Haha. So much for updating every two weeks. I didn't realize how difficult it really is to update so often. I don't know how people update everyday on these things!! Anyway, please leave comments and tell me what you think! One last note: Did anyone notice that all of my titles have something to do with truth or trust?? I just noticed that myself.

Broken Trust

It was very dark in the prince's home this night. So dark in fact that only those with vision of the elves could see even remotely. Earlier in the evening the stars had been easily visible, punctuating the blue-black sky like tiny crystals. Soon though, the clouds had covered them in their thick darkness. Rain was coming and it would not be long until the dark silver drops would find their way into the trees of Mirkwood.

Usually Legolas had no trouble sleeping, even on the stormiest of nights. Tonight, however, was different. The household had retired several hours ago and the house was as dark as the night itself. Still, Legolas was hardly ready to bed down for the night and he knew that there was nothing he could do about it. Looking over from his perch on the windowsill, he could see Aragorn's sleeping figure on the bed across from his own. The younger man seemed to be in a sleep much to deep to be awoken from. Humans, Legolas smiled to himself. Some could literally sleep through a thunderstorm. His slight smile faded quickly from his face as his thoughts returned to their previous engagement: the elf girl. She intrigued him much more than he would admit to anyone, possibly with the exception of his human friend.

He had come upon her near a pond early in the morning the previous day. It was the strangest, and at the same time one of the most beautiful things he had seen in the longest time. Eldárwen had unknowingly managed to find a single sparkling shaft of light that fell from the very highest top of Mirkwood's canopy of trees and had settled in such a way that it seemed to flow like a river of gold down her hair and across her back. Legolas quickly recalled that he'd felt almost wretched as he watched her without her knowing. Still, it seemed like an image in a dream or the reflection of water, that if it were touched it would disappear altogether. Her innocence, seemingly not knowing that he was watching her had made him turn away and run silently back to his home among the trees. Opening his eyes he realized that the days events had been nothing that he could ever have imagined as he thought back to the chance conversation that he and Eldárwen had had that day..
~*~*~*~*~

"Prince Legolas?" a quiet voice asked.

Legolas looked down from where he sat on the window ledge high up in the drawing room. When he recognized Eldárwen he leapt deftly down from his post and walked across the room in her direction. "Yes, is there something I can do for you?"

"Oh, no of course not. I would not ask anything of you. I do have a question however." she said, a slight smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"Yes?"

"It is not of any great importance and of course I do know that we elves prefer high places.but why do you sit in such awkward reaches?"

"If you don't mind my saying so, that is a very odd question for one to ask."

"Yes, I realize that. I only ask this because I do believe that every time I have seen you, you're balanced in some unimaginable place. I think that you too would find it strange if you were in my position."

Legolas laughed inwardly. Why hadn't he seen her watching him?

"Well," he began," I suppose you have a point there. Let me ask you this: Have you ever sat up in a tree or window?" He was only half-teasing her.

Eldárwen laughed and the sound of it seemed almost foreign to him. It was like liquid sunlight and just the sound of it made him smile, for laughter did not often grace the house of Mirkwood.

"Indeed I have," she answered, "though only as a young child. That of course was a good long time ago."

"I see. I do not think, though, that you could forget the view or being able to get away for a while from things you couldn't change?"

"Of course not. And I do miss both of those aspects." More than you know, she thought to herself, more than you could ever understand.

"Well, come. I want to." he hesitated, thinking of the right word, ".remind you," he finished, extending his hand.

Eldárwen looked at his outstretched hand for a moment and then slowly laid her hand into his, watching as he clasped it and lead her gently in the direction he was going.

Running lightly through the many hallways of his home, hoping to be unnoticed, the two finally made it to the prince's destination.

