Title: Until We Reach Valinor

Chapter 6: A Dose of Reality

NOTE: This story is sequel to "A Teacher's Duty" and you'll have to read that one first to understand this. Also, this story does not contain slash, and it is not a romance, despite what the first chapter might suggest.

SPECIAL THANKS to Orlando's Sweetheart for helping me pick the name of the woman Legolas's bride-to-be as well as the title of this story.

That said, on with the chapter.

…

"Did sir send you?" Celin asked dully.

Elano's brow furrowed, "No, as a matter of a fact, I came here of my own accord."

"Well, you needn't have bothered. There's nothing you can say which can soften the blow."

"That's not why I came here," Elano said, surprisingly, "I have to tell you something else. Something that isn't pleasant, but something, all the same, you need to hear."

"I've heard enough unpleasant things for one day," Celin replied in the same dull voice, "So please, make yourself scarce if you aren't here to comfort me. Although, I doubt that you could say anything comforting in the first place."

"I'm not here to comfort you," Elano said, more sharply than he had ever spoken to him before, "I'm here to give you a much-needed dose of reality."

"What do you mean?" Celin asked in surprise, "Didn't you hear what sir said?"

"Yes, I heard what sir said," Elano said, again uncharacteristically harsh, "He called you a liability. And he spoke the truth, and you have to expect that."

Celin opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish; he was rendered speechless by Elano's harsh words. Before he had time to react, Elano jumped headlong into the conversation.

"It hurts me to say these things to you," he said earnestly, "But someone must, and since sir never will, it's been left to me. The fact is, you are a liability in a dangerous situation. And you have to accept that-"

"Where do you get off telling me what I have to or don't have to accept?" Celin asked angrily, finally getting his voice back, "How dare you say such things to me? I thought you were my friend!"

"I am your friend," Elano said earnestly, "That's the only reason I bothered to work up the courage to tell you this. A day will come when you are a trained teacher, and sir will rely on you to act responsibly. And then-"

"You're saying I can't act responsibly?" Celin interrupted, highly incensed.

"Yes, I'm saying exactly that," Elano answered, looking his friend in the eye, "And I will keep saying that until the day that sir ceases to ask me to keep an eye on you every time he goes away. Do you realize how much of a bother it is, keeping track of you?"

"What, isn't it enough for sir to call me a 'liability?' Do you have to rub it in by calling me a 'bother' as well?" Celin asked, his anger changing to hurt. Elano had never talked to him like this before, and he was both surprised and dismayed by his words.

Elano sighed through his nose, "Look, Celin," he said earnestly, "I don't like saying these things, but they need to be said. Today, I wanted to go with sir so I could heal those who were harmed by the spiders. But I realized; that aside from having to keep an eye on you, I would also be a liability to sir. I'm not exactly a wonderful swordsman or archer, and if I got hurt, I wouldn't have been able to heal anyone. So I didn't protest about having to stay."

"Your point being?"

"My point being that there will be days on which you have to make decisions with no one to guide you, and you need to be able to make decisions which do not make yourself a hindrance, but useful, if possible. You have to accept that your problem with your ankle not going away. Otherwise, you will never be able to be a good teacher or a good student."

Celin was about to protest, when he suddenly remembered something. When Ivana had been stabbed in the stomach, Legolas had wanted to go and find Aragorn to heal her, but was torn because he knew his true duty lay in remaining with the students because of the danger from orcs. If Elano hadn't revealed himself to be an adult then, he would have made the decision to stay, even though it would probably mean that Ivana would die.

Sometimes, you just had to be clinical, Celin's conscience whispered; you had to accept the limitations of a situation and get past them. And, if possible, do it with a cheerful face. Finally, he understood what Elano was trying to tell him. And although he could have thought of many better ways in which to convey it, he was grateful that Elano had opened his eyes to what he was fast becoming; an over-sensitive and moody teenagers whose touchiness was making him a right nuisance.

"You're right," he said after a long silence, taking Elano by surprise.

"That was fast," the older said, with a slight frown, "I thought it was going to take a lot longer to convince you."

Celin looked down.

"I'm sorry I was so harsh," Elano said gently.

"I'm the one who should be sorry."

There was a pause while Celin studied the floor. Elano squeezed his friend's shoulder. "Now don't sit moping about like an old man," he said, gently, "Why don't you organize dinner for tonight? It will keep you preoccupied. You can go and start gathering firewood right now."

Celin rose and began to climb down, grateful to have something to do. "Thank you, Elano," he said, and then his head descended below Elano's line of sight.

Elano smiled to himself, watching the place where his friend's head had been a minute ago. Somehow, he knew that from that moment onward, Legolas would never have opportunity to call Celin a 'liability' ever again.

