Chapter 5

Year 3037, October 25

" Eryn!" Faramir exclaimed as Legolas and Eryn rode in to the city, " Thank you Legolas for bringing her safely." Eowyn looked at Eryn. Eryn seemed deep in horrible thought; Eowyn couldn't blame her. With out a word to anyone, Eryn went up to her room.

She sat on her bed, in the darkness, staring into the night sky, illuminated by the full moon and the stars. There was a small knock on the door; Eryn said nothing.

" Eryn…" she heard a low ardent voice say, " please let me in." It was Legolas. She never heard him speak like that. It was almost scary. He opened the door without waiting for an answer.

Legolas crossed the room and stood before her; she couldn't bring herself to look into his eyes. " Do you detest me now also that the truth has been given to you?" He asked her. She wouldn't answer nor look at him. " Eryn, stop being a child. " he sounded stern now, but no less warm. She refused again." As your elder, now I am telling you to rise and to look at me." Eryn found herself unable to stop herself; his cool Elven tongue had its way with her, she stood and brought her eyes to meet his.

Legolas' eyes were hard and cold, yet blazing with blue fire. She tried to match his glare, but knew her eyes could only show fear.

" Why are you so scared?" he asked her in the same warm, yet interrogating tone. Eryn felt her lip quiver slightly.

A knock at the door snapped them out of their moment that seemed to last ages.

" Eryn? It is Eowyn, may I come in?" Relieved to have Legolas be forced somewhat to leave she answered,

" Yes just a minute!" Legolas took her jaw in his hand.

" We are but delayed." He kissed her quickly and stepped away as he strode to the door and opened it. Eowyn seemed shocked to see Legolas there, and seeming so somber. He sidestepped her and walked quietly down the passage.

Eowyn looked back at Eryn. She had a single finger pressed against her mouth. Eryn seemed in a daze with troubles that had no end. She did not look back at Eowyn just stared onto the floor, where Legolas stood.

" Is everything okay?" Eowyn asked slowly. Eryn looked up at her, pale and worn. Eowyn shut the door and quickly crossed the room to her. " What happened?" Eryn could hold back the tears no longer. She broke down into Eowyn's arms. Eowyn led her over to the bed and they sat down on it.

" Legolas…" she muttered. Eowyn feared for a moment the honor of the elves.

" Did he hurt you?" Eowyn asked urgently.

" Only on the inside," Eryn mumbled.

" Well a lot of disappointment has come from your uncles today," The thought occurred to her,

" Who else knew?" Eryn asked. Eowyn hesitated. " Aunt Eowyn…"

" Faramir, The King, the Queen, Gandalf, and…"

" You," Eryn said bitterly. Eowyn nodded. " Please go," she told her pulling away Eowyn looked apologetically at her.

" We are not all against you…"

" Please," Eryn asked again. Eowyn left her in the darkness, alone with her spite and loneliness.

Or so she thought…

Eryn sat and stared off to nowhere in particular, but one of the shadows seemed to leap to life. Eryn jumped up and grabbed her protection dagger from her dresser.

" I told you I was coming, do we forget our friends so fast Mellonamin?" a gruff voice asked.

" Aratoamin!" she Eryn cried out. She walked forward and embraced him. He seemed a little taken aback, but lost none of his usual confidence. " I need to get away," she moaned. Aratoamin took her hand and led her to the door.

" I must speak with you, but nowhere, where we could be interrupted." He opened the door and looked out. They both saw Faramir was approaching the room. He quickly shut the door and turned to Eryn.

"What are we going to do?" Eryn asked. A knock came at the door.

"Eryn? Please let me in,"

" No! Go away!" she shouted back. Aratoamin looked at her, she couldn't see very well in the dark but she could tell it was probably either understanding or disappointment.

" Come on," Aratoamin whispered. He led her to the window. He began to unravel a rope from his bag.

" Eryn. You know you made Eowyn cry? Is that what you want?" Faramir tried to guilt her into it.

" Well what about Eowyn? And Elessar, and you, and Legolas! Especially you and Legolas! You all made me go through pain I didn't know existed." She found herself screaming at the door.