"This is my favorite room," he said, quietly. It was as if time stood still for a long minute, and the two of them stood facing each other. She was a bit shorter than he was and had to look up a little to see his face. Her smile showed in her dark eyes, and he found himself drawn to her face. A sudden breeze floated across them and the moment seemed to shatter softly, like leaves pulled gently off their branches by the invisible wind and scattered in all directions.

As he pushed open the door a cool breeze could be felt coming through the many long windows that lined the room's walls. Out of each could be seen a tree that barely reached a foot out from a window's ledge. A distance that was easily reached by any elf.

Legolas guided her quickly over to one of the far windows and proceeded to sit on a thick branch just outside the ledge. Signaling that she could do it herself, Eldárwen swung her skirted legs gently out of the window and onto the vacant space beside the prince.

As soon as she looked up into the canopy of trees and patches of sky the memories came flooding back. Days of living with the Lothlorien elves, climbing trees when she was supposed to be doing her lessons, playing with her adopted siblings.

"It is as I remembered, Prince Legolas," she said quietly, taking in the view from both above and below. But there was something about the forest that made it eerily magnificent.

It was as if the whispers of a great kingdom from the past blew quietly through the trees to remind one that this had once been a better place. It saddened her to think that such a place could now be covered in such. shadow. The word chilled her to the very bone.

Legolas seemed to know what she was thinking, for when she looked into his eyes she could see the sadness and the dimming of his pride.

"Mirkwood's borders have been covered in shadow for many years now and her beauty has lessened because of it. The shadow does not cease to shroud us in its darkness either," he said, shaking his head as if in denial of the reality of what was happening to his beloved home.

The obvious sadness in his icy blue eyes made her entire being burn with contempt for both herself and the evil one who'd sent her here. She quickly unlocked her gaze from his and turned her head, though not before Legolas had seen the flash of anger in her eyes. Was it directed at him or because of something he'd said?

Before he could ask, Eldárwen changed the subject and soon the two had begun to talk quite freely and for a long period of time.
~~ As Legolas remembered all of this, he couldn't help but wonder what had caused such a pure and unrestrained anger to show in her eyes.

He was certain now that there was some secret about her that could explain the odd behavior that appeared so suddenly, even when things seemed to be perfectly normal. This question burned in his mind and would not be extinguished, no matter how much he tried to think of other things. And it was keeping him awake, lurking in every corner of his mind.

Sighing heavily, the elf jumped down off the windowsill and walked silently out of the bedroom and into the inky blackness of the hallways. It was then he realized something, something that almost terrified him: he could not remember anything that he had told Eldárwen during their conversation that afternoon. He wracked his mind to give him back the memory, but nothing could be remembered much past what he had said at the beginning of their conversation. A sudden fear raced through his being and a single question filled his mind: What had he told her and why couldn't he remember?
~~ She had learned much about him and Mirkwood during the time she'd talked to him this day. She had managed to make contact with Saruman, as she had every night and had given him every single bit of useful information the prince had unknowingly given her: where the guards were located, secret entryways into Mirkwood and even where his own sleeping quarters were.

Of course, the prince had not willingly given this information. No, she knew that Legolas would never reveal such information, no matter how much he trusted her. He was too intelligent for that. And too cautious. He would never know how she'd obtained the information or how he himself had given it to her.

Her plan was ready to be put into action. Secret reinforcements were coming, though only about ten or fifteen so that they would not be easily seen or detected. This would be difficult she knew, because this was a kingdom of elves and not simple humans. Legolas' human friend was different though, and she planned to dispose of him personally.

Tomorrow night would be the end and the new beginning of her life, one free of slavery, guilt and pain. And it was almost here. All she had to do was wait.
~~

Aragorn opened his eyes only to be faced with total darkness and the insistent tapping of rain on the roof above him. "Legolas?" he asked, groggily. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could see that Legolas' bed was untouched and he was nowhere to be found. The young human sighed and let his head sink into the pillow. What was he doing up at this time of night? he wondered as he forced himself to get out of the bed. Wandering through the seemingly endless hallways, he noticed the flickering of candlelight coming from the room that Eldárwen occupied. Doesn't anyone ever get to sleep around here? he wondered.

