Author note: I have enjoyed writing this chapter so much, it's so great to have these two back together. Thank you all new follows and favs. The reviews for the previous chapter were particularly lovely - I'm honestly so thrilled you guys think so much of this story. It started out as something so tiny just for myself and it keeps growing, I'm blown away.

Someone asked for translations for the Sindarin and Quenya used. Now I would happily do this, but I hope I make it clear at least the gist of what people are saying through my descriptions. I always feel that although translations are super helpful they do break the flow of the story and also take away the magic a little bit. All my Elvish I'm getting from .

I take time to do my research to keep everything within canon as far as possible, and I really hope it shows.

See you next time x

Chapter Nine - Cerin Amroth

The sun shone down, and all was right in Keren's world. She had two friends by her side, she was in the most magical land she had ever been and supposed she ever would be, and for once neither of the elves beside her were making her walk fast.

The three companions slowly wended their way northwards to Cerin Amroth, Legolas having to retrace his steps but not caring one bit. His arrival made Keren almost giddy with happiness, and she struggled to believe he was real, actually there walking and talking in Lorien, beside her. She had not realised until she parted from him in Isengard how much he had come to mean to her, and now they were reunited she felt that love for him developing, a real bond of affection and friendship that distance and time had not broken. Her mind did a little skip towards thoughts of Faramir - what was he doing now, where was he, was he happy, did he ever think of her? The thoughts were too painful to dwell on, and she felt deep sadness, for she had thought that part of her was gone. She had not thought of him properly for many months, but… it still hurt. She reached for the crystal in her pocket - now her talisman of strength and courage - and remembered how she had felt in the glade.

A small part of your life, she said to herself. There is more to your life than he.

She smiled and breathed in her surroundings. The trees were beginning to thin, and a large clearing was becoming apparent up ahead. As Keren emerged into the grassy field, she felt the warmth of the sun on her face, and she closed her eyes - something she had found herself doing more and more - to better take in the sensation, and the sounds, of the light breeze brushing through the trees, the singing of the birds.

"There stands the hill of Amroth." Haldir's quiet voice cut though, and she opened her eyes and stood still. "For centuries his house stood atop the tallest tree - now there is nothing but a flet. The hill has seen many betrothals and marriages over the ages, lovers coming here to honour the first couple to fall in love under its trees, who never returned to it. It was here that the Lady Arwen pledged her troth to the Lord Aragorn."

Keren wondered silently whether it was here that her mother had told Haldir of her true feelings, on one of their many trips to the hill.

"It was my plan to spend the day here," Haldir continued, "and rest at night, so we are refreshed for our long journey back. But Greenleaf, my friend, perhaps that is not convenient for you?"

"On the contrary," Legolas replied, "a long rest would be most welcome. I have had a long journey from my home to here."

"Why…why did you come here?" Keren asked haltingly, quiet from her uncertainty using his language.

"To find you," he said simply.

There was a strange moment then, and all felt it. The birdsong felt incredibly loud as silence grew between the three. Keren could feel Haldir's eyes upon her, wondering how she would respond, but she did not know herself.

She had wished, the first night they had been separated, that Legolas would find her again.

But why? she wondered now.

"How did you know I was here?" she said instead.

"A lucky guess." The elf shrugged his shoulders.

Haldir was silent. This was going to be interesting.

The climb to the top of Cerin Amroth was harder than Keren had anticipated. She had entirely underestimated how tall the hill actually was - but of course if she had listened to Haldir properly she would have realised that in order to see an entire land laid out before you, the climb would have to be fairly steep. They were on high land already, higher than Caras Galadhon to the south, far higher than the river plains to the east, this she knew.

She had been distracted from the exertion of the climb at first by Haldir explaining how elven marriage was not complete until the lovemaking was done, and that the ceremony, the vows, indeed all the things that Men placed great importance in, were not truly necessary, the consummation being the only vital act. There followed a slightly awkward silence as Keren realised that the site they were visiting had no doubt witnessed several occurrences of this… vital act.

Once that thought had wriggled its way through her mind, eventually tackling a large, steep rise in full sunlight after a day of walking started to make itself known to her calves and thighs.

