1AUTHOR'S NOTE

Someone asked me how Tari's letter would get to Arwen. The answer is simple: birds. It's not that hard to tie a letter to a hawk (especially one of Radagasts's) and ask it to deliver it to the specified person. Hey! If J.K Rowling can do it, why can't I? Lol.

I'm just about to kill my computer over this stupid image thing. Every time I think I get it right, something bad happens. So, I'll try it again.

Go to

Then, go to Images.

Type in (specifically) Uruviel Maiden of Lorien

and you will find a picture of an elf in a periwinkle blue dress. This is as close as I can get to what Tari looks like. It's not that different, so...

SpiderGirl130- The Elves can't help her. If Galadriel can't, no one can.

brownie24- The letters get to Arwen by birds.

aemorin- Thanks!

Beechiki- No! Comas are bad! ; )

Babii-Girl07- You'll just have to wait and find out!

Lady Anck-su-namun- Wouldn't you be angry too? Lol.

Chapter Two

I Won't Leave You Alone

Galadriel had stared at Tari with her unwavering icy blue gaze for the entire time that Tari was in her presence. It unnerved the princess, causing her to retire much earlier than she had planned. As Tari opened the chamber door and entered. Legolas was sitting on the end of the bed, holding something loosely in his hands. Tari realized it was her letter to Arwen, and froze, leaning against the door.

Legolas, was the first to break the silence. "How long, Tari?" he asked in a midnight whisper as he stood, "How long were you going to keep this from me! Were you going to die never telling us why? What drove you to keep such a dangerous secret from us! Could we not have helped you?" he asked, practically enraged.

Tari visibly winced at the sound and tone of his voice, closing her eyes with a grimace. "There was no reason for me to tell you, Legolas."

"No reason! Tari! You were - are - dying!" Legolas walked up to her, holding her by her shoulders. "That is a reason! You cannot keep such things from me melamin! I cannot protect you if you do not tell me these things!" (my love)

"You can't protect me from this Legolas!" Tari cried out, pushing away from him, "This is not an enemy you can see or kill! I have tried!"

"There must-be-something we can do! Galadriel-" he began, but was cut short by Tari.

"She hasn't the power to do so anymore... Please understand Legolas, that there is nothing you can do..." she said softly, the words even hurting herself as she said them.

"I can't accept that." Legolas said firmly. "I'll never accept that."

Tari gazed at him mutely, as though daring him to argue with her. He just didn't understand that what was wrong with her was far beyond his comprehension.

Legolas was staring at her with concern. "Tari... you're bleeding."

Tari raised a hand to her face, and felt blood slowly dripping from your nose. Legolas was still gazing at her sadly. "I'm fine Legolas." she said coldly. When he continued to stare at her, "Stop looking at me that way! I'm fine!"

But she was far, far from it...

Once Tari had fallen asleep that night, Legolas rose quietly from their bed, unwrapping his arms from around her waist; which was fuller now since she had escaped from Sircin. He softly placed a kiss on her forehead, pulling the blanket up to her chin. His robe was thrown on and left open, revealing his well muscled chest. Out of their chamber he went, going to seek answers from the very few he could...

Galadriel, Elrond, Celebrian, Celeborn, Gandalf, and Thranduil were talking quietly in the Library.

"I sense something strange about her." Galadriel said. "It hasn't been this strong until now. There is something amiss with her, I believe."

Gandalf nodded solemnly, his pipe between his teeth. "Aye, I believe so too. Frodo says she's not been as cheery as usual. Sam agrees with him. Though, I cannot place what the dilemma might be..."

"So secretive is she..." said Thranduil, running his hand through his hair that was turning silver like Celeborn's. "Legolas has voiced to me his concern as well. He says that she doesn't confide in him as much as she used to... That she always wants to be alone. And, that she has been having frequent nose-bleeds."

"Nose-bleeds?" asked Elrond, looking up, "Why would she be having those?"

Thranduil shook his head. "He says he doesn't know. And she hasn't told him why."

The door to the library opened, and in walked Legolas himself, who immediately tied up his robe. (all the fan girls huff in disappointment)

"Legolas, we were just speaking about Tari..." Thranduil said, beckoning his son forward to sit.

Legolas nodded. "She has just fallen asleep, and I came to tell you some grave news that I have discovered, against her will, and to ask council on it."

