Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

Authors Note: The track of 'Helm's Deep' from the Two Towers is my muse...I like it a lot, yes I do, it helps me write, yes it does.

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. School caught up with me, and I got distracted reading 5 archived years worth of an online comic...

Finally, I don't wanna try and translate certain conversations that take place in this chapter to Elvish, so anything that's supposed to be spoken in Elvish will just be put in {these} little bracket things, K? K.

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-No Eyes Needed-

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-Chapter XV-

-Squirrels and Dropping Eaves-

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Elisandra bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, looking out over the fëa's swirling through the palace courtyard eagerly. As most of the preparations for leaving had already been completed before Gimli arrived, it had taken very little time - only two days - to finish the preparations for the journey. Now, it was almost time to leave. And Elisandra couldn't help it - she was excited. She was not just leaving the palace, she was leaving the entire city, and even if she was scared of what the outcome of the journey might reveal, she was excited about leaving.

Legolas, if he had been there, would probably have made some remark about that, but he'd remembered something he'd wanted to talk to Aragorn about before they left, and had dashed off only a few minutes before. So now Elisandra was left to her cheery self - at least until Gimli wandered up. She scowled slightly at the dwarf, her good mood dropping immediately. She really didn't know why, but after her initial meeting with the dwarf, she had developed an intense dislike of him. She was sure she could have come to like the dwarf, if he'd been nice to her, but he seemed to return her dislike just as strongly. Every conversation between them that was more then a few lines long tended to result in veiled - or not so veiled, depending on who was in hearing distance - insults.

But now, it seemed, Gimli was not coming for a conversation, but looking for Legolas. He grumbled something when he realized the Elf prince wasn't around, and turned as if to leave, but then changed his mind. He trotted over to where Elisandra was standing on the balcony, and after climbing onto a bench, peered out into the courtyard.

"Nice view." he grunted appreciatively.

"Yes, it is." Elisandra replied, determinedly keeping her attention on the courtyard below.

"Have you seen Legolas lately?" Gimli asked.

"Not lately." Elisandra replied.

"Well, would you know where he is?" Gimli asked.

"Am I supposed to?" Elisandra asked with mild annoyance.

"No, but you always seem to, anyways." Gimli retorted.

"And what if I do? It is he who tells me where he is going." Elisandra replied.

"Humph. Why would he tell you such things?" Gimli said irritably.

"Perhaps because I'm his friend?" Elisandra replied icily. Gimli snorted and muttered something that Elisandra couldn't quite hear, but she wouldn't lower herself enough to ask him to speak up. Instead, she remained looking out over the courtyard, and Gimli finally spoke up again.

"Well, do you or do you not know where he is?" he demanded.

"Perhaps I do. But if you're going to be so rude about asking where he is, I shall not tell you if I do." Elisandra snapped. Gimli snorted and muttered again, and this time Elisandra caught the words 'female' and 'respect'. She almost snapped at him again, but instead turned on her heals and left. Damn dwarf, making her leave the balcony with the best view of the courtyard. Not to mention what he'd done to her good mood.

Elisandra mumbled random threats at the dwarf as she walked along, making her way towards her chambers, where she could maybe have some privacy for the short while that was left before she left. As she walked in that direction, however, she suddenly became aware that down near the end of the hall, Aragorn and Legolas were talking. She couldn't hear them, but in the darkness that was her normal world, Legolas' fëa stood out like a sore thumb.

Not quite knowing why she did so, Elisandra softened her footsteps, walking as quietly and as close to the wall as she could, creeping up on the two figures at the end of the hall. Their backs were turned to her as they looked out a window, and they seemed to be companionably enjoying the view - until you got close. Then you could hear a heated conversation flowing between the two of them.

Elisandra almost sighed in frustration as she heard the heat in their voices, and the speed at which they were talking. She could understand and speak Elvish when it was spoken at normal speeds, but she was by no means fluent in it, like Aragorn and Legolas, and thus had trouble deciphering what they were saying as they talked to each other in Elvish so rapid-fire it almost sounded like garbled Westron. She picked out a few words, though, as well as her name, and it was enough to realize that they were talking about Aragorn's fears in letting her go on the journey.