"Are we…almost…at the…top?" she puffed, hands on hips, face red and sweating. She felt utterly disgusting.

"A child of the sixth circle of Minas Tirith is tired from climbing a small hill?" Haldir teased.

"Minas Tirith had steps, and winding, shallow paths," she managed to say, in Westron, after taking a big breath in. "And this is not a small hill. I can think… of nothing worse… than getting betrothed or married up here, all… sweaty and out of breath for all… the wrong… reasons, before you even get… started."

Both Legolas and Haldir let out a surprised laugh, but were careful not to continue the subject.

"Yes, we are almost at the top," was Haldir's reply in Sindarin, ignoring Keren's exhausted lapse into her own tongue.

Keren heaved a sigh of relief.

"But then of course to see the best view we shall need to climb the tallest tree to the flet," he continued as he marched on ahead.

"I think I hate elves," said Keren.

"It will be worth it," said Legolas, smiling. "Here, I can give you some help."

He took her hand and went a little ahead, pulling her up with no apparent effort.

Within one minute they had reached the top. She smiled despite her aching legs. They were stood between two large silver birch trees, a circle of which grew all around the top of the hill. Within that circle was another, of even taller mallorns, and within them was one solitary giant of a tree, the top of which she could not see. All around them were small meadow flowers of gold, silver and white, with a few of the palest shade of green peeping through. The little breath she had left was taken away by the beauty of the place.

She lay down on the cool grass under the shade of the trees, looking up at the bright birch leaves against the periwinkle sky, whilst Legolas and Haldir chatted away, not out of breath at all. Once she felt her heart rate slow, she got up slowly and went over to the elves to get some food and drink.

"Ready for the final climb?" Haldir asked once she was fed and watered, pointing to the large tree in the centre of the hill. Keren was extremely pleased to see there were fine white steps running up around the thick trunk.

"In a minute," she said, thinking of her legs. "Could you tell me a bit more about this place while I have a sit down?"

"Only if you ask me that in Sindarin," Haldir replied.

Keren looked over at Legolas and rolled her eyes.

"This is how I've learnt so much in so little time, he's the strictest teacher I could have chosen."

Legolas answered her with a question.

"Why did you wish to learn our tongue?"

She gave a little smile.

"Many reasons," she said. "Mainly to learn what your mystery phrase was, but after I'd found that out I found I enjoyed speaking it, listening to my new friends speak it."

Legolas knew exactly what she meant by his 'mystery phrase', and felt joy in his heart. But had she realised its true meaning?

"Aníron geliad o Cerin Amroth," Keren repeated her request to Haldir. "Davo anin… poston hí."

"Posto i beth," Haldir corrected her.

"Davo anin posto hí."

Haldir nodded, and began, in Sindarin, to tell Keren the names of the flowers gathered about them.

"The white and green are Little-colour, the gold and silver fair Sun-star. They grow here in abundance, blooming for ever, even though they are winter flowers. It is said that Little-colour was not found in Middle-Earth until the birth of the Nightingale, and so she was also named the Daughter of Flowers."

Keren shivered a little at the familiar name, remembering the night in the caves with Legolas, where he had told her the tale of Lúthien Tinúviel. Something about that story unnerved her, and she had not forgotten the strangeness she had felt when learning about the reincarnation of elves. She found herself studying both of her friends, wondering if they had been here before, in a different guise - or would it be in the same guise, and they had just forgotten? It was too much for her very human brain to fathom, and so she looked at the pretty flowers instead.

"And of course the trees are unique to this land," Haldir went on. "Nowhere east of the sea do they grow but here. Although the Lady has made a gift of a Gold-tree nut to Samwise Gamgee to plant in his homeland."

Keren's mind was filled with the humble face of Sam, which led to thoughts of Frodo, and Merry, and Pippin. How were they faring? She imagined they must be home by now. Perhaps the mallorn was planted already. She felt a longing to see their country, to have Pippin show her his favourite places in - what had he called it? - the Shire. But she felt that was not her path, nor ever had been.

