Chapter Twenty-Six: "Tomorrow's Not Too Late"
"Inspiration of my heart search for light out of the dark.
All the pictures in my heart lie awake there in my fog.
This oasis in my arms I approach it with disarm."
Elrond was gone now, Galadriel had left, Gandalf's task was done, Bilbo's seat in the Hall of Fire would no longer be occupied and even dear Glorfindel had sailed into the West. The great power that once was immense in the western parts of the world had faded into its winter; a winter that was to last for a long time, but a winter nonetheless. It had been difficult for Rhiannon to say her final goodbyes to all those she cared deeply about. Galadriel, who had terrified her but, also put her at ease. Gandalf, who always had a sage word and a comforting shoulder to lean on. Bilbo, who always had a lovely story to tell besides a warm fireside when one, was trying to get their mind off other things. Glorfindel, the only full-blooded elf she could truly say she loved with all her soul, whose musical laughter and magical light would be a great loss to Arda. Elrond, the one that had seen her through the darker times in her life, had arranged for her stay with the nymphs, had been a surrogate father to her..had been the one she needed to turn to when she did not know where else to look. Now, all these roles would have to be filled by one person alone, and he was nowhere to be seen. Legolas had sent a carrier bird with a message stating he would be in Imladris in the coming week. That was a fortnight ago. Doubt had assailed her this past year, barely a word from him, not a vision of any kind. Menepaurion had come to stay with her, swearing that another moment in the presence of her brother and his sister would turn him into the next Dark Lord. He however had found his peace, and a good sense of humor, in her former betrothed. How lovely, typical, and fitting. She felt out of place in Imladris now. Elladan and Elrohir were now the Lords, and though the rift between her and the eldest son had come to an understanding, she was not comfortable here. She truly wished for the comfort of Thranduil's Halls; the lone place that had not lost its elven magic, at least in her own opinion. She had not found rest at all that night and had spent the past few hours sitting on the balcony off of to her room, huddled up in a blanket, watching the world in its darkness. She always seemed to watch the world in its darkness, she could relate to that. The dormant evil that had resided in her lands was rising now to poison all its inhabitants, the good felt the evil arise in their soul. You could not tell who was the enemy and who was the comrade when you met a new acquaintance. The race of Men, seemingly arising to power everywhere, were becoming very distrustful of anything they could not relate to, and so those of a more celestial kind were seeking their own refuge with boundaries bonded by the most powerful magic known. She dreaded going home, knowing she would walk in a world of strangers. She could not stay here though, not forever.
"Legolas, where are you?" She had tried to reach out to him with her mind, but he did not answer; now she only hoped that the wind would carry her whisper to him. Elrond had sat her down for a very long discussion before he had left, feeling it was his responsibility to pass these last words of advice to her.
***********
"I once said the same thing to Estel, now I say the same thing to you; you can not escape from it."
"I know this."
"But you can not fight it totally alone."
"It is meant for me to perform my actions alone."
"For some time, yes."
"I believe I will be like you...living and enduring while the one you greatly care for is so very out of your reach."
"So you shall, but I am returning to those arms I love so much and have so greatly missed."
Rhiannon gave a thoughtful nod, "It gladdens me greatly, Elrond, that you will find happiness again."
"My dear Rhiannon, I never lost it. Celebrian may not be here with me, but I know I always have her love. We had a year to prepare for her departure; there were not many tears of anguish."
"Did you know.before you married her..before she left..and Arwen also.did you know..?"
"Yes, I knew both of Clebrian's attack before we wed and even of Arwen's fate long before she fell in love with Estel."
"And yet, you let it all happen, you did not let."
Elrond pulled Rhiannon into a tight embrace, "You have visions of the future you can not change. You and I, Rhiannon, our visions are different. Yes, we see a possible future that we may be able to change, but we also see our own futures and those we can not change no matter how hard we try. You may know the future, but you can not fear it. I believe you have received these visions for a very specific reason."
"And that is?"
"Whatever higher powers there are that gift these things to you are telling you simply to stop wasting time. You have great bliss in you future, but you must act quickly."
"Time is truly fleeting."
"Do not fear it; do not let it hang a dark cloud over the happiness that is destined for you."
"Happiness that ends in a grief so great it already brings me to my knees."
