Chapter 8: Into the Present

1,422 years later…

"My Lady, I had a surprise for you." Briarvale said as he happily handed the Queen a letter."

"From whom might this letter be?" She asked as there is no to and from in front of the envelope.

"A messenger from Rivendell." Briarvale revealed.

"Then this must be from Uncle Elrond!" She said; happily as she read the letter…

"What does it say?" said Briarvale as he tried to take a peep on the letter that made his majesty a little ecstatic.

"May I know what cause your excitedness, Arwenamin." Rephrasing the question as she had ignored him for some reason.

"Well it says that … we must come to Rivendell as soon as possible!"

"But my Lady! The Roads are dangerous! Sauron's Forces are still out there!" Briarvale said, worriedly.

"That's exactly my point Brie!" A look of unexplained gaiety shown in her face as it made her more radiant.

"I'm sorry, my lady, but I don't quite get your point." He pointed out.

"Briarvale!"

"My Lady, please."

"Briarvale! Sauron's defeated! Uncle Elrond told me! He told me to come to Rivendell for the celebration! Also, Legolas came back! He's safe! I've been so worried –

Briarvale took Driel's hands to stop her from jumping up and down like a little elf who had just been given a present. He had never seen her so happy since the last few years…

"I'm so relieved Briarvale. Really, & I'm so happy for him." She said happily as she calmed down and sat at her chair.

"Nay, your highness, I've never seen you so happy before! You almost lost your civility if I may add."

Leila just smiled. "I've never been so happy in receiving such a letter before."

Briarvale frowned. "What do you mean my lady?"

"Before, all the letters I received were problems, trouble in this, trouble in that…" "It's just sometimes tiring, but what can I do, It's my duty…"she beamed.

"I understand Driel."

"At last, you called be my, say, fifth nickname?

"Fifth?"

"Lailomé, Leila, Lei, Aina…" she recited.

Briarvale chuckled.

"How long has it been since you've last seen him?"

"The last time YOU saw him."

"Then that was when you left Mirkwood then that is almost 1,500 years later… almost."

"Yes it was."

"But we passed by Mirkwood when we go to Lothlorien or to Rivendell or to…where was that again?

"Forgot."

"It was almost always Legolas in Rivendell, Legolas in Lothlorien, Legolas in Mordor… well it's like every place in Middle Earth."

"And what's with the almost?" he asked, curiously.

"Legolas in Valinor?"

"By Elbereth!"

"Well it's like he's avoiding me, whenever I came to visit him & father I always hear that sentence…"

"Well I suppose." Briarvale reconsidered.

She stood up and walked into the balcony. She breathed in the sweet smell of roses in the air, suddenly she let out a small scream and darted out of her den to her room to pack.

Briarvale smiled. Lailomeiel still acts like a child. He chuckled. "She's still who she thinks she is." He said to himself.

The next day…

"Is everything okay now my lady?" Briarvale said as he looks up at her in her horse.

"Yes, everything's fine." She said while beaming. "You'll take care of everything here while I'm gone right?"

"Yes, Yes of course Lei, I will. Now you take care and enjoy yourself alright."

"Gee, I wish you could come too, you know… Are you sure you're not coming with us, Briarvale?" She asked giving him her most "please-please-oh-please-come" look.

"I am really sorry Lei, but I guess I'll just stay here in the Great Lands… just give my regards to Elrond and Thranduil alright."

"Alright then, I will." She sighed as she leaned down to give the old elf a good bye kiss in the forehead, besides he's like her 4th father, aside from her real father Arcilleon, Thranduil & Elrond.

"Bye Briar!" She said as she rode to the gates, followed by her attendant and 2nd best friend Ilweth.

He watched Lailomeiel waved goodbye at him after both of them vanished through the thick woods.

"She always does that." Briarvale mused as he started to climb the stairs to the palace.

"So where are we now?" Ilweth asked.

"Near the border of Mirkwood." Lailomeiel said as she glanced at the blond and brown-eyed elf that rode beside her.

"So are we stopping at your foster father's house my lady?"

"I think not, Ilweth, we have to reach Rivendell as soon as possible."

"I agree, my lady. The woods are dangerous at night."

Lailomeiel nodded her head, as she tried to picture her parents that fateful day a long time ago.

