As we neared Lorien, the call went out and the gates were opened to welcome us. We rode in on Sunset straight toward the stables as I saw the path lined with armed guards that stood at attention as I steered the steed past them. I was not sure why they were all lined up. At the stable, Legolas hopped off the horse first, he then helped me down. The look that he gave me, I did not argue with. He was too worried about my wound; I understood. But there was one more place I had to go before I would take care of it. But first I told the caretaker to give Sunset a good washing and perhaps he would even need to replace a shoe. He bowed to me as I thanked him.

            As I turned away, I was met by Celeborn and Haldir as well as both the armed guards and elves of Lorien who all stood in lines along the pathways. I was confused; Celeborn explained upon seeing my facial expression:

"They are welcoming you home with honor, princess. Both you and your betrothed." I blinked a bit as my vision was a bit blurry, probably more from the pain I was finally allowing myself to feel from my wound than anything else but I was stubborn.

"How is my aunt?" I asked Celeborn without looking at Haldir who was exchanging looks with Legolas.

"Still weak, but gaining strength every day." He said.

"I must see her at once. Please take me to her."

"What about your wound?" Haldir asked impatiently looking me all over trying to find it.

"Soon, soon. Please have a few nurse maids come to my quarters to help me with it." I requested.

"Maybe, it is not a good time to tell your aunt about that, her still being weak and all." Legolas said meekly as I smiled and replied to him:

"My aunt has the gift of sight, my love. She already knows I have been wounded. I can never hide anything from her, even if I wanted to." I touched his face then and asked him to wait for me in my quarters. I then followed Celeborn as I heard Haldir gasp behind me as he finally saw the matted blood in my hair and as he led Legolas to my quarters, the latter explained the how.

            As I walked up the stairs of the great tree and followed Celeborn through a maze of lights and pathways toward their own personal wing, I was nervous as to the state I would find her. After all, I had seen what had happened in Dol Guldur and the force with which she banished Sauron. I had never seen her that scary looking before. As I knocked and was bidden entrance, I saw her lying in bed looking extremely pale. We looked at each other and she was barely able to raise her arms to me as I ran into them. I fell to my knees as I embraced her and tears squeezed out of my eyes. I think it was a combination of the battle just ending, not knowing her condition, and perhaps fearful of my own. But only having my arms around her, did I feel she would be alright; I simply could not lose any more family members. She soothed me but she did not touch the back of my head and from the way we were holding each other, she could see the damage up close.

"Shh there there precious one. I am growing stronger as we speak. Do not worry over me."

"How could I not? I saw, all of it, you banishing him. I felt the snapping as he left my body. Why sacrifice so much?"

"Sauron is gone now into the east and he had a hold on you, I would not let that pass. Whatever power I had, I would use it all to save my family and Mithrandir."

"Aunt Galadriel, I cannot lose you. Please never do that again." I said to her almost admonishing her as she smiled and gestured to my head as I switched back to the common tongue.

"Well that was not my own doing; I did not exactly anticipate having my head make contact with a rock wall's leading edge." I said sarcastically.

"No I suppose not, you fought bravely; just as I knew you would. The Battle is over now." She sighed but I shook my head.

"But for how long? You and I both know that Sauron will not just disappear into the east for eternity. He will not soon forget this defeat." I said getting up and starting to pace as she watched me.

"No he will not, but it will be a long time before we have to worry about that. When you go back to Rivendell eventually and bury yourself in that library, look up the story of the One Ring." She said quietly.

"That is it, is it not? The catalyst for his eventual emergence; that is the something I could not figure out." She nodded. I sighed.  

"Saruman said he would take care of it; of Sauron." I snorted as she looked at me with slightly narrowed eyes.

"You do not trust Saruman." She said it as a statement of fact, not a question. I shook my head.

"I cannot put my finger on it, but there is something off about him. I am probably just imagining things." I shrugged then making my neck tense up as I rubbed it.

