Love Never Expected (15) Author Email: Dragonflyer89@aol.com Disclaimer: I do not own these characters and do not intend take or use them as my own. (A/N: Thank you Ashley for being a devoted reader and friend and for suggesting some ideas for this story. Thanx!)

Chapter 15: The Unknown Passage

Fleur carefully folded and put away one of her blue silk night gowns. Legolas had already packed and had gone o check themselves out of the hotel while she packed her things. Upon seeing the silk, Fleur recalled what she had tried to do just the night before with Legolas. She blushed as she looked down at the suitcase. 'I really must apologize to him. I just.how can I say it? Lost control? Insanity and lust temporarily took over my mind and body? My veela instincts took over my senses?' Fleur quarreled with her thoughts, unable to come up with a precise explanation as to why she had done what she had tried to do. 'This is hopeless,' Fleur thought, giving in.

Fleur jumped back a foot in surprise when the door to the room was opened suddenly. She let out a breath as she saw it was only Legolas who stood at the door.

He looked at her, puzzled at her sudden shock, "Fleur, are you alright?" He gave her a worried expression.

Fleur gave him a small smile, "Yes, thank you. I wanted to talk.apologize to you about the way I acted last night. I shouldn't have acted the way I did. My actions were unacceptable." Fleur suddenly felt hot tears stink the back of her eyes. Afraid of being seen crying by a Legolas, Fleur turned to face the opposite direction.

Legolas walked toward her, wrapped his arms around her, and held her close to him, "It's alright, Fleur. I'm sorry. If that was what you really wanted." Legolas trailed off. "But I still think we should be married first." Both swayed side to side in sync, holding each other close. After a while, Legolas whispered in her ear, "We really should get going if we are to make the timing."

Fleur reluctantly parted from his arms, "What do you mean 'if we are to make the timing'? Is there a time restriction?"

Grabbing both their luggage, Legolas opened the door for Fleur, "In a matter of speaking, yes. I will explain everything when we arrive at the western shores."

"Western shores? Do you mean we're headed towards the Atlantic Ocean?" Fleur sputtered out in disbelief. "How are we to travel to Mirkwood from there?"

Legolas chuckled and smiled at her, "As I said, I will explain how we travel when we get there. Elves have a different method of traveling than wizards and witches do."

With that, Fleur walked Legolas out the door.

**********

As Fleur and Legolas walked through the lobby, Fleur spotted a familiar sight. "You see that house elf, Legolas?" she said, turning her head to the house elf that was serving drinks to a group of wizards.

"Yes, why?" Legolas answered, following her gaze.

"When he served me the water for the Galiton potion, he called me 'Mme. Greenleaf'," she smiled at Legolas.

"Very soon you will be called that, Fleur," Legolas smiled. "Or in my kingdom you will be called 'my lady' or 'queen'."

Fleur smiled, "'Queen', I like that." She put her arm around his waist, "And you shall be my lord and husband."

Legolas stopped walking, put their luggage down temporarily, and turned to her, "Only if you'll have me."

Fleur smiled, "Of course I'll have you." She leaned forward and kissed him, "I love you."

Legolas kissed back, "I love you too."

Fleur reluctantly pulled back away from Legolas. Even though she wished to kiss him longer, she noticed a few people staring at their little scene. "We should get going, we're on a time limit, remember," Fleur grinned playfully, running her index finger down Legolas' sternum.

Legolas smiled, "Right." Picking their luggage off the floor, Legolas followed Fleur to the fireplace where they had arrived at the hotel. Legolas noted a cloak rack next to where a small table with Floo powder was located. One of the cloaks was dark green with a familiar crest pinned to it. Legolas' eyes widened as he looked at the pin more closely. It was an Elven crest! As he looked at it more closely he saw a black rose that was stitched in ebony silk. His heart froze in fear.

"Legolas? Legolas," Fleur called as she gently pulled him toward the fireplace. "What's wrong?"

Legolas shook himself out of his trance, not realizing that he had stopped walking completely, "Nothing. Let us move on."

Fleur raised an eyebrow at Legolas in suspicion, but didn't speak. They moved to the fireplace. Like before Fleur was the first to use the Floo powder. Before she threw it into the ashes, she turned to Legolas, "The place we're going to is called 'Le Ocèan Clair'. It's a public wizarding cottage on the western shores of France that allows visitors' access to the Atlantic Ocean."

Legolas, still not taking his mind totally off the cloak replied, "Alright, Le Ocèan Clair. Let us travel in haste."

Fleur turned toward the fireplace and threw in the powder, "Le Ocèan Clair!" Like before she stepped in it and disappeared.

Legolas gave one last glance towards the cloak, then, tossing in the powder and grabbing their luggage, shouted, "Le Ocèan Clair!" After stepping in the green flames that arose where the powder had landed, he to disappeared.

**********

Fleur and Legolas walked through the sandy beach at a leisurely pace, taking in the beauty of the setting sun slowly sinking below the horizon.

