Disclaimer: That's it. I hereby decree that Disclaimers are no longer necessary since I already said it fourteen times.

Chapter Fifteen: Good Riddance

*Six Months Later*

"Legolas, you can split that."

"I can't."

"Yes, you CAN."

"Why can't you do it?"

"I've been eliminated! Legolas, you can split an arrow. We practiced, remember?"

"WHY aren't we being graduated?"

"Because the archers aren't graduated from the Castle until they complete the tournament. Stop changing the subject. I KNOW you can split it."

"How did YOU get eliminated?"

"Change the subject one more time, and you won't have an arm to make this shot with."

"This is too much pressure, Lori, it's just too much."

The crowd waited expectantly. Legolas stared, his perfect bullseye looked back at him in defiance. Elorelei was the only one moving, trying to get Legolas to stop stalling and take the shot. Finally, she came up with a plan.

"Legolas, our friendship hasn't exactly been at sunshine and lilies, but I swear, this time it's different."

"How?"

"Because this time I KNOW you can do it."

"Psh, you said that before."

"Okay, throw out all that "I believe in you" junk. LEGOLAS GREENLEAF!! YOU SPLIT THAT ARROW AND DO IT DAMNED WELL OR I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND HAVE YOUR BODY PARTS SEVERED ONE-AT-A-TIME!!"

He shot. He heard the splitting of wood. He collapsed on the ground and let sweet relief do the rest.

*~*~*~*

"I TOLD you that you were overreacting." Elorelei kept her voice still, but she was dying to laugh.

"Oh, shut up." snapped Legolas, ignoring the young prince who was snickering at him.

"You looked like you were gonna faint right there on the field." Filior smiled, containing his laughs to small outbursts and snorts.

"You wouldn't have done any better!" He insisted.

"Oh, and your opinion on what I would have done matters EVER so much to me! I'm crushed, I tell you! Crushed!" shouted the younger of the princes, melodramatically throwing himself on the floor.

"He's your brother all right..."

Elorelei smiled but didn't say anything. She needed to speak to Legolas alone, but there was no way to get Filior out of the room without him spending the rest of his existence teasing her.

Thankfully, Eli entered seconds later, looking ruby red in the face. "Uh, Filior, I think now is later."

"Perhaps we should send you to the infirmary then. Do you think up is down and left is right, also?" He replied easily.

"Oh, go on, Filly." Elorelei waved her hand at him to leave. He did so, but cast a look back at her to let her know she would not escape a proper teasing. The door shut behind them and two voices immediately said: "There's something I need to tell you."

"You first," said Elorelei, before Legolas could. He was silent. "Well, if you needed to tell me something, you're supposed to open your mouth so words come out, telling me what you wanted me to hear." She said as if she were talking to a baby. He gave her a simple 'Don't-get-sarcastic' look. She returned it with a 'I-was-born-sarcastic' look, and waited for him to start.

"Do you remember when we first met in the woods?"

She hesistated. "Yes, I remember it. I wondered why you were so far into the East." She watched him, thinking over his words.

"I was running away."

To his great surprise, she cracked a smile. "Run away? From what?"

"I... I didn't want to be a prince. And I still don't. I've considered running from this castle many times." Elorelei squirmed uncomfortably, emotional conversations didn't suit her, but Legolas continued. "I don't know why I never did. Guess I had a sense of duty. Also, you and Iledian would probabaly track me before I got anywhere." He mused, smiling a little. "Still, my life will change when I return home. They'll be things expected of me. Moments that'll be huge, recorded down in history books for all to remember." He sighed. "I just don't think that's who I am. I don't know who I am and... And I don't want things to change."

Her voice barely rose above a whisper, but Legolas didn't have to strain to hear her. "No one does, Legolas. No one asks for their world to be changed or to know that it's going to change. When the big moments come, you'll have to deal with them. It's not the moment that makes you a prince, or a hero. It's what you do after the moment that defines who you are."

They each took a long, deep breath before Legolas spoke. "I'm glad you're with me, Elorelei."

She looked at the floor. "I won't always be."

"What?"

"Time will go on. We're immortal, we can't always be just... like this."

"Why can't we?!"

"That's not a question for you to ask, Legolas. Life is unpredictable, you can't see the future. You just have to trust that it'll all turn out the way it's supposed to."

"What if it's not?"

"I told you, it's not a question for you to ask. It's a lesson to learn and we're so young... Soon this'll all be a memory." They sat in silence for a while, letting the words sink in. Legolas lived in the West, Elorelei in the East, the chances of them casually running into each other were slim.

"We had a good time didn't we?" His voice was quiet and for a moment, they both forgot that were royalty, they were just friends.

"Yes. We did."

Legolas shook himself. "So, what was it you wanted to tell me?"

*~*~*~*

"And you've never seen the woman in your life?"

"Not once that I can remember, but she looked strangely familiar."

Legolas stared at the glinting silver in his hands. It was a beautiful thing, but it gave him a deep sense of foreboding. He knew she shouldn't try it on, but his curiousity was growing.

"Maybe you should try it."

She gave him a perplexed look. "... Maybe... after all, what harm could it do?"

They both sat on the roof of the Castle. The silver positively glowing in the sun, begging to be tried on. She looked at it, unnerved, took it from Legolas, then slipped it on.

A/N: Whatever mistakes I made, I made them on purpose. The graduation thing works that way. Why? Because. And, I stole some of Elorelei's 'words of wisdom' from an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. All credit for that part goes to the writers of that awesome show.