AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, this is a long chapter, and truth be told, it could have been much shorter, but I'm not the type of person to summarize. Seriously I have gotten low grades on papers because they were twice as long as they should have been, lol. Oh, well, the title pretty much sums it up. Enjoy!

Reconciliation:

Legolas was about to reply when suddenly everything he was about to say completely left his mind, replaced by something he could not quite explain. Something was wrong. He felt as if he could almost hear the faintest echo of a cry for help, a cry that wrenched at his heart. He knew - though he did not know how he knew - Kika was in trouble. She needed help. Now. He opened his mouth to say something to Lady Galadriel, but was interrupted.

"I hear it, too. Go, quickly.' Legolas did not need any other prompting. He was on the ground running before the dwarf knew what was happening.

"My Lady, what -" He stopped as she held up he hand.

"Everything will be explained in time. For now, I will have someone show you to your flet so that you may rest." Gimli of course accepted what she said without question and followed the appointed elf to where he would be staying.

Meanwhile Legolas was racing through the trees. He did not know where he was going; he allowed his heart to guide his feet. He came to a tree with a flet perched high in its branches and immediately hastened up. When he reached it his blood ran cold before it boiled in his immediate anger.

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Pinned under Rumil's weight, Kika felt totally helpless. She struggled against him but he was too strong for her. He had pushed her face into his chest until she had sworn not to cry out. She was frightened of what he would do to her if she did try to call for help, so she held her tongue. By the time he had fully unlaced her dress and the bodice was about her waist, she had resigned herself to the fact that there was nothing she could do. She found a branch above her to focus on, trying to ignore the pain caused by his brutal lips and rough fingers. Her pride would not be the only thing bruised by the time he was done, she suspected. His fingers had dug into her arms until she had begun to lose feeling in her fingers.

Kika saw a golden flash out of the corner of her eye before she was unexpectedly relieved of Rumil's weight. The next thing she knew, he was sprawled on the floor beside the bed with a bloody nose, and Legolas was standing over him, his chest heaving with each breath. Kika quickly pulled up her dress to cover herself, pushing her arms back through the sleeves. Rumil was not going to give up that easily, though.

"What are you doing?" he yelled as he stood. Legolas took an intimidating step forward.

"That is a rather audacious question coming from one who is forcing himself upon a maiden." His face was red with fury, he was very obviously restraining himself from attacking Rumil where he stood.

"I believe that it is a perfectly legitimate question, considering that this is my flet and this is my betrothed." Legolas now glanced over at Kika, who had remained silent thus far. She found that she could not meet his gaze. When she looked back up, she found them both looking at her expectantly. She began in an unsteady voice.

"You are both correct. This is Rumil's flet, and I am betrothed to him, but I was unwilling to." She trailed off, unwilling to continue. She tried desperately not to care about the look that passed over Legolas's face at the confirmation of her betrothal.

Legolas could not believe what he had just heard. She was betrothed to this elf? How could she do this to him? She was supposed to marry him. But she had said that she was unwilling, so perhaps this was not entirely her doing. He mentally shook himself. This does not matter. This elf just attempted to force himself upon Kika, and he needed to get her out of here. He moved to the bedside.

"Are you hurt?" he asked worriedly. Kika shook her head no. When he reached to help her up, she accepted the help, but once she was on her feet she found that her legs would not hold her, so violent was their trembling. Once he saw this, Legolas, without hesitation, swept her up in his arms and made for the exit, despite Rumil's insistent protests.

"Who are you? And where are you going with Kikania?" Legolas turned back to the elf when he reached the edge of the flet.

"Where I am going is none of your concern, but as for who I am, I will be the one who will be the cause of your death if you ever lay a hand on Kikania again." With that, he turned and carefully carried the shaken maiden to the ground. He carried her far enough through the trees to make sure that they were not being pursued before sitting at the base of a tree, setting Kika beside him. She had not said anything since what she had said on the flet, but now everything that had happened seemed to sink in, and she began to sob. Legolas immediately drew her into a gentle embrace, stroking her hair, saying everything was all right, that she would be fine.

When Legolas had pulled her close to him, Kika had instinctively settled into his arms, but as she sobbed, she realized who this was, what he had done, and she jerked away from him.

"What are you doing?" she cried. This took Legolas by surprise.

"I heard you calling for help and came as quickly as I could." Kika stood and looked at him incredulously.

"First of all, I was unable to call for help, so it was impossible for you to hear me. Second, what did you do, run all the way from Mirkwood? What are you doing in Lothlorien?" Now Legolas stood and stepped closer to Kika. He tried to hide the pain he felt when she stepped away.

"Fine, I did not hear you calling for help. It was more as if. as if I felt it. I knew something was wrong. And as for what I am doing in Lothlorien, I came because I knew you had come here -"

"What?!" he was cut off by Kika's angry shout. He started to explain, but was once again cut off. "How dare you follow me out here after breaking off our engagement and not even having the nerve to tell me yourself? What right do you have to come after me? What more could you possibly want? Oh, I know." She remembered the ring on her finger and pulled it off, throwing it at him.

"I did not tell you myself because I had nothing to do with it! My father made up everything he told you! I did know about any of what he said until I found you missing!"

Kika did not know whether to believe this or not. "What?" she said skeptically.

"When he sent Ornataal here, he had him find out your rank. When he found out that you are not noble-born, he cooked up a scheme to make you angry with me so that you would leave. He obviously thought that I would not follow you." Kika was still not convinced.

