Author note: Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! Here we go, starting 2018 (very soon), with a new book in the trilogy! Thanks gryffindorandcats, meadowbear, merlejacobs92, ten things, UnnamedElement, SharkyMole, IdaIdaIda, Julie010588, K Daniels, SilencEloquent, rhiannamreid, cat105 and Goddessofwarriorcats for the follows and favs.
Thanks jshaw0624, Rachetg, InariKari, Guest, Tibblets and strider03 for leaving reviews. They are all so lovely and encouraging. I'm proud of what I've achieved so far, but I do look back at some parts and cringe, so to know people are still reading and enjoying gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside haha. I'm 1 away from 100 reviews - amazing! Who's going to be my 100th review?
Another guest left a review saying that, at the point where they were up to, Palen is great but Keren is a tad pathetic, acting like a child over Faramir. Well, yes she is, and she is deliberately like that in the early stages of the story. If she doesn't have faults there would be nowhere interesting for her to go as a character, and oh boy does she go places! Thanks for leaving a review, you're right, Palen is a voice of reason and a great sister, makes me wish I had one tbh. I hope you continue to read and enjoy the story.
A lot of research needed for this chapter, do call me out if you spot anything wrong. I'm trying my absolute best to stick to book canon, with a tiny sprinkling of inspiration from the movies. I've included a 'story so far' for anyone who is unfamiliar or would like a recap.
Previously: When Keren's mother dies, her and her sister Palen find work and a new home within the Houses of Healing in Minas Tirith. They grow up there, becoming more and more distant from their father.
Keren's mother had secretly left her a crystal, which gave her guidance in times of need, although Keren did not know where this guidance came from. It told her that she would meet someone who would change her life, and when she saw Faramir, second son of the Steward of Gondor, beneath the White Tree as the crystal's strange voice had foretold, she knew it was him. Over the years she falls for him from afar, but her sister is wary of her strange infatuation.
Eventually Keren and Faramir's paths cross, and at first all seems to fit in with the crystal's prophecy, for they become very close in a short time. But ultimately it is Eowyn, the White Lady of Rohan, that he chooses, leaving Keren bereft, and feeling betrayed by her crystal guide. She turns to her new friends, hobbits Merry and Pippin, and an elf, Legolas, for support.
At the wedding of the King, Keren meets the Lady Galadriel, who tells her to journey North with the funeral party of King Theoden. Keren, wishing to escape the shadow of what might have been, obeys, but when they reach Rohan she is broken hearted to witness the betrothal of Faramir and Eowyn. Pippin asks her to travel further North with them, and Galadriel confirms that is her path, telling her to come to Lothlorien to learn more of her past. She leaves Rohan, not knowing what she will find, with a familiar group of hobbits, elves, men and a wizard.
BOOK TWO
Chapter One - The Glittering Caves
Keren realised she must have nodded off again, as she woke with a start at the sound of a man's shout. She drowsily registered her surprise, for she was far from a natural rider, and she was confused as to how he horse, Leofric, could have carried her so gently.
Then she remembered, and it was with a large amount of embarrassment.
So annoyed had she become with her inability to control Leofric, for they were going at a much faster pace than they had on the journey from Minas Tirith to Edoras, that she had started annoying those around her as she either rode into them or cursed more and more frequently. Legolas, taking pity both on her and the people close to her, lifted her onto his horse, Arod, with no time for her to argue. Gimli, not the strongest of riders himself, silently slipped off Arod's back and mounted Leofric, with nothing but a raised eyebrow towards Gandalf as a comment. Gandalf kept silent, a look of blank amusement on his face.
Not many had witnessed the fast exchange, and Keren quickly got over her embarrassment at her close proximity to Legolas, for he had grabbed her hands and wrapped them around his waist, laughing at her awkwardly waving arms.
"Do not be afraid to squeeze too tight," the elf had said. "You will be safe."
And indeed so safe had she felt that she must have fallen asleep, for now she had awoken with her head lolling forward onto his shoulders. She quickly snapped it back.
