Camille sat on the railing at the balcony of her room, feeling the cool night breeze blow past her and into her new chambers. She smiled to herself as she looked up to a huge full moon. The sky here was clear, clearer than the sky back home. Damn, if only the air wasn't so polluted in my world, then I bet that I'd get to see the moon and stars like this every night back home. She shrugged, and sighed. Too bad though. At least for a while I'll be able to stare at this every single night.
She felt a presence from behind her. She turned, and noticed Falurien and Enarwen looking at her, their bright blue eyes showing their concern. "Something the matter?"
Enarwen as the first to speak. "It is nothing, My Lady. We were just wondering if you were alright. You have been sitting out here for the past hour."
Camille smiled, and bowed her head slightly. "I was just thinking, that's all." She turned to them, and waved them closer. "Come on, sit here with me. I think I need someone else to talk to aside from the little voice in my head."
Shyly, the two Elves approached her, and perched delicately on the railing. For a long while, the three girls were silent, then Camille grinned at them. "Aren't you going to say anything? The silence is nice and all, but seriously, this is too much!"
Enarwen and Falurien glanced at each other, and blushed momentarily. "Forgive us, My Lady," Falurien said apologetically, "but we weren't so sure what we would say to you. After all, they say that you are a great and noble princess from a faraway land, and-"
Camille blinked. "Me? A princess?" She laughed suddenly, causing the two Elves with her to look at her with shock. "Who the heck would say such a thing about me?! That is SO not true!" She looked at them, trying to reassure them that she wasn't crazy. "I don't know who or what gave you that idea, but I'm not a princess. I don't even HAVE any sort of title, for crying out loud!"
Enarwen spoke again. "But how could it be so? It was His Majesty himself who said that you were to be treated with the greatest and utmost respect, the kind that a princess deserves. Naturally we assumed that you were of noble birth, since His Majesty seemed to say such a thing about you."
Camille continued to chuckle, though she was now in control of her mirth. Would King Thranduil really say such a thing about me? "I don't know how you would look at this, since he IS your king and all, but I think that he's just being nice to me. I don't know why, but that's what he's doing." She beamed at them. "And since I am in no way a titled woman or anything, you might as well call me Camille. I told Prince Legolas and King Thranduil that, and I will tell it to you as well."
The two Elves looked at her for a while, then they smiled, and nodded to her request. Looks like I did the right thing, Camille thought. I don't want them to look at me with fear; I only want them to look at me as a friend.
Just then, a voice sailed to them from the grove below. Camille's ears perked up, and she realized that it was someone singing. A man, who apparently had a VERY nice voice. She sighed, and closed her eyes, simply listening to the song. It was in Elvish, and though she couldn't understand it, the interlocking words and the melody itself were so beautiful that it didn't really matter at all that she couldn't understand it. She opened one eye, and turned to her companions. "It's beautiful. Who's singing?"
There was no mistaking the amazement in Falurien's voice. "Why, it is His Highness, Prince Legolas!"
"Prince Legolas?" A warm feeling rushed through Camille as she continued to listen to the voice of her rescuer. I didn't know he could sing. But, God, his voice is so wonderful! I bet that the record companies would be fighting over him if ever he got a chance to go to our world. She opened her eyes more fully, and noticed then that Falurien and Enarwen were both blushing. "What's the matter with you? Why are the both of you red in the face?"
Enarwen jumped a little in surprise, then sighed. "The Prince does not sing very often. It is a rare thing that we hear him tonight. He sings only when he feels very happy, or when some strong emotion of bliss carries him away."
"Or, as Prince Celebrion used to say, when he is leaning in any way towards love," Falurien added softly.
Camille raised an eyebrow. "Prince Celebrion?"
Falurien nodded. "Prince Legolas' older brother. There are three of them: Lotheresseion, Celebrion, and Legolas. Lotheresseion and Celebrion are the older two; Legolas is the youngest. But they are no longer here; they went west across the Sea to Eressea, along with His Majesty's wife, Queen Iluvirwel."
