"You miss her already?" a teasing voice asked behind him.

"Of course," Aragorn agreed.

"Well, we're leaving soon," she murmured, coming to stand beside him, leaning against a pillar. "You can see your beloved queen again."

"And you can see your sister."

"That I can," she agreed with a grin. Then she frowned faintly, before shaking it away as she sent her hair flying about her shoulders. She smiled faintly, watching the gentle wind brush through the flowers in the gardens before them. A soft sigh escaped her as the wind brushed past her, strands of her hair lifting to dance in the wind.

"Where is Legolas?"

She shrugged with the shoulder not resting against the pillar. "I don't know."

"Why not?"

"I am not his keeper."

"You two have been nearly inseparable these last weeks."

"I know that tone, Estel. You're fishing for information." She turned her head and studied him for a long moment. "I just don't know what it is you want to know." She looked back at the gardens. "Have we been spending time together? Yes. Do I enjoy his company? Yes. What else do I or you need to know?"

A soft call came from an open area off to their right.

Lunian sighed theatrically but smiled. "Time for me to be off and earn my keep," she murmured with a wink and a grin.

Aragorn chuckled softly and bowed his head slightly to her. She returned the gesture with a soft laugh before skipping lightly down the stairs to the kitchens, pulling a small strip of material from her pocket to bind her hair back.

"To earn her keep?"

Aragorn jumped slightly and closed his eyes in annoyance. He had grown used to men, his ears loosing some of their sensitivity to the approach of those much lighter on their feet. Not that he had ever been able to hear the approach of the elves one hundred percent of the time. It was when he was lost in thoughts that it was virtually impossible, unless those thoughts rested on danger. "All in Elrond's house do their part, at one time or another. I well recall hauling water and cleaning floors."

The slight frown left Legolas's fair face, but returned when he glanced at Aragorn. "What were you asking?"

Aragorn gave him a harsh look from the corner of his eye. "Should I ask you instead? Why do you spend so much time with her?"

"I don't know her, and she shall not live very long. Everyone else here will be in the gray havens when I pass from Middle-Earth. Why shouldn't I get to know her while I have the chance?"

Aragorn frowned, his mouth thinning to a harsh line. "Is that all you do?"

Legolas sighed softly, as one would when forced to explain something so simple to a child. "She is not yet old enough, Aragorn. Her body has matured, but her mind is yet young, unfettered by the concerns she would normally have as a mortal."

Aragorn blinked, surprised. "You mean she does not even think of such?"

"She sees everyone as a friend, without thought to anything more," Legolas agreed, thinking it a rather pleasant change from the she-elves he was forced to endure because of his title. "Yet at the same time, she has incredible insight into what is being felt," he admitted with a frown.

Aragorn laughed ruefully, recalling her greeting to him. "Yes, she has. Her mother was like that…." He trailed off, his eyes darkening in anger.

"You knew her mother?"

"Everyone in Rivendell did, Legolas." Not wanting to answer any more questions, he turned and went back to Elrond's study, where they were studying maps, trying to decide the path they would take.

Eventually they chose to go east to the river Anduin, stopping for a short while in Lothlorien before continuing south to Gondor.

When he was allowed a moment alone with Elrohir, he pulled his brother aside. "Have you considered telling Legolas?"

"She will tell him when the time comes."

"And if she doesn't?"

"Then it matters little if he never finds out. I have told him she is as a daughter to me. That is all he needs to know now."

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This story is giving me fits for chapter length… but I can get it updated more often. So, pick your poison! (And for update info, check out the just updated 10th chapter of Listen, Children… I'm not typing it all out again… I have to go study.)