"Good sleep?" Legolas asked.
"Yes," Keren said shortly, still embarrassed. "Although I know not how I managed to fall asleep."
"We slowed the horses to a walk a couple of hours past, if you remember," he replied, "to give them a chance to rest. You fell asleep almost immediately."
"Well I feel much better for it," Keren said, yawning. "Although my back is a little sore."
Without thinking she let go of Legolas's waist and stretched her arms out, arching her back. Immediately she yelped as the rolling movement of Arod below her sent her slipping off the side of the saddle.
"Ai!" Legolas cried as he turned quickly to grab her and set her upright. "You and horses are a disaster together. You must learn to listen to them."
"But they don't speak!" Keren cried.
Legolas looked at her as if he did not understand her, and indeed he did not. The Rohirrim were masters of communicating with their steeds, but most other men were not, and he had little hope for Keren unless she was given many dedicated days of training.
Perhaps one day I could teach her, he thought fondly, but quickly stopped his thoughts from going down that path. They were a long way from that future yet.
"If you were wondering what woke you, Helm's Deep has been sighted, and the King gave a cry," he said, to move his thoughts from tentative hopes for the human girl he had bonded with.
She did not, and could not, know. Not yet. Legolas knew she was still pining over Faramir, an infatuation so strong it had almost made her lose her reason. But he would not laugh at her, nor chide her, for her foolishness, for such feelings could be overwhelming. His mind reeled that he knew such things now. At their meetings, all the advice he had given her about something he had not understood, her heartbreak over unrequited love – now he understood very well. He felt he was better equipped to deal with it, having seen far more of life, but it was also far more than unrequited infatuation on his part. In a few seconds, as he had stepped out and seen her on a balcony in the citadel of Minas Tirith, his heart and his soul had become no longer fully his own, and after thousands of years it had been an unsettling shock. Never had he thought someone could have so much power over him.
The wizard watched the pair as they smiled and laughed together. If he was right, and everything he thought came to pass, then the world would not have seen the like before. But that path was full of peril, for both of them, and he feared for them. He knew not what the Valar had planned, for all he was their kin of old. He knew Legolas would do well not to underestimate what had almost happened, what indeed could still happen, between the girl and the steward of Gondor, for it had its reasons, and he suspected, its history. It was not foolish young green-sickness, of that he was sure. He just wished he could get a closer look at that crystal.
Helm's Deep, Legolas told Keren, was a naturally defensive gorge set into the sides of the mountains that rose ahead of them, that had long been a place of refuge for the people of Rohan. At its heart was the Hornburg, a great keep with high walls and towers, never breached until recently, and even then it had not suffered a defeat. Behind the huge Deeping Wall lay a great hall, kitchens, stables, and miles of caves and passageways for shelter.
Keren craned her head around Legolas's shoulder as they passed through the earthen fence of Helm's Dike, on into Deeping-Comb, and the fortress came into view.
"It was not built for beauty, but for safety," Legolas said. "Glad of that we were the night we fought, although many good men were killed. It is a grim place, with no light, either to see or in its heart, and I will not say I wish to tarry here."
"Ah, but you will hold to your promise, Princeling?" Gimli's voice shouted from beside them. "The caves, do not forget, the caves!"
He rode off ahead, laughing with glee.
"What does he mean?" Keren wondered, confused by the dwarfs' unusual show of mirth.
"He claims that the caves behind the Hornburg are a wonder of the earth, and I have promised to at least venture briefly to see them with him, despite misgivings."
"Misgivings?"
"I am… not fond of underground spaces, unless it is within the rocks of my home, where we create caverns of light."
"Oh," was all Keren could think to say. To learn that the elf was… afraid of something, it oddly filled her with confidence.
