Title & Chapter Number: Elencálë (The Light of the Elves) 23/?
Author(s): - Author's Index
Fandom: Middle Earth/Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Rating: NC-17 Romance/Adventure
Disclaimer:
Warnings:
Betas: Thanks to Maisha for the Beta.
Cast: Legolas/Shu Lien
Timeline: AU - Post RotK
Spoilers: None
Summary: This story takes place about 100 years after the quest of the One Ring. Even after the fall of Sauron, the foul breath of evil can still be felt on the winds of Middle Earth. Some say it is just the nature of the world, the shadow of the light. Some say it is rising and has once again become sentient. King Elessar rules with a just and even hand, but Men throughout the land are falling into darkness, succumbing to greed, hatred and violence among themselves and against the world. The Light of the Elves departs as the Eldar continue to withdraw to the West, leaving darkness in their wake.
Notes: Elves do not close their eyes during Reverie. While I have updated the sexual culture of the Eldar to reflect more modern values (and indeed the fact that I feel that such sensual and advanced beings would revel in such a pass time and consider it natural and pure), the concept that Elves can tell if other Elves have had sex actually is Tolkien's.
Chapter 23
meditation bell: a brass cup the size of a rice bowl which is struck with a small, smooth stick
* "My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep. The more I give to you, the more I have, for both are infinite." (Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare) Also note that bounty in this sense means "reward, payment"
~*~*~*~
The party traveled hard, making it out the mountain range proper and into the foothills in several more sunsets. There were only four more days of travel before they reached Rivendell, but all in the party felt that this was too long. The tension radiating from Mu Bai soured the pleasure of the company, and as Shu Lien's condition seemed to subtly worsen, so did the party's mood.
Legolas himself was suffering as well and was now waging an internal battle of his own. His concern for Shu Lien had grown unbearable and he begin to worry that her stoic introversion had something to do with their relationship. They had had moments of tenderness since Falmalinnar and Mu Bai had arrived, but they were few and far between. Though he realized she tried to offer him occasional smiles and touches, her ever-increasing distance was evident and it hurt him deeply. He found himself wondering again if she didn't regret her choice.
What exactly was troubling her that affected her so? If he didn't know any better he would have thought it was the weight of the ring. But she knew he was worried about Elencálë. She would have told him if the voice had become a burden, would she not?
He wished she would speak with him about whatever troubled her. Unsure of how to broach the subject, he found himself asking frequently after her health and getting a weak smile and an even weaker excuse of fatigue. Yet, it was almost as if she didn't actually realize how differently she was behaving. And the more she denied any troubles to Legolas, the more he felt it was because he was somehow involved.
The party stopped for a much deserved mid-day break after a hard ride. Falmalinnar did not dismount, but continued down the path for several leagues, scouting ahead.
Legolas watched with anxious concern as Shu Lien slid slowly from her horse until she was standing beside the animal. Turning to face the damp flanks, with a sigh that spoke of an aching fatigue, she leaned her forehead against the horse for a long moment.
Shu Lien was tired. The journey was hard, the terrain severe, but what drained her strength inordinately was the sequestering off of that incessant voice, always present, always tempting, sometimes violent, never still. The combination of her sleeplessness, the throbbing pain, and the fact that she was not used to functioning in such a cluttered mental landscape made for a punishing combination. She was completely immersed in endurance to the exclusion of everything else. And just as one who is seriously ill finds it easy to deny the gravity of their disease, she was unaware that her travails were affecting her persona and that her struggle was acutely obvious.
In the midst of it all she was trying to find her stride amid all the changes that had come upon her in the last weeks. Mu Bai continued to pointedly ignore her and that hurt more than she would like to admit. She would have loved to meditate with him in the mornings, perhaps even train when she had the strength - like in the old days. But he broadcasted a cold, hard renunciation. She would listen to the clear voice of his meditation bell - that was as crisp and bright as the blue sickle moon - as he sat in the woods away from camp, and mourn the passing of her former life.
Legolas walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder and she turned to him wearily, her eyes dull. He regarded her, silently assessing, and tried to quell the anxiety that rose in his chest. But he knew her as he knew himself. She needed his support not his sympathy.
"My love, I will tend your horse. Why don't you take your leave..." He spoke quietly leaning towards her ear, closing his eyes briefly as he inhaled her scent.