"Is there something wrong my lady?"

"Uh no, Ilweth, Nothing's wrong, thanks anyway." She said as she shook her head.

"Oh and Ilweth, what did I ask you to call me?"

"Oh sorry Lei." Ilweth chuckled.

Lailomeiel smiled and told Ilweth that it's okay.

"Besides, you can call me in any of my thousand nicknames…" she added in between giggles.

Ilweth was Lailomeiel's 2nd best friend, aside from Arwen and Nathan; Ilweth lived in the Great Lands just as Lailomeiel came home with Briarvale.

"So what does this Legolas look like?" She asked curiously.

"The truth is, I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Well all I can say is that he is any particular elf around… well at least it's what I remember."

Ilweth gave her her most disbelieving look.

"Well how can I describe a present look of Legolas if I hadn't seen him for almost half of my lifetime?

"You've been with him and yet you don't remember him that much?"

"You're right, maybe I got some kind of amnesia or something."

Ilweth laughed, "I heard that he's a good archer… and handsome too." She teased.

As Ilweth said it, she remembered how she beat him during archery practice and how he looked like a whiny hobbit when she mischievously hid his bow, which took him 3 days to find inside the stables behind the haystack.

"Good archer… yes, handsome? I don't think so." She commented.

"Elves speak of him so highly."

"Well I guess in some way… indeed."

It was already dusk when they reached the border of Rivendell. Both Lailomeiel and Ilweth pulled their cloaks closer to them since it was already cold. They both to continue to ride until they got a view of the waterfalls.

Ilweth turned to her companion and asked "Seriously now, you really don't know what he looked like."

"Really, I don't. All I remember is that he is blond and had blue eyes, much like any particular elf around."

"May I know why you are so interested in my former brother anyway." Giving her a devious look.

"Believe me, I'm just curious. It just seems so strange that you don't know how he looks like although you spend half of your lifetime with him. Apart from the fact that you always tell stories about him and all…" She shrugged.

Lailomeiel decided to skip the question as she caught a glance of Elrond himself smiling at the both of them.

"If it isn't my niece and my half daughter." Elrond beamed as he opened his arms to give Leila a big hug.

"And if it isn't my half uncle and father…" She answered back as she saw Arwen coming down the stairs…

"Lailomé!" Arwen said as she started to give Leila a very tight embrace which almost choked her."

"Oh and Ilweth!"

She also give Ilweth her deadly hug.

"So Aragorn, did Arwen ever gave you her deadly hug?" She asked Aragorn who tried to sneak up behind her back to startle her… or whatever he is trying to do.

"Everytime." Aragorn said as he lifted her hand and kissed it.

Lailomeiel met Aragorn through Arwen who introduced him to her a few years ago, before the fellowship and the war of the ring.

"I can tell that you are looking for a certain person." Aragorn said for he noticed Leila snooping behind him.

She was about to answer him when Arwen gave her a "stay-away-from-my-mellamin" look for she saw Aragorn still holding her hand.

She shrugged and pulled it off. "Me, looking for someone?" she winced.

Aragorn gave her a sly look. "You are looking for Elfboy, aren't you?"

Lailomé glared at him.

"Well, I saw him awhile ago running around like a headless chicken." Aragorn sniggered.

"Running around?" Lailomé raised an eyebrow.

Elrond overheard their conversation and decided to butt in.

"Aragorn, Lailomé needs to rest." Elrond said to Aragorn as he took Leila's arm and led her to her room.

"You know Legolas?" Ilweth asked Aragorn who was looking at Arwen welcoming the other guests.

"Yes I do."

"What does he look like?" she asked as she gave him an ear to ear smile, enough for Aragorn to tell her every detail of how Legolas looks like, even how Legolas look like if Gimli was around… well in some other case.

He was about to answer her question if not for Arwen who called Ilweth to help her finish off the last minute preparations.

"Lucky elf." Aragorn said, shaking his head.

"Elrond, why would I need to rest if the celebration will start in a few moments."

Elrond let out a small laugh and told Leila how he got her out of possible trouble with Arwen because of Aragorn.

Lailomeiel laughed. "She sure does love him, doesn't she?"

"Yes, dear she really does." As he led her to his study. "And Leila, there is someone who asked me to bring you to him once you have arrived."

