Elwin – Eternal Love

Note: Again, excuses… I am very sorry for the delay again, I'm a horrible person I know. To cut a long story short, exams. The bane of my life. I don't know whether it's just my school that has exams this time of year (I know some of my friend's schools' don't) but if you've also had exams recently, then good luck/I hope you did well on them! Mine weren't too bad… *cough except maths, oh God, not maths cough* Also, apologies for the short chapter this time, because of the exams I haven't had much time to write and I just wanted to update it before I left it for too long! Next chapter will be better, promise.

On a side note ASUIDEFWIFRIFHERIFGER THE NEW HOBBIT TRAILER I JUST WANT TO MELT IT'S SO AWESOME MIRKWOOD IS MY FAVOURITE PART OF THE BOOK AND ELVES AND BARD AND SMAUG – SMAUG – I'M SOBBING I WANT TO MELT *cough cough* yeah, so the new trailer was good…

~ Chapter 6 ~

The news did not take long to reach me. There had been brawl within the celebrations last night and – though I had not been around to witness it, myself – I could only imagine how it might have gone down.

Éowyn had heard before me and she had rushed to me straight away. My mouth was agape while she told me, already a spark of anger igniting in the pit of my stomach.

I couldn't believe him! Who did Legolas think he was? A – a prince? He may hold a royal status in his own land, but in Edoras he was nothing more than a simple Elf, a guest in Théoden's home; and then he had the nerve to go and break the King's nephew's nose?!

"I have theories," Éowyn told me while we escaped to my chambers to give me a chance to calm down (especially after almost screaming in disbelief in the middle of Great Hall). Éowyn was as irritated as I was, but she was giving Legolas a strange and uncomfortable amount of pardon, which I was, to say the least, not entirely happy with.

I kicked my feet up into the empty space above my bed, attempting to take my anger out on the air. "Oh, do you? And what might they be?"

Éowyn scrunched up her face, proceeding warily. "Well… I understand you are mad at him, I too agree that his actions towards my brothers were far less then courteous… but, I was just wondering about the reasons behind them? They may not get along, but I doubt Legolas would attack physically like that without some sort of provocation."

I frowned. "What does it matter? Éomer was my friend, as much as he is your brother, and Legolas was completely unreasonable! Whatever Éomer might have done or said, that does not mean Legolas is in the clear!"

"No, of course not," Éowyn continued, softening her voice to sooth me. "However, I know my brother and he is not usually so mean when drunk – overconfident and arrogant, at times, yes, but never cruel. They must have been fighting over something."

"Oh, really? And what might that be?"

Éowyn wet her lips, taking a moment for her previous words to linger. "I was thinking that thing might in fact be you."

Heavy silence hung in the air like dark thunderclouds. Slowly, I angled my head to face my friend, scrutinising her expression and tone for any signs of sarcasm. Unfortunately, Éowyn's features came out clean. "You– what?"

"Take a moment to think about it, Elwin." She crossed her hands in her lap, looking at me steadily. "Legolas and you obviously have an affectionate – albeit fairly arduous – relationship, and… then you and my brother also now have quite a close friendship…"

"Yes…" I think I knew where she was taking this, and I was not quite sure how I felt about it.

"Well…" she paused, her face crumpling in thought, "maybe… maybe he feels threatened by my brother? They never got along beforehand, and now, what with you getting closer to Éomer, you might be pushing them even further apart."

"Why would I matter? Legolas may not like Éomer, but he knows we are just friends." Pulling myself into a sitting position on the bed, I crossed my legs and arms in a defensive gesture. I did not see how I came into one of Legolas and Éomer's little spats.
Éowyn rolled her eyes seeing me draw into myself, evidently showing I was not eager to talk. She pursed her lips and leaned forward, propping up her head on her hand. "Has he ever been prone to jealously? I know you have…"

"We are not discussing me!" I protested, pulling a face. "I… why should I know? If he ever had been jealous, I doubt he would tell me anyway. I do not think jealously is the case; he should know nothing is going on between your brother and I."

Another thoughtful frown from Éowyn and I sighed in response, only prompting the lines in her face to deepen yet more. She stared at me intently for a moment or two, studying me silently – did she think I was lying? All I could do was stare back, lips pursed, eyebrows raised, and words incapable of coming to mind.

"All right, then," Éowyn finally said, her brow set determinedly, "I think you should talk to Legolas. We can look for him now, if you want."

I almost laughed at that. If I want. I certainly wanted to find the Elf, but maybe 'talk' was the wrong word for it… however 'shout' and 'scream' were all words that came to mind.

I did not feel the need to reply verbally. I just nodded solemnly and snatched up my friend's hand so we could make our way down to the market place to look for Legolas – he could be anywhere, I suppose, but the market was a good place to start. He was usually out and about Edoras at this time of day, sometimes with Gimli or Aragorn or occasionally on his own; if we were going to find him now, here was our best bet.