Then, suddenly, the Elvish stopped, and Elisandra scanned the two's fëa's worriedly, wondering if she made some sound that they'd heard. But they hadn't heard her - Aragorn had simply said something that had shocked Legolas into silence. Now, as Elisandra watched and listened, Legolas looked at the king and began speaking, slow enough for Elisandra to understand.

{And what makes you think she would need protection from that?}

{Many things, my friend, many things. Not the least of which is parental paranoia. I am sure I shall have the same such worry when Eldarion has grown a little. Now, however, I have Elisandra to worry about. I do not want to see her heart broken, Legolas.} Aragorn sighed as he finished, and it - thankfully - covered Elisandra's sharply indrawn breath. As per usually when one eavesdropped, now that she knew what they were talking about, she really wished she hadn't listened, and wanted to leave. But for some reason, her feet remained firmly planted on the ground.

{Nor do I, friend.} Legolas said after a moments pause.

{That is partly what I am afraid of.} Aragorn said, almost sadly. Curiosity shot through Legolas' fëa, and if Elisandra hadn't been so busy desperately trying to convince her feet that yes, they really did want to turn her around and walk away, she would have been curious, too.

{What do you mean?} Legolas asked, and Aragorn looked at the Elf prince intently.

{I am not so much afraid that she shall meet someone who will cause her pain, Legolas, as that she has already met someone who will cause her pain.} he said, and Legolas fell into silence once again, causing Elisandra to pause and think about what her father meant. Elisandra kept very much to herself, and the only male not related to her that she kept any company with at all was Legolas - Gimli really didn't count - so there could be little doubt as to who Aragorn was referring to. And at that realization, Elisandra's feet suddenly wanted to move again, and she quickly and quietly turned and left Aragorn and Legolas to their talk, picking up her pace to almost a jog once she was out of earshot.

Thoughts about what Elisandra had just overheard crowded into her brain, making her falter, but she pushed the thoughts away, instead thinking on where she could go to be alone to think. Her chambers were full of her maids bustling about - Mersana, it had been decided at the last moment, would be coming with Elisandra, and she only had this morning to pack. Elisandra would get no peace there. On the other hand, she might get a welcome distraction. Elisandra steered for her chambers. She could think about what she'd overheard later - if at all. It would probably be best for her to forget that she'd ever heard it, anyways, and she was more then happy to try and do so.

As Elisandra approached her chambers, she slowed once again to a walk, and took a few deep breaths to calm her heart and breathing, which were both racing from the jog through the palace. Then, squaring her shoulders, she stepped into her chambers and chaos. Upon entering, Ineira dumped a pile of cloth into her arms without even looking at her, and told her to hold it for a moment. Elisandra blinked, then half-smiled and did as she was told. Ineira, of course, instantly began apologizing when she turned back to get the pile of cloth again and realized who she'd handed it to. Elisandra told her it would be forgotten if the maid would lead her to a chair, as she had no doubt she'd trip over half a dozen things before she found one herself. Ineira quickly led Elisandra to a chair, and then dove back into the flurry of fëa's that were Elisandra's maids.

And so Elisandra sat in her chair, watching with amusement, until at last, the maids decided they were done packing. True to form, the instant the maids were done packing, a guard knocked on the door and announced that the riders would be leaving shortly, and they needed to get down to the courtyard if they were to be going at all. So then Mersana and the maids quickly lifted her luggage - actually quite small, considering - and set out, with Elisandra following. As they approached the palace doors, Mersana noticed Elisandra trailing along behind, and shooed her ahead of them, saying that it was unfit for her to walk behind them like that. After all, they were her maids.

Elisandra walked out into the courtyard, 'leading' her maids, and watched as they quickly loaded Mersana's things onto a waiting pack horse. Then, suddenly, Legolas and Aragorn appeared in the courtyard, soon followed by Arwen and Gimli.

"Ah, here you are!" Legolas said with a smile as the group walked over to Elisandra. "We were wondering where you were."

"I was, until a short while ago, in my chambers." Elisandra said dryly.

"What a unique place to be." Legolas said with a grin.

"Hmm, indeed." Elisandra said, arching an eyebrow, then grinned back at Legolas.

"Now that we've found you, I'm afraid it's only just in time to say goodbye before leaving." Aragorn said with a tinge of sadness in his voice.