"Go on Legolas, tell us what plagues my daughter to be acting so." Celebrian prompted. Elrond held his wife's hand to offer a silent comfort. He had a feeling deep down in his heart that the news he would hear wouldn't be good.

Legolas nodded slowly, and breathed deeply. "When Tari left this morning, I realized she had forgotten her cloak. When I picked it up to go and give it to her, this-" he revealed the letter, "was hidden under it. It is addressed to Arwen... What is in this letter, I have a strong feeling she was never going to tell us."

He handed the letter to Celebrian and Elrond to read. It was eventually passed around and read by everyone.

By the time she had finished, Celebrian had tears of grief streaming silently down her face.

"How could this have happened?" she asked in a whisper, "I have only had her for ten years, and now she is going to die from some mortal illness?" She raised a hand to her eyes, wiping away the tears. But nothing she did could quell them. She had to leave her youngest daughter while she was no more than an elfling. And now that she had finally been reunited with her, she was going to die? Die, just like her sister Arwen eventually would?

"It makes sense..." Galadriel said. "When she went to the 'other world', she became mortal. As a mortal, she was subject to every type of illness she would normally have been immune to. I suppose that she must have carried this long-term disease with her even after she returned. But why would she not tell us? Why keep such a dangerous secret? Not only to us, but especially to herself."

"Because I didn't want to be treated like I was weak." Tari said coldly from the doorway.

Everyone turned. She was standing there in her nightdress with her robe hanging loosely, untied. Her eyes were slightly red; probably from crying.

"Tari-" Legolas began, standing up to walk over to her.

She backed away from them all.

"Daughter," Celebrian began, coming over to her daughter. Tari allowed herself to be embraced by her mother. "Why hast though kept such things from us?"

"It would not have mattered whether or not I told you, atara (mother). There-is-no-cure for this. Do not keep hope that I will fight it off. I have been fighting it for so long, and my body is now weak from trying." Tari said, as her father came up beside her, unshed tears in his stormy gray eyes.

Celebrian wiped the tears away from her eyes, gazing at her daughter. "How l-long?" she asked softly.

Tari knew what she meant, and lowered her head. "I'm not sure... A year, maybe two at the most..."

Legolas felt his heart shatter into a million pieces. A day to an elf, was like a mila-second. A year, like a day. And he could not live without her. "There must be something-"

Tari turned to him, shaking her head. "I told you Legolas, there is nothing... I'm not immortal anymore, either. When I was taken, in the forest, I was smitten with some kind of dart containing a concoction that Sircin had brewed... It took away my immortality, my powers, and prevented me from fading even if I was so close to death..."

Galadriel couldn't believe her elven ears... Not her grand-daughter... She was already going to lose one, and she prayed that she wouldn't have to bear witness to a second's fate. Though, the Lady of Light knew that she no longer had the powers that she used to... There truly was nothing she could do.

"I will ask you not to grieve for me. I've known my fate. I just... never thought it would happen here. I didn't know that I would find so much that I wouldn't be willing to give up..." she paused, and her gaze fell upon Legolas. He had tears in his eyes. How could she ask him not to grieve? She was his life, his love, his very being.

"I'd like to speak to Legolas alone, please..." Tari asked quietly, as she sat down on the sete in front of the roaring fire. She barely heard them leave, and did not know that they were gone until the door finally closed with a soft snap. Her head turned, and she saw Legolas standing in the same spot he had been. His head was bowed, and the tears were now falling freely onto the floor. Tari stood up, and quickly went to him, embracing him lovingly in her arms.

Legolas had never even whimpered before by her. Yet now he was softly crying into the crook of her neck, holding onto her for dear life. "Please don't go Tari..." he cried, "Don't leave me... You're all I have..."

Tari stroked his fair hair, whispering soothingly. "I don't have a choice Legolas... But as to you saying that I am all you have - that is not true. Not only do you have your family, and mine, but someone who will love you just as I do - and deserves the same love you give me. I am not going to leave you alone to grieve..."

Legolas looked at her with eyes that did not turn red from crying. They were only filled with tears and questions.

Tari took his hand in hers, caressing it, and placed it upon her stomach. "My love... I am carrying our child..."

A little spark of hope in a time filled with darkness for ya'.