Chapter 8- Reality
Emlin sat at the practice field, her arms wrapped around her knees as she stared in the distance at the targets adorning the tree trunks and branches, with a few free standing targets scattered about. She had spent her entire morning in this spot upon the grass, under the shade of a small tree as it had taken her so long to work up the nerve to come back down to this place. When she was younger, it had been a place of solace for her to come with her father, but she had stopped practicing her archery as soon as things started to become bad between them. Now that she was here, though, it brought back memories of times better spent when she was an elfling and with her father, and she could not bring herself to shoot at the targets.
She sighed heavily and stretched her legs out in front of her, leaning back on her hands. It had seemed that everything would be better a few weeks ago after their ride through the forest. Then the whole dilemma with Legolas began. Oh what an uproar that had caused between her and her father! But this time it was for the exact opposite reasons as before! Now, Haldir was smothering her, and paying too close attention to every action she made to make sure she was not being manipulated by Legolas. Could he strike no happy balance between anything? One moment he was so distant and untouchable, the next he was taking over commanding fatherly roles.
Granted, their arguments had lessened, and Emlin was fine knowing that her father was only protecting her, but he was taking things way too far with Legolas. He and Legolas had been close friends before, but now it seemed that they were no more than bitter enemies. Legolas was genuinely sorry about everything, but in the fashion of her father, Haldir could not let this situation rest. He had to see it out to the final possible ending, to which it appeared he hoped would be a slow and painful death for Legolas. It did not even seem to matter to him that Legolas and Emlin had named their relationship friendly, and that nothing more could come of anything. She knew it was because Legolas wished to maintain a friendship with Haldir, and pursuing Haldir's underage daughter was not the way to go about doing that.
As far as she was concerned, it was just a lot of male-driven competition that made them act in such a way. It was not even about her any longer; it was about the impossible nature of her father and that he could best any ellon who stood in his way. Almost as if it were a survival of the fittest, matching brawn against brawn and not intelligence against intelligence, by the way they stared each other down the few times they had crossed each other's paths. Her father was the most arrogant elf on most lists, and while she did not know Legolas well, she could tell that he was arrogant in his own ways, putting up a rather worthy fight against the March Warden.
Males! It was amazing that anything was ever accomplished in realms where kings and lords ruled!
Luckily, though, a few weeks passed quickly with the travelers in constant audience with the Lord and Lady while the rest of the city gossiped about the meetings and went about their daily lives. Her father had not seen much of Legolas, and Legolas made no plans on seeking him out, even though he had gone on frequent scouting trips with a few of the other higher ranking wardens. She had not seen Legolas either, and she found that her father was doing a fairly good job at sequestering her to the talan, giving her menial tasks so that she could not go out and have the chance of meeting him.
"Sometimes placing the bow in your hand and an arrow on your string can make it operate better than just by staring at it." The deep, slightly lilting mellifluous voice interrupted her thoughts. "Unless, of course, you are practicing willing it with your mind."
"Chen ad?" She asked, looking up and finding the tall elf standing over her. "Have you not reaped enough havoc in my life?"
He chuckled and sat down beside her, "Apparently I have not if your father has not sent you away yet."
"And you think being locked in the talan doing menial tasks is not bad enough?" Emlin questioned, picking up her bow, strumming her finger over the taught string.
"Has he taken to locking you in?" Legolas asked urgently, seemingly very alarmed, "If he has, it has gone too far."
She shook her head and sighed, "There is no lock on the main door, and I told you about the lucky position of my chamber."
"You have no lock?" He questioned, "I cannot believe that your father does not have a lock on the door to keep unwanted family members out."
Emlin laughed and turned to gaze at him, "There is one on the master's chamber door, if that is what you are implying."
"I imply no such thing." Legolas smiled wickedly, "But I see that you have a very active imagination. What do you think they do beyond those closed doors?"
From this statement, it was clear to her that Legolas enjoyed making elleths blush. But she was not so easily outdone, "All I would have to do is mention one thing about an inappropriate word or gesture to my father and you would have an arrow between your eyes."
