Later that evening after everyone had finished supper, Estella decided to take a walk to relax. She had such an amazing day with her father, learning about his life, her mother's, and all the other members of her family, including her beloved grandmother. As she came to the garden that she had been to only hours' prior she saw, sitting on the stone bench staring off into the horizon, her uncle.

Not wanting to disturb him, she quietly turned around to head back when she heard a voice call out to her, causing her to jump slightly. "Would you care to join me, Estella?"

Turning around, Estella saw that Elrohir was smiling his signature grin and scooting over to make room for her to sit. "Are you sure? I don't want to bother you if you are busy."

Elrohir chuckled. "Nay, you are not bothering me. I could use the company." Estella smiled back and sat down next to her uncle. "So, tell me pen dithen, how do you like Rivendell so far?"

Estella's eyes lit up. "I love it here. It is so peaceful, and the scenery is just breathtaking. It is different than Mirkwood."

Elrohir laughed. "Yes, Imladris is quite different from Mirkwood. Of course, Mirkwood has its perks. My brother and I used visit Legolas quite often growing up. In fact, your mother would accompany us on many of our visits after we reached our majority. She hated to be separated from your father. Legolas and I used to tease Elladan about it all the time."

Estella laughed as she tried to envision her father being picked on by Legolas and her uncle. "I wish I could have seen that." It was only now, Estella realized the ellon she loved was best friends with both her uncle and father. It was a weird, confusing concept, one which might take a while to get her head around.

"Oh, he would get so angry at us. He even tried tackling me one time. Those were some of the best days." Elrohir laughed even more. When the two of them had calmed down, he looked over and noticed Estella seemed pensive. "What is wrong?"

Estella had no idea how to ask this question or if Elrohir would even answer her. "Nothing, I was just wondering if..." she paused, debating how to word the question or whether to ask it, "if you could tell me why my father doesn't like Thranduil?"

Breathing deeply, Elrohir closed his eyes for a moment. He was not sure if he should be the one telling her this, but he knew she needed to know and that his brother would not talk about it without losing his temper. "That, Estella is a very touchy subject, and I would advise you not to bring it up to your father. I will tell you, however, only because I feel you deserve to know what happened." Estella looked at her uncle unsure of what could have possibly happened to make her father hate Thranduil so much; nevertheless, she promised not to bring it up to him.

Taking a deep breath, Elrohir began his tale. "Your father did not always dislike Thranduil. They may not have been the best of friends, but they were at least civil. The animosity began nineteen years ago, the day your mother disappeared." Estella's eyes widened. Her mother? Elrohir saw his niece's confusion and continued. "You see, on the day your mother vanished, your father, mother and myself were on our way to visit Legolas in Mirkwood. We had not seen him for years and wished to surprise him with a visit. As we arrived on their borders, a bright flash appeared out of nowhere, blinding us. We heard your mother scream, and when the light vanished, she was gone. We called her name, but she never responded. Frantic, we rushed to Thranduil's Halls where Legolas saw us approaching. He noticed something was wrong and we asked to see his father. Legolas wasted no time in taking us to him. After telling Thranduil what happened, he looked grave and distraught. We thought he would aid us in our search for your mother, but he refused to help."

Estella felt like she had been slapped. Was her uncle talking about the same Thranduil? "He…he refused to help find my mother? Why?"

Elrohir frowned. "I am not entirely sure why. Perhaps he was afraid that whatever caused your mother to vanish would happen again. I do not know. What I do know is that as a result, a gulf has opened between them. The only person he will still speak to or see from Mirkwood is Legolas, and that is only because he helped search for your mother afterward.

When Elrohir finished speaking, Estella was not sure how she should feel. A part of her wanted to lash out at Thranduil for not helping to find her mother, but the other could not bring herself to be angry with him after all the kindness he showed her. Estella just sat there trying so hard to take all this shocking news in. She felt her uncle wrap his arms around her shoulders and the two of them sat there in silence until the Star of Eärendil appeared on the horizon.