…

Legolas sighed, so lost in thought that he almost forgot where he was going. He had just potentially ruined his relationship with Celin, whom he was very fond of, and whom, more importantly, someone with whom it had taken a very, very long time to build a relationship with in the first place. He wondered if the boy would ever talk to him again. He mentally berated himself yet again. What had possessed him to talk like that?

Suddenly he felt the wind knocked out of him. He looked down, and saw that he had walked bang smack into Linnor. All thoughts of Celin flew from his mind as he saw her tear-stained face.

"Are you alright?" he asked, gripping her shoulders tightly, and forcing her to sit down on an old tree stump.

She didn't bother to reply.

He sighed. "Linnor, let me assure you, I have enough antidote with me," he said, getting down on one knee and looking her straight in the eye, "I have planned this whole thing through and through, and I assure you, there aren't half as many spiders as either of us thought there were. It isn't like you to refuse to see reason, Linnor. You know as well as I do that living in Mirkwood, you have to learn to defend yourself from spiders, don't you?"

She nodded reluctantly.

"Then why is it that you can't bring yourself to do this? What is the real reason you're so terrified?"

She didn't say anything. She did not want to reply.

"Linnor. If you don't tell me what's wrong, I won't be able to help you."

"Who says I need help?" she said half-heartedly.

"Lin-nor."

"What do you want me to say, sir?" Linnor said, frustrated that she could not make him understand, "I'm terrified of spiders, because every time I see them, I see you bent over double, throwing up? Because every time I even think about them, all that I can think of is you, lying on the floor of that clearing, and I know I would have been responsible for your death if you hadn't spotted that antidote," her voice shook and her tears began to flow in earnest, "Every time anyone even mentions spiders I wonder what would have happened if you had died that day. I wonder where we all would have been…where Ivana, Elano, and this kingdom would have been if it had lost its heir."

Legolas looked at her, stunned. So this was the true root of her fears. For the past six months, she had tortured herself with thoughts like these? He did not know what to say. How could she hold herself responsible? If there was any blame for the situation, it was his for letting her sneak away unnoticed, and he told her so.

She shook her head in frustration, "There you go again, sir. Treating us like children. I made the decision to sulk and storm away that day, and I should be held responsible for that decision, not you."

"Alright. Agreed. You shouldn't have slipped away, and you were responsible for that decision," Legolas retorted, "But nor can you blame yourself for what happened to me! How could you have known you were going to happen upon a lair of spiders? How could you have known that I would come and rescued you- and I wouldn't have, if I hadn't noticed your absence in time- and be bitten by spiders?"

"I know. I've told myself that a million times, but it still doesn't get better."

"You've been hiding it all this time?" Legolas asked, privately horrified that the girl's young mind had held such dark thoughts of guilt, unknown to him. He cursed himself now for not talking to her about what had happened.

"Yes. Although, I was able to ignore it until today."

There was a long pause, and then Legolas said in a very deliberate voice, "You know, Linnor, I have a lot to thank you for."

"What?" Linnor didn't understand what this had to do with spiders.

"If you hadn't overheard my conversation with Ivana last year, I would probably be in prison, and she would be dead. And my father would be virtually childless."

"But sir, that's ridiculous!" Linnor stammered, "I was just at the right place at the right time! Anyone in my place would have done the same!"

"Exactly!" Legolas snapped his fingers, "Just as you don't deserve my undying gratitude for something that happened due to circumstance, you don't deserve to feel guilt for this, either. Your running into spiders was caused by chance circumstance. Nothing else, Linnor. So please, for all our sakes, stop blaming yourself."

There was another long silence. Linnor looked at the floor, tears dripping down her face, and Legolas looked straight at her hunched form, willing her to be reasonable. Finally she looked up.

"You're right, as usual," she said abruptly. Then, "I'll go with you."

Legolas stared at her. This was rather strange. Far too abrupt. Linnor was usually very stubborn, and her accepting this so fast was the last thing he had expected. But what could he say? Now he didn't know if she was tired of arguing and was therefore lying to him, or if she really had stopped blaming herself in a thirty-second interval.

"Thank you," he said at last, "I…I hope this conversation will be the last of its kind. You can't keep living in a world of what-ifs. It's not healthy, and it's completely pointless. I hope I don't have to remind you of that ever again."

"I'll get packed," she said, almost as if she had ignored his statement completely, and walked away.

Legolas gazed after her, wondering what was going through her head. He was very, very puzzled by her behavior. And, he vowed, he was going to keep an eye on her. Something was still very, very wrong, and he was determined to find out what.

…

TBC…

Many thanks for your support. My apologies for the lateness of the post. Love you all, please review!