"You are right, Emlin." He sighed heavily and took the bow from her lap. Carefully he ran his fingers along the carven wood, admiring the golden leaves. "So why are you really not practicing, though you have brought your bow and quiver with you the practice field?"
Emlin took the bow back from his hands, "I am not sure I am very good."
"You are a child of the March Warden, two generations over." He replied, "There is no possible way that you could not be as good as I. Even Thoron has it in his blood."
She chuckled and stood up. "I have seen my brother spend hours upon hours in practice with Ada. I do not believe your theory of talent being passed through bloodlines."
Legolas jumped up easily and followed her to the lines from which it was marked for shooting. "There is promise there, Emlin. You have probably been practicing since you took your first step."
Emlin was silent for a few moments and pulled an arrow from her quiver, placing it on the string, but kept the point to the ground. "I have not practiced for quite sometime."
"Why?" He questioned.
"I do not wish to answer that right now." She replied, lifting the bow up and aligning it with the nearest target. Emlin glanced over at Legolas, who was watching her closely, and said, "You may wish to move away. I do not know what will happen when I release this."
Legolas laughed and shook his head, "I am sure nothing bad will come from it. Come, shoot the arrow and let me see how you do."
Emlin felt the pressure of his appraising eyes as she again looked towards her target. She would not enjoy his laughter when she completely missed the target... but then again, looking back at him, he seemed completely serious with the situation. Emlin summoned her courage and closed her eyes as she let loose the arrow. It hissed through the air, but made not a sound of embedding in the target. She opened one eye, then the other and saw it nowhere.
"Your first problem is that you closed your eyes." Legolas said, gazing at her thoughtfully. "I cannot believe that no one has taught you about eye contact with your target."
She rolled her eyes, "Of course they have. But they did not have a highly skilled archer beside them, staring at them."
A light pink crept to the tips of his ears, but he ignored it. Instead, he moved behind her and cautiously positioned her body differently, making Emlin exceedingly aware of his touch and not of what he was trying to teach her. He placed his hands over hers on the bow and moved it slightly, "How is that, Aiwamin?"
A shiver ran up her spine, but this was unsettling to her and she let him know that in not so much a pleasant way. "My father will strangle you if he sees you."
"Where is your father?" He asked, "I did not see him after the audience with the Lord and Lady this morn."
"He went with Lord Celeborn to deliver the news to the families of the two wardens that fell protecting the borders last eve." Emlin said, glancing from the corner of her eyes at him.
All he did was lean in closer. She tensed at this action and he breathed into her ear, "Do not worry, your father will be busy for sometime."
"Legolas..." Emlin tried not to giggle and blush, but the feel of his warm breath teasing her ear made her feel oddly giddy.
"What is it, Aiwamin?" He asked again. "I am only concerned with helping you shoot better. I am not concerned about your father."
"I would be concerned about her father."
The hair on the back of her neck rose in fright as soon as the deep and extremely angered voice found her ears. Legolas tensed considerably against her, and slowly pushed away. Emlin turned to find her father standing on the edge of the field, his arms crossed against his large chest, his face red with anger. Legolas stepped away from her and she set her bow at her side, preparing herself for whatever was going to happen.
"I thought I told you to stay away from my daughter." Haldir spoke, walking towards them.
Emlin sighed and glanced between her father and Legolas, "Ada, please do not do this, he was not harming me."
"Not harming you, meleth?" Haldir asked incredulously, "I have been in the trees the entire time since you first spoke to each other. I have heard your repeated efforts to get him to stop what he was doing."
"Haldir, you misunderstand." Legolas said, but received a hard glare.
"He is right, you do misunderstand." Emlin spoke slowly, "Just because I was threatening him, does not mean it was truthful. I only said it in jest, because, well frankly, you do anger far too easily and it is fun to jest about it."
She knew she should not have said that when her father's gaze shifted he looked at her angrily, "Emlin, go home. I will have some words with the prince alone."
Emlin took a deep breath, "No, I will not leave. You two need to stop this contest of who is stronger than the other! It is not even about me any longer, it is about the fact that you cannot control Legolas like everyone else, and that Legolas is not scared of you."
