AN: Hullo lovely readers. I hope you enjoy this new chapter. Please review, reviews make me very happy, and happiness makes me write faster!!!!! HINT, HINT! Lol. Also, this chapter is on the short side, but kind its of intense so I felt it was appropriate to cut it short.

Also cherish15 brought up a couple of excellent points in her review. Yes, they are falling in love rather quickly, but I did this on purpose to sort of emulate Tolkien's approach to love stories. If you think about it, the really great love stories in his works happen super fast, and its usually very intense. So thats what I was aiming for. Also, this is set about a thousand years before the War of the Ring. I've taken creative license to make Legolas about 100 years old, but a babe to the elves, and Haldir to be a thousand-five hundred, give or take. Ithilwen is also a hundred.

Thanks again to Hope and Love,cherish15, and LumiIrene for being such wonderful readers and reviewing. J You guys are the best.

Disclaimer: Uhmmmm......nope, still don't own squat, with the exception of OCs and plot of course!

HAPPY READING!

Ithilwen sighed contentedly, feeling safe and cozy in her lover's arms. Half- asleep, she ran her fingers through Haldir's white-blonde hair, delighting in the luxuriously silky feeling. Moving on from his hair, she began to knead his hard shoulders and muscled arms. He was always so tense, so ready for any and all dangers that came his way. Ithilwen smiled when her husband groaned at her ministrations. "Woman can you give me no rest? All night you kept me from my sleep, you she-devil. Leave me be for a spell and I'll take care of you later." His words were stern but she could hear the smile in his voice.

"As I recall, it was you who kept me from my sleep. I was merely returning the favor," she retorted saucily. He pulled her higher and tighter against his body so that he could look her in the eye.

"Perhaps I should refresh both our memories," he purred, and she shuddered as he knew she would. She was always so receptive to him. She screamed in mock fury when he crushed his lips to hers. The feeling of contentment and joy inside her were so great that they threatened tear her apart. But at this particular point in time, she would honestly not even notice.

Ithilwen awoke from her dream with a gasp. It had had felt so real that for a moment she thought she could still smell him in her bed, still feel his hair against her cheek. She sat up on her bed, knowing she would be unable to go back to sleep. Ithilwen went to her window and looked to the moon. There were still a few hours till dawn, she might as well go for a walk, perhaps she would tire and go back to sleep later.

She wrapped a long, dark blue robe about herself and went out the door. The night air was chilly, but she welcomed the cold. Perhaps it would banish the memories of warmth that she was trying to forget. Why were the Valar so cruel? They sent her terrifying visions of her future with Haldir, then tantalized her with what she could not have. That had been no dream, she knew this in her bones. She walked down the shining steps of her talan, still deep in thought. She had thought to walk about the gardens Galadriel had shown her the day before. They had been so beautiful she craved to see them again by the light of the moon. The glowing lights surrounding the mellorn trees were soothing, and she took her time walking through Lothlorien. She felt the power of the Lady enveloping her, as if she sensed her need for comfort, and a deep sense of peace replaced the foreboding in her heart, at least for a little while.

Haldir lay with his hands crossed behind his back, staring intently at the cieling. He had to rest, but no matter what he did he could not stop thinking about the stunning elleth with the silver eyes. He had heard that it could be like this between soul mates. That it was like lightning in its speed and thunder in its intensity the way these feelings developed. It had happened so with Luthien and Beren, Melian and Thingol. He recalled the story of Elwe, lord of the Teleri and his wife Melian the Maia, how the noble elf had been frozen by his love, without speaking a word, for years untold. He knew didn't love her, at least not yet, but he felt bewitched by her... it was certainly not like anything he had ever felt before; although of course Ithilwen was no Melian, no matter how noble she thought she was. The elleth was a spoiled one, he knew, but he didn't much mind. She was still young, a mere century old, and with time she was bound to mature. Haldir pushed himself out of bed. It was no use trying to sleep, he had too much on his mind. Perhaps a walk would ease his mind.

Quickly and efficiently he dressed and made his way out of his talan. He briskly descended the winding stairs and found himself walking through Galadriel's gardens. They were beautiful, he had to admit, niphredil and elanor grew in intricate arrangements. He was absentmindedly running his hand through the flowers as he walked when he saw her.

She lay on the grass, her hands streched to the sides, staring dreamily at the arch made of delicate niphredil, they glowed silver, bathed as they were by moonlight. His breath caught in his throat. Her normally golden curls had turned silver in the white light. Her skin was transluscent, her eyes shone as pure as liquid mithril.

"Gîl síla na lû govaded, beautiful one," She sat up, her eyes wide at his greeting.

"Haldir," she breathed, taking him in. He was lovelier to her than he had ever been, his blue eyes softened to a grey and his fine hair more luminous than usual. "Mae govannen."

Slowly she stood, unable to break the eye contact. "What are you doing here?" she asked softly.

"I could not sleep."

"Neither could I," she smiled shyly. Abruptly, the smile vanished, only to be replaced by a frown. "I have to go," she tried to walk past him but he pulled her back. "Unhand me, Haldir, I've no patience for your games tonight." He looked incredulously at her.

"You think I play games?" he was suddenly angry, his lips curled back with unconcealed frustration. "Do you even hear yourself, elleth?" He let her go and began to pace before her.

"Do you think this is easy for me then? To be so drawn to an elleth, one out of my reach at that, and having her spurn me at every opportunity?!" He roughly grasped the back of her neck and lay his forehead against hers. "Do you not feel as I?" his voice turned hoarse. "This strange pull," she was shocked at his behavior, but unable to move out of his reach. He pulled back and gazed into her eyes intently, imploringly, searching for an answer.

"Do you?" his eyes were beseeching her, begging her to say yes. "Please," his voice was so earnest, so vulnerable that her heart clenched.

Ithilwen took a deep breath and looked at him steadily. "No," she lied. "I leave within the week Haldir, and you will never see me again. Do as you will until then. I only avoided you in order to spare your feelings, you are so obviously enamoured of me, but I care not one way or another."

His breath burst out of his lungs in a rush, but she continued in an uninterested voice.

"Good night Haldir, I hope you cease this foolishness before you hurt yourself." Without another word she slipped past him, half running back to her talan. Haldir stood frozen, unable to comprehend what was happening.

He knew then without a doubt that he had been fooling himself; he loved her, just as the Valar had decreed. It didn't matter that he barely knew her, and that the parts of her he did know were less than attractive. A part of his soul knew that she was his; meant for him, no made for him, even before time itself had been born. The keenest misery washed over him and he numbly wondered if this is how Beren had felt when Luthien ran from him. Thoughts whirled around his head but nothing penetrated the cold feeling that had welled in his chest. The elf did not move an inch from his spot until well after dawn.

He did not even notice.

Ithilwen had shut herself in her room, breathing hard. His eyes, she thought her heart would shatter at the memory of his expression at her cold words. She clenched her eyes shut, trying in vain to banish the guilt she was feeling. Numbly she climbed into bed once more, curling into a tight ball. Her eyes burned but she didn't cry. It was for the best. She had to believe this, hold onto it if she was going to stay sane. Over and over she said it like a mantra, for hours she did this mindlessly. So why couldn't she make herself believe it?

Elvish Translations:

gîl síla na lû govaded- a star shines at the hour of our meeting

mae govannen-well met

elleth-female elf

ellon-male elf