My fingers ran over the smooth blue-purple stone Legolas had given me all that time ago. I still have not asked him why he gave away his mother's stone to me.

I gritted my teeth and bowed my head in shame.

But I did what I had to do. I must keep Legolas away for his own safety. I'm radioactive. I'm too dangerous. Sauron has too much influence over me and that darkness... it's rising again. What if it accidentally kills him? Or does something worse?

What about the Uur Rauko? If—when I control them... what if I command them to kill him? After all, I won't be myself. I'll just be a puppet of Sauron.

But until that happens, I'll do everything I can do to prevent that from happening. I won't kill innocents. I refuse.

I still remember the first time I had killed an orc. Afterwards, I had barfed up the contents of my stomach on the green ground. I knew that it was an evil creature of Morgoth. But it was still a creature. Still a living breathing thing.

It never got easier to kill. Only easier to reason with myself that I was doing a good deed for Middle-Earth.

But if I killed an innocent... If I killed Legolas...

I would never be able to live with myself.

So, he has to stay away, at least until I get this darkness under control. And when Sauron is gone forever.

And Legolas is still immortal while I'm mortal. Even though I should be immortal, being conceived by two elves and all. In sixty years I'll be dead (If I don't die before then) and he'll be left with a broken heart, never to see me again. Not even in Valinor.

I couldn't do that to him.

But... It seems I already have.

His confession still rung in my ears.

He... loves me.

He loves me.

I dropped my head in my hands and wept.

*********

She doesn't love me.

The thought left silence in my mind. All other sounds were drowned by the crashing quiet, only one thought swimming admits the deep depths.

"Your Highness?" Leofwyn's voice brought me back to the world of noise.

Words came slowly to me. "You may speak."

"Forgive me, I should not talk about personal things with a prince, but are you all right? Something seems amiss." She wore an innocent smile, green eyes alight. Like Lumornel's.

What's wrong?

She doesn't love me.

"You're right, you shouldn't talk about private things with a prince." Without another word, I left her behind, her mouth hanging wide.

The grief in my heart threatened to take over me. Pain exploded in me as if it were my heart being cleaved in two.

I leaned against the wall for support, gasping for a certain kind of breath that would never come. Unbidden tears bit at my eyes, clouding and obscuring my vision before I blinked them away.

This pain...

I clutched at my chest--as if I could bind my heart back together.

But I can't do that. No, this pain would inflict itself on me. Perhaps forever.

I need something to occupy my thoughts. I need answers.

I strode down the hall towards where Duvaineth was being held.

*********

"Lumornel, you can join us if you want," the girl offered.

"Oh, I don't know..." I eyed her leather armor polished to perfection. My muscles itched to feel the strain of a bow or feel the clash of steel against steel. Or just exercise of any kind.

Oh, Mandos's Halls, I haven't been out on patrol since Lothlorien. And besides this is a chance to meet new people... even though I'd rather be alone in my room. But I didn't want to think about myself, this is a chance to focus on other things. Get submerged in another culture.

"Yeah, I guess I could."

The girl who had brought us into Helm's Deep smiled at me. It got awkward.

"Umm... soo..." I took a step back, ignoring the cold metal and dirt smell of the halls. "When are we... going?"

"Oh!" She fidgeted with her bow. "Meet us at the siege tower in twenty minutes. And do you have a bow?"

Well... I did have one. Before Isengard.

"I can find one," I said, an idea forming in my head. "Oh, and what's your name again?"

"Leofwyn."

Such a strange name. But I guess 'Lumornel' is too.

I nodded my farewell and set off down the dimly lit hallways. After knocking, I heard no shuffling of feet or the acceptance of entrance. But I didn't hear anyone saying I couldn't enter.

I slowly pushed open the door, wincing when the hinges creaked. No dancing flame of a candle greeted me. But neither did a person.

Fingers crossed, I searched the room. And found the magnificent little piece of a mallorn tree resting against the wall, pale elven hair of the string glinting from the hall light. The quiver of arrows sat next to it.

Swinging the bow and quiver onto my back, I thanked Eru and the Valar for letting Legolas leave his weapon in his room.

I didn't let my eyes adjust to the hall light as I ran—

Right into a figure.

"Sorry!" I squeaked. I need to pay more attention to my surrounding. Stop sprinting—literally—into everything!

"Pardon me, ma'am." The older lady before me bowed at the hip. Her braided gray hair almost brushed the floor. "It is a pleasure to meet the Prophecy-Written."

Flabbergasted, I took her hands in mine, forcing her to stand normally.

"Don't treat me with such reverence. I am just another maiden like you—with a few perks."

Her azure eyes widened. "Forgive me, ma'am. I've grown up with stories and praises for the Prophecy-Written. It is... such a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine, miss... Uh...?" I questioned with a blushing smile.

"My name is Sunnwyn, my lady. And it is not my place to ask, but would you care to meet my daughter? She has always been fascinated with your prophecy."

The thought was so odd—of having a prophecy to call my own—I couldn't process it. How had it taken this long for the idea to settle in?

"I would be delighted."

She smiled.

"But I'm afraid I cannot now. I am joining the shieldmaidens on the Deeping Wall, but after my shift, I will find you."