" Eryn, come now before you say something you would regret." Aratoamin murmured He looked back at her she had tears of fury on her face. She turned and went to him. He had managed to get the rope to an upper room. " Come now,"

" I don't think that I would be able to climb just now," Eryn told him, wiping her face on her sleeve. Aratoamin smiled.

" Here cling to my back," he carried her up to a balcony on the next level. They entered a room that was not in use, as so many were in Minas Tirith. Aratoamin quickly shut the door and locked it.

" How long were you in my room?"

"I saw you and Legolas. I saw how much he cares about you. Though I didn't need to see it to know that,

" I wish he didn't say anything about it. Not yet anyway,"

" That is how the elves are. They can feel no shame or embarrassment. I have known them long enough to know that much," Eryn paused for a while just looking at him.

" Who are you, truthfully?" she asked hoping that it would not be something heart shattering again.

" Truthfully…the truth is hard," he told her.

" I still wish to hear it," she answered.

" I won't hold the truth from you if you ask, my name is Eldarion. I am the son of King Elessar and Queen Arwen." Eryn sat down shaken.

" How can that be true? I have never known of you, nor heard of you."

" Knowing each other was to be forbidden. If ever the chance we should grow and fall in love. We were kept strangers though our fathers…my father and your uncle, were good friends. I found out about you at a younger age. I was angry that I had someone to talk to and be friends with at a young age though I wasn't allowed to know them.

I spoke to my parents about you, they told me that it would be wrong for you and I to be friends as a child, for chance would surely have it that we love each other."

" Why is that so terrible?"

" If the house of the stewards and the house of the King were to unite in matrimony, things wouldn't work the same. It would not be wise to have two brothers as the king and steward to the King." Eryn understood.

" How have you stayed away from me all this time?"

" I became a ranger of the North, as my father was." Eldarion told her. He stood their for a few moments watching her take it all in. He thought for a few moments how his parents plan, had after all the effort they put into it, been in vain. He had fallen in love with the one person he was not supposed to.

" Do you care about Legolas?" he asked her quietly. Eryn furrowed her brow.

" Why?" She looked at him in the moonlight. He seemed almost nervous.

" No reason," he answered quickly.

" I do, but he is my Uncle. It's so hard to see him as anything else." Eryn answered quietly. She stood and drew close to him. She touched the side of his rugged face. " You can be no more then fifteen or sixteen, yet the years have been cruel. You seem aged, far older then I."

" Those are big words coming from a woman who won the heart of a 2,931 year old." Eldarion answered, smiled at her soft touch. " My mother is an elf, for the most part, so I have matured fast. I doubt even they will recognize me, it has been long since I have seen them."

" It's strange, but now that I put you in comparison- you seem a split image of your father," Eryn told him. She glanced downwards " I must admit, you are both very handsome," She smiled shyly.

There was the distinct sound of a bow being drawn. Eldarion and Eryn turned and saw Legolas with his bow taught and Faramir at his side grasping the hilt of his sword. Eldarion cursed to himself silently; he had forgotten to bring up the rope.

" Have you found her?" the voice of the king called below.

" Yes, she is here." Faramir called down, looking a bit anxiously at the man standing before Eryn. " One level above you!" he finished.

" Who are you?" Legolas said smoothly. He spoke with almost no anger, but shrewd wisdom. Eldarion looked at him for a few moments silently. " Speak," he said calmly still holding him at arrow-point.

" The son of the Lord and King of this city," Eldarion said after a moment. Both Legolas and Faramir's faces became tainted with a strong surprise.

" Eldarion?" Faramir said faintly. Eldarion nodded. Faramir took a knee and bowed before the formerly departed prince. Legolas slowly lowered his bow, but seemed to be too astonished to put it away.

The door cracked and fell open. Elessar stood behind it grasping Andruil and a few guards behind him. Eldarion turned and looked at him. Elessar looked a moment over the situation Legolas stood holding a still notched arrow to his bow, Faramir bowing before Eryn and a strange man.

