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Chapter Thirteen: Things Fall Apart

The next morning was uneventful. Elorelei woke up early to wash and feed Iledian, then put her through her paces. The dance from last night was still vaguely on her mind. By the time everyone stopped staring, she'd found Filior and sat down to talk with him. She hadn't see Legolas once. Adding this to her pile of worries, she summed up that she was worried about Legolas, about graduation in only two years, worried about Filior, and still worried about the necklace the old woman had given her. She'd almost forgotten it, but now it seemed more important than all her other cares combined.

"Why?" Elorelei asked, then jumped as Iledian nudged her in the back. "I know, I should stop talking to myself."

The horse shook her mane, fervently agreeing, then pawed the ground, saying she was ready to go.

"I know, give me a- Oh, Legolas. There you are." Her eyes traveled upward into the branches of a tree where Legolas sat, perfectly blended except for his brilliant hair and skin.

"Eyes of an eagle, huh?"

"Yes, it does seem that way." Elorelei smiled, fitting Iledian's girth then jumping on. "Want to come? It's a nice day."

Legolas looked out at the crystal blue skies, painted carefully with calm clouds. The sun was shining softly and comfortably, instead of beating down. It was a nice day. "Yes, I'll go. But I want to talk to you."

"Well, now's your chance. I think a horse is already tacked up in the stable. I'll wait." Iledian snorted impatiently but Elorelei didn't encourage her to go.

Legolas smiled and got his horse.

*~*~*~*

The prince watched while Iledian ran, free of bridle, saddle, and rider. His own horse followed, but could barely keep up with the mare.

Elorelei sat under a tree. Her mind was elsewhere, thinking of the necklace and the old woman's riddle. "It will bind you and set you free." Did she mean it would bind her THEN set her free? She felt the coolness of the metal chain but didn't take it out of her pocket. It crossed her mind to tell Legolas and see what he made of it. Then she remembered her natural instinct to not tell anyone her secrets. As if on cue, it spoke.

"And that will accomplish what, exactly?" asked the ever nagging voice in her head. "You know big, brave Legolas. He'll go on and on about not telling him in the first place."

For the first time, she thought to respond. "So what? Why shouldn't I tell him?"

"Tell me what?" he asked, sitting down beside her.

She sighed and laid her head agains the trunk of the tree. "Iledian's right, I must stop doing that... Legolas, I want to tell you something."

"Really? That's a first." He snapped more bitterly than he intended.

She looked taken aback for a second then finally laughed. "So you heard me and Jayik talk about that."

"I heard you say you don't trust me enough to tell me anything."

"I never said I didn't trust you."

"If you refuse to tell me something important, it generally means that you don't trust me."

"No, it means I'm careful about my secrets."

"And you think I wouldn't be?"

No response came to the clever elf's head that wouldn't wound him deeply, so she quieted. After a moment of silence, she spoke again with a cool voice. "Well, I want to tell you something now. Do you want to listen?"

"If I don't?"

She shrugged, standing up to leave. "Then I guess you don't. It's your call."

Legolas frowned angrily, but didn't follow her. He was tired of following her. She had to show he meant something to her also.

Seconds ticked by and she kept a steady calm pace while she left when in reality she felt like running away and never turning back.

After a few more moments, his voice came from behind her. "When are you gonna get tired of being so proud, Elorelei?!" She ignored him, even as he went on. "You won't always be able to stand so tall! What then?! Who's going to be there when you give out?!" She said nothing, but disappeared, Iledian going after her. The sky began to gray and soon a steady rain was falling. Legolas didn't go back until the end of the day.

*~*~*~*

Try as she might to avoid him, Legolas now appeared to be everywhere due to the lessons they shared. He constantly tried to out-do her archery, all in vain. It seemed their fight had cleared her head more than any amount of practice.

"Bullseyes AGAIN, Legolas." said Rilar proudly. "You two are my best." The elves mumbled their thanks but didn't look at one another. "Okay, two more shots then you may leave.

They each sunk bullseyes, but only Elorelei managed to split her arrow.

