~MORNING THOUGHTS~

So there we were. An incomplete group of friends, a special 5 minus one. As sad as it was, we were not to pout. It gave us all the more things to talk about. Not only could we share stories and rumors, now we could share theories!

"I bet she'll come," Phrancess said.

"Of course she will, only-a little late." I replied.

"I wonder if she'll leave us… I mean, eventually Frodo will return to his home in the shire, will she follow him?" Ashleigh inquired.

"Maybe. But nothing is for sure. What if he doesn't love her?" Nelliavih asked.

"Wretched girl! Do not even fathom that. What a horrible suggestion!" Phrancess exclaimed, defending true love.

All the while, I was deathly still. I was too busy imagining and questioning what had come and what was to come. Will I leave with Legolas if he returned to Mirkwood? Will I be accepted there? Can I bear to leave my friends? What if his love isn't true? Will I ever be his wife? All these questions were teasing and taunting me.

~TIME TO EXPLAIN~

"Katherine? Middle Earth to Katherine…" Ashleigh whispered, gazing into my glassy-day dreamy eyes.

"Hmm… what?" I said, snapping into reality.

"Tell us of this elf." Nelliavih said.

"Elf…? Oh-Legolas…"

"What a gorgeous name," Phrancess remarked.

"For a gorgeous elf…" Ashleigh mentioned.

I couldn't help but smile.

"Gorgeous indeed. Though I am led to believe that he does not know of my father, nor my handicap. But he is sincere and a very kind lover…" I said.

"L-l-l-l-lover?" Phrancess stumbled out.

"As in, love? Acts of love? Love-making and such?" Nelliavih asked.

"All but the last. He is but a male-"I said, cut off by Ashleigh's "Well obviously!"

"As I was saying… he is but a male and though he swears that he loves me and would do anything for me, I am not sure he would be willing and ready to have a child with me." I said.

"Are you sure that you are ready?" Nelliavih inquired.

"I'm quite positive, but only because I love him so!" I replied.

"Love!" Phrancess screamed out, "what a wonderful thing! So joyous and eventful and wondrous and priceless and precious and special and hopeful and mature and necessary and natural and…"

~THE GARDEN~

"Fabulous!" came a big voice from a small creature. "I'm sorry for my tardiness but I meant to do chores and they ran long…" Jhourdain said.

"Yeah right! You don't have to lie, Katherine saw you with Frodo in the woods!" Nelliavih said.

"Aaahh... caught by a garden lover." Jhourdain said.

"Excuse me?" Ashleigh said, sounding rather puzzled.

"Oh, that's right... you all live on the north and east portions of the complex. Not on the south like I do... right next to the gardens." Jhourdain stated.

"And what goes on in the gardens?" asked Phrancess, a little confused herself.

"Ask Katherine, I believe she knows of what I speak." Jhourdain suggested.

I blushed. Oh stars! I had forgotten where Jhourdain lived. She must have watched Legolas and me together. Who cared though? I was not the one lying about my love. I was a hopeless romantic who had finally gotten her chance at love and I enjoyed the beauty and serenity of the gardens so! And as it was... Legolas had come to enjoy the gardens too.

"The gardens..." I said, "are where me and Legolas have been meeting. Can you blame me? You all know I love the gardens and I was just showing them to a responsibility," Why was I covering this up?

"You must also love your tongue," Jhourdain said, inspiring off glances from all of us, "because Legolas has seen a lot of that in the gardens too."

"I do not feel like slapping you. Please do not make me." I remarked.

"Too tired from meeting with Legolas this morning?" Jhourdain snapped.

"Well maybe you should go rest. Your tongue has had more exercise today than your past years combined." I snapped back.

"At least I am in a relationship!" Jhourdain yelled.

"At least I am in love," I choked out as I walked away.

~WHAT LOVE REALLY MEANS~

I walked to my home. Walked up the stairs that spiraled my tree. Walked to my loft.

I dropped my jacket on my chair and headed towards my balcony, my place of inspiration. I did things so mechanically. Without feeling. Words of the fight still ringing in my ears. I grabbed a piece of parchment and an ink bottle/quill. I plopped down, feet dangling, and started writing...

"Legolas,

Maybe, someday, I'll let you read this. Maybe not. As you know, I love you more than life itself. With all my heart. And forever will it be that way. You see-I'm not sure what your reaction to this will be, but there is something you NEED to know. You see... my love, I know that if you were to take my hand in marriage, you would need to ask my father. And I agree. You should meet him. But you cannot. For he is dead. (And no, this is not what you need to know). "How?" you may be asking yourself. How did he die? Simple, natural causes. You may be confused now. Because elves cannot die of natural causes. Therefore, he was not an elf. You see... my father was a human. And I am half-human. You are to find this out sooner or later. I wanted it to be sooner. So you can decide on whether or not you'd like to stay. Before, you said that you loved me... Do you still believe that now?

With all the love I posses,

Katherine Apoll"

It hurt me so much just to write the words. Even if it was what I was thinking. It hurt to doubt his love, but things could be different. As I hid the piece of parchment, I heard footsteps on my stairs. It wasn't long after when I heard a heavenly voice whisper in my ear...

"Hello, love," Joy of all joys! 'Twas Legolas, just when I needed him most! He was my savior; here to whisk me away to a land I'd never been to. A place I had been too scared or too moral to approach before. But now, with him as my guide I was willing to forget my fear and follow him.

And with him, I could not wait to get there.