Disclaimer: An awkward time is a fun time.
She took another step backward.
"Marian-" Éowyn started, but before she could finish Marian snatched her skirts up, speaking so quickly the words jumbled together.
"Onemomentplease."
And with that she turned and walked quickly back the way she had come, breaking into a run once she passed the enormous, carved pillars. Marian knew running away from the situation- quite literally- was childish, but the revelation that she had died 3 times without even knowing won out over her desire to appear mature.
Skidding to a halt outside her room, she stopped, debating on where to go. Wanting to be in the open air, Marian passed by, wandering until she found a door that appeared to lead outside. She pushed it open and breathed a little easier as the soft breeze touched her face.
It had grown much darker since she had been in the Hall; the stars were beginning to appear, shining brightly against a deepening velvet sky. She settled down onto the stones, dangling her legs over the side of the cliff made by the building's foundation.
"Watching the stars?" a voice said, and Marian was jerked out of her thoughts. She scrambled to her feet, stepping on the hem of her dress in her haste.
Someone caught her outstretched hand as she tripped, and Marian looked up into the face of the elf.
"What are you doing sneaking around out here?" she asked, startled.
"I came to find you," he said, releasing her hand and taking a seat on the ledge.
Marian stood uncertainly, looking down at the elf's face as he gazed into the sky. She slowly took her place on the wall again, glancing sideways at him.
He was sitting weirdly still.
"I-" she began, closing her mouth abruptly when he turned to look at her. There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other.
"You...?" he prompted.
Marian was flustered again.
"Just… oh, stop doing that!" she said, wrenching her eyes away and looking determinedly at the sky.
The elf was visibly taken aback.
"Doing what?"
Marian shook her head, feeling a little childish for the second time that night.
"You're staring at me." she said, forcing herself to look at him as she spoke.
Now he truly was staring at her, mystified, and Marian tried to pull herself together as she cast around for something relatively normal to say.
"What's your name?" she asked, realizing they all knew hers- or a version of it- and she knew none of theirs.
He kept looking at her, and just as Marian was about to lose her head completely, he responded.
"Legolas. My companions are Aragorn and Gimli."
"Nice to meet you, Legolas," she said, relieved to have started an actual conversation. "I didn't really get to ask who you were the first time we met."
"I do not hold that against you," he said with a faint note of humor in his voice.
"Wonderful." she paused. "You know, I really wasn't sure what had happened to me until now, and it's… a little overwhelming."
Legolas simply looked at her.
"But I'm doing a pretty good job at being calm," she said wryly.
He smiled then, and Marian caught her breath at the warm expression. She found she much preferred smiling to blatant staring.
Taken by a sudden wave of emotion, Marian looked down at her lap, twisting her fingers together.
"Thank you," she whispered, "for holding my hand when I… when I died. And for remembering me."
"Of course," Legolas answered softly. "And you are not forgotten, even now."
Marian met his gaze, grateful to have run across him and his friends, and grateful at his assurance that she was not alone.