THE FORGOTTEN

The Battle of Silver Birch Lane

Author's Note: The chapter in which – Grandma Sue's dream comes true and Lothril feels really wound up. …Elvish in italics, per usual.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The long history of Michigan is steeped in documented fact, myth, and legend. It is a land that is familiar with strange creatures, ghosts, bloody battles, and some downright strange happenings that have proof, pictures, and artifacts; but the midnight battle of Silver Birch Lane was singular in the long, strange history of Michigan.

The elves were taking turns watching. One outside in the yard, one walking around the house on the wrap around porch. As there were only five of them, they decided to watch in pairs, but as summer solstice was approaching, the night was only eight and half hours long, roughly, and they decided two three hour watches and then one of them watching an additional two hours. Glorfindel and Lothril took the first watch and decided to take a brief hour or so nap before beginning their patrol. They both donned what armor they had, which in Glorfindel's case was a full suit and in Lothril's her gambeson, chainmail, arm bracers, and grieves (the helm she returned after the war) and as soon as they were in position, the others went to sleep in their clothes wearing their chainmail and lighter gear and with their weapons nearby in case something happened.

Given Sue's dream, nobody particularly expected anything that night as the local weatherman was insistent the rain would persist until just before sunrise, but Glorfindel and Lothril were soon put on edge when the rain finally stopped and the moon came out. Lothril, who was silently walking the porch, noticed the clouds breaking up and the moon coming out and loosed her sword in its sheath. Nothing.

Their watch ended and as Elrohir and Elladan came out to relieve them, they stopped beside Lothril on the porch.

"Has it been this silent all night?" Elrohir asked her with ósanwe.

"No, only the last three or four minutes, but my sword is still dull," she answered. She pulled it half out again to check and it was still not glowing. She began to push it back in when the edges began to glow faintly.

Silently the twins split up and Lothril stole into the house and up the stairs and into Legolas' room. As soon as she entered he sat up and grabbed his weapons. She pulled her sword out a little and it was glowing a little stronger. Legolas nodded and very quickly armed himself and stole downstairs.

"Do you remember the plan?" he asked quietly

She nodded and with a nod in return he silently headed outside through the kitchen door and into the shadows of a tree and disappeared. Lothril resumed her patrol of the porch with her knife drawn so the orcs were not tipped off too soon. She ran into Elladan who was staying deep in the shadows of the porch. He pointed off into the distance. She saw them under the shadows of the trees.

"How many do you count?" she asked with ósanwe.

"I count three. Elrohir counts two to the east, Glorfindel counts three to the west," Elladan replied in the same manner.

This made sense. The yard was most open on the southern side, which would make them easy pickings for elven archers, and if the orcs knew anything it was that there were at least two bows. It had been agreed everyone was rather glad of the afternoon skirmish, because though it did reveal their number to the orcs, they were not fully armed at that encounter, so it may have well given them a false sense of security thinking they had only knives and bows. In reality, they had four swords, at least one long knife for each elf, if not two, bows and arrows for all, and three full suits of armor and some light armor for her but nothing for Legolas. Something else the orcs did not know is that when Sue said to set out bait, it had gotten Lothril to thinking… Grandpa Richard's dad had done some trapping back in the day, and Lothril had noticed in the barn that several of the traps were still in the barn hanging on the walls. More or less they were now decorative, but a quick set and poking one with a stick proved they were still very functional. So, just to be safe, they had strategically placed a few of the traps around the yard. Lothril reckoned it unlikely with only five traps that the orcs would actually stumble into one, but it was worth the effort if they did.

They watched, still and silent, blending into the shadows of the porch as the orcs approached. Each of the elves had their minds open to each other and it seemed the orcs were approaching from the east and west as well, which meant they were hoping for a surprise ambush to overwhelm them at once. The wind only murmured softly in the trees and they could hear, though it was very quiet, the approach of the orcs and a light clink of their armor. The tense silence was ripped asunder by a metallic snap! and a roar that would give anyone nightmares, and that snap and cry was soon followed by a second, both of which abruptly turned into a death rattle by the soft singing of an elvish bow string. Then for a brief second all was still until suddenly the air was rent by roars as the orcs charged towards the house.

