Chapter 18

'Oh hell,' she thought. In a few more minutes the one person she least wanted to see in the world was going to be walking through those doors. Evelyn did not think she was ready. In all honesty, she was sure she would rather face Sauron. Her heart was pounding in her chest, sending nervous flutters through her body. Her hands gripped the counter like a vice.

The doors started opening, creaking on the hinges holding up the heavy stone.

Evelyn closed her eyes, taking a deep soothing breath. 'Steady,' she told herself. Years of practice made it easier, as Evelyn let her mask fall into place as she bundled her emotions into tight box, making sure they stayed there and locked away.

Finally, the doors swung wide, and Evelyn held her breath, not trusting herself to breath properly. She forced her eyes forward, not giving into the desire to stare at her feet. She would hold herself tall and proud, even if all she wanted to do was shrink into a ball and hide. Then she saw him and Evelyn was glad she held her breath as she felt it stick in her throat and her mouth go dry. Legolas was here.

Legolas strode into the room, He smiled heartily at the group assembled, he had not seen his friends in many years, not since he first moved into Ithilien. He tried not to note the greying of Faramir's hair and the silver streaks that lined Aragorn's. The thought of his friends aging and pending death brought a cold chill to his heart. What he did find strange was that Lord Celeborn, Lord Glorfindel, and the Lords of Rivendell were also assembled. When had a party from Rivendell arrived and for what purpose? Certainly, the battles being fought were not that close at hand to call on their aid? Mirkwood was closer and Legolas was certain he could get his father to send aid. Then a shimmer of blue caught his eye amongst the greys the men wore.

He froze. Legolas, eyes going wide, and his mouth hanging open took in the site before him. The site of the Rivendell party took him by surprise, though it was a pleasant surprise. The site of Evelyn was another matter entirely. He felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head. The air left his lungs, he could not breathe. The pressure in his chest felt as if it would burst wide open, it hurt just to beat.

Legolas had done a good job of pushing the woman from his mind over the past forty years. He had even worked to prepare himself to possibly see her again. The image of her old and wrinkled he kept forefront in his mind whenever her memory tried to focus itself in his mind. That was the reason he shut her out, his father is right, keeping another mortal close would only bring him more pain. However, the image his mind took in sent all his work crumbling. The woman before him was anything but old and wrinkled. Evelyn looked as she did the last time he saw her here in Gondor. Her skin was creamy pale and smooth, contrasting beautifully against the shimmering sky blue gown. His eyes were glued to her white ones.

Evelyn used all her strength to keep herself upright, she was painfully aware that she felt faint, and her knees threatened to buckle at any moments. The pain in her heart was close to overtaking her. She was taken back to that moment on the terrace where the elf in front of her took hers and ripped it to threads. Everything she felt then was rushing back to her, only this time she was better prepared and though inside Evelyn was a mess, outside she presented as serene and collected as a queen.

No one moved, no one knew what to say. Gathering her strength, Evelyn took her gaze away from Legolas and looked towards the King, who luckily decided to shoot her an uneasy glance.

"Aragorn," she whispered, jerking her eyes towards Legolas. Thankfully he caught her hint and snapped out of the trance they all seemed to be stuck in.

"Legolas!" Aragorn called, pulling himself from the others to rush forward and greet his friend. "Mellon nin, how good to see you!"

Evelyn was not blind to the quick flash of anger that passed through Legolas' eyes as Aragorn broke the mood of the room. Gulping softly, she spoke to the others still gathered.

"Well at least I can take comfort in the fact you guys obviously gave him no warning at all." She gave them a slight smile. Evelyn at least had a few hours to prepare herself, Legolas had none, and clearly no one told him she was immortal. She kept her small victory to herself.

