Mystress Deidra: I don't mind that sort of reviews, but when people want a response, I'm hard pressed to respond to 'update soon' in any other way than updating… eventually. I like getting reviews, and I think those who take the time to review would like acknowledgement, but there's only so many ways to say 'thanks' to good, write more… and thanks isn't really an apt reply for that, anyway. Glad you liked it, hope you like this one as well.
Concetta: Not usually… even when it was Wind and Leaf. So, they may never manage it.
Kelsey: What did you predict? They will stop soon… for a while… Definitely let me know if you find something like that. Of course, then the entire world of Legomance (odd word, really) would, for the most part, come crashing down.
LadyJadePerendhil: What would Mary Sue chemistry involve? I've always been a bit fuzzy on some of the distinctions… Keep reading for other answers (chapter—you can skip review responses if you like).
Animir: I don't know if there were any gay elves. Absolutely none. The last chapter was working on the assumption that if there were any, Elladan, Elrohir & Estel didn't come across it, or at least would never have expected it of Legolas.
Iluvien: You aren't the only one.
Laughard72: Do any of us? I have yet to meet one.
unnamed: I've actually been able to avoid chemistry for two full years! Of course, I've taken multiple bio classes every term since then… Sigh. Yeah… I just can't see Alye as a tenth walker, and I can't even begin to think up something that hasn't been done a few thousand times to make it worth the effort. Not to mention I couldn't expect people to believe it any different than all the others, and continue to read. I must admit to liking Irulan, though. (Obviously—they're both in my favorites.)
sarah: Actually, locking them a room sounds like a good idea. But not soon, at least. I've got a few ideas ahead for the next chapters… without rooms. Oh well, maybe later. Yes, it was the council. I generally know more or less what's going to happen to the end. Sometimes that is somewhat uncertain, and if I get lots of requests for something I will change it or make concessions of some sort. I always find it amusing when people ask for something I already have written—as I usually write the chapter, let it sit, then edit/review it myself before subjecting you guys to it.
juvenile delinquent: No, she didn't know. It was a group decision to not know who each other were, so that should they find each other again, they wouldn't have rank or job standing between them. Yes, it is/was leading up to that, and no, it won't be a tenth walker story, for various reasons, including the over-done aspect of most tenth walker stories. There's little left there to do, and I'm not going to try it.
Kat: No, it's not going to be a tenth walker story. Promise.
Pandamei & IvannethFuin: Thanks for reading/reviewing!
Farflung: Missed your reviews. Hope you're not too busy to relax with fics (or am I the only one to relax that way?).
To everyone else who reads this: No, this will not be a tenth walker story.
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Since Leaf could speak for his father in many matters between the two realms, he was detained most of the time he was there, and I was able to avoid him quite easily when he wasn't. In the last years I had come to know Imladris better than I had grown to know the halls, and could easily disappear for a few hours or days without being found.
Any time I felt him coming, I left, found another way out, or simply remained hidden. I wasn't ready to talk to him just yet… after all, we always ended up in each others arms until we grew too angry at each other to endure the touch. I had left because I was tired of it, had stayed away and refused to contact him for that reason… and for that same reason I avoided him now. I didn't know what to do, to say, to explain to make it any better.
"Hello Tyran," a female voice behind me murmured.
"Good eve, Arwen," I murmured back, not bothering to turn. I heard the rustle of skirts as she moved to a bench.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course, my lady," I agreed, leaning back against the tree to look at her, my arms still crossed over my chest.
"Estel has told me you know the Prince of Mirkwood quite well…" The way she trailed off almost made it a question.
"For the majority of our lives," I agreed softly.
"Then do you know why he has never married? It seems odd to me… and indeed I have heard several she-elves here wondering about it."
I smiled faintly and shook my head. "He has never married because he has never found an elf he feels truly loves him, not his title or position, but him."
"That is what you believe?" a voice suddenly exclaimed from the side. "I—"
I glared, narrowing my eyes at him. "I was unaware you were invited to join in this conversation, Prince."