"If this is true, then why did it take you so long to get here?" She refused to be taken in again. She would not be hurt again.

"He would not allow me to follow you. He said that he would disinherit me if I did, so I had to investigate in secret. He thinks I am on a hunting trip with Gimli right now."

"Wait, what do you mean 'investigate'?" Kika asked, confused. For the first time since he had been with her again, Legolas smiled. He filled her in on how Gimli had thought that perhaps she had some nobility in her family somewhere, and if they could find out who her parents were, she could possibly be noble, if only with a small title. Then Legolas would be more able to convince his father to let them marry.

"If not," he concluded, "then I will wed you anyway. My father may not fulfill his threat to disown me, for he has no other heir, but even if he does, it will not keep me from you. We can live here, perhaps, or maybe we could still go to Ithilien." He could see the doubt that still clouded Kika's eyes. "I swore that I would always love you, and I kept my word. My heart ached every moment we were apart, knowing what you must think of me. I love you and I Iwill/I have you as my wife, no matter what it takes." He paused. "If you will still have me, that is."

Kika nearly bowled Legolas over as she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Of course I will still have you, on one condition." Legolas wound his arms about her.

"Anything," he replied.

"You must get your father's approval. You will not be disinherited because of me." Legolas pulled his head back and looked into her eyes, spying that all-too-familiar stubbornness.

"But I would rather have you than be heir to every kingdom in Middle- earth." he said. Kika shook her head obstinately.

"Like I have said, you will not be estranged from your father because of me. And I suggest you begin thinking of some other way to convince him besides me being royalty. I do not know who my parents are, and nobody has ever been willing to tell me. I do know that they were not noble, though. The elf that raised me told me that my father was a blacksmith that made weapons and armor for the Galadhrim."

"Let's not worry about that right now. I have spoken with Lady Galadriel. She knows who your parents were, but she seemed reluctant to tell. She said that she would tell us both tomorrow morning. Besides, I find it hard to believe that your parents were not high-born, because of the color of your hair. I have not met very many common elves with golden hair like yours." He hesitated before posing a question that had been plaguing him. "You are betrothed to that elf." Kika sighed heavily as she leaned into Legolas.

"When I thought that you would not marry me, I knew that I somehow had to move on or else I would perish of grief. I thought that allowing my former guardian to arrange a marriage for me would be the best thing for me. I could start a new life with a family. He means nothing to me." Legolas, now thoroughly relieved, leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

"If he ever comes near you again, I will throttle him," he swore. Kika shuddered just thinking about him.

"I have known him since we were children. he is Haldir's brother. how could he be so cruel?" Legolas held her close.

"You need not worry about him anymore," he said. "Where are you staying? You probably need to rest." She led him to Rilyien's flet, where he followed her u, wary that Rumil may have thought she would be returning alone. As soon as they had both ascended to the large platform, Rilyien was in front of them, obviously confused.

"Did you have a nice time with Rumil, Kika?" Kika once again shook.

"No, I did not," she said promptly. "I will not wed him." At this news, Rilyien completely forgot about the other elf that had escorted her up.

"Why not?" she cried. "He is of high standing in the Galadhrim and he is very kind, willing to marry you! What more could you want?" Now Legolas stepped forward.

"He tried to force himself upon her, and most likely would have succeeded if I had not come," he said. Rilyien looked at him indignantly.

"And who are you? Another suitor, I suppose?" Legolas managed to crack a smile at this.

"Something of the sort, I suppose. I am Prince Legolas of Mirkwood, and I intend to wed Kikania." Rilyien openly gaped at him.

"You want to wed Kika? But." Legolas cut in.

"I know that she has no rank, and I do not care about that. I am in love with her, ma'am, and will have her as my wife." Rilyien now looked to Kika, who nodded to confirm what he had said.

"Well in that case, forget. wait, did you say that he attempted to force himself upon you?!" cried Rilyien. Once again, Kika nodded. "Oh, you poor thing!" she said as she enveloped her in a tight hug. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, Legolas arrived before he could. get very far. I may have some bruises, but nothing serious." Kika rolled up her sleeve to show her arm, where the imprints of Rumil's fingers could already be seen as vicious bruises. Legolas stepped in front of her, inspecting her arm.

"How dare he do this to you?" he said heatedly. Kika covered up the offending arm and looked up at Legolas.

"He would have done more, had it not been for you," she said. "And I have yet to thank you for it. Thank you." Legolas wrapped his arms around her.

"Glad to have been of service, ma'am," he said. Rilyien smiled at them.

"Where does the Lady have you staying, Prince?"

"I am not sure; I have not been shown to a flet yet. I am not entirely willing to leave Kika behind, though, for Eru only knows what Rumil may be willing to do to get Kika." Rilyien readily agreed, and Legolas stayed the night there. He and Kika were up most of the night, talking about everything that had happened during their separation from each other.

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A/N: Well don't complain, I told you it was a bit longer than usual. Did you like it? Hate it? TELL ME! PLEASE REVIEW! I thought I had explained the muse situation. I NEED reviews because I am museless. Please? And no, it is still not nearly over. And no, it is still nowhere near a 'happily ever after' deal. There is yet another twist. Give me a few chapters, this next twist is even bigger and worse than Kika leaving Mirkwood. And not so easily dealt with. Mwahaha I'm feeling kind of evil now. you better review before I incorporate something into this story that NOBODY is going to like. Keep looking for updates, another chapter should follow within a day or two.