Out in the yard, Glorfindel cut down one of the advancing orcs, and Elrohir got a piece of another before it turned tail and ran back into the shadows. Elrohir would have pursued, but another came up and charged at him and kept him busy for a few minutes before Elrohir got in the strike he needed and was able to kill the uruk-hai. Meanwhile, Lothril and Elladan had their hands full keeping track of the orcs attacking the house. As they approached they spread out and seemed intent on taking the house, and as two of them were on the opposite side of the house from Legolas, he was of no use to them until he could reposition. Seeing that Glorfindel and Elrohir had things in the yard in hand, or so it seemed, he jumped out of the tree and went towards the house. He was halfway between the tree and the house when he heard a scream come from inside.

With a running leap he jumped and grabbed the edge of the porch roof and pulled himself up and quickly made his way over to his bedroom window and threw it open and dashed into Sue's room to find it empty, and so flew downstairs to find Sue standing at the bottom of the stairs staring in wide-eyed horror out her living room window. Out the window there was an orc on the porch stairs and coming towards the window as Legolas' foot touched the ground floor, one of the twins appeared out of nowhere and took off its head. Sue grabbed Legolas' arm and cried, "Don't leave me alone in here!"

The twin turned and looked in the window and saw Sue and Legolas and gestured for Legolas to say as he dashed off. Legolas, who had been in full fight mode, had to check himself when Sue suddenly flung her arms around him and started sobbing. He put his arms around her and said quietly, "You are safe, I promise. Go sit on the couch and I will stand guard."

She didn't budge, and Legolas, not sure of what was going on outside, gently but firmly led her to the couch and made her sit down. He tried to leave and go look out the windows to see what was going on, but she grabbed his arm and wouldn't let go. A second later, Lothril came flying down the stairs from the second story, having come in the same way Legolas had, and saw them sitting on the couch.

"Is she unhurt?" Lothril asked.

"She is quite shaken. I have no idea what happened, but she is not wounded, so I suppose she was only frightened," he answered. "What is going on outside?"

"Five slain and three escaped, at least two of which were wounded. The Uruk-hai are all accounted for, but the others it seems were more easily frightened and ran. The twins and Glorfindel are pursuing them now and I am here to see that she is well and help defend if the orcs return before the others," Lothril replied. "And I turned on all her motion sensor lights again, so if anyone approaches, we'll know."

"Good thinking," Legolas said.

"Grandma Sue, are you okay?" Lothril asked, kneeling down beside her.

"Yeah, just frightened, is all," she said sounding very shaky. "I woke up and wanted a drink and came downstairs and saw those things in the yard and I screamed. It was just like my dream! But then it was scared off by something and then Legolas appeared and I saw another one come flying onto the porch and – you're nuts for wanting to live in a world with those things!"

Lothril smiled, "Maybe I am, but I have seen and killed enough of them that they don't frighten me anymore. Are you still thirsty?"

"Yeah, but now I think I need a stiff drink," Sue answered.

"I'll see what I can do," Lothril said. Of course, being seventeen and growing up in a dry house, her knowledge of 'stiff drinks' came mostly from TV and old movies, but she supposed if nothing else, a glass of wine would suffice. She went into the kitchen and began opening cupboards and found a bottle of whiskey. She couldn't mix a cocktail, but she could do a whiskey on the rocks. She got out a tumbler, a couple ice cubes, and a random piece of trivia she had heard somewhere about a shot being three ounces came to mind, which after a moment of eyeballing the size of the tumbler, she supposed if she put in only enough to reach the top of the ice cubes, it would be about a shot, maybe a little less, and she supposed better to add than waste. She hurried back into the living room and handed the tumbler to Sue.

