Right, um... sorry. I posted on the wrong story, as I'm sure you figured out... two documents titled '12'... here it is.
Legolas and Elizabette headed northward again, toward the kingdom of the Silvan elves. They had little food left, and hardly any water. Legolas shot several squirrels for meat, but they were running short of water. They drank sparingly.
They retraced their steps back to Anduin before going northward again. There they filled their water- skins and allowed the horses to drink.
On the fourth day after the death of the Lieutenant, they reached the path that led to the palace.
Elizabette, Súláríl said later, what will you do now that the Lieutenant is gone? Will you return to your own world? Or will you stay here?
I do not know, she replied. For now I will stay here with Legolas. But I do not know what I will do when he goes to Valinor.
Will you go with him?
Perhaps. But I still do not feel that I really belong in this world.
That night, in camp, Legolas asked her the same question.
"I do not know," she sighed. "I do not belong in this world, and yet I never felt that I belonged in my own. Were I to return to my own world, provided that I could find a way, I would be only fifteen and still in the orphanage." She stared into the flames as if wishing that they held an answer. Suddenly she looked up. "What will you do?" she asked. "Are you king now that your father is gone?"
Legolas frowned. "I know not," he said. "I have no desire to be king."
"You are crown prince, are you not?"
"Yes." He seemed uncomfortable so Elizabette said nothing more on the subject .
After a moment, Elizabette asked, "Legolas? Are you going to Valinor?"
Legolas sighed. "Yes," he replied, "but not until Aragorn dies. I will not leave him."
Elizabette frowned but said nothing.
After a moment, Legolas said, "Elizabette, you did what you had to. If the Lieutenant had lived, he would have killed us all."
Elizabette sighed. "I know," she said, "and yet I did not even mean to kill him. Perhaps if I had it would not be so hard for me."
Legolas smiled slightly. "The one good thing that he did," he said softly, "was to bring us together." He kissed her gently.
Elizabette smiled also. "Yes, perhaps," she replied, "yet I cannot believe that anyone could do only one good thing in a lifetime." She leaned back against him.
---
When they reached the palace at last, they were admitted with surprise. It seemed that many of the elves had believed that they had died. Elizabette and Legolas led their horses to the stables and then went into the palace. The elf that Elizabette had seen reading a scroll on her first day in Middle- Earth waited for them in the throne room. He sat at the same desk as he had that first day. His name was Palírin.
"Legolas, Lady Elénwen," he said sadly, "King Thranduil is dead."
Legolas nodded somberly. "We felt his death several days ago," he said. "Have you buried him?"
Palírin nodded. "Yes. We did not know that you would return." After a moment, he added, "No more have fallen ill."
Elizabette glanced at Legolas. He told Palírin, "No, the source of the disease is destroyed."
Palírin was clearly surprised. Legolas explained what had happened.
When he was finished, Palírin said, "Will you now be our king?"
Legolas closed his eyes. "I have no desire to be king," he answered. "I will leave for Valinor soon at any rate. Let us be a free people until then."
Palírin nodded slightly. "As you wish, Legolas, though this will indeed be different."
"Legolas," said Elizabette softly. Both elves looked at her. "If there is no leader, the people will have no way to turn. Someone must lead."
Legolas sighed after considering. "Yes, Elizabette, you are correct, though I do not like the idea. I do not wish to be king."
Palírin nodded slowly. "Do not be king, then, but be the leader who people can turn to in times of distress."
"All right," said Legolas at last. "I will lead."
---
The elves that had been ill when they had killed the Lieutenant recovered slowly. Elizabette found that she could heal them and it took little strength. No others fell ill.
Many elves were interested in Legolas' decision to turn down the kingship. This made him uneasy. Most seemed to think that he should rule. Others thought that they should appoint someone from outside the royal family. Elizabette agreed with his decision, however, and reassured him.