After arriving at the cottage, Fleur and Legolas hastily exited it, not wishing to attract too much attention. On their way out, Fleur and Legolas encountered two teenage girls in bathing suits who, on sight of Legolas, started staring at him and whispering to each other in quickly spoken French, after which both of them giggled. Fleur, noticing this, narrowed her eyes at the girls and pulled Legolas closer to her as if saying the simple phrase, "Mine".

As Fleur and Legolas walked across the beach, heading towards the tide pools. The water was crystal clear and the tide low. All around the tide pools little creatures such as hermit crabs scuttled around the water, heading towards the soft, white sand.

Legolas knelt down beside one of the tide pools and started to gather the water soaked sand. Fleur watched as Legolas' strong, yet gentle hands modeled a boat out of the sand. She had never really been fond of sculpting, much less swimming at the beach or anywhere for that matter. Because of her veela heritage, Fleur had great difficulty swimming in water. She could turn into a bird, and because of this preferred to spend her time among land instead of water. As Fleur peered at the strong motions of Legolas' hands, she briefly wondered what else those hands were capable of doing.

"What is it called?" Fleur asked, referring to the model boat Legolas had just about finished making.

Legolas looked up from his work, "It's called a Sun Boat, although it's ironic for it only comes to life in the light of the moon."

Fleur looked at him strangely, "What do you mean it 'comes to life'?"

Legolas stood and placed the carefully crafted boat in the shallow part of the beach. Walking back toward Fleur he said, "Just watch and you'll see what I mean when I say 'come to life'."

Fleur and Legolas held hands as they watched as the remnants of the sun sunk below the horizon, leaving the sky in colors of red orange, purple, blue and finely the black that lingered in the East. A few minutes passed by until the black night covered the heavens and the pale moon's light lit the night.

As Fleur turned back to the ocean, she no longer saw the sand model of a boat, but a real one resting on the shore. 'So this is what Legolas meant when he said that it would 'come to life'. It becomes what you shape it to be,' Fleur thought.
Legolas grabbed hold of her hand and guided her toward the entry to the ship, "We must not waste time. The magic binding the craft only holds under moon light. Once it is morning the magic will be undone."

Fleur looked toward him, "How long will it take for us to get to Mirkwood?"

"If we start our voyage now we should be able to make it just before morning," Legolas replied, boarding the ship himself after he made sure Fleur was safely on it.

"How do we steer this thing?" Fleur asked after seeing no sign of an oar or any type of paddle. The boat was simple. To her it looked somewhat like a canoe, except the boat was white and the tips of each end curved upward and down, like the stem of a leaf.

"We don't. It steers itself after being told where to go," Legolas said, sitting down on one side of the boat.

Fleur was about to ask how to speak to it when Legolas abruptly closed his eyes as if in great thought. All of a sudden the boat began to move towards the sea. Fleur, instinctively afraid of large bodies of water, closed her eyes and started to breathe heavily.

Legolas, noticing Fleur's sudden reactions asked, "Are you all right, Fleur?"

Fleur nodded, her eyes still closed and her breathing only grew heavier, "Yes, I just don't feel comfortable on boats. I can't swim very well." Fleur huddled up due to the sudden icy breeze.

Legolas moved to sit next to Fleur, taking off his cape and wrapping it around Fleur to keep her warm. Fleur cuddled up to him, feeling safer with him at her side. "Do you feel better, Fleur?" Legolas asked, seeing her reactions.

Fleur nodded, her face against his chest, "Yes, very much, thank you, but aren't you cold?"

Legolas wrapped his arms around her, "Not at all, elves aren't really affected by the cold."

Fleur suddenly remembered their talk about their formalities as king and queen of Mirkwood. A sudden thought came to her mind. 'if we are going to rule as king and queen we are going to have to produce an heir, and the way things are going with the poisoning and the dagger, we might not live to see the days of our rule last," thought Fleur.

"You know as king and queen we're going to have to produce an heir for our kingdom," Fleur said, looking up at Legolas. "When can we start?" Fleur grinned slyly at him.

Legolas blushed deeply. "After we get married," Legolas replied, and then added with a grin, "After that we can do it whenever you want."

Fleur laughed and leaned up to kiss him, "And what a fun time we'll have."

The breeze blew and once again Fleur found herself shivering. Legolas pulled her closer, "Sleep, you're tired and there is still a few hours that are yet to pass. I will wake you when we have arrived at the shore."

Fleur gladly accepted his offer, moving her body next to his for warmth. She slowly felt herself drift into unconsciousness as she took in the sounds of the waves gently clashing with the boat, it actually wasn't that bad. She closed her eyes and soon fell asleep against Legolas' chest.

**********

"Fleur, we are here. Fleur, wake up."

Fleur distantly heard Legolas call to her. 'How long have I been asleep?' Fleur thought. She slowly opened her eyes to see Legolas smiling back at her. "Are we here?" Fleur asked.

Legolas stood and helped Fleur to her feet, "Yes, and we have barely made the time, look!"

Fleur turned from Legolas to see the sun beginning to arise in the East. Fleur had always been fond of watching sun rises and sun sets, but this had to be by far the most beautiful one she had ever seen before. "So this is Middle Earth?" Fleur said, watching the sun rise in awe.

She turned back to see Legolas bowing before her playfully. "Welcome, your highness, to Middle Earth!"