"Thank you, dear," Sue said and took a sip. "This is perfect. How did you know I like my whiskey on the rocks?"

"Wild guess," Lothril confessed.

Out in the yard one of the motion sensor lights flicked on and Lothril hurried out of the living room to the kitchen to look out the window. It was Glorfindel and the twins coming back. She opened up the kitchen door to let them in, and they quickened their pace to a jog and entered, Lothril closing and locking the door again behind them.

"Any luck?" she asked.

"They scattered. We followed the blood trail as long as we could, but lost it in the dark," Elrohir said.

"But I think it safe to say, they shall not try a direct attack again. Not with only three of them," Elladan added.

"Now, I think, we shall have to return to our original plan of hunting them down," Glorfindel said.

"How is Sue?" Elrohir asked. "I saw her in the window and she looked terrified."

"She is in the living room with Legolas now, holding his hand in a vice grip," Lothril said.

The four of them went into the living room and Sue jumped when she saw them, armored and helmed. They quickly pulled off their helms and gloves.

"No fear, Sue. It is us," Glorfindel said.

"Just a little startled is all," Sue said with a sheepish look on her face. "It's not every day I see three guys in full armor in my living room."

"It is quite understandable," Elrohir said.

"What happened out there? Did you get them all?" she asked.

"All but three," Elrohir answered.

"And two of them are wounded, so I think it safe to say we shall not see another attack like that again," Glorfindel said.

Sue sighed in relief and said, "Good!"

"Now, if you are well, we are going to go back outside and take care of things out there and then we will come in and sit with you for a while," Elladan said.

Sue didn't say anything but she nodded.

"Do you want me to come help?" Lothril asked.

"It is better you stay with her in here. She is clearly still very distraught by what happened, and rightfully so. In the morning you may help us scrub the orc blood off the house. We would do it tonight, but I am afraid any dark figure near the window will frighten her badly," Elrohir said.

Lothril nodded and with that the twins and Glorfindel went out the front door so Sue would see them leave and not jump at the sound of the door opening.

"You know, elvish has such a pretty sound to it," Sue said. "Almost soothing after that horrible snarling and growling."

"Then we shall speak it all night, if you wish," Legolas said.

"Well, maybe a little English every once and a while, but I wouldn't mind hearing more of it," Sue replied.

"She must be badly frightened," Lothril said. "That is as close as I have ever heard a grown mortal ask for a lullaby. I almost wonder if she will curl up on your lap and your fall asleep on your shoulder."

"She is welcome to do it," Legolas replied as he looked at Sue pityingly. "That she did not faint at the sight of an orc getting its head cut off in front of her is a marvel to me. I think she is quite brave and handling it all very well, all things considered."

"I must agree," Lothril said.

"Can you help me off with my weapons? I do not think she is ready to relinquish my hand yet."

"Of course, meleth nin," Lothril said and came around to the other side of Legolas and began undoing the buckles holding his weapons in place.

"Oh, where are my manners? If you want to get out of that stuff you can," Sue said, relinquishing his hand.

Legolas smiled and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder as he said, "You are fine, Sue. I shall return in a couple minutes." He gave her a kiss on the cheek and stood and then hurried upstairs with his things to go change.

Lothril quickly removed her weapons and put them on the window seat then came and knelt down beside Grandma Sue.

"Isn't that stuff uncomfortable?" she asked.

"It is a little bulky and heavy, but to be perfectly honest, as long as it fits properly, it isn't too bad," Lothril answered. "For bulk it almost feels like wearing a thick winter coat."

"What about those things on your arms and legs?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh! I barely notice them, to be perfectly honest," Lothril answered.

"Why are you kneeling? Sit down," Sue said, patting the seat beside her.

"I would, but fighting is messy work and I would hate to stain your couch. Legolas was up in a tree shooting most of the time, so he didn't get as messy as I did," Lothril answered.