He returned my glare. "And I was unaware I had to plan two months ahead to find you anywhere to get a moment to talk to you. As I'm leaving in the morning, would you not give me a minute?"
Arwen looked between us, obviously feeling the tension snapping on the air between us. With a confused look in her eye for an instant before she could hide it, she rose. "Good evening," she called to us both. She was more or less ignored as Leaf moved forward, taking my arm and guiding me back to Elrond's house, all but dragging me down the halls.
He opened a door and shut it loudly behind him. "Sit," he hissed, letting go of me next to the bed.
To spite him I remained standing, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Fine," he growled, before he began pacing. Slowly the movement seemed to drain his anger from him, and when he finally stopped his eyes were so full of sorrow and despair that my own arms dropped. "Alyeni," he whispered, slowly crossing the room to stand before me. "Alyeni, is there any chance for us? Please… I… I wish to know. You should know I have always loved you—" he paused when my eyes flew to his, a frown touching his brow. "Did you not?"
"I… I knew you at least thought you loved me at first."
"You believed my heart so inconsistent as to forget you when I find I have all the more reason to love you?"
I took a deep breath and stared at the first fastening on his shirt. "You spent so much time angry with me, that I—"
His lips took away the rest of my statement, which I was thankful for, not knowing entirely how I was planning to finish even as I spoke… never mind I had never really minded it when he kissed me, anyway. "Alye," he sighed, shaking his head slightly. "You are so young in the ways of she-elves… I was afraid you would awaken to the power you can wield over males with but a small smile, and would find that I had been but a passing fancy—a moment of pity for a friend."
"And my response to you?"
He sighed. "You have had no one to compare me to," he murmured as if the words were ripped from him, as if to admit such would be to put a novel idea into my head which could spark curiosity that surely wouldn't be good, to anyone looking at the situation from where he stood.
I shook my head at him. "There goes your ego again," I muttered. "I have had comparison."
He stiffened, his eyes chilling. "Who? When?"
I rolled my eyes. "And you wonder why I feel you treat me as a brainless child? You don't trust me."
He took a deep breath, tilting his head back to study the ceiling as he gathered his thoughts. Finally he looked at me again. "I have had no one to trust in such a way before. It is something I shall have to learn."
"I've had no reason to trust, either, yet I do."
"Then you are a better elf than I," he sighed, "for though I know it is illogical to believe you would willingly cause me pain, the fear of it remains."
"If it is a matter of pain, I think I should be the one to fear. Every time you treat me so distrustfully it is another wound to an already battered elf."
"Elf," he repeated softly. "Why use that word, instead of something more fitting? Like soul, or heart? Or do they have no part in this?"
"They are this," I admitted with a sigh. "Yet it is hard to admit."
"And that isn't supposed to affect me? You trust my love—even if only as a friend—but don't even bother to tell me you love me."
I looked to the side, my mind racing back through my life. "I loved my mother. I loved my brother. I loved my father. I loved the eight of you. I loved Tara. I loved you." I looked back at him. "Two died, one spent his time trying to turn me into something else and striking me when I didn't bend to his way, I've seen but two in a millennia, and you believed me to be a deceitful betraying elf until you realized I was about to fade away because of the fallout from having saved you from that very fate. Tara alone has never done such, though she did make me become Alyeni when I would have comfortably remained Tyran." I took a deep breath. "I thought you would understand, would realize that my presence alone was such a declaration."
"Then what was running away supposed to say?" he asked quietly.
"That I could bear no more blows, that I was already so covered in bleeding wounds that to be given another could well have destroyed me."
The slight edge of anger in his eyes faded away, his lashes sliding down to cover them for a long moment. When they reopened, they looked at me with such sorrow and pain, his hands lifting to cup my cheeks. "I am sorry, Alye," he breathed, his thumbs caressing the tender skin beneath my eyes. "You tried to tell me before, to explain, and I would never listen, would I?"
"You were hurt too," I whispered, reaching up to touch his cheek.