"Happiness that wanes for sometime. He is your soulmate, Rhiannon. The Valar would not, in any good conscience, keep you separated for all eternity. Those of us that travel to Aman know it will only be a matter of time until Arda is reshaped and the return of Darkness will coincide with the return of the Elves. You, however, and those descended from you, are needed here to be the guides in between the events of this present and the events of that distant future."
"Duty and love warring inside of me for all that time."
"As it is for most of the Great. Do not be the coward and run from love, do not fear it, open your arms and except all of the beautiful pain and sadness with all of the grave joy and beauty that it contains."
"I pray I have the strength to do so."
"Let him be your strength."
********************
She needed his strength now. Where was he? Why hadn't he come? She reached out to her brother, he not being too happy about that since his mind and body was focused on Laurelin now. They better marry soon before a little 5/8 elven child came along. That would be an interesting combination.
She tensed as someone entered her room, a feline smile on her face as she recognized that distinctive smell,
"It certainly took you long enough."
Soft hands slid down her blanket-covered arms, tugging her up, pulling her close to his warm body. A kiss was placed to the top of her head; the callused finger of the Woodland archer traced a line down her face,
"I had many things to do, in order to meet my father's demands. I did not want you to know.. are you ready to leave?"
"Must we leave tonight?"
"No, not tonight. Two days hence."
"Good. Hold me tonight?"
"I would dream of doing nothing else."
****
It was not easy trying to creep in unseen to the Last Homely House. Oddly enough, the decreased numbers of the elven population in the area had resulted in an increase of security. Legolas could understand, and was quite glad he had left the dwarf in Minas Tirith repairing walls, or he had this odd feeling he would be fishing an irate Gimli out of one of the many booby traps. Luckily, Legolas was also recognized by all the sentries he passed, so no call was raised. When entering the House he had found Elrohir and his wife discussing a placement of a new tapestry, a group of servants saying when it looked off center. A very annoyed Elladan and a very incensed Menepaurion were the poor elves trying to place the tapestry of Earendel the Mariner in its correct position.
Legolas just shook his head and continued up the stairs towards the bedrooms of those guests that were considered important or members of the family. Someone was bound to be around and able to inform him where Rhiannon's room was. As luck would have it, one door was propped open, and one could see inside to where the door to the balcony was open. There was a little huddled mass of ¾ elven that answered to the name Rhiannon. He had learnt so much about her past through his mother's journal, learned about his own past through that journal. He had asked his father's permission to bring the book with him to show it to Rhiannon, to put to rest any doubts that might be in her head about the two of them. He had closed off his mind to her, it had taken lots of effort, but he had wanted his work in Ithilien to be a surprise. From reading the description of Rhiannon's bedroom in his mother's journal, he tried his best to make a replica for their bedroom in Ithilien. He smiled their bedroom. He would have none of this nonsense between them about sleeping in different rooms, they tended to end up next to each other come morning, and this would just take the nonsense out. He could tell the moment she sensed him in her room, the tension ran through her shoulders,
"It certainly took you long enough."
**************************
He had held her all night, as he had done during that journey, as he had not done for almost three years now. Three years was not supposed to mean anything to an elf, but it did to him. It was not just the years that had separated them. They had not parted on the best of terms, but he had not been in the clearest state of mind, and neither had she. Now, her loneliness, her despair was coming off in waves that made his own gut clench.
He placed yet another soft kiss on her forehead; he had placed many of those soft kisses on her face during the night, knowing the physical contact calmed her.
"My little one, all you have seen and been through. You would have never told me. Of course, I would have never believed you. No one believes how the innocent become corrupted, even when we live in those times."
Legolas was silent.
"I've let you down. I asked you to let go for me, I asked you to let me bear your own pain as you had mine, and what did I do? I let you stay here by yourself. Here is the place where your self-esteem was broken into thousands of tiny shards. No matter your own loyalty towards Elrond, I should not have left you here. I wish you would wake; we have so much to do and so much to talk about. I have tales from my father to tell you. He is smitten with you; I have never seen him so. He demanded I brought you with me before I could ever become the leader of the elves in Ithilien. He really is eager for grandchildren, silly old elf. He has always held a very soft spot for young elflings. Perhaps I jump too far ahead, but I do not believe so. We shall live like mortals, you and I, we have wasted so much time already. I know my days are numbered with you, but I refuse to listen to what Celeborn has told me. If I can not convince you to come with me in the end, I will just wait for you until you join me. For you will one day. I have to believe that. To have you and lose you will be hard enough. To have you and lose you forever..I refuse to believe that, it would be a cursed and empty existence. I refuse to waste this gift we have between us, this time we have. However, if you do not awake soon, I will be forced to take extreme measures."
