A/N: Chapter 11, y'all! Updated in 9 days! I'd say that's a record! Yummy Legolas cookies for everyone who reviewed! ...Anyway, here's the chapter!

Disclaimer: Legolas had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb! Legolas had a little lamb, but sniff sniff it'snot mine. :( Just like Legolas, Elladan, Elrohir, Thranduil, etc.! Ali, Rhia, Lili, and Co. are all mine! muah ha ha (The eensy weensy Ali, climbed up the water spout!...)

Chapter 11 : "You Are Not My Brother."

"Legolas! Legolas! LEGOLAS! You lazy lump, get out of bed!"

"Mmph. Go away, Aglar." Legolas rolled over. Why did he have such a headache? And why did his younger brother have to come bothering him so early in the morning?

"No, Legolas. Mother and Father sent me to come and get you. Now get up!" Aglar pulled the blanket off of Legolas and tossed it aside, and Legolas curled up into a fetal position in a primitive response to the rush of cold air.

"Come on, Legolas. Get some clothes on." There was no responding movement from Legolas. "Brother! Do I need to dress you myself? Get out of bed!"

Legolas swung his legs over the bed and sat up, closing his eyes from the shot of pain through his head. He shuffled over to his dresser and selected clothing to dress in. Aglar watched him the whole time, silently thinking about what life would become when he didn't have a drunken whore for a brother. But unfortunately this was the norm. What was Legolas like without a woman in his bed and a wine goblet in his hand? He vaguely remembered a time when he was very young and Legolas hadn't been as bad... but this shell of a life—for it was certainly empty—that Legolas lived now was disgusting and terrible.

Aglar hoped that his mother's idea would work... For the sake of the kingdom, and for the sake of his brother's life.

"The guard!" Legolas roared, not believing what he was hearing.

"Yes, Legolas," He said calmly and with authority. We're assigning you into Anthion's battalion, where your training with the other recruits starts tomorrow," Thranduil said sternly. His eyes were the only thing that betrayed his pain. He didn't want to have to do this to his son. Legolas' mother, standing beside the king, stared at the ground looking resigned.

Legolas looked between his parents multiple times, appalled that they would still think themselves in control of his life. "You can't send me to the army. I'm way past the age that you can tell me what to do!" Legolas exclaimed, banging his fist on Thranduil's desk.

"You are never too old to ignore the orders of your King," Thranduil said sternly. "You are disgracing our family and ruining yourself, son. If you are as old as you say you are, why do you not act like it? There will be no more conversations. You will leave tomorrow morning with the other recruits. You may leave," Thranduil turned his back on Legolas, his shoulders stiff and his head held tall. Legolas stood in shock for a few moments, his father's words ringing truth but his own ears unwilling to hear it.

Was he really a disgrace to the family? What had he done? Legolas stood up, and with the most venom he could muster he spat, "Yes, my King. I will do as you ask." He put particular emphasis on the word 'King', mocking his father. Then he turned on his heel and walked out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

Thranduil sighed heavily, turning to his wife and showing her his sadness. She was equally, if not more affected by her son's obvious hatred.

"It's for the best, Meleth nin" (my love) Thranduil assured her, folding her into his strong arms and planting a kiss on her forehead.

"I wish the best could come in a different way," Rhía mumbled into her husband's chest.

"I know, darling. I know."

Legolas collapsed on his bed, his new bed, exhausted from his day of training. It had been four long days so far, four days full of nonstop running, sword training, knifework, archery, and exercise.

It had taken two minutes for Legolas to realize that he wasn't going to receive any special or princely treatment. He had a feeling his father had had a hand in ensuring that, and that only made Legolas hate the king more.

And it had taken two minutes more to realize that he was terribly out of shape and out of practice. He hadn't picked up his bow in 300 years and he'd never really wanted to learn how to wield a sword.

And thirty seconds after this while running, Legolas had tripped over a root and landed face first in the mud.

Everybody teased him, everybody taunted him, everybody thought he was a joke. Nobody took him seriously, not one person.

He didn't want to have to, but he realized he had to make his own way in this. He wasn't going to have any help from anyone, not even his own family. Especially his family. But he was going to show them that he could do it. He would rise to the top.

Alí didn't know why, but she started traveling to Greenwood more than usual, even after she'd glanced Legolas in his room with his whores. Despite every conflicting emotion, she felt like something drew her to Greenwood, more than ever.

