I don't know about you all, but I thoroughly enjoyed An Unexpected Journey. I was also inspired to write a Thranduil fanfiction, even though he was only in it for about 20 seconds. Thoughts? Will any of you read it? Anyway, here's part 24. Enjoy!

Without a second thought, Legolas pulled himself out the window onto the thatched roof, leaving the bewildered innkeeper behind him.

Legolas quickly crossed the roof and leapt down into the street, startling several of passersby. He made a running leap towards Ranthrond, settling quickly onto the horse's back and urging him forward after Tinwe. He had a disadvantage now. Ranthrond had been trekking through the mud for half a day, and he was heavier than Alagos, which made him sink further into the muck as he ran. Perhaps once he got out of town the mud wouldn't be as bad, and Ranthrond's longer strides would help him to catch Tinwe before he lost her again in the hills. The one good thing about the mud was that she would be ridiculously easy to track.

He reached the hills quickly, and briefly saw a flash of movement across one in the distance. Tinwe was gaining ground.

They rode hard for at least an hour, Legolas occasionally catching glimpses of Tinwe and Alagos ahead of him. Ranthrond was breathing heavily, but kept his pace. Legolas felt bad for pushing the gelding so hard, but he would soon get to rest.

Legolas had underestimated Alagos. Not only was the she rested, but she was also remarkably fast for a mare her size. Even with more solid ground beneath them, Legolas and Ranthrond continued to lose ground. As the sun began to sink in front of him, peeking out from behind the lingering storm clouds, Legolas began to hear the sound of the sea. It had been a while since he had seen Tinwe last. She had probably reached the coast by now. If she decided to ride within the waves north or south, he had only a fifty percent chance of finding her.

He was rather surprised when he did reach the shore. When he appeared out from the hills onto the stony beach, he paused, looking around for hints of Tinwe. He was surprised to see Alagos calmly grazing a little to the north, Tinwe nowhere in sight. Dismounting, Legolas let Ranthrond join the mare and started walking north, looking for Tinwe.

It didn't take long before he found her, sitting with her arms around her knees as she looked out at the sea from her perch on a rock ledge. He noticed that she was dressed not in a riding tunic, but in a loose pale blue gown. She must have seen him arrive from her window at the inn and immediately fled without stopping to change out of her nightgown.

Slowly, Legolas made his way towards her, unsure what to make of her current situation. Cautiously he sat beside her, waiting for her to speak first. It took a long while before she did.

"I'm so sorry Legolas," she said softly. Legolas looked around at her and saw tears falling down her cheeks. She must have been crying for a while. Her eyes were very bloodshot and there was a damp patch on her sleeve, which she had apparently been using to wipe away the tears. Legolas wanted to pull her close, but was afraid what that would do to her. He simply waited for her to continue.

"I am so sorry for everything," she continued after a while. "You would be so much better off if I had just stayed out east like I had wanted."

"That is ridiculous," Legolas said, not able to contain himself any longer. "Tinwe, I don't care what you do or don't do, I will always love you and cherish the time I get to spend with you. I have complete faith that even if you hadn't returned when you did, our paths would have crossed at some point in the future, and I would still have fallen in love with you."

"But all I do is cause problems," Tinwe said, pulling her knees tighter to her chest. "First with the guard, then with Faelon, and now with this." More tears fell from her green eyes as she said this, and Legolas unconsciously reached up to wipe them away. For the first time since he had sat down, Tinwe looked up at him.

"You don't cause problems. You make life interesting. Even with this. I haven't had such an invigorating chase since Aragorn, Gimli, and I ran across Rohan to chase the orcs that had kidnapped Merry and Pippin." Legolas beamed when he saw a small smile creep onto Tinwe's face. Sadly, it didn't last long.

"I don't know why you even followed me in the first place," she said, looking down again. "I'm not worthy to be with you Legolas. You could have just let me go and moved on, finding someone more suitable."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Legolas said. "There is no one in Middle Earth or the Undying Lands who could ever be as perfect as you are. I will follow you to the ends of the earth if I have to. Besides, I know you don't really feel that way. If you had wanted to, you could have easily disappeared so I could not follow you. You are far more travelled than I am. You could have travelled east and I would never have found you." Tinwe was quiet for a long time after this. When she didn't respond, Legolas continued.

"I don't know what my father told you, Tinwe," Legolas said softly, watching to see her reaction. "But I will never make you change who you are for me. Even if it means I have to spend a thousand years being dragged to the far ends of the earth, I will do whatever I have to in order to keep you." Tinwe looked up at him again, a hint of fear in her eyes.

