A/N: Hello, devoted fans! Welcome to the world of FASTER UPDATES! I've hit a stride and I can't wait to keep writing more and wrapping this story UP! I'm afraid you're only going to hate me more for the next two chapters or so (chapter 11 is in the beta factory right now...). So, here's chapter 10... do enjoy!

Disclaimer: Yo ho yo ho! A writer's life for me. I don't own a thing, except that old swing, drink up me hearties yo ho. I enjoy creating and people start hating (me) la la la la la la yo ho! Yo ho yo ho!A writer's life for MEEEEE!

Chapter 10: Time Kills

Dear Legolas

Where have your letters gone? I miss hearing from you. You've been really distant lately; not only in body, but your last letter seemed so... absent. I miss you a lot.

Much love from your old family and your favorite sister,

Alíana

Dear Legolas

Why are you ignoring me? What have I done?

-Alíana

Dear Legolas

I won't write anymore if you don't answer.

Dear Legolas

This is my last letter… unless you write back. I miss you terribly. Why don't you write to me? Don't you love me anymore?

Legolas set down the most recent letter from Alí, smoothed it out a few times with his hands. He fought to control his urge to write a letter to her, to beg forgiveness for not writing. She deserves it, he rationalized with himself. She pushed me aside when I needed her support, and now I'm doing the same to her. But Legolas couldn't convince himself, and so he ignored his guilt, preferring to replace it with anger at her.

There had been many more letters such as the one he was staring at now. Even one from Elrohir saying that Alí was suffering from Legolas' lack of communication. But Legolas was not going to break his newly formed habit of ignoring Alí. He didn't need her for his happiness. Anyway... habits die hard.

There was a celebration in honor of the new Woodland prince, Aglar. Aglar had come into the world the night before and the King was content to burst. Rumor flooded through the villages that the firm ruler of the wood had been seen singing and dancing in the halls of the house, though no one could confirm the rumor.

Legolas couldn't have been moodier, but he couldn't have appeared happier. He smiled and assured everybody that his new brother was as brilliant as his name foretold/suggested. Legolas, playing the social butterfly, seemed at home amongst the celebrations, dancing around the ceremonial fires to the joyful music. Legolas found that if he just pushed everything aside, he could really enjoy himself. He was young and he was handsome... why shouldn't he enjoy himself? Why drag his spirits down with memories of Alí and Lauralin and his past life?

"Congratulations, Prince Legolas," a maiden's voice floated into his ear. He turned and saw a beautiful, though not stunning girl who looked a little younger than himself.

"Congratulations for what? Strapping my father to the chair so he would stop pacing while my mother was in labor?" Legolas joked with the girl. She pulled him into the throng of elves who were dancing merrily and twirled around him alluringly.

"You know what I mean," she winked. "It is customary for everyone to offer their congratulations... though I want to offer much more than that," she said with a seductive smile. She radiated desire and passion, and Legolas found he could not ignore that. In response to her flirting, his own passions rose and his blood pumped. He concentrated on keeping his true emotions in tow, as well as the fact that he was new and inexperienced at the game people called 'love'.

"I am interested in what you could offer, my lady. Perhaps you could start with your name?"

"Faewen," she supplied her name.

"My lady Faewen," Legolas kissed her hand. Her eyes gleamed with desire, and without any more pretenses she tugged Legolas out of the crowd and pressed her mouth to his.

After a moment of shock, Legolas relaxed into her kiss. She knew what she was doing and he didn't, he realized with slight dismay. She deepened the kiss and snaked her arms up and around his shoulders. Legolas forgot who he was, he forgot everything, in the midst of his first kiss.

Faewen pulled back from their kiss and said, "I can offer you a lot, my Prince." Legolas bent down and kissed her again.

Alíana ran out of the palace again and jumped on her horse, tears streaming down her face. She kicked the mare into action and rode out of Greenwood empty handed and broken hearted. Ever since she had moved to Lórien with her great-grandmother and aunt, she had frequented trips to Greenwood. Every time she had discovered that Legolas was away. Finally, she had managed to arrive when he was there. She had talked with his mother and found out that he was still asleep. Legolas' mother had told Alí where Legolas' room was and Alí had found him inside. However, she had also discovered two naked maidens wrapped around him, sleeping. Seeing him like this felt like a knife stabbed straight into Alí's heart.

Tears coursed down her cheeks. Had Legolas forgotten about her? Did he really hate her, as she suspected he did? There were so many questions she wanted to ask him, and he would not respond to any of her letters. It had been nearly a thousand years since they had arrived in Middle Earth. They say time heals. But it also kills. It kills slowly and painfully...

Alí frequented the trip between Greenwood, and Lórien so often that she knew the landscape between the two forests like the back of her hand. Often, she stayed for a month or two in Greenwood getting to know Legolas' family and friends, living with the wood elves, and learning about their culture.

She had heard of Legolas' reputation. It was hard to escape. You could see it in people's eyes when you knew what to look for... and Alí knew.

Legolas was trashing his reputation and Alí could feel her feminine instincts flaring up and wishing that she could do something about it. She wanted to sit Legolas down and talk to him, tell him he was wrong, that she had been wrong, that they should just start over...

Involuntarily, Alí clutched at the leaf-shaped pendant that Legolas had given her when they had separated. The green jewels inside it were just as bright as ever, and they sparkled deceptively in the sun. They were always so bright... when Alí felt like her world should be dark and gloomy. She missed Legolas so badly that she wanted to cry.

She didn't know why Legolas had stopped writing. She had loved his letters, all up until letter 32. She remembered how his handwriting was stiff, and there was a distinctive lack of warmth that his handwriting usually showed. He had sounded distant and cold... nothing like his usual self. There is no point in dwelling on what it was like... What her life had been like, it had all changed now.

