"Rhasslairiel!" I leaned against my door, tears falling down my face as I slid down and landed on the ground, my knees up at my chest.
"No dhinen! Gwanno ereb nin!" (Be silent! Leave me alone!) I shouted.
"Rhasslairiel... I am so sorry..." It was Legolas. "I did not mean what I said... we are going to be wed. I want to be wed... please come out meleth nin... le mellon!"
I looked up at the ceiling, trying hard not to let more tears fall as I stood up. I reached for the doorknob... but hesitated.
"Rhasslairiel!" A gruff voice suddenly rang out from behind the door, and a loud knock rang out, a banging erupting in my ears. I jumped and leaned back, "Get out of that room this moment!" The gruff voice sounded familiar and after a few moments I smiled, reaching for the doorknob and throwing open the door.
"Gimli?" I cried, stepping out into the midst of people outside my door... I looked about, "Gandalf?" The White Wizard stood by the door, looking at me with a smile under his white beard.
The dwarf, standing before me, short and stout, with his strict face on mine, his hands on his hips, glared. Gimli looked at me evenly... and I cringed.
"What?" I asked innocently. Gimli raised his eyebrows, removing his hands from his hips. Suddenly, I was taken into someone's arms and realized that it was Legolas. "But I'm not good enough." I said quietly, shaking my head at him. He smiled.
"Pay no attention to my father," he said, "He is just... I do not know..." I smiled and kissed him.
"So you do not believe that I am not worthy of Mirkwood?" I asked, looking down at my attire again.
"Not at all." He said, "Actually I missed the old you..." I smiled and put my arms around his neck again and kissed him deeply, Aragorn and Gimli watching with their usual discomfort. Gandalf looked away like nothing was happening, looking around.
When Legolas and I separated the last of my tears were drying on my face, my eyes were no longer red but a little stingy... I smiled at Legolas and turned to the friends that I had been through so much with...
"So, you're all here for the wedding?"
"Please?!" I cried, trying to rush out of my room. Arwen grabbed my arm.
"No, Rhasslairiel!" She cried, "You're not allowed to see him until the wedding! It's bad luck!"
"Arwen! There's no such thing as bad luck!" I protested. Arwen leaned on the wall.
"Are you always this difficult?" she asked.
"Always." I turned to see Aragorn standing at the door, looking around the room. "You did not see the fit she threw when I tried to look at her injured arm after Helms Deep!" I threw him a dirty look and sat myself back down onto the chair, looking at myself in the mirror.
"Oh stop it!" I said, "And I thought you were supposed to be with Legolas!"
"Gimli has him covered." He said, "You two must really love each other... he's not weathering well either."
"Oh, you two are so melodramatic!" Arwen said, pushing my shoulders so that I sat back down on the chair. "Now, you two may see each other at the wedding. If you even wish to go you need to get ready." I sat on the chair, breathing deeply. I did not feel that I was overreacting. I had only been away from Legolas a maximum of a day before, when I had gone with Gandalf to Gondor... ready to light the beacons. Aragorn smiled at me as I let Arwen pull my hair around, trying to figure out what she was going to do with it. I looked down, living in my memories, bursting out laughing every once in a while. Arwen shook her head and let my hair fall down, reaching for the headdress that I was to wear.
"Should it not make more sense for me to get dressed before I make my hair nicer?" I asked. Arwen paused halfway what she was doing and looked down at me.
"You have a point." She said, "Go get dressed." I shook my head, suddenly calmer as I had meditated for a bit, and walking behind the standing screen in the corner of the room, where my wedding dress hung. I looked at the white, silk fabric, the sleeves a bit tinted red, falling to the ground at least, longer than any I had ever worn before. I smiled, thankful that it was not "poofy" as some would say, and pulled off the dress that I was wearing at that moment. I pulled the dress over my head, slipping my arms through the tighter sleeves that sat until my elbow, where the longer sleeves started to fall. I looked at myself in the mirror behind the screen and shook my head, nervous to no end...
