Well the steak was...very good, very rare too (mmm, juicy) and...here's another story. I also got to see a bunch of the larping equipment...yikes, half the basement and half the garage! Well, I really need to get some sleep, so (Yawns) I'm gonaa try one more time to do that awful homework. I am dedicating this chapter to Sir Fluffy, my b.f.'s best bud's 7 foot boa! He is soooo cute! (the snake, not my b.f.'s friend! (my b.f.'s the cute one!) So, Sir Fluffy, if you can read, enjoy, but since you can't, everyone else enjoy! Here we get to see a little of Eriathwen's past...hope its not too corny or nothing. Oh, and the only thing I own is Eriathwen, my computer and the stupid book infront of me still waiting to be read...so Tolkien's property is safe (just not his characters that we fanfic writers like to torture!)

Things Better Left Forgotten

Legolas reined in and turned to see if Eriathwen was behind him, or if the guards had kept up. He let his breath out when he saw it was only her behind him and clucked to his horse to keep him walking. Eriathwen urged her horse into a slow trot to catch up with him, and after a few more moments of silence, finally asked him where they were going. He wouldn't say anything though; he just stared ahead at where they were going. Finally he dismounted and turned to face her.

"Do you know where you are?"

She walked up and put her hand on the tree where his hand was resting. She ran her hand down the bark and closed her eyes. "You where in this tree!" she recognized the clearing now. She walked forward towards the last thing she remembered being next to; a tree not ten yards away. She reached out to touch it when she heard a whoosh. She drew her hand back just before the arrow planted itself deep in the bark.

"Careful, you wouldn't want to get hurt." Legolas said, lowering his bow.

"Why did you bring me here?" she demanded. She stooped down picked up a small part of her blade that still lie on the ground.

"I thought it would help you think." He stated simply. "You seemed to be deep in thought last time you where next to this tree," he indicated to the initial tree she had been at, "so I thought maybe you could think of some answers if you were here again." He finished half jokingly.

"Thinking?" Eriathwen made a face of disgust. "I was thinking because I knew something was up in that tree. Had I know it was you, I might have turned and run at the moment."

"Well maybe you could think some more, perhaps I should get in the tree?" he said, sounding very sincere, though a smile was in his eyes.

"You should have never brought me here. I never want see these trees, this place ever again!" He walked up and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, I'll show you where I go when I need to do some thinking." He got on his horse and let him walk, the reins draped on his neck. He noticed her looking at them dangling loosely at his withers. "Don't worry; he knows where we're going. He won't get lost, or trip on them."

Eriathwen didn't bother asking where they were going as they rode silently farther into the woods. She held her breath as the woods began to thin out and the tree tops became less dense. She could distantly hear water running not to far ahead. By the time she realized that she had been holding her breath, they had come into a large clearing in the corner of the forest with a moderate sized lake and a small waterfall that tumbled over larger rocks into the lake smoothly.

Her jaw dropped slightly as she took in its beauty. It was a part of Mirkwood she never would have guessed existed. She watched the water spill continuously over the edge and fall into abyss of the deep dark blue water. She sat on her horse, mesmerized by the perfection of each molecule of water, flowing in unison to create the scenic view before her.

Legolas had already dismounted, and tied his horse lightly to small tree by the time she snapped back into reality. She dismounted and led Darwain over to the prince and tied him next to his horse. She then turned to comment on the serenity of the place, but found that the prince had gone missing. She whipped around, hoping to catch him sneaking up on her or something childish of the sort, but again, there was no prince.

She almost panicked, thinking of what would happen to her if the guards showed up and found her, but no Legolas, when she heard a loose rock tumbling down the slope, and upon looking up, saw him, halfway up to the ledge where the water turned into a misty liquid wall. She watched him gain the top and sit down on one of the many rocks littering the top of the cliff. He saw her watching him and waved her up.

She strode forward, wondering what the best way to access the top was, when she saw a well worn path that she assumed was the route he had taken. With that in mind, she figured it would be the easiest way up, and upon deciding that, began her ascent up to the top, following Legolas's steps.

A few short minutes later, she was sitting next to him on a spacious flat rock that was partially covered with running water. Her shoulder was on fire, but there was no possible way she would let him see that.

"I see you come here often. Either that, or the worn path on the cliff face deceives me."

"It deceives not, I come here almost daily. For the last month I have been coming here. Last month was when…a year from when it happened. I have been coming here ever since.

"Ever since what? What happened?"