Alí felt like she spent her whole life traveling now. She would spend a month or so in Rivendell with her family, and then she would go to Lórien, spend a few weeks there, and then onto Greenwood. She came to realize her love of traveling. She had family wherever she went, and that comforted her.

Her days in Greenwood were spent with Aglar, Legolas' younger brother. He looked just like his mother. She would walk through the forest with Aglar and laugh with him and share stories with him. She felt like he was her brother while Legolas was gone.

And in Rhía, Legolas' mother, she found a second mother. Rhía was so sweet to her. After Alí had started coming regularly, she'd kept a room ready for her all the time. "You're always welcome here, Alíana, my dear... no matter what," she'd said once. Alí felt she could talk to Rhía about anything. And she did. She'd spend long hours chatting and gardening with Queen Rhía (who kept a private garden), or weaving, or sewing, and since Alí had discovered her natural healing abilities, she'd been studying the different herbs in Greenwood. There were many of them; much more than in Lórien.

But Alí also spent time helping around the palace. She particularly loved the aroma-filled kitchens. Many of the maids had long since given up telling her she couldn't help because of her social status. They said it was nice to have company so eager to help out. She loved the women who worked in the kitchens like her own family.

One day Alí was helping prepare a dinner, chopping up potatoes and carrots and letting the gossip of the women go in one ear and out the other. Then Analynn, a rather young addition to the "Kitchen-dwellers", came rushing down the stone stairs, beaming from ear to ear.

"What is it, Analynn?" Gaerin asked. Gaerin was one of the oldest and most experienced of the servants in the palace. Everyone knew and respected her.

"I just saw!" she said happily. "The Prince is back!" Alí felt herself stiffen at this. "He's back from his training, he's been gone two years! And he's... he's..."

"Still an ass, I'll bet!" supplied Gildae darkly, though laughter sparkled in her eyes.

"Probably," Another elf agreed.

"Oh, even if he is, he's gorgeous!" Analynn sighed. Clearly she was smitten with Legolas.

"He's always been gorgeous, Ana," Gildae said.

"Yes, but he's even more so now," Analynn assured everyone.

Alí set down her knife and took off her apron. "If he's back, I'm leaving," she said rather stubbornly, staring at the ground. Anywhere but at her friends.

"But Alíana, I thought you wanted to reconcile with Prince Legolas," Gaerin said, touching Alí's arm lightly and peering into her eyes. Alí's eyes were bright with tears that threatened to fall.

"I do, Gaerin, but... but I'm just not ready to," she explained. "I'm going to go say goodbye to Rhía, Aglar, and Thranduil, and collect my things. I'll be back soon enough," she assured. She kissed Gaerin's cheek. "Goodbye, girls," she smiled at them all, hurrying up the steps and all the way to her room.

She hated leaving so suddenly, but she couldn't face Legolas, not now. Not when she wasn't sure about how she wanted to react to him, what she wanted to say. 'The least they could have done was warn me... give me a two-day head start,' she thought as she slipped her traveling clothing on and hung up her dress in her closet. She put what she wanted in her saddlebags and slung them over her shoulder.

She peeked into Aglar's room and said goodbye. He said he understood why she was leaving, and would write to her in Lórien about what happened. She kissed his cheek lightly, and left to go to find Rhía. She wasn't in her garden, so Alí headed to Thranduil's office. She knocked and Thranduil called "Enter." Alí pushed the door open.

Thranduil was sitting behind his desk, and alongside him was Rhía. In front of them was a familiar blonde head.

The blonde head turned and brown eyes stared at her. "Alí?" Legolas gasped.

Alí's eyes grew wide. He was here? She should have know better than to come and say goodbye... he was bound to be with his parents... She turned on her heel and bolted; it was the first thing she could think of to do.

"Wait, Alíana!" she could hear Rhía calling, and Legolas' voice melded with his mother's. It was so much deeper than last time Alí had heard it.

Alí ran as fast as she could; ran to the stables and jumped on her horse. She was riding it out of the stable when she saw his body blocking the doorway. She kept her eyes on her hands, and said, "Move, Prince."

"Alí," Legolas said simply, pleadingly. "Will you not look at your brother?"

"Are you my brother, Prince?" Alí challenged. "Are you my brother when you do not write? Are you my brother when you do not love me? When you are a whore and forget who you are, who you promised you would always be? You are not my brother, Prince, not anymore. And you are in my way," Alí said coolly. She looked up, and her blue eyes met with Legolas' brown ones. Tears formed in her eyes.

