Okay, new chapter... and I'm off to write a mid-term... sigh.
Silence reigned for a long moment, while everyone, even the spiders and wolves, seemed to pause to digest her words.
"What?" he hissed. "You are not my sister. My mother had only three children."
She shook her head and rounded him again. "Our mother had only us two. Your father, though, he had three children. You should have figured it out by now. Why haven't you? The mother who was never yours? You hated her, and then she was dead. That's when you partially figured it out, isn't it? That's when you knew you were different. When you killed the Queen."
"She was killed by spiders!" the elf defended, walking so he kept her in sight. Legolas's eyes widened as he fit things together, recognizing the voice, now that it was truly a voice again. Teraien.
"You ordered them to do it."
"I didn't know I could command them!" he protested. "It was an accident!"
"But when you found out, you didn't care. You didn't suffer. After all, she had always loved her children best."
"Wha-what are you talking about? She was my mother! I won't believe your lies!"
"No," Nenya murmured, shaking her head slightly, her black eyes still focused on him. "She was not your mother."
"Of course she was!" Teraien insisted, pushing his hood back. "I am the prince who shall be king, and she was my mother!"
"No," Nenya repeated. "You will never be king. The bastard son of a king should hardly hold the throne, should he? It has not happened in our history, and it shall not happen here."
"You don't know what you're speaking of! She was my mother!"
"You hated her. But didn't you ever think about it? Your hair, your eyes, so dark, so odd. Un-elf-like. Because it didn't come from elves. It came from the spiders. From your true mother." Nenya threw her hood back. "From our mother."
"No!"
"Yes," she insisted, her eyes narrowing on him as he insisted on denying the truth. "The blood of the spiders comes from her, runs through us both. You cannot believe Thranduil would allow you to rule his kingdom. You, with black blood in his veins? You who were in her womb when she drank of their blood for the first time? You who were abandoned by the only one who could have understood the darkness in your mind, the craving for things elves abhor. She abandoned you, saw you were evil, without starlight shining in your black eyes. She left you with the father who hadn't wanted a child with her, left you with her lover, but kept the child she bore an elf she never loved. She kept that child, loved that child. She loved me."
Teraien was breathing too quickly as he turned jerkily to keep her in sight as she continued to circle him. "You lie!"
"Do I? You know my story fills in too many gaps. You look nothing like them, but you do look like me. Because we had the same mother, share spider blood, that odd little quirk in us that binds us and makes others see us as odd. What reason have I to lie?"
"You wish to free your friends!"
"Friends? Can we have friends?" she asked softly. "Creatures of darkness have no friends in the light."
Teraien paused at that. "You do not wish to save them?"
"I would free Legolas. After all, he is, in a way, a brother to me."
"But if you don't, we could rule Mirkwood. Thranduil's old heart is breaking, with his precious children believed dead. He is fading fast, and when he's gone, we can rule. We will be all powerful!"
Nenya stopped. "Fool!" she bellowed. "I am all powerful! You are weak! You stay in shadows, hide your black heart from those around you. Stay in the heart of darkness with the dead, but leave the living to the light!" She was a terrible sight to behold, her eyes flashing blue in the slight starlight, her entire body black with blood, her teeth bared as she faced her brother.
"You lied!" he snarled, drawing his sword.
"I have not," she countered. Slowly she smiled, a wicked smile. "Your dear little darlings are confused, dark prince. They don't know who to turn to. After all, you don't even recall your name, while I was trained and have lived all my life in their ways, their woods. Who do you think they'll turn to?"
"My name is Teraien!"
"Is it? Funny. That's not what Mother would have said, were she here."
"Why isn't she?"
Nenya smiled, a bitter, dark little smile. "She died of a broken heart, of course." She laughed softly, pain echoing hollowly in the sound. "She bore a bastard who was evil, of darkness. How could any elf bear that for more than a few hundred years? As you grew darker, her will left her, since she tried to help Thranduil deal with you."
