I have only a few things to say. #1: Oh...My... God... I woke up this morning to so many reviews! I should threaten you guys more often! J/k.

#2: Question time! Okay, Tala knows how to speak elvish, because Arya taught her. Elrond is the one who pinched the nerve in her neck, and Elrohir DID shoot her.

Chapter 11

Fear or Anger

Tala groaned in pain. Her shoulder was aching terribly, and her head felt ready to explode. The last thing she remembered was that cursed elf she had been dueling with. And then the arrow... darkness... Wait. Where was she now! Was she a prisoner of war? Dare she open her eyes?

If I want to get out of here, then I have to first figure out where I am... she thought. Her brown eyes fluttered open. She was in a room with an open balcony to the right. She was lying in a comfortable bed of white sheets and pillows. Tala recognized the greyish white stone carvings and the furniture. It was of elvish make. She must be in Ithilien...

Damn! She thought, cursing herself, They must've knocked me out and taken me here! I'm their prisoner!

Just the thought of belonging to someone made her angry.

As she tried to sit up, something held her back. One of her wrists was chained to the bed! Well... she thought miserably, It's not like they were going to let me waltz around! I'm the one responsible for so many deaths to their side! Then another thought hit her... What if they've brought me here to kill me? Make an example of me? Or worse... Turn me into some kind of slave - a whore! No! She tugged harder on the chain, but it wouldn't budge. It too was of elvish make - the metal made of mithril.

Her free hand fumbled in her blood-stained hair for a pin or pick... anything that would help her.

At last, she found her silver pin, and pulled it from her golden hair. The sharp tip glinted in the morning sun streaming through the balcony... Freedom. If only she could get the manacle open...

The handle of the door began to turn, and Tala quickly straightened up, hiding the pin beneath the folds the sheets. Six men - or rather, five elves and one wizard - entered her room. Two were identical to the last strand of hair, an old man with white hair and beard, a stern man with 'funny' looking eyebrows and grey eyes, an older man with blonde-silver hair and look to match the sternness of the other. And - "You!" she spat, as she recognized the elf with platinum blonde hair and striking blue eyes that had engaged her in battle.

Legolas just stared right back at her. The woman before him had almost killed him, if it hadn't been for Elladan's well-fired arrow and a well-pinched nerve from Elrond, he'd be in a grave by now.

"Release me!" she shouted, tugging at her bonds.

Gandalf, who had been staring at her oddly, suddenly strode quietly over to her, and reached under one of the sheets on the bed, revealing a small silver pin. "You wouldn't be trying to escape now, would you?" he asked, handing the pin to Elrond.

"Either kill me, or-" she began, her voice rising.

"My dear girl, we aren't going to kill you." said Mithrandir with a small chuckle.

Tala glared at him, annoyed. "I'd rather die than be your prisoner or worse."

Elrond sighed dejectedly, exchanging sad and apathetic looks with Gandalf. "Tari-" he tried.

"NO!" she yelled, "That is not my name you filthy vile loathsome men!"

"Elves." corrected Elrohir, unaffected by her words.

"Whatever! You're all males! I don't care what race you're from, males are all the same! My name is not Tari! I don't even know who Tari is!"

Legolas prayed that those words wouldn't be her last. He looked to Elrond, and beckoned him closer. "Could not Mithrandir plant a few of her old memories in her mind? Perhaps to try and trigger a revelation of some sort?"

Elrond shook his head. "No. She has to either remember on her own, or Tari's spirit overtake her entirely."

"This isn't going to be easy." Legolas sighed, glancing at the struggling young woman. "Let's take her to Rivendell... Perhaps being there will help her remember her old home?"

Elrond looked at 'Tari' too, and nodded. "I suppose so. But we must be cautious. Arya will soon discover that her only female soldier is missing."

It is very difficult to ride a horse when your hands are bound to the pommel and your legs tied to the stirrups. What's more, even if you did manage to get away, the horse you're on answers to a whistle, and comes galloping right back.

"Bloody elves..." Tala muttered, fidgeting with her bonds. The silken ropes wouldn't budge an inch.

Legolas rode up beside her throwing her a glance of concern.

Tala glared back at him. "What do you want?" she asked coldly.

Legolas just shook his head sadly. "Is it only males you hate?" he asked.

Tala's glare intensified. "Every male I meet is the same petty drunken idiot who thinks that a few moments of wooing and acting gentlemanly will get him whatever he wants. And if I didn't comply to that 'rule', I would be punished." her glare softened a bit as she looked into his disbelieving face. "Don't look so surprised. I've put up with it my whole life."

"I wish that you hadn't." he answered.

"So do I..." she said in a little over a faint whisper. Then, she snapped back to her usual self. "But the pain makes me stronger. My anger helps me to fight."