"You did right," she said. "They will become accustomed to it in time. If you do not wish to be king, you should not be."
---
Legolas tapped lightly on Elizabette's door. "Elizabette?" he inquired.
There was no response. He tried again? "Elizabette? Are you there?"
"Yes." The answer was short and seemed to have a weary sigh in it.
"May I enter?"
"If you want to."
Legolas nudged the door open. Elizabette sat on a chair by the window, her arms folded on the window- ledge. Legolas fully expected to see her eyes glazed with tears, but their gaze was focused into a furious glare, directed at the dreary rain.
He slid into a chair next to her. "What is awry?" he asked.
She turned away from the window with a last austere frown. Her gaze softened slightly as it rested on his face. "I hate rain," she said.
Legolas was genuinely surprised. "You've never mentioned it before," he said. "It rained several times while we were camping in the open."
Elizabette shrugged. "I didn't bother to say so," she replied. "The mission was more important."
"What is wrong with rain? We need it," Legolas reasoned.
Elizabette looked away. "I just don't like it. It's so depressing, making the world seem dreary and dim. The sheets of rain fall harder in the open, but here in the forest it merely drips, hour after hour."
"Don't watch it then," Legolas suggested with a hint of a smile.
Elizabette turned away from the window. Legolas slipped an arm around her shoulders, letting her lean her head against his chest.
---
Three weeks after their return, Legolas knocked lightly on Elizabette's door. "Come in," she replied.
He entered. His face was grave. "Elizabette," he said, "I have received word that King Elessar is dying. I will go to him."
Elizabette stood. "When did you receive word?" she asked.
"A messenger just arrived. I will leave before the nightfall."
"I will come," said Elizabette.
---
They left at dusk. Fourteen other elves had come, Palírin and Duinral the guard included. The party was silent as they rode.
The journey took a fortnight. When they finally reached Gondor, Queen Arwen greeted them sorrowfully. Aragorn had died. His son, Eldarion, had taken the throne, as Aragorn had wished.
They went to the House of the Kings, and there Elizabette beheld King Elessar. He lay on his long bed in the silent house, and had passed from the endless circles of the world, the gift of men. All who beheld him saw that in him rested the great peace and honor of the Kings of Old.
Legolas and all those elves who had known him wept. Elizabette wept also for she had read of Aragorn, and of him giving up his life.
Some of the Wood- elves dwelt in Ithilien. Legolas had brought them there. He had lived there for a time before returning to Mirkwood. All the elves from Mirkwood went to see them. Ithilien was again a fair place and its green forests rang with Elvish laughter, though there was less in light of King Elessar's death.
---
Elizabette and Legolas and the other Wood- elves went to Imladris before returning to Mirkwood. Lord Elrond greeted them there. It seemed that he had been expecting them, though he had not gone to Gondor.
He spoke with Elizabette and Legolas in his study as before.
"You have done well," he said. "The land is free from another evil, though none of the elves will remain here long to enjoy it. I will leave soon; then most of the others will follow. This is an age of men."
He looked at Elizabette. "What happened, Elizabette?" he asked. "I know a little but desire to learn more."
Elizabette told him of the fight, and of the electrical power. It was clear to her that Elrond did not understand the electricity; to the elves it was as foreign as the dresses had been to her.
"I took the wire," she sighed, "and touched it to his hand. I expected that it would give him a shock, as indeed it should have, but instead he dissolved and the power dissolved with him." She frowned slightly. "He must have learned about electricity when he was in my world, for no one uses it here."
Elrond nodded slowly. "Perhaps the shock of the electricity was so strong that it forced him to dissolve," he suggested. "The only thing that kept that man from dying was the intense evil powers within him. Do not fear, my child, no punishment will come to you from this."
Elizabette closed her eyes. "The memory haunts me," she said.
Elrond smiled sadly. "Sometimes we must do things that we regret, though they may be the correct thing to do."