" Father," Eldarion whispered. Elessar lowered his sword and gaped at his son.

" Eldarion? Is it you?" Elessar said uncertainly. The guards seeing this immediately bowed before the prince. Eldarion smiled, walked over, and embraced his father. " Why didn't you come home straight to us? You always have that habit of coming home and wandering for a few days before making your grand entrance. It seems you have found our stewardess here," Elessar finished looking at Eryn. Eryn looked away. Faramir got to his feet, the guards followed. Faramir looked at Eryn a few minutes. She sensed his searching look and abruptly walked out the door. Faramir made a movement to follow her but Eldarion put up a hand and pursued her.

He followed her footfalls till they reached the garden. He looked through the shrubbery and large bushes for her, but she remained cleverly hidden.

" Go away!" He heard her say faintly. Eldarion jumped as he felt a long hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Legolas.

" Eryn?" Legolas called out. Silence.

" Eryn please, come inside and eat. You have had a long day and naught to eat." Eldarion tried to coax her. Silence again.

The wind seemed to rustle all the bushes around them. They tried to look for a glimmer of her reddish hair or listen for a faint pitter of her feet against the white stone. Legolas looked to the ground and seemed to be using solely his hearing.

With a sudden swift movement he leapt to the side and dragged Eryn out of the bushes. She struggled but he took her by both wrists and pressed her against the wall. She abruptly shoved him very hard in the chest.

Legolas staggered backwards and looked hurt. Eldarion stood stunned as he looked between the two of them. Legolas' eyes looked like they were penetrating the depths of her soul. Eryn immediately regretted what she did.

" I'm sorry-"

" It was a dream," Legolas said quietly. He began to walk back into the castle. Eryn felt her heart writhe in agony seeing Legolas like that. Maybe she cared about him. Maybe it was Eldarion she cared about.

Eryn looked at Eldarion, except he wasn't Eldarion anymore; he was Aratoamin again. Dark and mysterious against the pale son beginning to show it's light high in the sky. Eryn looked to Legolas figure, walking away, and then to Aratoamin.

With out neither sight nor look in her eyes betraying her, she suddenly ran after Legolas. By the time she caught up with his swift Elven steps, tears stained her cheeks and her breath came in short, quick gasps.

Eryn took firm hold of Legolas' arm and pulled him to a stop. Legolas turned and looked at her; a small bead of water formed in the corner of his eye, other then that his look revealed no emotion. Eryn looked at him for what seemed an eternity before whispering,

" You will die,"

" So, for my safety you would love Eldarion?" Legolas replied. No sadness shown in his voice, if any feeling were there Eryn would have guessed it was annoyance. Eryn could not think of anything to say. " Do you not also see that Eldarion would also die? I cannot make you love me, but please do not make up excuses. I understand if you love another." Legolas paused; hope dieing from his eyes. " But, could it be that it is not true love you feel for him? You have known him but a single day,"

" You have a chance for an immortal life, it's not the same. And did you not say it your self? You have loved me for but a single day also," Eryn tried to reason. Legolas took a step closer to her.

" I have truly loved once, I understand the feeling that it gives me." Legolas lingered on that note, hoping she would not question him. " It is not very different, immortality- in the way that you are seeing it." He stopped for a moment. " The most beautiful creature on the entire Middle-earth gave up her immortality to love a mortal. She was more deserving then any of us to live forever. She has forsaken it for the man, Elessar."

" I had not seen what Undomiel, did like that before." Eryn cast her look away.

" I would have done the same for you in an instant," Legolas told her softly. " Not idly do the hearts of Elves fall." He brushed away a tear on her cheek with his thumb.

" I did not say I loved Eldarion." Eryn whispered.

" Your eyes betray you,"

" Perhaps yours do also," Eryn turned and pulled away from him. She expected him to kiss her or to pull her back. When she felt nothing for a while she turned.

He was gone.

A/N: That chapter revealed a lot. I hope you enjoyed it, please review and tell me what you thought.

If you have the time could you go please read my other story "Frodo and Sam" it's a really cute story. I might have to finish that one before I continue with this one.