Hey, all! I got more comments than expected about her eye fascination... surprised me. This chapter is more or less because I wanted a moment like this... and come on, who wouldn't want a wet Legolas for a little while? (Stares innocently out the window and hums)

General thanks to: angel13, The Luckiest, ElvenStar5, isildur'sbane123, and RyuJouyou for reviewing!

The Hobbit Ivy: I feel sorrier for him, though, because he knows and is helpless to wait.

RiRiana: Okay, here it is a day early.

Elven at Heart: That's just the way it happens... though I've noticed I don't get bugged about chapter length at the beginning of stories. It's only as I get deeper into them that people get annoyed.

bratprincess: Very impressive! I can't sit still long enough to read it, and I've done it so often (checking for mistakes, double checking character thoughts, ideas, situations and such for this story) that it kind of bores me, so I skip to my favorite parts. Did you like it, or just read it for the background?

sarah: Well, let me know when you're done, and we'll see if we can start tipping him over...

Night Wraith: Well, thanks, and the chapters are how they are and I'm rather helpless to change it. If I try too hard it's obvious, so it's best to just leave it be where the characters call it quits for the day.

LilAznElfLuver: But if I post too quickly, people don't review! I've noticed that--faster reviews mean you get fewer reviews, except from your ever loyal readers/reviewers. I like getting reviews--they help me figure out what you guys like, don't like, and any mistakes I made and didn't catch... though really, I'm harder on myself than you guys typically are.

megs6789: I've had so many computers go on the fritz around me I always look for a piece of wood whenever I even joke about them. I'll knock for you. : )

Lady Anck-su-namun: Yes, it made sense... Now... let's see if we can't open her eyes. Slowly, of course, but we'll get little sticks and pry them open if need be!

Zeriae: LOL. But one thing to recall--Legolas's eyes are dark, nearly navy. Her lover's eyes are bright blue.

Mashimaro-San: The title will be explained within a few chapters... it's also partly because this story is related to another one that I've written-- The Worry Stone. It's the same stone. Long, looong story.

deemarie: Then, you should definitely like this chapter...

CrimsonEnchantress: A lot of reviewers mentioned something along those lines... Personally, I thought it was rather ironic.


Chapter 15

Lunian was singing quietly, enjoying the trees and animals around her as only an elf truly could. She grew quieter after a while, smiling as she listened to the world, her feet drawing her to a place she had been before, on occasion.

Of course, there wasn't usually someone there.

Her greeting died on her lips when she saw him, truly took note of him. He was stripped to the waist, his damp leggings explaining why. His hair had already dried, whispering over the bare skin of his back she was treated to. She watched the long, slow breaths for a while, wondering if he was truly sleeping or merely resting. Tilting her head, she vowed to try not to disturb him if he was asleep, but if he wasn't… then perhaps she could talk him into something. Swimming with her, even though he was almost dry, maybe.

Cautiously she walked around him, stepping over anything that might make a sound, making her heart and breathing slow as he had taught her once. When she could see his face, she frowned in confusion. His eyes were closed.

Suddenly he smiled. "Very good, Lunian. I wouldn't have known you were there."

"If you didn't always?" she sighed, sinking down beside him.

He opened his eyes, pushing up from the ground before laying back down, his hands behind his head. "Does it bother you so?"

"No, not really. It would be rather unfair of me, as I always know where you are."

"Along with several others," he smiled faintly.

She watched his eyes drift closed, and studied the fair features that were before her. Without thinking about what she was doing, she let her gaze wander down to his chest, looking for a moment as one would upon a fine sculpture or painting, taking in the lines that formed his strength. After that moment, she realized what she was doing, and felt the tips of her ears heat up. She was about to tear her eyes away when she saw a white mark on his abdomen. Frowning at it, she tilted her head to the side, studying it intently. She was about to ask when she noticed another not far from the first. As she looked, she found more and more of them, though many had nearly faded away from even elven sight.

His muscles tensed beneath her fingers when she touched the first one she had noticed. His eyes cracked open, obviously questioning her even as he relaxed.

"Where did these come from?"

He followed her attention down to the mark, tracing it with his own fingers, though his movement extended the line farther than she could see. "That one was orcs. Most are, really. A few from an unfortunate move in a sparring match, a few from spiders. I have one on my back from being thrown from my horse, unless it has faded away now."

"You were thrown?"

"Mm-hmm," he agreed, closing his eyes against the sun. "There was a snake in the grass, and it started winding up his leg. He reared up. I had been distracted, and only realized what was happening when I landed on a not too soft rock with jagged edges."

