Chapter 14

After a long, full day of shopping, Rhiannon was exhausted, not to mention aching. She had collapsed onto her floor, her ruined furniture having been taken away to the dump to accommodate the carpeters. The house exuded wet paint smell, the smell of acrylic paint that was still gooey, and she moaned, stood, with not a little difficulty, and went for the Tylenol, which was quickly replacing Melissa as her new best friend. It took the pain away but the memories… Oh, they lived on indeed…

They were walking down the tiny shopping district main street frosted with white fairy lights and full of outdoor bistros and miniscule, hidden boutiques with chic treasures buried inside, and Rhiannon's shoes clicked along the sidewalk- cement slabs of different shades, some cracked, the darkest, dingiest ones being the oldest- and she looked around for a nice place to have dinner in after a full day of shopping of all sorts : furniture, groceries, clothes, toiletries. She was leading the way, her handbag swinging, and glancing at tops or skirts in the windows of boutiques to return to buy at a later date. Women sitting at various tables from various eateries on the sidewalk were gazing after her companion as they passed, a few even whistling and catcalling. When she finally saw an interesting looking restaurant, she mentioned it to Legolas. She pointed to it.

"Legolas, what do you think of right there?" When she received no answer, she spoke again, this time turning to face him as she did.

"Well it's not like you didn't hear- Oh, God." Legolas was several yards back, facing and looking down at a gaudy woman who seemed to be mysteriously fascinated with the pockets of his jeans, especially as she was attempting to put her hands into them. Rhiannon watched him say something, turn to leave, and be quickly grabbed by the arm before she stormed over, blind with rage, The Lawyer Within returning to the surface. God, she was like the Hulk.

She looked down at the woman, and blanched slightly when she realized just how much makeup she had on.

"So what's your name?" She had put on a silly voice, but she was simultaneously thinking about carving her name into the woman's face powder with her fingernail.

"Natalie Ritter," she responded with an annoyed, I'm-humoring-you type of tone. Rhiannon was ready to tear her apart.

"Well, Miss Ritter," Rhiannon began, breaking out the professional, no-nonsense tone, "I can call you 'Miss', as I see you are… Unattached, am I correct?" She nodded at both of the bare ring fingers, and went on without a pause.
"As I was saying, Miss Ritter. Have you ever heard of a little crime called sexual harassment? Well, how about this. You take your talons out of his arm, keep your paws out of his pants, and finish your salad this instant, or I will have you in court so quickly, it will blow the layers of makeup off of your dog-like face."

Her adversary looked taken aback.

"Fine, but you don't have to foam at the mouth like a rabid bitch," her friends looked approvingly at her comment, and a few gave deep 'ooooh's'. Rhiannon shrugged.

"And you don't have to pant and drool at the sight of anything in trousers. Like a rabid whore." She placed her hand into Legolas' and they walked off, to applause of the surrounding male diners.

Oh yes, how she loved Tylenol.

Avariel climbed into her lap and she smiled, stroking her head.

"Oh Ava… what are we gonna do?"

Legolas walked in from the newly restocked kitchen holding a glass of water, both of which had been purchased that day, the glass at Pier 1 Imports and the water at the grocery.

"After your new bed is delivered, we shall dress it. After the new bed is dressed, you will sleep in it, and I will continue to put things away." She answered with a groan.

"Don't want to wait." He smiled and pulled her to her feet, Avariel walking off as if insulted. She smiled back up at him, and said,

"I'm just so tired." She laid her head on his shoulder.

"I know, Silmeamin, but we are almost done with everything. Then everything can go back to.. the way that it used to be," he comforted, but when he looked at her, he realized that she was asleep. He carried her upstairs and laid her on the floor in her bedroom.

Rhiannon woke up an hour and a half later to Legolas' hands shaking her into alertness.

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Silmeamin, the movers are here, and they have the new bed. I have forgotten where the new bedsheets were put, where did you store them?" She sat up in an instant, pulling her hair back from her face and keeping it there with another stray section of hair, an emergency tactic she'd learned from staying at her office all night.

"Where are the movers?" A slab of wood came into her room as she finished the sentence. She leapt up, a bit wobbly, and got out of the way immediately.