Legolas glanced at Elizabette. She did not appear entirely pleased with this idea, but she seemed to file it away in her mind for later perusal. After a moment, she drew the mithril chain with the two Stars of Eärendil out of her pocket. She held it out to Elrond. "Legolas found another star," she told him.
Elrond looked at Legolas with surprise. "Where did you find it?"
"In the sand near the fortress tower," he replied. "I would not have seen it if it had not glinted in a rare shaft of sunlight that filtered through the trees." He and Elizabette exchanged a fleeting glance, both remembering well what had followed.
Lord Elrond looked carefully at the two stars. "This is interesting," he said. "Your father did not mention that there were two?" He directed his question at Elizabette.
"No," Elizabette replied. "He wrote only of one."
Elrond frowned slightly. "I do not know why this one was at the fortress," he said. "Perhaps you will discover someday where it came from."
---
Elizabette sat in the garden later that afternoon. She looked out at the few flowers that were left; late summer flowers, and at the trees that were beginning to change into their autumn colors.
Legolas found her there. He sat beside her on the bench. "Elizabette? Is something wrong?"
Elizabette glanced at him swiftly then looked at the flowers again. "I do not know if I should tell you," she replied. After a moment she continued flatly, "I had thought of returning to my own world."
Legolas' eyebrows flickered upward quickly in surprise. Silrocca? he asked.
Yes, cundunya?
Were you listening?
Yes. But she is not finished speaking.
Legolas waited silently for Elizabette to continue.
"And yet," she said, staring out into the garden, "I do not see how I can leave Middle- Earth, though it has bad places, for even they are cleaner than my own world. The pollution at home will get worse and worse until no one can breathe the air." She looked up at him suddenly, a half- smile in her eyes. "And I do not wish to leave you."
Legolas realized suddenly what had been missing from her eyes for days. The laughter. A shred of it had returned- and perhaps more would follow. "Will you come with me to Valinor?" he asked.
"I will," she replied and he kissed her gently.
-
AUTHOR'S NOTE PLEASE READ: Right. There is rather more to the story, but I don't know whether or not I want to continue it. Questions that are answered in the next few chapters: Should Lizzy go back to her former world? Can she fight? Does she trust Legolas? Do they go to Valinor? I could just tack on an epilogue, because the next three or so chapters aren't meant to really be chapters... they're only a page or two long each and are supposed to stand alone. Also, when this was originally written, there were three endings- a happy one, a depressing one that eventually turns pretty happy, and one that I never really worked on much. Do you want another plot twist, or should I just end it and quit torturing you with my hideous fanfiction attempts?
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In truth, I really only update this story when I want some warm fuzzy reviews... although I had a really good day today. But now I'm rushing off to orchestra practice, in our overrated and underfunded orchestra... with no violists and no bass. Lovely. And I was this close to getting to go the Fall Out Boy concert... and then tickets sold out just as my mom finally gave me permission...
Grr. Sorry.
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And if this is indeed the last chapter (depending how reviews turn out) I probably won't be back... so... thanks to everyone who has ever reviewed this story, and thanks even to you lurkers who read and never review... It's been great.
Thanks to: Kelso Queen of Genovia, megan (wow, thanks!), Rhennan: (You're the kind of reviewer I love, and try to be. Most critiquers (not a word, whatever) just write the critique and sign off, but your review left me feeling pleased. I've heard that complaint from a couple people, and although I totally see your point and agree, I'm not going to do much to change it because, firstly, I don't like this story anymore, and, secondly, I'm putting all my effort into my other story. Also, I am a teenager, and therefore write teenager-like people... I guess:) So yeah. It's an okay story, I guess, and I intend to keep posting it, but... I appreciate your review. Thanks.), Celtic Cross, The Lady Romance, IwishChan, Fiona McKinnon, sweet as lemonz, Lady Keshanna of the Night.
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And finally... before I go away... even if I don't come back to ff, there's always my work on