She flinched.

He looked at her again, reaching a hand up to lightly touch her cheek. "It did hurt. But it is in the past. In time even the scar will fade away."

"How many have you had, then?"

"I stopped counting before I was a quarter of your age," he shook his head slightly. A smile touched his lips. "I was sometimes called clumsy, because I was bound to get at least one fairly serious wound a year for a few centuries."

"Why?" she asked, distressed at the thought of him hurting.

"I was young, reckless… the woods were not friendly to those who wandered within them alone. I was attacked by spiders, orcs, goblins, trolls, worgs… even humans, on occasion."

Thinking of Estel, she frowned. "Humans?"

"Wild, uncivilized creatures hardly worth what honor there still is in that title," he agreed. He took a deep breath, which moved her fingers slightly. She snatched them back, somewhat shocked she had forgotten they were there. "I was also a bit… graceless, for a while."

"I don't believe that," she scoffed, lifting a brow.

He smiled, opening his eyes. "It is quite true, Milady. I was more interested in cramming everything I could think to do into a single day than with being 'elf-like' as I did it. Of course, as time passes, one cannot help but calm down some."

"Calm down?" she asked softly.

He looked at her, obviously hearing the slight sorrow in her voice. "Lunian, I—"

She smiled faintly. "I don't understand why I am as I am, but I am not—"

Long fingers covered her lips, stilling the flood. "No, Lunian. Just stop it. You are an elf. Yes, there is some human blood in your line, but it is one of the strongest lines ever to be upon Middle-Earth."

"Then why am I impatient? Obstinate?"

"Because you simply are," he smiled, caressing her cheek gently. "Your impatience and obstinacy are simply extensions of your desire to embrace the life you have been given. You have no patience for those things that would—in your opinion—take time from you."

"But I am an elf. I have forever."

He smiled gently, tugging a bit of her hair. "You will grow to understand."

"I thought I was grown up," she muttered, looking back at the pond.

"Yes," he agreed, laughter running through his voice. "I merely meant you will come to understand, in time."

She sighed softly, but nodded. "Legolas?" she asked after he had again reclined back on the grass, his eyes drifting closed.

"Hmm?"

"Do you know why my eyes are so odd?"

"Odd?"

"Surely you know."

"You mean their color."

"What else?" she grumbled.

He smiled, but didn't move to look at her. "I have an idea."

"Well?"

He shook his head. "You have much to remember, first, Lunian."

She let out a low growl and laid down beside him, propping her head up with one hand. "But I never see myself, and even hearing myself my voice sounds odd."

"Odd how?"

"Harsh, abrupt."

He turned his head, his eyes slitting open slowly until he found the move had effectively shielded him from the glaring sun. "Your eyes were not as they now are."

"But they're so odd! No elf of Lothlorien or Imladris has ever had green in their eyes before."

He smiled, studying the superficial beauty of green flecked silvery blue eyes. "They are quite stunning, Lunian. I am sure many maidens wished they had something which set them apart in such a way."

She rolled her eyes, smiling ruefully at him. "Egola," she complained. "I know they are, and I know they do. I wasn't looking for compliments, I was just… Legolas? You have the oddest look…"

"Don't you know why?" he asked, his voice quietly strangled.

She frowned, wondering what she could have said to affect him so. Her eyes widened as she scrambled to sit up. "I'm sorry, Legolas, I didn't mean any disrespect, I just… It just slipped out!"

He shook his head at her, pulling her down against his chest. He chuckled a bit shakily. "It is no disrespect to me, little one. It has been a long time since I've heard you call me that is all. You startled me."

Her worry over doing something to push him away was soothed as he stroked a hand through her hair, his other arm wrapped around her waist. Slowly she began thinking about what he'd said. "I used to call you Egola?"

"All through your life," he agreed. "At first, it was because you were too young to get Prince Legolas out, and then it was something of a tease… which turned into a nickname."

"As Milady is?" she asked softly.

He tensed slightly beneath her, but relaxed again fairly quickly. "Yes. They evolved together," he added, continuing to comb through her hair. "Lunian?"

"Hmm?" she asked, opening one eye.

"Want to swim for a while?"

She smiled, but it was oddly paused, since her cheek was plastered to Legolas's bare chest. "But then I'd have to give up this pastime."

"Pastime?"

"Listening to your heart," she agreed quietly. "Add in the sun and I'm half asleep, and content to be so. Unless you'd rather I move?"

He made a soft murmur which made her smile again. Beneath her ear his heart was already slowing, giving into the rest she had suggested.