A/N: K, no more evil laughter, your lyrics to ponder are Here is Gone by the Goo Goo Dolls. Cuz, yes, ya get some cool 'Lori in dis chapter. If supportively is not a word, it is now.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Here is Gone

Legolas stared. Elorelei stared back. There she was. Flesh and blood and bone, she was there. It seemed unreal for her to be there. How could she have been? The whole court was in a daze and no one could speak. They stared at her, but not at her eyes. Her eyes were strong, challenging, daring one of them to speak first. Vandelar moved, stepping up to Elorelei in three great strides and helping her up.

She bowed to Felair. "The deception was regrettable, my King, but necessary."

King Felair, thunderstruck, said nothing, but began to sob, lowering his face to hide it in his hands.

Filior stood up, but Minele was quicker.

She jumped from her seat and stepped in front of them. "Elorelei! YOU! My DAUGHTER. You ungrateful little witch! How dare you return after-"

"Silence, you filth," said Elorelei with such disgust and power than Minele took three steps backward. "The fact that I sprung from your always-controlling, sickening, over-commanding loins is insult enough. I do not want to hear your reprimands, as they are a total waste of time and if I must quiet your useless chatter the hard way, so be it. I'll not listen to your idiocy. Not now, not ever again."

Minele looked terrified and horribly angered, but didn't dare say another word.

Vandelar lay a hand on Elorelei's shoulder. "Peace, Laika, peace."

"What's that you call her? What's that?" Eli sprung into action, signaling for the rest of the court to leave at once. Filior held his father's hand, wanting to calm him, but it did no good.

"Laika, it is her name."

"ELORELEI IS HER NAME!" The King burst out. Lumaeus surveyed his granddaughter with quiet awe, but his mind was working quickly. The pieces would soon be put together, he concluded, and waited for the room to settle itself.

Legolas took a step forward. "Elorelei, you..." he wanted to say something. The others were talking, why couldn't he? She offered him a small smile and he took it and said nothing more.

Eli studied the she-elf, as if he didn't believe it was her. "But, but Andulin? Where is Andulin?"

Elorelei's hard face softened into grief. "He is passed on. In our last battle... he... he was slain." The words choked in her throat and Vandelar took her hand supportively.

"Our last battle?" Legolas had found something to say. "Are you one of his warriors?"

She nodded. "Aye, and his wife."

An unnatural silence washed over everyone. A quiet free of breathing, talking, motion, and composed only of total stillness and Felair's emotional sobs. Lumaeus knew now that presence of family and other friends was not going to help. He took the warriors, Vandelar, Eli, Minele, Felair and Filior from the room, just catching his granddaughter's glance of thanks.

Once they were gone, the western prince found his voice. "You..." Legolas swallowed. "You were married?"

Elorelei closed her eyes in pain. "I loved him, Legolas, I love him still. Surely you can understand that?"

His eyes narrowed, bitter hatred replacing the relief of his truest friend being alive. "Yes, I understand it." He hissed. "I understand what it's like to have someone leave your life, and know you will not see them for many ages, perhaps forever. I know what it's like to have your hopes crushed under the weight of a lonely heart. Not knowing if they are alive or dead, happy or sad, safe or in mortal peril."

She looked away, opening her eyes only when they were sorely focused on the floor. "I'm sorry you have to know that."

He glared, his eyes opening wide. "So it was nothing to you? You never intended to return to me?"

"I did come back," Elorelei whispered. "I did."

Legolas froze. "No, never."

"You may not have seen me, Legolas, but I did." Minutes of built-up nerve allowed her to look into Legolas's eyes again, but now he was closer. Almost directly in front of her and inching closer every moment. "You changed." She continued, showing no signs of backing away, but this remark stopped Legolas in his tracks. "I saw you, become what you swore to me you never could be. You were just like your father."

"You're lying."

She shook her head, tears reddening her eyes.

"You couldn't have. I didn't even see an eagle-"

As if on command, a large bird flew in and landed in front of Elorelei. She petted it's head with a sad smile on her face. "I used the phoenixes in your father's garden. My eagle form has more power than even I knew, and the phoenixes possess the most potent magic. They are helpful creatures. Andulin and I used to-" She stopped, realizing the last thing Legolas wanted to hear about was her dead husband. His obviously controlled breathing and eyes full of accusation and anger would've have scared if she weren't so battle-worn and grief-stricken with the loss of Andulin.

"Phoenixes..." muttered Legolas. There were too many questions, but he didn't know what they were. How could Elorelei, HIS Elorelei, be married? She was this Laika person now, maybe she had forgotten who she was.

"I haven't," She replied, reading his mind. "I know who I am. I just didn't want to be that anymore."

"You can't change who you are."

"No, but I tried."

"Then you are a fool."

"No more than you are."

He cursed her ability to argue so well. Her characteristics hadn't changed, only her name. "So... you came back. Why?"

"To do what Andulin would've if he were alive. The mortal realm is foreign to elves. Maybe there is-"

"You think you can escape your-" He stopped and restated his sentence. "Andulin's death by staining your immortality?"

She took a deep breath, unwilling to let her emotions get the better of her. "No. Andulin agreed that he needed only one more service to the North to clear his name with the King-"

"Why would he need to clear his name?"

Elorelei narrowed her eyes at him for the first time. "That's none of your business."

The wall between them had been building ever since the moment the hood had left Elorelei's face. Legolas knew it would not be broken with them yelling back and forth all night.

"I don't want to fight with you, Elorelei."

"Tomorrow then?"

"Tomorrow... we will talk."