Pressing himself up against the wall and sliding silently closer to the room's entryway, he could hear Eldárwen walking across the floor of the room and whispering in Elvish. She seemed to be talking to herself, as no one was answering what seemed to be questions. Her words were so quiet that he could hear only pieces of her one-sided conversation. Straining to hear even the slightest bit more from her, the tired man did not hear the footsteps behind him.

Suddenly, he felt a long, cool hand clamp itself across his mouth from behind, painfully suppressing a surprised yell. Strong arms pulled his own behind his back, momentarily making his body unable to move.

"Strider," a familiar voice whispered in his ear, "it's just me, Legolas." The prince relaxed his hand from his friend's mouth and loosened his grip on the man's arms, letting them fall to his side.

"What-"

Aragorn was cut off by the prince, who mouthed the words "Not here" and motioned to a vacant room down the hallway.

As soon as both of them entered the room, Legolas shut the door quickly, just before Eldárwen stepped outside her room.

"What were you doing?!" Aragorn whispered into the inky blackness of the room.

"I wanted to get you're attention, but I knew that you couldn't hear me come up on you. I didn't want to make any noise either and I knew that if I even tapped you on the shoulder you'd jump," Legolas said, matter-of- factly.

"Well, you certainly had me scared there for a minute."

"I'm sorry."

"Not a problem, but what did you drag me in here for?"

"You were listening to Eldárwen, weren't you?"

"Yes.and I'm guessing you were also?"

"Correct, though I believe I heard a fair amount more than you did,"

Aragorn rolled his eyes. "Yes, your majesty, I'm sure you did."

"I didn't mean it like that, and you know it. Listen to me, Aragorn: She is planning something," Legolas tried to make his voice sound calm. Aragorn did not answer.

"What?" he whispered, quietly. He needed no clarification, but he couldn't believe what Legolas' had suggested.

"The thing that frustrates me is that I have no idea how she's planning it, who is helping her or even why she would do it!" His anger was unknowingly beginning to show through in his actions.

"You don't know that she's planning anything for a fact, Legolas," Aragorn said, trying to calm the prince. Although he could barely see his friend's sillouhette in the darkened room, he could here him pacing back and forth. He was angry and the worst part was that he was trying to keep it to himself.

There was something else that Legolas was hiding from him, though he couldn't understand what. In the next instant it was revealed to him, as if he had spoken his question aloud.

"Would you like to hear something else that disturbs me?" Legolas whispered, sarcastically, "I don't remember a thing I said to her after midday yesterday. It's as if our entire conversation has been.."

Legolas' voice dropped off suddenly. ".erased." His eyes pierced the darkness of the room with such a cold sharpness that a shiver ran down Aragorn's spine.

"You actually think she erased your memory?" he asked incredulously. "Why?"

"I don't know, but the thought of it scares me. I don't know what I told her or." he stopped again, as a wave of realization hit him like a wall of rock.

"Or what?!"

"I can't explain right now, I've got to talk to her," Legolas whispered hoarsely. His throat was closing up as his anger overwhelmed him. He stopped as he reached for the door handle and took a breath. He was beginning to feel faint and his head began to throb.

"Legolas?" Aragorn was beginning to panic. What was wrong with the elf? He quickly walked over to where the elf stood, motionless, and placed a hand on Legolas' shoulder. As he turned the prince around to face him, the elf held his hand against his face and slumped against the closed door.

"Why did I ever trust her?" he whispered to himself, trying to ignore the increasing throbbing in his mind. He turned a deathly white face towards the young ranger.

"Why?"

Before Aragorn could answer, the prince collapsed into his arms, driven into unconsciousness by the searing pain in his head.

His sleep was to be unbroken, uninterrupted by the one who tried in vain to wake him.

TBC.