Emerald eyes pierced through hers, so powerful and impenetrable, and at the same time gleaming with a liquid gentleness concealed safely behind their crystal barrier. She felt petrified, unable to move, unable to blink. For a split second it seemed as if her body had turned to stone, she could feel nothing, could think nothing.

Doronor's words echoed inside her mind, so vividly that she could almost hear them ringing in her ears. "By the Valar, you nearly killed your brother." The cold accusation danced inside her head, bouncing against the walls of her skull. Those words she had desperately tried to forget, to ignore, to pretend that they had been a false accusation, now seemed the only thought that crossed her mind. So it had been true. She had nearly killed her brother. She had nearly killed the Crown Prince.

She felt as if something was constricting her entire chest, pressing it all to tight for her to breath properly. Anger boiled inside her veins, mixing with her newfound despair. And yet, what seemed to overpower every other feeling, was the sudden piercing guilt that she felt inside her stomach, hollowing all of her senses from the inside out. Everything made sense now, and the same time it did not make sense at all. That was why Arahaelon had been so distant with her since she arrived in Mirkwook. That was why he always seemed cautious and guarded around her. But she still could not understand.

The Crown Prince had not moved, his expression as calmed and patient as ever. He simply sat her, looking at her. She once again felt small, incredibly young next to her eldest brother. How many other things like this she did not know? She felt scared to move, sacred to breath, fearing that any sort of action from her part would make him dash away from her, as if she was a dangerous thing, a threat to him. And yet he did not move.

"I did that." She was the first to speak, her voice barely audible. She did not need to point or specify for Arahaelon to understand she was referring to the mark imprinted on his left arm. Her eldest brother remained still for a long moment, green eyes silently watching her, unreadable. It was as if he did not want to confirm her statement, even though she knew it was true. Slowly, very slowly, Arahaelon nodded his head, powerful green eyes never leaving hers, watching her carefully, so gentle and at the same so impenetrable.

"You are the one I…I almost killed." She was once again surprised at the sound of her voice, so frail and low, she could not even recognize it. She swallowed in a failed attempt to relieve the knot blocking her throat. She felt like screaming, crying, running, anything. Her chest felt too tight, her body petrified. Anger flashed through her brother's emerald eyes for a second, looking at her intently, so tall and powerful.

"Who told you that?" He hissed, green eyes piercing through hers easily, so impenetrable. He seemed angered that she knew this information. For a moment she remained quiet, but she knew he could see through her eyes the burden of the advisor's charged words.

"Almarëa" The serene authority in his gentle voice made her eyes involuntarily turn up to meet his, unable to deny his request. "Has someone accused you of almost killing me?"

"Doronor mentioned it some nights ago." She found herself answering in a low voice, unable to conceal the truth from her eldest brother. Her green eyes remained steady, looking right into his as she tried for her face to remain as stone-like as possible. Another flash of anger crossed her brother's impenetrable emerald gaze, but she tried to ignore it.

"He should not have said that to you. He does not have the right to make such a strong and unnecessary accusation." Arahelon's voice remained calmed, although she could distinguish the faint thread of ire in the unusually cold sound. She felt her despair and frustration grow inside of her. She did not care whatever Doronor had or had not said. She just wanted to know what had happened.

"But it was a truthful accusation, was it not?" She snapped at her eldest brother, not surprised when he once again did not react to her hostile tone. The Crown Prince remained looking at her with unreadable emerald eyes, gentle and at the same time impenetrable. His handsome face was a serene as it had been previously, simply looking at her patiently, none of her snapped comments hurting or provoking him. A long moment of silence settled in between the two of them, hanging on the tense air like a lurking ghost.

"Was it not?" She repeated when she did not get an answer. Powerful green eyes stared at her steadily, a silent apology swirling in their melted depths, far behind the cold glass barrier that met her gaze. It was if he did not want to answer her question, did not want to give her the answer that would condemn her. But his silence spoke louder than words. She knew that if there were any chance that the advisor's accusation had been false he would have already said so.

"It was an accident." He said finally, his voice calmed and gentle, although his apologetic eyes continued to stare deeply into hers, trapping her inside powerful melted emeralds.