"Emlin, please," Haldir said again, his voice softening only slightly.
"And it does not even matter to you that Legolas and I have spoken since and know we can go beyond nothing but friends, for the sake of you and Nana, and because I am still young!" She exclaimed. "Legolas is a loyal friend, Ada. I cannot believe that you cannot see that. Had he known my age and whose child I was, he would have never said such things when he came to our talan."
Both ellyn remained silent as her father looked at her with a slowly dissolving anger, and Legolas with an interested amusement with her words.
"I may be young, but do not think that these things are foreign to me." Emlin said.
Haldir sighed, "But what he was doing to you, Emlin, the way he was touching..."
"Anyone who was teaching me how to shoot an arrow correctly would have done the exact same thing!" Emlin argued.
"But his words... belie innocence." Haldir began again.
"I do not care if they do." Emlin replied and glanced quickly at Legolas. "And the words I spoke to him belied what I was actually feeling. Aye, Ada, I enjoyed having his arms around me in such a way. The truth is that I had complete control over the situation and if I really did not want him doing what he was, I could have easily stopped him."
With that final comment Emlin ran towards the path, embarrassed that she had yelled at her father out in the middle of the city, and that Legolas heard the argument and the part about her liking the feel of his hands on her. When she was out of sight, Emlin paused for a bit, collecting her thoughts. There were really no coherent thoughts going through her head, though, and decided that she would spy on the conversation between her father and Legolas. Carefully, she eased herself from the staircase onto a close branch of the nearest mallorn. Slowly she went back in the direction of the practice field. Upon returning, she found the scene had not changed much since she had left, with her father and Legolas still staring at each other.
"She is only nine and forty, Legolas." Haldir muttered.
"Aye, Haldir, I know that." Legolas replied, "Do you think that little of me, though, that I would be so horrible?"
"I know not what I think of you." Haldir said.
Legolas sighed and placed a friendly hand upon Haldir's shoulder, "Mellon, if you really wish me to never speak with her again, then I shall honor your wishes."
Haldir was silent for a long time, and looked deeply into Legolas' eye, Emlin praying that her father made no rash remarks and decisions on this matter. He let out a heavy breath, "I do not wish that. But I do wish you would not speak to her in such a way as I heard earlier."
Emlin grumbled to herself, hearing her father's words.
"Aye, Haldir, I understand. But speaking between friends, may I remind you that Emlin is grown now, as much as you do not want to accept that, and she should be treated like such." Legolas asked. Emlin knew there was something decent about Legolas after all. Maybe he was her key to talking her father into independence.
"She is still my daughter, Legolas, not yours." Haldir said and placed his own hand on Legolas' opposite shoulder.
Legolas chuckled and shook his head. "I do not want daughters. I have heard they are nothing but trouble."
"You have no idea." Haldir smiled and removed his hand, motioning for the side path Emlin had taken earlier. They walked in silence and Emlin followed them silently through the trees.
"You are getting soft in your old age, mellon nin." Legolas said. "Had this been fifty years ago, I would have already been shot dead."
"The last thing I want is your father coming after me." Her father chuckled, "And I am not old. I am merely exhausted because I have children. You will understand when you decide to exercise your power of generation."
The walked in silence for awhile more, and Emlin was about ready to leave when her father glanced quickly at Legolas. "So you find my daughter appealing, do you?"
Legolas stopped and raised a curious eyebrow, "If this is bait to get me to say something incriminating, then I will not do it."
"I am serious, Legolas." Haldir said.
"She is very beautiful, Haldir." Legolas nodded his head, "But you know that. She is every bit like her mother."
Emlin smiled to herself. It was nice to actually hear those sincere words from another's mouth, besides that of her father's and mother's.
"I know." Her father smiled and let out a long sigh, glancing up at the trees. She pushed back as much as she could against the tree trunk, but she feared that the green of her dress would give her away. "Has everything said been to your liking, iell nin?!"
