********The Lady of Rohan********

Chapter 12

Siraviel:

The floor spun beneath me as I stumbled down the hall weeping. What had happened? Why had I said all those things I didn't mean? Why had he said all those things? My head was pounding, but the worst pain was in my heart.

"Stop it!" I told myself angrily, "Stop getting so emotional. Seleth is nothing to me anymore, "I told my head, "he never was." But my heart would not believe.

I found myself standing in the middle of a hallway with two separate paths on either side of me. I looked both ways and a feeling of dread rose in the air. Seleth came running down one hall, Aronyth the other.

"Sira…" Seleth began. He then noticed Aronyth and quickly shut his mouth. Aronyth looked disapprovingly at Seleth then just as quickly turned to me with a smile on his face.

"Come my beautiful flower, I have lunch set up for just the two of us. Let us leave this hall for somewhere with more favorable scenery." He said looking at Seleth with disgust. "Didn't I tell you to stay away from the princess you common pig. Be gone!"

Seleth looked at him with equal disgust but looked at me and said, "My lady, please accompany me to the horse stables. I greatly require you assistance there."

I noted the smug look on his face, he obviously expected me to accept his invitation and under normal situations I would but not today. Aronyth was about to yell but I coolly held up my hand for him to wait. I glared at Seleth coldly before speaking.

"Find someone else to help you. I am going to dine with the King. You should have guessed the outcome since you know so much about me."

I whirled around and Aronyth took my arm around his. I heard Seleth storm away angrily behind me. A feeling of triumph ran through me that was quickly replaced by despair.

"My darling, I am glad to see that you have chosen the correct path. I know I have not been the perfect gentleman, but a servant or a king! Honestly the choice is not a difficult one. It took you much longer than I expected, but better late than never right my pet?"

He must have noted the shocked look on my face but he mistook my meaning.

"And don't worry about that commoner, I will make sure he will not be able to bother you again."

"You do not have to go out of your way for me my lord."

"Oh but my lady, this is something I want to do." He smiled slyly.

I could only nod. Why was I so rude to Seleth? He was my only friend in this large and lonely castle. I had to find and talk with him as soon as possible.

After lunch, which I barely survived through, I excused my self to my room to rest. Once there, I immediately called Ayleni and asked her to find Seleth. She nodded and ran off.

Shortly afterward she returned alone.

"He refuses to come my lady. He says he would rather marry the King."

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Seleth:

I was sorry for assuming Sira would marry the pig-headed King. I was sorry I insulted her and called her things I now regretted. I suppose I deserved the remarks she made but they still stung. She had chosen Aronyth, she had chosen him over me. The valiant hero was always supposed to triumph over the evil lord. I was the valiant hero but it seemed I had lost.

I went to my room to wallow in my sorrows but before I could even sit down, one of the servants in the palace entered my room.

"Good day. The Princess Siraviel of Rohan wishes to speak with you in her chambers immediately.

I was about to accept when a thought passed through my head. I no longer wanted to be her puppet. I would no longer bend to her every wish and desire. I would no longer spend my nights thinking of how her eyes sparkle when she is happy and of how her laughter fills your heart with joy and makes you want to dance and sing just because. How one look at her will turn the worst day into something beautiful. Why was I doing this to myself?

"I don't think so."

"She insisted."

"Well then how does I refuse sound to you?"

"She was most distressed."

"Ayleni, I would rather marry the King himself. Please leave."

She nodded stiffly before leaving the room.

Over the next few days it seemed she was everywhere, haunting my steps. I wanted to see her, to talk with her but it was too late for us. She was engaged. Aronyth and King Faramir announced the engagement the next morning. It was official. I had given up on Sira but she refused to give up on me. Every time I looked at her my heart would cry because I knew I loved her but we would never be able to hold each other, or sit together in the grass, whispering. We would never be able to ride together on horse back through the rain or run through fields of wheat like we did in Rohan.

I sank deeper and deeper into despair. My only comfort was in horseback riding, when I could get away. They demanded everyone's help in setting up for the wedding. It had been pushed forward yet again. It would take place in two weeks.

Two days after, I was returning to my room after a long ride. The sun had sank beneath the mountains in the north and the sky was colored in a dark and brilliant blue, the stars twinkling like little diamonds placed up in the great beyond.

I pushed open the door to my room and sighed. It was to be another night alone, another night to think about things that would never be. I was greatly mistaken. There was Siraviel standing in front of the window. She looked like a goddess of the moon dressed in a silver gown, her long dark hair falling freely down her back. Her normal fiery blue eyes were now wet and her cheeks were stained with tears. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever and will ever see. She wrapped her arms around my neck and tenderly kissed my lips. I wrapped my arms around her waist and returned the kiss then everything disappeared. It was just Sira and I swirling, flying in the air as we shared the perfect kiss. All the problems, worries and fears were gone. When the two of us were together nothing could be wrong.

Our lips finally parted and out feet returned to the ground. I had no need to speak of forgiveness or an apology. She knew.