The first morning light broke through the windows of Estella's room. Knowing she would never fall back asleep, she decided to get up and get ready for the new day. Estella wanted to spend the day with her father again. As she finished dressing and was getting ready to go and get some breakfast, she heard the unmistakable sounds of horses trotting through the gates. Curious as to who would be riding into Rivendell at this hour, Estella went to the window to look. What she saw made her gasp in shock: there riding with at least seven other ellyn, was Legolas.

Estella was certain she was dreaming, but when she pinched herself, she realized she was not dreaming at all. Legolas? Is he actually here? Could he have come for me? she asked herself.

A part of her wanted to race out there and hug him, but she stopped herself. She was not yet ready to face him for fear of his reaction to her running away if that was even why he was here. Besides, she was not entirely sure how he would react upon finding out she was Elladan's daughter. As she saw Legolas running up the stairs, she quietly went to sit on the bed, no longer feeling hungry.

Legolas rushed toward Elrond's study. He could only hope Estella was here and that she was safe. As he approached, he heard the voices of Elladan and Elrohir talking to their father. Breathing deep, he knocked on the doors and waited. "Enter," he heard Elrond answer. As he opened the doors, all three faces were shocked at seeing Legolas here.

"Legolas, what are you doing here?" Elrond asked still trying to recover from his shock.

"I am sorry to arrive unannounced, Lord Elrond, but I have come in search of Lady Estella. She vanished nearly three weeks ago, and I found a map indicating she may have come here. Please tell me she is here."

"Easy Legolas. Yes, she is here. And she is safe," Elrond answered, trying to calm Legolas down, having some small idea about just why he was so stressed.

Legolas sighed in relief. She was here and alive. "Please, may I see her? My father and all of Mirkwood are worried about her, and I wish to take her back as soon as I can."

The room fell silent upon hearing Legolas wanted to take her back. Legolas noticed the three were looking at one another uncomfortably as if they were keeping something from him. "What is going on?" Legolas asked.

Elladan's face softened, and he motioned for Legolas to sit. "Legolas, perhaps you should sit down. We have something to tell you concerning Estella." When Legolas sat, Elladan tried to think of the best way to break this to his best friend. He knew he was going to be upset his daughter would not be returning with him. "Do you remember the day I told you Luiniel vanished?" Legolas nodded not sure what Luiniel had to do with this. "Well, apparently, my wife was with child at the time."

Legolas's eyes widened as he began to realize what Elladan was saying. "You mean Estella is…"

Elladan nodded. "My daughter, yes."

Legolas was not sure how to take this. All this time his best friend's wife's daughter was living with him, and he did not know. "Did she know this?"

Elrond quickly answered. The last thing he wanted was for him to think Estella was withholding something this important from him. "No, she did not find out until after she arrived. Her sapphire necklace was what led us to her identity. Without that, we probably would not have found out. In fact, she is quite lucky to even be alive after all she went through."

Legolas stilled. "What do you mean?"

This time it was Elrohir who answered. "Orcs waylaid Estella on the High Pass. She was also suffering from severe dehydration and starvation. She was barely alive when our patrol brought here." Seeing his friend begin to panic again he raised his hands to calm him. "It is all right, Legolas; she is quite okay now. She has settled in nicely here."

Legolas sighed in relief. However, it soon dawned on him she would not be returning with him. Wanting to at least say goodbye he asked them if he could see her.

Elladan saw his friend's pain as he asked. "Yes, I think that will be quite all right. I think she will enjoy seeing you again for she has missed you terribly. I can take you to her room; she probably already awake." Elladan walked to the door, and Legolas followed behind trying to think of how he was going to say goodbye.

When they arrived at her room, Elladan smiled and nodded at Legolas. "I will let you surprise her," he whispered before leaving.

Taking a deep breath, Legolas knocked on the door. After a few seconds, he heard her say come in. Mustering up all his courage, he opened the door and slowly walked in. "Good day, Estella."