Mortification with Legolas when he saw through her tunic was one thing, but the humiliation she felt now being caught by her father, no less was just as horrible. Legolas followed her father's eyes and gazed up at the trees, letting a large smile cross his lips as if he too had known she had been spying on them. Of course, they probably had, with their highly trained elven senses, but she could still hope that they had not noticed her until recently.
"Emlin?" Her father called again.
"Aye Ada." She squeaked.
"Go home and tell your naneth that Legolas will be having the evening meal with us again this night." Haldir called out, and glanced at Legolas. Emlin started to move away and Haldir spoke lowly to Legolas, though she could still hear easily what was being said. "If she had been older, would you have pursued her?"
Legolas gave him an impish smile, "Most definitely, but not after I found out she was your daughter."
"Good, I am glad we have that understanding now. Since you are betrothed to the princess of Lindon." Haldir said. Emlin froze in her spot and let the words that her father had just spoken sink into her head. Legolas was betrothed? All of her little elfling fantasies and flutters she received when she thought of Legolas since his visit to Lórien faded right at that moment. To the princess of Lindon? For a moment she had thought Legolas to be an elf that would wed anyone he wished- even the Lórien March Warden's daughter- but he had been betrothed to a princess the entire time.
"Please do not remind me of that less than glad future." Legolas replied.
Haldir chuckled, "I will every time you look inappropriately at any other elleth."
"Hannon le, mellon. I always needed a watcher." Legolas said sarcastically and at last they were out of hearing range and Emlin slumped against the tree. Except, there was one thing she did not understand. Still she felt the pull of Legolas, the intense butterflies in her stomach, but this time they beat with force of a battering ram on her body knowing that she could never have him. She was not in love with him; she had a definite infatuation, but he was betrothed to another. And even if the entire world was vanquished of its evil and Legolas survived to see it, she would never know the feeling of his love. Emlin hung her head and let out a heavy sigh, walking towards her talan to alert her mother of the guest later that night.
----
Chen ad? –You again?
Meleth- love
Iell nin- My daughter
Ada- Dad
Naneth- Mother
Hannon le, mellon- Thank you, friend
Emlin sat at the practice field, her arms wrapped around her knees as she stared in the distance at the targets adorning the tree trunks and branches, with a few free standing targets scattered about. She had spent her entire morning in this spot upon the grass, under the shade of a small tree as it had taken her so long to work up the nerve to come back down to this place. When she was younger, it had been a place of solace for her to come with her father, but she had stopped practicing her archery as soon as things started to become bad between them. Now that she was here, though, it brought back memories of times better spent when she was an elfling and with her father, and she could not bring herself to shoot at the targets.
She sighed heavily and stretched her legs out in front of her, leaning back on her hands. It had seemed that everything would be better a few weeks ago after their ride through the forest. Then the whole dilemma with Legolas began. Oh what an uproar that had caused between her and her father! But this time it was for the exact opposite reasons as before! Now, Haldir was smothering her, and paying too close attention to every action she made to make sure she was not being manipulated by Legolas. Could he strike no happy balance between anything? One moment he was so distant and untouchable, the next he was taking over commanding fatherly roles.
Granted, their arguments had lessened, and Emlin was fine knowing that her father was only protecting her, but he was taking things way too far with Legolas. He and Legolas had been close friends before, but now it seemed that they were no more than bitter enemies. Legolas was genuinely sorry about everything, but in the fashion of her father, Haldir could not let this situation rest. He had to see it out to the final possible ending, to which it appeared he hoped would be a slow and painful death for Legolas. It did not even seem to matter to him that Legolas and Emlin had named their relationship friendly, and that nothing more could come of anything. She knew it was because Legolas wished to maintain a friendship with Haldir, and pursuing Haldir's underage daughter was not the way to go about doing that.
As far as she was concerned, it was just a lot of male-driven competition that made them act in such a way. It was not even about her any longer; it was about the impossible nature of her father and that he could best any ellon who stood in his way. Almost as if it were a survival of the fittest, matching brawn against brawn and not intelligence against intelligence, by the way they stared each other down the few times they had crossed each other's paths. Her father was the most arrogant elf on most lists, and while she did not know Legolas well, she could tell that he was arrogant in his own ways, putting up a rather worthy fight against the March Warden.
