Haha, so that produced a reaction or three!  Don't worry we haven't lost Legolas yet J.  Elves take a fair bit of killing before they truly die.  Especially incredibly good-looking Elves.

I will try to put up some stories on Mithmír's past but only one or maybe two will have romance in it.  Sorry Sophitia!  Or I could make that definitely two if I included how her parents met, but you might not find that so interesting with different characters.  Tell me if you're still interested.  Mithmír just wasn't very interested in guys (or girls) before Legolas came along…

Please read, enjoy and review!

NOTE: Legolas' song is taken from the RTOK, from the chapter named The Field Of Cormallen.  It's not mine, I'm just borrowing it.

And this chapter is huge.  Sorry.  But it's good.  I hope.

***

Mithmír soon reached the side of her beloved Elf.  The orcs around him she killed without mercy, and many soon were lying on the earth, bleeding to slow and painful deaths.  She called hoarsely: 'help!  Help us, please…'  But her voice was all but lost in the roar of battle.  Only a single knight of Dol Amroth heard; but he understood instantly.  He stood before them and guarded them while Mithmír tended to her love.

Mithmír sank to her knees and cradled the Elf's head in her arms.  It had taken incredibly little damage for all the fact that it had not been protected by a helm.  Nevertheless his hair was tinged a murky red all over; and there was blood in his mouth.  His eyes flickered open once or twice, but he was too weak – or maybe too far gone – to keep them open.

'A nín meleth, nín mell,' whispered Mithmír, choking on her tears.  Oh my love, my dearest.

Legolas heard her voice as if from far away.  He tried to move his hand, but it would not grasp hers as he told it too.  Mithmír noticed its slight twitch, however, and brought it up to her lips.  She kissed it repeatedly, tenderly, mingling her tears and his blood.   After awhile she remembered her need for haste to save him, and so she put his hand in her lap also, and checked his lithe form for wounds.

She found only two that were anything above cuts: a vicous slash to his thigh, which would need skilled healing – her mind fled to Aragorn – and a stabbing-wound near his shoulder which was thankfully not deep.  She sighed mentally.  As long as he did not lose too much blood, his wounds were not fatal.  What must be causing this lethargy, this lack of movement and signs of life, was a hard blow to the head.  With fingers as delicate as a light breeze she searched through his hair, and soon found the place where he had been half knocked out.  It was not a bad wound, and she soon deftly ascertained his skull had not been damaged.

'You'll be alright, my love,' she said in Common softly.  'You shall be healed.'

He whimpered a little as if in great pain, and writhed once or twice in her arms.

'Hush,' she said, and her voice was softer and more full of love and caring than it had ever been.  'Hush.'  She leaned over and kissed him softly, ignoring the coppery tang of his blood on her lips.  Later on, Legolas would never be able to decide if that kiss had been dream or reality.  Mithmír pulled away suddenly when the cry rose up from the weary ranks of the army:

'The Eagles!  The Eagles are coming!'

Her eyes lit up with hope refreshed, and she spun her head back eagerly to Legolas.  'Do you hear that, Legolas?  Do you hear it?  The Eagles are here, here to save us!  And see, the Black Riders swoop away in retreat!'  Her voice rose in joy as she looked about for news.  'The soldiers of the enemy are halting, Legolas!  The power of the Dark Lord quavers, and mayhap later it shall fail completely!'  Her thoughts strayed to Frodo and Sam, and she suddenly remembered Legolas' words of a few hours before: for if this has truly come to pass…  What if it had not?  Sauron was adept at lying, that was well known.  What if the hobbits had escaped?  What then?  Her heart soared.

She waited for but a little while longer.  She stroked Legolas' smooth cheek in soft caresses, and in minutes he was in a calm sleep of healing.  The worried lines on his face melted away till he looked completely at peace.  It was for this reason that he missed the great cry: 'Mordor has fallen!  The Ring is destroyed!  The hobbits have succeeded in their Quest!'

Some great states of happiness cannot be expressed in the words of any mortal lore-keeper, and such was the emotion of this jubilant hour.

***

~ Many days later in Ithilien, on the eve after the hobbits Sam and Frodo wake ~

Mithmír knelt and embraced the hobbits one after the other, Frodo first and Sam second.  She felt tears wet her face, and she was surprised to not be ashamed.  Sometimes, she realized, tears were not signs of weakness.  The events of the past few months had taught her that many times over; and now she fully accepted it.