Hours later, she crossed the river Anduin, just as the sun was rising. She rode through the huge mellyrn, the trees which never ceased to amaze her. But this morning, even with Anor (the sun shining his bright, orange morning light upon their white trunks, nothing could distract her from the sight of her brother in the arms of those two... whores.

She stabled her horse and ascended the many steps of the mallorn tree which housed her talan. The telain of this tree were reserved for the nobles of the wood, and because she was the great granddaughter of Galadriel, apparently she qualified.

She sunk into her bed when she entered her bedroom and fell into an Elven sleep.

Legolas grunted when he awoke. He blinked in the morning, and the sun shone right into his eyes, causing him to cry out and shut his eyes. His head ached, as if someone had lodged an axe between his eyes... and they might as well have just dropped him from a tree, for his whole body ached too.

He risked opening his eyes and, squinting, he saw three bottles of Dorwinion wine lying on the floor. Did he drink that? Surely he hadn't...

He then saw the two maidens on either side of him. He hadn't noticed them until the one on his right had sighed in her sleep and had rolled over, to face him. There was no doubt in his mind what had happened last night. He even remembered a little bit of it... concentrate, he told himself. He tried to remember.

Wait, no... it hurt to concentrate. Better to just block it all out. With this thought, he roused the maidens on either side of him from their sleep, and they caught on quickly enough. Soon, he'd forgotten all about... what was it he was forgetting about?

Aglar tried to block the penetrating shrieks of his brother's current choices of lovers. (Lovers... as in, plural. Sometimes Legolas disgusted him...) Unfortunately, he was an elf, and even their literally rock solid walls could not hold the sounds in and away from Elven ears. And if Aglar was hearing it, surely his mother and father were hearing it, too.

As if on cue, his mother, still beautiful after all this time and worry, entered and perched herself on the edge of the bed in what Aglar thought was a queen-like fashion.

"I worry for him," she said simply. Aglar knew without asking who she was talking about: Legolas. They had this conversation enough these days.

"As do I," he said. He looked so much more like his mother than his brother did. He and his mother shared thick brown hair. His brother and father had beautiful blonde hair.

"He is becoming a drunk," his mother said, pain evident in every syllable she uttered, "as if he isn't one already." Tears threatened to fall from her eyes. She was in despair for her son. "I wish I could do something to make him see sense... but he insists on ignoring his pain. He misses his sister dearly, even if he insists on denying it." Aglar knew Alí quite well, since she had visited quite often in the past few years. He found her very sweet, very beautiful, and very worried for Legolas. Aglar found himself harboring his own feelings for the maiden. He realized he was daydreaming again, and he brought himself out of it.

"What could we do, Mother? What could we do to make him see through his nonsense?" Aglar whispered. It was a question that he had asked a million times, and he feared he would ask it a million times more.

"Your father and I think to enroll him in the guard... it would distract him enough from... drinking. It would keep him away for long periods of time, and he would make friends," she hated sending her son away to the dangerous world, but she feared it was the only way to save her son from his self-imposed ruin.

"That is a good idea, mother!" Aglar wished he could have put more enthusiasm behind the statement. He would miss his brother, but Legolas was the best archer in the wood. He would serve his people well.

"Good morning, Alí," Gildor said, kissing Alí awake.

Alí sighed. She hadn't had nearly enough sleep as she would have liked, but the sight of the beautiful Gildor chased away all of her resent. Gildor only showed up on her doorstep occasionally, because of his guard duties, (he was captain now), and she cherished the short time with him when he was in Lórien.

"Good morning," she murmured against his lips. She pulled him down on top of her, into her bed, and he did not object.

Alí remembered the first time that she had slept with Gildor. It had been the hardest, and yet the easiest, decision of her life thus far, and she had not regretted it. That had been a long time ago... a very long time ago. Since then she'd only grown more fond of Gildor. He was her rock, her stronghold, the one constant in her life.

"I heard that you went in search of your Prince yesterday," he said, rolling off of her. She snuggled into his neck, enjoying his scent. It reminded her of freshly carved wood and cool river water.

"I did..." she said.

"And did you find him?" Gildor asked casually. This was a conversation that they had often enough.

"I don't want to talk about Legolas," Alí said. She could taste the uncomfortable feeling that she got when she had seen Legolas for the first time in a thousand years, seen him in bed with two others.

"I understand," Gildor murmured, kissing her nose lightly. He couldn't help suppressing the feeling of triumph that his Alíana was resenting the Prince Perfect of Greenwood. He had known the state that the Prince had fallen into far sooner than Alíana had found out. It was only a matter of time before she would give up and forget about him...and Gildor would be her only man.

"I knew you would," Alí said with a sigh. Yes, he would beher only man soon enough...

A/N: Hands up... who hates me? Hooray! Well, you'll have to review like all of these nice people for me to update again. ;) (I updated before a month went by... who thinks that deserves applause!)

Review Responses:

Crecy: LOL! You're hilarious... No! Don't hit Legolas! ;) Muchas gracias for the review!

brownie24: It's the plot, my dear. Everybody has to be stupid, or it wouldn't work out! lol! Thanks for the review!

Alycia: Hey there, fellow Clam-Baker and Boyfriend-Wanter! Thanks so much for the review... I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!

ran: You are AMAZING, girl! That's ALL I have to say! You rock my world with all those reviews!

Harmony99: I hope you don't hate me for doing this to Legolas... :0) Lol! We'll have to chat on MSN and you can let me know what you thought about this chapter! Thanks for the review!

So... Thank you to all who reviewed (I got a total of 13 reviews... including all those ones from ran... Woo!)and thank you to my new temporary beta Asadi! You saved my BUTT on this one, girl!

Much love! ...and you'll see a new chapter SOON! I promise!

-Ivy-