Males! It was amazing that anything was ever accomplished in realms where kings and lords ruled!
Luckily, though, a few weeks passed quickly with the travelers in constant audience with the Lord and Lady while the rest of the city gossiped about the meetings and went about their daily lives. Her father had not seen much of Legolas, and Legolas made no plans on seeking him out, even though he had gone on frequent scouting trips with a few of the other higher ranking wardens. She had not seen Legolas either, and she found that her father was doing a fairly good job at sequestering her to the talan, giving her menial tasks so that she could not go out and have the chance of meeting him.
"Sometimes placing the bow in your hand and an arrow on your string can make it operate better than just by staring at it." The deep, slightly lilting mellifluous voice interrupted her thoughts. "Unless, of course, you are practicing willing it with your mind."
"Chen ad?" She asked, looking up and finding the tall elf standing over her. "Have you not reaped enough havoc in my life?"
He chuckled and sat down beside her, "Apparently I have not if your father has not sent you away yet."
"And you think being locked in the talan doing menial tasks is not bad enough?" Emlin questioned, picking up her bow, strumming her finger over the taught string.
"Has he taken to locking you in?" Legolas asked urgently, seemingly very alarmed, "If he has, it has gone too far."
She shook her head and sighed, "There is no lock on the main door, and I told you about the lucky position of my chamber."
"You have no lock?" He questioned, "I cannot believe that your father does not have a lock on the door to keep unwanted family members out."
Emlin laughed and turned to gaze at him, "There is one on the master's chamber door, if that is what you are implying."
"I imply no such thing." Legolas smiled wickedly, "But I see that you have a very active imagination. What do you think they do beyond those closed doors?"
From this statement, it was clear to her that Legolas enjoyed making elleths blush. But she was not so easily outdone, "All I would have to do is mention one thing about an inappropriate word or gesture to my father and you would have an arrow between your eyes."
"You are right, Emlin." He sighed heavily and took the bow from her lap. Carefully he ran his fingers along the carven wood, admiring the golden leaves. "So why are you really not practicing, though you have brought your bow and quiver with you the practice field?"
Emlin took the bow back from his hands, "I am not sure I am very good."
"You are a child of the March Warden, two generations over." He replied, "There is no possible way that you could not be as good as I. Even Thoron has it in his blood."
She chuckled and stood up. "I have seen my brother spend hours upon hours in practice with Ada. I do not believe your theory of talent being passed through bloodlines."
Legolas jumped up easily and followed her to the lines from which it was marked for shooting. "There is promise there, Emlin. You have probably been practicing since you took your first step."
Emlin was silent for a few moments and pulled an arrow from her quiver, placing it on the string, but kept the point to the ground. "I have not practiced for quite sometime."
"Why?" He questioned.
"I do not wish to answer that right now." She replied, lifting the bow up and aligning it with the nearest target. Emlin glanced over at Legolas, who was watching her closely, and said, "You may wish to move away. I do not know what will happen when I release this."
Legolas laughed and shook his head, "I am sure nothing bad will come from it. Come, shoot the arrow and let me see how you do."
Emlin felt the pressure of his appraising eyes as she again looked towards her target. She would not enjoy his laughter when she completely missed the target... but then again, looking back at him, he seemed completely serious with the situation. Emlin summoned her courage and closed her eyes as she let loose the arrow. It hissed through the air, but made not a sound of embedding in the target. She opened one eye, then the other and saw it nowhere.
"Your first problem is that you closed your eyes." Legolas said, gazing at her thoughtfully. "I cannot believe that no one has taught you about eye contact with your target."
She rolled her eyes, "Of course they have. But they did not have a highly skilled archer beside them, staring at them."
A light pink crept to the tips of his ears, but he ignored it. Instead, he moved behind her and cautiously positioned her body differently, making Emlin exceedingly aware of his touch and not of what he was trying to teach her. He placed his hands over hers on the bow and moved it slightly, "How is that, Aiwamin?"
