The Lost City Of Cirus

Author's Note:
Thank you SO much for your reviews, both from new readers and from those of you I'm very happy to see back Sorry about all the angst but every story needs a little bit, can't be happy all the time now can it?
Anyway, thought I'd best get this chapter out as fast as possible or risk having Legolas kidnapped from beneath my nose and then where would I be?
Please continue to review, as you have all been most wonderful so far.

Thirty-Four
A Step Forward

Legolas didn't speak to anyone as he gathered some food from the mess tent and took it with him off into the forest.

Aragorn, who had been in the mess tent when the Prince had dragged his thinning form in, had thought the Elf looked in particularly bad shape. He watched him as he piled some food onto a plate and then left. Slowly, Aragorn made his way to the tent's entrance and watched through the opening as Legolas disappeared off into the trees. He didn't appear to be headed in the direction of his tent so Aragorn's next guess was he was after a tall tree to hide himself in.

The King of Gondor excused himself from the tent and quietly made his way over to the infirmary area. It was still relatively early in the morning and most of those he'd been dinning with moments before were Rocs. How they roused themselves at dawn everyday Aragorn would never understand, but they seemed to function well on relatively little sleep and who was he to question the great creator.

Aragorn ducked into the tent Aquila was being housed in and found Elrond busy changing her bandages for that day.

"Come in Aragorn. I will be done in a moment."

"Even after being brought up by Elves it still amazed Aragorn at how they always knew when someone was behind them and exactly who that someone was. He vaguely remembered Elrond telling him once that everyone had a distinctive footfall and that you could tell who was coming by that. Aragorn could track footprints through leaf-litter but never had he been able to develop this talent the Elves seemed to have at picking the sound of a particular someone's approaching footsteps.

So Aragorn stepped further into the tent and straightened himself up before approaching the Elf.

"How is she doing?" He almost dared not ask incase the news was ill.

"Actually she is looking better than I have seen her in the past three days." Elrond smiled reassuringly at Aragorn. "She may even wake soon. Please don't tell Legolas though, I finally managed to get him to go feed himself and rest his body."

"Ahhhh then that's what he was doing in the mess tent."

"I will have him called back only if she actually wakes."

"I think that is a wise move Lord Elrond, he looked utterly spent."

"Yes, but it took some convincing to get him out of here."

"You really think she has a chance to pull through?"

"Were you to have asked me the same question a few days ago with Legolas not present I would have told you no, but now you see the colour has begun to return to her flesh and the wound is looking less angry."

"That is the best news I have heard all day Elrond." Aragorn said with a genuinely wide smile.

"This is only beginning Aragorn, we still have much of it to get through."

After helping Elrond administer the poison antidote to Aquila, who swallowed it with more ease then Elrond had seen her do since he began her treatment, Aragorn took his leave and left the Elven Lord to sit back in his chair and watch over the sleeping Roc, just as he'd promised Legolas.

The afternoon sun was hot and the heat was only amplified in the tents. Small beads of sweat glistened on Elrond's brow and he'd had to pull the sheets back from Aquila so that she didn't overheat.

Elrond stood to retrieve a glass of water from a nearby table when he heard his charge gasp softly. Forgetting the glass he rushed back to the bedside and knelt down beside it.

Aquila was gasping softly and her eyes were slowly trying to open but evidently the light was still too blinding for them.

"Aquila." Elrond whispered softly to her as he smoothed her dark hair back off her forehead.

Her eyelashes fluttered and she was trying extremely hard to focus on the face swimming in her vision. She took a deep breath and finally managed to identify the face above her.

"Elrond?" Her voice was soft and hoarse but it brought tears to Elrond's eyes to hear her speak.

She struggled to sit up but Elrond was quick to place a hand on her chest and press her back down.

"You mustn't sit up too quickly Aquila. You have suffered a wound to your abdomen and if you sit up too fast you may tear it open again."

"Where am I?" She sounded confused and her eyes still hurt.

"You are back at camp."

"The war?"

"It is over. We won, thought at a grave cost. More were killed than we would have thought due to the Chameles poisoned weaponry. We almost lost you too after you took an arrow to the belly."

"Legolas?"

"Has sat by your bedside for three days straight and would be here in my place had I not forced him from here so that he could get some food into him and some rest. The poor thing has not slept or eaten for the three days he's watched over you."

The smile that graced her face was so beautiful he was only sorry Legolas had missed it, for it had been meant for him. Then Elrond suddenly remembered his promise to Legolas.

"Will you excuse me for a moment Princess."

He stood from his chair but a soft coughing from behind him stopped his progression to the exit.

"Before you do Lord Elrond, do you think you could help me to sit and maybe get me a glass of water?"

He smiled warmly at her and made his way back to her beside. He carefully helped her to sit up and placed several pillows behind her back to keep her propped up. He then retrieved a glass of water from the table across the tent and brought it back to her. She took it from him and drank greedily from it. He was moderately surprised when she drained it in a few gulps but went and refilled it for her before he excused himself again.

He hurried from the tent and breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted Frodo passing by. He rushed over to the Hobbit, who halted in his brisk walk as Elrond stepped in front of him.

"Frodo do you think you could do me a great favor?"

"Of course Lord Elrond, how may I be of assistance?"

"I need you to find Legolas for me and tell him that Aquila has woken."

