A/N: Yes I'm procrastinating on my midterms by updating a new chapter. I don't care. Here are my shout outs to all those who reviewed. You guys make me wanna write 24/7! Thanks to all who reviewed, I love you much. To X2 Aeon Darkness IX, good question and here's your answer: Time on Earth runs much slower than time in Middle Earth. Truly Amara is much older than twenty if you want to get all technical. I didn't want to go much into that factor because it could have proved to be a pain and confusing. Thanks for your review and question.
The Box is Opened and the Truth is Out
How does a group of males react when hearing that a woman is to join their exclusive group? That their guide and the person they must depend on to detect evil is no more than a mere female born into a family of royal and noble blood? The woman that stood before them was small, standing a mere 5'2, did not appear to have ever been in battle or could even carry a sword let alone swing one. How were they to react when the Lord of Rivendell announced to them that she alone could tell when evil was approaching before any of them? How was the fellowship supposed to place faith in someone who had probably not seen any evils in her life?
The pause seemed to go on. The eyes seemed to be millions instead of the hundreds that were actually there. The silence...the silence wrapped around everyone. The air was stiff with uneasiness. All those in the dinning hall were staring intently at the fellowship, Lord Elrond and the young woman that stood beside him.
The only slight noises that could be heard were the noises outside of the dining hall, but even those seemed to stop after awhile, as if the shock had swept past them on what Elrond had announced.
Frodo could say nothing in reply. His mouth stood slightly open. When he had met Amara there was a light air to her. He felt that she did not belong in the fellowship. He hated to doubt Elrond. He felt Pippin squirm beside him.
It seemed that he was excited to have her come along. Aragorn kept his head lowered. Not at all was he pleased with what was to happen, but there was not a thing he could do.
"This is a mistake." Boromir walked forward. "Surely you do not mean to send this maiden with us on such a dangerous journey My Lord?"
In a way Amara wanted to take Boromir's side and argue that she was not at all right for the role. If she took Boromir's side then wouldn't she be downing herself? Her dark blue eyes scanned the floor, trying hard not to look up at the fellowship.
"No Boromir son of Denethor, this is no mistake," said Elrond.
"Amara's destiny has been set. It is out of our hands. Now, I say we take the pressure off the poor girl and proceed with the feast." Gandalf made his way toward an empty chair.
Once the old wizard had spoken it took a minute to digest what he had said. Seconds later it was like the announcement had never been made about the empath joining the fellowship. Elrond gave her an encouraging pat on the back and took a seat. Boromir gave her a long look over before taking his own seat. At that point she felt there was no need to join the fellowship as they made their way to a table filled with food.
She raced from the dinning hall, the hem of her black dress behind her. She was reverting back to her old ways. If she felt the need for peace she went to either her room or the library. In this case there was a need for information and peace. No peace would be felt within the empath; ultimately this night her insanity would drive her wild.
Amara burst through the double doors of the nearest library. Elrond had many, one of the tings that Amara loved about the House of Elrond. Much to her luck it was empty; the majority of everyone was attending the feast. She closed the doors behind her and made her way to the nearest bookshelf. The empath's fingers began to glide through every tome.
With rapid speed, she went through each book in the vast library, pulling out books even those written in elvish. Any book that would look like it could help she carried over to a table and dumped them. When she was done with her escapade, as small as it was, she sat at the table filled with books and by candle, picked up a book and read the title.
"Various fighting styles of all cultures."
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The look he had saw on his sister's face before she fled from the hall told him that she was up to something. It always seemed to shock his system when he thought about having a younger sibling. Before it was always him alone. Every now and again the son's of Elrond, Elladan and Elrohir would accompany him on some small adventure or get him involved in some mischief.
To know that he had a sister, family of his own blood, meant the world to him. So instead of sitting down to food, he followed after her, his intent was to see what was on her mind.
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Arwen surveyed the elf across from her. He seemed to be focused on the contents in his cup more than his surroundings. The hobbits banter over food could be heard over most conversations and much laughter was caused from it. Even the dwarf Gimili erupted with loud laughter, his guffaws filling the hall, but Legolas remained unmoved and unaware of his surroundings. Arwen studied him, thinking of what Amara had told her.
"Are you not hungry?"
Legolas looked up from his glass. "My thoughts are elsewhere."
"If you are thinking of the fellowship you needn't be tonight-"
"The fellowship is not what I think of." Legolas went back to his glass of wine.
Arwen rested her hands on her chin. With her eyes she looked around the table. Everyone was engrossed in pleasurable food and conversation.
"So your thoughts are of Amara," Arwen stated with a sly grin.