"You don't look too messy," Sue said.

"You notice though, I have not turned on the lights. I'm going to have to clean everything when I take it off. Speaking of which – do you have any rags?" Lothril replied.

"Whole stack of old dish rags under the sink," Sue answered.

Legolas came downstairs in sweat pants and a t-shirt, which Lothril was finding was a look she rather liked on him. Almost as much as she liked him in that one pair of jeans that one green t-shirt that somehow made his eyes look shining bright sparkling blue and fit him so well and clung to his… She shoved that thought out of her head though before her face had a chance to betray her and hurried up the stairs to change. There was a very, very good chance she was going to try smuggling that outfit back to Middle-earth, and she left her thoughts at that. She came back downstairs carrying her chainmail, bracers, and greaves and a corked bottle of something she didn't really know what it was, but she had been given it to clean her armor and weapons and it seemed to be about the only thing that would remove orc blood. She went under the kitchen sink and pulled out a few old dish rags and an old towel with a big rip in it and brought it into the living room. She sat down in an armchair and piled everything on the floor beside her on the towel.

"Legolas, can you turn on the lamp for me please?" Lothril asked.

Legolas reached over and clicked on the lamp for her. "Would you like the other lamp too?" he asked.

"Probably a good idea," she answered.

"You know, I could really go for something to eat," Sue said.

"What would you like, mellon nin?" Legolas asked.

"This might sound silly, but I just really want some popcorn and a pop," she replied.

"Say no more!" Lothril said as she hastily set down her armor.

"I can make it, Lothril if you want to keep working on your bracers," Legolas offered.

"Nope, I got this, Legolas. I know just how she likes it," Lothril said with a wink to Grandma Sue before she scurried off into the kitchen.

"When she and my granddaughter Anna would come over, we always used to have popcorn and pop*," Sue explained to Legolas. "Jen's grandma on her mom's side taught her how to make popcorn and she always got so excited when we'd make it here because I'd make it the same way – in a big pot on the stove. Her mom had a popcorn maker, which is admittedly easier, but this way gets a better flavor I think. Anyway, with her grandma she would always tell me they'd have popcorn and ice water and green apple slices. With me it was always popcorn and pop."

"I did notice she really likes popcorn," Legolas said thoughtfully. "It was one of the first things she made when she got back home. I have been trying to think of things I can do to help make things easier when we return. Maybe I should just make her popcorn."

"This might sound a bit melodramatic, but has been a constant thing with her. It's a thing she's always shared with her family. In fact, there's a lot of little things like that that would probably go a long way," Sue replied.

"Would you help me think of them?" Legolas asked.

"Of course! That's what grandma's do, ya know," she said with a smile.

They fell into comfortable silence for a minute or so until she nearly jumped out of her skin when the first kernel popped in the kitchen and pinged off the pot lid.

"Are you well?" Legolas asked, taking her hand between his.

"Just startled is all," she replied, putting her other hand on her chest.

"You need not put on a brave face, you know," Legolas said quietly. "Not with any of us. We all well remember our first encounter with orcs. It is a terrifying thing, even if you are braced for it. I cannot imagine the shock of coming down one's own stair and seeing one at the window."

"It was pretty darn shocking at that," Sue said, her voice sounding a little shaky.

"I am still impressed that you did not faint on the spot," Legolas said before glancing towards the kitchen. "Bring us bread, meat, and cheese also, Lothril. Sue needs something more substantial," he said with ósanwe.

"I will bring it out with the popcorn," she replied.

"I am too, to be honest with you," Sue said and then suddenly burst into tears. Legolas pulled her close and held her. Shock is always a nasty business, and you never can tell when it will hit after something like this.

Just then the front door opened and the others came in.

"Is she hurt?" Elrohir asked.

"It is just shock, I think," Legolas replied.