"You can't do that. You're a prince. You need a wife that will settle down with you and have children and act like royalty. I could never do that, not with ten thousand years. I was home less than two and couldn't sit still."

"Lucky for you, I am only a prince. I am not bound to by the same restrictions as my father. I assure you, I would give up my title if it meant keeping you. If you want, I will give it up right now and we can go live in one of your distant lands together."

"But what about your father?" Tinwe said, getting to the heart of the matter. "He will never approve."

"My father is a complicated individual," Legolas said with a sigh. "I have given a lot of thought to his treatment of you since our return. It has been many centuries since my mother left for the West. I know it pains him a great deal to be parted from her, and I think he sees in you enough of my mother to make him fear that I will go through the same pain with you. You are very much like her, you know," he said with a smile, running his hand through her hair. "She too had a wild side. When she chose to, she could be a proper lady and a respected Queen. I think my father chooses to remember this side of her, because it was the wild side that drove her to leave. It's painful to him to have you remind him of her."

"Why does he not go to the Undying Lands as well? If the rumors are true and Lord Elrond is leaving, why does he not join them?"

"He feels an obligation to cleanse Mirkwood now that the War is over. He will not leave until he is satisfied he has fulfilled that obligation."

"I feel like I have judged your father unfairly then," Tinwe said, letting her feet dangle off the ledge. Legolas was happy to see her tears had stopped as well. "He does have valid reasons to be considered."

"That doesn't excuse his behavior. What exactly did he say to you?"

"He told me that if I were to marry you, I should think about a career that was more fitting for a mother," Tinwe said softly. Legolas could tell she was uncomfortable with this topic. "But that means choosing between you and the Guard. That is something I don't think I can do."

"Tinwe," Legolas said, turning to face her directly. Her eyes met his and he could see the conflict in them. "You do not need to make that choice. If you were to give up the Guard, you would be giving up a part of you that makes you so unique and special. And as for children," he said, knowing that he had to address that fear no matter how much she didn't want to talk about it. "I could live a thousand lifetimes with you and you alone. I will wait until you are ready to have children. It doesn't matter to me as long as I have you."

The smile on Tinwe's face as new tears started to fall down her cheeks made his heart melt. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't have stopped himself from kissing her then. He loved her and need her to know that he meant everything he said. Nothing mattered as long as he had her.

It took a long time for the elves to break apart. The sun had disappeared below the horizon, and gray twilight filled the sky as stars began to emerge above them, twinkling in between the clouds that still drifted lazily across the heavens. Legolas kept his arm around Tinwe as she leaned into him, looking back out to sea. The comfortable silence that fell over them was enough for him to know that whatever happened, Tinwe would be his. It was time.

"This isn't what I'd had in mind originally," Legolas said, pulling away from Tinwe suddenly. She looked around at him, puzzled. He reached into his tunic, pulling out a small velvet bag. He took her hand and poured the contents into it. Two silver rings slid out, and she looked up at him sharply. "Tinwe, will you marry me?"

There was the slightest hesitation on Tinwe's face as she looked into his eyes. However, it quickly faded and was replaced by a dazzling smile.

"Yes, Legolas. I want nothing more in this world to marry you."

The trip back east was far more relaxed than the one Tinwe and Legolas had taken west. They returned first to the inn in Michel Delving, where the innkeeper, still rather bewildered, gave them the room Tinwe had occupied for the night. Legolas did not want to let Tinwe out of his sight, despite the reassuring weight of the ring he now wore on his finger. So they ate a warm meal downstairs, ignoring the stares of the many hobbits who came in for a drink. It felt like being back at Minas Tirth, laughing and enjoying each other's company without any pressure. Tinwe couldn't help but look repeatedly down at her hand, still not quite believing what had happened earlier in the evening. Legolas noticed as she kept doing this, and the soft smile that would grace her features as she looked at the ring made his heart soar.

"It's a good thing I had a lot of time off from the Guard," Tinwe said as she brushed out her hair, Legolas watching her from the bed where he sat comfortably, finally in clean dry clothes. "Tincore would have flogged me if I missed patrolling."

"I hardly think so," Legolas said with a laugh. "Despite his outward appearance, he does have a soft side, and you, my lady, are unquestionably one of his favorites."

"What makes you say that?" Tinwe said, brow furrowed as she looked over at him.

"When I requested that we have time off to go visit Gimli after your graduation, I first requested that I have a month off. I could tell he was thinking hard about it. When I asked if you could have time off to go with me, there was no hesitation."

