My love for Legolas grew stronger every day and his sight was unbearable at some moments. I tried to fight it. ' You are a good friend' he said to me one day. That's all I was to him, probably all I would ever be. I knew that. He was too good for me. I had no chance in winning his heart. Not to mention I could never compare myself to an elf lady. Besides, no elf has ever fallen in love with a human girl before. Only the other way around. I contented myself in being just his friend. It wasn't that bad. Sometimes I thought it was for best like that. I would go home eventually. To my own family. To Dan. I wondered if he was all right. Still, hope that someday he would turn his heart to me never left. It was there the whole time and every night as I went to sleep, I tried to imagine how it would feel to be in his arms, loved and protected. With him being so close , I could sometimes feel his soft breath; desire got a hold on me stronger than before. Often I would fall asleep with the thought of making love to him. It was so hard to hold back my hands from searching his, from touching him .

One morning an awful cry woke me up. We were being attacked by some orcs. How did they take us by surprise, I don't know. There were about twenty of them. Legolas and Gimli placed themselves in front of me, trying to defend me. I was almost afraid to watch the fight . Blood was pouring . Open wounds . Death . Before I knew it, four orcs lay dead on the ground. The others attacked fiercely. A tall, scary looking one, with a large scar led them. But they couldn't get pass my two defenders. I didn't know what to do. "How can I help them?" Suddenly, the big orc pushed ahead some of his troopers against Legolas and Gimli, to prevent them from getting out of the fight. He went round them, looking strangely at me . He got closer and closer ; as he came, I went back step by step, until I found myself pressed against a large tree. I hadn't quite planned that. I was trapped. Maybe the orc didn't see the stick I was holding, or paid no attention to it, thinking I was too scared to use it. He jumped at me. As he did, I stuck the blade through his stomach. He fell with a loud cry. All fighting stopped that very moment. The orcs, left without their leader, scattered in fear. Actually, there were only three of them left standing. Legolas and Gimli hunted them down until none was left alive. I was still near the tree, still in shock. I watched the dead orc. Just couldn't take my eyes of him. I had never killed anything but flies before. It felt awful. Legolas took me in his arms and tried to cheer me up.

-It's all right! Don't worry! You had to do it or he would have killed you! It will go away soon, you'll see! Don't think about it anymore! Let us leave this place!

Somehow his words didn't comfort me at all. Legolas lifted me up and helped me walk away. Then something strange happened. His hand slipped from my shoulder . He whispered something I could not understand . I looked at him. His eyes were surprised and signs of great pain covered his face. Legolas fell on his knees and I saw the big orc behind him, holding a bleeding hand upon a large wound. The other hand was holding a bloody blade. There was a nasty grin on his face and his eyes were red with rage and madness. I only saw him for a second. Gimli's axe cut off his head. Legolas was down, breathing heavily. His eyes had lost their clearness, as if clouds had gathered upon them. The blade had pierced him from one side to the other, under his right shoulder. It was bleeding badly.

-Oh, my God! Gimli, what are we going to do? He's loosing so much blood! Look at him! Gimli, don't let him die!

The dwarf was petrified. Tears ran down his cheeks, into his long beard. We took Legolas and dragged him to a clean spot. We cleaned his wound slowly, carefully . He didn't say anything, just stood there silent. But a great pain was upon him. It was obvious. I had no idea what could I do to help him. He seemed to lose contact with us more by the minute. I sat next to him, holding his hand, feeling useless. Gimli was walking up and down around us. He was in grief, crying. The thought of losing his friend was too much for his brave heart!

-'It's no use! No use!' he said. 'Did you see the way his wound turned black? The wound is poisoned and it's draining the life out of him! There's nothing we can do about it! I wish it were me instead of him! I wish I could die, too!'

I was astonished, like living in a dream. I just didn't want to believe my eyes! How could it be possible? The one I loved was dying and I had to sit there and watch! It wasn't fair! "He can't die! I can't let him die!" That's all I could think of. I burst into tears. I leaned upon Legolas' shoulder and cried. I cried for all the dreams I had made and were never going to be; for all the hopes I had lost . My tars ran down ran down his skin, moistening his bandages. I tried to wipe them away, but something stopped me. I touched his wound. It felt warm to touch, but soon it began to burn my fingers. I had no idea what was happening, but something inside me gave me hope. Maybe a love strong enough could heal him! I spent some time like that, caressing his skin and praying. The time came to change his bandages. Surprise! The wound looked normal, red! His body began to shiver, like a sudden freeze had come upon him. I couldn't quite understand it. Gimli stopped and looked strangely at us.

-What have you done to him? How could his wound get so clean?

-I don't know! I'm not even sure if it's doing him any good at all!

Suddenly, Legolas opened his eyes and fixed us for a second. Then he fell into unconsciousness again. It was plain to us there was a great struggle inside of him. His body and his mind were fighting for life. Gimli took out his elfish cloak and covered Legolas, to keep him warm. It didn't seem to make any difference. He was burning up with fever and he had to fight it all on his own! The fever, the poison, the deadly wound!

We watched him for two days, sleeping in turns. From time to time, his lips would move, but no words could be heard. I would often cool my hand in cold water and caress his face. That seemed to calm him for a while. We waited . And waited . Gimli didn't even dare to hope, but tears didn't run on his cheeks anymore.

The third day came and he looked no different to us. It was an unusually beautiful day. Flowers had blossomed all around us; birds quarrelled in the trees. Everything had a scent of freshness and joy. Even Gimli felt merrier, though he couldn't explain it. I woke up pretty late that day. My little friend had already prepared our first meal for the day. Delicious as usual. Legolas looked calm. He wasn't shaking anymore. I wanted to cool his forehead, but it wasn't that hot. When I touched his face, he opened his eyes! They were clear again! No signs of pain shadowed them! The crisis was over! I felt like seventh heaven! He smiled at me. Gimli couldn't believe his eyes! He was overjoyed started to jump up and down, laughing and singing! Finally, he kneeled next to his friend.

-You did it! You cured him! I don't care how you drove that poison out of him, but you did it! He's alive and may still see the seagulls!

I was too happy to speak. Words seemed useless. I felt happy tears running down my face. It took a while before Legolas could say anything. He just held out hands and smiled.

-'It's good to be back with you! It looks like you're not rid of me yet!' he said, after some time. 'I feel so tired! I want to sleep!'

I watched him sleep for a while. His hand was still in mine. Somehow, it didn't seem impossible to win his love anymore. Hope grew again in my heart. I slowly kissed his forehead, then his eyes . And his lips. He didn't move. He was sleeping peacefully.