She lowered her eyes, the simple action of looking into his eyes making her feel guilty, feel dangerous. Accident or not, it had happened. She could feel his eyes on her, watching silently. She no longer knew what to think, what to do. It was simply too much for her. She was nearly sure she had never felt this kind of frustration before, this kind of helplessness and anger, and at the same time this overwhelming need for answers, answers that she knew once they came she would wish she could forget them, make them disappear. And added to that, she felt tired, simply exhausted, which only made thinking harder.

She could feel angry tears forming in her eyes. But anger about what? Her teeth bit her bottom lip hard, trying to clear her mind, to desperately loosen the tight knot inside her throat that prevented her thoughts from flowing coherently. She was loosing the fight with her composure.

Arahaelon had remained quietly beside her, patiently staring at her his expression as serene as before. Suddenly she had the feeling that this conversation was as hard for him as it was for her.

"How did it happen?" It took all of her willpower to pronounce those words, placing all of her concentration on making her voice sound steady. She did not turn to look at her brother, fearing that she would loose her composure if she did. She could feel tears of frustration blurring her vision, and she forced them back with all of her strength, her lips pressed in a thin line. The Crown Prince did not move, and even though she could feel his watchful emerald eyes on her, she was glad that he did not acknowledge her loss of composure.

"It was an accident, Rëa. You did not know what you were doing. You could not control it." He used her nickname, but this time she did not protest. His voice was somehow softer, loosing all of its power, simply gentle and soothing, as if his words could make everything all right. And yet, she did not feel any better. She knew it was an accident, she could even remember it! She knew she most probably had meant no harm to her eldest brother, but nonetheless the accident had happened. And he had not forgotten it.

"How did it happen?" She repeated, her voice sounded cold and sharp in an attempt to prevent it from breaking. Once again her sudden hostility did not affect him in the slightest. Then, before she could think of saying anything else the sight in front of her vanished, only to be replaced by another set of images playing vividly inside her mind.

The gentle golden sunlight entered trough the tall arched windows of the Palace's Family Room. The orange and golden leaves of the trees swayed gently outside the balcony, waltzing at the rhythm of the soft breeze. Her eyes immediately found a young version of Legolas sprawled on his stomach over the exquisite carpet, innocent blue eyes concentrating on piece of paper in front of him as his right hand drew gentle figure over it with a blue type of crayon. Many more of those crayon-like pieces were scattered all over the carpet, in all sorts of colors.

Tadion sat cross-legged next to the blond elfling, looking exactly the same as he did now. Long golden hair fell loosely down his back, his untroubled clear blue eyes watching his youngest brother amusedly, sparkling with the gleam of his smile. Every once in a while, Tadion's finger would point to a spot in the page, and the tiny Legolas would quickly move the crayon in the specified direction.

She noticed Arahaelon and Lossenel sitting facing each other in two of the many cushioned seats inside the large room, both of their eyes concentrated on the game of chess they were currently playing. The Elvenking was also inside the room, sitting casually on the long couch, ice blue eyes focused on a book in hands, occasionally lifting them to glance in Legolas' direction.

The door of the large Family Room was gently pushed open, and all pairs of eyes lifted in its direction, a wide grin appearing on the elfling's face. She was sure she would have frozen in place had the scene not only been a memory she was witnessing. There, in front of her, waltzing into the room was a figure she had no memory of, other than lying unmoving on the cold ground.

The Queen of Mirkwood walked gracefully inside the room, so beautiful and elegant it almost seemed unnatural. Her long golden hair was perfectly braided under a delicate crown sitting regally atop her head. Tiny jewels and pearls cascaded down her golden locks, intertwining with her braids and reflecting the rays of the sun. Her long ivory dress swirled weightlessly around her steps, adorned with tiny dark sapphires at the neck and sleeves. In her arms the Queen carried a baby version of her, bouncing her slightly as she walked.

The Elvenking closed his book, and she could see his ice blue eyes turning in the direction of the gorgeous Queen, a soft smile present on his face. The Queen's green eyes met her husband for a second, the grin on her face widening before turning again to look at the baby in her arms.