Legolas stared out across the lake and put his head down on his knees. "My truest friend and most loyal companion was killed a little over a year ago. Those vile orcs…I saw it happen. I never thought I would live through the experience…never mind, I shouldn't have dumped my problems on you. It's just that I found this place soon after it happened. I was so lost at that time, but being here, up here, seeing this, somehow I got though it."

He rested his chin on his knees. "I still don't like to even think about it, I wish I could just forget about it, but I can't. But here, at least here I can think, sort my life out, and begin to piece things back together." He lifted his head and turned to look at her. "I thought maybe being here would help you think too." He didn't say anything after that, he just sat there in silence, listening to the sound of the water rush over the edge into the deep waters below.

Somehow she got the feeling he hadn't been there just to look at the view, when she remembered how high the cliff was and how sharp the rocks at the bottom were, but its not in an elf to do that sort of thing, so she didn't give it a second thought. Instead, she too sat in silence, and listened to the magical sound of the rhythmic waters.

Finally, after sitting there for a few minutes she spoke, speaking what was on her mind, in her heart, and not just words coming out of her mouth.

"I never knew my parents. I don't know if they died, or abandoned me, it's like they were never even there. I know they were though; I have one memory of them when I was very young. We were all smiling. I don't know what happened after that, I can't remember anything from my childhood before age three." She stared out over the water avoiding his eye at all costs while she spoke, not daring to remove the trees from her line of vision.

"I was raised by a mean old woman, not an elf mind you, who was very nasty and made me work a lot. I never got to have fun. I didn't get to be a kid; I don't think I knew how. She beat sometimes too. It was awful. I finally ran away as soon as I was old enough to make it on my own; I was only seven. I couldn't take it there anymore; she died one night and I fled, I couldn't take it anymore."

"She died?" the prince leaned forward curiously.

"I, I think I killed her. I can't remember, but it was an accident. She was very old, too old. I didn't mean it, whatever I did. But she, she deserved it, after what she put me and everything. She wouldn't even let me eat half the time. That night I guess I just snapped. Then I packed a bag and left. I didn't see any mortal or even elf for almost a year. By then I knew how to survive in the woods and hide so well it didn't matter if I went near a village. And that's when I stole my first knife, the one I still keep in my boot, well used to." She smiled and leaned back on her elbows. "The shop keeper never saw me coming, and he never saw me leave. He just noticed that a knife was missing when he closed down that night. It was hilarious to watch him rummage through his containers searching for it; it was a very expensive knife."

"So how did you get to Mirkwood from there?"

"I'm getting there, be patient." She laughed softly and the wind carried it away like music. She smiled in the light breeze. "I love the view, everything is just so, peaceful. Ah yes, peace. I knew there was none of that around humans so I explored the world of elves; after all, I was one. For six-hundred years Legolas, six-hundred years I spied out elves, and men alike. Given I did stay with some of them, but that never worked, I just didn't feel right. I didn't belong. I didn't belong with others; it's as simple as that. I stayed in Lothlorien for another two-hundred years after that, but I never stayed in one place there, mostly I lived in various trees around the elven realm. Eventually I got bored of it and left. Rivendell was the same. I wandered all over the place; I must have sat in every tree in Middle Earth by now. There was really only one Elven realm I had yet to go to." She gave him a little smile that said 'now its time.'

"When I came to Mirkwood, I wasn't just wandering about you know, I was, well, I was trying to find something, but I'm not sure what it was. I mean, certainly not my parents, they didn't care about me, why should I care about them? I just don't know what."

"You were trying to find that which you know not you are looking for?" he asked, quite confused by my odd statement.

"Yes, I didn't know what I was looking for. I don't think I really even know now, but being here makes me feel like I might have found it, or at least part of it, maybe because it's so relaxing, but you are right, this place does help you think."

Fully interested, he leaned back and turned to face her, taking in her full beauty in the natural light of the sun as he did. "And what are you thinking?" he asked softly, almost afraid to hear her answer.

"I'm thinking…I'm thinking its time to go see your father, and maybe give him some real answers.

He smiled as she said this. He didn't really have a reason to, he just did. "Very well. We should probably get back before those guards realize that what we did was intentional, otherwise I am going to be answering to my father!" He let out a musical laugh and gave her a hand up before beginning his decent down the wall and back to his horse where he patiently waited, still tied to a tree. He swung lightly into his saddle and began riding back in the general direction of the stabling area.

As she walked behind him, she gave one last wistful glance over her shoulder, hoping to catch the last of the beauty escaping around the trees while praying she could forget everything that ever happened.