CHOICES IN LOVE

Disclaimer: The title LOTR and it's brilliant characters belongs to the great mind of J.R.R Tolkien. As for the others, Miya (Mee-yah) and the rest, they're part of my hyperactive imaginative mind.

Chapter 5

"Almiya Starwen. Where do I start?" he wispered softly to himself before sighing. "That spirited woman was...is my best friend and adopted sister. Not exactly adopted but she lived in my home because my father is her godfather. She was sent to Rivendell 70 years ago to protect the city of her mother. She's half Rivendell and half Lorien. I promised to visit her but well, I didn't. There's simply too many reasons that I will not even think of discussing them here. But one thing is true, I neglected her when I knew I shouldn't have. No doubt she's angry as the Fires of Morder at me now for I haven't seen her since she left," he said monotonously. "This was her mother's wedding ring," he added, turning around the band on his finger reverently.

The fire in the middle of their temporary camp gave way to some light when the sun disappeared. The fiery embers illuminating the elven prince' face, showing the remorse he hadn't felt in a long while. "I promised to visit her. There aren't any excuses why I didn't, I just didn't."

"You didn't visit her when we were summoned to Rivendell?" Aragorn asked curiously. He tried to remember any signs from the elf that may signal that something was amiss during the council, but he could recall none.

Legolas shook his head. "That was just over a year ago and I think she would be boiling mad at me before then," he answered heavily. A temporary silence overcame the two companions as Legolas contemplated at his situation. "I think I just didn't the finality of her being gone from our home and by visiting her in Rivendell, it would make it truly real. It was my own selfishness that started this," he said stoically.

"I am going to be on my way to Rivendell in the morrow, do you want to come with me?" It would be a good way for his friend to mend things with his elleth friend.

"No, I don't think she would be pleased to see me," Legolas said wryly, letting out a small chuckle at the suggestion Aragorn made. "To tell you the truth, I would rather face another Balrog than face Almiya Starwen in anger. Trust me, you don't want to see her worked up." Legolas remembered the times when his friend would fly in anger and would seem to grow in size due to the heat that emanated from her small frame. Anger made the elleth terribly articulate in all Sindarin, Quenya and Silvan curses. Remembering those times made his heart ache for what he had lost.

Aragorn smiled at the declaration. "Arwen might know something about her, do you wish me to inquire about Miya? You say that she has been Rivendell's protector for almost seventy years, Arwen might already have befriended her."

"By now, knowing Arwen, they would already be somewhat best friends," Legolas said with a smile, fingering the tip of Miya's arrow. Legolas may have been her best friend but she was the kind of elf who would go out her way to make friends. It wouldn't be such a surprise to know that she and Arwen may have become superb friends. "Maybe when I have enough courage to face her, I might visit her. But I do not think it would be anytime soon."

The statement made Aragorn think about his elven friend's friendship with the elleth. He detected an unusual feeling from him: fear. And for the warrior that Aragorn had known for most of his life, who neither feared pain nor death, it was strange to know that he is feeling that particular emotion towards a female elf. "I have never known you to turn away from your fears, my friend. What seems to be driving you to act this way?"

"Almiya would not be very forgiving. Not even to me, not even when she finds out that I have never forgotten her nor when she finds out that I think of her every single day of my existence," he said sadly. Another long pause came from Legolas before he sighed, harnessing a question in mind to his friend, "Do you know the feeling that you have been missing a part of your self and no matter how hard you search for that missing part, you just can't find it?"

"Arwen is my missing part," Aragorn said immediately with a soft smile, remembering his lady. But more than that, he realized where his elf friend was getting at. For most part, he thought it was about time!

"I tried to find mine and since I cannot find it, I want to believe that it's Miya. Although I don't believe I love her the way you love the Evenstar, Aragorn, though, if that's what you're thinking, my friend. When she left that morning, my whole self felt heavy and eventually, the heaviness disappeared but not all of it. There is this dull ache that never ceases inside. Up to now I still feel it," Legolas said absent-mindedly, not really injecting emotions but merely stating a fact. "I have grown so accustomed to it that it has become a part of me already."

"When you speak of her, it is as if you long for her, dear elf," Aragorn said carefully. It would be best if he left Legolas to figure out his own feelings for the elleth friend that he had left behind rather than be pushed to that direction. But he could not resist asking one question, "Are you sure you don't feel for her the same way I feel for my beloved?"

"I am sure,"

"Then it seems like I would be going alone to Rivendell on the morrow. I better get some rest, good night Legolas," Aragorn said before settling down on to his back.

"Rest well, Aragorn,"

As he listened to the night sounds, Gimli's loud snores, the cackling of the fire and the crickets chirping around the camp, he couldn't help but add another sound, his own soft chuckling. Remembering the old days with Miya were both saddening and cheery. It was his fault for not visiting her. The truth was that he had visited her for the first twelve years after she left Mirkwood, but after that last year, things began to get busy. And in his mind, it became harder to visit her because he knew it would be a long time before she would come back to his lands. He simply gave up. With those facts, they surely will not mollify Miya's anger.

Oh, true, he would rather face a Balrog than a furious Miya.

He wondered how she was now and her life....