Arín awoke around noon the next day. She sat up in bed and instantly lay back down again. She felt dizzy and her head pounded. She lay there for a few more minutes and sat up again. Her headache had gone away and she got up and went to the dining hall to eat. The hall was silent when she entered, save for the voice of her father who was announcing something. She stopped and listened.

"I regret to inform you that until further notice, the tournament has been postponed due to the attack last night." As he sat the hall again burst into noise. As Arín passed, she heard much talk about the contest being postponed. She was even stopped by this elf that she had no clue who he was. He had asked if she knew anything about the tournament being postponed and she replied that she did not. When she reached the end of the table she sat quietly next to her brother. Elrond looked at his daughter sadly. She sat in her chair, sipping a glass of water. She looked sad and tired and did not touch any of the food before her, which was unusual for she always ate breakfast. He got up and knelt next to her.

"Arín are you okay?" he asked. She shook her head.

"Are you going to eat anything?" he tried again. Again she shook her head.

"Do you want to see Legolas?" This time he got results. She nodded and Elrond led her to the room he was in. She entered the room quietly and her father left. She sat on the bed and stared at Legolas' face. After a while she became restless. She walked out onto the balcony.

It's going to rain, she thought. But soon she became so immersed in her thoughts that a loud roll of thunder nearly scared her to death. Then the rain began to pour down so heavily that she was soaked before she could shut the balcony door. She turned expecting to see Legolas awake for the thunder was so loud that even the heaviest sleeper would be wakened. But he was still fast asleep.

That's strange; she told herself, something is not right. Then she left the room to find her father.

She found her father out side the door and told him everything. When she finished his face became concerned.

"Arín," he said quietly and then paused, "Legolas is in a coma."

Arín nearly fainted. "No," she said, shaking her head. "No, no, no, it can't be true. Why? Why? Why me?" She sat on a bench nearby and put her head in her hands. Aragorn came walking by and noticed she was crying. He sat next to her.

"Arín, what's wrong?" he asked softly, "Where is your father?"

She lifted her trembling hand and pointed to the door across the hall. Aragorn gave her a quick hug and entered the room.

When he had shut the door, Aragorn turned to Elrond and asked:

"What's wrong with Arín? Why is she crying?" In truth, Aragorn had never seen her cry before and this came as a surprise. But the next thing Elrond said came even more surprising than Arín's crying.

"Aragorn, Legolas is in a coma. I don't want you to tell anyone, not even Arwen."

"Then why did you tell Arín?"

"Because she has the right to know." Aragorn shook his head. "Anyway," Elrond said, trying to change the subject, "Legolas should be awake in a week or so, his coma is not that deep."

Aragorn nodded and left the room. When he shut the door, he looked towards the bench Arín had been sitting on when he came across her. She wasn't there. She probably went to her room to cry. I have never known her to cry before. Though she has seen a lot of sadness in her life, I have never seen her cry. She was always so strong.

~*~

A week passed and today was Elrond's turn to stay with Legolas. He sat in the chair next to Legolas' bed. He felt like running away from everything that was happening.

But I can't run away, so many people are counting on me. And I just can't leave this whole place to my children, they just aren't ready. They can't not have a father in their lives, it would be too much. They have already lost their mother. And what will King Thranduil do when he finds out what happened to Legolas? I don't want to know. Anyway, I must be calm. Everything will be fine.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," he said softly. It was Elladan.

"Hello, Father," he said gravely.

"Who told you?"

"Arín."

"How is she?"

"Upset, the most upset I have ever seen her."

Elrond shook his head. "Elladan, will you stay with Legolas for a while. I will have someone relieve you of your post in a couple hours. Come and get me if he wakes up."

"Yes, Father."

Elrond left the room to find Arín. He found her sitting on the balcony off the Hall of Fire. He went and sat next to her. She did not look at him, but kept staring at the stars with tears in her eyes. He sighed and shook his head.

"Arín, why won't you talk to me?" Still she did not acknowledge him. "Come on, Arín, you know it's not my fault or yours. Arín, you can't just sit there and do nothing forever. You know Legolas wouldn't want you to."

At the mentioning of Legolas' name, Arín looked at him. "I know. But I just can't help feeling awful, like it's my fault and I know it's not. I wish none of this had ever happened."

"So do I, Arín, but these things happen and we have no control over them." She nodded. "I wish Legolas had listened to me and took the bow and got up in the tree. None of this would have ever happened."

"Maybe, maybe not. Or it could have happened to you and that would be harder for the rest of us."

"I know."

"No, Arín, you don't know."

Just then the doors to the hall slammed open. Elladan appeared with Elrohir.

"Father," Elrohir called.

"What is it?" Elrond asked, he and Arín standing.

Elladan answered. "Legolas is waking."

~*~

A/N: Ohhhhhhhhhhhh...... the suspense.

~~~*Anna Sparrow*~~~