Disclaimer:  See chapter one, part one. Thanks for all the reviews. The song Sit and Think belongs to J.R.R Tolkien. From the Lord of the Rings (1955)

 Chapter 8: The choice of Legolas.

I sit beside the fire and think

Of all that I have seen,

Of medow-flowers and butterflies

In summers that have been.

Of yellow leaves and gossamar

In autumns that there were

With morning mist and silver sun

And wind upon my hair.

He walked into the woods until he could no longer see the others or hear their murmurs. He clenched his fists and lifted his gaze to the sky as if he was waiting to see somebody sitting above him, mocking him. The only thing hanging over his head was the luminous sunless sky. He let his hands wipe over his face, let out a frustrated sigh and sat down on a small moss covered stone.

Why was this happening to him, what cruel game was faith playing with his life? Was it not enough that they had to take her, so brutally, away from him, and then giver her back only to keep her out of his grasp? Now Gandalf told them she was connected to the Ring, that she had been waiting for this moment all her life.

That must be the reason she had made him promise to never follow her. She knew that she was destined to go to the Dark Land and to battle Dark Lord, and she did not want him with him. But how could he let her go through all that, alone? He had to go with her and protect her, who knew what dangers lay behind the Mountains of Shadow.

He sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair.

"Why did you not tell me," he whispered to him self. "Why did you not tell me what you are, what you had to do. I would have helped you" How many had known what she was? Laivindur, her foster father, Lord Elrond, Gandalf, the Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn and Haldir her brother-friend. They knew what danger she had to face, but the man she had wedded, no one had told. Had his father known, was that the reason he did not want him to marry her.

He could see her in front of him as real as the trees around him. He hid his face in his hands and his mind started to conjure up a memory

She was sitting outside in the garden under a magnolia tree reading a book. It was late spring and the flowers from the tree were falling down around her, some had landed in her hair and she had not bothered to brush them away. As he saw her, his breath was caught in his throat and he imagined that this had to be when Elwë, lord of the Teleri fist lay eyes on Melian.

Her beauty captured him in an enchantment that made him stare at her in what seemed like years. Finally, he walked towards her and sat down. She did nothing to acknowledge his presences.

"Tell me about your self" he had said, she ignored him like she usually did when he tried to start a conversation. He waited, for he had learned the value of patient, she could not ignore him for to long. At last, she answered and he knew she did because she felt obligated to, since he was a prince, since she worked for his father.

"What do you want to know, your majesty?"

"Haven I not told you to call me by my name and not my title?" he had said and closed the book she was reading so her focus was fully on him. She had turned her head in his direction and stared on him with her dark green eyes, the stare sent a wave of tingling sensation down his spine as she breathed his name.

"Legolas"

"Feavair"

As she heard him speak her name, she had smiled sadly.  He could no longer resist the urge to touch her chin. As he reached out a hand to wipe some hair away from her face, she had flinched against his touch and moved slightly away.

"Why do you fear me?"

"I do not fear you"

"But why do you move away when all I want to is to touch you"

She had stared out in the garden for a long time not saying anything. She then sighed deeply and looked down in her lap where her hands rested against her dress.

"You should not long for things you can never have" Feavair had said and then started at him again, this time her eyes were nothing more then a green ocean and he knew then that he was certain, this was love. If it was not then love was not meant to be in his life.

"I will always long for you when you are away and even when you are sitting next to me. Why do you avoid my touch, don't you care for me?" he had asked and then gently taken her hands in his. She had stared at their fingers twinned together for along time.

"Then what will you father say. I carry nothing then my name I can not…"she had stopped abruptly  and tried to tug her hand free. He had refused to let her go.

"I hope it is not my father you worry about, for surely he will not care. I would have cared for you even if you had your own forest or you owned not even a name. But if it is my title that strains your heart, then let me tell you I would cast it away to be with you" he had answered gravely and stared into her eyes that started to fill with tears.

"Do not cry, a'mael" (beloved) he had whispered and lifted his hand to wipe the tears away, this time she had not drawn back and with his palm resting against her chin as he wiped the tears away with his thumb.

"Why do you care for me?" Feavair had asked.

"This to ask why the sky is blue, it just is, and I just do. Don you not love me?" After that followed moments of dead silence, and he knew that if she turned him down, his heart would be forever broken. She had then reached out a hand and gingerly touched his chin while her hand, still twinned together with his other, tightened the grip.

