and the young prince to rekindle your romance."

Anita didn't even look up from her soup to respond. "I'm sorry I prefer to only listen to the opinions of people who don't make it a habit to lie to me."

Elladan sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin, scoffing. "It may surprise you child to discover that my actions, then and now, are taken to protect you."

"You're right," Ani muttered over the lip of her goblet as she took a long drink of wine, something her father didn't normally allow her and her twin to partake in, "It would surprise me to discover that."

Glorfindel shot her a reprimanding look from across the table, which Ani shrank from. While Glo and Elladan frequently butted heads over how best to handle Anita's rambunctiousness, the older elf had made it clear to his student that he didn't appreciate the way she spoke to her father.

"Your father is right, little one," her mentor offered quietly, "It will only serve to make things more painful when he leaves."

"But Legolas isn't leaving." It came out far louder than Anita had intended it to, her voice easily rising above the conversations around her to contradict Glorfindel's statement. Glo didn't need to respond to the statement outright, the look that flashed in his eyes was the only acknowledgement Anita needed from him to know that something was wrong. The entire table tensed in the wake of the girl's outburst. Panic started to flood her head, crashing through her reason and destroying and remnants of it. She jerked her head around to look at the elf in question, but he avoided her gaze refusing her catch her eye. "Right?"

There was no way he hadn't heard her. Every other conversation at the table and faded and then died away in the wake of the drama. But Legolas couldn't meet her gaze, keeping his eyes fixed on some point in the woodwork of the table. He didn't answer. The moment of silence stretched on unbearably, and fear began to work its way through her body; up her spine, to the pit on her stomach, to the tips of her fingers turning her cold.

The steward of Gondor, Lord Boromir, in an attempt to alleviate the tensions and awkward silence that had taken over dinner table answered in Legolas' stead. "Milday, of course he is leaving," The auburn haired gentleman gave a sweep of his hand to indicate several other members at the table; including Aragorn, the hobbits, and the dwarf Gimli.

"He is going with us to Mordor."

Helpless feat. Shelley Harland- Headstrong