"That's what you get for not checking the obvious places." Elisandra said briskly, and grinned again. The humour was short lived, however, as they fell to the somberness of saying goodbye. The goodbyes were quick, but sincere, and half of them Elisandra more saw then heard, as she watched the emotions flicker through Arwen and Aragorn's fëa's.

Then it was time to mount up. Elisandra eyed the fëa of the horse she was to be riding warily. Legolas and Aragorn had talked her into practicing riding a horse the day before - though it was more like staying on a horse, since she wasn't actually in control of the horse. She had stayed on, true, but not having control over where she was going, and not knowing the distance of a horse's stride, disoriented her on top of making her nervous. She really had no desire to get back on a horse, but she had no desire to walk to Rivendell, either.

So Elisandra accepted Aragorn's boost to help her onto the back of the horse, then settled herself as well as she could, looking about nervously at the other riders already mounted on their horses. She smirked slightly as she caught sight of Gimli's fëa, where it was perched on the back of Legolas' horse - his nerves looked worse then hers. Then Elisandra's view was blocked by Mersana riding over to take her horses reins, and Elisandra composed herself for the ride through the city. There was a few moments delay, and then with a command from Aragorn, the party set off.

The ride through the city wasn't much more interesting then Elisandra's last walk through the city had been, except there were more people about, and they turned to watch the group go by. Some of the people even called out greetings, but that was the extent of the interaction between the people on the street and the group of riders. And, once they left the city, it became apparent to Elisandra how very uninteresting new countryside is when it has little or no life in it and you can only see living things fëa's.

Within two hours of starting out, Elisandra was bored. Legolas and Gimli were chattering away a short ways ahead, and Elisandra was loath to break into their conversation, even if she didn't like Gimli all that much, and Mersana seemed wrapped up in her own thoughts. This sounded like a good idea, so Elisandra dug around in her mind for things to think upon. The instant she started trying to find something to think about, however, the conversation she'd overheard between Aragorn and Legolas popped into her head, and wouldn't leave. So she thought about that, turning it over in her mind.

It was apparent, now, that Aragorn feared that she and Legolas would get romantically involved, and then Legolas would end out breaking her heart. A silly fear, really, for several reasons - she and Legolas would never get romantically involved, and even if they did, she doubted Legolas was the type to break ANYONE'S heart. Unless he did so indirectly by just being incredibly handsome and unavailable, due to one reason or another.

There Elisandra paused, realizing what she'd just thought. She frowned slightly, and wondered if the 'incredibly handsome' comment had come from the other ladies of the court, or her own opinion. Not that any opinion of hers about looks could necessarily be trusted, since the only 'looks' of any kind that she could see were Legolas'. Very limited experience, that. Well, she'd have more experience once she got to Rivendell - after all, Elrohir, Elladan, and Arwen were the only peredhil* still on these shores. Thus, since she could see full Elves in their entirety, she'd get a lot more experience with looks once they reached Rivendell. Though some nagging feeling told her that even then, Legolas would be the best looking out of all the Elves.

Shaking her head, Elisandra turned her attention back to her surroundings, hoping to find something better to think about than Legolas' looks. If she had been able to see her surroundings, she might have found something, but instead, she just had her companion's fëa's. And the fëa of that squirrel in the tree ahead.

Squinting slightly, Elisandra peered at the squirrel, trying to decipher its chaotic fëa. She hadn't seen the fëa's of very many animals in her life - insects and birds, yes, and horse, but not many other animals. So the squirrel's fëa was an interesting to try and decipher. She had concluded, by the time they passed the squirrel, that it was quite satisfied from a good meal, but very annoyed at the noisy people passing below. This was further emphasized by it chittering away madly at them as they passed underneath. Elisandra tried not to grin, and set about finding another small rodent or other animal to pick apart the fëa of.

Elisandra's picking apart of small animals fëa's continued until they stopped for lunch, and then picked up after lunch, until she was finally interrupted by Legolas asking what she was grinning about. After describing what she'd been doing to Legolas and Gimli, they both decided she badly needed something else to do, and dragged her in a conversation about Lothlorien, in which she did more listening then talking, and lasted until they stopped for the night.

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*Peredhil = Half-Elven (it's used as an actual title, which is why I didn't just translate it in the body of the story like I normally do)

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