"They grow so well here as this was once what the City of Trees is now, the heart of elvendom on Middle-Earth, the centre of this land. You are in a hallowed place." Haldir was still speaking, but Keren found her thoughts beginning to wander into the past, happy memories she had not dwelt on, of time with the hobbits and Legolas - a golden time of rediscovering happiness, despite being so very sad in her heart. Adventure had been beckoning, and now she was in it. She smiled to herself, then felt Legolas's warm gaze upon her. Their eyes met, and to Keren's surprise she quickly looked away, feeling suddenly shy.

"And it is high time we climbed that one," Haldir said, pointing to the tallest tree in the centre. "Long has it been a watchtower for our people, with only a rope ladder flung down to get to the top. But now the Shadow has lifted, and you can ascend a fine new stair, as there would have been of old, when Amroth lived here among the trees."

Keren shook herself from her reverie and got to her feet.

The steps were shallow, and curved around the trunk. Keren was becoming used to living atop trees - fortunately living in the uppermost circles of Minas Tirith had given her a good head for heights as she had looked out across the plains and into the levels below.

"Once this place would have been filled with light and music, as the City of Trees is now," Haldir said as they climbed. "Now all is silent and still here, and I think perhaps more beautiful for it."

Keren pondered this. There was power here, the same power she felt radiating throughout Lórien, that she had almost become used to. But there was a sadness too, an untouchable history that the land would not see again. The Lady was leaving, as were all the elves, and the land, strange as it seemed to her, knew it. As she climbed higher this feeling grew stronger, and the wind built up around them.

"I can smell the sea!" she said in wonder. Few times in her life had she smelt the salty air borne on the Southern wind from far Pelargir, where the great river Anduin was still coastal, to Minas Tirith. "And… there are gulls crying!"

She froze where she stood, with just a few more steps to reach the top. In her mind were images of waves breaking on the surf, things she had never seen with waking eyes. Suddenly her feet were bare, and on sand. Atop a great cliff behind her was a man, standing with an arm outstretched to her, too high up to see his features clearly. Before her was a heavy mist over a grey sea.

"Keren? Keren." Legolas's calm voice broke through her reverie. She took a deep breath, and turned to see the elf looking concerned, a few steps below.

"I'm alright", she said quietly. "I think - I think I'm just a bit dizzy from going round and round the trunk."

"What did you see?" Legolas asked her calmly.

"I… didn't… Nothing," she replied, and turned quickly to finish the climb, swiftly reaching the top.

If Haldir had been aware of what happened he didn't show it, as he held out a hand to help her up onto the platform.

"Now, careful," he said to her. "This is not like the flets of the city, there are no fair screens to mask the drop or shield a fall. If you feel you will be unsure of your footing, hold onto the branches. At all times."

"Yes, father," she said jokingly to Haldir, then winced. Knowing what she had now learned, perhaps that was not the best joke to use.

"Now come, and you shall see the world," he said, smiling, apparently oblivious. "First, to the west."

Over the branches she could see, far off but imposing, tall mountains stretching as far to the north and south as she could see.

"The Misty Mountains," Haldir said. "Anyone who journeys between East and West must cross them somehow. See there the three tallest peaks, far in the distance? They are Caradhras, Celebdil and Fanuidhol."

"I don't understand those names, however beautiful they may sound," Keren interrupted.

"Redhorn, Silvertine and Cloudyhead," Haldir replied in Westron. "Not quite as beautiful in your tongue, I fear. It was through the pass of Caradhras that you journeyed with the Lady and her train. Under those three peaks are the halls of the dwarf-lords. I have never ventured there, but here is one who has."

He gestured to Legolas.

"Loath I was to go underground at the time," said Legolas, "but we had no other choice."

"Ah, that is where Mithrandir… er, died," Keren remembered. "Sort of. When you were all travelling with Frodo. Pippin told me, the day before we parted."

Legolas nodded, but said quietly: "Let us not speak of it."

They turned to the south, and there Keren saw Caras Galadhon, her home for the past half-year. Beyond that lay more trees, and yet more, until grasslands opened up between two rivers, far in the distance, the second to Keren just an idea of a ribbon of water.

"What rivers are they?" Keren wondered.

"The Limlight nearest to us, and that small thread of silver is the Entwash, a mighty river."

"And the edge of my father's knowledge," Keren whispered. "If he could see how far beyond it I have come he would be furious."

"Or perhaps jealous," Legolas said.