They all nodded. They had all been there a couple times. Without another word they all went upstairs to change and then came back down with their armor and left it against the wall before Elrohir sat down on the other side of Sue and Elladan went into the kitchen and Glorfindel sat down in the chair Lothril had been sitting in. Elrohir laid a hand on her shoulder and sang very quietly as Elladan and Lothril came in carrying popcorn, some cold ham she had leftover in the fridge, some cheese, some bread, glasses, a two liter of Pepsi, and a pitcher of ice water. They set it all down on the coffee table and after a minute or two Sue began to pull herself together.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to start crying all over the place," Sue said, wiping at her eyes with a tissue from the side table.

"Think naught of it," Elrohir said. "We have all been through this and more than once. Here, drink this." He handed her a glass of water.

"Thanks," she replied before taking a drink.

Lothril sat down on the floor next to her gear and resumed polishing it and gave a look to the others hinting that they ought to at least pretend to have another occupation besides doting on Sue. They took the hint and everyone but Legolas went and fetched their armor and began working on cleaning it up.

"Oh, I feel so useless just sitting here. Can I help with something?" Sue said.

"Here, why don't you work on this," Lothril said, handing her one of her greaves and a rag soaked in the cleaning solution.

Sue gladly took it and began working on cleaning and shining it up and then Lothril handed her the other. At first everyone was slightly appalled that Lothril hadn't told her to just relax, but then after a moment they saw the occupation was helping Sue actually relax, so they let it be. What Lothril knew and they didn't is that after Grandpa Richard died, she went a landscaping blitz, tearing out a bunch of old bushes and replacing them with different kinds, totally redoing the flower beds around the house, replacing all the gutters, planting a few trees, putting in a vegetable garden, and putting in all the landscaping bricks around the porch stairs. And before that, when she broke her leg skiing, she went on a knitting binge and made everyone blankets for Christmas. Doing was how she dealt with things, and shock it seems, was no different.

After finishing the second greave, she asked if there was anything else she could clean, which prompted Lothril to nudge Glorfindel with her foot (he let her have her chair back as soon as he realized she planned on sitting and polishing on the floor for a while) and he gave Sue his helm to polish.

About twenty minutes into this, Lothril sat back for a moment and looked around the room. Legolas was sitting beside Sue with an arm around her and singing quietly to himself and passively watching her work. The twins were next to each other on the love seat, both of them working away on their respective gear and wearing t-shirts and lounge pants and taking the odd sip of wine while singing along quietly with Legolas. Glorfindel had started a fire in the fireplace about ten minutes prior and he was sitting cross legged with his back to it, facing everyone else, fastidiously cleaning his sword and taking the odd handful of popcorn and wearing a long sleeved t-shirt with the sleeves rolled half way up his forearms and black sweatpants. Norman Rockwell meets Middle-earth meets hanging out after day one of the tournament.

Before the night was all said and done, Sue wound up polishing a whole set of armor and falling asleep on the couch against Legolas' shoulder. As soon as they realized she was asleep, Glorfindel stood and picked her up and carried her to bed.

"With any luck, she will sleep in very late tomorrow," Elrohir said.

"Should anyone stay up and keep an eye on things just to be safe?" Lothril asked.

Elladan shook his head, "No, we laid a few protective spells around the house. If anything besides an animal gets within twenty yards of the house, we will know about it."

"Just keep your sword handy until we slay the last of them," Elrohir said.

"Will do. What time is it anyway?" Lothril asked, looking around for a clock.

"Three in the morning," Glorfindel said as he sat down on the couch next to Legolas. "Or so her bedroom clock said."

"Are we going to go looking for them come sun up?" Lothril asked.

"With the rain and how much one of them was bleeding, we ought to have a fairly good trail. We would be mad if we did not," Elladan answered.

"True, but how do we go about it in broad daylight?" she asked.

"With a good deal more stealth," Glorfindel said.

"And layering. Lots of layering. We were wearing mail under our clothes yesterday when you found us," Elrohir said.

Lothril nodded. "Very well. We won't be able to carry our swords though, I don't think."