Lailomeiel frowned. "What do you mean?"

Elrond smiled as he opened the doors to his study.

Leila looked around and saw Thranduil beside the fireplace. She smiled and "Still love the place beside the inglenook, don't you father?"

Thranduil looked around and smiled. "As always."

Lailomeiel then ran to her father and gave him a big hug. Thranduil clasped his arms to her daughter for quite sometime and then let her go.

"Look at you." Thranduil said as he looked at her sparkling grey eyes.

Elrond coughed; "Sorry you two, but I guess both of you have plenty of time later but now I guess Leila should get a little rest to her room before the celebration starts 2 hours from now." Elrond intervened.

"See you later Father." She said as she kissed him in the cheek.

The room next to Arwen's was Leila's room in Rivendell. I see they didn't engraved my name in the door yet, she chuckled. Suddenly she heard a soft knock in the door.

"Just a second." She said as she stood up and opened it; to her surprise, it was Arwen.

"I brought you something." She said smiling as she handed her a box. "Oh and about Aragorn, don't mind him, he's just a little spiffy sometimes, and besides, you're family, so I guess I don't have much that of a problem."

Leila looked at Arwen and she actually got the gist of what she meant.

"Oh you won't have any problem with me." She said.

"Won't you open it?"

Leila opened the box and pulled out a beautiful white dress.

"Arwen, you shouldn't have bothered."

Arwen shrugged it off and told her it was nothing. "What are friends for right?"

"Speaking of friends, where's Nathan?" Leila asked.

"Oh Nathan's at Lothlorien, he was courting this certain Lothlorien elf, well that's all I know."

"Nathan? Courting?" Leila said, surprised.

"Well he is, anyway Leila let me remind you that the celebration will start an hour from now so if I were you I'll go take a relaxing bath and change alright."

"You're right, I need to be refreshed tonight." She said as she took of her clothes and dipped herself in the warm water of the tub.

Arwen was to go out the door when she turned back and said "Do you want me to close the balcony doors?"

"Oh no, Arwen, Thanks I'm pretty much comfortable with that door open, besides, no one's gonna jump from upstairs to my balcony and see me naked."

Arwen chuckled. "See you later Leila." She said as she closed the door.

The bath was relaxing, after a daylong journey that bath she just took felt like that's the first bath she'd had her entire life.

She then wore the white dress Arwen gave her. Leila looked in the mirror and argued with herself if she wanted to wear her hair up or down. "Oh well I guess I needed to wear it down."

She braided her hair in the sides and let the other half down. She put tiny light pink flowers between the braids, satisfied with how she looked, she sighed and went out her room and headed toward the gardens.

"Legolas, now I'm telling you, Arwen would kill me if she didn't see me a few minutes before the celebration starts."

"Just wait a second Aragorn, do you think I look nice in this outfit?" Legolas asked the already irritated Aragorn.

"Nay, Friend sometimes I have second thoughts about you, I am so inclined to know whether you really are a male elf."

Legolas gave Aragorn a deadly look.

"I mean no harm Legolas." Aragorn said as he raised his arms.

"Indeed you already look nice and handsome now can I go to Arwen?"

"Whatever."

Legolas went out his room after taking one last look in the mirror and decided to head to the gardens for fresh air.

Legolas looked around and up to see the stars that shone brightly in the sky. He then heard slight rustling of the leaves. Legolas, curious of what it was decided to follow the sound. Legolas followed the rustling when he came across a rose bush, he then hid behind a tree and decided to take a look, It was when he saw the most beautiful creature he ever saw.

It was a she elf, with a slender body, he watched her graceful hands pick out the roses from the bush. She had rosy skin and dark brown hair. He also noticed her beautiful grey eyes which tend to sparkle whenever the moonlight touches it.

All Legolas could do was to watch her.

"So lovely." Was all he could say.

After he said those words, she stirred, as elves have keen senses.

"Who's there?"

Her voice was like a nightingale.

She stirred.

Legolas watched her from his hiding place, there was something familiar about her, her eyes and her voice… but he couldn't make out what familliarity it is.

Legolas then heard the music bursting out of the hall.

"The Celebration!"

He then turned to the she elf he saw earlier but she already went towards the hall.