A/N: Tolkien never says if Legolas has brothers or not. But one can hope!
Steff7 - She won't get in too much trouble and Deka will calm down. Eventually.
Jebb - Good. I trust you all to keep me on the straight and narrow!
Annowe slammed the door behind her and cursed. How could Deka be so single- minded? It wasn't like she forced him to go with the ring or told him to go. Not that it would have mattered in the end. He was going to do what he wanted to and nothing she could do or say would stop him so she didn't even bother.
"She is still angry?" Holly asked calmly, standing up from her chair to poke at the small fire.
Annowe snorted. "Angry isn't quite the word for it," she grumbled moodily and stalked around the room.
Holly said nothing but returned to her seat by the fireplace and watched her irate sister pace the floor.
"Why is she so mad at me?" Annowe asked, speaking rhetorically. "I didn't MAKE him go or tell him to go – he just went. Why doesn't she understand that?" She glanced at Holly who patiently waited for her to continue. She knew that Annowe was just talking out loud to herself, trying to gather her thoughts.
"Perhaps I should have kept quiet about the ring. How bad it was. But I thought if I told him what it was, he would stay away from it." She shook her head at his stubbornness and stopped pacing for a moment.
"The worst part of it is she is behaving like he is more important to her than he is to me!" Annowe poked her self in the chest indignantly to emphasize her point at Deka's foolish assumption.
She began pacing again. "Bah! I don't even know why I bother! I should just head to Isengard myself. Or Lothlorien. At least Galadriel would understand the danger and help me." She sighed heavily and flopped down on a bench to gaze moodily into the fire.
"Are you quite finished?" Holly asked when Annowe had remained quiet for several moments.
Annowe scowled at the fire. "Yes, I'm quite finished. For now."
"Well, then, first let me say that Deka does understand how dangerous the times are. That is why she is so upset about Legolas. The nymphs will need him and his protection if, Eru forbid, the ring is not destroyed," Holly reminded her.
"But he has two brothers!" Annowe growled. "What about them? They aren't useless."
"True, but if Sauron rises again, it will take all four of them to protect our small part of the world. You know that he nearly overran the entire forest the last time and there were only the three of them. We will need Legolas' strength to help keep the foul things at bay should the ring be returned to Sauron," Holly reasoned.
Annowe frowned deeply but said nothing.
"Deka is just worried about the future. She's more frightened than angry," Holly finished.
"Why is she taking this out on me? I didn't send him off. I'm just as worried about him as she is. Why doesn't she help me to help him?" Annowe sulked.
Holly laid her book aside to reason with her sister. "She will soon see reason but right now she's upset. You know she can't see you without becoming agitated over Legolas."
"But that was long ago," Annowe protested. "And I did as she asked me. Why is she still mad about it?"
"Yes, you did exactly what she asked of you before but it only made the situation worse. She's angry at the situation and frightened for the consequences," Holly replied.
Confused, Annowe looked at her sister. "Why?"
Holly hid a smile. "She asked you to leave so she could find Legolas a mate. And you left."
Annowe acknowledged this fact with a grunt.
"What Deka didn't foresee was that when you left, it made Legolas realize how much he had come to fancy you and he grew melancholy," Holly said. "It just made Deka press harder for him to mate. But you know how stubborn he can be, especially when pressed. He didn't out right refuse her but he avoided her and put her off with platitudes until you returned."
Annowe relaxed and smiled in spite of herself. Yes, she knew how infuriating he could be by his excruciating politeness and decorum when he was trying to avoid something unpleasant.
She could just hear him telling Deka that he could not possibly consider even approaching a maid without his father's approval and her father's consent. And, of course, all the necessary chaperones would have to be in place to ensure the strictest protocol was followed so there could be no questions about his intensions.
He would have made her life miserable. Annowe almost felt sorry for her cousin once she realized what she had gone through trying to find Legolas a mate while she was gone. Five hundred years was not nearly enough time to wear him down.
