Disclaimer: I'm getting tired of these…
A/N: Just to let you know, this thing has two parts so if my updates seem seven years apart, I'm just writing more.
Chapter Eleven: Incidents by Moonlight
"Legolas, she won't wake up any faster if you just stand there and then pace around and then stand some more," said Eli, refusing to lift his eyes from some healing book he'd brought with him. Not wanting to be told what to do, Legolas snorted, and kept pacing. "Fine, don't listen to me. It's not my fault that you've stayed up half the night and you have to take your Strength test tomorrow."
Legolas looked at the clock on the wall and swore. It was at least eleven thirty, and he set about finding a small bed in the same room. Eli rolled his eyes.
*~*~*~*
It was an hour and a half later when the sleeping princess began to stir. Elorelei yawned, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and sitting up straight. Very faintly, she heard Legolas breathing softly, sleeping, in the background and Eli was dead asleep in a chair near her bedside. Though she stretched in every way she knew how, she still felt trapped.
Pulling herself from the bed, she went to the window. The moon was shining, full and bright, smiling with age old wisdom. "Jerk." She mumbled at it, and swung out of the window.
She couldn't imagine how many ways Eli would kill her if he discovered her gone. The last thing she remembered was trying to leave her body, as strange as it may have sounded. She was still feeling trapped, and for a brief moment forgot where she was going or if she had ever known. Where WAS she going?
The more she walked, the more lost she became. Voiceless words that she couldn't distinguish kept echoing through her head. There was running water in the background of these voices, and depending on where she walked, the sounds got closer or farther away.
Her mind started to become warped. Exhausted, she slumped down on a soft patch. How far she had wandered from the Castle, she was uncertain. Her eyelids seemed to want her to close her eyes, weighing themselves down. The voices were booming loudly in her head, but she couldn't understand a word.
"Gods, what the-"
"Elorelei! There you are! I wasn't sure you heard me but... you're here." said a soft voice. Elorelei looked up vacantly at the voice.
It was a fairly old woman, maybe in her late fifties. Her hair was just turning gray, her back bent like weak metal, but she straightened up upon seeing Elorelei and her eyes glistened with tears.
Putting on her royal façade, the princess stood up to address the woman. "How do you know my name, mortal? You should not be here. Where do you come from? Perhaps we can return you-"
"Stop that, yes I am mortal for now. I am in my fortieth life, if you must know. I see you have grown beautiful, more beautiful than I could've ever... ever raised you to..." The woman paused, her voice choked and she finally collapsed and began sobbing.
Elorelei stood, unsure of what to do next. How did this woman know her? She looked at her again, her hair was tied in the same fashion as her own, and was the same ebony black with hints of brown left in it... A thought came to her, but she rejected it almost bitterly. "Impossible. She is mortal, she is not- not related to me." She mumbled as quietly as she could, but the woman heard. She stopped sobbing and stood up.
"But- but do you not understand?" she asked, her voice positively bubbling because of the tears.
Elorelei stomped her foot. "No, I do NOT understand! Who are you?! What is it you're trying to tell me?! You're- you're just a human!" It was the first time in her life that she used the word "human" to mean something vile and disgusting.
A hurt look over came her. "No... Not truly human, dear, but later. Much later. You must... AAAH!!" The woman screamed as if something had been shot directly through her and fell to the ground again. Elorelei ran to help her, but the woman seemed fine. "Don't worry about me, there is not much time. Take this." The woman removed a chain from her frail neck. A pendant of a silver bird was on it. She hastily removed it and gave it to Elorelei. "Decide before you put it on, for it will bind you and set you free."
"Excuse me?"
"You will know. Remember to keep your secrets well, for you will have many." The woman sighed then stood up. "I must go, my time is over." And she shimmered and disappeared into thin air. Shocked as the Princess was, her words echoed in Elorelei's mind, "Keep your secrets well…" She had heard those words before, and she had seen that woman, too, but when?
"Well... that was weird." shrugged the princess, putting the necklace in her pocket. No longer feeling closed in, but not wanting to find her way back to the infirmary, she walked under the stars for another hour, then fell asleep under a tree, to be visited only by strange dreams.