"I cannot let you enter, Lady Meiou."

Meiou frowned, staring at the two guards defiantly. She looked at their gray- eyes angrily as she said, "I rode here for days, never resting, never stopping. And this is what you do to me? Lau, I will not let my quest be denied as such. Allow me to enter at once! Or else…"

"Or else what, Selde?"

She looked behind the two guards to see her father making his way to her. He had aged greatly, but looked like he aged because of grief rather than time.

"Ada, Let me enter." She pleaded, "Let me see mother, please…"

The elf frowned and growled at her, "You left her here to go off in some fool-hardy adventure, letting her waste away in grief from her loss of a daughter, and you dare tell me to let you enter?" He shook his head as he grinned evilly at her, "No, I shall not let you enter. In fact, I order you to leave. Leave me to grieve for the loss of a wife…"

"You did not love her!" She screamed at him

"Yes I did!" Her father screamed back, and Meiou was a little shocked with his answer, "I loved your mother far more than you can ever imagine! You think I would hit her for the world! When did you see my hand fall on her body? When!"

She tried to think, and as she thought more, she realized he was right. Even if he beat her, he never laid a hand on her mother. She was about to open her mouth to say something when the man continued.

"I loved your mother. I loved her, even if she bore you…" He grimaced, "The child of an orc…"

His words hurt, and she asked angrily, "Why do you detest me so? What have I done to you that you displeasure so much to cast me out as such and treat me like a worthless creature?"

"It is not of what you have done or what you are, it was of what happened before, isn't that right, Lord Locien?

Meiou, her father and the two guards looked behind her to see Legolas, dressed in silver wearing a crown and a white-silver cloak. The two guards bowed down low to him, but his father simply looked at him loftily and said, "Man le! How dare you interrupt the private discussion between a father and his daughter!"

But Legolas simply looked at Meiou and whispered to her, "Go inside and see to your mother, Meiou. I shall take care of this."

"The gall of this boy!" Her father yelled, "How dare you! Under whose order are you following?"

Legolas scowled at him, "I am Legolas Thranduilon, Prince of Mirkwood. King Tharanduil is my father, that this woman my fiancé! My orders are absolute. Disregard for my word is punishable by death!"

Her father merely gawked at him at his revelation, and Meiou, hearing the second sentence in his introduction, said, "Legolas, what are you…?"

"I have told you to go to your mother, Lady Meiou." Legolas said, still staring her father down with a regal gaze. "I have to have some words with your father."

Though she was a little surprised by Legolas words, she did what she was told and ran inside. Legolas stared the man down as Lord Locien seethed.

"I do not care if you're the son of the king." He said with venom in his voice, "You know better than to interfere with a family's personal affairs."

Legolas' eyebrow rose, "I have a right to interfere, specially if my wife-to-be is concerned."

"Whoever gave you the permission to take my daughter for yourself?" Locien seethed again, "What you're doing is an outrage and a scandal."

"If there was one thing your child has taught me, lord, it is that immortality is useless when not shared and when not used for good." Legolas rose his chin a notch higher, "I wish to share my talents and immortality with the people of Ithilien, and with Meiou."

"She is my child!" Lord Locien screamed finally, "You have no right to take her!"

"Nor you have the right to keep her." Legolas replied calmly, "Life is free. No matter what race you are, the Iluvatar made it a rule in itself that the life he gave us is to be lived without restrictions. You violated this rule the moment you locked your daughter in that tower. She made a way for herself to be free of you. And now that she has, you have not the right to take her back."

"I will not risk her ruin by living in the open like this." Locien said, his stance a little wide now as if threatening Legolas.

The elven prince's eyebrow raised. "Like what had happened to your first wife?"

The older elf scowled, "How did you know that?"

Legolas' face seem to lose all emotion from it as he watched Locien, "My father knew you well, Lord Locien. I know also that Meiou is not even of five hundred years of age." He continued to watch the man as he walked around him, "You had a wife before Meiou's mother, who fell in love with one of the Dunedain Rangers. But when the ranger left your wife, she left you, and went off into the world to find him. And instead of finding him, she found death in the hands of evil men."

Locien remained where he is, but Legolas knew he was seething mad and was listening intently to him. He stopped walking around the lord and stared at him. "Is that why you kept Meiou? Were you afraid that she would find love in a mortal man and leave, like your first wife did? It was never an issue of her face that scared you, wasn't it? It was her heart, her strong will and her courage that made you so scared that you faced her with anger and lies and punishment."