"Come out." Arwen said. I shook my head again and walked out of the screened area, flattening the skirt down self consciously. It was amazing that I could stand alone against a crowd of orcs without feeling a thing... yet now I could not keep myself calm or unafraid. Aragorn smiled.
"Beautiful..." he said. I smiled and sat back down on the chair, pulling on the red velvet slippers that sat before it and swishing the red cloak around my shoulders, tying it with the tasseled end.
"Now, to do your hair."
The sun was just beginning to set, shedding a deep light across the forest all around me. I walked with a hand on Aragorn's arm, my breath coming in short gasps. He reached over and tapped my arm. I smiled a bit, taking in my friend's reassuring touch.
The trees ahead of us parted to turn into an isle between chairs, carved delicately, where family and friends sat. I smiled when I saw, in the front rows, my ada and the Fellowship, including, I noticed as I grinned widely, the four hobbits. Gandalf and Frodo were conversing in quiet whispers as the Elfin music drifted through the air. They stopped immediately as I walked by, Frodo smiling at me with an adoring smile. I grinned back.
I suppose I looked beautiful. My dark hair was wound in my headdress, some of it falling down. Most of my head was covered in a red hood to my cloak that fell around my head in beautiful waves and down my body. My dress was white, the long, trumpet sleeves a tinted red. Red slippers were on my feet. The headdress that covered my head was none other than my helm, only with small chains decorated with rubies hanging down on either side of my face. I decided wearing my battle helm on its own would harm Thranduil's poor heart. I smiled and laughed silently.
Legolas came from behind the veil like arc, his arms around each other behind his back, his mouth turned upward into a smile. He wore cream leggings and a blue shirt, much like he had worn to the crowning of Aragorn. On his back was a silk, blue, almost white, cloak. On his head as well was a headdress like object. I smiled at him and him at me, each admiring each other.
When I reached the small altar in the front of the isle, the Fellowship quietly filed out of their seats and went to stand on either side of it. My ada came up as Aragorn went to stand where he was supposed to, between Gandalf and Gimli, and kissed my forehead. I lowered myself down a few inches and inclined my head in a bow, standing back up. He went to stand on the altar.
Legolas's touch to my hand was like fire and, even though my ada spoke of the Valar and their involvement in our love, we heard none of it. I reached over and handed Arwen the white lilies and red roses that I had been holding. I looked into his blue eyes, he into my green ones. I smiled as he looked up at my helm and shook his head slightly. No one in the audience, which, I noticed, consisted of Galadriel, Haldir, the Lord of the Wood, and other elves of Rivendell and Mirkwood, could tell that we were paying no attention to the ceremony, but only to each other.
"Legolas..." my ada said. Legolas smiled and pulled out a ring from his shirt pocket, holding it out to me and slipping it on my finger. It was golden, a single red ruby sitting on it. As he spoke he slipped it onto my left ring finger.
"Rhasslairiel," he said, "Through the thick and thin of our journey, you showed more courage than I have ever seen any other warrior show. You are perfect in every way... le mellon. Yet you think-"
"Not enough of myself." I finished for him, smiling and kissing his hand. Aragorn smiled.
"Yes," Legolas said, "There is nothing that I can say to you that will express how much I love you..." I smiled and looked down. Legolas kissed my forehead. I reached into my sleeve and pulled out a ring, slipping it on his finger, gold, with a ring of emeralds on it. He smiled at me as I sniffed.
"Meleth nin." I said, "There is nothing that I can say that will bring us closer together... all those times that we went through over the past year, saving Middle Earth, it only made me love you more and more as we went along, even thought I knew you not in Rivendell. Hannon le, Legolas. That's all I can say... Hannon le." Legolas smiled.
"You are most welcome."
My ada cleared his throat and we looked up to him and out at what seemed like millions of faces, a blush creeping up my cheeks. Lord Elrond smiled, holding his hands out.
"You are now wed," he said, "Pronounced husband and wife. You may kiss meleth nin." I smiled at my ada and turned to Legolas, claiming his lips with mine, leaning my head up as he kissed me. I pulled away, smiling under my hood at him as we turned out to the crowd, who burst into applause.
We were bound for eternity... our being together no longer out of reach.