Legolas' head shot up. He looked around to see if anyone's attention was on him before he responded to Arwen. "I am concerned for her safety is all."
"Dear Legolas, do you think me to be blind" I know that is not all you are concerned about. Why did you not tell her?"
"What do you speak of?" Legolas finally decided that he needed a drink and took a swig of what was in his glass.
"You know well of what I speak of prince of Mirkwood. Did you not share a kiss with her," whispered Arwen.
"She told you." Legolas placed his glass down, his face clear of emotion.
"Amara is an empath. Every once in awhile she might feel the need to speak of her own emotions."
"Empath?"
Speak of Amara had gone through the House of Elrond, but none of it had reached Legolas' ears.
"Have you not heard? She has been blessed with the ability to feel the emotions of others," said Arwen.
"That is why Elrond added her to the fellowship." Legolas now understood why Elrond had said she would be able to sense evil before anyone else. He seemed to be finding out more and more about Amara.
"Yes it was. Now noble prince of Mirkwood, stop dancing around my question. Why did you not tell her you harbor feelings for her?"
Arwen could see through him and he knew it. Something though was not quite clear to him. Amara was an empath, why did she not sense his love for her?
"I know what you think of. She can sense emotions from everyone." Arwen leaned forward in her chair, to make sure only Legolas could hear. "Everyone except you." She straightened up in her chair. "Legolas you must tell her. There are terrible things at play, tell her before it is too late."
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"What are you doing?"
"Looking up things that might save my ass."
"Amara." Aragorn said in a warning tone. He took a seat next to Amara and looked at all the books that littered the table. He picked up one of the books and scanned the cover. Aragorn took a glance at Amara who was hunched over a particular thick volume by candle light.
"I do not think you can learn to fight by just reading books."
Amara looked up from her book and turned to her brother. "Well I'm praying that I can." She turned back to the book and adjusted her glasses. "I knew I should have studied the fighting techniques in Buffy the Vampire Slayer," she muttered.
"Amara, I cannot guarantee that this journey will not-"
"I know that Aragorn! I don't want to go. I don't want to be apart of this fellowship and they don't want me to be apart of it either." Amara shut the book and pushed it forward so that it slid into a stack of books and they all hit the floor. The echo of the crash radiated through the room.
"I know how dangerous this will be and I know what I'm capable of and I'm not capable of tromping through the wild, nor fighting orcs, goblins, trolls, or any other evil thing for that matter. I want to help Frodo, I really do, but I'll be more of a nuisance than help. I know that I'm being incredibly self absorbed."
"I don't think you know what you are capable of at all. Prove everyone wrong," Aragorn simply said.
"What?"
"Prove to everyone that you are brave, that you can handle the task set before you. It is what I am doing."
There were those who said that Aragorn had turned his back on what he was. That her was no good and did not deserve his title. It was said that Aragorn could only be a ranger, destined only to wander the land.
"That's the difference between you and me. You're brave, I'm not. Aragorn...I'm scared."
"We are all scared Amara, but I can assure you that I will be watching over you." Aragorn added with a small smile, "I will be haunting your steps."
Amara looked down and smiled. It was nice to have family. "Do something for me, will you?"
"What?"
"Go see Arwen. Stop wasting time with me will ya!"
Aragorn ruffled Amara's hair and got up leaving the room. Amara dove back into her books, pulling one to her. She felt comforted by what Aragorn had said. She would prove to everyone she was strong, she wouldn't ruin the family name her and Aragorn shared. Amara was no longer the Amara she had been on Earth. Now she was someone of great importance, with an incredible power and she was going to use it.
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Aragorn sat next to Arwen with a sigh.
"How is Amara? I noticed she ran off," Arwen asked concerned.
"In the library trying to learn to fight by book."
Arwen laughed.
"How she will accomplish this I do not know." Aragorn purposely left out the fact that Amara was frightened of joining the fellowship.
"It is what she does when she has a problem or wants to think."
Aragorn faced Legolas, who to him seemed somber.
"She resorts to books because she thinks they have all the answers, that they could never change like the cold world around her, though all she is really doing is hiding behind them."
Aragorn looked to Arwen and back to Legolas. "Is something wrong my friend?"
"Which library is Amara in?"
There was concern etched on Aragorn's face a second time. He saw no emotion in the elf and wondered what was going on in Legolas' mind.
"She is in the library closest to the dining hall."
Legolas got up and proceeded out of the hall.
"What was that about?"
Arwen smiled sweetly, happy for the moment she had now with Aragorn. She took his hand in her own.