"We just woke up from our nap and started crying when we could not find Ada around." The Queen cooed in her melodic voice, her gentle thumb wiping away the fat tears that rolled down the baby's rosy cheeks. The tiny baby had her little fingers inside her mouth, her other hand curled over her mother's shoulder, big fat tears falling from her eyes in complete silence.

The King had walked in his wife's direction, carefully taking the crying baby in his strong arms, a soft chuckle escaping his lips. The second she was in her Ada's arms, the tears stopped flowing from the baby's eyes, leaving her sniffing silently. This caused the Elvenking to chuckle again before placing a light kiss on his wife's lips and heading back to the couch.

"Why do you cry?" She heard the King saying to his youngest daughter as he lowered himself back on the couch, the Queen sitting next to him. The baby simply looked back at him, large green eyes staring innocently at him, not really knowing what he had said. The King let out a slight laugh at his daughter's expression before placing a quick kiss on her tiny forehead. And then, as soon as she was settled on her father's lap, the baby squirmed away, trying to crawl out of her father's grip and onto the carpet.

"So much for wanting my attention." The Elvenking muttered as he lowered the wriggling baby onto the carpet, watching her attentively as she crawled through the room and in Legolas' direction. The Queen let out a light laugh at the sight, leaning her body against her husband's on the couch as he wrapped an arm around her.

The baby version of her had already reached Legolas, placing her tiny hands on his head to push herself up onto her feet, trying to maintain her balance. Legolas' innocent laughter filled the room, squealing as his youngest sister pulled at his hair.

"Rëa do not pull at my hair!" The elfing complained, but his sister had her tiny fingers tangled in his light blond strands of hair, not listening to him and causing Tadion to laugh.

"Pull harder, Rëa." The older brother incited her between chuckles. Legolas glared at Tadion, kicking him lightly. The baby, however, ignored both of her siblings, loosing her precious balance and falling flat on her bottom.

"Here, help Legolas paint." Tadion added, handing his youngest sister one of the colorful crayons. The baby took it in her tiny hands, her older brother having to stop her as she took it to her mouth.

"No, do not eat that!" Tadion chuckled, his sister's large green eyes looking at him for a moment. And then, she turned away crawling back on the carpet, clearly not interesting in painting.

She had reached her eldest brother, her tiny hands pulling at the Crown Prince's leg to get his attention. Arahelon's melted emerald eyes immediately looked down at his youngest sister, smiling widely at her. The baby squealed in delight as she got her brother's attention, one tiny hand stretch to offer him the crayon she had been holding.

"Thank you." Arahaelon chuckled as he accepted the crayon, getting a fist of uncoordinated claps from his youngest sister, Lossenel laughing behind him.

The baby, however, had already gone to collect yet another crayon, ignoring Legolas and Tadion who had returned to their task of painting. Her tiny hands curled over another crayon and she made her way back to her eldest brother, pulling at his leg again before offering him the object.

"Thank you, again." The Crown Prince added between chuckles, his emerald eyes looking amusedly at his sister. The baby squealed again before dashing out to fetch another crayon. Lossenel let out another chorus of bell-like laughter, looking at her eldest brother questioningly. Arahaelon simply shrugged in return, not understanding his youngest sister's actions either.

"Come, little brother, let us go see what is in the kitchens." She heard Tadion saying softly, silently slipping out of the room with Legolas at his heels, leaving a mess of papers and crayons behind him.

"Thank you." The Crown Prince repeated as he accepted a third crayon, this time both of his parents joining along in the laughter.

"She is going to give them all to you." The Elvenking commented as Arahaelon leaned down and picked his youngest sister in his arms to prevent her from going to look for yet another crayon. The baby reached her tiny hands to his face, gripping at his cheeks as she stood on his lap, his hands helping her remain upright.

"Say Ar." The Crown Prince tried, but his sister was concentrated on grabbing his nose, making have to put her tiny hand away.