'You look well,' she said honestly to Frodo afterwards.  'Has Sam been keeping a good eye on you?'

'Well…'  Sam blushed.

Frodo nudged him with a slight, sad smile – and indeed, there was something in his eyes now which told of great sorrow that could not be forgotten – and spoke: 'of course, Lady Mithmír, as well as he always does.'

Sam blushed with happiness.  'Well, master Frodo, you can't say as that's wholly true…'

'Knowing you, good Samwise, I am sure it is,' laughed Mithmír.  None of the three could bring themselves to talk directly of the great doing that had happened; though it hung unspoken in the air between them.  To speak of it now was too hard, for it was still too recent, and the pain of it too apparent on the hobbits' faces.  Mithmír risked a look at Frodo's hand, and noted the bandage where he had lost his finger.  She looked up at his dark eyes, and wondered at the bravery there.  He looked back at her unwaveringly, but there was little joy or happiness in his sad gaze.  She pitied him intensely.

It was then that Gandalf came and told the hobbits that they must sleep and rest.  Frodo and Sam departed presently.  Aragorn and Gimli followed to their own beds also; and soon only Mithmír and Legolas were left, quite alone, in the clearing; with the green grass below them, the growing things about them, and the stars of Gilthoniel arrayed in all their splendor in the dark night sky.  And Legolas was singing sadly in his pure voice;

'To the Sea, to the Sea!  The white gulls are crying,

The wind is blowing, and the white foam is flying.

West, west away, the round sun is falling.

Grey ship, grey ship, do you hear them calling,

The voices of my people who have gone before me?

I will leave, I will leave the woods that bore me;

For our days are ending and our years failing.

I will pass the wide waters lonely sailing.

Long are the waves on the Last Shore falling,

Sweet are the voices in the Lost Isle calling,

In Eressëa, in Elvenhome that no man can discover,

Where the leaves fall not: land of my people for ever!'

But he found that his voice faltered a little, and he found it hard to say no man can discover, for his heart failed him.  He looked over to Mithmír, who sat where she had for all the long evening, and wondered with great sadness whether she could find longing to pass the Sea in her…

'No man can discover,' repeated Mithmír as if in a trance.  'Am I a Man, Legolas?'

He looked over at her helplessly.  'I do not know, Mithmír,' he replied truthfully, 'I do not know.'

'I have seen the Sea,' she said softly, and her voice mingled in with the calls of the breeze in the trees.  She seemed more Elven that ever, in Legolas' eyes.  'Once, and it was long ago.  But I have seen the grey ships, Legolas.  I have heard the call of the waves.  And do you know the greatest doom of being half of two kindred's?'

His silence begged her to go on.

'I am torn in two, Legolas.  For the Elf that I am wishes to pass beyond the Sea, and find Valinor and eternal rest…  The immortal part of me knows that Middle Earth is no longer for me – or half of me.  But I am also a Man, Legolas, and Middle Earth is as yet my beloved home, and I do not wish to forsake it…'  A single, clear tear fell from her face to the ground.  'Can I never be completely happy?  Is it my fate to wander always, to never find where I belong?'

He got up silently and agilely, and came over to her.  He sat beside her cross-legged, and reached up to stroke her hair back from her face with the utmost care.  His ears were haunted with the crying of gulls, and the breaking of waves on the shore…  He wanted so much to pass that way, so much…  'I should… I should stay for you, Mithmír.  I should remain behind and live with you as a mortal…'  His voice echoed with pain, but his mind was made up.

She stiffened under his tender caress.  'You should do no such thing, Legolas,' she said firmly, but she shed yet more tears.  'Passing beyond the Sea means more to you than a maiden ever could.'

'You are more to me than a maiden,' he said in a hushed voice that resonated with emotion, taking her hand and interlacing her fingers with his.  'Far more, Mithmír.'

'I will not let you stay, Legolas,' she said firmly, and turned her head to face him.  'I should throw myself to my death in the River Anduin, Legolas, before I let you refuse your place on a ship to stay with me.'

He was touched by her caring, but tears pricked his normally serene eyes also.  'Do you not think that you may be an Elf, Mithmír?  You are even as Elrond was, and he was given a choice…'

'Why like Elrond?'  She asked bluntly.

