Chapter 8- Towers

Thanks to everybody who reviewed/favorite/followed! (Ellie Elf, Voldymoldy666, KrystylSky, akatsukiwerewolf9, rayden24, Chiei1987, and lots of guests!) Sorry I've been gone so long! Lots of schoolwork and business. Anyway, in this chapter, bold font means it's Legolas's POV.

Legolas rose before dawn the next morning, still thinking about the problem of Alize. He quickly freed himself from his bedroll and paced around. The moon was still out, close to setting, just a thin white sickle almost touching the horizon. I opened my eyes that morning to find a completely gray sky. The sun looked like a grapefruit that had been cut in half, a brilliantly pink circle partially obscured by thick clouds. Immediately, Legolas sprang into my mind. I sat up to see him looking very worried. I couldn't bear to look at his face, the perfect lips pressed together, shadows casting an unearthly spell over his high elvish cheekbones. "I wish those lips were on mine," I sighed mentally. I had given up on stopping my thoughts about Legolas. I didn't love him just because he was insanely hot and beautiful. I had gotten to know him better walking with him all these days. I learned that he was quiet, but very wise. He was a great listener, and he had really good arms from all that archery. I love when strong guys hug you, and you feel a little crushed, but it feels so nice to be held right there, breathing in the smell of him (which in Legolas's case, is amazing). That was how I felt when I first met him. I told myself that today, I would be brave and ask him how he felt. I stood up, ignoring the protests from my feet. With that thought in my mind, I helped clean up camp, heart beating faster.

We set off, Legolas and Aragorn leading the pack, Boromir alone but close behind, the hobbits all chatting quietly in the back. The one called Frodo was more withdrawn, though. His back was bent as if carrying a heavy load, although his pack looked the lightest. Gimli was trying desperately to catch up with Legolas, whose long, graceful strides quickly left everyone behind. I smiled cheerfully at Gimli as I flew by him, sprinting as fast as I could. Gimli stared at my legs, which were almost as tall as his whole body. He cursed in dwarvish and promptly gave up running in favor of joking with the hobbits. We ran all day, hoping that it was our last day on the road, as Legolas and Aragorn had told us. I was really excited to get to Lórien. Hopefully I could meet some girl elves. Going about a week in the company of boys- I mean men, one really starts to miss even the nastiest girls at school. Plus, my bikini/blanket-dress situation was feeling pretty gross. It had rained today, and now I smelled like a wet animal. Nobody had showered for a while, and the only person who still looked or smelled clean was Legolas. I waited later and later to ask. I was really nervous. "I hope he likes me," ran through my head all day. Finally, as night was about to draw its dark curtain over the sky, I gathered my courage. We had just set up camp, and Legolas was standing with his back against a tree, far away from the fire Gimli was making. I slowly walked towards him. "Do you like me?" I blurted out childishly, my entire face reddening at my mistake.

Legolas closed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Do you... um... love me?"

How could I tell her no when she stands there with her brown eyes wide and curious and hopeful, just like an elfling's? She is my friend, and she is beautiful, and she is strong inside, but I am an elf, and she is a sixteen-year-old human. I try not to love anymore. I can still feel it, but it does not last, and the pain echoes forever. I have tried and tried at my father's insistence to find someone, to no avail.

Legolas placed his cool hand on my bare shoulder, making me shiver in delight. He steered me to a nearby log, where we both sat. He looked into my eyes for a long time, then he broke away, sighing. "What's wrong?" I asked.

I took Gimli's advice. "I do not love you. However, you are a great friend, and advanced beyond your years. I would like to keep this friendship, if you wish to as well." Her face transformed into a machine, clicking, her brain whirring, thinking. Her eyes look at me for a split second, a valve is opened, and water starts to drip out. "Don't cry-" But the words are lost. She has already dashed away.

I run far, far away from camp, to anywhere they won't see me. When I have thoroughly lost myself, I sit down in the dirt and try to calm myself.

"Merry!" Pippin hissed quietly. "Do you hear that?" Merry shook his head, hanging upside down from a very high tree branch by his legs. "Sit up! Listen!" Pippin urged. Merry reluctantly swung into a sitting position on the next branch down. Faint sobs reached his ears, the painful-sounding kind. Pippin looked dismayed just hearing them. They glanced at each other, then scrambled quickly down the tree, to the source of the sound. Hairy hobbit feet padded silently on the crunchy carpet of leaves.

Suddenly, Merry's eyes went wide. Pippin could not hold in his surprise. "Alize?" he said incredulously.

I screamed loudly and stood up, startled. Pippin put a finger to his lips as Merry covered his ears. "We're sorry, we didn't mean to scare you," Merry said quietly.

"What are you two doing here?" I asked, trying to wipe my tears away discreetly.

Pippin immediately noticed. "Why are you crying?"

"My question first," I demanded shakily.

Merry shot Pippin a look I couldn't decipher through the blur of my leftover tears, then answered innocently "Climbing trees." They sat down on either side of me. I needed no asking. By the time I was done explaining my story, I was in floods of fresh tears. Each of my hands had two small ones clutching it. I could tell Merry didn't know what to say. His face showed it clearly. After a long pause filled only by my awkward sniveling, Pippin reassured me "I have three older sisters, so this happened kind of a lot back home. And I say, you took it better than they do."

"You really liked him, didn't you," said Merry softly. I nodded miserably and pulled both of them closer to me, like the stuffed animals I hadn't used for years, now in the back of my closet. Hobbits are really good at snuggling, and within minutes, I felt a lot better.

"What's that?" Pippin asked, nudging the chain on my chest with his finger.

"You've never seen a necklace before?"

"No, no, we have. What's on the end?" Merry said eagerly.

"It's the Eiffel Tower." They both looked puzzled, and I had to remind myself that I wasn't on Earth anymore. "It's from my world. In a place called Paris."

"Is Paris like Isengard?" Pippin asked, staring at the tiny tower cupped in my hand. It was now my turn to be puzzled. They told me all about Isengard, spinning tales of a great wasteland filled with monsters like the Orc I had seen, with a huge black tower in the middle, called Orthanc.

I burst out laughing. "No, Paris isn't like that! I went there once. It's a big city, no monsters, just people and animals. It's kind of cold and rainy there, but no one minds since the food is so good, and there are all kinds of shops you can spend some time in if it really starts to pour. They speak a different language there -it's called French- and the tower! Oh, it's beautiful at night. There are sometimes lights on it, and you can see it anywhere you are." I ended my monologue and looked at their faces. Awe was written all over them.

Eventually, Merry said "We had better get back to camp now."

Pippin nodded and added "They're probably worried about us." I held back a laugh. I would hate to be Pippin's mom. He was very mischievous and probably the subject of his parents' worries a lot. I smiled and let them help me up and lead me back to camp, still holding my hands.

Long chapter :) Enjoy and review/favorite/follow!