"I do, I do care for you very much"

"If you can't promise me that if I walk to my doom you won't follow me, I will walk out now and it will be as we have never met!"

Her voice  haunted him again. He could hear her voice singing in his head, as he had done on the shore of the River. Like he had done everyday since she died. The vision in front of his eyes faded and there was again nothing but trees and stones in front of him.

¨

Why had he made that promise, why did she not want his help? He loved her; he would risk his life for her.

Legolas knew that was why she made him give his word not to follow her to doom. She did not want him to die because of her.  "Why can you not understand that to die for you, that is what love is. To be willing to sacrifices once life"

I sit beside the fire and think

Of how the world will be

When winter comes without a spring

That I shall never see.

For still, there are so many things

That I have never seen

In every wood in every spring

There is a different green

They had been riding a cold winter morning north in Mirkwood. The week before the snow had reached down the mountain and heavy snowfall had covered the landscape white. The forest had been covered in a white soundless carpet. The frost made her cheeks blush of red roses and the snowflake melted and turned to crystal pearls in her hair.

"Oh, look," she had exclaimed happily as they reached the Forest River. It was a deep and swift stream and it had suddenly stopped its movements. "The rive is frozen."  She dismounted her white mare and started to make her way down to the river trudging through the heavy snow.

He had watched her as she slid on the ice with the delight of a child and her laughter butterflied in his heart.

"Legolas, come down here" she had called happily. He had jumped down and started to walk slowly towards her. As he neared the river he got a sickening feeling in the pitch of his stomach, he turned around and saw that the horses were nervously stomping the ground. Then came the silent sound of ice, cracking and he watches as she suddenly slipped between the ice blocks and disappeared.

"Feavair!"

He had run down to the river and never before had a distance seemed so far. He scanned the river but saw nothing but heavy blocks of ice and heard only the river, thunder.  

He usually never rode with a bridle; to this day, he tanks the gods he did. He called his horse and it came running down, as if he knew she was in danger. He saw her resurface and she grabbed hold on to a small ice block. Her lips were blue and he could see she was struggling to keep her body above the water. Her heavy and soaked cloak pulling her down

He took the reins and made along leash, which he threw out to her. She managed to grab it the third time and together with his horse, he pulled her up to safety. He had grabbed her hands as she reached the shore and pulled her up to his arms. She was shacking and sobbing at once and he took her wet clock off and wrapped her in his own, her clothes were already starting to freeze.

            When they got back to the house the maids immediately swept her away to be fuzzed over. Her fingers grown numb and her hair were already frozen. He had not seen her until later that evening and all though the day horrible images had fought around in his head. Each time he came to late to save her.

She was sitting in front of the fireplace wrapped in a blanked. She had finally stopped shacking and the colors were returning to her skin. He had watched her for along time, remembering when he saw her in the garden. He would never let out off this room again.

He had taken a step closer to her and then spoken with a hoarse voice that was still stained with fear of loosing her.

"Did you know that if you had gone under the ice today, I would have gone after you?"

He had never expected the reaction he got. She rose quickly, her body tensed, and her eyes filled with the same fear that had been in them that day in the garden many years ago.

"No you would not" she said determined. "You would have lived on and you would have loved again"

She walked over to him and pierced him with her green eyes and he had taken another step closing the distance between them. "Never" he said and reached out to wrap her in his arms.  She had moved away, turned around, and stared at the fire for a moment, before she turned around again.

"If you can not promise me that if I walk to my doom you will not follow me, I will walk out now and it will be as we have never met!" her voice was filled with anger and tears and he had answered quickly.

"Never!"

She had taken off her ring then and held it in her palm challenging him to take it. "Then it will end here, if you can not promise me that you will live and love again I will go now!" tears had started to appear in her eyes but she did not let them fall. He closed his eyes, clenched his fist and slowly opened his eyes again.

"Then…..then I promise" he had whispered and closed her hand keeping her ring safe. He saw a single tear run down from her left eye and he gently took her arm and brought her body close to his, and wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on top of hers.

"But you will never walk to your doom for I will never let you out of my arms!"

            I sit beside the fire and think

Of people long ago,

And of people who will se a world

That I shall never know.

Legolas was draw out of his daydreaming. He had not realized he was clutching the ring around his neck with all his might.

He had made a promise and as much as it strained his heart, he would value it, for her. He would live and they would be together again.  As he started to walk back to the others, he knew he would not be able to keep his promise.

But all the while I sit and think

Of times there were before

I listen for returning feet

And voices at the door.

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