A shiver ran up her spine, but this was unsettling to her and she let him know that in not so much a pleasant way. "My father will strangle you if he sees you."
"Where is your father?" He asked, "I did not see him after the audience with the Lord and Lady this morn."
"He went with Lord Celeborn to deliver the news to the families of the two wardens that fell protecting the borders last eve." Emlin said, glancing from the corner of her eyes at him.
All he did was lean in closer. She tensed at this action and he breathed into her ear, "Do not worry, your father will be busy for sometime."
"Legolas..." Emlin tried not to giggle and blush, but the feel of his warm breath teasing her ear made her feel oddly giddy.
"What is it, Aiwamin?" He asked again. "I am only concerned with helping you shoot better. I am not concerned about your father."
"I would be concerned about her father."
The hair on the back of her neck rose in fright as soon as the deep and extremely angered voice found her ears. Legolas tensed considerably against her, and slowly pushed away. Emlin turned to find her father standing on the edge of the field, his arms crossed against his large chest, his face red with anger. Legolas stepped away from her and she set her bow at her side, preparing herself for whatever was going to happen.
"I thought I told you to stay away from my daughter." Haldir spoke, walking towards them.
Emlin sighed and glanced between her father and Legolas, "Ada, please do not do this, he was not harming me."
"Not harming you, meleth?" Haldir asked incredulously, "I have been in the trees the entire time since you first spoke to each other. I have heard your repeated efforts to get him to stop what he was doing."
"Haldir, you misunderstand." Legolas said, but received a hard glare.
"He is right, you do misunderstand." Emlin spoke slowly, "Just because I was threatening him, does not mean it was truthful. I only said it in jest, because, well frankly, you do anger far too easily and it is fun to jest about it."
She knew she should not have said that when her father's gaze shifted he looked at her angrily, "Emlin, go home. I will have some words with the prince alone."
Emlin took a deep breath, "No, I will not leave. You two need to stop this contest of who is stronger than the other! It is not even about me any longer, it is about the fact that you cannot control Legolas like everyone else, and that Legolas is not scared of you."
"Emlin, please," Haldir said again, his voice softening only slightly.
"And it does not even matter to you that Legolas and I have spoken since and know we can go beyond nothing but friends, for the sake of you and Nana, and because I am still young!" She exclaimed. "Legolas is a loyal friend, Ada. I cannot believe that you cannot see that. Had he known my age and whose child I was, he would have never said such things when he came to our talan."
Both ellyn remained silent as her father looked at her with a slowly dissolving anger, and Legolas with an interested amusement with her words.
"I may be young, but do not think that these things are foreign to me." Emlin said.
Haldir sighed, "But what he was doing to you, Emlin, the way he was touching..."
"Anyone who was teaching me how to shoot an arrow correctly would have done the exact same thing!" Emlin argued.
"But his words... belie innocence." Haldir began again.
"I do not care if they do." Emlin replied and glanced quickly at Legolas. "And the words I spoke to him belied what I was actually feeling. Aye, Ada, I enjoyed having his arms around me in such a way. The truth is that I had complete control over the situation and if I really did not want him doing what he was, I could have easily stopped him."
With that final comment Emlin ran towards the path, embarrassed that she had yelled at her father out in the middle of the city, and that Legolas heard the argument and the part about her liking the feel of his hands on her. When she was out of sight, Emlin paused for a bit, collecting her thoughts. There were really no coherent thoughts going through her head, though, and decided that she would spy on the conversation between her father and Legolas. Carefully, she eased herself from the staircase onto a close branch of the nearest mallorn. Slowly she went back in the direction of the practice field. Upon returning, she found the scene had not changed much since she had left, with her father and Legolas still staring at each other.
"She is only nine and forty, Legolas." Haldir muttered.
"Aye, Haldir, I know that." Legolas replied, "Do you think that little of me, though, that I would be so horrible?"
"I know not what I think of you." Haldir said.
Legolas sighed and placed a friendly hand upon Haldir's shoulder, "Mellon, if you really wish me to never speak with her again, then I shall honor your wishes."
