Title: I' Mal Lasse(The Golden Leaf)
Chapter 4: Friends and Partings
Author: Ista of the Dreamers
Rating: G-PG . . . I guess
Disclaimer: I do not own Legolas or any of the other characters J.R.R. Tolkien created in the Lord of the Rings.....darn. But the character of Kira Aparathon is mine.
Stuff: What shall happen to Kira next, you're asking? heh heh Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, and :) the usual: feedback/comments/ reviews are very welcome! Thank you for reading this!

I' Mal Lasse(The Golden Leaf)

After that day, all was golden for us. Years passed, seasons turned. My interests shifted towards calligraphy and I spent my days mixing bark with water, flowers, perfume, seeds, and honey to create the best paper and ink. I packaged small bottles of ink and used them for recording out life together, each and every happy moment. I gave my most beautiful bottle of ink to Legolas on the day we decided was our anniversary and he made me a wreath of the roses he had planted for me ten years before. I was thirty five then, still young but growing older, and I was still the only one who knew the truth about him.

Legolas looked the same as he had the day I met him, young as spring. Maybe he did not choose to see the lines that had begun to wrinkle my face and assumed that he was aging the same. He had made me promise to never speak of his race but deep down, I think he still thought he was human. I had thought of the truth for a long time after I read the book, and eventually learned to live with it and whatever was to come. I did not have the heart to tell him that he was immortal while I, of course, was not. He would live forever while death would eventually come for me. I did not have the heart.

It was an autumn day, much like the day I had first met him, when I heard a strange yet familiar sound from my past. It was the sound of horses prancing over crisp leaves, and I hurried inside to tell Legolas, but he had already heard them

"Come inside," he said to me softly, "and we will let them pass."

"But they might bring news," I argued with him. "They could be soldiers from your battle."

"My battle?" he asked me softly. "My battle has been over and done with for more than ten years. If anyone had wanted to find me, they would have by now."

"But, Legolas-"

"Come inside," he said again and he locked the door firmly shut. They cry of horses met our ears, ancient and wild creatures. The sounds of people too came. Men, I thought.

Legolas ushered me to the back wall and blew out all the candles pouring water on the fire in the hearth. They will have already seen the smoke, I thought, but I crept closer to the window, watching with excitement and anticipation As the horses became visible along the trodden dirt road, I saw that their riders were not men, but elves, like Legolas. They carried a sense of authority and sternness about them, and their cloaks were dark green, horses chocolate brown. I stepped slowly away from the window in tense excitement. Legolas had not noticed the elves outside, but gathered me close against the back wall, and covered my mouth with a gentle hand.

"Legolas, they're elves!" I frantically whispered.

"What?" His eyes softened and then, he rushed to the window and pulled the shades down tight. "Then let us hope that they will go away quietly."

I waited in a silence not quite so dreaded as on other occasions, for these strangers were not thieves. They were kinsman to Legolas, my love.

There was a firm knock on the door, and I closed my eyes. Please let them come, I thought. Please let them see him. Legolas would accept himself if they told him the truth.

"We wish to talk with you," came a voice from outside.

Legolas held me tighter, and then there was another steady knock on the door.

"We have seen the woman from the window," came another voice. "Will you not accept two weary travelers into your own home? The weather outside is turning cold."

"We wish to see no one today," said Legolas suddenly to my surprise. His hands were shaking against mine and his face was pale. There seemed to be a surprised silence from outside and then:

"I know that voice which has spoken. I remember it well from ten years before. I thought that the voice was gone, and now it seems that it has arisen from the grave."

"Whom do you speak of, friend?" Legolas asked them.

"An elf prince of the highest order, lost in battle. He was a fair warrior who was the kindest and wisest in all of his father's court in Mirkwood. He was a warm person who saved my life in battle when an orc was sure to slay me and I lay senseless; the person whom I had no time to thank because he has been missing, presumed dead since. His father has been in mourning for ten years."

I bit my lip, tasted blood, and watched Legolas's quivering form. His eyes shone a new understanding. He clutched his head, shook it and said, "No."

"He was a great archer," said the other elf.

"Yes," I whispered.

"And his name was Legolas."

My love looked up and then at me.

"Legolas Greenleaf," I said.

In the kind of dream that we had been emersed in the very moment we met, Legolas, Prince of Mirkwood, stepped to the door and opened it.

The two blond elves that looked so much like him stared, then
smiled, and leaped upon him, crying out for joy.

"Legolas! It is you!"

"And it is you," Legolas said to them louder, happier, and different from his normal self. "I am beginning to remember everything at last at the sight of you two scoundrels!"

I stayed, hidden against the wall, watching with mixed emotion. It was my doing that pressed him to remember, and now, they would separate us, and take him away from me. I felt my hand stray to my heart.

"Where have you been in ten years?" one asked him.

"What happened in the battle?"

"Please, my friends," he said. "All will come in time... There is someone I'd like you to meet."

He stepped into the darkness with me, lighting the fire and other candles. I spoke to him without talking, shaking my head. I did not feel comfortable . . . If my face touched the fire light, all would be lost, but Legolas smiled at me, took my hand, and led me towards the other elves. I closed my eyes slowly, dazzled by the flames, and curtseyed to the two men whose mouths were open in surprise.