"Say Ar." Arahaelon repeated and this time her sister's eyes turned to his, a new look of concentration on her face. She opened her tiny mouth as if about to say something, but closed it again, her expression overly concentrated.

"Aaaaaaarrrr" The Crown Prince helped his sister who opened her mouth again, bouncing slightly on his lap. Her hands reached once again to her brother's face, patting over his cheeks. "Say Aaaaaarrr."

"Aawrr." The baby said, looking straight into her brother's powerful emerald eyes. Arahaelon grinned widely before placing a quick kiss on his sister's rosy cheek, laughing as the baby squirmed away from his mouth.

"Say Ada." The Elvenking called out from the couch, and the Queen let out a chorus of chuckles beside him. His youngest daughter turned her head in his direction.

"Nana!" The baby exclaimed, bouncing her tiny fists in the air. All elves in the room burst into laughter, the King muttering a low "I give up."

"Say Ar." Arahaelon stole his sister's attention once more.

"Awr." The baby repeated, receiving another quick kiss on the cheek.

"Say Ar, I love you so much you are my favorite brother and the most handsome elf in all of Arda."

"You are stretching your luck, Ar." Lossenel commented with a chuckle as her younger sister stared curiously at the Crown Prince, her green eyes concentrated on his brother's. Her tiny hands continued to trace over her brother's face, squealing as he made faces at her in a very un-princely manner.

The baby continued to squeal and laugh, looking intently into her brother's eyes, the stare between them never once broken. There was a look of concentration on her face, as if she was looking as something else inside her eldest brother's eyes, something deeper.

And then, everything happened so fast she did not even have time to register the entirety of the events. The baby's eyes stared intently into her brothers. One of her tiny grabbed onto his left arm to support herself, the sudden contact like an unexpected shock that made Arahaelon gasp sharply, green eyes wide as his whole body stiffened abruptly. The Elvenking jumped to his feet, The Queen suddenly looking up. A blinding white light covered the scene for a split second, and then her vision was suddenly cut.

Her vision returned to normal and for a moment she just remained where she was, not moving, not blinking. Her eyes were fixed on the ground, looking at the tiny pieces of gravel at her feet.

"That is as far as I remember. My next memory is waking up in my chambers four days later." Arahaelon said next to her, his voice serene, patient. He had not moved either, sitting tall and elegant next to her, so noble, so powerful and peaceful. She could feel his piercing emerald eyes on her, watching attentively.

"With a mark on your arm." She barely recognized the voice that left her lips. It was only a whisper, flat, void. Her eldest brother did not say anything in return, but there really was nothing to say. She could see him sitting quietly next to her, watching her carefully, concerned, but she did not turn to meet his eyes. She did not want to meet his eyes. She felt that if she did, the memory she had just witnesses would become more real to her. "I am really sorry."

"You meant no harm, Rëa." Arahaelon's voice was gentle, soothing, but once again she did not feel any better. He paused for a second, as if waiting if she would add anything else, but she said nothing. "Look at me, please."

Once again she could not deny his request, lifting her eyes to meet a welcoming pair of equal forest green.

"You could not control it." Melted emerald eyes swallowed her as he spoke, making it impossible for her to look anywhere else. "You did not know what you were doing. It was not our fault. You are more powerful than me. Your energy is stronger and your spirit much more sensitive to other energies and forces, that is what allows you to connect with them, to use them and let them use you. Your energy and mine cannot touch. It is different than with Tadion, or Legolas, or anyone else. I am also sensible to these forces, I can perceive them, but I cannot use them. They perceive me too, but as a separate being, we are not compatible and cannot bond into one. You, on the other hand, can do that, and that is what can be so powerful and at the same time so dangerous. That is precisely what happened. I do not know how the contact happened, or how you reached me or I reached you, but as soon as your energy came in contact with mine, you pulled me to you. It is like a magnet, a very strong magnet, and as soon as that initial contact happened, I could not stop it. The fact that you were physically touching me speeded the connection and made it stronger than it should have been if the accident had happened from a distance. That is why it left a mark. It is the point where the contact happened, were your energy and mine collided unexpectedly."