They're anger was always a cold one, above petty name-calling and spiteful remarks. Still, Legolas loosened his tongue enough to say, "Showoff." She said nothing in response, but smirked at him. Jayik saw this, as always, he knew the story behind it but kept quiet until Legolas left and Elorelei was about to resume practice, then he caught her.

"I heard you all in the fields."

"You hear everything. And I might actually care in some strange, alternate dimension."

"Couldn't have picked a better time to be so prideful, could you?"

"Jay, be quiet. I'm shooting."

"Legolas trusted you! Legolas was your only friend!"

"Proves how sad I am, huh? Needing Legolas for friendship."

"Don't you DARE insult him. Not after he's done so much for you."

"Ha, like what?"

"Let's see, got you that tutor's job, made sure your family had safe passage in the West, taught you how to fight with knives-"

"And then turned on me."

"You turned on him!"

"Jayik, I'm shooting."

"It's almost graduation, you can't end your friendship this way!"

Elorelei scoffed. "What friendship?" Before she could string her arrow Jayik's hand came in and slapped her across her face.

He didn't realize what he'd done until seconds after he'd done it. His arm and hand he'd used were twitching in anger while she sat on the ground and looked up at him. The side of her face was turning red but she couldn't do anything except stare. She'd never been hit before, not once in her entire life. It was like some rude awakening. Jayik made no movements. For at least ten minutes they stood there, bewildered eyes versus angry ones.

Finally, Jayik broke the silence. "You are disgrace to you and your family's name if you are so conceited and self-absorbed that you can't even admit that you are in the wrong."

"Jayik? Are you there? I need-... oh." Legolas stopped entering the room as soon as he saw Elorelei. She didn't look at him, but it wasn't the usual disdainful avoidance. He wasn't even sure if she had heard him. Rather than address Elorelei herself, he turned to Jayik. "Is she..."

He looked at her, concern finally seeping into his face, replacing the rage. "She's fine. She'll be fine," said the older elf, but the prince made a note of how uncertain he sounded. Elorelei stood up, shakily, and walked away, leaving her bow on the ground and not even looking back to remember it or pick it up. "I hope she'll be fine." Jayik amended when she'd finally gone. He looked at Legolas, who now looked overcome with unconditional worry. "What was it you needed?"

"I, uh, forget." He answered distractedly, then left also, praying no one would look where he was heading.

*~*~*~*

Gingerly, Elorelei touched the side of her face. She could see the mark of Jayik's hand, it burned red, outlining the hand, and stung worse than nettles when she touched it.

"Elorelei?"

She gasped loudly, whirled around at the sound of her name. She would've screamed. Every voice she heard seemed ten times as loud. Only Berloc stood there, and she'd be dead before she screamed in front of him.

"Oh, hello." she said with much relief, then she realized he could see the mark on her face and turned away. "What do you want?" Silence. Maybe he hadn't noticed, maybe he'd left. Maybe he was standing right next to her, inspecting her face. She had a sickening feeling it was the last one.

"Who hit you?" He asked carefully, trying not to portray emotion. She slid away from him, avoiding his eyes. He knew she had heard more than just him asking an innocent question. If she gave him the answer, friend or foe, that person was not going to have a happy day. "I just want to know who hit you." He repeated, trying to sound caring instead of angry.

As badly as she wanted to give a stupid answer like "no one" or "I slipped", she couldn't think of a proper excuse other than Niqueran, who Berloc knew would never hit her unless she was temporarily insane. Instead, she looked at her feet and kept silent. Then she felt them. Tears. The burning from the inside as it slowly wrapped around her heart and crept up under her eyelids. Soon they began to fall, and Berloc came closer even while she backed away from him. The thought of her crying in front of him and the difficulty of trying to stop just made her cry harder.

Before she could stop him, he hugged her. She fought him for a while, but she was crying too hard and soon stopped. He held her there for a while, until the tears finally stopped coming and she hugged him back, thankful for his stubbornness. Opening her red eyes, she saw a figure in the doorway. Shutting her eyes again, she felt the burning start all over.

It was Legolas, visibly shaking with eyes that threatened to let loose his own tears.

A/N: There, done and done. Chapter 14 coming up. If my beta reader stops her lazy splurge.