Shu Lien smiled her thanks, pulling back to meet his gaze with her troubled one. Legolas' brow furrowed on its own accord. They needed some time alone. She brought her hand to rest on his cheek a moment, and then, without a word, turned to move off from the horse. His eyes followed her.
Shu Lien needed to meditate. It was too much for her to keep such a state on horseback in her current condition, so she found herself withdrawing to sit in the silent Mandärin way during every break in the journey, desperately searching for a calm, for a peace that was never recovered.
This afternoon she was in pain. Her head was aching, and her heart was unbearably heavy. She needed to find her center, though, as every other day in well over two weeks since she had awoken from her injury, she expected that it would elude her yet. On a despairing whim, she thought to ask Mu Bai for the use of his bell, for hers had been lost to the plains of Mordor with her pack. The voice of the bell provided a sharp, crystal point on which to hang one's thoughts. Its song was one of comfort, of tradition, of simplicity.
This was the first time she had approached Mu Bai, and she had to admit, that her stomach fluttered for the nerves. But yet her mind swirled with such a thick haze around the voice of the ring that on some level she felt as though she moved in a dream, and the intense feelings were muted. She approached him as he was unpacking a bag from his horse.
Catching her movement in the corner of his eye, he turned to face her, bowing as she did, palms pressed together. Clasping his hands in front of him formally, his face was dispassionate, but his eyes betrayed his surprise and unease. Quickly it was drowned as his brow furrowed in stern and serious attention.
"Mu Bai, I request a favor." Shu Lien spoke softly and formally in Quenya. "I go to sit in meditation and would borrow the voice of your bell to awake my mind and remember my breath."
His face was unreadable as he regarded her for a long moment before he spoke. "Shu Lien. This is a sacred bell of the Mandärin, as you know. It is not used by those outside of the tradition." The words were spoken quietly, evenly, but their meaning was evident in his eyes and the subtle hardening of his jaw.
Shocked into crisp attention from the muddled whispers and pain, Shu Lien's eyes widened briefly before her face settled into a practiced unemotional bearing. Her heart rose to her throat. She knew she would have to find her way on another path, but to be so acutely reminded of this was disturbing none-the-less. There was a certain subtle condemnation in the inference that cut deep.
Mu Bai watched the surprise contract the pupils in her blue eyes, before it was quickly masked. His heart rose in his throat. He was close to loosing his resolve at the sight of her - speechless, hurt -as he watched her process all of what such simple words meant. But suddenly she regained her composure and, dropping her gaze, she bowed low. Then turning on her heels she retreated to the woods without another look.
Legolas had watched the entire exchange and tried to quell an instant heat of protective and indignant anger which ignited in his stomach. He was already edgy and anxious from his worry. Closing his eyes as he debated a moment, he finally left the side of Shu Lien's horse and approached the Man.
Mu Bai met his icy black stare with one of his own. Legolas breathed in cooling air through his nose, taming his emotions, before he spoke quietly. "The road has been long and difficult. Could you have not lent her the bell, this once? A burden already weighs heavy on her shoulders and heart. Your contempt adds to her affliction."
Mu Bai's face did not register a reaction to these words, he merely flicked his robes back as he brought his hands again to clasp before him and answered slowly, evenly in Sindarin. "You misconstrue the conversation, Master Elf. I do not hold her in contempt." he paused a moment cocking his head, regarding Legolas. "Surely you do not expect that, despite such affronting dishonor, she will continue to be embraced by our Way? It is simply consequence. Not contempt." His face was unreadable, his gaze intense.
"It seems that you speak on your own behalf under the guise of your tradition." Legolas tried to breathe through his growing rage. "You speak in judgment, not compassion. Such choice of words I would not expect from a friend. I know no more honorable warrior!"
Mu Bai's gaze darkened at the Elf's tone. "It is not her honor that I question but yours." He hissed, his voice very low and quiet in his throat. "It is a disgrace that western Elves have fallen so far that their `honor' allows them to seduce a grieving Mandärin woman from her vows!" The disgust dripped icily from his words. "Tell me, Elf, has it been a pleasurable sport?"
Legolas' temper flared hot and sticky within him. Enough!