"This is my fair lady, Kira Aparathon," Legolas said softly. "She saved me from death and I owe her my life."

You owe me nothing, I wanted to tell him but the other spoke first.

"Kira, lirimaer," the first one spoke with a bow.

The other one smiled and kissed my hand. "Vanimle sila tiri, Kira."

"Elvish," said Legolas fleetingly. "I had almost forgotten."

"The tongue you spoke when you first came here to me," I said. "It is a beautiful language."

"A mortal, Legolas," said one of the elves with a grin. "She is a gem where humans are concerned . . . but why did you choose to stay with her?"

Legolas started, then smiled, and gestured towards them. "Kira, these are my two friends, Dunelin and Hallamereth. Memories of them are clear in my mind now . . . But come! Dinner has been prepared, my friends, and then you must rest."

"Ah, Legolas, always the chef you were," said Hallamereth with a chuckle and supper commenced.

It was a quiet evening save for the rapid beating of my heart and the fears that grew to warnings which unsettled me. I served the three elves food and then retreated outdoors to escape them because I felt like I was suffocating. I did not hear much of their conversation, but even as I closed my eyes, they were talking of the past and the future. With my last frantic thought before sleep took me to gentle dreams, I knew that he was going to leave me.



I was right. The next morning, they were gone without a trace. I could not think of how painful it must have been for him, but instead, only thought of my own pain. I was alone. I would never see my prince again. How could he have just left me?

But no. A surge of strength came suddenly to myself, and my fate was decided. I knew what I had to do. Packing a few articles of clothing on my back along with some food, I set out along the path from where Legolas had first come. Worn with time, the road was barely distinguishable from the rest of the forest floor, but I followed it well enough. It was the only path I could take to find him. For hours I walked, never stopping for rest or water because I kept thinking about my future and what it would be like without him. My pain was great, but my will was greater and overcame my endless fears in the forest so I walked.

Dusk was already spreading across the horizon by the time I found their camp. I hid in the shadows, behind a large tree from their view, reminding myself that elves had a heightened sense of hearing and sight. I had to be very quiet. They spoke little and I heard almost no sound from Legolas except some questions which were brief and quickly answered by his friends. The warm smells from their fire made my stomach rumble, and I at last sat down, and ate, taking care to make no sharp sound. I smiled suddenly, and thought to myself that elves did not have the keenest ears in the world after all. Then I fell asleep to the sound of insects humming throughout the jeweled forest.

I awoke with a start, the clanging sound of a kettle like the clash of symbols but I took care not to gasp. It was Hallamereth, cleaning their pots and pans before setting off. I raised myself to my feet, supported by a tree branch, and walked on, keeping always several yards behind them.

That day passed very slowly to me. I do not think that I was thinking clearly because my mind was clouded with desperation. To remember that day was like remembering a procession or a daisy field long ago, smeared with time, blurred in distant memories. I do not think that I ever ate once that day, but I did think to myself constantly. It was the only nourishment I needed to think that I would lose him if I did not take another step, and another, until the sky was the ground and I was walking into clouds.

Indeed, the ground had become seeped and misty, fog rolling like blankets over the earth, hanging like furry coats on the trees. I forced myself to choose a resting place closer to their camp than the night before in order to actually see where it was and to keep the three elves in my sight. It was so dark and misty that I could barely see my own fingers inches from my face. I tripped over many things in the blackness, hoping that none of them were alive when some smooth stones caught my attention. For a moment, I wondered what they were. When the elves finally got a fire started, it was a peaceful beacon of hope to me, and a comfort of light so I could see into the immediate darkness. I lifted my hand to see where it was and I found that the smooth polished stone it grasped was a grave marker. I recoiled suddenly, images coming to my mind from long ago, and I stooped low to read the name: Rosemary Butterworth. A human name, I wondered. What could a grave be doing in the middle of the forest? and that was when I noticed all the other stones that the elves had taken no notice of. We were in a graveyard.

I shut my eyes, wiping the sweat of fevered hysteria from my brow and coldness seeped into my bones. I had only a little food left, and when I ate it, it tasted sour and cold to me. I sank against a damp tree, watching the flickering fire of the camp in the distance, and longing for my love.

"Supper time, Legolas," came Hallamereth's jovial voice.

"I'm not hungry," was the soft reply.

Dunelin's voice now spoke as well. "What's wrong, Legolas? Ever since we started out, you've been this way."

There came a heavy sigh. "I miss her, my friends."

"The human?" Hallamereth snorted. "But you can always go back to her once your father welcomes you! She's not going anywhere."

"Yes, but I didn't even leave a note or say goodbye-"

"It was best that you left her," said Dunelin. "Once elves get mixed up in the race of mortals, heartache is sure to follow. Nothing good will come of your love for each other and only hardships will befall you. It can be painful to both of you."

"But I love her!" His words were so clear and strong that they echoed in the forest, but to me, they could have reached the moon. My heart was warm again with those words, and it softened. I wanted to run to him just then, call out words of joy, but I couldn't because something froze me just then in my tracks.

There was a breath of warm air behind me, almost brooding and I turned around slowly, my voice stuck in my throat.

It was a troll.

*End of Chapter 4*

The last chapter should be up tomorrow or the day after! :)
-Ista