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L U M O R N E L

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"Stop twitching!"

Legolas stilled, but wouldn't meet my eyes. His shirt lay discarded behind him on the bed while his day old bandages covered his torso, leaving his chest bare.

I chuckled, more for his benefit than mine. "It's not like I haven't seen you bare-chested before."

Though not very much...

He shook his head. "It's not that, it's..."

Right. I gripped the fresh bandages in my hand harder. Silently, I recalled the steps to changing his wrappings that Aragorn had shown me.

"I can change my own bandages, Lumornel. I've had to many times before."

I scowled. "Because you're too reckless, meleth. You shouldn't need wounds to bandage."

His lips twitched in an almost smile before falling back down. His eyes fell and focused on some pattern on the floor's rug.

Would he even tell me if he had any other wounds?

I raked my eyes up and down his body, checked his posture for any weakness, tested if he was leaning more than usual on one side more than the other. Everything, other than the thick bandage around his middle, seemed normal. But he had hidden that from me for so long...

He shifted. "What are you doing?"

He didn't seem hurt anywhere else, but... "I'm wondering if I need to undress you."

Fire consumed my cheeks, all the way down my neck.

"To see if you're hiding any wounds!"

If he felt offended at my lack of trust, he didn't show it. Instead, he smirked and raked his eyes around the room before landing on me.

"Are you sure that's the only reason?"

Swallowing past the burning mortification, I ducked closer and began to unwind his bandages. "You're insufferable."

"Oh, but you so enjoy it."

I bit my tongue, then quickly kissed his hairy head. "You're right. I do. But that doesn't make it any less suffering." I patted his cheek and then solemnly began to wrap his wound, trying—and failing—to ignore the black spider web wound that was ever so slightly larger than the day before.

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I stopped short as Legolas led me into a room. Well, more like a rough and heavily nature-filled cave. Cool sunlight filtered through natural breaks in the ceiling, scintillating on the dew clinging to the earthen walls. Brown, spindly plants dangled down from above, thread-like roots piercing through the dirt ceiling to reach their wisp roots towards our heads. The ground, though it was winter, was sparsely populated by green moss, the dirt floor dark with dampness. And... and I could hear the trickling of water, somewhere. It was as if this section of the caves was too serene to transform into a proper room.

We couldn't safely go outside—we couldn't risk being spotted by the enemy—but... Legolas had brought me to a place where the outside came indoors. Warmth pricked my eyes.

I held onto Legolas's arm, leaning into his side. "This is wonderful," I whispered. I did my best to ignore the guards Command had forced upon me, watching silently from the door.

His smile was a force of its own, I didn't have to feel it through my abilities, I could simply feel its joyful radiance.

I blinked away the unexpected warmth in my eyes and recovered, glancing around at the beautiful area—devoid of any objects of use. "What are we going to do?"

He shifted slightly, almost seeming to straighten. "I could make good on my promise and teach you to dance?"

I started. "With no music?"

"Do we need music?"

"You know, I remember when I first asked you to teach me you complained that there wasn't any music."

He shrugged. "Things were different then." His tone, those haunted eyes, held so many things behind those words. Longing, regret, and anger.

This wasn't a day to reminisce. After all, Elladan had forbidden it.

"Well..." I gave him a warm smile. "These feet aren't going to dance themselves." I kicked off my shoes and socks, then pulled him into the stream of winter light. "Teach me, caun nîn."

He snapped out of his reverie, blinking as he returned to the present. Then he saw my bare feet.

"No shoes?" He looked at my feet as if they were some strange, incomprehensible contraption, and blinked a few times. He raised a hand slowly to his head.

My heart twisted at his obvious disconnection.

"Yes, meleth. I like feeling the ground underneath my feet."

His hand in mine gripped me tighter, and—finally—he chuckled. "Sometimes I'd swear you were born Silvan."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Now... uh... dance!" I grabbed his other hand and began making awkward motions with our arms. There was a beat, somewhere, to be found in the trickling of far off water.

He laughed.

"If you would teach me," I said pointedly, "I wouldn't have to make a fool of myself by doing this."

I continued to move our arms aimlessly. I even threw in a little shuffle-in-place. 

"Maybe I prefer to watch you do this."

My arms dropped and their wiggling ceased. I put my hands on his shoulders in what I hoped was a dance position and nodded encouragingly.

That soft Legolas smile reemerged again as he chuckled. He slid one of my hands off his shoulder and fit it into his own, holding our entwined hands out to the side. Oh... oh, I suppose this is how people dance.

"Relax your hand, meleth. Let it barely touch mine."

I frowned. "But your hand isn't relaxed."

In fact, his slender hand was anything but relaxed. He held it out, palm facing me at an angle. His fingers were locked into place.

"I am the ellon, so I must be the guardian of this dance, strong as my graceful elleth dances elegantly with me. You are the playful spirit of the wind, while I am the ageless tree, standing tall throughout time."

