Authors note: Thraduil will be writing a poem I'm pretty sure in this chapter. The poem was written by aloragreenleaf and I will note it in parentheses after the poem. She is amazing.

Poetry and finding courage. . .

He sat in his study after an audience with his advisors and was now sitting there listlessly gazing at the sketches Loriel had given him on his birthday. She was a great artist and she sang so beautifully. How he missed her voice and the sight of her smiles. It was only when he slept that he saw her and heard her sweet voice once more.

"write a poem for her" Tristan suggested to him as he lay upon the stool beside his desk. He had moved his own little desk beside his doing his studies as he worked on homework.

"It wouldn't be a happy poem." he said sadly.

"Obviously it wouldn't be Mister king." Tristan said.

He thought of it and the more he thought about writing a poem the more he liked the idea. Prehaps it was a way for him to reconnect with his emotions. With his empathy. He grabbed a quill and dipped it in the ink well. He smoothed out the clean parchment and touched his pen to paper. The sharp lines of black contrasted with the yellow of the parchment. The contrast to the plainess of paper and the sharpness of the memories and emotions he was putting onto the paper.

He thought back to how he felt of her the first he saw her standing before the council in the Gondor. He remembered when she bested him in sword play. The archery contest. All the dreams he had of her. Seeing her fly toward him upon the widows walk. Making love to her there on the roof. Making love to her for the whole day after their first night together. And the night he let her take his blood. How precious they all were now to him. Haunting hiim now in his desolation.

Hours or prehaps days later he placed the quill down and moved the ink well away from his finished poem.

"Devil's spawn

Isn't she ?

I can't trust such a creature. . .

can I ?

and she cannot trust me. . .

I dream of her.

Of the creature

That has captivated me.

So

Hr laugh, her eyes. . .

They haunt my mind.

I will myself to forget.

And I will myself to forgo

her

Loriel, why do you

Remain in my mind?

Why can't you

Escape?

Do I keep your thoughts

As well

Do you think of me as

Often as I do you?

Why can't I

Escape?

She unfurls her wings

And flies away

While I am rooted to the

ground.

She sings in the night

And it echoes into

My lonely heart.

that precious child

I met in the woods

That beautiful child

With an arrow in her chest

Was mine.

Both the arrow and the child

Belonged

To me

She says she has no choice

And she says yet I do. . . 

Do I?"

(aloragreenleaf)

"What do you think little one?" he asked.

"I like it. Did you really hate Loriel before you knew her?" he asked in a small voice.

"Yes I did but love makes you do crazy things." he explained.

The boy gave him a strange look. They both went back to their work. He felt much better as if he was unburdened some way or another. His afternoon passed and then the night came and the anticipation to fall asleep overtook him. His heart raced slightly and his breathing quickend. He was esatic for the small reprive from being away from his lady. Despite how sorrowful it made him when he awoke.

**********************

Leogolas looked north and to the east. He rode his horse away from the setting sun. He would follow after his lady. He realized that he cared for her more than he had even Tauriel. He wouldn't just let her go to please his father. Damn his throne and his father. He cared for her enough to follow her anywhere. Places even dargons feared to tread.

He had gathered his thoughts and his courage. He had realized he would never resolve anything sitting in Gondor far from his troubles. The journey of a thousand miles started with a single footstep. Elaine was worth the loss of everything at one time he considered important. She was no passing fancy or infatuation. She was worth suffereing for. She was worth fighting for. And so he set out to find her in the forbodding moutains of the north. He set out to make his feelings known to her. He would prove his feelings and her worth to her.

'She will know before this is over that I am willing to stand by her side as she heals.' he thought as he set his horse to a faster pace.