A/N: WOOT! Snow Day! All Menomonie area schools are closed, and I decided as a celebration, I would post another chapter. Aren't I nice? -crickets chirp- Um, I take that as a yes?

Disclaimer: Eh, you already know. I don't own anything except for my own characters... blah blah blah.

{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}

Chapter Twelve: Meryl's Visitors

Aragorn hurried down the hallway. Gandalf had come to him while he was eating and had informed him that Meryl had fallen out of bed, and that she couldn't get up. Why had she tried getting out of bed? Silly girl, she knew that she wasn't strong enough.

He turned a corner, and brushed past an Elf, causing the immortal being to stumble. He quickly turned and apologized, saying that he needed to hurry to the Lady Meryl's room, not looking at whom he had bumped into once. Quickly he dashed down the hall and disappeared around another corner.

Laeras grinned. What luck, the Lady Meryl had finally awakened. "I guess that I will have to pay her a visit later," he told himself with a smile. "It will be quite interesting." He turned and went down the hall, in the direction where Aragorn had come from.

******************************************************************

Aragorn ran into Meryl's room. "I am here, where is she?" he began to say before Liselle, Meryl's handmaiden appeared by his side and clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Shhh!" she hissed. Seeing the question in his eyes, she pointed to Meryl's bed.

Aragorn glanced over, and saw that Meryl was on top of her bed, fast asleep. Liselle put a finger to her lips and uncovered his mouth. Aragorn turned to look at the Elf.

"Who came to help her?" he asked in a whisper.

"Nobody assisted her."

"What do you mean? She is back in bed."

"Meryl assisted herself. She grew restless and pulled herself back into her bed." Liselle shook her head. "I tried to help her, but she would not let me. She has exhausted herself, though. After getting to her feet, she fell onto her bed and was soon asleep."

Aragorn's eyes grew wide. "But she could not move without experiencing extreme pain earlier. How did she do it?"

"It seems that she fought through her pains," Liselle replied. "Many times it appeared that she was going to collapse, but she would not let herself." The Elf looked into the king's dark eyes. "I am frightened for her, my lord."

"Frightened? But why?"

"Meryl has a strong spirit and great pride in herself, which will provide her many accomplishments in her lifetime, do not get me wrong. But it can also be her demise. If in dangerous times she does not let anybody help her, she could kill herself."

Aragorn's dark eyes were thoughtful. "You may be right," he said. "How do you know of this? You speak as if you have encountered this before."

Liselle's eyes grew sad and she seemed to stare at nothing. "Hundreds of years ago, I saw it happen to my father."

"I am sorry," Aragorn said. "I did not know."

"Nobody did," said the Elf softly. "He died because he would not let anybody heal his poisoned wound. He thought that it was nothing; that he could pull through the pain on his own. Nobody knew he had it, except for me."

"How?"

"When he lay dying, he told me." The handmaiden's eyes grew moist with tears. "He berated himself for being too proud to let anybody know of his wound."

Their conversation was interrupted when Meryl let out a soft moan in her sleep. Liselle went over to the girl's side and smoothed her hair. She glanced at Aragorn and asked, "Will you pick her up for a moment?"

The King of Gondor did as he was asked. When Meryl was off of her bed, Liselle rearranged her blankets and put her pillow back on the mattress. She pulled the covers back and nodded to Aragorn. He set the sleeping girl back onto her bed and Liselle pulled the blankets up to her chin.

The Elf glanced at Aragorn. "Will you keep this conversation as a secret?"

Aragorn smiled softly. "You have my word that I will not tell."

"Thank you. You have my gratitude." Liselle curtseyed and quietly left the room.

Aragorn glanced at Meryl, who was still asleep. "May you have sweet dreams, Lady Meryl." He went through the doorway and closed the door behind him.

******************************************************************

It was still light out when Meryl again opened her eyes. The first thing that she noticed was that Dae was once again missing. Gimli was probably making sure that the dog was not bothering her. She bet that he had harnessed the dog somewhere. Seeing that she was alone in her room, she closed her eyes. In a few minutes, she opened them again.

