I know, I haven't updated in a while, but I have excuses! I had a HUGE history report that was due the day before I graduated. And it was taking up all of my time at home, and in between school and work, I didn't have any time to work on any of my stories. But I updated this one, and just to let you know, there will be two more chapters up by the end of this week, because I finished writing it, and I just need to get it all typed without my computer randomly restarting on me. That was annoying when it did it because I had almost my entire next chapter for one of my other stories all typed, and the computer restarted, and I lost it because something was wrong with the memory card. sigh oh well...

I'll be on vacation starting on the 20th, so that means I won't have computer access for a while, but I will try to write as much as I can so that I might get one up when I get back!

150 years later...

The sun's fading light casts its rays on the two figures sitting on the walls of Minas Tirith. One of the men had proud shoulders that held the tell-tale stoop of old age. His hair was dark brown, shot through with streaks of gray. On his brow, was a silver crown that showed his position as the king of Gondor. The other was a slim figured person. His face was eternally young and his golden blonde hair fell over his shoulders.

The two couldn't be more physically different, but they were bound as brothers. The trials they had faced together, had made them closer than blood.

"Legolas?" the dark haired man spoke. "What are you going to do after I pass on?" Legolas turned to his friend and raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you ask, mellonin?" he asked. Aragorn smiled wryly.

"I am old Legolas. I can feel it in my bones. Especially in the morning when I wake up." he added as an afterthought. "Something is telling me that my time here is almost up." Legolas's gaze softened.

"Have you told Arwen this?" he asked quietly. The king nodded. "Uma. Yes, I have also given this news to Eldarion, and have started passing on my duties to him." The elf nodded and turned his head to the west.

His eyes took on the far-away look of someone remembering something. Aragorn watched the elf silently. He was reminded of the many times he had found Elrond, his foster father, on the balcony thinking on Celebrian. The king waited for a moment before speaking. "Legolas?"

The Mirkwood elf gave a sigh and then turned back to Aragorn. "I will make sure that the settlement at Ithilien is secure, and then I will probably sail across the sea." he stopped and stared out across the plain. "Where I shall finally be reunited with my wife." He said this last part to himself, but the sharp hearing of Aragorn picked up the softly spoken words.

"You have a wife!?" he exclaimed incredulously. Legolas turned and smiled sadly at his long time friend. "Yes, she was my beloved." Aragorn looked at his friend in shock.

"And why wasn't I informed of this?" he asked, slightly hurt that his friend had kept it a secret from him.

"Because I was not ready to tell you. I do not mean to offend you. But let me tell my story before you judge my actions."

Aragorn nodded, wondering what had happened that would have kept the elf from telling him about his wife.

"I guess that I should start from the beginning. It was well over 1000 years ago when I first met Tari. There was a tournament that consisted of many skills that a warrior would need. The contest was to find out the best warriors in Mirkwood. There was sword fighting, horsemanship, knife work, and archery. The first time that I saw her was in the horsemanship contest. I came in third place while she came in first. That alone intrigued me. I had heard others speak badly about her, saying that woman should not be allowed to be in the contest. Her strength in ignoring the sneers and laughs from the members of the court showed me that she was stronger than most I knew. I don't even think that she noticed me in that part of the tournament.

The next time I saw her was while she was in the ring for swordsmanship. I was completely amazed at the amount of skill that she had. I had been eliminated towards the beginning because the sword is not my strong point. But I heard that she went on to place second with the sword." Legolas paused, thinking about the memory. "Then there was the knife work part of the tournament. I was supposed to face her, but she had been eliminated the round before. I won that part of the contest. Finally the archery section took place. I had been waiting for this part of the tournament through the entire contest. The way the archery was set up, it would be that after each round, the one with the lowest score was eliminated, and the rest moved on. When we took a break before the final round, I was greatly surprised that Tari was the elf that I would be competing against. I tried to talk to her...but she yelled at me, saying that I was a stuck-up snob of a prince who cared noting about others, and who's only wish was to get more attention." Legolas laughed quietly at the memory.

"That next round was very close. She only lost to me by one arrow." he stopped, thinking of a way to explain the next part of his story.

"Now, you have to understand, that back home, in Mirkwood, there was a group of elleths that were very...taken...with me. After the tournament, it was nearly impossible to step out of my father's halls without them following me. Well, one day, not long after the tournament, I saw Tari trying to make her way towards me. I later found out that she had wanted to apologize for her earlier  behavior towards me, but that's beside the point. On her way over, she happened to accidentally to bump into one of the higher ladies of the court, who did not like any who she thought below her. From where I was, I could see and hear everything that was going on between the two. The maiden., Alenyi, I believe her name was, told Tari that she was too poor and low in status to be even worthy of a glance from me. She said some other things that I will not repeat here. I was angered at her words, and started making a way towards her to send her away, but Tari beat me to it. She pulled a knife on Alenyi, and told her to stay away from her. I finally got there, and pushed the knife away, for feared that if I didn't, there would have been spilt blood in my father's courts, and I did not want to deal with that. I told Alenyi that I did not want to see her in my presence again. I guess that that is what started our friendship. It grew until one day, I realized that I loved her. Then, when I found out that she felt the same way, I asked her to marry me." Legolas stopped and closed his eyes.

Aragorn waited for a moment. He still did not understand. As if reading his mind, the elf shook his head. "Nay, the tale is not over yet my friend." he took a deep breath and let it out. "We were happily married for over 100 years. Then, one day, we were on a journey to Rivendell to visit some of her family there. Night was falling and we were looking for a place to camp. We were attacked by orcs. With only the two of us, we were outnumbered and overwhelmed." he took a breath. "The orcs took us back to their cave, and tourtured us. Then, for some reason, they stopped beating me and turned all of their attention to Tari.

I don't really remember what happened after that, but somehow I was able to get both of us out." Legolas' voice got quiet. "But it was too late. She had lost too much blood, and had been too deeply wounded..." At this point, Legolas stopped altogether and pressed his hands against his eyes.

Aragorn watched the elf for a moment. Even though he was pretty sure of what happened next, he had a feeling that his friend needed to say it himself. "What happened?" he prompted quietly.

The elf looked up at the sky which was quickly darkening.

"She died." he whispered.

Aragorn bowed his head. The two sat together on the wall in silence.  The sun sank behind the mountains, and the moon started to slowly rise into the night sky.

Legolas spoke first. "You are the first one I have ever told about her since she died. After she died, I forbid anyone to talk about her, or the day that it happened. But now that I have finally talked about it to somebody, I think that I can finally be able to heal."

Smiling, Aragorn rose slowly to his feet, groaning slightly as he felt his body protest to the simple motion. "Come mellonin. Let us go back to the palace." Legolas smiled and got to his feet, much more quickly than his human companion. And together, the two disappeared into the walls of the city.