Disclaimer: I do not own LOTR. I also do not own Caleniel, Rodwen, Nínael, Celin, or Aearoniell; they belong to Tador and Aearoniell, who have given me permission to use their characters for my own twisted ideas.

Sweet Revenge

By: Mika Saito

Chapter 3- Ultimatum

Caleniel's smile lasted until the stables came into view through the trees. The day had been fun, but now she was almost positive that Legolas would leave once they reached to stables.

To her surprise he stayed. Together they unsaddled the horses while Nínael and Celin watched from a bale of hay, both of them yawning tiredly. After the horses were taken care of they each picked up one tired child and headed towards the children's room.

Legolas sat on the couch, Nínael sleeping in his lap, while Caleniel changed Celin into his pajamas and tucked him into bed. He idly noticed the pale green blanket lying in a messy pile on top of a pillow on the edge of the couch.

He looked up when Caleniel took Nínael from him, watching as she easily undressed the young elf, then put his pajamas on him and tucked him into bed as she had done with Celin. Watching her brought back memories of the first few years of their marriage. They had been in love, true, but they had not known too much about each other. For a while it seemed like they had learned something new about each other every day.

"You can go now." Caleniel told him quietly from where she was pulling the blankets up over Nínael.

"Why would I want to leave?" He asked.

"Don't you have something you need to be doing?" She turned to face him.

"Not anything that I can think of, other than spending some time with you." Legolas smiled at her surprised look.

"What about that thing from this morning. You were hardly gone long enough to have done anything."

"It was just a meeting with Elrond and my father," he shrugged as he pulled her down to sit on his lap. "They told me we could discuss it later."

"I think we should continue this conversation elsewhere." She motioned towards the children.

She led the way out of the room, carefully closing the door behind them. She did not stop once they were out in the hallway though; instead, she followed the hallway to the right a little ways, leading the way right to their bedroom.

Elrond and Thranduil watched from the window as Legolas and Caleniel rode out of the trees, both had one son seated in front of them.

"It seems to have worked fairly well so far." Elrond commented thoughtfully.

"We'll see. It may be just a small moment." Thranduil replied, though he hoped the problem had been solved.

"If it didn't work then we'll just have to try harder tomorrow."

Thranduil nodded absentmindedly to this, his mind wandering over the different argument's his son had gotten into with his wife.

Once the door was closed, Caleniel turned to him, anger in her eyes.

"Let me get this straight," she paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts, "you had to have your father and Elrond tell you to spend time with your family?"

"I was planning on spending some time with my family anyway, he just decided that the meeting wasn't so important as to take away from that time." He responded tensely.

"But you still had to have them tell you!" She exclaimed. "You didn't go in there and tell them that you were going to spend time with your family, undoubtedly you waited until they said that you should spend time with your family."

"Caleniel…" Legolas took hold of her hand. His thumb stroked her knuckles.

"I don't want to hear it Legolas." Caleniel told him darkly as she pulled away from him. "I don't want to argue with you anymore, I don't have the heart for it. However, if you do not learn where your priorities should be, then be prepared to lose something. Whether it's your family or maybe a little respect is your choice."

"You can't seriously expect me to make that choice! I don't want to argue with you either, but as King I have a responsibility to the people of Mirkwood," he said, looking affronted.

"You also have a responsibility to your family. The people of Mirkwood should be able to look up to you, but how can they do that if you are so disrespectful of, and negligent to, your family?"

Legolas sighed tiredly. This was the downside to being married to a she-elf like Caleniel, as he had soon found out. She was headstrong, and willing to argue her point until she was sure she had gotten through, which in this case was not helping.

"Caleniel, can we talk about this logically?" He asked as he sank into a chair.

"Why not, it's not going to change anything," she growled at him.

"Alright, what exactly is your problem with me?"

Caleniel fought down the urge to scream at him. So he wanted to play logically, she could do that to.

"Simple. You spend too much time working, you hardly ever spend time with your family." She responded as calmly as she could; though she could not keep the undertone of anger out of her voice. Legolas nodded thoughtfully, he had known the problem before, but now that she had stated what the entire problem was he try to figure out a solution.

"Any ideas how to solve the problem?" She asked sarcastically.

"There is no need to be like that."

"Really?" She scowled at him. "You want to talk about it logically, well let me put it this way: Get your priorities straight, or your sons and I are gone. It's your choice, let me know when you decide."

Legolas gave Caleniel one last curious glance before standing and leaving the room, heading in the general direction of his study.

Caleniel sank down into the recently vacated chair and pulled her knees up to her chin. She crossed her arms over her knees and buried her face in them. She had finally done it. She had finally told her husband what she had been thinking. She loved him, with her entire being, she loved him, but she could not stand how little time he spent with her any longer.

Legolas stormed through the hallways, his anger obvious to anyone who happened to pass him. He fumed silently at Caleniel. She had no right to threaten to leave him if he did not solve their problems. She had a part in it to; it was her problem as well.

He entered his study and slammed the door shut behind him. As he took a seat at his desk, he barely noticed how tidy the room was when just this morning it had been a big mess.

The book he had been reading lay to his right, he picked it up and opened it to a random page. He forced himself to read, to forget for the time being the argument he had just had with his wife.

Slowly the tension faded, his shoulders relaxed, and he lost himself in the pages of the book. He sat there reading for an hour before he drifted off to sleep, slumped forward over the book.

Caleniel sat curled up in the chair for a long while before she managed to calm herself down. Once she was calm she stood up, her legs stiff from sitting in such a cramped position for so long without moving. She left the room, intent on checking on her sons before slipping under the covers of her bed and going to sleep.

She slipped silently into the dark room, not bothering with any light, she knew every inch of the room. She halted suddenly; her eyes widened and she gasped.

Standing in the middle of the room was a familiar figure.

Preview of Chapter 4- Separation.

Caleniel, still fighting unconsciousness, struggled to stand, one thought in her mind. She would not allow Aearoniell to hurt her children. Aearoniell turned to face her, an evil smirk playing about her lips, as Caleniel stumbled forward.

"Grab the children," Aearoniell smiled darkly, "Gaenír."

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