"Never underestimate your own intuition; it is one of your many gifts. Who knows where your life's path will take you, take all of us. We must live each day in enjoyment but not forget who we are and be mindful of our surroundings always." She said switching back to Elvish then.

            That is when I remembered; speaking of my gifts. I walked back toward her bed and sat next to her as she looked at me confused. I took her hands in mine and looked deep into her eyes, I let my light leave my body and envelope hers as she gasped realizing what I was doing. She tried to pull away but I held on. When I was done, my light returned back to me and I let go of her hands. A single tear ran down her cheek.

"Why? Why spend your gift on me?"

"How could you even ask me that question? I did not give you everything, just to heal you faster. We all need you back."

"Oh my precious child, how much I love you."

"I love you too aunt Galadriel." She hugged me tightly to her bosom then.

"Now it is time for you to return to your own quarters and get some healing of your own. You can deny it all you want but I know you feel pain and I cannot stand to see you suffer. Go now my child."

            I nodded then as she kissed both of my cheeks and left her to rest as she closed her eyes and let her own light envelope her body along with whatever I had given her. I made my way back through the maze of pathways, taking a short cut toward my own quarters to avoid running into Haldir somewhere on the ground. I was not in the mood for questions. I hoped Legolas had given him the abridged version. I walked into my quarters and saw Legolas standing on the balcony looking out at the grounds below. He was wearing a robe which meant he had already had his bath and now it was my turn. I did not approach him but ghosted into the rooms where my bath chamber was held.

            There were 5 women standing there; they bowed to me when I entered. The first three were my elven maids who took care of helping me in and out of wardrobe if I needed them as well as collected my clothing to be cleaned. The other two were the nurse maids I had requested. I saw Legolas' clothing and weapons on the floor; clearly he had not given them instructions on what to do with them. I smiled and explained:

"Please take the prince's clothing to be washed along with mine own when I remove them and take our weapons to the blacksmith for cleaning as well as polishing and sharpening. Thank you."

        As I undressed and got into the warm water; my weapons and clothing were gathered along with his and carried away per my instructions. The nurse maidens had gotten their supplies out which included different plants and herbs. I washed my body first and then ever so gently dipped my head into the water. As I washed around the wound itself, I started to notice the water turning red. I inched closer to the nurse maidens who with gentle hands, washed my hair near the wound and with a different and clean vessel of water, washed the wound which had almost completely closed by then. It was a long cut closer to my left ear going parallel to it.

        As one of the nurse maidens prepared the herbs and bandages, the other explained that she had to cut off some of my braids as they were too caked in blood to wash and unbraid. I was alright with that as I nodded and heard quiet snips of her going to work with the scissors. Then the chanting began as the plants and herbs were applied to the wound. I took a deep breath as it stung and the area was covered with a bandage. It would take about 2 days to heal completely and my hair was long enough to cover the bandage more or less.

        They helped me out of the bath then as I requested a long silk night dress and a robe in the same color. As they helped me get dressed, easing the garments over my head and then carefully brushing out my hair, I was careful not to move so I would not disturb the bandage. Finally, I was ready. I thanked them for all of their help and went to find Legolas. He was still standing on the same balcony; I walked up to him and touched him on the shoulder as he turned to face me. Without saying anything, I turned to show him my bandage and smiled at him.

"How long must that stay on?" He asked.

"2-3 days. Not long at all. See? I'm healing." He frowned then.

"Elves usually heal faster than that."

"True. And I would have, if it was a smooth rock I had hit and not a jagged one." I explained as he cringed remembering watching that.

"You must stop worrying now. The battle is over." Just as I said that, there was a knock on the door and we both raised our eyebrows; we had not called for anyone. Legolas opened the door to see three elves standing there with trays piled high with food and libations.

"We did not order any food though." I said puzzled as they bowed to us.

"Your aunt sent this to you; she also told us to tell you, no arguments allowed." They said as I smiled.

