CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: The Wrong Man

A single drop of sweat rolled off Arwen's nose and splashed on the parchment. She was trying to explain to Ling Kray why she needed to leave him, but the words wouldn't come. With a deep sigh, the lovely-elf maid dropped her quill and sank back in her seat, scanning what she had written so far.

Call of duty . . . ancient ties . . . noblest of men . . . promises and responsibilities . . .

Why was it so hard to explain all this to Ling Kray? The more she tried to put it into words the emptier it all sounded. Aragorn was noble, honorable, heroic . . . yet none of that made her heart pound the way it did whenever Ling Kray walked into the room. What was wrong with her?

"Hey there, blue eyes." Captain Margo sauntered into the hot, stuffy room like a cool breeze, her easy smile turning to a look of genuine worry when she saw Arwen's frowning face. "What's the matter, can't find the right words?"

The elf-maid nodded. "I tried before lunch, and I tried after lunch. It's just not coming." Wearily, she picked up her quill. "Maybe I should tell Ling Kray I have to leave before I get fat as a hobbit feasting on figs and sherbet and almond cakes!"

The beautiful red-head gave a ringing laugh. But her green eyes were serious as she lifted the empty silver lunch tray. "Maybe you're writing to the wrong man."

"The wrong man?" Arwen chewed her quill in confusion.

"Instead of writing Ling Kray and telling him why you have to leave, write to Aragorn and explain why it's so hard to leave."

Arwen blushed. "You mean, tell Aragorn about Ling Kray?"

"Hey, you've got to come clean sooner or later. You're not a liar, beautiful. And if you can't love anyone but Ling Kray, the rest of us are just going to have to accept it." Margo was smiling, though her piercing emerald eyes were a little sad. She took the tray and walked away, stopping briefly in the doorway. "If Aragorn was really smart, he never would have left you in the first place."

"But he was saving the world!" Arwen's cry of protest died on her lips. It was useless to explain. Margo's sandals went clacking down the hall, leaving her all alone once more.

Strangely enough, when Arwen picked up her quill again the female captain's wise counsel seemed to take hold of her.

I hated Ling Kray from the first moment I laid eyes on him.

Before she knew it, the words were spilling onto paper. Arwen described everything that had happened to her since leaving the safe haven of Lady Galadriel's protection. She didn't leave anything out, not Ling Kray spanking her on his ship or how often they'd kissed or how he'd risked his life to save her time and time again. Even when she told about her own good deeds she told how Ling Kray had been behind her, trusting in her when she went forward. No-one else had ever depended on her the way he had when he was turned into a frog. And he still depended on her.

The truth is I belong to Ling Kray. It's hard to put this feeling into words. We are connected in a way I can't explain. I know it is wrong to feel such things, but I feel them. And because you are a truly noble man, Aragorn, you deserve someone who will feel the same way about you.

"Lady of Light, thank you." Arwen felt as if the weight of Mount Doom itself had fallen from her shoulders. It felt so good to be free of doubt and worry, to speak the truth at last!

Of course, when she picked up the parchment and read over what she had written, the beautiful elf-maid realized that she had given voice only to her own feelings. There was no telling whether or not Ling Kray felt as deeply for her as she did for him. He hadn't kissed her for days. Indeed they had hardly spoken, except when they met to discuss public matters at state dinners.

Yet strangely enough, none of that seemed to matter now. The Daughter of Elrond felt free, happy and in control of her own destiny for the first time in her life. When she saw the pirate-king again, she would open her heart to him honestly. As she rose from her writing desk and wandered over towards the bed she gloried in a newfound sense of peace.

Arwen needed to organize her thoughts before she went in search of Ling Kray. She also needed to see about sending her letter to Aragorn. But she no longer felt hunted or driven. Stretching out on the bed made her realize that she had worked hard on her letter. Before long she was fast asleep.