The party rested that night within the walls of the Hornburg, a strange group. Keren felt very very normal, comfortingly so, as she bedded down to sleep surrounded by kings, princes, figures out of legends. She looked over at the elves with interest, as many of them lay still, eyes open, but not exactly what she would call awake. She suppressed a shudder, and found herself not wishing to look at Legolas in case he was in the same unnerving state. She drifted off to sleep eventually, her head filled with images of crystals, dark caverns and unseeing grey eyes. And horses.
When she awoke it was full day, and the large hall had emptied a little. The hobbits still slept, but the rest of the fellowship had gone. The elves had effortlessly arranged themselves into artful clumps, all flowing robes and hair. Keren looked down at her rumpled kirtle and shift, and felt her tangled hair in response, now feeling normal in a decidedly disappointing way. She sighed and felt her hand go to the crystal in its pouch at her waist.
Your choice, it seemed to say, but she knew this time it was her own head. If you wish for adventure then you need to get used to leaving comfort behind.
She got up, and broke her fast quickly with some cured meat and now slightly stale bread. The water pouches were still full and plentiful, for they had a long journey ahead.
But where will it end, Keren wondered. Where will it end?
The day passed slowly – they were to rest at Helms Deep another night, for there was no certainty after this if they would find further shelter on the road ahead. Keren spoke with the hobbits, and wandered the stone passages of the keep, not straying too far alone in case she got lost. As the afternoon passed Keren began to miss Legolas's company – he had been gone all day, exploring the caves with Gimli she assumed. So it was with relief she saw them return mid way through the evening meal. The dwarf was beaming from ear to ear, with pride and no small amount of gloating. The elf looked thoughtful and a little humbled as he sat beside her.
"What were the caves like?" she asked him.
Legolas did not look her in the eye, and shook his head.
"The Princeling is struck dumb with awe," Gimli said. "For he did not expect to be so moved by rocks. Am I right Legolas?" He nudged the elf with his elbow.
Legolas came back to life a little.
"Indeed," he said softly. "There are no words I have to speak of them. Gimli alone has words fit for the purpose."
He was uncommunicative for the rest of the meal, and went and sat alone as soon as it was over. Keren, not having seen him behave in such a way before, went over to him.
"Legolas?" She sat down gently beside him. "What is it you saw? Are you alright?"
He looked at her a little while before speaking.
"I spoke true, I cannot bring myself to describe such beauty, such unexpected beauty," he said, then smiled at her in a strange way.
"Are they easy to find? I wish to see them, if they are as wonderful as all that." She tried to keep her voice light, for in truth the elf's behaviour was a little worrying.
"You would not find them alone."
"Then I shall ask Gimli…" She tailed off as a strange look came into Legolas's eyes.
"I shall take you, if you wish," he said.
For an odd moment she felt almost frightened, not since she had done at their first meeting, at the thought of being alone with him. She could not say why, for he was familiar now, and comforting. But for a second he had looked at her… differently.
"Alright," was all she said, brushing it off, her desire to see a wonder of the world winning out.
"Come then." He stood abruptly and left the room hastily, not offering his hand. Almost as if he was afraid, or ashamed, to be seen leaving with her.
Grabbing a flaming torch from the wall, he led the way through passages which became slowly less well crafted, until eventually they were walking on a floor of rough stone. The moon was high as they emerged outside, behind the great defensive wall. He had not turned or spoken to her once.
"Legolas!" Keren eventually had to speak. "What is the matter? Why won't you look at me?"
He stopped and turned quickly, before walking back to her, looking penitent.
"I am sorry, Keren," he said. "I am not myself. This place unnerved me, but not in the way I thought it would."
"It's not that, it's me, you are acting strangely towards me."
"Am I?" he said lightly, then turned to lead the way once more.
He brought her to a narrow entrance, almost hidden, and she could see why these caves had been chosen as a retreat. Legolas held his torch aloft.
"Stay close to me," he said quietly.
They passed through a narrow, dark passage for a time, and Keren reached for Legolas's hand for guidance. She felt his fingers pull back a little at the touch, but then they wrapped around hers as if nothing was amiss. They stayed like that until Keren felt the ground change beneath her feet. Her boots began sinking, but not into mud.