            They sat the trays down and took their leave immediately as I smiled again and shook my head gently. My aunt definitely knew what I needed before even I knew it. So Legolas and I sat on the bed as he picked out the best food off the trays and fed me from his own hand. We had some of the best tasting wine as we toasted each other and yet I could still see a deep sadness in his eyes that he tried to hide from me. I waited until we were done eating and he put the trays outside to be picked up. I then patted the bed so he would come and sit next to me. He was avoiding my eyes.

"What is it, my love? Tell me." I said gently. He shook his head.

"You will think it foolish." I cocked my head and raised my eyebrow as he sighed and continued.

"I have all of this, you; I should be happy. Instead I feel like an orphan." He said gesturing. By that time I had lain down on the bed and he joined me. We lay there facing each other.

"I do not think it is foolish. You have had a long few days and weeks. And you found out about your mother's real love for you as well as your father's. He let you go to spread your wings and grow. He certainly did not abandon you. I understand the orphan feeling all too well." I sighed as he watched me. I took a deep breath and let my mind wonder to the distant past, one I had not yet shared with him.

"As you know, my mother died giving birth to me and my father left for the Undying Lands soon after. What I never told you was that, he left because he could not look at me without seeing her. So he just left when I was 2 or 3 years old. I do not remember him. I do remember Uncle Elrond calling him a coward. When I was still quite young and living in Rivendell, I packed up my things and without telling anyone, decided to run away; far from the elven lands. I felt like an orphan; I had neither mother nor father and I felt that Uncle Elrond and Aunt Galadriel were forced to raise me because no one else would. I did not want to force anyone to love me because they had to."

"So I snuck off but did not even get to a gate when Uncle Elrond stopped me. He wanted to know where I was going and I told him the truth. I did not care if I survived or not; but I would not make anyone love me because they had to. That is when my uncle stunned me; he went down on both knees before me. Can you imagine? The Lord of Rivendell doing that? He told me that he was not forced to do or feel anything and he loved me like his own child. It did not matter that I was not his actual daughter, he still felt that way towards me as did my aunt. When he hugged me, it was a tight hug; so tight in fact that I could not breathe. I cried and so did he. That was the only time I had ever seen my uncle cry. He also told me that my mother loved me and had asked both of them; uncle and aunt to look after me should anything happen to her. It was like she knew."

"From that day forward, I learned not just through words but through actions, what real love meant. I saw it every single day with the way I was treated by my aunt and uncle as well as Arwen and her two brothers. I was not just a discard, I was family, blood. And I was theirs. So you see my love, family is what you make of it. We both lost our mothers but we know that our mothers loved us no matter what. And though your father let you go, he did not abandon you. I have long ago forgiven mine."

            As I finished my story, both of our eyes were filled with tears and we knew that we both had to do some healing; but this time within our hearts and towards those who wanted nothing but the very best for us. And now most importantly we had each other. As we lay there, music came wafting through the window and my ears perked up as I listened to it and started laughing softly. Legolas listened to it too intrigued.

"What is that?" He asked as he saw my eyes start to shine as I remembered.

"It is a song I used to listen to with Arwen when we were younger; it is called 'Stolen Kiss'. When we would lie out in the grass in the summer time and dream of who our soul mates would be and what our first kisses would be like."

            I had gotten out of bed and slowly twirled around as I giggled with delight knowing full well my aunt had asked for it to be played. Now all of Lorien was listening to it. Legolas watched me as his face slowly let go of its shadows and he too started to smile watching me. Suddenly, he grabbed me and kissed me hard until I could not breathe. When he pulled back I stared at him and asked:

"What was that for?" He smiled peacefully at me and said:

"I had just stolen a kiss that is all."

            I looked up at him in wonder and then he took me in his arms and we turned to the music together as he kissed me again and this time I kissed him back as our foreheads touched and we knew nothing more other than each other and the beautiful sounds wafting through the window.

My aunt was healing us through music, the most divine magic of all.

*Drawing done by AdrianDSolis *