Estella nearly screamed in shock at seeing Legolas walk in. "Legolas!? What…how…?"

Not answering her he advanced toward her, his face a myriad of expressions. But the one which showed more than all the others was anger. Anger born out of fear, a fear of losing her. He watched as Estella began to back up slowly and soon he had her against a wall. "Do you mind telling me just what you were thinking leaving as you did?!" he shouted, shaking her by the shoulders. "You could have been killed, Estella! I was so worried when I came back and found you gone. We all were. Father spent countless hours having people look for you. You are lucky Lúthril returned, or I would never have found the map leading me to where you went!"

Estella flinched both in fear and pain from him shaking her. "Legolas, you are hurting me," she whimpered. Legolas realized he had been shaking her and grabbing her too rough and he quickly let her go and stepped back to sit on her bed. When she had recovered enough all, she could do was whisper, "I am sorry," over and over.

"You are sorry! That is all you have to say is you are sorry?" Legolas could not believe that was all she had to say.

"What else do you want me to say?" Estella screamed back.

Legolas was once again on his feet, his face turning a shade of red. "How about telling me why you left. I told you never to leave without an escort, and you purposefully disobeyed me!"

Remembering what the ellith told her she decided to corner him on it. It was now or never if she was to find out the truth. "You want to know why? Fine! I will tell you. I was on my way back to my room after your father called me to his office to talk to me about…well, it is not important why. When I was almost to my room a group of ellith cornered me against a wall much like you just did and told me you were just using me because you felt sorry for me. They told me I was a nobody and you did not care about me, that you play mind games with all the ellith. They then threatened me if I told anyone about this, I would be sorry. So, tell me Legolas, is it true?" She had not been aware that she was now screaming.

Legolas was speechless. Who would even dare say such lies, especially to an honored guest? "Estella, who told you this?"

Shrugging, Estella threw her hands up in the air. "I do not know, she was a part of a group, and she had gray eyes, and reddish hair and a cleft in her chin. She also wore a green ring on her left hand. What does it matter? You never told me if it was true."

Legolas' eyes narrowed, and his fists clenched into fists. There was only one elleth who fit that description, and she always hung out with a group. They went out of their way to find targets to pick on. Delweth, he said to himself. Wait until his father found out about this. They would pay dearly for this. Looking back at Estella he tried to embrace her, but she shook his hand off. Sighing, he knew he needed to tell her how he felt. "Estella, none of that is true. I would never use someone out of pity. I treated you the way I did because I cared about you…Estella, I…I love you."

Gasping in shock, Estella hardly believed her ears. "You…you love me?"

Legolas walked closer and cupped her cheek with his hand. "Yes, I love you and want to be with you for all eternity. Do you love me?"

Estella could not answer; she was too much in shock. All she could do was nod her head. That was all Legolas needed. Leaning in slowly, he gently wrapped his left arm around her waist, cupping the back of her neck in his right hand, catching her lips with a kiss, forever sealing their hearts as one.

Elladan rushed quickly to his daughter's room. He decided after leaving Legolas to talk to Estella that he would not wander off too far just in case. Boy was he ever glad he did not leave. As soon as he heard Estella screaming at Legolas, he knew something was not right. Elladan tried to tell himself Legolas would never hurt his daughter but the parental side of him was still not dismissing it. "I swear if he hurt her in any way, friend or not I will beat him within an inch of his life!" he growled.

Reaching his daughter's room, Elladan quickly opened the door. What met his eyes next would forever be embedded in his mind: there in the middle of Estella's room was Legolas and his daughter amid a deep, passionate kiss. Not knowing what else to do, Elladan backed slowly out of his daughter's room, too stunned to be able to do anything else.

After a moment, a wry smile crossed his face, and he quietly murmured to himself. "Well, I guess my suspicions were correct. My daughter does feel more than friendship for Legolas."