Sorry this took so long, everyone. Let's just say things got really, really hectic. I spent over fifteen hours on GABA and it's receptors, agonists, antagonists etc in the last five days alone… along with exams, work, classes, presentations, labs… yup, hectic. I don't foresee it happening again, though. Not that that always matters.

Review response: I answer direct questions or comments that require a response only. I appreiciate all reviews, even if there is not a direct response. So, to those I'm not directly commenting to, thanks for reading & reviewing.

With that said…

Farflung: I debated the title chapter for that reason. Oh well. I don't want to leave it just chapter (whatever), but there's the giving the plot away annoyance. I liked option #3. Sounds like a plan. : } And yeah, that's a pretty good summary of Lady Eiectorm. Yep, that's my idea for this—the child can respond to his father's presence, if 'talked to' by a proper mediator (a special healer/midwife type elf). The link between Legolas and Mirimir is entirely bidirectional. She gets everything from him, he gets everything from her. He sends thoughts… she doesn't, but she could if she wanted to. As for these two stories getting a big revelation… so did my other one. Actually, the main character died. At least one is about to wrap up. Though I suppose I could claim this break was just for a break, I really was swamped. I hate being away from my stories for so long. Don't go beating Legolas up for another chapter or two… then you can decide if you want to. ; )

Iluvien: What wild oats have my other Legolas characters sown… well, except for in 'Listen, Children'? I guess those two are a little bit similar… at least in these momentary situations. I never thought about it. *cringe* I hate repeating myself.

Lady Jade Perendhil: Sorry, I admit to never having gotten around to reading any work other than The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. I don't know that much about elves. But your complaint helped shape this chapter a bit.

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"On the night in question, you were with Eiectorm?"

"I was not," Legolas murmured quietly, his jaw held tightly, hearing all the whispers from beyond him, speculating if he was telling the truth even though normally his word would be taken nearly as law.

"Where were you, if not with her, and not in your room, as Elrohir has already testified?"

Legolas swallowed carefully.

"Well?"

Legolas shook his head slightly, closing his eyes for an instant.

"Where were you, and who were you with?"

He slid his mouth firmly closed. The hall erupted in excited and disapproving whispers and murmurs as it became obvious he refused to answer.

"Silence!" Thranduil sat back wearily in the head seat of the elder panel that had joined together to decide Legolas's fate. "The elders shall meet again on the morrow, to hear any last evidence or pleads."

Legolas closed his eyes with a sigh, and shook his head as he walked down one of the little used halls. He had been more or less cast as the villain on the first word of testimony. The servants and nobles he passed hundreds of times a day no longer smiled as they bowed their heads to him, no longer tried to speak with him. Leherim had gotten into several arguments on his behalf, but there was nothing to be done.

If he could just have the wedding prolonged to the quickening, he would have a chance. Otherwise, he would be forever linked to Eiectorm, even if the marriage was dissolved when the child was found not to be his, as there was no way he would ever allow it to be a true marriage.

Even beyond the settlement that would come of such dissolution, the elves of Greenwood would forever remember that he had married her, and the reason for the hasty marriage, even if it was found—as he believed it would—that the child was not his.

But with only his word against hers, it was unlikely the elders would force her to carry a child while unwed to the time of the quickening, even if she was treated as a princess in the meantime… which she was. Thranduil had seen to that, though he denied up and down having made any judgment call one way or another.

A soft sigh came from behind him, and a head rested against his shoulder. "Surely they will allow the time," she whispered softly.

He smiled faintly. "If it were not me, dear sister, would you wish it?"

"Of course!"

He lifted a brow at her, making her frown.

"I think. Oh, damn it all! Legolas, you know the child isn't yours!"

"I am certain I never wished for it," he agreed softly. "Just as I am certain it is unlikely I shall escape the trap she has so insidiously laid for me. What does she want? The title you have spent your life loathing? The riches that accompany it? Those shall not long remain… any more than shall I. This business weakens what desire to remain on these shores I had left. In the undying lands I shall no longer be as a prince, merely another elf."

"That may not be entirely true—you will always be known as the prince, and Father will still have a place to rule."