"What is that?" she asked, the shadows still too dark to see clearly.
"Sand," the elf replied. "We are drawing near."
Still holding her hand to help her balance on the shifting sandy floor, Legolas led her down the widening passage, and she saw it begin to grow light again.
"But…how?" Her voice echoed, and she could tell they were in a cavernous space.
"Look up," he said reverently. "And stop walking for a time. Just look."
A thick shaft of moonlight falling through a large hole in the roof lit the cavern with a silvery light, whilst the golden flame from Legolas's torch sent strange flickering shadows bouncing off the walls. Walls which were polished smooth, and glowing, glittering with sparks of light. All around, everywhere she looked, near and far, were gemstones and crystals set into the rock, sparkling gold and silver, greens, blues, pinks, purples, reds, in great stems hanging from the roof or rising from the floor, or running like rivers of light through the walls. In the centre, amidst sand and rock, was a silent pool, with no ripple of movement, reflecting the moonlight like a mirror.
Keren did not wish to speak for fear of the sound perhaps destroying the vision before her, as if it were not real, but she would not have had words anyway. She instead looked at Legolas with understanding. A shock it must have been to him indeed, that such wonders could be found beneath the ground, always a place of darkness and loathing to him.
Legolas let her stand in wonder, gazing around for many minutes, rooted to the spot, watching her with some amusement. Was this how he had looked to Gimli? Words alone could not begin to do the place justice – it must be seen.
Keren slowly moved eventually, drawing a little closer to him.
"I would like to see more," she said quietly. "Will you show me?"
In the great hall of the Hornburg some of the elves, listening to Gimli's descriptions of these great caverns beneath the earth, grew curious and wished to see the sights that had apparently left one of their own speechless, a feat rarely accomplished with elven folk. A move was made for Gimli to escort them, but Galadriel counselled against it, saying matters of great import needed to be discussed amongst her people that night. Gimli looked gravely disappointed, but his regard for the Lady of the Golden Wood was so high that he could not bring himself to plead with her.
She had slid her eyes over to the wizard as she had spoken, catching his gaze, then moved them over to the now empty corner which Keren and Legolas had vacated, unnoticed by all but her. He followed her swift look, and chuckled under his breath. Yes, the caves of Aglarond were best left un-intruded by others tonight.
"There are many more caverns," Legolas said, "though none so large as this. But some are more beautiful."
"More beautiful?" Keren wondered.
"One where all is gold, and the light from a torch makes it seem as if the place is flickering ablaze with flames. One where there is no surface beneath your feet but a clear pool lapping at the silver rocks, and if you venture to the edge of them you can see your reflection as in a mirror, and behind and above you all the stars in the sky, but then you see they are in fact tiny crystals in the black rock. One where – "
"Show me!" Keren cried. "Please," she added belatedly.
Legolas's laugh rang out, echoing round the empty space. They stood and listened to the echoes until they disappeared, Keren sensing that he could hear them long after her.
"We cannot see all," he said eventually, "we are dependent on this flame lasting, but a few hours we should have, comfortably."
She smiled with glee, and ran off towards the pool, shouting into the space, now feeling more comfortable that it was indeed real and not some vision they had stumbled into.
"Never did I imagine such places! Never did I think I would see such a place! I am so happy I chose to travel north!"
She stopped dead as she reached the waters edge, Legolas appearing swiftly beside her.
"But I wish…" she began.
Legolas waited for her to find the words.
"I wish… Palen was here, to see this too," she finished quietly, although in her head she had thought of Faramir. But Keren knew she would not have ever come here if things had indeed happened as she had wanted. She would never have got to see this wonderful place, nor Rohan, nor even Ithilien all those months ago. Life was strange in its twists and turns.
She felt as if Legolas knew what she had truly wanted to say, although of course she did miss Palen deeply. He placed an arm around her shoulders, a comforting presence once more, all the strange intense behaviour from earlier gone.