"Anger, can be a well masked disguise for fear."

"I fear nothing." she said defiantly.

"Yes you do..." Legolas said, delving into her thoughts. "You fear to belong to someone else. To have to serve another."

"I think that's a fear that almost everyone holds, elf." Tala retorted, turning away from those intense blue eyes. She felt as though he was looking right through her to her soul.

"So you admit you do fear something." Legolas pressed.

"I said that it is a fear that almost everyone holds. I didn't say it was mine." she retorted icily.

"What would you call it then?" he asked, trying to catch her eye.

"Why do you want to know?" she snapped.

"Why do you not want to answer?" he insisted, his blue eyes beginning to flame from her unwillingness to answer.

"Why do you care?" she shot back, as waspish as ever.

"Because I can." was his simple answer.

Silence fell between the two again, and the only thing that filled the two's speech was the soft thumps of the horse's hooves.

Legolas looked at her again, this time with curiosity. "Tala isn't your real name, is it?"

"No." she answered, bristling, staring straight ahead.

"Well then, what is?" he asked.

Tala looked at him. This elf just doesn't give up! He's not exactly annoying though... He's actually kinda' cute... No! Snap out of it Tala! He's just like everyone else! Remember what you just said? 'They think that after a few minutes of wooing they can get whatever they want'? That's what he's trying! She was silent for a few moments, then "It's Atalantawen..."

"That's elvish..." he said quietly, "It means Fallen Maiden, does it not?"

She nodded. "Arya never let me forget it. My mother named me that because she thought I had fallen from the sky with the graces of the Valar. Arya, however, thought that I had fallen from grace, not with it."

"I wouldn't say fallen... I would say more like, reincarnate." suggested Legolas warily, hoping that he could make some progress.

Behind him, Elladan and Elrohir couldn't resist the urge to roll their eyes in annoyance. Legolas was heading for trouble saying that...

"What?" she asked, "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. I don't think you're a Fallen Maiden. I think you're a Reincarnate Maiden."

Tala scoffed. "So you think that I have some past life inside me that I don't know about?"

"Precisely. Do you want to know who?"

Elrond was listening closely to their conversation. Gandalf warily eavesdropped as well, wondering if Legolas could break through the chilly facade of this mortal.

"I already know who you think I am. This, Tari person." Tala said, rolling her eyes and throwing a contemptuous glance at Legolas. "Let me guess. She was your lover, was she not?"

Legolas turned his head slowly to look at her. "Aye... She was."

"And she died?"

"In childbirth..."

"I see... So she was an elf then. And now you think her spirit entered me when I was born?"

"Yes. You look very much like her. Arya is the one who led us to you in the first place." Legolas said, gauging her reaction.

"Did she now? And what makes you so sure she was right?" Tala asked, trying to keep her uncomfortable seat.

"She is bent on making me suffer for not marrying her."

"And why would telling you that I'm your reincarnated wife make you suffer?" Tala pressed, interested in his story.

"Because I didn't think that I could return to Middle-Earth to even seek you out."

"Well, 'ya did. You captured me, put an arrow in me, and tied me to a horse to take me to some elven refuge." Tala moaned.

"We had to subdue you somehow..." Legolas said with remorse.

"You could've killed me!"

"But did we?" he asked, a gleam of mirth in his eyes.

Tala heaved a long sigh "...No, you didn't... But wouldn't I know if I was your wife?"

"No. Not until you reach a certain age when all your memories return to you."

"Will that be soon?" she asked, not sounding too hopeful.

"I don't know. It may never happen." Legolas said, hoping that that scenario wouldn't occur.

"And what does that mean for me?" Tala asked. "Would you let me go?"

"Not if you were going to go back to Arya."

Tala laughed. "Never. I doubt you'd believe me, but I'm glad to be rid of her. I didn't fight for her, I fought for my own vengeance."

Legolas smiled. Well, at least we don't have to worry about her slaughtering anyone... "You might find that you like Rivendell..." Legolas said.

"Maybe..." she said, looking thoughtful. She turned her gaze back to him. "When she died in childbirth... Did the child survive though?"

"Aye, praise Elbereth for that. We have a daughter, whose name is Estellia. She is around six in mortal years." Legolas said proudly.

"So, does that mean I'm to play a mother?" she asked tentatively.

Legolas noticed that her gaze softened when she spoke of children, and motherhood. "If you want it to be that way..."

Tala nodded slowly. "If you promise not to send me back to Arya and my father if you end up angry or hating me, then I will try my best to remember my past life. And I'll try to be a good mother to Estellia until my memories return. But if I so much as see one little bit of hostility, and the usual 'male games', I'll be gone from Rivendell before you can say 'oops'."

"Fair enough." Legolas agreed, hiding his urge to laugh at her choice phrases.