Keren did not respond.

"And see to the right of them," the elf changed the subject, "that is the edge of the forest of Fangorn, where the Tree-men live."

"Oh, yes, I remember them," Keren said dimly, remembering just how many strange things she had seen.

Turning to look east Keren could see the Anduin, the very same river that could be seen from her city, flowing from the north, a wide snake of silver through a land of grey and green. The treetops of Lórien reached down to its banks, vivid green in the sun. On the other bank lay flat fields, and beyond those another forest, darker in hue.

"There lies Mirkwood - " Haldir began.

Legolas cleared his throat.

"Forgive me,"Haldir said quickly. "The Greenwood. In its southern reaches, there are mostly trees of pine and fir. It was there the Hill of Sorcery was occupied by the Abhorred, in secret for too long, able to gather his power before returning to the Land of Shadow. Now he is defeated, the land around it remains blighted, but in time, albeit perhaps an age of this world, it will heal. The rest of the forest I hear is quickly returning to it's original state. Far to the north, many leagues further than we can see… well, I am sure Greenleaf can tell you more."

"Far to the north, amidst those trees, is my home," Legolas said simply. "And yes, it was plagued by dark creatures, but the land immediately around my father's halls held out the longest. On my return there was already much difference."

"Did you enjoy being back home?" Keren wondered. "You must have left very soon after arriving."

"I did not linger there. Gimli and I travelled far and wide before heading to our homelands, but once he had left mine there was little to keep me there."

"You miss him," Keren said.

"Very much, far more than I ever thought I would miss a dwarf. But there, this war has taught me many things, and brought me many friends in unlooked for places."

He smiled at her.

"And did you miss your home, all the time you were away?" she asked.

"Like you, I have seen much on my travels, enough to distract me of thoughts of home. But there was a part of me that always wished to return, until the call of the gulls at Pelargir drove all thoughts of home from my mind, and pulled me ever-onward to the sea. I knew the North was my home no longer. It is my aim to set up a colony in Ithilien, though what I am to achieve there has not yet been revealed to me. But once it is done, I can sail. And I will pass through Pelargir and hail the gulls that heralded the journey, and then I shall reach the mouth of Anduin, and then the sea."

"And then... where will you go?"

"To Elvenhome."

"And where exactly is that?"

Legolas sighed.

"I know not."

"Right. Well, good luck with that."

They laughed.

"You jest, but I will find it, Keren," Legolas said. "I cannot fail to, for my people are called there, and the way is provided for us."

"It all sounds mildly terrifying to me," she replied. "And will you take this journey too one day, Haldir? Haldir?"

She turned to face her friend, but found he had gone, leaving her alone with Legolas.

"Where did he go?"

"He starting climbing down when I started talking of my home," Legolas said. "And I admit I did not call him to stay."

Keren was about to ask why, but decided against it. She also found she did not mind. In fact, she was thrilled to be back in Legolas's company, just the two of them again. So much had changed, and yet so little.

"I have missed you very much," she said quietly.

"And I you," he replied. "But you have not been lonely?"

"Not at all, I've had others for company - mainly Haldir, but also his brothers, and I think even the Lady likes me. Though I would not call her a friend exactly, she is far too grand for that."

"And have you missed your home?"

"I…" Keren did not know what to say. "Perhaps not the city very much, nor the Houses, but I do miss Palen, and I feel bad for how I parted from my father, now I have learnt the truth. I also… I find I am not much use here. In Minas Tirith I had a skill, I could help people, ease their suffering. Here I am, well, I just am."

Legolas was relieved to hear she had made no mention of the Lord Faramir. Had she perhaps, finally, forgotten him?

"And of course, there is him," Keren said, almost reading his mind. "Though I think of him much less, these days. And I feel I could now see him without it causing me too much pain. Although I doubt our paths will cross again."

"And you are… happy?"

"About that? I would not say I am indifferent, but I am able to live my life without him, which once I thought I could not do."

"Your father - what truth did you learn?" Legolas wanted to take her mind off the subject that had once caused her so much pain, but then realised he might be leading her to one where pain also lingered.

