he closed his eyes and remembered the first time he'd seen her. he'd been walking through the woods, towards home, when he'd heard sounds of fighting, off to the right of him, and he'd gone to inspect. being the prince of this land, he'd taken it upon himself to inspect, of course he would. through the trees he saw two elves fighting, one with knives and the other with a long sword, two elves with raven hair, one male, the other female.
the male swiped at the female with his blade, and she let out a shriek. legolas didnt think twice as he pushed through the trees, drawing out his bow and aiming it at the male. "let her go!" he called. the male had just stared at him, a sort of half smile upon his lips, and then the arrow fell from Legolas' hands, unexpectedly, as did the bow. it was magick, and quickly Legolas pulled out his long knives and advanced. they began to fight, furiously and angrily. at one point, Legolas sliced the other elf with his knife, across the upper arm, and the elf recoiled, clutching his arm and looking wounded.
as Legolas moved to speak, to question the antics of the male, he felt a knife at his throat, and for a moment did not move. then he quickly turned so fast so the the assailant behind him could not keep the knife at his throat, and prepared to fight.
he did not expect to see the female elf there. they stood for a moment, still, staring at eachother, her with an angry expression on her face, her bright green eyes piercing his, and then she advanced, and he moved to combat her swipes with her knives.
for a several minutes they'd battled, and she'd won, she'd knocked both of his knives out of his hands and wrestled him down on the ground, sitting on his chest, with both of her blades poised at his neck.
"who are you to attack my brother?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
"your brother?" legolas had responded in surprise. he glanced over at the male elf, who was sitting off to the side, putting pressure on his cut, and staring at his sister, with her hostage on the ground. yes, they did look alike, he had the same raven hair, only he had bright blue eyes.
"yes!" she had said, not relaxing the blades that lay on either side of his neck. "he is my brother. why must you attack him for no reason? what has he done to you?"
he had looked up at her, and seen the ferociousness in her eyes, those sparks of anger in them. he studied her face for a moment, before he spoke.
"forgive me, lady. i thought he was attacking you, i meant no harm..." he was getting lost in the sea of green that was looking him in the eye.
she relaxed the blades a little. "attacking me? ha!" she laughed. "no being could attack me if they'd wanted to, not without a fight! No, Nathlinus and i were fighting for sport, you see. You must be more careful to judge situations, sir."
she withdrew the knives from his neck, and he breathed just a little easier. for a moment he'd been truly afraid of her, though he was more caught up in her beauty than anything else, her strength.
She looked over to her brother. "Nathlinus!" she'd called. "What shall we do with him?" she said as she looked down at Legolas again, the anger gone from her eyes, now amusement played in them. She was still sitting on his chest, pinning him down to the ground, though now the blades were withdrawn, he could have easily gotten free from her.
Nathlinus had come up next to her, and looked at him. "Do you know who that is, Starlyah?" he'd said, amusement playing on his face as well.
She'd leaned down to inspect him closer, her black tresses falling onto his face. "No," she'd said, "though he does look a bit familiar."
Her brother's eyes twinkled. "That is the Prince of Mirkwood that you hold captive, sister! You have bested the Prince of Mirkwood!"
She looked down at Legolas again. "The Prince of Mirkwood, eh?" she'd said, amused. She rose up off of him, and bade him to stand. She laughed as he did so.
"Well then, sir Prince of Mirkwood," she'd chuckled. "Now that you know that my brother is not trying to attack me, what have you to say for yourself?"
He looked from one sibling to the other, not knowing for sure what to say. Then he bowed to Starlyah.
"Forgive me, again," he'd said. "I did not know that he was your brother. I only meant to help." He looked at Nathlinus. "I am sorry for harming you."
Nathlinus smiled. "No harm, no foul, sir," he'd said. "The cut will heal quite quickly. I am more worried about your pride."
Legolas looked at Starlyah again, who was cleaning off her blades with the sleeve of her dress, and didn't respond to Nathlinus. Starlyah looked up at Legolas again, and smiled.
"He need not be worried about his pride, brother." she said, her eyes twinkling. "he fought well."
Legolas couldn't speak, he just stared at her, drinking in her beauty. she truly was beautiful, her skin was radiant, her hair a long black pool. She stared right back at him, that small smile on her lips, and then suddenly she jumped into a tree, and was gone from sight.
Startled, Legolas turned to her brother, only to find that he was gone as well. As if it had all been a dream, she'd been a lovely dream. But it had not, for the feeling in the pit of his stomach was all too real, the intense tingling, and the prickling of his skin, as if she'd been electric.
All this made his heart ever the more bitter, and he tried once again to push the thought of his lost love out of his mind, but to no avail. He wondered if she too suffered the way he did, but he could hardly think that. It had been her choice to leave.