Haldir was silent for a long time, and looked deeply into Legolas' eye, Emlin praying that her father made no rash remarks and decisions on this matter. He let out a heavy breath, "I do not wish that. But I do wish you would not speak to her in such a way as I heard earlier."
Emlin grumbled to herself, hearing her father's words.
"Aye, Haldir, I understand. But speaking between friends, may I remind you that Emlin is grown now, as much as you do not want to accept that, and she should be treated like such." Legolas asked. Emlin knew there was something decent about Legolas after all. Maybe he was her key to talking her father into independence.
"She is still my daughter, Legolas, not yours." Haldir said and placed his own hand on Legolas' opposite shoulder.
Legolas chuckled and shook his head. "I do not want daughters. I have heard they are nothing but trouble."
"You have no idea." Haldir smiled and removed his hand, motioning for the side path Emlin had taken earlier. They walked in silence and Emlin followed them silently through the trees.
"You are getting soft in your old age, mellon nin." Legolas said. "Had this been fifty years ago, I would have already been shot dead."
"The last thing I want is your father coming after me." Her father chuckled, "And I am not old. I am merely exhausted because I have children. You will understand when you decide to exercise your power of generation."
The walked in silence for awhile more, and Emlin was about ready to leave when her father glanced quickly at Legolas. "So you find my daughter appealing, do you?"
Legolas stopped and raised a curious eyebrow, "If this is bait to get me to say something incriminating, then I will not do it."
"I am serious, Legolas." Haldir said.
"She is very beautiful, Haldir." Legolas nodded his head, "But you know that. She is every bit like her mother."
Emlin smiled to herself. It was nice to actually hear those sincere words from another's mouth, besides that of her father's and mother's.
"I know." Her father smiled and let out a long sigh, glancing up at the trees. She pushed back as much as she could against the tree trunk, but she feared that the green of her dress would give her away. "Has everything said been to your liking, iell nin?!"
Mortification with Legolas when he saw through her tunic was one thing, but the humiliation she felt now being caught by her father, no less was just as horrible. Legolas followed her father's eyes and gazed up at the trees, letting a large smile cross his lips as if he too had known she had been spying on them. Of course, they probably had, with their highly trained elven senses, but she could still hope that they had not noticed her until recently.
"Emlin?" Her father called again.
"Aye Ada." She squeaked.
"Go home and tell your naneth that Legolas will be having the evening meal with us again this night." Haldir called out, and glanced at Legolas. Emlin started to move away and Haldir spoke lowly to Legolas, though she could still hear easily what was being said. "If she had been older, would you have pursued her?"
Legolas gave him an impish smile, "Most definitely, but not after I found out she was your daughter."
"Good, I am glad we have that understanding now. Since you are betrothed to the princess of Lindon." Haldir said. Emlin froze in her spot and let the words that her father had just spoken sink into her head. Legolas was betrothed? All of her little elfling fantasies and flutters she received when she thought of Legolas since his visit to Lórien faded right at that moment. To the princess of Lindon? For a moment she had thought Legolas to be an elf that would wed anyone he wished- even the Lórien March Warden's daughter- but he had been betrothed to a princess the entire time.
"Please do not remind me of that less than glad future." Legolas replied.
Haldir chuckled, "I will every time you look inappropriately at any other elleth."
"Hannon le, mellon. I always needed a watcher." Legolas said sarcastically and at last they were out of hearing range and Emlin slumped against the tree. Except, there was one thing she did not understand. Still she felt the pull of Legolas, the intense butterflies in her stomach, but this time they beat with force of a battering ram on her body knowing that she could never have him. She was not in love with him; she had a definite infatuation, but he was betrothed to another. And even if the entire world was vanquished of its evil and Legolas survived to see it, she would never know the feeling of his love. Emlin hung her head and let out a heavy sigh, walking towards her talan to alert her mother of the guest later that night.
----
Chen ad? –You again?
Meleth- love
Iell nin- My daughter
Ada- Dad
Naneth- Mother
Hannon le, mellon- Thank you, friend