No response from the female in his arms, just a little scrunch of a nose.
"I read my mother's reports of your childhood in her journal. She mentioned that your skin is very sensitive, she called it, "ticklish," I believe. Apparently you will make a sound similar to a yelping dog if I skim the right area of your skin. Perhaps this will wake you up." He trailed his fingers over her exposed collarbone, a little wiggling from his victim, but no true response. His fingers skimmed up and down the bare skin on her arms; more wiggling and a turn to the side. He reached down and skimmed his hands over her bare calves; more twisting and a muffled snort but no yelp. He tried her feet; he always tended to jump when someone accidentally touched the soles of his feet. He ran a single finger up and down the arches of her feet; this resulted in a reflexive quick but no yelping. Legolas gave her a determined look, he had been wondering for some time what this noise sounded like coming from her. Was it like her laugh, low and soft, occasionally scruffy? Or was it like the delighted shriek she made when Aragorn had found a certain oil in Minas Tirith that she had not been able to find anywhere else? Legolas knew that she, like most people, especially elves, was very sensitive around her ears, and while this brought on a reaction he did enjoy, it did not bring on the one he now desired to hear. He started to raise his hands to tickle her sides when a very tired and annoyed voice stated,
"Tickle me again and you will find your Lothlorien bow shoved down your throat."
"You were supposed to be sleeping."
"You told me to wake-up."
"So I did."
Legolas climbed back onto the bed with the natural grace of a stealthy cat. He also stretched out liked a pleased cat beside her.
"I read somewhere that you." he started.
"I know what you read, I heard you somewhat. The words registered, but the rest of me refused to wake. Why do you not rest?"
He ran a thumb down her cheek, over the bottom lip he had not had the pleasure of kissing in years, "I am not tired."
Rhiannon, just having been woken, and letting her body take over as opposed to her still slightly sleep-fogged mind, did not even consider the fact that she was slightly nibbling on the thumb that had been resting on her bottom lip.
Legolas let out a soft breath, not used to this side of her, having never seen it before,
"Are you always like this when you first wake?"
She let his thumb go and rubbed her face against his palm,
"Only sometimes, my father always stated it was the slight faery blood from his side. We really are comprised of many different races."
"Why would faery blood make you act like this?"
She raised up, closer to him,
"It is the month of May."
A simple answer for her, a very confusing answer for him.
"This means what?"
"It is the month in which all give their prayers to the goddess of fertility for the harvest of both crops and fertility; it causes something very primal to awaken in my father's family."
Legolas was suddenly finding difficulty swallowing,
"Is that so?"
"Brhagdan is only one of my brothers. My father has probably lost count of all those he has fathered, pathetic I know. Brhagdan is probably also reacting this way now. Your father may find himself with that elfling he so craves, it will just be Laurelin's."
Rhiannon moved closer to Legolas, snuggling into his very warm side,
"You are tense." she stated.
"You are acting out of character, my little chaste step-daughter of a priestess."
"You are being overly prudish, my little incorrigible prince of the woods."
"I do not wish for you to regret something brought about something you can not control."
"Legolas, it is something I can control, if it was not, I would have become a very debauched female many, many, many years ago."
"Do you want this?"
"Do you?"
"I believed we had this discussion back in Minas Tirith."
"Neither one of us were in a good place then. You are yourself now, more wise, more hardened, but yourself."
"And you?"
"I am well. I just missed you. You shut me out."
"You will soon find out why, it was necessary. And I do want this; you know that, have known."
She looked down slightly, fingers playing with one of the ties on his tunic,
"It will change everything."
"It will."
"But it will strengthen everything."
"It will also do that."
"I am a little scared."
"All maidens tend to be, and males also for their first time. I can become wise and tell you it is as life is, pain must be wrought for pleasure to be felt."
"I do not like you wise, you remind me of Elrond, and that is not what you should remind me of."
Legolas let out a laugh,
"For most couples this is done with great preparation, romantic walks, dinner, candles, flowers, pointless poetry and prose of the great love through the ages."