"Come," he said. "I have wonders to show you and stories to tell."
Twenty caverns he showed her, and some they lingered in, and some they did not. Some were dark when the moon disappeared, or there were no cracks in the roof to allow natural light in. Some were cold so that their breath rose in clouds, despite it being August. Still the flame from the torch showed the strange, smooth, glittering walls in all of them.
"Gimli has plans for this place," Legolas began. "To fill all the caverns with light again, to show its full glory, to start a dwarf colony here no less. The Rohirrim were not the first to find it, nor shall they be the last to use it, if he gets his way."
As he spoke they emerged into one of the chambers he had mentioned before, that of the walls and ceilings with tiny crystals like stars, and a floor of water-glass. It was small, but high, so very high. Looking up Keren could see a domed roof with large openings to the sky, the moonlight filtering through in sharp beams.
Carefully Legolas guided her to the edge of the narrow rock at the edge of the pool and together they sat, legs dangling over the edge.
"This is, I think, my favourite," the elf said. "We are deep inside the mountain, and yet I feel I look on the sky."
Keren lay back and looked up and around, as if she were stargazing. The high, black walls were so smooth as to almost shine, and dotted all around were the lights of hundreds of thousands of tiny silver crystals, much smaller than her own, and sparkling rather than clear. So many, and yet she could feel no power from them, not like hers, despite its more humble appearance. It sat now at her waist as always, hidden in its pouch.
"I know what you mean. It is so beautiful."
"There is another reason I have brought you here," Legolas said quietly, and she felt her breath hitch, hoping that she would perhaps get an explanation for his strange manner earlier.
"I thought there may be," she admitted. "Why?"
"So many crystals," he began. "Often I can feel their presence. I know not why, but many of my people have such a thing. Not a power as such, but a nudging, as if they wish me to know they are there."
Keren was silent, and knew what was to come next.
"I feel that…around you," he went on. "At out very first meeting, your fea – your spirit – called to me. This I think you know, for it was this I think you ran from. I did not mean to frighten you, but I did not understand what I was sensing, for you were human. I was drawn to your spirit because it had the energy of crystals around it and through it. So not only were you strange to me because I knew you were an elf-friend, but also because to me it felt like you had, have, a great affinity with crystals – stones of power or knowledge. And as time has passed you feel more familiar and yet grow more strange with every meeting, for still I do not understand you."
Stop now, Legolas thought, or you will tell her what you did not know then, what she still does not, cannot know. No more.
Keren remained looking up at the crystal stars, quietly panicking. Someone knew. Incredibly, someone knew. She had kept it so hidden all these years, even from Palen, only showing it to Faramir because he felt a part of it all. And now this elf, this strange friend of hers, knew without even seeing it. She did not want to, could not, talk about it, for the grief was still too near, remembering the night Faramir had held it, her finally sharing the secret with someone, with him – the whole prophecy, thinking about where it had led her. Or perhaps, she was beginning to realise now, where she had chosen to allow herself to be led.
"I feel the same about you, seeming both strange and familiar," she admitted. "But I don't know what you mean about the crystals," she said. "This is the first time I have seen any, and I do not feel anything, other than wonder at how beautiful they are. You must be mistaken."
He knows I am lying, she thought.
And he did, but decided she must have her reasons. He did not press the subject, frustrated as it made him. He wished to know everything about her, but realised she obviously did not know everything about herself either.
"Who did first discover this place?" she asked, changing the subject back to Gimli's plans, and sitting up. "It is so well hidden."
Legolas, accepting the subject of crystals was closed to him, told her a brief history of the great men of Numenor, of which she already knew a little, for Faramir was descended from –
Stop it, Keren chided herself. You do not have to link every little thing back to him.
She concentrated instead on Legolas's tale, of how in the Second Age, before the land they were travelling through was the kingdom of Rohan, before the men of the Mark had built their halls or bred their horses, men of Numenorean blood had explored the caves, but had no real use for them other than to gaze in awe at what they saw. The Rohirrim, much later, found them to be useful in times of war, and they had been a place of safety for hundreds of years. And now the lands were safe once more, along would come Gimli with his miners and masons, and forge a new Kingdom under the mountains.
