AUTHOR"S NOTE: This is a really short chapter, but like I have said, I am museless, so I am having to work off of my own imagination now, and trust me, that well is about dry lol. Reviews really help, you know. Ok that's about it, Enjoy!

The Truth:

Legolas was not sure quite where he could find Kika. He had left her in the library, so he stuck his head in on the way by, but, as expected, she had left. He headed for her room, but when he got there, her door was ajar and the room was empty. Confused, he opened the door to his own room, just in case. He was about to turn to leave when he spied something on his bed. It was the book that Kika had borrowed, and when he picked it up, there was a piece of paper underneath. It read:

I had thought that if they could overcome immortality, we could overcome rank, but evidently I was mistaken.
-Kikania

Now Legolas was more puzzled than ever. He reread the note, then walked quickly down the hall. As he was checking all the places he thought Kika could be, he ran into Gimli, who looked very distressed.

"Legolas! You must stop her!" he cried when he saw him.

Legolas, ignoring the dwarf's outcry, asked, "Have you seen Kika anywhere?" Gimli as now thoroughly exasperated.

"What do you think I am talking about? She has left!" Worry immediately creased Legolas's face.

"What do you mean left? She left me a note, but I do not understand what she means." He held the note out to Gimli, who hastily accepted it and read quickly. He made a sound deep in his throat that sounded like a growl.

"I tried to tell her, I did, but the king got to her before I could finish -" Legolas grabbed him by the shoulders and had to shake him before he would stop.

"Slow down! What did you try to tell her? What does my father have to do with this? And where is she?" he said slowly.

"When your father sent the messenger to Lothlorien to warn them about Deregond, he also had him find out about Kika because it was evident how much you liked her. The messenger returned this morning after breakfast and told him that she had no rank. I was walking down the hall when I heard them mention her name and I stopped to listen, so that is how I know. Your father sent someone to find and watch you two so they could bring her to him a few minutes after you parted." Legolas reddened at the thought that someone had been watching them in the library. Gimli continued, "He wanted to wait a few minutes so that it would seem like you had time to go to him before he sent for her. I saw her and tried to tell her all this, but someone came to bring her to the king before I could get very far. He must have said something that made her angry enough with you to make her leave immediately." As Gimli said this, Legolas's face turned from worry to alarm to pure rage.

"He sent Kika away? Where is she now?" he said quietly, his voice trembling.

"I don't know where she went. All I know is that last time I saw her she had her weapons with her and was wearing her traveling clothes. I do not think she intends to return any time soon." Legolas immediately turned and began striding down the hall toward his father's council chamber.
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Kika, who was riding through Mirkwood, was attempting, unsuccessfully, to keep her mind clear of thoughts of Legolas. How could he do this? It was bad enough that he had asked her to bind herself to him, even after he knew of her rank (or lack thereof), but he had also sworn to love her forever, this very morning. How could she have fallen for this? He had seemed so truthful, though. she shook her head. She had been tricked, beguiled. He made her believe that he loved her. She had known all along that it was to good to be true, that there was no way that he, a prince, could truly love her. Why had he done it? Had she done something so terrible that he felt like he had to wreak some kind of revenge on her? She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. I cannot do this, she thought. I must concentrate on where I am going unless I wish to ride straight into one of those giant spiders I have heard so much about.
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Legolas was so angry he could hardly think straight. How could his father do this to him? He had finally found his true love and his father had sent her away because of her rank! He reached his father's chamber and stormed through the door before the guard had a chance to announce him as was usually done.

"What did you tell her?" he said angrily. Thranduil stood from where he had been sitting at his desk, obviously surprised at his son's outburst.

"I knew that you would be angry, Legolas, but this is overreacting. Please sit and control your temper," said the king calmly. Legolas could hardly restrain himself when he saw how flippantly his father was treating this.

"You want me to sit and control my temper? When you have sent away my future wife?" he said, his voice raising with each word.

"You will not yell at me," replied his father firmly. "And I did not send her away; she asked for a horse so she could leave, and I gave one to her. Besides, she has left, so I do not believe she would still be considered your future wife." Legolas was so irate he could hardly speak without yelling.

"What did you tell her to make her leave?" he said slowly. Thranduil sank wearily into his chair and gestured at the one across from him.

"This would be much easier if you would sit," he said.

"Why? Would it then be easier to lie to me as you evidently did to Kika?' Legolas snapped heatedly. He could see that his father was losing his patience with him, but he did not care.

"You will not speak to me in such a way, Legolas," he said sternly. Legolas did not reply except for continuing to glare at him furiously. "I told her that we had found out about her rank and thought that it would be better for her not to wed you- " He stopped short as Legolas stepped closer to the desk.

"That is not true! She would not have left because of that; I knew about her rank. What did you say to her?" Thranduil looked up at his son and, seeing how determined his son was, gave in.

"I told her that you were to kind to take it back after you had asked her to be your wife and you found out about her rank. I said that you came to me because you could not tell her yourself that you could not wed her. When I told her this she asked for a horse and said that she wished to return to Lothlorien."

"I am going after her," said Legolas as he turned to leave.

"Wait!" said his father forcefully. "Her rank was not the only thing the messenger was able to find out about her." Legolas turned back around slowly.

"How could you have her history checked out as if she were a common criminal?" Thranduil ignored the question and continued.

"He found out that she was close - very close - to the former march warden of Lorien," he said cautiously. Legolas raised his eyebrows.

"What are you implying?"

"You know very well what I am implying. There are many elves there who believe that they were. bound together." He put a special emphasis on 'bound'. "They were never open about it, but most are sure that they were informally wed." Legolas took a moment to take this in, then shook his head.

"No, that is not true. He was as a brother to her, nothing else. Even if that were true, I do not care. I must try to overtake her." He once again turned to leave, but his father's harsh voice once again stopped him.

"You will do no such thing." Legolas turned yet again at the king's voice, which was now cold and unfeeling. "I command you, as your father and king, to stay in Mirkwood. If you wed any maiden of any rank less than that of a Lady, you will be disinherited."

A/N: See, I told you that it was short. Oh well. The more reviews I get, the longer the chapters will be! (hint hint).