Chapter Twenty Four

Daralis could hear things smashing against the walls in Elrohir's room. Then the smashing stopped, and yelling started. Daralis was positive it was Elrohir yelling at Elladan. Elrohir was furious at himself.

Daralis pulled on a day-gown and went in search of Reidwen in the kitchens.

She barely reached the end of the hall when she found her, collapsed with her face in her hands.

"Reidwen? Reidwen, come on, get up, we'll go into my room." She pulled Reidwen up, being careful not to tug at the sheets vicariously covering her body.

When she finally had Reidwen in her room, she was surprised not to see tears.

"Hey, look at me," Daralis said softly. "We're going to handle this, alright?" Reidwen shook her head in response, causing Daralis to pull her out to arm's length.

"What do you mean, 'no'? You and Elrohir were meant for each other!"

"I cannot be with him, Princess. All my life I have lived serving others and having no voice, and when I was with Elrohir, I felt that I could leave that behind and become my own person. Now I don't feel that way anymore."
"Do you love him?" Daralis asked.
"I love him more than anything," Reidwen replied fiercely.

"You've got to be with him, then." She tightened the silk folds over Reidwen's body and pulled her out of the room, stopping at Elrohir's door. Daralis knocked firmly, and when there was no response, she hissed at Reidwen not to move and pounded on the door with her fist. Elladan finally popped his head around the door, and before he could deny her from entering, as he obviously wanted to do, she was inside and was pulling a half-naked Reidwen behind her.

Daralis realized with relief that Elladan had persuaded Elrohir to cover himself up.

She stormed up to him and poked him in his bare chest.

"You will talk it out with her, right now. You will also be more considerate of her situation, and you will not yell at her." She turned to Reidwen. "And you, you need to be more understanding of Elrohir, and listen to him." She went to Elladan. "We are going back to my room."

Everyone followed her instructions.

In her room, she and Elladan laid in bed, jokingly listening for signs of a struggle in the room next door, and soaking in the silence and contentedness of the room.

"Elladan?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm getting kinda hungry maybe we should go to dinner?"
He smiled and placed a kiss on the top of her head.
"We will, then. I'll get you a bath, and then I shall come back later, and we can go to dinner." She let out a humming sigh.

"You're too good to me, Elladan," she said, closing her eyes at the loss of heat as he got up from the bed.

Before she knew it, he was leaning over her from behind, tracing little kisses over her jawbone.

"I cannot help it, Daralis," he whispered to her, "I love you far too much to give you anything but the best that I can."

There was a slight pause, during which Elladan could see Daralis' face. With a surprisingly rapid rate he became terrified; he was afraid that she did not love him, that she had only said that she did love him the night before because she was in the throes of passion, and that his world was about to come crashing down around him.

"I love you, Elladan," she replied softly, calming his fears instantly.

He pulled on his clothes and went to find someone to draw her a bath.

Legolas sat in the conference room, watching Ontare being sentenced to eternity in the cells beneath Mirkwood. After everything was completed and she was taken away, he let out a breath of relief he had been holding in since he discovered Daralis' empty bed. As it was afternoon, he would not be leaving to return to Imladris until the next morning. He decided to begin preparing to leave. He went to the craftsman who made his arrows, where he filled his quiver. He checked on his horse, and then went to his father's office to make sure that the supplies for he and his entourage were being collected. By the time he was done with this business, the sun was setting.

He retired to his bedchambers for the rest of the night, looking forward to being able to rest after the ordeal was now finished. He felt much as he had in Gondor in the days following the destruction of Sauron.

Sinking into a steaming bath, Legolas felt all of his muscles unclench and relax. He let out another breath, this time a sigh of contentment. He missed his daughter, but felt that now he had given her the justice she deserved. He missed her mother, but he felt that he had done what she would have wanted. This thought comforted him. And he finished his bath dwelling on the dreams he had had before Daralis' rescue, both puzzled and delighted by them- perhaps it meant that he could finally be reunited with Rhiannon?

Dressing for bed, Legolas pulled on an ivy pair of baggy, silken breeches and climbed into his bed, feeling entirely comfortable.

That night he had a dream. He decided the next morning that he was having entirely too many dreams.

He dreamt of his time governing in Ithilien, as well as his visits from Gimli. While thinking of them the next morning on his way back to Imladris, these subjects struck him as very odd. Then with a start, he remembered a few seconds at the end of his dream, feeling as if he was gliding toward Rhiannon, who was dressed all in white.

He would return to Ithilien soon.

Okay, SHAME ON ME, I know. I KNOW!

I started a job, and I'm busy. In fact, I just finished this chapter at like, 1:30 AM, because I work at a theatre and I have to make sure everything's ready for closing.

But enough with my excuses. I've just realized the ending I want. So now the story will move along much more nicely. I'm going to have Daralis leaving Rivendell very soon, just to let you know. I don't know how long she's been there, but I need to get her out of there, so I'm sorry if it doesn't compute time-wise. I'm sure you all want chapters more than timeline accuracy, right? Right. Alright, I'm going to start on 25 now.