Deep green eyes stared at her, open and gentle. She could not say anything, could not find anything to say as he gave her some time to process her words. Her chest continued to feel constricted, as if something she could not name had wrapped around her body, making it hard to breath. She knew it had not been her fault. It had not been intentional, but nonetheless she could not help but feel incredibly guilty. She felt scared, frustrated, even angered at herself for possessing such dangerous power. It was taking all of her concentration to hold back her angry tears. Why could she simply not be like Lossenel, or like Tadion, or Legolas: hear what she was supposed to hear, feel what she was supposed to feel, and nothing else?

"You were a baby." Arahaelon continued, easily seeing all of her feelings in her transparent eyes, although to her relief, he acted as if he could not see anything. "You could not control yourself. The contact scared you. You were not expecting to find what you found, and your spirit, your powers, reacted by reflex in their natural way, pulling me to you with all of your strength. Ada broke the contact before you could have pulled all of my life energy from me. I do not blame you, Rëa. None of us do. I really did not mean to pull away from you so harshly last night, but I could feel the familiar power surrounding you, and after what you had done previously with the wind…I could not tell if you would be able to control it. I did not ever think that you would try to harm me, but last night I could not afford any kind of accident to happen. I would not have had the strength to even try to pull away."

She lowered her eyes to the ground once more, her feeling becoming too overwhelming. She could hardly breathe against the tight knot at her throat, making it hard to think straight. Her vision was already blurred with tears, the silvery shimmer accumulating at the ends of her eyes, threatening to roll down her face as she tried her best to stop it. True, she had felt pained and rejected at her brother's sudden outburst the night before, but then again, he had been so weak, needing Lossenel to support him upright. If she had lost control at that moment, she would have killed him.

She did not know if this information frightened her or made her angry with herself. The Crown Prince did not blame her, but that did not change the fact that he needed to be careful about her, she needed to be careful about him. She suddenly felt like a threat, a dangerous thing that should be approached carefully. Something wet rolled down her left cheek, a tear, tracing a faint path over her face before dropping from her chin, dying as it met the plain ground.

"Rëa." The Crown Prince breathed out, one of his hands gently coming to rest on her shoulder. She immediately shrugged it away. She did not want him to touch her, not after what she had heard.

Arahaelon, however, did not stay away from her when she pulled away. Instead, she felt both of his arms wrap around her in return, pulling her into his arms. She could feel more tears rolling down her cheeks as she moved around forcefully, battling to free herself from his comforting embrace. But he was much to strong for her, and her body did not have the energy, did not have the will to continue its fight, falling still after a short moment, burying her face in his tunic.

Her eldest brother did not say anything, simply held her. His touch felt so strange and new. She had only touched him a couple of times. And at the same time it felt so comforting, so soothing. She could no longer contain her tears, contain her despair, her anger, her frustration. She felt exhausted, shocked and frightened at the information she had learned. It was as if he body was trying to take out her frustration with herself through her tears, through her choked sobs.

She felt her brother's hand softly stroking her hair, so soothing and welcoming. She once again felt incredibly young next to her eldest brother, like the baby she had seen in his memories. His arms remained tight around her, as if proving her that he could touch her, that she could touch him without worry. As if proving her that did not want her to stay away from him, or that he was scared of her closeness. She knew another accident would not happen unless she reached him through her spirit, and she would try her hardest to prevent it from happening, to prevent her energy from finding his, and if it did, to try to break the contact, to pull back.

She did not cry for long, her body too exhausted to shed tears for more than just a couple of minutes. She felt weak, both mentally and physically. And yet, she did not move, too comfortable nestled against her brother's chest, in his secure embrace. Her thoughts wondered to Elladan lying motionless on the bed. She knew he was still asleep, she had not felt him waking yet, although she knew it would be soon. Her thoughts wondered to Tadion. Was he feeling better? Was he still awake or was he once again resting? And what about Lossenel and Legolas? How ere they handling everything? And Elrohir? Or even more, what about her own father, King Thranduil back in the Mirkwood Palace? What had happened after they had left? And what about Lord Elrond?