Aragorn ushered Legolas to the table, making sure to keep him a good distance from Evelyn as the twins had moved to flank her, making her roll her eyes good naturedly. The next hour was spent filling in Legolas on the occurrences in the Haradrim. The battles were becoming more frequent and increasing in intensity. The peace and trade they had gained after the war was hanging by a thread. Only the settlements closest to the border still offered trade, but even that was slowing down. If it came to another war, they would flock to their kinsman. Then after that they men spent time discussing plans and tactics, Evelyn just listened taking it all in. The one thing he had not mentioned was fire. In all her dreams, fire had been everywhere, burning the town and its residents to the ground. She furrowed her brows in confusion.

"Evelyn?"

"What?" She questioned looking up at Faramir, whose voice broke through her revere.

"We will be adjourning soon, was there anything you wished to add?"

She turned her gaze to Aragorn, "Prepare for fire," She told him, watching his eyes narrow, while she avoided looking at anyone else, fearful she would catch a glimpse of Legolas. She turned to walk away and paused, looking over her shoulder, she added, "And Aragorn,"

"Yes?"

"The land is getting greener."

"Aye." He replied rubbing a hand down his weathered face.

With that Evelyn walked away from the men, making sure their eyes were on her. She had meant to make a statement was going to make sure she did, and she gave herself a small smile at the victory.

Once she was out of their view she let her powers free and dissipated into a swirl of snow and flew into her rooms. Once their she snatched up her pillow, letting go all the hurt and pain she held back while in Legolas' presence with one piercing cry that her pillow thankfully muffled. Sliding down on the floor, Evelyn cried.

She was not sure how long she had been there when Ceilin came and rested her head in her lap, murmuring soft assurances in her ear. Her lady in waiting worked her fingers through her long hair, soothing her sobs until they became lingering hiccups.

Ceilin had been with her lady long enough to know the history between her and the elf prince. She never spoke of it, but she knew the pain the woman before her suffered at his hands, whether it was meant or not. Her old bones hurt at the age of sixty, but she would sit her and comfort her mistress until she could not walk. Evelyn had taken her in all those years ago when she had nothing left. Her parents killed during the war, were only servants of a noble family leaving her with nothing. Her life with the elves was easy in her duties and kept her much more youthful than other maids she knew as a child but it was hard watching herself age as those around her kept their youth and beauty. Ceilin watched the sadness deepen in Evelyn eyes every time she looked at her or her mortal friends her in Gondor, and she did not envy her and the pain she knew she would face as they one day all perished, as she knew she would, and she would keep living on. No that was a gift she was glad the Valar gave them. She was glad to receive the gift of death.

The maid sighed. For many years, she watched and helped the woman heal, and now she watched as it all crumbled before her.

Sniffling and raising herself up from Ceilin lap Evelyn wiped her face with the back of her hand. Leaning back against her bed, she reached for the other woman's hand.

"Thank you Ceilin."

"Of course my lady. Now let us get you a warm bath drawn for the evening. It will help you sleep.

Evelyn watched with a pang as her lady in waiting pushed herself up from the floor, her joints creaking as she reached for support from the mattress. Soon Evelyn knew she would have to make Ceilin retire, the thought only brought her more pain, pain she did not wish to deal with so she pushed the thoughts from her mind. With that, she pushed herself up and made her way to the bath where the water was already steaming in the tub.

…

"You could have, no, you should have told me Aragorn." Legolas rounded on the king and his longtime friend, as they broke from the meeting.

"Aye…" Aragorn began before he was cut off by the quick arrival of the twins.

"What right do you think you have to know such?" Elladan growled through gritted teeth, sizing up the other elf, knowing his brother was doing the same.

Turning his glaring eye towards Elladan, "I have…"

"Enough!" Aragorn bellowed. "Elladan, Elrohir, I thank you for your assistance, but I shall take it from here." The dark-haired elves bowed and walked away, their cold eyes never leaving the blond elf prince.

"Aye, Legolas, I understand where you come from. But, my friend, you must understand, I did not know she was not mortal until after her departure to Rivendell. Until now, I did not realize you did not know."