Locien's head bowed, and a minute later, the elf let out a silent snort. He raised his gray eyes to Legolas and he saw that he was crying. "I was angry." The man managed to sob out, "I loved my first wife so much. Her loss was too much for me. I did not wish to lose anyone anymore. Meiou… was so strong. I did not know where she got it. I feared that if I lost her like my first wife, that I would never get over it. And now I am losing a wife again, and I do not wish Meiou to be gone as well."

Legolas watched the old elf cry, but a minute later he raised a hand and placed it unto his shoulder, "You lost your child's heart the moment you locked her and hit her with your bare hands, but by your words can you redeem yourself." He nodded towards the house, "She is within, but she will not know what you truly want to say until you say them yourself. You wish for forgiveness. She is willing to forgive. I cannot think of anything bad that could come from such an equation…"

Locien looked up at Legolas and wiping his eyes, asked, "Why are you doing this?"

"Meiou's heart needs mending. But it is not I who could mend it." Legolas simply answered.

The older elf nodded as bit and looked up the tower, before walking into his doors to talk to his child.

"Amil, I am here. Please hold on…"

Meiou watched her mother's gray eyes open slightly. As the woman saw her, her dry mouth opened up for a smile, the pale skin on her face seemingly lighting up.

"My child…" She said weakly, "You have returned…"

Meiou's brown eyes filled with tears as she grasped her mother's hand and held it close to her face, "I am here, Mother. There is no need to be sick anymore. I shall take care of you now."

"Forgive me, child, but I am beyond mending." Her mother whispered, "I waited for you as long as I can, and now I wish to rest and be with our ancestors."

"Mother, please…" Meiou cried silently, "Do not give up hope."

"My hope is all but faded, Meiou. I still have hope. I hope to see you before I die. I hope that you would reconcile with your father. I hope that you will have a good life." She smiled at her, "I always had hope, Meiou. Nothing could take my hope for a brighter future for you."

"Well, I am here, so one of your hopes came true." Meiou said with a weak smile, "But I guess the hope for a reconciliation is out of the question."

"I do not think so."

Meiou turned to look at the doorway to see her father, looking a bit teary-eyed but smiling at the two of them. For a moment, it calmed Meiou, since she has never seen him smile at her before. She swallowed as he started walking towards her.

"Avo 'osto, Meiou. I will not hurt you." Her father said, "I only wish to speak with you. Please, sit down by your mother. I wish for her to witness something."

Not trusting her voice, she sat down by her mother's bed and waited for her father to settle himself on his wife's bed. She swallowed again, "What did you wish to speak to me about?"

"This." Said Lord Locien, and he came forward suddenly and embraced Meiou. The breath in her lungs got knocked out by the power of her father's embrace, and tears sprang to her eyes when she realized what he was doing.

"Goheno nin, selde." He said, "Forgive for everything I have done, for everything I had said. I promise you now that my hand shall never fall on you again, nor my words be full of wrath and anger. I was wrong to think that keeping you locked in a tower would rectify my mistake. I see that now. Forgive me. Forgive this old elf who comes to you now in hopes of having his daughter again."

Meiou didn't quite understand what had happened, but when she realized that her father crying on her shoulder, she let out a loud sob and buried her face on his shoulder, "Atar, Ú-moe edaved. I forgive you now. I have long forgiven you."

Her mother smiled as she watched her husband and child embrace in front of her. She raised a hand to them, and they turned to her, and as their eyes met, they all laughed in delight and embraced each other. But Locien let them go and said, "There is also something else I wish for your mother to witness."

"What is it, lord?" Meiou's mother asked him.

"You said that you hoped that our daughter will have a bright future ahead of her." Locien said, "Then I, as her father, am giving her one." He turned to Meiou, who looked bewildered at her father's words. "Legolas has asked me for your hand, and I accepted."

"What!" Meiou said, a little shocked, but there was glimmer of happiness in her eyes.

"Yes, I have agreed to make you Legolas' wife." Locien said, through his own tears of happiness. "And your mother and I shall be moving to Ithilien with you." He turned to his wife and said tenderly, "So rest now, wife. We have to travel to Ithilien for your child's wedding to the crowned prince of Mirkwood."

Her mother laughed, and the effect was astounding. Her pale face flushed with happiness, and the sickly circles under her eyes faded. It was a magical transformation, which made the husband and child happy again. Meiou immediately hugged her parent's again, for now she knew that they will never be ashamed of her again.