"No, and that is the biggest drawback," Glorfindel said. "But you can bring your knives easily enough."

"If I didn't know two of them were injured, I would be more worried," she said.

"Which two?" Legolas asked.

"That one Uruk-hai, that narrow faced Mordor one with the red eye tattoo on his forehead," Lothril answered.

"Then three of them are," Legolas said. "Unless the first one that ran away died later. I got him with an arrow, but it was not enough to stop him. At least not until he ran out of sight in the trees."

"Maybe we will get really, really lucky and find them all dead from their wounds by morning," Lothril mused.

"That would be nice," Legolas said.

"Then we can go home," Glorfindel said.

"What even is home?" Lothril said as she lolled her head over to one side. "I have lost all sense of it, I fear. I kept thinking of this state and my parent's house as home, but now that I'm here, I feel like more a stranger than ever. I miss Middle-earth, but I miss all of it. All of it is home and none of it is. I hate knowing Elrond is going to sail in two years. It robs me of the chance to call Rivendell home."

Glorfindel reached over and put his hand on hers. "I have lived in Valinor, Gondolin, and Imladris. Gondolin is beneath the waves and Imladris is now behind me, and so from Valinor I was sent and to Valinor I will return. But it is not the place on the map that my heart aches for, but the ones that wait for me there." He took her hand and gently pulled her up and over to the couch and gave her hand to Legolas and then he left and the two of them were quite alone.

She looked at Legolas for a moment as her mind began replaying the very long and very strange day they had and once again she saw his love and kindness on full display as he had so quickly embraced Grandma Sue and then took care of her in the midst of the chaos. Ever loving, ever kind, ever thoughtful, quietly taking care of things. "You are wonderful, you know that?" she said as she closed the gap between them and kissed him.

"And why do you think that?" he asked with a grin.

"Because you have been so caring and loving towards everyone I care about. And tonight, with how patient and kind you were to Grandma Sue… you really are just wonderful!" she answered and kissed him again.

"If melethril nin thinks me wonderful, who am I to argue?" Legolas said between kisses. "Melethel (darling, sweetheart), I have something I want to confess to you."

"What is it?" she replied.

"I love watching you fight. Seeing you fight with such mastery and knowing I have taught so much of it to you – it makes my heart swell within me. I hate the thought of you being in danger though. When we return, I want to practice with you often. Seeing you so confident and sure of yourself – I find it very attractive. I would always see you so bold and sure of yourself in all things. Like right now."

"What of now?" she asked, sounding amused.

"You are holding yourself back and I can feel it. Open up to me, Lothril. Feel with me. Express your desires to me," he coaxed as he drew her closer again and began kissing her.

"And how did you determine that?" she asked between kisses.

"You feel tense as if you are fighting to stay still," he answered. "And you are not breathing."

"Nothing escapes you, does it?"

"Now I know I am right for you are trying to divert me."

"It is improper," she replied.

"No it is not," he argued.

"No, really. It is."

He stopped kissing her and sat up straight, brow arched, and looking very skeptical. "How?"

"It is trivial and impertinent and… improper…" she said, finishing lamely.

"What is trivial and impertinent about it?" he asked.

"It is not very important and would be asking you to do something you might not wish to do and arguably improper to do. And even if it is not improper, it is impetuous and presumptuous," she answered.

"Lothril," he said seriously, "there will be times when you will have to remember that I am the crowned prince and do or not do things accordingly, but that shall be rare and it is certainly not now. That is not between us. Ever. In our love, in our betrothal, in our marriage and particularly in our marriage bed we are equals. In our betrothal the worst you can do is ask something of me out of season and the worst I will do is say 'when we are married'. Your desires towards me and for me are important to me and I want to hear them all. I need to hear them. Your wants, your needs, your desires are all important and they need fulfilled as much as mine do. Now please melethel, tell me your desires. I want to know what desires you are holding back in this minute."