"She abandoned you, too," Teraien smiled.
"No," Nenya smiled, and their smiles were both terrible. "She left me with her sisters, those who carried her blood, with the home she had built, with the letters she was written by her lover so I could know her through them. She has always been with me."
"No matter. I will destroy you," Teraien hissed, regaining some of his composure. He called to the spiders, yelling at them to capture her.
Nenya laughed, turning her attention to the milling spiders. "Dear me, little darlings. What has happened? You seek to obey the one who knows not his name?"
"My name is Teraien!" he screeched, his eyes glowing yellow as if he was one of the spiders around them.
"No, it is not. You should remember the name she gave you. It is all that held your dark heart to this world."
The elf paused, frowning. "Tell me, if you believe you know."
"I don't feel like it. You have decent elves fastened to trees. It ruins my concentration." Nenya yawned softly, covering her mouth with her hand absently. She had gone from a deadly, intent hunter to bored child in an instant. After watching Teraien's mood swings, it didn't seem so odd. Considering.
"You do not know."
"Of course I do. I have letters from your father to our mother. One tells her he changed your name to Teraien from… Dareklien, are you well?"
Teraien growled and leapt upon her. "Witch!"
"Bastard!" she taunted, throwing him off of her easily.
He rushed back, holding a blade over his head as he hurled himself on her. The spiders were in utter confusion, and so they didn't noticed the wolves and spiders approaching, releasing their hostages.
As soon as they were free, it was chaos, spider parts going in every direction. Calls for Nenya echoed over the hissing shrieks of dying spiders, but she never responded. Suddenly they spotted her, and Teraien.
The elder prince lifted his head and was about to strike her when she stabbed upwards. The blade fell from his hands, his mouth forming a surprised 'o' as his dark eyes slowly lost their yellow glow as he dropped to his knees, then to the ground. Nenya recovered her blade and turned to the elves, to her spiders and her wolves. It was over.
She managed only a few steps before she fell gracelessly to the ground. Wolves, spiders, and elves circled her, a falcon crying from overhead. Arms, strong but shaking slightly wrapped around her. She smiled up faintly and looked at her wolves. "You must take his body to the gates of the palace tonight. The war finished yesterday, and they shall be wondering after him." One of the wolves nodded and then looked back at her beseechingly.
Dareklien rolled his eyes. "They understand us?" he groaned, thinking of all the trouble knowing that would have saved.
"Nya?" Legolas asked softly, holding her tighter. "Nenya?" he shook her slightly.
She blinked, focusing with some difficulty on him. She smiled slightly. "The debt is paid. The stone is released. Take it to the flet beyond mine. Your father's letters are there. Take them, and the book he gave me." She drew in a painful breath. Wait two days before you go to him. Do not wait too long to retrieve your sister."
"Nya, won't you be with me?" he asked softly, pulling her entirely into his embrace.
She shook her head. "No." She smiled slightly. "It's ironic, isn't it? That which binds us is no longer there, but it is of no importance now."
"I will take you to the healers," he insisted, starting to get up.
"No. Leave me be."
"But you may have a chance," he protested, his voice rasping as he noticed for the first time the amount of blood she was loosing every moment.
She reached up and brushed the single tear from his eye. "You carry me with you." She touched the back of his hand. "Let me go. Let me take my last moments of peace with those who shall bury me, as their ancestors buried my mother many years ago." She stirred slightly, seeking to escape his hold. "Legolas," she breathed, "you must. I do not wish to die amidst this carnage. Allow me this one thing, please. You have the answers you sought."
"They are but words."
She nodded slightly. "True." She smiled and touched his cheek, leaning up to kiss his forehead before calling the large wolf to her, carefully situating herself before the wolf slowly took off.
Legolas buried his face in his hands as the mournful song of the bereaved wolves rose in the air, carrying his heart deeper into the forest, leaving bleeding fragments along the way.