The hiss of steel seared the afternoon air, and in an impossibly brief flash of movement, one of Legolas' long knives was unsheathed and at Mu Bai's throat. Legolas' eyes were dark, cold and dangerous as he bored a hole through him with his rage. "It is a perilous game you play, Mu Bai," Legolas spat under his breath.
Mu Bai had not flinched and now regarded the seething Elf unperturbedly. His eyes dropped to the blade at his throat before returning to lock with Legolas'. "I see that the infamous restraint and self-possession of the Eldar is well-earned in Middle Earth."
Legolas' eyes did not blink. "Do not test me on this matter, Mu Bai. To your own detriment, you will find that I fail miserably." Legolas forced the words out through clenched teeth as the sound of horse hooves were heard approaching.
Elrohir had come nearer as the conflict had quickly escalated. And now he stepped in. Placing a hand on Legolas' shoulder - his back to Mu Bai - Elrohir leaned over and whispered in his ear. "Peace, Legolas. This will solve nothing, but to feed the fires of discord and hurt her more in the end."
Falmalinnar dismounted and regarded the scene before him calmly.
After a moment, Legolas tore his infuriated gaze from the Man to look into Elrohir's concerned gray eyes. Swallowing, he then regarded Mu Bai who nonchalantly raised his eyebrows.
Legolas breathed deeply and, realizing his folly, threw his weapon to the ground with some force and brought his hands to rub his face. Without a word he turned to stalk off into the woods. He wanted to go to Shu Lien. But not like this.
Mu Bai's eyes followed the Elf and his shoulders relaxed almost imperceptibly.
Elrohir turned and glanced at the him with a brief, measuring gaze, before walking to where Falmalinnar regarded him quizzically.
"Shu Lien headed toward the stream several minutes prior." Elrohir said simply to the unasked question. Falmalinnar nodded slightly and began to move in that direction.
"Master." Mu Bai intercepted his trajectory.
The Elf looked up, face expressionless. The man held out the meditation bell and striker. "For Shu Lien. I lend its voice until our journey is completed." He said quietly as the Elf took the instrument with a business-like nod.
Mu Bai walked back past where Gimli was unpacking while glaring at him, and the Dwarf grumbled under his breath, "I would not have been so charitable had it been me with a knife to that throat."
Mu Bai stopped, clenching his jaw, and turned on the Dwarf with calm, hard eyes. "Master Dwarf, unless you wield a long sword, you could not reach my throat." his tone oozed condescension.
"Then I would have aimed for another part of your anatomy altogether, if it could be found among those skirts of yours!" Gimli countered forcefully taking a step forward.
Elrohir stilled the Dwarf with a strong hand on his shoulder. "Gentlemen. Let us try to be courteous, shall we? There are only four more days until we reach our destination." Elrohir's silver tongue tried to diffuse the tension.
"Four more days too many, if you ask me!" Gimli grumbled as he turned to continue unpacking for the midday meal.
"No one ever does ask you, Master Dwarf, but I have yet to see that give you pause." Mu Bai spoke coolly as he turned to walk to his horse.
Gimli spun around on Mu Bai's retreating figure with a sputtering huff, but Elrohir stilled him again with a firm hand and hard stare. The Dwarf acquiesced and returned to unpacking, muttering things in Khuzdûl that would have turned even Elrohir`s ears red.
Elrohir sighed as he went to his own horse. Four days seemed too long, indeed.
~*~*~*~
Evening would fall soon. Shu Lien glanced back at Mu Bai. He rode evenly, proud, looking off in the distance, stately and dark. She had been so involved in trying to endure the ring's hardship, that she had really let this go on far too long. Especially after their confrontation earlier that day, she needed to speak to him.
Turning back around she sighed, blinking her eyes briefly as her head movement made the headache worsen. Deciding that she would take the moment of her resolve and lucidity to clear the air with Mu Bai, she glanced over to Falmalinnar. He was regarding her thoughtfully as if he could read all that was passing through her head.
"Master, will you excuse me." Shu Lien asked quietly with a bow.
"Of course, daughter." he nodded quickly and returned his gaze to the road ahead.
Shu Lien let her horse fall back from where she had been riding beside Falmalinnar. She smiled somewhat distractedly at Legolas, Gimli and Elrohir as she passed them and came up beside Mu Bai.
