Hi guys. I'm headed out for the weekend--no computers, obviously no internet, so this short chapter has to hold you for a while... don't shoot me for lack of discovery. I tried to get this up yesterday, but the internet wasn't working... I've got my fingers crossed at the moment.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed, but as it seems likely to happen far too often until I get a real life, review responces are limited to non-plot revieling questions.
isildur'sbane123: Wow, that was quite a feat. I just skim through when I feel like re-reading them (of course, I already know what happens). Um, actually, though I did get the highest class grades in English, I've not taken any classes recently. I'm a double-major and double-minor in Biology, Neuroscience, Psychology and Anthropology respectively. While that does require a LOT of reading and a fair amount of writing, I've never taken a class that focused solely on writting skills. So, thanks, but no writing major here. I don't think it's even offered.
LadyJadePerendhil: They don't yet realize that they are in love with each other. They know their own feelings, but not the other's. And the drawings of Legolas that Lunian hid in the book are drawings of him in her current life... in fact, most of them are from this story. (He was always drawn at least half-clothed). Thanks for forgiving me. : )
Chapter 27
"She is still in her room?" Elrohir asked.
Legolas smiled slightly, but nodded. "She has a project she is working on."
"A project… Legolas, are you sure? Lunian rarely has any sort of project."
"She never found anything she had the will and drive to finish. She does, for this."
"What is it?"
"A secret, actually. From you and yours." Legolas bowed his head slightly and turned to go out to the training field. He stopped abruptly when he nearly ran over a young elf. "Carathwan?" he asked softly.
She looked up at him, her eyes searching his face for something. "She is busy, yes. But she still aches."
He lifted a brow. "As she shall, until she recalls her past."
"Or until someone tells her who she's missing."
"There is more than one in her past to recall."
"Yet it is only for lack of one that she begins to diminish."
His eyes snapped back to hers, his steps faltering to a halt. "She does not."
She heard the questioning tremor in his voice, but only because she listened for it. "She comes alive when she lingers in her past memories. But when she has set them aside… she is no longer herself. Her life, her will… is simply…" she sighed. "I haven't the words to explain it. She seems to fade—"
Flashing eyes were suddenly very close, his hands wrapped tightly around her upper arms. "You know nothing about fading."
"I know she isn't well! Have you not seen her? How her eyes grow dark and dull? You cannot tell me you do not care."
"Of course I care," he spat, his hands tightening before he abruptly released her. "I have cared longer than you have lived."
"When will you tell her?"
"She knows I care," he dismissed it, turning again to escape her.
"When are you going to tell her that you love her?"
"She knows that, too," he answered easily, glancing over his shoulder at her. "Why bother with these inane questions?"
"Because she doesn't remember! She doesn't know who it is. It's tearing her apart to be so close to you, to her past, without knowing that she is! For all she knows the one she seeks made himself known once when she was but a toddler and then vanished into the background, waiting for her to remember and seek him out!"
He stared at her for a long moment. "You do not know of what you speak," he stated finally. "Go back to your games, child. Leave a weary old warrior in peace."
"Have you peace?"
He paused for an instant, his head bowing slightly for an moment before the world beyond the hall swallowed him up.
Carathwan stared after him for a long moment, before stomping her foot, letting out a loud growl of exasperation and frustration.
"Interesting noise," a soft voice behind her murmured.
She whirled around, her eyes widening upon seeing who it was. "L-Lord Glorfindel," she dropped into a curtsey quickly.
He lifted a brow. "Your name is… Carathwan?"
She blushed and nodded. "Yes."
"May I ask… what has the prince done to upset you so?"
"It's what he hasn't done," she grumbled, hands on her hips for a moment before they flew to cover her mouth, her ears brightening.
He smiled slowly. "I know you to be one of Lunian's friends… Has this anger something to do with her?"
She let out another frustrated noise, scowling at the direction the prince had gone. "He loves her."
"And?"
"And she loves him."
"Of course."
"But they don't realize it."
"If they don't, how—"
"Not like that," she waved a hand. "I mean, they don't realize the other loves them as they love the other."
He lifted a brow at the convoluted sentence, but knew enough of the pair in question to figure it out without asking… which was probably a good thing. "And what were you trying to accomplish?"
She sighed. "She's hurting so much, my lord. Just being near him, and yet far from him… and at the same time she worries about the other one she loved…"
"What?"
She lifted a hand to her temple, understanding she was likely being confusing. Well, it confused her, too. "You know who she loved before, don't you?"
"Yes," he answered, guardedly.
"Well… would he be against her falling in love?"
"With who?"
"With Legolas."
Glorfindel blinked. Hesitated. "The one who loves her… would wish her to be happy. No matter the cost to his own heart."
"But though you could tell her that, or he could tell her that, she would never believe it."
"She would believe it, child," he countered quietly, "but she would never accept it. No, until they come together, there is nothing to be done."
"There must be something we can do!"
Glorfindel lifted a brow. He smiled slowly, understanding why Lunian had found a friend in this fiery elf. "Listen."
"Listen," she repeated blankly. "Listen? That's all you want to do? They're hurting! How can you—"
"That isn't all I want to do. It's all I can do. I would love to be able to simply lock them together in a room until everything is resolved, but I don't have that option. She has to remember him on her own."
"And in the meantime she is tormenting herself for falling in love with someone else," she added bitterly. A tear slipped from her eyes.
Glorfindel reached up, gently brushing it away. "Don't cry, child. Things will work out in the end."
"How can you be so sure?" she asked brokenly, swallowing hard.
He smiled gently. "Because she isn't falling in love with someone else."
"How would you know? Have you seen her recently? Seen how she looks at him? She does love him."
"You aren't listening," he chided, brushing a bit of hair behind her ear.
She frowned, thinking back. Then her eyes widened, snapping up to meet his, beginning to sparkle.
He smiled.