"We are too rational for that. And besides, we have not been brought together by any normal circumstances to say the least. I known your mind, I know your arousal; I know this is not about pointless lust and the male need to conquer. I can feel what you want and what you want to do. I think we are both at an extreme advantage."
Legolas, feeling her own needs and desires through the link smiled wolfishly,
"Yes, I believe we are.now.silence." He pressed his lips to hers, very effectively demonstrating his command.
********************
A very confused Menepaurion came up from the stables,
"Why is Arod in the stables? That is Legolas' horse."
Elrohir looked up from the board game he was playing with his brother,
"A sentry off duty has just informed us that Legolas arrived hours ago. He most likely snuck in while we were hanging the tapestry. He always did like to hide from us."
Elladan, concentrating on his game pieces more so than the conversation at hand simply stated,
"Menepaurion, my dear, do not worry about it. I am sure Legolas just desired some time alone with Rhiannon and we shall give them as long as they wish. He is probably here to collect her anyway. Father sailed some time ago."
"Yes, it was almost a full year ago." His brother agreed.
"A bit more than half a year." Elladan stated.
"Closer to a year than a half of a year." Elrohir argued
"I disagree." Elladan was more than ready to start a verbal sparring match with his brother, even though he was more likely to lose that one than the board game.
Menepaurion just shook his head, "Noldorian elves, you ask for an answer and you get an argument instead."
********************
A/N: Yes, they finally hooked up, but this story is pg-13 so work with me.
Also, this chapter was greatly influenced by Nine Day's album "The Madding Crowd." The title comes from "If I Am" and the quote from "Bob Dylan." The songs, "Sometimes" and "So Far Away" also had a great influence. Good music, you should go check it out if you can. ;)
Jouri, my little cheerleader, the one that makes my hamster wheel turn (that is a compliment, I swear) this one (and the last three really) goes out to you.
Dimi, my friend, my twin soul, my pain in my assus (now, that was not a typo) I love you, if just for dealing with all my "pupups." I promise you elf porn later.. or maybe just Dommie.
Blakely, HAHA-You used Tea Party lyrics! Admit, it, you like them! I have that wallpaper saved for proof!
"Inspiration of my heart search for light out of the dark.
All the pictures in my heart lie awake there in my fog.
This oasis in my arms I approach it with disarm."
Elrond was gone now, Galadriel had left, Gandalf's task was done, Bilbo's seat in the Hall of Fire would no longer be occupied and even dear Glorfindel had sailed into the West. The great power that once was immense in the western parts of the world had faded into its winter; a winter that was to last for a long time, but a winter nonetheless. It had been difficult for Rhiannon to say her final goodbyes to all those she cared deeply about. Galadriel, who had terrified her but, also put her at ease. Gandalf, who always had a sage word and a comforting shoulder to lean on. Bilbo, who always had a lovely story to tell besides a warm fireside when one, was trying to get their mind off other things. Glorfindel, the only full-blooded elf she could truly say she loved with all her soul, whose musical laughter and magical light would be a great loss to Arda. Elrond, the one that had seen her through the darker times in her life, had arranged for her stay with the nymphs, had been a surrogate father to her..had been the one she needed to turn to when she did not know where else to look. Now, all these roles would have to be filled by one person alone, and he was nowhere to be seen. Legolas had sent a carrier bird with a message stating he would be in Imladris in the coming week. That was a fortnight ago. Doubt had assailed her this past year, barely a word from him, not a vision of any kind. Menepaurion had come to stay with her, swearing that another moment in the presence of her brother and his sister would turn him into the next Dark Lord. He however had found his peace, and a good sense of humor, in her former betrothed. How lovely, typical, and fitting. She felt out of place in Imladris now. Elladan and Elrohir were now the Lords, and though the rift between her and the eldest son had come to an understanding, she was not comfortable here. She truly wished for the comfort of Thranduil's Halls; the lone place that had not lost its elven magic, at least in her own opinion. She had not found rest at all that night and had spent the past few hours sitting on the balcony off of to her room, huddled up in a blanket, watching the world in its darkness. She always seemed to watch the world in its darkness, she could relate to that. The dormant evil that had resided in her lands was rising now to poison all its inhabitants, the good felt the evil arise in their soul. You could not tell who was the enemy and who was the comrade when you met a new acquaintance. The race of Men, seemingly arising to power everywhere, were becoming very distrustful of anything they could not relate to, and so those of a more celestial kind were seeking their own refuge with boundaries bonded by the most powerful magic known. She dreaded going home, knowing she would walk in a world of strangers. She could not stay here though, not forever.