The two humans from the Romanórë rode in the fading light for several silent minutes. Shu Lien used this time to try to relax and center herself amid the cold wash of adrenaline. She felt the luxurious sway of her horse beneath her. They were traveling at an easy pace in the cool air of dusk and within the hour would break for the evening. She breathed deeply.
Mu Bai finally glanced to the side and regarded her surreptitiously. She rode with such unconscious grace and poise. She exuded a palpable yet unassuming dignity and self-possession: the epitome of what a Mandärin warrior should be...
Shu Lien looked over to him at that moment.
His eyes did not waver, though he wanted to lower his gaze. Her blue eyes were a striking reminder that so much had changed within her. He saw in their misty depths an indelible sorrow, a fear, a determination, an agony, a joy, a love that had not been there in the blessed days of relative shelter in the Romanórë. It seemed her soul had been aged by both darkness and light. He did not want to see so much: to have to personalize her struggle. It was much easier to keep himself removed. He did not want to examine why he felt so betrayed by her choices.
For a moment they regarded each other. Mu Bai did not notice the slight, unconscious clench that hardened his jaw as he tried to steel himself against what he saw in her eyes.
Shu Lien did. Finally she spoke to him softly in Canton so the others would not understand, though she expected that Falmalinnar would still be able to hear. "I thank you for the use of your bell," she began quietly.
Mu Bai nodded almost imperceptibly, his eyes staying locked on hers, his face focused in stern attentiveness.
Shu Lien took in a quiet, deep breath, closing her eyes briefly at its apex before letting it out slowly. "Mu Bai, I know that you do not approve of the choices I have made."
Mu Bai's eyes flashed briefly with emotion, though his face held his detached composure before he turned slowly back to face forward. "It is not my place to judge your actions." He spoke evenly with no trace of emotion.
"But yet you do. I also fear that I bring dishonor to our tradition by my decision. While I do not abandon our Way in my heart and mind, I must now find my own path, I know that." Shu Lien spoke in merely a whisper as she continued to regard Mu Bai's stern profile. "I want you to know that this was my own decision and it was not made without thought, by any means. But in the end it was my heart that could not be denied, though I tried. When finally I released my thoughts and perceptions, it was this love that was left for me, as clear as the harvest moon in the wind-swept sky. It is a precious gift and I decided to forsake the confines of absolutes to accept it and walk the path laid out before me. I made a decision that was true to my soul. And I do not regret it." Her words were quiet but firm, however still her heart hammered in her chest for his reaction. Shu Lien's hands twisted absently in the mane of her horse.
Mu Bai did not say anything for a long moment. Shu Lien was beginning to think that he would not respond, but then he turned to her again.
He extricated himself immediately from his reaction to the soft, liquid pleading in her eyes. "I will not speak to your spiritual transgressions with any intent to measure. Therein lies the duty of your own conscience. But, you should not have fallen in battle." His eyes were steely and brow furrowed. "You risked your duty, your charge, yourself, by your divided attention. Your emotional indulgence risked, and continues to risk, the completion of the duty that felled our comrades on the plains of Mordor." After pausing, he spoke again slowly and emphatically, subtly biting off each word. "Love has made you weak."
Shu Lien's eyes widened a moment and then she squeezed them shut and bowed her head, bringing her palms together in a bow of acquiescence. Swallowing, he tore his eyes from her and urged his horse into a trot. He met Falmalinnar's inscrutable gaze almost challengingly as he rode ahead of the party where he slowed his horse to a walk once again, his posture stiff.
Legolas had been trying to discern a mood from the flowing tonal language being spoken behind him. When Mu Bai rode past, Legolas turned and stole a glance at Shu Lien. She was riding, head hanging, her palms still together even though they had fallen into her lap. She took a deep breath and twisted a hand in the mane of her horse again and slowly looked up. She met his gaze with her weary and tearing blue eyes, her lips pressing tightly together. Legolas was just about to slow his horse to go to her - Gimli and all - when, with a visible breath, she sat up straighter and an impassionate mask fell over her features. She turned her gaze to the woods around her meaningfully.
She wanted to be alone.