"I can't get back to sleep," she complained to herself. Her eyes searched her walls and rested on her purse. It was hanging on a hook on the far side of the room.

"I wonder if I can get it," she said to herself. She tried to sit up, but pain quickly brought her to her back again. "Scratch that idea," she winced. She glanced around her room. "What do I do now?"

After thinking for a few minutes, she grinned. She took a deep breath, and began singing, "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around. Ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall!"

After she had gotten down to fifty bottles, she grew bored, but kept singing. Soon she reached zero bottles, but that didn't stop her. Defying all odds, she kept singing. "Negative twenty-one bottles of beer on the wall, negative twenty-one bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around. Negative twenty-two bottles of beer on the wall!"

Finally, a voice answered, "What is this song that you are singing?" Unfortunately, it was a voice that Meryl did not want to hear.

Her eyes focused on Laeras, who was standing in her doorway. "What are you doing here?" she spat. "Shouldn't you be somewhere else, as in not here? Far, far away from here?"

The Elf grinned cockily. "I came to visit a maiden who I thought would need some company."

"You've found the wrong maiden," Meryl replied. "Now go."

"That is one thing I like about you," he said as he strode inside. "You always speak what is on your mind, never afraid to do so."

Meryl's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?" she demanded.

"I have been admiring you from afar, my lady," Laeras started to say as he drew closer. "Many nights have I lain in bed and thought about you. Your hair. Your eyes. Your skin. Your anger."

"Don't call me lady." Meryl was starting to become scared. What was he getting to? Quickly she hardened her face and retorted, "Get out. Now."

"Or what?" Laeras laughed softly as he stopped at Meryl's side. "You will strike me again? I think not. I know that you cannot move without experiencing pain. There is nothing you can do."

Meryl froze. He had her there. Her eyes grew wide as the Elf leaned over her, until his face was a foot above hers.

"Do you know what I have thought about you the most?" he whispered. "What your kisses would be like."

With that statement, his face drew nearer to Meryl's. Meryl felt like whimpering. The bastard was going to kiss her! And she couldn't move an inch to protect herself. She tried to move away from him, but a spasm of pain made her stop. A soft cry escaped from her lips.

Laeras smiled. His face was inches from hers. "So I was right. You cannot move at all."

Meryl glared at him. "Get away from me."

{Oh, God. Please, Valar. Whomever is out there,} she thought. {SOMEBODY HELP ME!!}

As if Meryl's prayers were answered, she heard footsteps echo down the hall. Voice grew louder and she realized who they were. She smirked at Laeras. "You may want to leave. Apparently I have some visitors on the way."

The Elf's eyes darkened and grew cold. "I will be back." Quickly, he straightened up and slunk out of the room, dejection in his every move. He ran down the hall and disappeared around a corner.

Soon, two figures appeared in Meryl's doorway. Two rather small figures.

"Hey guys," Meryl smiled. "How are my two favorite twin elflings?"

Mahtan and Nessa dashed to Meryl's bedside. Both began jabbering at once, asking if she was all right and telling her about what had happened recently in their secret spot (apparently, Gilraen had been dared to eat three worms without throwing up. She had succeeded in eating them, and was now gloating over Mahtan and Golradir, who had to care for her horse for a month). Meryl couldn't help it but smile. She apparently had forgotten about her promises again. It was hard to remember them, especially when the elflings were around. Their innocence and character eclipsed all of her previous thoughts.

After the talking had quieted, Nessa's face grew serious. "Meryl, maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me, but earlier did I see Laeras come out of your room?"

Meryl's smile quickly disappeared. "Yeah, you saw him," she replied bitterly.

"What was he doing here?" Nessa's eyes had a "Don't-you-dare-lie-to me," look to them. Mahtan was completely confused, glancing first at his twin and then to Meryl.