She knew she would not be able to find an answer for all of those questions at that precise moment. She felt so tired, so drained, and her eldest brother's embrace was so comfortable, so safe.

"I am sorry, Ar." She said, her voice betraying her exhausting more than she had wanted to. He did not say anything in return, and she was glad for it, simply stroked her hair, making her eyes fall close. She knew her apology would not change anything, but at least it made her feel slightly better that he did not waved it away, as if he knew she needed it.

After some long seconds she felt him easily scooping her up in his arms, her body completely weightless for his strong arms. Her mind told her to place her feet on the ground and walk by herself, but her body was no longer responding, simply too worn out. She was only half-awake as he carried back inside the plain building and up the narrow wooden staircase. She only somewhat came back to her senses as she felt Elladan starting to wake up through their bond, could feel his slight confusion as he returned to consciousness. That seemed to wake her for a split second, making her stretch her feet to ground as Arahaelon gently lowered her into a standing position.

"Go to sleep." He ordered her, his voice gentle and peaceful, but the command was evident in it. She let her eyes meet his powerful emerald ones, which suddenly felt more reachable, a silent smirk gleaming secretly in their melted depths.

She nodded once, feeling too tired for words, smiling softly at her eldest brother. Then, before turning and walking into the room where Elladan lay, she said the only thing that she felt she needed to say to him.

"Ar, I love you so much you are my favorite brother but Elladan is the most handsome elf in all of Arda." Her voice was low enough for only him to hear, and she immediately saw a grin appear in his handsome face as she repeated the phrase he had tried for her to say when she was a baby.

"Close enough." He let out a single chuckle and with that she turned around, dragging her feet as she walked.

She entered the small room in which Elladan lay, silently closing the door behind her. Elrhoir was no longer inside, but she did not have the energy in her body to ask where he was. She just felt too exhausted, too overwhelmed. Silver eyes met hers the moment she stepped inside the room, letting her free fall into their depths, so welcoming, so loving, reaching her very soul and suddenly making her feel at peace.

Elladan had not moved, lying on his back as she had last seen him. She knew he had just woken, and was still in great pain, too weary still. And yet, his silver eyes stared at her so deeply, holding a concern that let her know he already knew everything that had happened while he was asleep. He could feel everything through their bond, could see the way she had looked while he was unconscious through his bond with his twin.

She did not say anything, walking to the bed with her remaining strength, feeling a pull to be close to him, knowing that his closeness was all she needed to get some rest. Words were not needed, their spirits too intertwined to know what the other was feeling.

Elladan opened the blankets of the bed for her to climb in and she did, her mind already drifting off into sleep. She wanted to ask him how he felt, wanted to ask him if he was feeling any better, if he was in pain, but she could barely stay focused, her exhaustion finally consuming her. She was absently conscious of him rolling onto his side with an effort, wrapping his arms around her as she rested her forehead against his chest. And then, as soon as she was in the safety of his arms, her spirit so close to his, she felt herself drifting off completely, finally feeling at peace, feeling at home, no other touch would ever feel more soothing than his…

Here is chapter 25! Sorry for the long wait! I hope the chapter can make up for it and hopefully answer some questions! Please let me know what you think!

Again, thank you so much to those of you who reviewed my latest chapter, really you have no idea how much your comments mean to me: ILoveEoner3, SarahWeasley, CeffylGwyn, Through Jaded Eyes, The Lead Mare, Martine9295, smulderalert, world-classgeek, wonderpanda10, Mary Elrondile, ZabuzasGirl, Foxyloxylegolas1, ForbiddenShadow0, AmazingWriter123, booklover1598, Paperlanterns86, xX-MissyMoo-Xx, Jibril, Danda225, and my guest reviewer!

I know I have not finished sending personal replies to all of you yet, my apologies for that, this week has been nearly impossible for me and I tried to concentrate on writing the chapter in the little spare time I could find. I will send all of your replies as soon as I can, I promise!

Also, Paperlanterns86, Happy belated Birthday! I had no idea it was your birthday on my last update! I hope this chapter can still be a good (late) birthday present! I also want to dedicate this chapter to Martine9295!

Love,

Elena