"Maybe he was just thankful to be rid of me," Tinwe said with a smile. "I am rather irritating sometimes. I had been bothering him about letting me go Lothlorien with some of the elder members of the Guard. He seemed rather hesitant."

"That's just because if some crisis breaks out, he wants you close to home to solve the problem," Legolas said with a grin. Tinwe threw her brush at him for his teasing. He caught it easily, just making his grin wider.

"You are cheeky today aren't you?" she said, walking towards him and holding out her hand. "Can I have my brush back?"

"No. You shouldn't have thrown it at me."

"Alright then. I'm used to having messy hair. Suits me fine," she said, turning and starting to walk away. Before she could, Legolas reached up and grabbed her waist, pulling her down onto his lap. She squealed in surprise, but didn't put up much of a fight.

"You are insufferable," she said, a smile on her face. Legolas smiled back, and then kissed her softly before letting her stand up again.

"Only because it is so much fun to irritate you," he said, leaning against the headboard again. "Anyway, I was thinking…"

"That's dangerous," Tinwe cut in, her back to him. He could tell she was smiling though as she pulled a book out of her bag.

"I was thinking," he repeated, tempted to throw the brush back at her as she walked around the bed. "That we should visit our friends while we are here in the Shire. There is no reason to rush home, and we can extend an invitation to our wedding in person."

"I do miss the hobbits," she said thoughtfully, sitting on the edge of the bed so she could look at him while they talked. "I approve of this idea. It is only about a day's ride from here. If we leave early in the morning we should get to Hobbiton by nightfall."

"It is settled then. However, we also need to decide when we are going to be married if we are going to invite people to visit."

"If I interpreted the King's not-so-subtle hints correctly," said Tinwe. "Your original plan was to ask me to marry you on the anniversary of Pelennor Fields was it not?"

"That was the intention, yes," Legolas said. "Are you suggesting we set the date for the anniversary next year?"

"Yes I am. If that works with your princely plans."

"I can think of no reason to disagree. Your parents gave me their blessing several weeks ago so I am sure they will not object."

"What about your father?"

"Let me handle him," Legolas said as he watched Tinwe shift so she was lying next to him, her legs curled up under her as she settled in to read.

"Sounds good to me. I certainly wasn't going to volunteer to talk to him."

Legolas leaned over and kissed her ear as she opened her book. He was exhausted, having not had the sleep she had earlier in the day.

"Goodnight limimaer," he said, lying down to sleep.

"Goodnight melamin," she replied softly.

The pair set off early in the morning, adopting a brisk pace but not putting a great deal of strain on the weary horses. It was a beautiful day, and they passed many hobbits on the way. There was the same mixture of curiosity and awe that had followed them on their trip west, but there the chatter after they passed was louder this time.

"I do not understand why we are so fascinating," Tinwe mused after a couple of hobbit women passed, twittering away as soon as they thought they were out of earshot. It was quite easy to understand what they were saying with elf hearing, and Tinwe thought it was a little excessive. "Surely they see elves pass through frequently on the way to the Grey Havens."

"Yes, but we are passing through for the second time in a week, and going the wrong way," Legolas said, smiling and nodding at an old woman out with her grandchildren.

"True," Tinwe said, pulling an apple out of her saddlebag and tossing it to Legolas. He caught it and took a bite as Tinwe pulled another out for herself. "But you have to admit, it is a little unnerving."

"Really, Tinwe," Legolas said with a smile. "You've traveled enough. Surely the people you meet in the far corners of the world show similar awe when they see you."

"Sometimes," Tinwe said, taking a bite out of her apple before continuing. "But more often than not I'm treated as forgettable, seeing as I am female."

"But not when you were out east," he said, remembering her story. "They thought you were a god."

"Yes, well, that passed with time. I suppose the thrill wears off."

"I see you found 'er then?" came a gruff voice from their left. Looking down, Legolas and Tinwe saw an old hobbit sitting on a stool outside his front door, smoking a pipe. The elves slowed down as they approached.

"Yes, I did," Legolas said, remembering asking him about Tinwe several days ago when they had passed through. "And thank you for your help in the matter."

"Always happy to help the elven folk," he said, blowing smoke rings. "It's good to see not all of you have left Middle Earth. We saw many elves pass through here in the last couple years."

"We at least shall be here for many years to come," Tinwe said, smiling at the man. "Have a good day."

"And you," he said, watching as Tinwe and Legolas rode away.

Limimaer = lovely one

Melamin = my love