An hour later, her new canopy bed was set up and made, and she was laying in it, asleep. Her head was on Legolas' chest, and his eyes were glazed over in an unfocused, wide-eyed sleep. Her eyelids twitched in her sleep, indications of the intense dreams she was having.

Sharp pains shot through her, and she looked into eyes the exact color of Legolas', but knew it was not him. She turned in the bed, saw herself holding out a diamond. She twisted again, and felt for Legolas, and though she felt him, he wasn't there. She was becoming terrified, and began calling out in her dream for him. Each of her cries came out a whimper, and soon she was being shaken awake again, with Legolas whispering frantically to her.

"Silmeamin. Wake up, Silmeamin! Wake up!" She sat up with a start, sweat pouring down her face and her throat dry, gasping for breath. She turned slowly and looked at him, incredibly relieved when she saw him, but with a manic fear still lurking below her newfound calm.

"Something… bad is going to happen. I just know it. I can feel it." She glanced at the clock next to her bed. 2:33 am.

She sank back down into the mattress.

"Oh God… something very bad is coming." Knowing there was no more sleep to be had that night, she got up to make herself a cappuccino in her new Starbucks Barista coffee maker and take even more Tylenol.

The next day, her new computer system arrived. She placed it on the desk she and Legolas had just finished putting together, and spent all day setting up the Internet and saving her work off of the emergency disks onto it. Finally, she heard those fated words: "You've Got Mail." She opened her mailbox. 367 e-mails. Sighing, she selected them all and pressed delete. Starting anew was starting anew. A highlight on the news from that day caught her eye: Unusual Star Patterns Puzzle Astronomers. She clicked on the link, and an article popped up. Through the pages-long story, a note stood out bold in her mind. The dogstar was expected to be especially bright in exactly one week, and was then to dim into almost unrecognizable obscurity, and its return time was unknown There was a possibility that it would burn out forever. Her eyes widened in realization, and she stood, knocking her chair over. She stared at the screen in horror, frozen in place. This was the terrible event she'd dreamt about.

Legolas had to leave.

She walked up to her bedroom, to find Legolas with Avariel in his lap. Apparently, they had made up. He looked up at her silhouette in the doorway, a crestfallen expression planted on his face.

"Silmeamin," he whispered, setting Avariel down and standing to move towards her.

"I know. You have to go. Very soon, you have only a few days." He closed his eyes, a pained expression on his face, and touched their foreheads together.

"I don't wish to leave you, Silmeamin."

"I don't want you to leave, Legolas. But you must. You must be needed somewhere. I needed you, and that's how you came to be here, and now someone else needs you. So you have to help them."

"I am not a savior, Silmeamin. This should not be my responsibility."

"Please, Legolas, don't. Don't say these things to me. I don't want to lose you, but I will force myself to let you go if only to help someone else. Your people need you, somebody needs your help. So go. Please, say you'll go."

He kissed her, a heated kiss, until she couldn't think for her desire.

"I love you," he whispered against her lips as they connected again. "But I shall go." With the next kiss, her tears burst between their cheeks. He pulled back and looked at her, wiping her tears with his fingers.

"I... have only ever hated one thing before in my entire life. Only one person and the things that he did. But, I hate this. I hate this more than I hate Adam, so much more. More than having to restore my home. I, I really do." Sobs shook her body as hard comprehension dawned on her.
Unspoken sympathizing and understanding came from Legolas. He pulled her towards him again in an embrace, but she backed away, her hands sliding down her face. She looked at him from between her fingers.

"Just, please. Don't forget me." With that whispered plea, she turned and walked from the room.

Knowing that she was going to lose him was perhaps the worst feeling she'd ever had in her existence - worse than the fear Adam invoked in her, worse than the hopelessness three straight days of studying for her Bar Exam brought to her. She felt a huge gash, a massive rip forming in the depths of her mind, her body, and her soul, and she knew that no one would ever fill it, could ever fill it, and that nothing would ever come close to the way it felt when he touched her, no sound would ever compare to his whispers in her ear, and no sight would ever come close to the way his eyes sparkled. She was sick and tired of sobbing, but there truly was nothing else to be done. She was about to lose the one and only love of her life, and there was nothing she could do about it. Worse than that, she knew it was the right thing, she knew he was needed, no matter how much she personally protested, no matter what she wanted.

She asked herself a question, trying to come to terms with her oncoming depression.

"What in the hell am I going to do?"