I'm back….

Chapter Fourteen – Journey to Helm's Deep

The column snaked slowly across the desolate landscape and Arlannis took the opportunity to enjoy the merry byplay between the Lady of Rohan and her companions. Eowyn impressed Arlannis with her ready valour and martial spirit. But despite the Lady's excellent qualities, Arlannis could tell that Aragorn had grown uneasy in her company. Eowyn's ever present smile and concern for his well-being was making him as uncomfortable as a dwarf surrounded by elves.

Arlannis mused on the matter as she observed Aragorn smiling at a jest Eowyn had made. Would it be so bad brother, to wed a mortal woman? Aye, she does not have the beauty and grace of Arwen, but her heart is as your heart, mortal and full of strength. She will not fail you.

Arlannis tugged at her left ear, a habit she had fallen into since Gandalf had restored it. Aragorn smiled at her and she returned her hand to the reins with a wry grin.

'Just checking it's still there?' he asked teasingly.

'Fromas told me to keep an eye on it,' Arlannis defended lamely.

And Fromas told me other things as well, she thought.

Before she could stop herself, Arlannis twisted in the saddle to search for Legolas. He caught her gaze immediately, held it for a long moment and then looked away as though he hadn't noticed her at all. She faced forward again, cheeks burning as she chastised herself. One more lapse like that would only serve to make matters more complicated then she could afford. They were fleeing to the refuge of Helm's Deep to wage war on enemies as implacable as the ocean. There could be no time for matters of the heart.

Legolas watched the straight figure of Arlannis as she rode ahead of him. She sat her horse with ease and grace. Her elven blood was most apparent to him when she was in contact with the natural elements. He had thought she was at her most beautiful in the forests of Lorien. The pain suffered there had made her beauty more luminous. The moonlight of Galadriel's realm had made her elven features glow. But seeing her now, riding in the open sharing jokes with her brother and Gimli made him reassess his opinion. Her mortal half thrived in the sunlight, making her shorn hair shine as it reflected sunbeams and her eyes sparkle. In truth her could not tell which Arlannis he favoured.

Just then she twisted in her saddle as though she sought someone. His heart stopped as he held her gaze for a long moment before breaking the contact lest his feelings be all too apparent in his eyes.

The moment he had held her after Gandalf's miraculous healing remained burned in his memory. The sensation of her warm whole living self pressed against him had threatened to overwhelm his control. For Legolas had spent so many hours in torment over what she must have suffered while in Orc hands, that to behold her alive and unharmed was to him the greatest miracle he had ever witnessed in his long life. He had nearly crushed her with gratitude in his arms that day in Edoras…

The strength of feeling roused by that memory alone was enough to bring tears to his eyes so he suppressed it ruthlessly and forced himself to concentrate on the journey ahead. The future of the people of Rohan was in the balance and there was no time for lovesickness.