My hand barely brushed his, draped in such a way that was delicately stately. Yet... free. Like the wind. The corners of my lips twitched.

"Where did you get that description?"

He guided me through the first few steps, difficult, but surprisingly fun. "Glaeridhren, an elleth I consider to be my second mother."

Before I could even dwell on who this Glaeridhren was, Legolas twirled me away from him, breaking apart our joined hands. I stumbled to a jarring halt. Not very elegant, Lumornel.

"This next part is the Lady's dance. You'd dance around me as the wind plays through a tree's branches, but I do not know the exact movements. Arwen will have to teach you, if she knows."

"Why wouldn't she know?"

"The Taer Lilla is a courtly dance unique to the Sindar only. If Arwen was taught it, it was solely for diplomatic reasons."

"If you didn't know all the elleth parts then why..." I understood before I finished, yet Legolas responded anyway.

"When we return home, as being the Lady who captured the Prince's heart, you will be expected to know the dance. The Taer Lilla is danced at every ball."

I heard the if implied between those words. If we return home.

Taking a phantom hand and pushing the thought away, I took Legolas's hands and put them once again around my waist. "Teach me something you know all the elleth parts to."

He nodded, a slow grin spreading across his face. "Oh do I have a dance for you. I'll start as slow as I'm able."

"What—"

He swept me off into a dance as wild as the wind itself, but true to his word he remained slow, guiding my steps. But the dance demanded speed, this slow pace seemed almost against its nature. Soon, we were losing ourselves in the tripping of my feet and the nonexistent rhythm of music and to the raucous tinkling of our laughter.

Once I could look him in the eye without checking my footing, he laughed deeply and swept me off with the proper speed... and into a dance full of vibrancy. It was a lot of jostling and skipping, a lot of going round in a big circle. I could almost feel the heat of the bonfire we would have been galavanting around, hear the joyful cries of other elves, and sense the forest canopy almost obscuring the twinkling night sky that would have been above us. Legolas kept a firm hand on my lower back, leading my every step. If it hadn't been for that and the base steps he taught me beforehand, I would've been left behind in the ordinary world.

"Spin!" he yelled, a moment before flinging me out along his outstretched arm. I twirled happily and he lifted our connected hands and ducked under the bridge, twirling himself into me and—

We were off again, dancing about as if we were wood sprites, lighting this little portion of our world with smiles and laughter. And I was there again, in the midnight clearing with elves and festive fire, spinning and dancing and smiling. He dipped me low, his lips leaving a fiery trail as they skimmed my neck before he swung me about, our feet moving in sync—

I screeched as he lifted me into the magical air, plopping me down after a half twirl. And after a command from him, tinkling, giddy laughs falling from my lips, I skipped around his proud form, as if he were a great forest stag. And then as if humbled by the lovely wood sprite flitting about him, he bowed as I came to a stop, taking my hand and lightly pressed his lips to the delicate skin. A gift from the woodland prince of old.

The dance halted, our chests heaving from the exertion, eyes staring in wonderfilled awe at the other. The magic of the scene dissolved around us and, grinning, I fell into his chest.

"I love dancing."

"I can't wait to witness the silvan see you dance for the first time."

I pulled back. "You'll take me to one of their night festivals?"

He was already grinning. "Of course. The silvan will be beside themselves that they'll have such a wild elleth as you as their princess."

I almost gasped. Princess.

I knew we both thought in terms of forever. A union was both in our dreams and desires. Yet to hear him speak as if we had already decided to tie ourselves together for eternity... well... my eyes welled up. Princess... Oh, how I wanted to be my people's princess, to promise them that I would take care of their prince forever. To promise them that I would take care of them. I was ready for the task.

The warm tears spilled over. I wanted that future more than anything.

Legolas's blue eyes swam with understanding and his hand cupped my face, thumb rubbing my cheek ever so softly. "Oh, Lum. You know that is what I want. I have never hidden that from you."

I nodded and gently kissed him, letting him hold me for a small moment of our eternity. I let myself imagine that future for a moment. Saw my hand in his as we walked amongst our people, delicate circlets upon our brows. A child in my arm. Warm smiles upon our sunlit lips.

Then, I tucked away that image in a safe box. That was a relic of something I couldn't imagine. I couldn't become attached to it. I could take it out long enough to smile, but I couldn't forget the present. Not when I knew that my future may not hold that, not when I knew who I was up against, and who I had to save. Nothing in that perfect image was promised, and my life was one of them. And so was Legolas's.

I brushed a mental finger along the box that image was hidden in. I would fight for that to be true. But for now... I wanted to waltz and whirl. I smiled, kissed my prince again, and let him lead me in another dance, painting the cave in the light of our joy.

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I'm gonna try to keep this short. Hello! Hi! Lovely to see you all again!

College sucks. Me no likey lol but I'm hoping this next semester will be better. Maybe I'll find more time to sneak in some writing.

Thank you for reading even though it's been quite a while since I updated, you all are the best!

God bless and hopefully get you another chapter soon,

phoenix