"The Numenoreans – the real ones, not their descendants – did you… know them?" Keren wondered.
Legolas gave her a knowing look.
"You are curious as to how old I am," he said. "I was wondering when you would give in and ask."
"No that's not what I… well, it would be interesting to…" Keren tailed off.
He chuckled.
"I was born soon after the dawn of the Third Age," he said.
Keren froze.
"So no," he went on, "I never saw a true Numenorean. King Elendil and his sons escaped the fall of Numenor and sailed to Middle Earth, only to be killed. They survived the battle that claimed my grandfather's life, but not for long. They fought alongside my father. That was before he was afraid to leave our lands. But all this was hundreds of years before I was born."
"You… you're thousands… thousands of years old?" was all she could say to that.
"I am an elf!" he replied, smiling and giving a small shrug of his shoulders. "And I am young by my people's reckoning, yet I do not feel it."
Wanting to get off the topic as quickly as possible, Keren picked up on something else.
"Why is your father afraid to travel?"
"His fear began in the South all those years ago," Legolas said. "I have not set foot inside the gates of Mordor, Keren, though I got close enough. He was in that land of poison for seven long years, and after burying his father just outside it. He does not trust that the lands outside our realm are free from the taint of the Black Land, the evil he saw there. It is almost a sickness in his mind. I understand it, but I long for him to see that now things will be different, and the taint is no more. But he has gone from afraid to uncaring, and it saddens me."
"I am sorry," Keren said softly. "My father, I think, is also afraid of life, but when my sister and I tried to help he pushed us away, and the rift has never healed. So now he does not care, for that is easier. And we… we also have learnt how not to care."
"Your mother, you never speak of her." Legolas said gently.
"She is dead."
Legolas nodded in understanding.
"Mine too," was all he said, and Keren did not press for more, but took his hand in hers, kneeling next to where he had leant to look into the water.
Slowly she peered over and studied their reflections. It was the first time either of them had seen themselves together, and she noticed Legolas was looking down into the mirror-like surface too, the water so still their eyes met in it, each studying the other. The moonlight cast a strange glow on their faces, and the golden halo of reflected light from the torch sat still in the dark water like an orb of fire, as if the sun was shining at night. Stars shone around their heads, or so it seemed. Both felt strange. Neither spoke.
Their hands remained touching, and they drew closer together as they looked down at themselves in the depths. The stars in the rocks grew quiet and watchful.
"Is it unusual?" came Keren's whisper. "Us?"
Keren watched the water-Legolas turn his head sharply towards her.
"Us?" he said, as if checking he had heard correctly.
"A human and an elf. Or rather I should say a woman and a male elf. Being friends. Are we unusual? You have to admit we look unusual," she said, looking at their watery selves, total opposites.
Together they now lay, on their fronts with their forearms folded beneath them, leaning over the edge, watching their own conversation.
"I… have not heard of such a thing before," was the reply. "Many elf friends there have been, hundreds, over thousands of years, but never have I heard of a male and female bonding in friendship, although of course that is not to say it did not happen."
"Perhaps it was looked on as…well, perhaps it was frowned upon," Keren said. "Although you are an elf, you are still male, and perhaps I should not be alone with you as often as I am."
"Would you prefer not to be alone with me?"
Keren did not have to think about it. All thoughts of how he had behaved before were forgotten.
"No. Not now. At first, maybe. But only that very first time, and then not for all of that meeting."
Legolas took a deep, silent breath, and said something that he knew he probably should not.
"Of course, although I have not heard of any great friendships, there has been great love between elf and human of differing sex. Marriages, children. It is possible."
Keren, however, was ahead of him.
"Well yes, the King and Queen. And I know the tale of Earendil, Queen Arwen's grandfather, how he was born of an elf-maid and a man. And there are rumours that the Princes of Dol Amroth have elf-blood, everyone knows that."