"Do not worry about it. Amara and Legolas still have things to work out."
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Legolas smoothed out his silvery blue tunic before he opened the double doors to the library. There she sat in plain view, reading while her finger glided over the words. Her glasses were sliding down the bridge of her nose and she whispered some of the words to herself. Not at all did she notice Legolas. He closed the doors behind himself and held on to the handles until he heard a soft click.
Most of the fighting styles Amara had read about were interesting. She took to memorizing every move, every technique. Giving her eyes a break; she leaned two legs of her chair off the ground and balanced herself by placing both hands on the table. It took her back to her high school days. Amara glanced up, let out a yelp and fell over backwards in the chair.
Legolas rushed to help her up. He took her hand and pulled her up. Amara fumbled to put her glasses on the correct way. Feeling her skin grow hot, she righted the chair and sat back down. More furiously she flipped through the book she had been reading.
"Amara we need to talk." Legolas sat in a chair across from her. He saw that she was growing red. Her hair was falling in front of her face and all of a sudden he found himself not being able to focus on the words that he wanted to say to her.
"I'm sorry, I can't talk right now," Amara said, flipping another page.
Legolas sighed, "I need for you to know why I kissed you last night." He took the book from Amara and closed it. He knew all too well that she would never hear his words with a book in front of her.
Amara grabbed another book from the many off the table and buried her face in it. It seemed that the Valar wanted her to deal with every issue she had tonight. There was nothing running through her brain, nothing at all. The words in front of her eyes suddenly meant nothing. Again, her book was lifted from her hands and the sight of words was replaced by the sight of Legolas.
His blue eyes began to bore into hers. "Please do not do this. You ran from me once, please do not hide."
The words Arwen had given her, the advice Aragorn had told her, she couldn't throw them away. She forced herself not to look away from Legolas. His ice blue eyes held an emotion unknown to her. Amara bit her lip, unsure that she wanted to hear what Legolas was about to say. She was sure, no positive that Legolas was going to say that the whole thing had been a mistake and he only thought of her as a friend.
Seeing that Amara was making no attempt to hide behind a book, Legolas opened his mouth expecting words to come out but none did. It was then that her realized he did not know where to start.
"Okay, I'm listening," Amara said in a small voice.
"The reason for my actions last night was because-" No! That wasn't a good way to start. He took a breath and made another attempt.
"I kissed you because-" No...that wasn't right either. Why was it so hard to say what he felt? He felt like ripping his hair out just for the fact that his brain was drawing a blank on what to say.
"You don't have to apologize; I understand that it was a mistake." Amara did her best to summon a smile. She stood and began to gather a few books in her hand.
"Mistake it was not."
Of course Amara would always think the lowest of a situation, even if the truth was staring her in the face.
"It wasn't a mistake?" Amara nearly dropped the books from her hands as she sat back down. "It wasn't a mistake and you kissed me because..."
"Because...because I have feeling for you."
"You have feelings for me?"
He felt as is a great weight had been lifted off him. A smile crept onto his face. "Yes, I have feelings for you."
"For me?" She pointed to herself, as if she had heard him wrong.
"For you," Legolas said.
"And these feelings, I take it they aren't feelings of hatred or-or anger are they?"
"No, only love."
The truth was out and Amara couldn't stop looking at him. She was in denial. How could such a handsome creature like Legolas fall for her?
"Why? How?" She fumbled.
"When I left you, I did not feel complete. I felt as if I were missing an important part of myself."
"A person knows who their soul mate is Amara; you feel it deep inside of you."
Arwen's words went through her head.
The elf searched Amara's face. He detected more shock from her than anything. What he had to say needed to be said. Unresolved issues could get complicated over time.
"When you had been hurt and I found you lying on the ground, many thoughts were running through my mind. I wanted nothing to happen to you. I thought that I would give anything in the world to see you well and smiling again. And the feeling that I got, that I get is beyond friendship."
Legolas held out his hand across the table. Amara swallowed non-existent saliva and looked from Legolas' hand to his eyes. Those perfect eyes. Those eyes were what helped her through so many rough times. Legolas had never steered her in the wrong direction.
She put down the books that she had clung to and slowly reached out her hand and entwined her fingers with Legolas'.
She looked at their hands and felt immense warmth run through her. What she did not know was that Legolas felt the same thing. The elven prince leaned over the table and placed a small kiss on the empath's forehead.
"I shall give you time to think things over."
Reluctantly, he released her hand and walked from the library. Amara sat mesmerized at what had happened and sat there well into the night. Only when the candles burned out did she get up, put the books away and retire to her room.