"Oh," Camille murmured, and she turned away from her companions. The moon played its beams over the treetops, casting silver against green. As the wind whispered through her hair, she thought of a song, and before she could stop herself, the words flowed out of her mouth, along with the melody…
Moon so bright, night so fine,
Keep your heart, here with mine
Life's a dream; we are dreaming.
Race the moon, catch the wind,
Ride the night, to the end
Seize the day, stand up for the light…
I want to spend my lifetime loving you
If that is all in life I every do…
Heroes rise, heroes fall,
Rise again, with it all,
In your heart, can't you feel the glory
Throughout joy, throughout pain
We can move, worlds again
Take my hand, dance with me…
I want to spend my lifetime loving you
If that is all in life I ever do
I will want nothing else to see me through
If I can spend my lifetime loving you…
Though we know, we will never come again
When there is love, life begins, over and over again…
Save the night, save the day,
Save our love, come what may
Love is worth everything we pay…
I want to spend my lifetime loving you
If that is all in life I ever do
I want to spend my lifetime loving you
If that is all in life I ever do
I will want nothing else to see me through
If I can spend my lifetime…loving you…
Camille clamped her mouth shut, and blushed when she noticed Enarwen and Falurien staring at her with awe. "What? Something wrong with my singing?"
Enarwen shook her head, and smiled broadly. "No, there was nothing wrong with it. Your voice is beautiful, Camille! And that song…why, the melody alone would be enough to warm the heart of anyone! The words are beautiful as well, even though it is not in the Elvish tongue."
Falurien giggled softly, trying to cover it up with her hand. "If His Highness had heard it, I would not be surprised if he came running up here to ask if it was you whom he had heard."
"I would not need to come running up just yet, Falurien. I can converse with Lady Camille well enough from down here."
Camille froze, while Enarwen and Falurien gave small squeals of surprise and delight. What the… She looked down from the balcony, and saw Prince Legolas standing in the grove just below her, a smile upon his face and the moonlight in his hair.
* * *
"Prince Legolas! What are you doing here at this time of night?"
Legolas' smile became even broader. "Is there something wrong with my being here, My Lady?"
Camille fidgeted slightly, but after a while, shook her head. "No, not really. I just…I just didn't expect to find you out here at such an hour."
Legolas chuckled, but did not say anything anymore. He wished to survey the scene that lay before him. Up on the balcony sat Lady Camille, her position a rather precarious one on the railing. Her hair lay loose around her shoulders, and shifted with every breath of wind that blew towards her. Her brown eyes glimmered in the moonlight, and they looked like stars unto themselves. She was clad in a simple white sleeping gown, with a robe thrown over her to keep her warm, and to hide the wound that still lay beneath the cloth. And for a while, it seemed as though she was not a mortal, but an Elf in the guise of one. He swore that in her face, he could see the expression of Nimrodel, of whom many songs and legends are told.
But she is fairer than Nimrodel, it would seem, he thought bemusedly as he gazed up at her. He had been walking through these groves, thinking about her, and he had been singing a song to himself. It was a song that spoke of love newly found, and the sweet agony of being in love, but having the inability to express it. During a momentary pause in his song, he heard another, melodic voice, floating down to him from some room above. The tune was lovely, but the words that were sung to it were perfect. He didn't need to look to know that it was Lady Camille who was singing, and he felt his heart soar at hearing her voice. I never expected she could sing so wonderfully…
"You have a lovely voice, My Lady," Legolas said as sincerely as he could. Not that he had to force it. He said it with nothing but truth in his heart. He just wanted to make sure that his words didn't sound too flattering.
Camille giggled as she looked down at him. "Now I know you're trying to butter me up. And to think this is coming from someone who sings better than I could ever hope to."
Legolas shook his head. "I did not want to flatter you, My Lady. I only wished to speak the truth." He climbed up the nearest tree, and sat down on the branches that were on an even level with the woman he was speaking to. "And do not deprecate yourself so. We Elves know when we hear a beautiful voice, and I must admit, you have one of the loveliest I have ever heard in all of Middle-Earth."