"As you wish, my Lady," Legolas said, his voice equally as distant. He moved to the side and as she passed, she caught a glance what was around his neck. Her locket. Tears started streaming down her face, and she forced her horse to gallop away.

The forest night was silent, except for her sobs.

Legolas watched her leave, the first time he'd seen his sister in a thousand years. He watched her flee from him. Her words stung like a slap to the face. Legolas had endured taunting and insults and rigorous military training for the last two years, but nothing he had endured during that time compared to the rejection and loss he felt now.

"I do love you... come back, sister," Legolas pleaded with the rapidly shrinking form of Alíana and her horse.

Legolas went over to his horse, Elwea, and stroked the mare's neck. "What was I thinking, mellon nin? Why did I voluntarily give up what was closest to my heart?"

Legolas unclasped the necklace with the locket from around his neck. He opened the tiny heart and peered at the faded picture; tiny little Alíana, and a tiny vision of himself behind her with his arms around her. The picture so faded that most of the color was gone from it.

Elwea whinnied emphatically, so obvious as to get his attention. "What are you trying to tell me?" Elwea snorted and shook her head. A fly or two zoomed away from her cream-colored head. "Are you trying to say I should go after her?" These thoughts were so tempting that he started to reach for his saddle. He stopped. "Tomorrow, mellon nin. Tonight I want to rest... You'll get your good run tomorrow, I promise." Legolas hoped he didn't regret this decision.

Late that night, Legolas stared at the ceiling thinking about Alíana, about what had happened so long ago. What had possessed him to stop writing to Alí? What had he been thinking?

"I wasn't," Legolas realized aloud. He hadn't been thinking... that was the problem. He hadn't been thinking about what would happen if he stopped writing to Alí. He hadn't seen what terrible damage it would bring. But, of course, what kind of knowledge does a teenager have of making decisions? He had been, after all, only sixteen at the time.

'That's no excuse,' his mind told him firmly. And it wasn't, he realized. He should have had some sense.

"The past is the past," Legolas said out loud. And now he held his future in his hands, and he wasn't going to let it slip away this time.

Alí and Gildor strolled through the enormous mellyrn in silence. Alí was thinking of how peaceful it was with Gildor by her side. There was no grief associated with him and she enjoyed the peace of her life in his arms.

"Do you know that I love you?" Alí said, breaking the comfortable silence. Gildor turned his depthless eyes, eyes she could easily drown in, and smiled a little.

"I think I know that," he said, pressing a light kiss on her lips. Alí beamed. Yes... every one of her problems was chased away when she was around Gildor. "Do you know that I love you?" he repeated her question.

"Show me," she whispered. Gildor kissed her again. Deeply, passionately, the kind of kiss that leaves you weak at the knees and makes your head swim.

"Alí, I want to ask you something," Gildor said, holding her tightly against him. Alí was glad for his support. She didn't think she could stand without his support. She nuzzled her nose into his neck.

"What? Do you want me to go with you to the Dell? What is it?" she asked, pulling back and looking into his eyes again.

"Well... in a way, yes. I want you to go with me wherever I go... and I want to take you everywhere as my wife," he said. He produced a plain silver band from his shirt pocket and let it hover in front of her finger. "Alíana Halfelven... Will you be my wife?" he asked, his voice full of sincerity.

Alí gasped. Wife! It was too soon, they were too young, she didn't know what to do.

She shoved every doubt aside, and remembered how wonderful and secure life around Gildor was. "I will be your wife," she answered. "But will you be my husband?" It was customary to ask this among the elves.

"I think I could do that," Gildor smiled. He slipped the ring onto her finger and kissed her again.

The moment was everything that Alí could have ever wanted and imagined. Perfect, passionate, sincere... but why did part of her still think it was a bad idea?

A/N: I'm still laughing at the bit my beta left me at the end of this chapter:

P.S. if she marries him I'll kill you.

Good luck with that, Asadi!

Anyway, who hates me now?

Not these people:

brownie24, Harmony99, ran, & Elfwishwonder. Sorry, guys... Gildor isn't going to die! He's actually going to butt his ugly head into the story fora while:) Hah!

Keep a button company... push the little "Review"button at the bottom! Make an person happy... type a note in the little box!

Much love!

-Ivy