"Legolas, where are you?" She had tried to reach out to him with her mind, but he did not answer; now she only hoped that the wind would carry her whisper to him. Elrond had sat her down for a very long discussion before he had left, feeling it was his responsibility to pass these last words of advice to her.
***********
"I once said the same thing to Estel, now I say the same thing to you; you can not escape from it."
"I know this."
"But you can not fight it totally alone."
"It is meant for me to perform my actions alone."
"For some time, yes."
"I believe I will be like you...living and enduring while the one you greatly care for is so very out of your reach."
"So you shall, but I am returning to those arms I love so much and have so greatly missed."
Rhiannon gave a thoughtful nod, "It gladdens me greatly, Elrond, that you will find happiness again."
"My dear Rhiannon, I never lost it. Celebrian may not be here with me, but I know I always have her love. We had a year to prepare for her departure; there were not many tears of anguish."
"Did you know.before you married her..before she left..and Arwen also.did you know..?"
"Yes, I knew both of Clebrian's attack before we wed and even of Arwen's fate long before she fell in love with Estel."
"And yet, you let it all happen, you did not let."
Elrond pulled Rhiannon into a tight embrace, "You have visions of the future you can not change. You and I, Rhiannon, our visions are different. Yes, we see a possible future that we may be able to change, but we also see our own futures and those we can not change no matter how hard we try. You may know the future, but you can not fear it. I believe you have received these visions for a very specific reason."
"And that is?"
"Whatever higher powers there are that gift these things to you are telling you simply to stop wasting time. You have great bliss in you future, but you must act quickly."
"Time is truly fleeting."
"Do not fear it; do not let it hang a dark cloud over the happiness that is destined for you."
"Happiness that ends in a grief so great it already brings me to my knees."
"Happiness that wanes for sometime. He is your soulmate, Rhiannon. The Valar would not, in any good conscience, keep you separated for all eternity. Those of us that travel to Aman know it will only be a matter of time until Arda is reshaped and the return of Darkness will coincide with the return of the Elves. You, however, and those descended from you, are needed here to be the guides in between the events of this present and the events of that distant future."
"Duty and love warring inside of me for all that time."
"As it is for most of the Great. Do not be the coward and run from love, do not fear it, open your arms and except all of the beautiful pain and sadness with all of the grave joy and beauty that it contains."
"I pray I have the strength to do so."
"Let him be your strength."
********************
She needed his strength now. Where was he? Why hadn't he come? She reached out to her brother, he not being too happy about that since his mind and body was focused on Laurelin now. They better marry soon before a little 5/8 elven child came along. That would be an interesting combination.
She tensed as someone entered her room, a feline smile on her face as she recognized that distinctive smell,
"It certainly took you long enough."
Soft hands slid down her blanket-covered arms, tugging her up, pulling her close to his warm body. A kiss was placed to the top of her head; the callused finger of the Woodland archer traced a line down her face,
"I had many things to do, in order to meet my father's demands. I did not want you to know.. are you ready to leave?"
"Must we leave tonight?"
"No, not tonight. Two days hence."
"Good. Hold me tonight?"
"I would dream of doing nothing else."
****
It was not easy trying to creep in unseen to the Last Homely House. Oddly enough, the decreased numbers of the elven population in the area had resulted in an increase of security. Legolas could understand, and was quite glad he had left the dwarf in Minas Tirith repairing walls, or he had this odd feeling he would be fishing an irate Gimli out of one of the many booby traps. Luckily, Legolas was also recognized by all the sentries he passed, so no call was raised. When entering the House he had found Elrohir and his wife discussing a placement of a new tapestry, a group of servants saying when it looked off center. A very annoyed Elladan and a very incensed Menepaurion were the poor elves trying to place the tapestry of Earendel the Mariner in its correct position.