Legolas continued to stare up at the trees of Mirkwood when an elderly elf stood beside him. He smiled at the old timer and said, "Mae govannen, Atar."

Thranduil looked at his son with a strange look on his face before saying, "If you wish to leave for Ithilien, then do as you will."

The Prince of Mirkwood looked at him incredulously, "You have been asking for me for years, atar! Is this all you wanted to tell me? What of all those messengers you sent for?"

Thranduil laughed at look on his son's face, "I sent those messengers to tell you that you may stay here in Middle Earth for as long as you wish, son, and not because I wanted you to come home." He shrugged as he continued, "I shall be leaving for the Gray Havens when all things have been accounted for. I am sorry to say that I will not be at your wedding with Lady Meiou."

Legolas looked at him, "Where did you hear such words?"

He laughed again, "I am your father, Legolas. It is only fitting that a parent knows what his child is doing."

Father and son laughed together for a while, and Legolas said, "Yes, I suppose you should know about that."

Thranduil looked at his son, "You did the right thing, Legolas. You brought the pieces of a broken family, and you mended them again. You brought peace to the world of Men, and now, you brought peace to the heart of a family friend." He beamed as he placed a hand on his shoulder, " I am proud of you, my son."

Legolas stared hard at his father, before giving him a smile and saying, "Hannon lle, atar…"

The older elf nodded as he finally said, "I wish you and Meiou happiness in your marriage."

Legolas nodded, and he watched the older elf walk away from him. As he watched his father fade away through the mist, Legolas remembered that this may be the last time he would ever see his father. But then again, something in his heart told him that there may be a time when he'd see that man again.

Meiou was leaning against the balcony of her tower again, watching the elves below her getting ready for travel. Just a few months ago, she hated every one of them, she hated their beauty and their grace. And now as she watched them, she realized her fury was gone, and that it was replaced by this strange feeling of happiness and relief. She knew that it was brought about by her father. But still, something in her heart seemed empty, and she knew what it was.

"You left so suddenly. Why didn't you tell me your reason?"

Meiou looked behind her to see Legolas striding gracefully towards her. Something about the grace way he moved made her breathing a bit shallow, so she took a deep breath before answering, "I thought that I will never be able to see you again. I feared that losing my mother would cause me to stay at home. I feared that my father's tyranny would get a hold of me again."

"And did it?" Legolas asked as he stopped and leaned against the railing with his back. A strange look of smug satisfaction can be seen in his face, and Meiou smiled at him.

"No, it didn't." She answered, "For some strange reason, my father asked for forgiveness. And I gave it to him." She took in a deep breath and watched the forest again as she whispered, "My heart has never felt lighter in ages. I feel like singing to the world. But something still doesn't feel right." She shrugged as she said, "Well, I'll never know until I get home, I guess…"

Legolas stood up suddenly and asked, "I thought this was your home."

She laughed at the look on his face, "Yes, this is. But this is my parent's home." A mischievous look got into her eyes as she moved closer to Legolas, "And as much as I want to stay with them, I have my own home to stay to… in Ithilien."

The elf smiled at her as he shyly scratched his head, "I guess you found out my plan."

She rolled her eyes as she said, "You're practically shouting it to the world. My parents know about it. And from what I have heard, your father, King Thranduil, has allowed it already." She shook her head, "But there is something I wish to know."

"Ask away, Meiou."

She gave him a devilish grin, "Why is it that you've already asked for my hand from my parents, when you haven't even asked me how I feel about all this?"

Legolas stared at her, a bit dumb-founded, then he answered, "I do not know. I fear it's because I wanted to help you with your family first." He looked into her earthen eyes as he continued to explain. "I remember you told me that you wanted to forgive your father. I thought that your heart won't let anyone in unless you have forgiven your past and your father."

"And I think you are quite right." Meiou answered as she looked out to the forest again. "My heart was broken the moment my father hit me. I feared loving someone, because I was afraid that they might treat me like my father before. Finally seeing my father for what he is now truly healed my heart. I feel like I could love anyone now." She looked at him with honestly as she whispered, "Including you."

Legolas stopped moving for a second, before slowly turning to her. "Does this mean… what I think it means?"

She laughed at his look, before she came closer and wrapped her arms around him and whispered, "Let us go home to Ithilien, Legolas…"