Camille shrugged, though she winced a little when her shoulder stung her with pain. "So Enarwen and Falurien say."
He leaned closer towards her, bending the tree branch only slightly with his weight. "Let me hear your voice again, My Lady. That is all I ask of you for tonight. Let me hear the voice that would put to shame the greatest minstrels of Middle-Earth, whether they are Elves or not."
Camille tilted her head back slightly, and she laughed, soft, silvery peals that almost sounded like music itself. Legolas found his eyes wandering over her face, down the elegant pillar of her throat, and lower still…
"I don't know about that," Camille said at that moment, and Legolas whipped his gaze back to her, the blood stinging his face. He was only too glad for the shadows of the night to hide his blush, because he knew that in broad daylight, Camille would see it, and she would ask why.
For the meantime, he just played along. He pouted like a little boy, and said, "This is not fair, My Lady. You will deprive me of much sleep tonight."
She smirked at him, one eyebrow raised in a teasing manner. "That's not my fault anymore. I've had enough singing for one night, and I'd like to give my vocal chords a rest. Why don't you try drinking something to make you go to sleep? It'd work the same way, wouldn't it?"
"I have tried that already. As you can see, it didn't do me any good." Legolas knew he was lying, but at this point, he was just about ready to say anything just to hear her sing again.
But his heart sank when Camille shook her head with finality. "Sorry Prince Legolas, but I just can't give you what you want, not tonight, at least. Some other night, maybe, but just not tonight." She looked up at him. "Warn me in advance. That way I can cook up something nice to sing to you, AND get my vocal chords into shape."
Legolas sighed, defeated. He knew that there was no use pushing. But he still had a plan, one that he had thought up in case something went wrong… He straightened up, balancing himself on the tree branch. He leaped down from the branch, and landed on the balcony in front of Camille. He smiled at her. "Then if I cannot have a song, would you deny me of a kiss?"
Camille's eyes widened at his request, and her blush was clearly visible even in the moonlight. She took a few steps away from him, one hand suddenly pressed tightly against the neckline of her gown. "Pri-Prince Legolas, why would you ask THAT of me?" she stammered.
"Well you refused to sing me a song, so I thought that the only way I would be able to get a peaceful sleep tonight was if I obtained a kiss from you." In some strange way, Legolas was enjoying this. Her blushes made her look all the more beautiful, heightening the clear brown of her liquid eyes.
"Prince Legolas…" Camille was now leaning against the wall; she could go no further. "I-I don't think this is right…"
Legolas halted in his steps. The fear in her voice was clear, and he hated the sound. He clenched his jaw, and curled his hands into fists, trying to regain control of himself. I do not want her to fear me! He looked into her eyes, and the fear in them made his heart ache with guilt.
He turned away from her sharply. I do not wish to see the fear in her eyes anymore. The fear there now…it is the same as the time when the Orc attacked her. "Forgive me, My Lady. I did not mean to be so forward." He paused, waiting for her to say something. When she didn't, he continued, "I hope that you will forgive me of this incident. Goodnight, Lady Camille, and may the night bring only good dreams to you." With that, he jumped down from the balcony to the ground below, and headed to his own chambers.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Oh. My. GOD!!!!! Legolas, WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN DOING TO CAMILLE!!!!!! This is SO not like you!!! Okay, you're a flirt; I can understand that, you're beautiful after all, but I didn't think you'd go THIS far!!!!!! Legolas glares at authoress "It was YOU who was doing all the writing, you know." Authoress glares at Elf. Elf shuts up. Anyway, the song that Camille sang is "I Want to Spend my Lifetime Loving You", the main theme from the movie "Zorro" with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones. Marc Anthony and Tina Arena originally sang the song. Now I KNOW I promised I'd put in some action, and that's coming! It's in the next chapter, this time FOR SURE.