Legolas slumped down in the closet chair exhausted from the shock and revelation of the day. Resting his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands.

"That is why I distanced myself from her, I believed she was mortal."

Aragorn raised an eyebrow, "Yet you remain my closest friend."

Sighing, Legolas replied, "It is not the same, I had already known you for many years, and our friendship was strong, I could not bear to lose it."

"And Gimli?" the king questioned, trying to keep the smile from his face at his friend's weak argument.

"Both Gimli and you shall live many more years, blessed with long life. Father pointed out how quickly she would wither and die, I did not want to face more death."

'So it was the Woodland King planting such ideas,' Aragorn thought to himself, out loud he stated, "Well, now you know she shall far outlive me or Gimli, if I were you, I would grovel."

Legolas jumped to his feet, giving his friend an angry glare, "I am a prince, I do not grovel. I have nothing to grovel for. I did what had to be done." With that, he turned on his heels and strode away, leaving Aragorn chuckling softly to himself.

Hours he spent wandering the indoor gardens of Gondor, trying to wrap his mind around the swirl of thoughts and emotions flooding through him. He was angry by Evelyn deception. She deceived everyone. The ache in his chest had not lessened, and he could not understand from whence it came and why it would not go away. It was all her fault, why had she come back into his life? His mind went back to that day on the terrace when he did what had to be done, when he put an end to their friendship. The day replayed in his mind. He saw the woman standing there mouth agape and eyes reading more emotions than he could understand. With a growl, he pushed the thoughts away and headed off in the only direction he knew he could find answers.

…

Evelyn wrapped her robe around her as she made to light the candles in her room. As she fumbled to light the one in bath, should she need it, she heard her door open and called out Ceilin that she would be there in a moment, and did she mind turning down the bed. When the door shut with no answer a moment later, Evelyn quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Not thinking another thought on it, she turned and strode into her room, and stopped when she saw her bed was still made. 'Odd', she thought and went turn down the covers herself, 'maybe she forgot something.' That's when she saw a pair of feet in the corner, and caught sight of the person they were attached to. Evelyn spun around with a gasp. She could not speak.

Apparently, Legolas had no such issues as his voiced thundered through the room, "Why did you not tell me?"

"Te..te..tell you what?" She stammered, voice quavering.

"That you were immortal!" HE spoke rising from the chair, reaching her in seconds, grabbing hold of her arm. "Why did you lie?"

Evelyn tried to jerk her arm away, but had little success in his strong grip. Then his words finally registered. Lie? 'How dare he,' she fumed.

"I never lied to you." He replied, voice soft, still quivering in shock.

"Yes, you did. You let me think you were mortal." He seethed.

Evelyn narrowed her eyes, her wits finally come back to her, and when she spoke, though her voice was still quiet, she spoke with much more conviction that before, "If I recall, I tried to tell you, however, it is very hard to speak to a retreating back."

Legolas opened and closed his mouth multiple times, not sure what to say to the woman in front of him. "No, no, that, that cannot be." He shook his head, trying to sort his thoughts as Evelyn's became more clear and her anger rose.

"Believe what you will, it seems to be what you do anyway." Evelyn snarled, once again trying to break free from Legolas, whom had yet to find any words. "As pleasant as this has been, my lord, I think you should leave. It would be scandalous to say the least to find you here and me in my nightclothes." She did not want to use the tactic, but at this rate he left her with no other option. Instantly she felt her arm be released.

Legolas jumped back at her words, his eyes confirming what she said, thankfully she had a thick robe on. He finally saw her face and realized this was not the confident arrogant emotionless woman he saw in the council room earlier. His confusion heightened as he took in her pale complexion, red puffy eyes, and tear streaked face. Backing away, he bolted from the room with more questions than answers. Evelyn in the meantime collapsed back to the floor, head leaning against the bed, thousands of thoughts running in her mind. There would be no sleep for her that night.