/I don't own anything you recognize in this story. /

Chapter Thirteen

It seemed insane that Gandalf was alive. Actually it was impossible, how could Gandalf be alive again. But yet, the old wizard had told them all about it, somewhat. Legolas thought all of this as he rode on the back of his horse and holding Merian around the middle.

Legolas thought back to when they were in Fangorn Forest. For several days they had traveled, growing ever weary of the darkness, the sorrow, especially Legolas considering he could feel the emotions of the trees, etc, as the others of his race was able to sense. Then they met up with the wizard that they had thought was Saruman, when it turned out that it was only Gandalf, the one man of whom they thought was dead. With the reunion of the Wizard, the man had said that they had to go to Rohan, to see the King and that's where they were headed and were assured that the two young hobbits were just fine.

Merian leaned her head against Legolas' chest and looked up at the Elf. "What are you thinking about, Legolas?"

"I'm thinking about getting to Rohan. What else would be on my mind?" Legolas answered.

Merian sighed. "I was hoping there were SOME thoughts about me in that head of yours."

Legolas gaped. "Merian, this isn't the time or place to be thinking about that kind of stuff. I didn't come onto this journey to think about women. I have a war to fight."

"But you must think of things other than war, Legolas. I'm sure you do. You can't walk around with despair in your heart because you know you have to have in order to win this war. You must think of other things," Merian exclaimed.

"Merian, I think you are a little confused. This isn't the time or the place to have a relationship. You know that, I thought you knew that. I even remember you saying that once. Let's wait until this is all over with, yes?"

Merian frowned and Legolas sighed with frustration. He should've known that this was going to happen all over again, because it never ended. Never, no matter how Legolas tried to cut the never-ending circle. The girl always wanted the romance and that's all she wanted, no matter how much she tried to conceal it; it always showed itself somehow.

Merian gave Legolas a look. "Are you still in love with Arwen?"

Legolas stiffened. Why was he having this conversation right now? He didn't want to talk about Arwen, not now, not when he had other things to think about and when he had thought he was over the she Elf.

"What makes you think that I'm still in love with Arwen? I'm not in love with her anymore. She's Aragorn's girl now, never mine in the first place and for me, good riddance," Legolas said fiercely.

"You don't have to be angry," Merian said. "I'm here for you—"

Legolas laughed sarcastically. "You were here for me? Nobody was ever here for me. I support myself because that is me; I was born to be in exile." Legolas reined in his horse suddenly and Aragorn and Gandalf rode on for several feet before they realized that Legolas stopped and circled back to stop in front of Legolas and Merian.

"What's going on, Legolas?" Aragorn asked. "We don't have time to stop now, you should know that."

"Get down, Merian," Legolas said sternly.

Merian stared at Legolas in shock. "What do you mean, get down?"

"Exactly what I mean, Merian. Get down off the horse, please. I'm going back. I should have stayed at Rivendell and headed back after Elrond's council. I'm probably going to pay for not coming straight back afterwards, but I thought I needed this, to prove myself. But all I've proven to myself is that all you women want is the man to make your vision of a good home complete. Now, get down," Legolas all but shouted.

Merian got down silently and looked up at Legolas, confusion shown in her eyes. A small, nagging voice in the back of Legolas' mind was telling him that he was doing the wrong thing and that he needed to see this mission through or he would be shamed for the rest of his life. But Legolas was so mad that he didn't care.

Legolas turned the horse around and began to head back the way he came from. He was tired of this whole thing. His father was right, it was better to fight anything in the home front, because well, your own people were worth more and if you go abroad you're fighting somebody else's war.

As the horse began to get some distance between the remaining Fellowship, Legolas allowed the horse to run full gallop. He hadn't done that in a long time and it felt pretty good.

That night, Legolas stopped the horse so that the beast could have some rest to make the journey home the next day. As Legolas sat on the ground, his mind began to drift back to the past, just before Thranduil had sent him to Rivendell for the council…

A/n: Here's chapter thirteen for you alls. It's a little short, but it's the best I can do nowadays with being busy. I won't be as busy in 6 days time, so I might be able to write longer and more chapters then. In the meantime, please bear with me. Thanks to those who've been reviewing, they're a booster. Happy reading to all and I'll keep writing when I get the time.