He had that look again that made it clear he was not going to let this drop no matter how hard she tried to wiggle out of it. She gave a defeated sigh and said, "Fine. It's that stupid shirt you're wearing. It – it fits you so ridiculously well and I am still wound up from the fighting earlier and gosh dang it, I really want to see you without a shirt on. See? Trivial, improper… downright brazen."

"No, I think it more normal, healthy, and expected. Why should you not want to see me? I certainly want to see you, but I shall have to wait until we are wed because I know of no context where it would be appropriate beforehand," he said. "You however are fortunate, for unless customs here are otherwise, I am not accustomed to wearing a shirt when I swim and if we go to the lake, I will assuredly go swimming."

"I hadn't even thought of that," Lothril said.

"Still, if you are still feeling wound from battle hours ago, you are in desperate need of release," Legolas said thoughtfully.

"Wait, desperate need of release?" she asked, feeling agitated and not sure why.

"Small skirmishes like this are the worst," he replied. "You do not know how big the enemy is or how long the fight will last, and so you ready yourself for a full scale battle only to have it end abruptly right after it begins. All the excitement, fear, focus, and discipline necessary for surviving a larger battle and only a small piece of it is used. If it were not for Sue, I think it likely we all would have been a bit rowdy afterwards just to burn off the rest of our energy. As it is, the others were so hasty to volunteer to go take care of the bodies because it gave them a chance to use up their extra energy. You were not afforded such a chance."

"Neither were you," she pointed out.

"True, but I am more braced for such things and can deal with it better. I also have plans on starting and finishing a bottle of wine. You need to burn off energy," Legolas said. "Come with me," he said as he stood up and held out his hand to her.

"Where are we going?" she asked as she took it and stood up.

"You must have loved knowing what was going to happen when we were with the Fellowship," Legolas said as he pulled her towards the back half of the house.

"It was glorious," Lothril admitted with a smile.

He led her into the family room and said, "I thought it would be prudent to be away from the stairs if someone should decide to come down. Now stay here a moment."

With that he hurried out of the room and she went over to the sliding glass door and looked out. There was a family of raccoons scurrying about the yard and a couple of deer off in the distance. She let out a sigh of relief. It was a reassuring sight.

Legolas came back with a bottle of wine and a pair of wine glasses which he set down on the side table of the couch and poured a couple glasses. "Here you go," he said as he handed her a glass.

"Thank you," she replied as she took it from him and took a sip. It was a blueberry wine from Sue's family winery and it was delightful. "This is very nice, but I'm not sure how dragging me into the family room makes this more prudent than just handing me a glass in the living room. Especially since this room is carpeted and the living room is wood."

A little grin teased his mouth as he shook his head. "The wine is simply to help you relax."

"I thought you wanted to me to burn off extra energy," she said with a raised brow.

"I do, but first you need to relax," he replied.

"That doesn't make sense."

"Lothril, please believe me, you need to relax first," he replied and saw the disbelieving look on her face and gave a short little sigh and added, "If you are too wound and not ready to relax at all, then doing something trying to burn off energy will only result in you getting more wound. You have to do something to help you go from building tension to releasing it. I have yet to meet a soldier that does not work out his own routine or ritual for what he does after battle. Some eat and drink while tending their weapons and armor, some sing, there is one commander who always stands in the door of his tent for ten minutes, helm under his left arm, and watches the camp before he finally turns and goes inside. If we are near home, he stands at the edge of the place where the barracks are for ten minutes, watches everything, then turns and goes home. You must figure out what will help you relax, then you can worry about using up the last of your energy if you still need to. But as I deem it unlikely you shall see many more battles, the short and quick answer is a little wine."

"Is this what you would tell one of your soldiers back home?" she asked.

"I would put a drink in his hand and let nature take its course. Sooner or later he would either relax and do something quietly or else get rowdy and it end with him and all his fellows doing something ridiculously stupid and me or another commanding officer walking in before something breaks," he answered.