'You have more Elven blood in you than human, for the Dúnedain have blood of that sort as well as your mother.  You have Maiar blood also.  You fought bold in a great war.  And now… one you love passes beyond the Sea…'  He was no longer uncertain of her love for him.  'That was as Elrond; even though his love was for family.  Ask the Valar, Mithmír.  Ask them, for me and for you.  Ask them that we may not be separated…'  His eyes pleaded her.  'Do not make me chose between my people and my love, rather let them be as one…'  He leaned forward and kissed her forehead softly.  'Please, nín meleth.'

'Why should they listen to me, Legolas?'  She tried to quell the hope that rose in her.

'The Valar listen to all their people,' he replied simply.  'We are all children of Ilúvatar.'  He kissed her lips once, and then sprang to his feet.  She looked at him, and a great loneliness and uncertainty was in her eyes.  'Do not forget hope,' he said as a parting-note.  'And tell me in the morning if…'  He left it at that, and in a second was away, out into the forest, doubtless for a walk under the peaceful boughs.

Mithmír sobbed once, and then controlled herself.  She reminded herself firmly: you will do anything to be with him…  You know you truly are more Elven anyway.  Picture a lifetime without him…  You cannot let that happen!  She got up slowly, and then checked to make sure no one was about.  She was not sure how to plea to the Gods, and so with the innocence of the young she boldly cried out to the stars in beautiful, noble Quenya:

'Valar most high, Elbereth Gilthoniel lover of Elves most of all, hear my plea!  You granted me the gift of being more Elven that Human.  Do not now let me be sundered from my kin.  Let me become as one with them, let me pass over the Sea to be with you on Aman…  I beg you on bent knees, do not leave me here to die the death of Men all alone!'

And then it seemed to her that all became silent in that glade.  No night-birds called; and the leaves no longer moved in the wind.  All was still, and there was no sound but her own breathing.  She felt a great awe come upon her, and she fell to her knees, bowing her head.

She sensed, rather than felt, a figure enter the clearing before her.  It had great presence, and she knew in her heart that it was none other than Elbereth Star-kindler, who sometimes walked the realm of Middle Earth in the form of a stately queen.  There was silence for a long while, and then a voice most beautiful and yet with terrible power, spoke to her as she should never forget: 'raise thy head, half-elf, and look upon Elbereth.'

Obediently Mithmír did so.  The woman before her was taller than any other, and dressed all in lush shades of green.  In her dark hair was set a circlet that appeared to have the very stars themselves caught in its net.  Her face was noble above all else, but in her eyes there was laughter beside wisdom.  'A Elbereth!'  Mithmír said reverently in Sindarin, her eyes shining in wonder.

'Why do you call to be counted as Elf?'  Asked the queen, the Vala.

'I am an Elf at heart, Gilthoniel,' replied Mithmír boldly, her heart empowered by the awe of this Goddess.  'And more than half my blood is of that kin.'

'There is more also,' the Lady said with a smile.

'The one I love, Legolas Greenleaf, Thranduil's son…'  Mithmír said.  'I do not desire to be sundered from him forever, Elbereth most high.'

'Your reasons are righteous and well-spoken,' nodded the Lady.  Mithmír noticed that the stars above her head glowed brighter than the rest, or maybe she merely saw them more clearly.  'Your love for the Elf Legolas cannot be contested; and neither can your claims.  I see your heart, Mithmír,' and the half-elf had an indescribable feeling of her heart and soul being read by the wisest of eyes, 'and you are indeed an Elf.  Your wish is granted, Daughter of Elves and Men, and the Doom of Men is lifted from you – but in doing so you also lose their gifts.'

Mithmír thought she should cry from happiness.  'I have gained a greater gift, a gift most high, from you, most wonderful of all the Valar, Elbereth Gilthoniel!'  She spoke in great joy.  'Ever shall I and my kin praise your name!'

The Lady smiled serenely.  'I see you shall keep your word, shield-maiden.  Your gift is well-deserved.'  And with that she passed out of the glade silently, her cloak of many hues flowing after her.

Mithmír treasured this experience as one of the greatest in all her long years.  She should never forget meeting, as so few had, Elbereth Gilthoniel in the woods of Ithilien; and neither should she ever forget her promise.  For her gift she was ever grateful.

***

Yay!  In the next chapter we get to see her telling Legolas…  Please review and I hope you enjoyed it!