He tilted his head so a light kiss was placed against my wrist and then sighed. "I guess I have my answer, don't I?" he whispered, something in his eyes beginning to fade into nothingness.
"Do you?" I asked softly, tilting my head slightly at him.
"How could you trust me to do my best towards you? To work on trusting you, on loving you as I should have from the start?"
"I can trust you… because I love you, have loved you, through it all." I had looked down at his collar as I spoke, but lifted my eyes to his again when finished.
A flicker of flame lit his eyes, his fingers tightening for an instant before sliding around to tilt my head as he wished it as he pulled me in for a triumphant kiss.
I was getting lost in the kiss—or rather, it and all the others—when something in the touch changed, the joy and wonder turning instead to tender sorrow. "What?" I gasped when I was able to pull away.
"I leave in the morning," he replied quietly, kissing my cheek, my jaw, my throat.
Leaving? I frowned at the idea. "So soon?"
"I've been here for months. You've been avoiding me," he murmured factually, no condemnation in the words as he kissed the skin exposed by his searching fingers, my tunic falling aside.
"I know," I whispered, unbraiding his hair with fingers that shook. "Then… what do we do?"
With hands still under my shirt, warm against my back, he sighed and straightened slightly. "You can either remain here or go to Mirkwood," he answered quietly.
"What would you wish?"
"To be with you, either way… which is impossible."
I frowned. "What do you mean? Thranduil would certainly allow me back, or allow you to stay for a while with but a message."
"Yes," he agreed, nipping at my lips a few times before he slowly drew back, my vest falling to the ground between us again thanks to his clever fingers. "But I am not going home tomorrow."
"Where else is there to go? Mordor?" I asked, intending to draw out his crooked smile.
Instead he looked at me solemnly for the longest time.
The world shook, and I slowly leaned back, finding the bed to sit on. "Oh, Eru." He was going with the Fellowship? "Why you?"
He sighed, closing his eyes with a look of pain before he knelt before me, taking my hands in his, bringing my suddenly cold fingers to his lips. "I am one of the finest archers… and I agreed, because we were the ones to lose Gollum, and…"
"And?"
"And because I thought I had forever lost you as we only ever seemed to fight," he breathed, pressing his face to my hands.
I took a deep breath and slowly sunk from the bed to the floor, moving my hands so they were tightly entwined with his. "You're leaving…" I breathed, feeling all sense go flying out the window.
"Yes, love," he sighed, kissing my fingers over and over, as if that would make it all better.
"You're going to Mordor?"
"Yes," he sighed, closing his eyes for a moment.
As often happened, I retreated from the pain and dove headfirst into anger. Seeing it coming, he dropped my hands and rocked back onto his feet as I shot to my own. "You stupid elf!" I yelled at him, well aware this was the elf I had recently told that I loved him, but too furious at the idea of what he had done to care. "How could you—"
He put his hand on my arm, and my eyes snapped to his for a quick moment, somewhat surprised he dared to touch me now, but the question fell from my mind as I saw his sorrowful eyes. For once, my anger hadn't kindled his. He was willing to suffer anything I wished to hurl at him.
My anger died as quickly as it had come. "Leaf," I groaned softly, going to his arms, wrapping mine around his neck while burying my face against his shoulder. He held me tightly, letting out a sigh as he rocked us slightly on his feet.
After a few minutes he picked me up, and carried me around to the side of his bed. I didn't realize where we were going until the mattress gave way beneath me, and then I stiffened at once. "Shh," he murmured, easing himself down beside me, resting one long finger against my lips. "I just want to hold you. Let me hold you until I have to leave you," he pleaded softly, before kissing me gently.
Slowly I relaxed, realizing I wanted to spend every moment with him I could. I nodded slightly as he pulled me against him before covering us both up. "If you don't come back, I'll kill you," I muttered against his throat.
He laughed weakly and kissed my forehead before pulling us slightly closer. "Oh, love," his whispered softly, lightly kissing me as his thumbs brushed away a tear. He murmured something lightly in the language of the high elves, but he didn't translate, and I didn't ask.