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DISCLAIMER: I don't own any characters that are Tolkien's…

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ALIYA

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It did not take long for the King to arrive at my room. I welcomed him in as he embraced me carefully and then stepped away.

"You followed your heart…" he commented sitting in a chair right next to the bed.

"I'm not sure that I did." I admitted.

He smiled his knowing smile, "Why would you have done it if it were not your heart's desire? Often things happen that are not meant to be, and someone must right them again. It is a hard task, but after a while you will know it was the right thing to do."

"If only I knew that now," I said looking to the ground in defeat. "There are times when I don't know if I should even be waking up, If I should not be alive. And then I wake up, and he isn't there to greet me. I miss that most of all."

"What is it that troubles you most?" Thranduil looked at me, worry in his eyes, like a cloud covering the sun. "There is something you tell not even me...." He waited for me to say it, I sighed and said what had been troubling my heart for days.

"I don't think Legolas loves me anymore." I stated in no more than a whisper.

Thranduil looked at me carefully, curiously, yet calm as always. "Now why would this be?"

"I don't honestly know…Its just that…he…" I began, "He seems to be angry at me. He's so distant. I really think I made a mistake in coming back…"

"You regret your choice? Regret is not something that is admired in one such as yourself. A king should never feel regret, nor hate. Such a thing would be ruinous. I must depart......." He said this as though he had been thinking about it for so long. Yet I guessed this was his secret alone.

"What are you saying?" I asked crestfallen.

"I have weaknesses, such that no king should contain. I too wished for you to take Miama's place. Such a thought will bring ruin to all I have sought to keep. I leave now, as I am, as I always will be. It will be announced formally, at a family dinner and then at a feast I plan to have."

"How long....." I trailed off without any more words in me.

"Two week." He said simply as if the date had been set for years. "Have you been to see Legolas?" He asked quite suddenly coming out of a trance. "You can no longer retain your excuse of injury... I see you are fit to walk now. Here have a drink," He said pouring some potion into a glass. "I think you will much enjoy going to see him... as much as he will in seeing you...."

With that he set the glass on the table and left with a glint in his eye.

I drank the liquid which left a honey taste on my tongue, feeling warm inside, as I did whenever I was with Legolas. I left to find him, feeling better than I had felt in a while. I felt as though I knew what to do, but in truth, I had not a clue.

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