~*~*~*~
Shu Lien awoke with the sun. Legolas had the last shift of the evening and had prepared tea. She accepted the offered warm cup against the damp bone-chilling breath of the morning in these woods, but she could not even meet Legolas' eyes. Quickly, she washed her face and folded the bedrolls silently.
Mu Bai always rose around the same hour and as he headed to the fire, he subtly regarded her as she stowed her things.
Shu Lien didn't notice. Since yesterday's confrontations, she had been unabashedly stoic and silent. Even more withdrawn into herself, if that were possible. She unapologetically knew she did not have resources to deal with anything other than her roiling emotions and the endurance of the ring's vexing whisper. Completing her morning rituals she wordlessly left camp to meditate.
The forest was thick with mist. It softened the rocks and shrubs into silhouettes and swirled like Shu Lien's roiling thoughts in the chilly breath of the morning. The dampness clung to her face like cobwebs and made her clothes cling like clammy palms. Shivering involuntarily, she wrapped the woolen cloak from Mirkwood around her shoulders closer. Finding a spot under a tree, she spread the cloak on the ground and sat to meditate.
After a long time of struggle and failure, Shu Lien raised her eyes from her attempts at meditation and sighed heavily, bowing before bringing her cool fingers to her throbbing temples. Finally she dropped her head in her hands, as sobs rose from her heavy heart.
Warm palms that defied the damp chill of the morning wrapped around her hands and gently pulled them away from her face. Tilting her head up she looked directly into the ebony depths of Legolas' soul. It was held out to her open, loving, tender, concerned.
They regarded each other for a long moment until a whisper of a smile brushed Shu Lien's lips through her tears, relaxing her face, easing her heart. A slow smile washed across Legolas' face as she pulled him down beside her from where he was squatting. After wiping her hand across her wet cheeks, she took one of his hands in both of hers and brought his knuckles to her lips then letting it fall to her lap. Her eyes caressed every detail of those long, graceful, lethal fingers, her middle finger delicately tracing the nail beds and then the back.
Legolas studied her profile, somber and sorrowful, and took a deep breath. "Do you regret your choice?" He asked in a whisper that swirled ethereal with the mists.
Shu Lien looked up instantly and met his eyes, looking from one to the other, measuring, before she spoke sincerely. "Never. My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep. The more I give to you, the more I have, for both are infinite.*" In Quenya she spoke as soft as silk, yet stress pulled the sweetness of the words taut.
Legolas smiled appreciatively and leaned over and placed a loving kiss on her cheek before pulling back and regarding her again. "But yet..."
"There is no `but' in my love for you, Legolas." her words were hushed and emphatic as she returned to Sindarin. "But my mind roils... I cannot... I... I cannot untangle the jumble in my mind." She sighed dropping her head as it pounded; the ring's whispers were rushing with the quickness of a spring stream.
Legolas' brow knitted slightly. "Try. I will help you, my love. Accept what little solace I may offer... you are no longer alone."
Shu Lien's eyes burned from the sweetness of his sentiment. She had never felt so embraced as she did at his side. Lightly placing one of her hands on his chin she stretched up and pressed a loving, grateful kiss against the corner of his mouth. He smiled with a boyish twinkle in his eye before he took her hand in his and looked at her expectantly.
Shu Lien swallowed and focused on their hands in her lap. "When you said you were leaving, it awoke my soul with waves of fear and desperation that threatened to drown me. Instead of suppressing these emotions, I looked them in the face. One by one my mind peeled them away, releasing them, until I had uncovered my soul. What I saw there was my love for you. So strong, so pure, so undeniable." Shu Lien looked up at him with a loving smile. "At that moment I knew that the choice Lady Galadriel and spoken to was not one of weakness or strength but one of authenticity. When you told me of your love, my heart naturally and irrefutably answered in kind. And when you kissed me it then awoke my body as my spirit`s voice. It was quite clear what my path would be... to be by your side for the rest of my days. This future I have never doubted." Once these words had begun, they flowed forth easily.
"But the loss of your people is a difficult price to pay. Does Mu Bai make you doubt your decision? I see the pain in your eyes, my love." Legolas said gently.
"He makes me feel abandoned. Our Way does not condemn me, of this I am certain. The Mandärin forsake possessions and love not because they are inherently evil, but because the more there is to hold, the harder it is to let go."
