Legolas leaned against the heavy wooden door. He pressed his palms to his forehead, thinking.
What has happened to her? It was almost as if she didn't know me... He was snapped out of his thoughts by a soft tenor voice.
"I see you've had no better luck with her than I." Legolas examined the tall Elf warily; he had seen him moving silently through the halls as Legolas arrived. The tall Elf smiled grimly and extended his forearm to Legolas.
"My apologies. I did not mean to startle you. I'm Mornië's cousin Rain." Legolas gripped his forearm in return. Rain glanced at the closed door and shook his head. "She has been so different since we found her. She hardly speaks to anyone except her father, and she stares out the window constantly. I'm afraid she's going to keep herself ill."
He shook his head again, then seemed to remember Legolas was there. "Come. You must be tired and hungry. We can talk more over dinner."
Rain led him through the winding hallways to the opposite side of the Keep. He pushed open another wooden door and motioned Legolas inside. Rather than the eating hall Legolas had expected, the room behind the door was a comfortable private chamber furnished with warmly upholstered chairs. A tempting array of food was laid on a side table along with several glass flagons of wine and water. Rain gestured toward a chair by the fire and began to pile food onto two plates.
Legolas studied the room; it seemed quite large for one person and had more furniture than he expected. As Rain sat in the opposite chair, he noticed the quizzical expression on Legolas's face.
"Scout's privilege. These are the quarters for all the Forest scouts; we share a common room and have our own sleeping quarters." He pointed toward a narrow hallway that connected to the back of the room. "The teachers' quarters are set up in the same way; Mornië has a separate room only because the other rooms were full when she arrived."
The two sat for a time, each lost in dinner and his own thoughts. Legolas spoke first.
"What happened that day, Rain? Perhaps we can figure out her behavior if we know what happened."
Rain nodded and swallowed a long drink of wine. "She slipped out when no one was paying attention. She'd been very unhappy and I tried to convince her to talk to me. I'm afraid I may have pushed her into fleeing the Keep." He raked his hand through his long hair, twisting the ends nervously.
"Why was she unhappy?"
"Mostly I believe she was lonely. Our Clan does not readily accept strangers, especially those who are so different from us. Sara has been busy with the fighters; I don't think they saw much of each other after the first couple of weeks."
"What about her students? Their parents? How did they respond to her?"
Rain shrugged slightly. "I've heard no complaints. Her students seem to like her. A few of the parents have mentioned that they appreciate her teaching other languages."
Legolas thought carefully. "So, she was not particularly disliked, only treated with a great deal of caution. That is understandable, given the circumstances in your land." He pondered. "What else, Rain? You said you may have pushed her away. What did you mean?"
Rain covered his eyes with one hand. "She missed you so much, Legolas. Every day that passed she withdrew more and more. She hid from us, stopped eating, stopped sleeping, cried for no reason that I could see. I confronted her that afternoon. I thought if I could force her to understand what grieving herself to death might do to you, she would pull herself out of it. I was mistaken." He closed his eyes, a wince of pain and regret.
Legolas grasped his shoulder. "You are not to blame, my friend. She is given to melancholy, I think; I have seen her thus, though never so severe as you describe. She would flee from you if she was not ready to hear what you said. But I do not understand why she is so cold to me now, if, as you say, she missed me then."
Rain shook his dark head. "I don't know. It took us several hours to find her. She had no cloak or heavy boots; by the time we found her she was nearly frozen, covered in ice. She seemed... dazed... frightened, almost. And-" he jerked his head impatiently.
"What is it?"
Rain shifted nervously. "It's probably not significant, but when we found her, as we were approaching I thought I saw someone standing with her. It was probably just my eyes playing tricks with me."
Legolas leaned forward in his chair, intent on Rain's words. "What did this person look like? Did you recognize who it was?"
"No. I didn't know him, but he was wearing robes like Mornië's. They were grey, though, not blue. Do you know him?"
"No. But he must have been a Shadowwalker, if he wore robes like hers. Grey is the color of Shadowwalker Mages, though. And that, my friend, is the puzzle."
Rain was confused. "Why is it a puzzle? We should be able to determine his identity fairly simply, shouldn't we?"
"We could, more easily than you realize. So many of the mages fell at Twilight Keep that there are only a handful left. That is not the puzzle." Legolas's voice was flat, his face grim. "The puzzle is this: none of the surviving Shadowwalker Mages were male. So who is this man?"