Legolas was silent, and felt oddly annoyed. What had he been hoping for? He knew not.
"Are there others?" Keren asked.
"Yes, all where the elf is a maid, and the human a man. None like us."
Both were quiet again, the 'us' echoing loudly between them, each pretending not to notice it.
"Tell me of them," Keren said, when the moment had passed. "I love tales of elves."
And so he told her the tale of Beren and Luthien, and she watched his face come alive in the water as he did. It was a wondrous story, which Keren would carry with her the rest of her life – how Luthien's proud father set Beren an impossible task, to steal a Silmaril, one of the great jewels of the elves of old, from the crown of the evil Morgoth. Only then would he allow Beren, a mortal, to marry his daughter.
"For she was the most beautiful of all the children of Iluvatar." Legolas's voice carried through the cavern. "In your tongue you would say: 'her hair was dark as the shadows of twilight. As the voice of clear waters, as the stars above the mists of the world, such was her glory and loveliness, and in her face was a shining light.'"
Keren shivered a little. Clear waters were what she beheld now, and within them her face was shining white, and her hair was black, and the lights like stars glimmered above her. Her eyes looked grey. She felt uneasy, and flicked a finger down into the water to make ripples, and as the water gently moved she was herself again. Legolas must have seen her reflection as she had, though he spoke easily.
"Do not fear tricks of the light, for often they tell us much," he said. "Though of course they are nothing at all, and it is our minds that are the would-be soothsayers."
He went on with the tale – how Beren was imprisoned in Morgoth's lair, and Luthien herself came to his rescue. Together they escaped with the Silmaril, but Beren was mortally wounded.
"So broken hearted was Luthien that she gave up her life, and her fea fled to the halls of Mandos," Legolas went on. "She moved him with her pleading, so he sent both of their spirits back to Middle Earth to be born again, something that had never, and has not since, been heard of, for mortals' souls are not bound to the earth. His respect for them must have been great, to allow Beren to be reincarnated, as elves often are. So they lived in love once more, but Mandos's condition was that this time they must both die as Humans, and when old age took them their spirits passed out of the world together."
Keren was silent for a time, her head filled with the story. She had not known before that elves reincarnated.
"Have you been… sent back, do you think?" she wondered.
"I know not," Legolas replied. "Does one carry memories from one life to the next? I have none."
Both deciding it was too large a topic for the small amount of torchlight they had left, they chose to spend the remaining time sat in companionable silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
Soon the torch was burning very low, and Legolas said they should leave. Keren agreed, reluctantly. Together they stood and turned from the cavern of stars.
Unseen by them, the crystals winked and blinked behind them, as if in excited discussion. Once the chamber was empty of the elf and human's voices and quiet breathing, the moonlight was swiftly hidden by clouds, as if the scene had ended and the light the crystals had so helpfully provided for the strange pair could now be extinguished.
Through the rocky halls the couple that had so excited the star spirits went, Keren saying a silent goodbye to each cavern they crossed, for she highly doubted she would see them again. Faster than she would have wished, they emerged into the fresh air of a summer night, and began a slow walk back to the Great Hall, where all seemed quiet.
"Goodnight, Keren," Legolas whispered, before they drew too near to the others to be overheard.
"Goodnight. Thank you for an evening I shall never forget."
"Tomorrow we leave for Isengard," Legolas found himself saying. "It is a journey of only two days."
Keren was puzzled for a moment, then realised what the elf was saying. Once they reached Isengard, they were to part. Two days. All that was left to them.
"I will miss you, Legolas," was all she could say.
"And I you. But we shall part with no sadness, for your life must be full of joy now. That is the path you have chosen."
"You will say goodbye, you will not just leave?" Keren was gripped by a sudden, inexplicable fear.
"We shall have a proper farewell, I promise thee," Legolas said, quickly brushing her cheek with his thumb. "Sleep well."
Then they parted, and went to their beds.