"And when I came back, it was even worse because I had stories to tell," Annowe finished miserably.
"Yes," Holly admitted. "Not only was he glad to see you, his old friend, but you told him tales of your adventures and it made him long for a life outside of Mirkwood. Deka feared that he would run off in search of adventure and now it seems that he has."
Annowe groaned and slapped herself in the forehead with her open palm at her own oblivion. "I had no idea."
"Of course not," Holly assured her. "You knew how you felt about him but he had no idea of why he missed you so terribly. Deka was hoping he wouldn't figure it out but apparently he has. It has stirred up some old fears in her. She's afraid he will never mate but just chase around after you on endless quests."
"I don't know whether to laugh or cry," Annowe admitted ruefully, feeling a momentary pang of guilt that she had confessed her desire for him during their scouting mission. Perhaps if she had just kept quiet and never admitted to him how she felt things would be different. She couldn't help but feel that it was partly her fault that he had taken this quest in the first place and this revelation just added to it.
Holly smiled reassuringly. "You should occupy your mind elsewhere. Deka will soon realize that there are more important matters to attend to than harboring a grudge."
Annowe stood and walked over to her sister.
"Thanks, Holly. You always know what to say," she bent down and hugged her sibling before retreating to her bedroom to consider the consequences of declaring her affection for the elf.
The Company was fast approaching the Limlight River that ran through the north of Fangorn Forest. Aragorn pointed out that the river was the northern boundary of Rohan but none of the Rohirrim lived near the Forest or near the Anduin River in these dark times. Instead, they had retreated westwards to the safety of their cities as the evil from the east spread.
The land was growing flatter on both sides of the river but the barrenness of the eastern side did not change. It was still a brown husk of sterile nothingness. Just looking at it gave Legolas the shivers. There was no way someone could hope to walk across that barren wasteland without being seen by Sauron or his minions. He wondered how they could ever hope to make it to Mordor undetected.
All the odds seemed to be against them. The only factors in their favor was that Sauron did not know where The Ring was and he did not expect anyone to try and destroy it right under his nose (so to speak). It was a desperate act and Legolas had known that at the outset.
However, he did not envision the outcome quite so bleakly and would have liked more time with Annowe before he left. He missed her terribly and longed to hear her laugh or tell a joke to make him smile. She could always cheer him up or at least keep him from slipping too deeply into worry by putting everything into perspective for him. But she was not here and he did not know where she was or if he would ever see her again.
He sighed heavily, his brooding mood a mirror of the grey day around him. He continued to scan the eastern shore for any sign of movement as there was no cover for them to hide in should any Orcs appear. Aragorn had told them that the Orcs could easily shoot arrows from one side of the river to the other. He did not have to add that they would be floating targets should any of Sauron's minions appear.
A chill wind blew in from the east as if to remind them of their ultimate destination. Legolas shivered against the unnerving wind. Gimli, too, seemed to sense that something dark and foreboding was stirring in the east.
"Ach, this is an ill wind that blows. It's as if every living thing has fled before it," he rumbled as his narrowed eyes shifted from side to side. There was still no living creature to be seen although in the great distance they could glimpse the ancient forest of Fangorn.
At the southwestern end of Fangorn lay Isengard where the traitor, Curunir, was hiding. Legolas wondered if the wizard could sense The Ring as well or if he knew of their mission. If he knew of them and their burden, he would certainly try to capture them or steal The Ring for himself.
If Mithrandir was correct, Curunir wanted The Ring for himself to challenge the Enemy for supremacy over Middle Earth. If he knew of the Fellowship and their purpose, they could quite possibly get caught between Curunir and Sauron. Legolas cringed at the thought. They would have nowhere to run.
He kept these chilling thoughts to himself, hoping that none of the Periannath had reasoned this out. They would be terrified. Furtively, he examined each of their faces and none of them seemed to be any more anxious than usual and that was a bit of comfort. Hopefully, they would slip past Fangorn and make it to the falls without Curunir ever knowing of their existence or their ultimate purpose.