Sorry about the gap. Hopefully things will settle down with my new job, place, and schooling. Anyway, thanks for the reviews!

Iluvenis: There are a few things I'm not saying just yet, in the interets of retaining some interest. ;-)

Swasti: Well, she's been alone for the majority of her life, very few friends, a rather bleak existance, and she's resistant to it changing for the better, in the fear it will get much worse, instead.

NJ: I wasn't meaning to be so mysterious, merely trying to look at it a bit more through Elleri's eyes than anyone else's. It's a bit weird to think of one's self as so-and-so, instead of simply I or me. I didn't notice I did that... I'll keep that in mind in future chapters. I think this one is fairly well flagged, save in some parts where the dialog gets going, but with my writing you can follow a general rule: every other paragraph is person A, the rest person B. When there are more characters, I tend to lable more.

Chapter 14 Forget your head?

"Have you spoken to her?"

Elleri sighed, resting his forearms on the balcony railing. "Yes, of course… as much as it's possible to do."

Legolas had to smile at that as he stepped forward to join his brother at the railing which overlooked the royal gardens. "Yes." It was more difficult to get direct answers from her than Ada. After a moment the smile faded, and he shrugged. "I don't know what to say, Elleri, much less what to do."

"She is on the ragged edge of death, Legolas."

"She is not fading."

"No… not really," Elleri conceded, straightening. He pulled his circlet off to run a hand through his hair, gathering it at his nape before letting go. "But though her body goes on, strong as ever if not stronger, she is retreating into herself like she was at first."

"She was not so closed in at first," Legolas countered, leaning his hip against the stone as he faced Elleri. "It is only that you grew used to her ways that makes it seem she was different."

"She is different."

"I know. That's not what I was saying."

Elleri sighed, closing his eyes. "I care about her."

"I know you do."

"I fear she will leave, and I fear that she won't."

Legolas nodded, glancing down into the star-lit cleft. "I as well."

Elleri looked sharply at him. "Do you?"

With a faint wince, Legolas sighed, closing his eyes before replying. "Yes."

Elleri searched his eyes for a time and then blew out a deep breath. "It's funny, I suppose. After Rin I didn't expect to find such a friend again…"

"Ashes is hardly like Silrinil."

"No. They would likely despise each other, if put in a room together."

Legolas smiled faintly. "It would be an interesting confrontation, if I remember correctly."

Elleri's smile matched his, but he slowly shook his head. "No. Rin would have made up her mind, and believed she was right."

"And Ashes wouldn't?"

He inclined his head shortly in agreement. "But Ashes would say nothing. Rin would say what she believed and accept silence as admission, rather than tact or disinclination to argue such an obvious point."

Legolas shrugged a shoulder and glanced into the busy room behind them once more. "Perhaps. I didn't spend that much time with her."

"No. She was a bit younger than you, after all."

Legolas lifted an amused brow. "She was younger than you, El."

"Yes… but not much." Not enough to make their interests that different… at least not so different about the time she stopped tagging along behind her father, anyway.

"She was good practice for you, being an older brother for a change, wasn't she?"

Elleri smiled faintly. "I suppose so. She certainly needed someone who didn't try and tell her it would all be okay." As he had needed someone who needed him.

Legolas grimaced. "Yes… Ada can be a bit…"

"Yes."

Legolas was silent for a long time. Though they understood, neither felt comfortable leaving it at that. "Not that he doesn't sympathize…"

"He just expects everyone to have the same 'carry on' attitude that he has to have… that we all have to have, unfortunately. Sometimes I wish it were conceivable…"

"No, you don't. You like being expected to remain calm, the leader. Break down in private, weep when alone. It makes you seem stronger… I don't know if it's true. If bottling things up, ignoring the wounds that cross your soul in favor of the ones on your flesh…"

Elleri snorted. "As if we're expected to feel those."

For a moment Legolas's head bowed beneath the weight of a living a life that wasn't real. Then he shook it off, lifting his head almost defiantly, daring the pressure, the melancholy to try and take him once more. "I must admit I don't quite understand it," he mused after a few minutes. "When given the same injury, we're expected to get up and fight again, while our companion is carried back to the healing rooms."

"Of course the instant we collapse, they're half crazed trying to get us there in time. Woe to the world if we were lost, after all," Elleri muttered a bit bitterly, slouching against the railing once more.

They gazed at the various spots in the small area that they tended to stare at, then chuckled. "Well. Enough of that," Legolas declared, standing up. "What do you propose?"

"About our possibly solvable predicament, I assume?" Elleri asked, smiling as he straightened slightly to a posture his teachers wouldn't have gasped to see for its impropriety.

"Of course," Legolas agreed, turning around before leaning back against the railing once more.

"Well, I can't rightly say. You offered to put her with one of the leaders, or a different captain. That didn't work out so well."

"No," Legolas grimaced, paling slightly.

After a moment, Elleri continued. "And giving her to me is rather a distant possibility, while the problem more immediate."

"True."

With a sideways glance at Legolas, he let his curiosity at the assured tone divert him from the conversation for a moment. "At least…?"

"Eight months. Hathien is a bit behind you in his training, so it may be pushed off to next spring, or even fall."