Legolas just shook his head and continued up the stairs towards the bedrooms of those guests that were considered important or members of the family. Someone was bound to be around and able to inform him where Rhiannon's room was. As luck would have it, one door was propped open, and one could see inside to where the door to the balcony was open. There was a little huddled mass of ¾ elven that answered to the name Rhiannon. He had learnt so much about her past through his mother's journal, learned about his own past through that journal. He had asked his father's permission to bring the book with him to show it to Rhiannon, to put to rest any doubts that might be in her head about the two of them. He had closed off his mind to her, it had taken lots of effort, but he had wanted his work in Ithilien to be a surprise. From reading the description of Rhiannon's bedroom in his mother's journal, he tried his best to make a replica for their bedroom in Ithilien. He smiled their bedroom. He would have none of this nonsense between them about sleeping in different rooms, they tended to end up next to each other come morning, and this would just take the nonsense out. He could tell the moment she sensed him in her room, the tension ran through her shoulders,
"It certainly took you long enough."
**************************
He had held her all night, as he had done during that journey, as he had not done for almost three years now. Three years was not supposed to mean anything to an elf, but it did to him. It was not just the years that had separated them. They had not parted on the best of terms, but he had not been in the clearest state of mind, and neither had she. Now, her loneliness, her despair was coming off in waves that made his own gut clench.
He placed yet another soft kiss on her forehead; he had placed many of those soft kisses on her face during the night, knowing the physical contact calmed her.
"My little one, all you have seen and been through. You would have never told me. Of course, I would have never believed you. No one believes how the innocent become corrupted, even when we live in those times."
Legolas was silent.
"I've let you down. I asked you to let go for me, I asked you to let me bear your own pain as you had mine, and what did I do? I let you stay here by yourself. Here is the place where your self-esteem was broken into thousands of tiny shards. No matter your own loyalty towards Elrond, I should not have left you here. I wish you would wake; we have so much to do and so much to talk about. I have tales from my father to tell you. He is smitten with you; I have never seen him so. He demanded I brought you with me before I could ever become the leader of the elves in Ithilien. He really is eager for grandchildren, silly old elf. He has always held a very soft spot for young elflings. Perhaps I jump too far ahead, but I do not believe so. We shall live like mortals, you and I, we have wasted so much time already. I know my days are numbered with you, but I refuse to listen to what Celeborn has told me. If I can not convince you to come with me in the end, I will just wait for you until you join me. For you will one day. I have to believe that. To have you and lose you will be hard enough. To have you and lose you forever..I refuse to believe that, it would be a cursed and empty existence. I refuse to waste this gift we have between us, this time we have. However, if you do not awake soon, I will be forced to take extreme measures."
No response from the female in his arms, just a little scrunch of a nose.
"I read my mother's reports of your childhood in her journal. She mentioned that your skin is very sensitive, she called it, "ticklish," I believe. Apparently you will make a sound similar to a yelping dog if I skim the right area of your skin. Perhaps this will wake you up." He trailed his fingers over her exposed collarbone, a little wiggling from his victim, but no true response. His fingers skimmed up and down the bare skin on her arms; more wiggling and a turn to the side. He reached down and skimmed his hands over her bare calves; more twisting and a muffled snort but no yelp. He tried her feet; he always tended to jump when someone accidentally touched the soles of his feet. He ran a single finger up and down the arches of her feet; this resulted in a reflexive quick but no yelping. Legolas gave her a determined look, he had been wondering for some time what this noise sounded like coming from her. Was it like her laugh, low and soft, occasionally scruffy? Or was it like the delighted shriek she made when Aragorn had found a certain oil in Minas Tirith that she had not been able to find anywhere else? Legolas knew that she, like most people, especially elves, was very sensitive around her ears, and while this brought on a reaction he did enjoy, it did not bring on the one he now desired to hear. He started to raise his hands to tickle her sides when a very tired and annoyed voice stated,
"Tickle me again and you will find your Lothlorien bow shoved down your throat."
"You were supposed to be sleeping."
"You told me to wake-up."
"So I did."
Legolas climbed back onto the bed with the natural grace of a stealthy cat. He also stretched out liked a pleased cat beside her.
"I read somewhere that you." he started.
"I know what you read, I heard you somewhat. The words registered, but the rest of me refused to wake. Why do you not rest?"
He ran a thumb down her cheek, over the bottom lip he had not had the pleasure of kissing in years, "I am not tired."
Rhiannon, just having been woken, and letting her body take over as opposed to her still slightly sleep-fogged mind, did not even consider the fact that she was slightly nibbling on the thumb that had been resting on her bottom lip.