"And what are you and the other commanding officers doing in the meantime?"

"Drinking and playing card games in one of the officer's tents and listening for when to go stop our soldiers from killing themselves," he answered with a grin.

"So do you intend on doing something ridiculously stupid with me or do you want to play a couple rounds of Dutch Blitz while we drink?"

"I intend to make you down half this bottle in the next five minutes so you start to take the edge off of that wound, tense feeling you have, then we shall worry about the next thing," Legolas said. "Now drink."

"You first!"

"Gladly," he said before throwing back the whole glass in about two gulps. "Your turn."

"You know, I've never been good at chugging."

"So tonight you learn. Drink," he commanded, with a grin teasing his lips.

"But-"

"Drink! Fast as you can! Or else you shall force me to seek others means of getting you to unwind," Legolas threatened.

"Such as?" Lothril asked before taking what Legolas considered little better than a long sip, but she was trying.

"Throwing you in the stream behind the house," Legolas said.

She quickly swallowed and lowered her glass. "Are you serious?"

"Quite."

"Well… this might be the wine talking," she started then hesitated for a moment before venturing on, "but I think if you kissed me and held me close that might help." Her voice had that timid, experimental edge like she was trying to see how far was too far.

He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her then said, "Anything else?"

"More?" she suggested, looking equal parts shy and hopeful.

"You are not saying things again, Lothril. It is written all over your face."

She blushed but didn't say anything.

Legolas started kissing her lips and then trailed to her cheek and then whispered in her ear, "Speak your desires" before he began letting his lips trail down her neck. She still did not speak and the only response she gave him was to stop breathing for a moment until he began kissing the other side of her neck and working his way up to her other ear. "Tell me what you want, what you need, and I will give it to you freely and willingly."

A shuddering sigh escaped her and she said in a voice barely above a whisper, "You are doing fine."

"But it is what you want? How can I give you what you want and need if I know not what it is?"

"I like what you are doing," she said, almost sounding defensive.

"I am glad to hear it, but I do not want a passive lover that never tells me her desires," he said softly in her ear. "Let us indulge your desires a little."

She pulled away from him a little so she was less distracted and looked at him, trying to figure out what to say as he took her hands in his. Somewhere way in the back of her mind, there was chaos and confusion of rioting thoughts about what she might want, but in the front of her mind where sensible thoughts and order still reigned, there was only a very vague notion of wanting to do something… if only she could think of what… after a few moments of silence she gave a shamefaced chuckle and said, "I have no idea… I never dared to… No one has handed me the moon before."

"Then dare now. I said I would see you bold and confident in all things and I mean it – even now," he replied with a roguish grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. He leaned in close and put his hands around her waist and whispered in her ear, "I am your lover and you are mine. Dare to show me your love, my fair enchantress. Put me under your spell."

She shuddered as his lips moved from her ear to her neck again and one of his hands moved to her upper back to pull her closer. Her hands slowly moved from her side and the next thing she knew she was pulling him onto the chaise end of the couch and they reclined together, her pressed close beside him and resting her head on his shoulder and he with his arm around her.

"I want to observe that new moon tradition you told me about after we are wed," she said abruptly.

"I am thrilled to hear it, but why do you bring it up now?" he asked.

"Because I am trying to think of what I want to do and with the glass door right there, one thought led to another and I decided that I wish to. Since I came back here I have felt so terribly firiel again and conflicted and uncomfortable and… it fades a little up here. Or maybe it is the rush of battle talking – I know not. I only know that when we go back, I want to observe as many of our traditions as I can. I want to…I want to…" she suddenly grew distracted by the sight of his face in the moonlight coming in from the window… by the growing desire she felt to press her mouth to his and feel his skin beneath her fingers…

"Show me."

-o-o-o-o-

Author's note: *pop = soda/carbonated beverage like Pepsi, Coca-cola, Mountain Dew, etc.