Elleri inclined his head slightly. Far be it from him to insist he be given his captainship earlier than the elf who had been training just as long for it. Even if he was suited for it now. "What's a few months?"

"A great annoyance," Legolas muttered. "But necessary, unfortunately."

A quick smile. "So perhaps over a year. I think being a group leader would be far too calm for her."

"As do I. Else I would have suggested it earlier."

Elleri nodded. "I know."

Legolas smiled faintly and turned his back on the garden, looking into the hall. Well, what of it could be seen through the two inch space between the curtains. Before the conversation could resume, fingers slid between that space, pulling the curtain aside. One of the two more or less ceremonial guards entered, cautiously stepping only one step into the territory forbidden to all not living in the royal wing of the hall. "Yes?"

"What?" Elleri asked, then noted the intrusion. "Oh. What is it?" he demanded when Legolas's question had gone unanswered.

The guard bowed his head slightly. "Sorry, my princes, but your father bids you rejoin the feast. An envoy from Imladris has just arrived."

"Do we know how many?" Legolas asked, straightening quickly.

"At least two."

"Elladan and Elrohir?" he mused. "Thank you," he said a bit louder, dismissing the elf. "Well?"

"Yes, lets," Elleri agreed.

"You know, I think that's why we males have such a hard time dealing with females."

"They expect more words than we wish to give?" Elleri asked dryly. He rolled his eyes. "Legolas…"

Legolas chuckled softly as they made their way back to the hall. He reached up to make sure he hadn't removed his own circlet when he heard Elleri mutter and double back for his own. "Forget your head, Elleri?"

Elleri's mutter became a bit less… courteous.

By the time they were at the head table, the messenger was already in front of their father.

"I take it he isn't someone you know?" Elleri asked after a sidelong look at Legolas.

"No," Legolas agreed, a bit annoyed. "Just some messenger."

"But what of the other?"

Legolas glanced at his brother, then followed his line of sight, feeling slightly uneasy as soon as he saw who it was. "Glorfindel," he murmured.

"Really?" Elleri asked. As with so many others, the name was known, and so the elf was held in awe.

"Yes," Legolas agreed, making a faint motion at Glorfindel for him to join them. "Welcome to Mirkwood," he murmured, inclining his head slightly.

"Thank you, Legolas."

"Has something happened?"

"No, not at all. I'm simply here for a visit, assuming of course that your father is willing to have me." Glorfindel smiled slightly, inclining his head at the King, who glanced up from the letter he was reading.

"Of course, of course. Rooms will be arranged. Verine?"

"Of course, Ada," she murmured, inclining her head slightly. She rose gracefully from her place, leaving to find a servant and see to it that the room was fitting for their distinguished guest.

Glorfindel had watched her leave with a lifted brow. "I didn't know your sister resembled you so, Legolas."

"How would you?" he countered quietly. "Morsallien and Elleri are more alike than they are to either Verine or myself, however." He motioned at Elleri absently, and nodded at Morsallien, all the while trying to find Ashes in the crowd of elves at the other tables.

Glorfindel inclined his head to them, and then smiled at someone coming up behind the princes. "My lady."

"My lord," came the response, as Ashes stepped up, walking around Legolas and Elleri to place a hand on Glorfindel's cheek, which was reciprocated before she was pulled into a hug.

Glorfindel stepped back slightly, tipping her chin up to search her eyes. Anger darkened his own. "Why have you allowed this?"

"This is home," she murmured quietly.

"Home does not do this," he countered, his voice low.

"Mine does," she whispered, a faint, bitter smile touching her lips. "I wasn't here when your mission was announced."

"Because it was not," he murmured, frowning at her yet. "I came because I thought you might be interested in stories of your parents."

She recoiled slightly, her eyes widening as life—along with fear—burst into her dark eyes. "You know them?"

"I knew them, long ago. Well before you were born, I'm afraid. But I can see them in you… more than you realize," he murmured. "Though you do take after your father more, from what I can see."

"That she does," Thranduil agreed, having watched them.

"Ada?" Legolas asked, curiosity getting at him.

"It is none of your concern," Ashes broke in before either elder lord could. "Perhaps we should go somewhere else to speak?"

Glorfindel had to grin at that. "Just like your father," he teased. "You want the information right when it's offered, without a thought to food."

She tilted her head, then shrugged, not in the least embarrassed. "With good reason," she mused. "You've already eaten this eve."

He lifted a brow.

She smiled and brushed a bit of waybread from his cloak, then tapped her nose. "Meat and pine nuts as well, at least."

He blinked. "Your nose is quite sensitive."

"I've trained it well," she murmured dryly.

"Ah. Centuries of sniffing out foraging?"

"Something like that," she agreed with a chuckle. "So, shall we?"

"If your King is agreeable to my rude absence on my first evening, yes."

"By all means, Lord Glorfindel. Take her under your cloak."

"As I would have, had I known," Glorfindel murmured, an understanding passing between them. "And I shall, from here on."

"You feel beholden to me?"

"No. Nor to your parents. But I knew them, as I doubt you've had the chance. I also don't doubt but that you've had questions."

"Naturally. But some day I shall know the answers."

"Perhaps. But some day may be very far off. I am here, now, and at your disposal."

"Then let us go."