Introduction: I've re-formatted the story since the html tags didn't work. Same disclaimer though…Mirien, Doran, Tamar, and any other elf I make up are mine, everything else not. This is by no means smut, so if that's what you're looking for you've wasted your time. It will be a good story though, and there are sex scenes, just not terribly graphic ones. And as for elves cheating on each other…I have not yet read anything that mentions them ever doing so, but it doesn't say if can't happen either. Think about it…a lifetime with ALWAYS the same person. What happens if you promised your life to someone you no longer love? That's my point.

Now, on with the story.

Prologue:

Current mood: Confused

Current music: One- U2

"What's wrong, Mirien?" Ameron walked up behind his wife as she stared out towards the night sky.

"Nothing."

"Don't say that. Something is wrong- I see it in your face, I hear it in everything you say to me. What is it?" She looked at him, into his eyes, but then turned away.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Not even with me? I'm your husband!" She sighed and walked away.

"Ameron, you haven't been a husband to me for twenty years now." For a moment he stayed where he was standing, trying to understand what she'd meant by those words, but then followed her.

"Is that what's bothering you? Why have you not spoken of this sooner?" She remained silent, crossing her arms and turning away from him. "What have I done wrong? Please, tell me!" She turned to look at him again. Finally after a moment she shook her head.

"Nothing. Everything, Ameron...I...I don't know anymore. But I know you feel it too. It's in your eyes when you look at me- the same look I see in the mirror every day but has no name." Ameron was silent. He stared at her, his wife he'd known since he was young, who now seemed as a stranger to him. He sat by the fountain in thought, until finally speaking.

"How long have you felt this way?"
"I don't know," she said softly, "I can't remember not feeling this. When we married I was happy, but something happened and we both changed."

"What should we do about this?" He stood and approached her, but as he did she seemed to pull away. "We've been together for so long...I can't imagine not being with you," he tried to touch her, caress her face as he'd done so many times before, but she resisted, stepping backwards. "Can you not even stand to be with me?"
"No, it's not that at all. It just feels...empty. There's nothing there, Ameron, I don't feel anything when you touch me. Not like I used to."

"I do love you…"
"I think I love you too. Maybe that's the problem- I forgot whether I do or not. It's not anything you've done, but maybe what you could have done."

"What's that?" She shook her head.
"I don't know." Ameron turned away, already feeling heaviness in his heart. "I'm sorry, Ameron, I really am. It's not your fault. I just need some time...to figure things out." In one last moment of true affection, Ameron places his hand on his heart, and then on his wife's.

"You have it."