Authors note: The story won't let me leave it alone again. . . On to the next one. So was the last chapter too much? Just right? Was the heat and all that written well as to not be wierd? Let me know if you have an opinion on the matter? Always love hearing from you guys. The video in the last chapter or song rather was the music i wrote the chapter to. I felt like it matched up with the mood and what I was trying to creat. The video for this one is one of the commercials I could watch over and over agian. Navea shows Thranduil another intriguing part of her culture. Read and hope you guys enjoy.

Rain Soaked Kisses

" I want no one near this wing until I say it is allowed! Is this in anyway unclear to you?" Thranduil's sharp tone was the first thing upon waking she noticed besides the obvious abscense of the horrendous heat.

She sat up franticly . Only bits and pieces reached her mind from last night. She was wrapped in a damp cover. Rags lay beside her also damp with cool water. He hadn't locked her in the cages. It appeared that instead of doing that he had taken care of her as anyone would a feverish child. His scent and hers mingled together. He had stayed with her through the night. She smiled at his obvious care of her. Apparently he could see through her illusions and masks as well.

'He knew I didn't like cages for what happend long ago.'

He came through the door in a flurry of movement holding a basin of water and going into the open doorway into what she recognized as the bathing chamber. He came out with the basin of water and sat upon the edge of the bed before noting that she was awake and aware.

"you are awake." he simply stated reaching to feel of her forehead and cheeks.

"I am fine now. . . the heat has passed. Last night was the worst of it." she said clutching the blanket closer to her. "Thank you." she said looking away form his studying gaze. He rose to rid himself of the uneeded basin.

"Don't bother yourself with it. It was no great task to care for you." he said as he completed his task and sat on the edge of the bed once more. He stopped when she grabbed his hand and brought it to his face.

"No truly thank you. For not putting me in the cage and for taking hours of your sleep away to care for me." she said rubbing the bottom of her chin against his hand.

"Then you are very welcome though I do owe you a favor." he smiled slightly.

"A few  if I have kept tally correctly." she said arching an eyebrow at him.

He nodded his lips still forming the slight smile. He moved and reached her a tunic and a pair of leggings. "Here you are welcome to change and bath. I have already done so today." he said.

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He paced as she took her bath and changed. She wasn't mentioning the kiss last night and he wasn't either. He found himself not regreting it in the morning light. He found himself happy about it strangely. When she entered in the slightly baggy clothes she looked as good as new. He smiled at seeing her once more so at ease. They went to break their fast.

"Thranduil would you do me one more favor?" she asked gazing out through the gate after he discussed the morning patrol with his son.

"What would it be?" he asked coming to stand beside her.

"I want to show you something none outside my race has seen or been a part of." she said staring staright into his eyes. Her eyes bekoned him to agree. They told him it was an occasion that he wouldn't want to miss out on.

So he found himself agreeing. She bid him change into simple tunic and leggings and to follow her.

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After reaching her village in the mid afternoon she had turned to him and explained.

" after the mating season the rains always come. Even here it seems to follow the same pattern every year. With the canines it always snows after. With us it rains."  she took a breath and he nodded understanding what she was saying but not where she was going with it. " We run together as a clan to restrengthen new and old bonds. Some run as cats others in their human form. Would you join us?" she asked finally.

He nodded dumbstruck at her offer. His curisotiy was bidding him do this and the intriguing way she presented this part of her culture. She went into her home and othes gathered around him unperturbed by his prescence. As he waited the rain clouds gathered in the sky. She returened dressed in a blue skirt of light material her blouse was a grey. She looked beautiful and wild as she and her people waited for some signal from mother earth.

When the thunder rolled across the sky and the lightning struck she grabbed his hand and he followed her and the rest of her people through the falling rain and down the mounatins sides to the valley floor. The forest below was lush and green. The atomosphere and mood seemed unearthly and beautiful. Almost reminding him of how gazing at the light of the stars or the water of the sea made him feel. This was akin to it. It was so much stronger. 

Through long moments and and endless amount of tiime they ran and twirled in the pouring rain showers. The rain was heavy and yet gentle. It was revitalizing. It was as if he could feel the bonds being reforged. He could feel the estatic excitement they all felt. He felt her excitment and happiness. Her and her peoples deep connection with the earth and all its wonders. She was glorious splashing around in the rain puddles and amidsts the rain drops.She was perfection and innocence and beauty.

He saw new and old mates chase after one another and play in the falling rain showers. He saw children bask in it. He saw her basking in it as if the rain was the best thing on earth at this moment. He even turned his own head up to let the rain caress it. A tug at his hand and he followed her running after her once more. She made a game of it running from him and suprising him once he lost sight of her. He eventually caught her and hoisted her up into his arms.

They had just entered a meadow when he had managed to capture her. They were both breathless from the long run and play in the rain. He could feel her joy and in this moment he didn't mind showing her his joy. His joy at natures beauty and the beauty of her people. The happiness and contentment he felt at that moment. . . the feeling of being complete couldn't compare to anything he had experince in his long years.

"Why did you want me to be apart of this." he was smiling fully now. As she was.

"I want to show you my world. My people. My culture." she said as her hands cupped his cheeks.

She leaned down as he tiltled his head upward and their lips joined. This kiss was sweet and yet more passionate than the one they had shared the night before. It was a forging of bonds that had grown over the long months previously. The long talks and the building of friendship they had made. This was all apart of it. It fit into it all perfectly. There was no awkwardness in this. As their tounges clashed and the thunder and lightning danced and resounded across the storm clouds in the sky.

He fell to his knees and sat back upon his legs. She wrapped her legs around him as their kiss became longer and deeper. There was no build in desire though. It was just the culmination of joy and happiness. The evidence of the wonder of this moment. They broke apart and he lay his hand against her cheek to make sure that she was real and not some senial dream. She was real he noted smiling up at her as she leaned in to rub her chin over the top of his head.

Once the rain stopped and night had arrived they came back to the village. She sat with him before her hearth as their clothes dried upon their bodies and they filled the night with quite musings and conversation. When he rose to leave she saw him to the door.

"Thank you for last night and this afternoon. It was good to share this with you. And I am happy you took care of me." she said.

"As i said before there is nothing to thank me for. We are friends afterall. And it was an experience I doubt will ever be overshadowed or out done by anything I may ever experience again. So i must thank you as well." he said.

"safe travels to your palace. I will send the first scouts by the weeks end." she called after him as he faded into the darkness

His trip felt suprisingly short and once he reached home he collapsed onto the bed. He was revitalized by the experience he had been through. He was complete and whole and content. He found himself wondering what the fates ever deemed worthy to allow hiim to have such an intriguing woman in his life or witness such moments with her and her people.  

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She slept deeply that night. She slept and remembered and reavealed in the events of the night before and during the run. She revealed in his kisses that made her feel more alive than she had ever felt her entire life. the long years she had lived on this world nothing could compare to the beauty she found in him and his kisses. She felt more complete than she had in a long time.