Title: A Spark in the Dark

Author: Luinëturiel (aka Zoe)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Lord of the Rings. They belong to the wonderful J.R.R. Tolkien. Any other characters in this story, however, are mine.

First of all a big 'thank you!' to everyone who has posted reviews. Writing is so much more fun when you know that there are actually people reading your story. ;o)
I know that I let you wait terribly long for this chapter. My apologies. I just didn't find much time to write in the past few weeks, and I didn't want to post a non-edited first draft.

Okay, so here's chapter 9 – Thalwyn's exploration of Legolas' features from his point of view. Yes, you'll get to know what that 'ear episode' was all about! lol And – just in case anyone was wondering – I'm not going to turn this into a romance...no worries. I'm not good at writing romances anyway. ;o)
But now on with the story. Enjoy!

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A Spark in the Dark

9 Legolas: Butterfly Touch

I am not sure what I expected Thalwyn's exploration of my features to be like, but I did certainly not expect it to be that comforting, relaxing even. At first, I can hardly feel the tips of her fingers make contact with my skin, but after a while, Thalwyn's touch gets a bit more confident, more daring, yet it is still soft and tender. And everywhere her fingers move across my skin, they leave a tingling feeling in their wake. All the while the look on her face speaks of concentration, and I wonder what she might be thinking; if she likes what she sees.

How often have I heard people admiring the beauty of us Elves.
But what if Thalwyn's personal definition of beauty is quite different from the common point of view?
Maybe to her, smooth features like mine are not attractive at all? Too smooth to be attractive?

I smile at the thought that to someone like Thalwyn, who has to use their fingers in order to get to know what another person looks like, the edgy face of an average Man might have a lot more appeal than mine. In fact, that seems quite likely. However, I decide to stop speculating, and instead let myself relax under Thalwyn's velvety touch even more than before, the smile never leaving my lips and my keen eyes locked on the young woman's face as she continues her silent exploration.

I allow myself to have a closer look at Thalwyn. Until now, I have been distracted by Thalwyn's eyes whenever I looked at her. Too distracted to actually pay attention to her features. But now that she is sitting here right in front of me, her eyes closed, and with that comfortable silence spread once more...

I let my eyes roam her face. Without doubt, Thalwyn cannot compete with the beauty of an Elven maiden, but I have to admit that, for a human, she is fairly pretty. Dark brown waves of hair frame her face. Her skin is a shade of light bronze – kissed by the Sun. It is obvious that Thalwyn likes to spend much time out in the open. Tiny freckles decorate her cheeks, her nose, and I can even make out some on her forehead.

Freckles. A characteristic typical for the race of Man.

They add a bit of playfulness, of liveliness to the face of this young person, who seems to frown ever so often, and whose ghostlike stare I still find difficult to meet.

Thalwyn's fingers now run across my eyebrows...once, twice. When her index and middle fingers have reached my temples, they come to rest there while her thumbs are tracing the line of my lips. Still, concentration is written on Thalwyn's face, but when her fingers reach the corners of my mouth, her lips curve in a light smile. Apparently, she does like what she 'sees' – or at least, she does not seem to be too disappointed. I have to admit that, somehow, I feel relieved.

The young woman's fingers linger at the corners of my mouth for a second before they resume their journey and finally end up moving across my chin in circular motions. The slight wrinkling of Thalwyn's forehead, which I have already witnessed quite a number of times tonight, betrays that she is deep in thought. I wonder what it is this time, but Thalwyn answers my silent question before I can even bring up the subject.

"No stubble," she states matter-of-factly, and I cannot help but chuckle.

"Aye, you are right, Thalwyn. No stubble," I confirm her observation. "This is because, unlike Men, Elves do not grow a beard."

The smile that had left Thalwyn's face for a brief moment, returns; at the same time, a slight blush is creeping upon her cheeks. "Ah, I see." And already her fingers have taken up their task again, now moving in the direction of my ears.

My ears. It dawns on me that, if Thalwyn did not know about the facial hair of Elves – or rather about the lack thereof – she might also be oblivious of the fact that our ears... My train of thought is interrupted by Thalwyn's fingertips brushing softly across the upper rims of my ears. A slight shudder runs through my body, and my eyelids flutter shut.

Maybe I should have told her one or the other thing about Elves before I agreed on letting her expl...

Yet again, my ponderings are cut short when Thalwyn's fingers reach the tips of my ears and return to whence they came – only to make their way to my eartips once more. The touch of the young woman's hands has again become as light as a butterfly's wings brushing across my skin, and I feel a wave of comforting warmth rising within me. It has been quite a while since I have last been touched in this intimate manner, which just increases the effect. And the teasing softness with which Thalwyn's fingers tiptoe along the rims of my ears does not help either.

Finally, when my eartips have once more become the centre of Thalwyn's attention, I cannot keep up my composure any longer and take in a shuddering breath. I hardly notice that the young woman's fingers stop in their motion at once. And only when a muttered apology from Thalwyn reaches my ears do I realise that she has lifted her hands from my ears; that she has broken the silent spell.