She bowed her head, a spark of disappointment in her eyes, "of course, my lady. Thank you."

I nodded my head in a 'your welcome.' I left her quickly, knowing my twenty minutes had already gone by.

After some swift wandering, I finally found the tower Leofwyn had mentioned. The stone craftsmanship grew high above me. I could already feel dizzying vertigo from a height like that. Gulping, I strode into the wide tower—only to find that the women had already climbed the spiraling stairs. I guess I took too long. One of them could've waited for me, though.

Adjusting my—Legolas's bow on my back, I took on the first step. The rock steps jutted out from stone, one side open to the human-splattering floor below. Valar. I quickly looked up and practically hugged the wall as I made my ascent.

Trees were different. Their loving embrace made me feel safe up in their cordial branches. The soft grazing of leaves and tinted green sunlight had never failed me, so I never fell. But the stone was cold and hard, it didn't hold the same safety and promise as green nature. It was distant and didn't share its love.

No door separated the tower from the wall, so I walked out into the sunshine to find the wind. The bothersome gale blew my hair in my face.

Leofwyn caught me sputtering out my mane. "Finally come, have you?" She inquired.

"Um... yes?" Struggling not to wring my hands, I looked away. Women of all ages and sizes stood post with bows and/or swords, mostly golden manes blowing behind them or pulled back in a do. Some milled about talking. But there were some, like the woman nearest to me, who stayed silent. She was a tree in the wind, never moving while her golden hair danced about. She was silent as the grave, her eyes searching the horizon for a loved one who would never return.

Leofwyn laughed. "What were you doing?"

I glanced back at her, her green eyes full of curiosity. For some reason, she reminded me of an eager puppy. Or a too playful cat.

"I was grabbing Legolas's bow," my fingers found their way to the exquisitely carved wood and brought it forward, "and I met a woman named Sunnwyn."

Her sudden smile made me curious as to what she was remembering. "She's a nice lady." Her hand touched something on her wrist. "A friend of my mother's."

"Is your mother here?" I surveyed the faces around me, looking for a face that resembled the sharp angles of Leofwyn's.

She shook her head, "She's dead, I'm afraid. And after this last battle, I'm afraid that my father and brother are dead too."

"Don't worry!" She exclaimed after seeing the expression on my face. "My mother died several years ago and I have my aunt to stay with. She's from Gondor."

That explains the brown hair. But not the carefree way she talked about the dead.

I said nothing, not because I didn't want to speak, but because I didn't know what to say that wasn't awkward.

"Are the rumors true? Did you truly live with the elves of Mirkwood?"

I tucked a clump of hair behind my ear. "Yes. I grew up with them."

"Really?!"

I almost envied how happy she could be after so much death and sorrow. Look at me, I've been exposed to the same thing and I'm already worn down. I don't feel the same as I once was. I don't even look the same.

"Yes," I answered, tugging at my sleeves.

"You talk like them, you know," she observed. "Your speech is lilted, like theirs."

I hadn't even thought about the fact that I might have an accent before.

I nodded, "mmhm."

She tilted her head—And I immediately thought of the ring-Legolas (Morgalen). "You don't talk a lot, do you?"

Yeah? Well, you talk a lot.

"Not when I first meet someone," I replied, trying to find a way out of the conversation. Then again had to sputter out my hair.

The wind up here is even more biting than it is down on the ground. The air is crisper and cleaner, almost like a cool spring night. Down the way, I could hear the clatter of swords—how could anyone practice up at this height? I'd be terrified that I'd fall off. Or accidentally blast someone over the edge.

"I'm gonna go stand at post," I pointed with my thumb to the edge facing the grassy plain outside of Helm's Deep.

"I'll join." No, please don't.

The ground below seemed impossibly far away, the brutal wind not making this height any better. So I gazed upon the faraway horizon, watching for an army of orcs that could possibly harm these people.

I spoke to Leofwyn. Or anyone who would listen. "Does this place have archery grounds?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her nod. "Yes. After our shift, I can show you where they are. If you'd like."

"Thank you." I'll just keep it a secret from a certain wood-elf that I'm using his precious bow. It really is beautiful. I dragged my eyes off the horizon to admire the weapon. The pale carvings swirled beautifully in the curve and where the string of elf-hair attached. The wood was polished to a smooth shine and it curved delicately for a subtle hand grip.

I want it.

He can get another.

Laughing inwardly at his reaction—a bewildered expression and a childish demand for his bow back—I glanced back at the horizon. To where a lone figure, small as an ant, rose above the crest.

"Figure on the horizon!" I nocked and drew my—Legolas's bow, but I'd never make an accurate shot from here. Legolas possibly could though.

Women were sent into action all around as the figure turned into two. And two turned into ten. And that ten turned to twenty. But it didn't stop there.

A hundred soldiers.

And then a cry went out that sent every woman into action.

"It is Eomer's Eored! They have returned to us!"

*********

  "Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight?"

               —Éothain

Thoughts? Rants? Feeellzz?

Anyone watching the Olympics?

  So... now I gotta go study for AP World History... *sigh*

Congrats to my friend no_jams_club for earning a ranking in Fanfiction! If you are interested in K-Pop, I recommend reading her stuffs...

*dies*
Jk jk

Novaer, mellyn!
~awatin~