Meryl felt a huge resentment well up deep inside of her. "That bloody bastard tried to kiss me," she whispered angrily. "And I couldn't move to defend myself unless I wanted to go through a lot of pain."

The twins gasped. Mahtan, because Meryl had cursed, and Nessa because she knew what was happening between Meryl and Laeras.

"We must tell Prince Legolas!" cried Nessa and she turned to leave. "He will know what to do."

"No!" said Meryl as she tried to sit up. She winced as pain ran through her body. Nessa whirled around and went back to Meryl's side.

"Meryl! Are you all right?"

"You can't tell him," Meryl said. "This is between me and that Elf-with Orcs-for-parents. Nessa, promise me that you won't tell him. Or anyone else."

"But--" Nessa began to protest.

"Promise me!"

Mahtan looked at his sister. "Is there something that I have missed?"

"Mahtan, this is none of your business. The less you know, the better," the elfling replied. She looked at the floor. "Meryl, I promise not to tell Prince Legolas."

Meryl smiled. "Thank you."

Mahtan cocked an eyebrow in Meryl's direction. "You do know that saying that an Elf is an offspring of Yrch is extremely insulting, right?"

******************************************************************

After almost half an hour of visiting with the twin elflings, they were interrupted by Liselle carrying a tray of food. The handmaiden quickly shooed Nessa and Mahtan out of the room. When they had gone, Liselle turned to Meryl.

"I brought you your evening meal. Do you need any help in eating?"

Meryl smiled. "How nice of you to ask. Unfortunately, I think that I can do this on my own." To prove her point, she planted her hands on either side of her body and slowly pushed her way to a sitting position. She leaned against her pillows and closed her eyes. "Well, that used up the last stores of my energy."

Liselle clucked her tongue in disapproval. "To be honest, Meryl, I think that you should not be wearing yourself out in that fashion. You will be recovering faster if you just saved your energy." She brought the tray over to Meryl and set it into the girl's lap.

Meryl took a glance at her food and was instantly hungry. Liselle was kind enough to bring a fairly large portion of roast chicken with a cooked potato on the side. On the right side of the tray were a fork and a knife. Meryl suddenly had an idea. She glanced over at her handmaiden and saw that she was bringing in freshly laundered clothes.

"I thought that since you were not sick, that I would bring you a real meal. When you were asleep, we had to spoon-feed you soup," said Liselle with her back turned to Meryl.

"Oh, thank you." It was time to put her plan into action. Meryl gritted her teeth against the upcoming pain. When she made sure that Liselle wasn't looking, she picked up her knife and quickly slid it into her pillowcase, making sure that it was underneath the pillow. Before Liselle turned back around, she picked her fork up and began doggedly sawing at her meat to cover up what she had just done.

The Elf noticed what she was doing and said, "Meryl. You are supposed to use your knife when you eat."

"I know that," Meryl replied in mock irritably. "It's just that I don't have a knife."

"You do not have one?" Liselle's brow furrowed in confusion. "But I am sure that I had given you one."

"Well, I don't have one." Meryl's face was masked with perfect innocence. She glanced at Liselle and gave a small shrug with her shoulders.

"I will go and get another one for you then." Liselle swept out of the room and disappeared down the hall.

"You go do that," Meryl said quietly to herself. She smiled at the thought that she had pulled it off. She sighed and leaned against her pillows once again. "I don't understand all of this."

"Understand what, may I ask?" piped an elderly voice from her doorway.

Meryl opened an eye and glanced over at the door. There stood a man who only stood at about three feet tall. He walked with a cane in his right hand. He was dressed in a simple enough outfit: a white shirt with cream breeches. A light yellow shawl has been draped across his shoulders.

The girl's eyes widened. Could this really be...?

{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~

Thus ends this chapter. I'll leave you to guess who the mystery person is. Also, you have until after I post chapter thirteen to send in your vote for my hedgehog's name. ^^ I really appreciate this, you guys. Thanks a lot.

Be sure to review!

By the Lion's Mane,

Leo