Just a quick chapter, cuz I gotta go study for my exam that's in three hours.

The Hobbit Ivy: Very cute review—hypnotizer made me laugh (and get many weird looks, too, since I was in the computer lab).

Maren L P: I don't know why everyone thinks they have supersensitive ears. They just do. Maybe it's because they can hear trees and rocks talking.

Yes, Legolas has a clue… but now what's an elf to do?

Current count: 7 die/ 11 live… and Lunian will probably live longer than Aragorn, since she is half.

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Anger glowed brightly within him as he watched Lunian reluctantly bid Gimli a good journey. Since Gimli had called him blind, he had been unable to see things as he had before. No longer was his vision tunneled between Lunian and his father. Now he saw what Gimli had seen so easily, and anger warred with his self-derision. How could he have failed to see that which hurt her?

As Gimli marched away, Lunian sent the dwarf a sad, longing look which tore into Legolas as he saw the elves around her ignore her existence. He closed his eyes, immediately seeing a typical moment in her life before she had been sent to him. There was always someone near who cared about her, be it one of Elrond's family who viewed her as one of their own, or one of the elves who worked around the house for one reason or other. She would be greeted with a smile, good tidings for the day, and told any news that had happened their way. Here she was left alone, looked down upon by the people he had assumed would welcome her… assumed had welcomed her.

What could he do? Hide her away from the world?

He couldn't do that, because he wanted the same world to see her as he saw her, to love her as she deserved to be loved. Not as he loved her, of course, because that would be just way too much jealously for any elf to handle, even for him.

So what did he do?

Love her.

Knowing that was all he could do in the end, he slipped up behind her, sliding his arms around her, drawing her back against him before kissing her hair, ignoring the looks he was given. When she turned to glanced back at him, keeping her back to those who watched, he tucked her head against his chest and glared over her head at them. Several blinks later the group backed off, and he drew Lunian into the gardens, trying to think.

"Egola?"

He sighed faintly but couldn't stop a slight smile. "Yes, love?"

"What is it?"

Shaking his head, he tried to let it go. "I was just trying to figure out how I managed to convince you to love me." He kissed her quickly, hoping to keep her off balance enough she wouldn't know he wasn't being entirely truthful. "It was the smartest thing I ever did."

"Many would disagree."

"Let them. I don't care."

She blinked and lowered her eyes, frowning slightly. "You are the prince."

"Yes. What has that to do with anything?" He pulled her closer to his side, not missing the way she kept her arm between them.

"You should care about your subjects."

He sighed softly and came to a stop, turning her to face him. "As subjects, I care about them. But when they are simply elves who think they have a right to meddle in my private affairs, I tend to be unable to find them useful."

"Are any there any private affairs in the lives of royals? As a public figure, your life is just as public."

"All they need to see is that I love you, and that should be enough."

"How could it be enough? Their prince has chosen a mortal love who will one day die. Why do you assume they wouldn't care, wouldn't be worried? They would disapprove even if you were not the prince."

"And I would still love you, prince or not. Elf or not, I would love you. Why should I care if they do not approve?" He pulled her a bit closer, but she resisted enough they remained just enough apart they could still see each other's faces.

Her eyes warned him not to pull her closer until she had said her piece, so he let her retain the slight distance. "You can say that because you are the prince. If you were just a common elf, their disapproval would affect your life everyday."

He tucked some of her dark gold hair behind one ear and sighed softly. "Perhaps that is true, but it matters not. I am the prince, and I love you. What anyone else thinks is irrelevant." Shadows clouded her eyes, seeming to drain the depths of gold. Shaking his head he touched his forehead to hers. "My father accepts it."

She sighed and melted against him. He thankfully gathered her into his arms, kissing her temple. "He accepts it only because he must. He does not like it, any more than do I."

"Because I may well die of grief when you die?"

She looked up at him sharply, her eyes hard. "You promised you would try to have hope."

He closed his eyes for an instant at her accusatory tone. "I did, and I shall. But it seems impossible. How can I live when the light of my world is gone?"

"The thought that it might return," she replied, her voice merely a whisper against his neck. "You must remember that."

"Love, when you leave me, I will be doing well to remember anything." Even his own name. He drew in a deep breath full of her scent and that of the few blooming flowers that remained so late in the autumn.

She had no response, so he held her tighter for a moment, then walked with her to a bench secluded from the rest of the gardens by an ancient, gnarled tree and the ending of the mountain. She curled up to his side, lying her head on his shoulder. Pulling her close, he struggled again with a feeling of utter helplessness he had not felt since he was barely no longer a child and his mother left. There seemed to be nothing he could do. There were no orcs or uruks for him to track or hunt, no dark power to battle to offset his utter lack of control.

When she shivered he drew his cloak about her, but that only helped for a few minutes. As her human blood made her cold he tugged her to her feet and walked with her back to the palace.