"Yes, but so many of the things the dwarves would enjoy in our halls will remain here, without use in the West, even should we attempt to take them with us." A soft noise at the door made them turn. "Good night, dear one," he murmured, kissing her forehead as she moved to Elrohir.

"Legolas," he hesitated. "I—"

Legolas lifted a hand and shook his head. "You spoke the truth, Elrohir. No one can be angry for that."

Leherim turned back from the door with a frown. "Who were you with, wherever you were?"

He lifted a brow, remaining utterly silent until she left with an exasperated shake of her head. Then he sighed softly and lounged in one of the chairs in the small library, unable to think about sleep with doom hanging over his head by a tenuous thread. He let his head fall back, closing his eyes.

Slender fingers soon deftly brushed his hair from his forehead, before running lightly down his cheeks and his neck to his shoulders, where they gathered to rub lightly for a moment before withdrawing.

He tilted his head and lazily opened his eyes, catching her hand, drawing her around to sit, partially beside him and partially on him. He kissed her temple and closed his eyes again as she settled against him, her forehead against his neck.

"Legolas?"

"Over here," he called softly.

Thranduil came forward and frowned at the sight of the she-elf curled against him. "Son?"

"Father, meet Mirimir. Mirimir, my father, King Thranduil."

Mirimir lifted her head, and studied the elf before her for a long moment. Then she frowned and pursed her lips, getting up to leave.

Neither male lifted a finger to stop her, and sat in silence until the door closed quietly behind her. "Well… not exactly what I expected," Thranduil murmured softly. "She seems quite well."

"She refuses to speak yet," Legolas answered, hearing the question Thranduil hadn't posed.

"And you two?"

"Are close friends, but no closer than Leherim and I are."

"If she cannot speak—"

"Speech is highly overrated."

Thranduil settled into the chair across from Legolas's, a considering look on his face. "You were with her that night, weren't you?"

Legolas's gaze fell without intent.

"Why didn't you just say so?"

"Say what, Father?" Legolas asked, looking up with wide, curious eyes that might have projected the innocence he was going for, but for the slight darkening of his eyes he couldn't control.

Thranduil's eyes narrowed, a frown drawing his brows together. "Were you or were you not with her?"

"I was not with Eiectorm. Other than that is irrelevant to this problem."

"It is hardly irrelevant. If you were with someone, they can verify that. You would be entirely in the clear!"

Slowly Legolas shook his head, wearily closing his eyes. "I spoke to no one that night, and no one will say otherwise."

"Son… is the child yours?"

"I was not with her that night, Father. If she speaks the truth about the night of conception, I am in the clear. I never wished a child with her, and I cannot see it happening when both facts I hold to were held true."

Thranduil sighed softly, running a hand absently through his hair. "If you refuse to speak… it looks badly upon you."

"I know. But I have nothing more to say."

"This is idiocy! If you have proof of what you say, why not bring the information to light? I no more wish the incorrect decision made than do you—I know as well as Leherim does you speak the truth, but no one will believe her claims, knowing how close she is to you."

"She would not lie to protect me—not at the cost of her nephew or niece. But they don't realize that, do they?"

"Sadly, they enjoy the scandal more than the truth. Legolas—"

"Father, I have nothing else I can say. I am sorry."

"You will not draw her, whoever she is, into this, even if it costs you your freedom for the rest of time, costs you your reputation and the respect you have always been given?"

"My reputation, and the respect that went with it, have been horribly damaged just by this being brought to council. As for my freedom—at the least the marriage would be dissolved within a few months, if not weeks."

"Yes, the quickening approaches, and so the Wood calls for a decision. We cannot put it off much longer, no matter how we feel about it."

"How you feel about it," Legolas corrected.

"They as well, or have you forgotten that they have often seen you and Leherim speak with each other? They know what the others will not believe, that Leherim speaks the truth when she speaks of your feelings regarding the whole thing."

"But what she picks up cannot be used as uncontestable proof. It's known I can keep her from feeling my emotions, so they can argue I can send her false ones as well!" Legolas sighed and ran a hand through his hair, slowly letting go of his anger. "It doesn't matter. Everything shall be said tomorrow, save the decision we already know."