~***~
"Beloved. Wake up, my love. I wish to see you."
I jerked out of my doze fully awake and alert. Ambar's voice was clear in my head, calling to me.
"Come to the library. I will meet you there."
I slipped out of the bed and tugged on a robe and veil. No one was in the halls; I crossed the Keep to the library entirely unnoticed and let myself into the library. I prowled through the stacks until I saw him silhouetted against one of the high windows. Ambar turned toward me. My breath caught as the moonlight fell across his lean face, bathing him in cool silvery light.
I found myself in his arms, held close against his chest. The smell of him was so familiar, warm and clean with a touch of spice and grass. He tipped my chin up and kissed me; the sensation was so sweetly right that tears rolled down my cheeks. He deepened the kiss, plundering every corner of my mouth, burying his hands in my hair until I winced from the pressure.
He pulled away from me before I was ready to let him go; he smiled at the tiny sound of protest that escaped my lips. He caught my hand in his, raising it to his lips.
"Do not fret, my love. We will have all the time we wish. I have things I must do first, so we will not see much of each other for a time." He watched my reaction carefully.
I felt tears well up in my eyes again, my breathing speed up, my heart pound. I clung to his hand. "Must you go? So soon? Can you not stay a little longer?"
He shook his head sadly. "I cannot. I am needed elsewhere. I have much to do and many who depend on me to accomplish certain things." He watched me carefully again. "You could help me, though."
I nodded, eager to be of use. He smiled approvingly. "I need you to gather some information for me, beloved. You're a scholar, I know you can do this."
"What sort of information?"
"I need you to keep track of the Shadowwalker's plans against the Easterlings. Do you still have contacts at Twilight Keep?"
I frowned, suddenly uneasy. "I do, but why would you need such information?"
He stepped toward me again, cupping my cheek in his hand. "There are other enemies of the Easterlings, dearest. Elves we knew nothing about, and Men as well. We need to know what Twilight Keep plans so that we can be effective as well."
"But...I am not privy to their plans, Ambar. Why do you not go to Varyar, or to Aragorn, and ask for an alliance? The Westerners would gladly have your help."
He laid his other hand against my face, staring into my eyes. His voice lowered and grew soothing, absorbing all my attention. "I need your help, my love. Then we can be together. Just say yes."
I felt lightheaded, as if I was drowning in the still air of the room. His voice swelled in my ears, his words blotting out all other thoughts. Numbly, I nodded assent. He broke into a sunny grin and kissed me again.
"How am I to send you this information? Where will you be?" A small part of my mind cringed at the pleading tone in my voice, but it could no more control what I said than a flower could control the sun.
"Leave it by the library window." He stroked my face, and all thoughts of rebellion melted into fog. "I will see you soon. Come when I call you." He kissed me a third time and disappeared into the stacks.
A sudden wave of dizziness washed over me. I grabbed for a shelf as my knees began to buckle; dimly, I was aware of books falling from the shelves as I collapsed onto the floor. I huddled on the warm wooden floor, sick with nausea and despair.
~***~
Rain and Legolas found me there less than an hour later; I told them I had been trying to find some book I wanted to read and had become dizzy. They seemed skeptical but didn't question me closely, for which I was profoundly grateful. I allowed them to escort me back to my rooms, but turned them away at the door, unwilling to open the possibility of prying questions. I locked the door for the first time since I had come to Storm Keep and buried myself in a pile of letters from Aragorn.
By morning, I had copied a few letters more than half of the correspondence Aragorn had sent from Twilight Keep. I worked feverishly, at times entirely unaware of what my hands were doing. Throughout the long night I carefully sketched maps and strategy plans to accompany the written descriptions, and included a copy of the map I had created for Aragorn before we left Minas Tirith. As the first glimmerings of morning crept across the horizon, I carefully gathered the copies into a single package, wrapped it in dark paper, and tied the bundle with a piece of string. A wave of dizziness washed over me as I rose from the desk. I stared down at the bundle lying between my hands, feeling curiously detached from my own deeds.
For a moment, I thought about not delivering the package. It would be so easy to destroy it, toss the whole bundle into the fire, lose it down a well or privy-shaft. I fingered the thin string binding, considering my options. Almost as soon as the decision to burn it was made, a heavy fog seemed to descend over my mind, and the thought slipped away as easily as it had come. I gathered the parcel of papers in my arms and hurried through the corridor to deposit the precious information in the library.
~***~