"Do not make a scene," Éowyn hissed into my ear, giving my hand one last tight squeeze as we ambled along through the hustle and bustle in the sunlight, scanning the crowds for any sign of his Elven features. "I expect if he knows that this is what you wish to talk about, he may try to take you somewhere more private. I am sure he is ashamed enough, he does not need you making it worse."

I nodded with a dry smile, anxious for her to leave. I appreciated where she was coming from, but it was not like I was going to take any heed of her words. On the contrary, I would have loved to cause a scene. Legolas had not only insulted Éomer and left him with a lumpy nose and a great purple welt on his cheek, but he had inadvertently insulted Théoden, Éowyn, and myself, and it would not go unpunished on my part. If I could, I would have had shouted him down to his knees in the middle of the market place, right in front of everybody, while his ivory cheeks coloured bright with crimson shame. How dare he!

Éowyn's figure soon left my line of view, and as I ventured further into the bustle of the market place, the Elf I was seeking soon entered my sight. I wasted no time in storming straight up to him, drawing back my hand and whipping it across his face as hard as I could. The smack of skin echoed throughout the market place and vibrations of pain tingled all the way through to my fingertips. As my palm left my face I saw it had left a bright red mark that marred the alabaster flesh of his cheeks.

I probably should have felt some sort of remorse, if not for Legolas then for Éowyn – do not cause a scene, she had said; I'd like to see her try and stop me – but the feeling never came. Not one tiny, insignificant fibre of my entire being could produce even the slightest amount of guilt or conscience for my actions.

"You complete and utter fool, Legolas!" I screamed at him, relishing in watching him flinch away from me, hand pressed over the burning mark on his face and expression set in that of confounded shock.

"You heard then…" Taking a second to recover, Legolas looked away, to ashamed to look me in the eyes. "I realise you might think that of me–"

Already Legolas had spoken too many words for my liking and I was not going to take it, especially when I was far from finished. "Yes, I heard, and yes, I do bloody think that of you! I suppose you want to tell me that you are sorry?" I cut in before he had barely had a chance to let any more syllables pass through his lips.

"I–" there was reluctance in his voice and it did nothing to calm the raging inferno blazing within me – if anything, it only added more fuel to the fire. "Yes.

My lips curled into a snarl. "Well then, it is not me you should be apologising to. What, by the great love of Eru, was going through your mind, Legolas?! I care not how much you dislike the man, Éomer is my friend and it is far past indecent of you to attack him like that!"

Legolas shrunk beneath my heated gaze. "I would not say much was going through my mind, I admit. I was not thinking straight… but please, Elwin, you must believe me when I say I am deeply sorry."

My hand twitched by my side and I badly wanted to slap him again – in fact, why I did not was beyond me. "It is not me who you need to apologise to. I do not care what he said to you, nor the way he said it; tomorrow you will seek out Éomer and apologise profusely to him. Do you understand?" Holding all this anger was hard to control, and I doubt I was doing a very good job at harnessing it in the slightest – in fact, I was pretty sure half the market place had stopped their everyday life to point and stare at us.

Legolas' face tightened. He looked irritated (I was barely letting him get word in edgeways, and I did not want to let him) and his brow was furrowed deeply, his eyes rarely meeting mine – I took that as a good sign, aside from his irritation.

"Of course, I will seek him out, for your sake."

I stopped. For a moment we did nothing but stare at each, the Elf's gaze less sheepish now and suddenly far more firm. My fists curled into tight balls and my teeth pierced my tongue as I tried my hardest not to get violent with him again.

"For my sake?" The echo of his words came out as chilling snarl and even I, myself, was a little taken back by it. What in Eru's name did he mean by that?!

Still looking very tight-lipped, Legolas' face darkened. "I am deeply sorry that I offended you, Elwin, I truly am... and it apologising to Éomer is what it takes for you to forgive me, then that is what I shall do. However, you should know that I do not regret what happened – that man both threatened and insulted me and – though I cannot say it was very smart of me – I stand by my actions." His arms crossed over his chest, marking those final words.

I admit I was rendered fairly speechless at that. Eyes wide, mouth agape, and still furious, hopeless syllables and the ends of words spluttered from my lips; my mind was completely dead when it came to any form of comeback, so I just stood there, glaring.

"Well, then," I managed to force out, tilting my chin upwards and attempting to get eyelevel with him (it was rather hard when Legolas was about half a head taller than me, but I could certainly try). "It would not count as an apology to me unless you apologise to Éomer. I do not care what he said… whatever it may be, I am sure he did not mean for you to take it personally."

Legolas scoffed loudly, eyes flaring up in a sudden burst of chagrin. "No, of course not. I am the one being imprudent here. You are perfectly right, and I would expect nothing more than you to take his side." His tone was foul and his words left a nasty, festering taste on my tongue.

The tables had turned and suddenly Legolas was the one shouting me down.

The Elf sent me a black look. "In fact, I will go find him right now, shall I?" With one last scowl, he turned his back on me and was gone, lost in the crowds.

That certainly was not meant to happen. I was supposed to be the one mad at him and now, well, I was not going to lie, I felt fairly awful.

Maybe Éowyn was right. Maybe I should not have caused such a scene.