"Oh, well, I think perhaps I understand him a little better now," she said. "My mother - she was not who I thought she was. In that, well, she loved" - she did a quick check over her shoulder to make sure they were still alone - "Haldir. Not my father. She wanted to be with him, but he would not take her away from her life in the world of Men, despite feeling the same. He would not come between her and my father."

Legolas was silent as he digested this news, wondering how Keren would take the news that he had not spared a thought for Keren perhaps leaving her mortal family behind should she ever come to love him.

"Oh, and she grew up here." Keren shrugged for good measure. "And the Lady named her and her descendants elf-friends. Me."

"Well that would explain how I recognised you as such at our very first meeting, would it not?"

"That is how it would seem, given all that the Lady has told me," Keren admitted, still not finding it any less strange.

"Have you learnt all you wished to, by coming here?" Legolas wondered.

"I have learnt much, some things that I wished to, and some that I perhaps did not. I think perhaps the time is nearing for me to go home. I must speak to the Lady about departing soon."

"You are ready to go back?" Legolas asked.

"As I will ever be. And I miss my family. Palen - I heard something strange." Keren halted. "It is of no matter. But I think I would be comforted if I returned home to see all was well with them. And I would like to make amends with my father, for I feel able to, now I understand all that he must feel when he looks upon me."

Legolas did not push her to explain this statement more, but instead asked a question he was nervous to ask.

"And would you mind if I travelled with you once more?"

To his disappointment Keren informed him that Haldir had already sworn to protect her on the road, and that she was looking forward to the journey with him, as she knew not whether she would see him again once they parted.

"But of course I want you to come too!" she added with a smile. "Are you going to Minas Tirith?"

"I shall stay there a short while to see my friend Aragorn, then I shall journey on to Ithilien," Legolas replied. "And you, you shall return to the Houses of Healing?"

"The warden did say my job would still be there when I got back, even though I could not let him know when that would be," she answered.

"Clearly he thinks highly of you."

"But it will be strange going back to real life, in my tiny cupboard of a bedroom, sometimes sharing with Palen," she said. "I have rather gotten used to sleeping under the open air, up a tree. And look, I like these too." She wiggled her toes within the light boots she had worn since her arrival. "Sometimes if the ground is not too rough I take these off and go barefoot for days."

"Then is this not real life?" Legolas asked her. "For what you have described all sounds real enough to me. This tree is real, and Lórien is real, although in a very different way from Gondor. Are not you yourself real? Am not I?"

He reached out and touched her shoulder, looking down at her.

"You are very real," she said quietly.

"And overjoyed to see you again, Keren, daughter of Maleron," he replied.

She reached up her hand to lock around his forearm, his hand still on her shoulder.

"When you are living in Ithilien you will not even be a day's journey away," she realised. "We can see each other all the time! That is, if you are not too busy building a new home. Or a ship…"

"I naw nîn ben naw thîn," the elf said.

"Sorry, I don't understand that," she said - a very frequent phrase for her, and the first one she had fully learnt.

Legolas smiled.

"It means I was thinking the same thing," he explained in Westron. "And I will never be too busy to see you."

She looked down, unused to this kind of talk from anyone towards her.

"I am not sure you realise my regard for you," he said, slightly hesitantly. "You are special, Keren, and I cannot imagine my life without you in it, in some way. You are… very dear to me."

She smiled, and sighed. "And you to me. But I will not be in your life very long, and I will be an old lady within the twinkling of an eye. And no longer will I be able to climb trees, or ride horses, or dance."

Sadness flitted across his face, but it was soon gone as he broke into a smile.

"Then we had best make the most of our time together."

But what if I marry?

Keren could not bring herself to say it. She was fairly sure that was not going to happen, but if she ever did find a man she could live beside, she was fairly sure he would not understand his wife's close friendship with an elf, especially as Legolas had the beauty of ten men. And people would talk. Their friendship would be over.

He leaned quickly towards her, and for an instant she had the strangest urge to lean in, to do she knew not what, but he was simply moving to walk past her, gazing south.

"Beyond the horizon lies the end of your adventure," he said. "A long road, and perhaps hard. Let us enjoy ourselves in the City of Light together a while, before we face the journey home."

She walked to his side, and gazed out across the sunlit lands.

"I can think of nothing better," she said.