Chapter 7

They had been so close. so close. Raeya cursed in elvish. She had let her guard down, and now there was no denying it. She was in love with a woodland elf. But even more alarming was the fact that he was in love with her. How could this have happened? After all the history and the great betrayal, how could she fall for Legolas? She thought of her father. Her wise, brave, beautiful father. He had fought courageously but to no avail. She had been left behind of course from the battle as she was only a babe at the time. But she can still remember her mothers face when he did not return. And then came the stories. The rumours about the betrayal of the woodland elves. That they had left her father and the mountain army to face the full onslaught of the orcs. Wave after wave of them cut through the defensive lines. All they needed was some help. But help never came and before the battle at Mount Doom was over, their entire kin was slain. Her mother and many of the she-elves died from broken hearts as they realised that their sons and husbands were not coming home. The rest left on boats to go to the west, none stayed but her. She was too young to fully understand her father's death, and too naïve to realise that her mother was gone too, too frightened to finally realise that she was alone. She remembered her father's voice, deep and knowing. He had said before he left that he loved her eyes, more than anything else in the whole of Middle Earth.

"You have seeing eyes my love." He had said." Eyes that are as deep and mystic as the mountains themselves. And though I may not see you for a little while, I shall simply look to the mountains and I will always see you and your fathomless eyes."

He kissed her as he left, and she knew then that she would never see him again. Of course she saw his death. It came to her one night in a dream as real and as vivid it was as if she had been there herself. She had woken up screaming, her mother tried to comfort her, but she couldn't understand no one ever would. Raeya thought of her kin often. She wondered what became of those that sailed west with heavy hearts. Had her father been around, he would have seen it as a great betrayal. "Those that sail to the west must only be discontented with their world. And as we were put here on Middle Earth to love the earth then they must have lived retched lives and therefore deserved to be outcast to the west." Raeya would never sail to the west; she would stay here always and mind Middle Earth until that day when she could be with her father again. Her father was a proud person, and the thought of his only daughter falling in love with a woodland elf would have shocked him to the core. "You would love someone whose family condemned our kin to death?" Raeya shuddered at the thought of her father being unsettled by her actions. Thus it was then she decided. I can not go back on my word now, but I must not express my feelings for Legolas again. Not ever. But somehow this only made her feel worse. It felt like she was attempting to cut out part of her soul.

Legolas strolled slowly towards the palace and the on coming banquet. He thought deeply as he took in the clear night air. He had never known love before, it was a curious emotion. He had known the fraternal love of his family of course, but this. this was something different, something unexpected that had risen out of him suddenly. He pondered some more. This love clouded his mind, he could not think properly, and this could only lead to trouble especially as it was on the eve of battle. He was becoming distracted, disorientated; he must try to find his concentration again. But with Raeya around it was increasingly difficult. It was strange, he had known other she-elves, all of them fair, some even fairer than Raeya, yet he had never been struck by them in the way he had been for her. They had never driven him to distraction, to want to know they were safe. He had seen many fair maidens who lived in the forests, who would have gladly become his wife. They were as tall and beautiful as any elf maiden; he had likened them to clear spring water, as pure as the sky and smooth like silk yet all so cold. But this she-elf, she was different. She wasn't tall and silky. She was small and golden. She radiated warmth as if she were the sun. She wasn't reserved or self conscious. She was just herself. She was honest, yet there was something else, a mystery to her, a depth that no other maiden had. She was a maiden of course, yet she dressed like a male. At home in Mirkwood this would have seen as comical. That a female elf would choose the rough outer clothing of a male to the soft, elegant, feminine clothing of the she-elves was riotous. But she had. And of course there were her eyes. No elf that he had ever seen had those amazing incalculable eyes of green. Those dark rings. Even Galadriel, who was the wisest of all elves, could not content with the deepness of Raeya's eyes. They could see so much in him that he did not need to explain his feelings to her she would just know. He felt as if he could loose himself in them which, he decided, would be a dangerous thing.

He drew closer to the palace. He realised that even though he did not have seeing eyes as Raeya did, he knew that this battle would be difficult. For these feelings would distract him, and that could only lead to one thing. he knew without seeing that if the end were to come for either one of them. it would destroy them both.