Chapter Three: Choices
Morning had come too soon and Arissa had been awake four the past several hours thinking, the sun smiled on her face as it passed over the mountaintops. Dew had already been set on the grass and the birds have just begun to sing their melodies. Goliath came to her side, rested his head on her lap stroking his coat gently Arissa let out a small sigh.
"Death is my fate, and life is my wish" looking down Arissa begins to cry. "How can I escape something that is destined to happen?" Arissa wondered. A knock comes from her door; Arissa opens it to find Legolas holding a bouquet of flowers.
"Good mor...ning?" Legolas stuttered. "What's wrong Arissa?"
"Oh nothing um...are these for me their beautiful your highness thank you" her lack of using his name worried him.
"I thought I had asked you to call me Legolas Arissa?" He walked closer to her but her body shifted away from his own.
"Your highness" Arissa sighed once more. "With power comes specific obligations and to those I am bound, and will remain as such. You and I could never be more than what we are now, so please just leave" Arissa said it the words she never meant or wanted to leave her mouth but there they were.
"You don't mean that Arissa" Legolas reached for her hand.
"Just leave!" Arissa's voice echoed throughout her room. Legolas stepped back his heart broken and confused. Closing the door Arissa ran to her bed sobbing loudly into her pillows, Goliath is her only comfort.
Lady Galandriel spots Legolas from the distance and with her keen eyesight; she noticed the tears flowing down his face. Rushing to his side, she asked why he cried.
"Much has happened to Arissa in the hours of late, you must understand young prince her intentions for you are still good, she wishes to be with you but," Lady Galandriel stopped. "Perhaps she would be a better person to explain"
"That's just it Arissa wishes not to see me, just this morning she threw me out of her quarters. Her explanation was that with power comes specific obligations and to those she is bound" his voice sounded confused.
"Go to her she waits for you in the cherry blossom garden" the elder elf woman said.
"But I"
"Go to her before its too late" the royal queen said once more.
Walking down the halls of the palace and into the many gardens, Legolas finds Arissa sitting down plucking flowers nearby her, with one hand and in the other the bouquet he had given her. Arissa looked up and once more tears begin to form in her eyes.
"Why is it that when ever we are together you are always crying dear sweet princess?" he asked wiping away her tears.
"Stop it I don't want you to" Arissa pulled away from his hand.
"You don't want me to what Arissa I don't understand you I really like you, isn't that" Arissa interrupted Legolas.
"That's just it I don't want any of it, because in the end all I'm going to have to do is give it up. So rather than have it and let it go knowing what it was how much I loved it wanted it, I'd rather let it go not knowing any of it, because I know that I could never let it go no matter what" she explained.
"I don't understand Arissa I really like you I want to be with you isn't that enough?" Legolas asked sitting next to her.
"No because if I'm going to be with you I know in my heart that I'm never going to want to let you go." Arissa's crying grew. "I do not want to make that choice where I jeopardize everything we would have, so I'm leaving you I'm letting it go and never looking back" hanging her head her tears loosely fall to the ground.
"Jeopardize what Arissa?" Legolas is beginning to wonder if she promised to another her hand in marriage, if it were only that simple.
"Don't you get it; you and I can never be we will never be. With power comes specific obligations and to those obligations I am bound not only in this life but the next. So please just leave me be" Arissa's hands covered her face they become full of her tears, but Legolas does not leave her side instead he pulled her into his embrace.
"I cannot do that Arissa because with my love comes specific obligations, I need you I have to be with you there is no other way." He said so lovingly.
"Please do not make me say something that I may regret later, just understand and believe me. If I could make it any other way, I would. If I could have any other life than this just to be with you, I would take within a heartbeat. Nevertheless, this is my life and with it I have certain duties, ones that do not involve love." Yet this still does not make him move Legolas is stubborn and will have what he wants.
"You don't have to face this alone; Lady Galandriel has told me that there is something that you must face. Let me be there with you, let me help you. I am not asking for your heart only your friendship, although...I love you Arissa but I will not ask you to reply with a great devotion of your own love" he said her burden felt so much lighter. "Tell me what is happening to you"
"When I was younger my twin brother Adam killed my mother and Lord Nicolas he framed Nicolas making it look as if he and my mother were lovers. I do not know why he killed her Lady Galandriel says it was jealousy of me. Placing a spell on my father Adam fled the city and as much as we know the world, but he is back and seeks my blood. This jewel is our life force, we are bound to each other and only if I were to be killed will he die in the process. The spell he placed on my father was a horrible one, my father beat me as a young elf girl and it continued into my adolescent years, that's where I got this scar" Arissa lifted her shirt to reveal the ugly scar. "From his sword another one of his 'accidents' for some reason there is something that I am going to do, I don't know what, all I know is that Lady Galandriel said it was great" Arissa explained. "They have searched for centuries trying to find a way to kill him without taking me in the process but they have failed and now it is my turn,"
"I will not let you go through this alone Arissa I love you too much to let you go so easily" Legolas said pulling her into his embrace but this time she did not pull away instead she rested her head on the crook of his neck.
"I do not wish for you to bare my burden," she said kissing his neck gently his spine tingled.
"I bare it at my own will and if I could I would take it all away melamin," he said kissing her forehead. "It is my choice and it is decided" was the last thing he said before they fell asleep on the soft grass holding each other. Goliath came and lay next to them giving them his warmth. What saddened Legolas was that Arissa never said I love you back, was his confession of love worthless?