"She has?" The Hobbit grinned widely and Elrond smiled back, shaking his head.

"Can you do that for me Frodo?"

"I can try, but no one has seen him since this morning. I think Aragorn mentioned he'd seen him go off into the forest though so I'll start searching there."

"Keep your eyes trained upwards."

Frodo looked confused for a moment before the strange instruction sunk in.

"Right."

He then hurried off into the forest in search of the Elven Prince. Lucky for him the forest wasn't a large one and so even if he had to look up into every treetop it would be a task that could be done by nightfall.

Elrond quickly returned to the tent where he found Aragorn sitting in the small chair by Aquila's bed and talking excitedly with the Princess. She clutched the now half full glass of water in her hands and was nodding her head quickly, trying to keep up with Aragorn's rapid speech.

"Careful Aragorn or you'll tier her out before we're able to find Legolas."

"Elrond! Why didn't you tell me she'd woken up?"

"I only had time just then to send Frodo to find Legolas to tell him she'd woken."

"Do not be mean Aragorn. It is not Elrond's fault, I have only just opened my eyes."

"Well it is good to see you well again Aquila." Aragorn genuinely meant it too. "There are plenty of us who have spent the last three days worrying about whether nor not you'd come back to us."

"You still have a long road to a full recovery Aquila. The poison still lingers in your system and you'll have to be treated once a day with the antidote for at least another week. Also the wound to your stomach is a deep one and in a place where your body flexes a lot so you will have to be very careful about how you move if you are to avoid opening it back up."

She nodded in understanding and Aragorn placed a hand on her knee to reassure her.

"Everyone will be so pleased you're alright Princess."

"Aquila!"

All eyes turned to the Elf who burst through the tent's opening and almost tripped over his own feet. Aquila took in the sight of her disheveled and worn Prince. Elrond was right, he was looking pale and thin, and there were dark rings round his now dulled blue eyes. But he was still her Legolas and she loved him even more for what he had evidently gone through for her.

A tiny sob escaped her throat and tears slid down her cheeks as she held her arms out to him. He ran to her, both Aragorn and Elrond had to jump back out of the way in order to avoid being bowled over, and enveloped her in a crushing hug.

He stood by the bedside and pressed her hard up against his chest. She sobbed quietly into his wrinkled tunic and he ran a hand soothingly through her hair while he rubbed the other up and down her back.

"Oh my love, you're ok. Never have I felt so lost. Don't you ever leave me." Legolas whispered into her hair.

She chocked on another sob and shook her head.

"Forever." He whispered so only she could hear.

"What?"

"You are mine, forever and ever."

"Of course." She whispered back.

He smiled down at her as she looked lovingly up into his eyes. Their colour was dulled but the love shinning in them was not. She smiled back at him and rested her head on his shoulder.

He crushed her to him again but this time her face contorted in pain and she winced loudly.

"Legolas!" Elrond called out as he gripped the Elf's shoulders and pulled him back slightly from her.

Legolas gave him a questioning look as he looked back at Aquila with worried eyes as he noticed she was wincing in pain and pressing a hand carefully to her injured side.

"I know this is a most joyous reunion for you Legolas but you must be careful with her, she is still recovering from her injury and it will be a few weeks yet before she is fully healed."

Elrond then moved to Aquila's side and carefully pulled back the bandages to check that the wound hadn't opened back up. Replacing the bandages he smiled up at her and rubbed a hand reassuringly across her shoulders.

"You're alright, just take a few deep breaths."

Elrond waited for her to follow his instructions and she did so obediently while both Aragorn and especially Legolas looked on in concern.

"Would you like some more water?" Elrond questioned and she nodded.

He got up to go fetch her a new glass of water while Legolas sat beside her on the edge of her bed.

"I'm so sorry Aquila, I didn't mean…"

"Of course you didn't Legolas." She reassured him by cupping his cheek in her hand and smoothing her thumb over his cheekbone. "I only wish you could hug me as hard as you wont to, cause I would hug you back just as tightly."

He lent forward and kissed her gently on her forehead. As he pulled back it occurred to him that he hadn't kissed her since they had left for war and yet he had nearly lost her, the love of his life. So he lent into her again, this time placing one hand on the bed beside her hip and the other at the back of her head, and closed the gap between them.

However as he was about to press his lips to hers he suddenly realized that Elrond and Aragorn were still in the tent with them and so he pulled back again, blushing red with embarrassment.

"Don't not kiss her on our part." Aragorn said with wide smirk.

Legolas blushed some more before turning back to Aquila and leaning into her again. This time brushing his lips softly against hers before she lent up and captured his lips in a more demanding kiss. He slipped a hand to the back of her head and pulled her to him, deepening the kiss further and when her lips parted his tongue was swift to join hers. Their kiss quickly became more lustful and demanding and Aragorn and Elrond tried to keep their attention trained elsewhere, but when Elrond notice Legolas starting to lean more into Aquila and her in turn begin to sink back against the pillows he coughed loudly to gain their attention.

Both broke the kiss and looked over at Elrond who held up the glass of water and raised and arched eyebrow. The cheekbones of both Legolas and Aquila were tinted red but whether this was from lust or embarrassment Elrond was not sure. Regardless he moved over to the bedside and handed her the glass of water, which she eagerly accepted and drank down quickly.

To be continued…