After breakfast Cutheniel gave Maliana a break and went to her room. When she got there she locked the door and closed the curtains, she had a lot to do. She dug through her drawers for the knapsack she used when Legolas and she went out into the forest.

Finally after turning her cabinet inside out she found her pack. She sighed as she looked at all her clothes all over the floor. Groaning she picked up handfuls of clothes and shoved them into her drawers. When she was finished cleaning, Cutheniel got out her tunic and leggings from where she had hid them all those years, waiting for the day she would finally leave.

     She folded them into the pack along with her light boots.

     'Food,' she thought to herself, 'I need food to start with until I find an animal.' She threw her pack under her bed and went out the door.

     Cutheniel casually went down to the kitchen, trying hard to hold in her excitement of finally getting away from the palace. When she entered the kitchen she greeted the cook and asked for any leftovers.

     "Yes, Cutheniel there's a barrel of apples in the back room, "the cook said cheerfully, use to her usual visits to borrow food to bring to some of the hungry guards.

     Cutheniel made her way to the back room and closed the door but didn't shut it. She grabbed a burlap sack and went to the barrel at the back of the room. Like the cook had said, there were apples. She grabbed seven of them but kept searching the room until she found some packets of lembas that the elves of Lorien had given to them on their last visit. She took five of them. 'I'll have meat soon anyway,' she thought putting them into her pack.
     "Cutheniel! Do you need any help back there?" the cook asked.
     Cutheniel jumped surprised and answered, "I'm fine!" She came out from the back room and thanked the cook.
     "You're very welcome Cutheniel," the cooked said, clueless to her real use of the food.
     Cutheniel smiled and left the kitchen. 'It's a good thing I'm on the good side of the chef,' she thought as she went up to her room.
     Once there she stuffed the sack into her pack and waited anxiously, occasionally pacing back and forth across the floor of her room, and when she wasn't pacing she was sitting restlessly on her bed. Almost everything was ready, she would equip her weapons later on.

*later that evening*
 
      After dinner Cutheniel rushed to her room and swung her pack over her shoulder.           'Now is the time to leave,' she thought determinedly. 'While everyone is drinking and being merry.' She went over to her window and pushed it open to the balcony, she took a deep breath and began to climb out. 'Wait,' she thought pausing, 'I haven't said goodbye to Legolas. 'She turned to go back.
     'No you don't,' her brain commanded,' then you'll never be able to leave. You'll take one look at him and change your mind about running away.'
     'No she'll just say goodbye, tell him her feelings, and then leave,' her heart replied,' Go Cutheniel and then leave.'
     'But she might change her mind and never leave this wretched palace.'

     Cutheniel thought hard, debating between her heart and her mind. Finally she decided, 'I'll go back and say goodbye then I swear I'll leave.'
     'That's a good girl,' her heart encouraged, 'But remember, he went up to his room a little earlier than you, so just go to his balcony.'
     'Thanks,' Cutheniel said and went outside on to the balcony. She laughed quietly, she was talking to herself! She shook her head in amusement, and once again fell silent.

She jumped on to the next balcony in the direction of the Prince's room. When she got to his room she knocked quietly on his window. Legolas opened it up and was shocked when he saw his friend on his balcony.
     "What are you doing here Cutheniel?" he asked concerned.
     Cutheniel put her hand on his face, pulled him toward her and kissed him on the lips. She stayed there for a moment and then withdrew. Legolas' face was in awe.
     "What was that for?" he asked.
     "I'm leaving Legolas," Cutheniel said, she gulped before letting out what she said next. "I love you."
     "What?" he asked again. 'It's not that I don't love her back,' he thought to himself, 'I love her too. It's just that it is so awkward where she had said it. Out here on my balcony.'
     "I'm running away," Cutheniel said.
     Legolas returned from his thoughts shocked at what he had heard. "You're running away?" he almost screamed. 'Now that I know she loves me back she says she's running away. Oh the folly!' "Why?" he asked, wondering if there was any answer that she could give to satisfy him.
     "Because I'm tired of being treated like a glass figurine!" she said, trying hard to control her anguish.

     As hard as it was, he had to admit to himself that that was a good reason. He had seen the way she had been treated all her life in the palace, and he agreed that it wasn't fantastic, but did she really have to go? "Must you leave now?"
     Cutheniel sighed, his eyes reflected the same pain she held, but she had made up her mind. "I am torn already between the thought of staying with you, and the thought of being free," she told him, hoping that he would understand. "But I promise I'll come back, once I prove to your father that I do not need to be locked in the palace to be safe. Please do not talk about this with anyone, but Maliana, who too, knows about my decision to runaway."
     Legolas frowned desolately. "But...," he began to object, but stopped once he realized that she was right, to fight to be independent, and if she proved herself, and won his father over, they could be just as they were before, free to frolic. He knew he could not change her mind, and he didn't want to be the reason she suffered here. He couldn't find any words to express the pain he felt, so instead he hugged her silently, and she grasped her arms around him.

     Cutheniel looked up at him, and her eyes watered slightly. She shut them closed, and despite her efforts tears rolled down her cheeks, and she buried her face into his chest. She wiped away her tears on her sleeve. "Please, try to understand. I have to do this, and if your willing to, I need some help," she whispered, as she finished drying her eyes.

     Legolas nodded silently, if he could not stop her he could help her so that she may return faster. "What did you have in mind?" he asked, as he led her into his room. He shut the balcony window behind them, and followed her in.

     "I need to borrow a bow, arrows, and some knives," she told him, now feeling better that he understood. "Mine were taken away."
     "Easy enough," he said as he pulled a slender bow from his wall.
     "I don't mean to be a burden," Cutheniel said. She looked at the bow he held, and looked at him surprised, "That one is yours."
     "I can make another one," he handed the bow to her and she held it in wonder. "Here you go," he handed her a leather and wood quiver with arrows, matching the wood of the bow.
     "Diola lle (thank you),"Cutheniel said smiling, as he handed her a set of long and short knives.
     "How long do you plan to be gone?" he asked, worried that it would be too long.

     Cutheniel paused before answering, she hadn't really thought of that. "I am not sure, but I will be sure to stay in touch, in whatever way possible."

       He took her face in his hands and kissed her, "I love you too."
     Cutheniel smiled, "I'll take care don't worry. But please wait for me," she took his hands in hers and he smiled.
     She jumped back on to the balcony and leaped into a tree several feet away. She looked up at him standing on his porch; she waved to him sadly as tears ran down her cheeks. He waved back and sighed as he watched her run into the forest.

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