"You're not packed..."

"I'm not going."

I sat down on our bed, my legs crossed under the short dress that I was wearing, pants underneath it as usual. My face was casual, looking at him, his bag over his shoulder and his weapons on his back. We did not need them as much as we did before now, but I did keep mine on me at all times. I remembered with a smile the look on the guard's faces at Theoden's palace when I pulled knives out from various places in my clothing.

Legolas now walked toward me and sat down next to me on our bed. I did not look into his eyes but rather straight ahead in an almost lazy expression. Legolas put his hand on my leg, squeezing my knee slightly.

"What do you mean you're not going?" he asked gently. I shrugged.

"I'm not going." I replied again simply. Legolas sighed.

"But –"

"I'm not going, Legolas." I turned my eyes to him, stating the fact firmly, "I can't leave Middle Earth. It is my life. The wilderness, Aragorn and Arwen." I turned my face away from him. "I cannot expect you to understand, meleth nin. If you are to go..." I paused, a tear threatening to fall, "I only want you to be happy. And if going will do this for you, I am no one to hold you back."

It surprised me when Legolas chuckled. I started and turned toward him, frowning, to find Legolas Greenleaf laughing. "What?" I asked, turning my body toward him. Legolas reached over and put his hand behind my neck, kissing my forehead.

"I knew you were not going to press for me to stay." He said, chuckling again and trailing kisses to the tip of my nose. "You think not enough of yourself." I laughed slightly at his ongoing joke about me, holding his face and kissing him fully on the lips. He smiled in my kiss.

"I cannot leave you." He said, "I'll stay." I shook my head slightly, looking at him.

"Please," I begged him, "Do not stay if it is not your immediate wish. I would never be able to live with myself if I let you stay and you were to be unhappy." I smiled at him, kissing his neck. He laughed again.

"It is my immediate wish to be with you," he replied, "no matter where we are." I smiled and put my arms around his neck.

The sand felt cold underneath my bare feet as the white ship took my kin far away from me. The white cloak around my shoulders, on over my Ranger clothing, was a gift from my father, so impending he was on making sure I kept a token of him with me. I reached up and touched the Evenstar around my neck, sighing and smiling. I stood there alone, until an arm was put around my shoulders.

A pair of lips kissed the side of my forehead and I smiled, turning to Legolas Greenleaf and kissing his lips.

"Where now?" he asked, swinging his pack onto his back. I pulled mine onto my own, smiling at him still.

"Everywhere." I told him simply. "But we'll start with Gondor." Legolas smiled and held onto my outstretched hand, following me into the woods by the sea, onto a world of other adventures.

And the happiness of Middle Earth was no longer... beyond our reach.

THE END