Note: I still don't know if this will become slash, though the votes are leading that way. Please, continue to tell me your choices, okay?



Aragorn wept for a long time. So long, in fact, that Legolas felt himself sinking to his knees on the floor, Aragorn still clinging to him and sobbing into his green tunic. Hours, minutes, days. How long Aragorn cried Legolas knew not. All he knew was that he couldn't allow himself to cry as well. It would only add to the pain in his friends heart, and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

Eventually the tears stopped flowing, and Aragorn heaved dry sobs for a while longer before he was completely exhausted. Silently, Legolas pulled him to his feet and guided him to the royal bed chamber, settling him on the bed before turning to leave for the night. They could talk tomorrow. At least they had a tomorrow.

As he closed the door behind him, Legolas noticed a young boy watching him, obviously a servant in the castle. "Here, you," he called quietly.

The boy scampered to his side. "Yes?" he asked politely.

"What happened? Do you know what happened to the Queen?"

The flash of sorrow in the boy's face made it quite clear to the Elf that Arwen had been loved by the people of Gondor, as well as the King. "Yes, I know."

"Could you please tell me? The letter I received only said that she had died. It never said how."

Casting his eyes to the floor, the boy shuffled his feet, obviously uncomfortable. "Please," Legolas pleaded, his voice showing the first signs of being choked by tears. "She was my friend for a very long time. Please, tell me what happened to her."

Hearing the emotion in a voice that was usually full of song and joy moved the boy at last to speech. "All right." He sighed and cast his eyes towards the ceiling, as if trying to see the stars his Queen had been reminiscent of. "It wasn't anything too unusual, ya see. Actually, she died in childbirth, like a lot of women do."

"Childbirth?"

"Yeah. After she had Prince Eldarion she grew sick and just kind of….faded away."

"I see. Thank you."

The boy shrugged and scampered off, eager to get away from the uncomfortable situation. Legolas felt his shoulders droop as he trudged off to the guest room that Aragorn kept ever ready for him in case he were to visit. "Ah, Arwen. You gave up your immortality, only to lose your mortality shortly afterward."