Legolas let out a soft breath, not used to this side of her, having never seen it before,
"Are you always like this when you first wake?"
She let his thumb go and rubbed her face against his palm,
"Only sometimes, my father always stated it was the slight faery blood from his side. We really are comprised of many different races."
"Why would faery blood make you act like this?"
She raised up, closer to him,
"It is the month of May."
A simple answer for her, a very confusing answer for him.
"This means what?"
"It is the month in which all give their prayers to the goddess of fertility for the harvest of both crops and fertility; it causes something very primal to awaken in my father's family."
Legolas was suddenly finding difficulty swallowing,
"Is that so?"
"Brhagdan is only one of my brothers. My father has probably lost count of all those he has fathered, pathetic I know. Brhagdan is probably also reacting this way now. Your father may find himself with that elfling he so craves, it will just be Laurelin's."
Rhiannon moved closer to Legolas, snuggling into his very warm side,
"You are tense." she stated.
"You are acting out of character, my little chaste step-daughter of a priestess."
"You are being overly prudish, my little incorrigible prince of the woods."
"I do not wish for you to regret something brought about something you can not control."
"Legolas, it is something I can control, if it was not, I would have become a very debauched female many, many, many years ago."
"Do you want this?"
"Do you?"
"I believed we had this discussion back in Minas Tirith."
"Neither one of us were in a good place then. You are yourself now, more wise, more hardened, but yourself."
"And you?"
"I am well. I just missed you. You shut me out."
"You will soon find out why, it was necessary. And I do want this; you know that, have known."
She looked down slightly, fingers playing with one of the ties on his tunic,
"It will change everything."
"It will."
"But it will strengthen everything."
"It will also do that."
"I am a little scared."
"All maidens tend to be, and males also for their first time. I can become wise and tell you it is as life is, pain must be wrought for pleasure to be felt."
"I do not like you wise, you remind me of Elrond, and that is not what you should remind me of."
Legolas let out a laugh,
"For most couples this is done with great preparation, romantic walks, dinner, candles, flowers, pointless poetry and prose of the great love through the ages."
"We are too rational for that. And besides, we have not been brought together by any normal circumstances to say the least. I known your mind, I know your arousal; I know this is not about pointless lust and the male need to conquer. I can feel what you want and what you want to do. I think we are both at an extreme advantage."
Legolas, feeling her own needs and desires through the link smiled wolfishly,
"Yes, I believe we are.now.silence." He pressed his lips to hers, very effectively demonstrating his command.
********************
A very confused Menepaurion came up from the stables,
"Why is Arod in the stables? That is Legolas' horse."
Elrohir looked up from the board game he was playing with his brother,
"A sentry off duty has just informed us that Legolas arrived hours ago. He most likely snuck in while we were hanging the tapestry. He always did like to hide from us."
Elladan, concentrating on his game pieces more so than the conversation at hand simply stated,
"Menepaurion, my dear, do not worry about it. I am sure Legolas just desired some time alone with Rhiannon and we shall give them as long as they wish. He is probably here to collect her anyway. Father sailed some time ago."
"Yes, it was almost a full year ago." His brother agreed.
"A bit more than half a year." Elladan stated.
"Closer to a year than a half of a year." Elrohir argued
"I disagree." Elladan was more than ready to start a verbal sparring match with his brother, even though he was more likely to lose that one than the board game.
Menepaurion just shook his head, "Noldorian elves, you ask for an answer and you get an argument instead."
********************
A/N: Yes, they finally hooked up, but this story is pg-13 so work with me.
Also, this chapter was greatly influenced by Nine Day's album "The Madding Crowd." The title comes from "If I Am" and the quote from "Bob Dylan." The songs, "Sometimes" and "So Far Away" also had a great influence. Good music, you should go check it out if you can. ;)
Jouri, my little cheerleader, the one that makes my hamster wheel turn (that is a compliment, I swear) this one (and the last three really) goes out to you.
Dimi, my friend, my twin soul, my pain in my assus (now, that was not a typo) I love you, if just for dealing with all my "pupups." I promise you elf porn later.. or maybe just Dommie.
Blakely, HAHA-You used Tea Party lyrics! Admit, it, you like them! I have that wallpaper saved for proof!