I take in another deep breath to fully regain my composure before I open my eyes. And what I see before me makes an odd feeling of guilt well up inside of me. The young woman sitting with me on the bed has her head slightly tilted downwards, mortification written all over her face.

I could have prevented this, had I told her some things earlier...
She cannot possibly know what exactly she did?
And even if this were the case, I could have prevented her touch to have that strong an effect on me. It would just have taken a little concentration on my part. I should simply not have allowed myself to relax that much under her touch...

"Thalwyn, you do not have to..." I begin. But I never finish that sentence.

"Oh yes, I do have to apologise, Legolas," the young woman states, her voice firm. Then she slightly shakes her head. "I should never have asked you for this favour. I mean, I did not mean to hurt you, but it is fairly obvious that I caused you discomfort."

Now I realise what Thalwyn's apology was about in the first place –

She must think that she hurt me when she touched my ears.

"Nay, Thalwyn." I gently put my hands on her shoulders to indicate that I am all right; and, most important of all, that I am not angry with her for what she did. "Listen, you did not do anything wrong. It's just that the ears of us Elves are very...sensitive. Your touch did not hurt, though."

"But why then did you sound as if I caused you pain?" she interrupts my explanation, arching a dark eyebrow.

How the Valar am I supposed to tell her what was the matter without making her feel embarrassed again?

I heave a sigh of frustration. "Thalwyn, like I said before, elvish ears are very sensitive. And to be honest, it is considered a very intimate thing to..." I stop in mid-sentence as I notice Thalwyn's cheeks taking on an even darker shade of pink than before.

"But I had no idea." Her voice is a faint whisper.

"I know, Thalwyn. It is all my fault. I should have told you, but I did not think of it when I agreed to your exploring my features. Somehow, I did not realise that it would include my ears. And when you touched them I was simply not...prepared for it."

I am lucky that Caranhil did not witness the incident.
He would probably have teased me for ages about it – the son of King Thranduil, heir to the throne of Mirkwood and one of the finest warriors in his father's realm, losing his composure at a mere touch.

I give in to the urge to chuckle, which earns me a quizzical look from Thalwyn. "I would not know what is so funny, Legolas."

"Nothing, Thalwyn." I hold back another chuckle. "I just wondered what my companions would say if I told them about my mistake."

"Or rather my mistake," Thalwyn states coldly, shrouded blue eyes staring right through me.

She sounds hurt.

"Do not be ridiculous. I already told you that you did nothing wrong. And I meant it." I give her shoulders a reassuring squeeze. "But let us not talk about this any longer. I would rather like to hear if I look like you imagined."

Thalwyn's face lights up at this, although her cheeks still seem to glow. "Yes, I think so. You truly are beautiful." A small smile forms on her lips. "In fact, I cannot recall having ever come across more delicate features than yours. You must even be considered fair among your own kind."

"Thank you, Thalwyn. I am very happy to hear that you are not disappointed with what you saw."

Now it is the young woman's turn to chuckle. "How could I be disappointed?"

I am just about to answer – to tell her of my earlier musings about her way of 'seeing' and the smoothness of my features – when Thalwyn stifles a yawn.

"I think you should take some more rest."

Thalwyn answers with a nod. "I guess you are right, Legolas. No matter how much I would like to continue our talk, and no matter how much rest I already got earlier, I feel quite exhausted." She pauses. "What time is it anyway?"

"It must be close to midnight. How about you try to sleep some more and I come to see you again in the morning?" I suggest. "I could show you around Rivendell while the search party is off to find your sister."

The young woman frowns as I mention Aldarida, yet she sounds delighted at the idea of being shown around. "Yes, I would love to see more of this place. But only if that will not interfere with any duties you might have to fulfil..."

"So it is settled, then. I will come to see you in the morning. But before I leave...is there anything you need? Shall I bring you some more water? You seemed to be quite thirsty when we were having dinner..."

"No, thank you, Legolas. I will be fine. All I need right now is some more sleep." She gives me another smile and reaches up to close her fingers around my hands, which are still resting lightly on her shoulders. "You have already done more for me than I could ask for."

When she lets go of my hands again, I get up from the bed. "You are welcome, Thalwyn." With these words, I walk across the room towards the table. I set the remains of our dinner on the tray, from the corner of an eye watching Thalwyn lay down on the bed and slip under the covers. Once the tray is laden, I pick it up and lean across the table in order to blow out the candles. The faint light of the stars shining in through the open window will be more than sufficient for me to find my way to the door of the chamber.

And Thalwyn will most certainly not mind the relative darkness either.

When I have finally reached the door, I turn to look in the direction of the bed once more. I can easily make out Thalwyn's face against the white sheets. "Sleep well, Thalwyn."

"Good night, Legolas," she whispers back, stifling another yawn.

With a smile on my lips, I leave the chamber, balancing the tray on the palm of one hand as I open and close the door. Then I head down the corridor.