Shu Lien paused, looking up at him. "The Eldar also struggle with this. Is it better to withhold your love from that which you will lose or to love deeply and come to terms with its impermanence? It is much easier to distance yourself from pain than to embrace it. But if you cannot embrace sorrow, you cannot know joy." Shu Lien took a deep breath and closed her eyes briefly, turning her gaze to their entwined hands again. Legolas nodded, letting his eyes fall to their hands also as he processed all of this.
"Mu Bai actually didn't speak to this but in his eyes and inference. But he did say that I should not have fallen in battle... That love has made me weak." Shu Lien looked back up to Legolas.
He met her gaze incredulously, hearing her tone. "And you agree?! You are not weak!"
"Was it not weakness that drove me to become so involved so soon. I cannot deny that I would bind myself to you, but perhaps I should have done so after this trip. I felt such a withering emptiness, a grief, so alone. I fear that I have let those emotions taint my judgment." Shu Lien's cheeks burned with humiliation. "I have put my emotions before my duty. And therein lies my weakness."
Legolas sighed and hung his head. "We have both allowed ourselves to become distracted." He was still feeling his own guilt for his lack of foresight in the planning of this journey and secretly blamed himself for Shu Lien's injury. "I have not told you... but I drew my knife on Mu Bai yesterday..." His shame was evident in his voice and his gaze was glued to where his hand idly traced her wrist.
Shu Lien turned to regard his profile and leaned over to consolingly kiss his cheek. "I do not blame you! I have had thoughts of that myself." She laughed softly, attempting humor. "Falmalinnar told me that you two had had a disagreement. These are difficult times, meldanya." Pausing a moment to look down to his idle tracing she continued, "What did he say to tip the scales?"
"He said that I had seduced you for sport." Legolas hissed, his anger igniting instantly in his chest.
Shu Lien let out an indignant sniff. "Well you know that no part of such crude allegations is truthful. He himself is in pain. My decision haunts him in a way that I do not understand. He has always been an extremist, but he has also always been reasonable and calm. I do not understand... "
They sat in silence for many breaths, each trying to untangle their individual morass of strong emotions and thoughts.
"Yet for all of our trials, much has come already of our union that is pure Light, Legolas." Shu Lien leaned her head over onto his shoulder, grimacing as her head throbbed from the movement. "This trip would be difficult indeed without the strength of your love." He squeezed her hand and leaned his cheek on her head.
Legolas was quiet for a moment before he spoke, picking his head up to regard her. "We both seek perfection: an impossible destination. Your duty is still intact. We have less than a week until its completion. All will appear different when the sun rises on that day." Shu Lien sat up as well, grimacing again with the pain. But this time Legolas saw it.
"Are you well? Tell me!" He commanded softly turning her head with a gentle hand while he searched her eyes.
Shu Lien sighed, her eyes liquid in the torture, in the pain. "It is the ring, Legolas. There is not a moment of silence in my day from its velvet voice. My head aches from the torment. There is no respite." She brought a hand up absently and rubbed her temple.
Legolas' brow knitted with concern. "Why have you said nothing?" he asked quietly as his hand fell to his lap.
"Meldanya, I did not want to worry you." Shu Lien replied just as quietly feeling suddenly chagrinned.
Legolas, brow still furrowed, let his gaze fall to his hand as several competing emotions rushed through him. Worry, frustration, anger, fear rose unbidden within him and he watched them swirl, waiting for such a visceral reaction to her words to subside.
Shu Lien watched these emotions march across his gaze and squeezed his hand. "Please forgive me I am so used to being alone with my worries. I should not censor my struggle from my friend, from my lover. I feel like once I have stepped off the path, all I do is stumble! " Her emotions rose quickly, her frustration, her fear, her fatigue spurring them on. "My mind... I cannot think! Elencálë whispers through my meditations stealing my center from me. My head throbs incessantly. I have no peace! I cannot bear it!" Her head bowed as she tried to suppress the tears that were threatening to spill.
Legolas looked up, concern immediately dousing the flame of his turmoil and wrapped his arms around her and drew her to his chest. "Shu Lien," he whispered.
He said nothing more but brought a hand to her cheek as he moved slightly to press his lips to her forehead. Closing his eyes he tried to draw her pain from her. Before, he had done it without thought, but now he felt nothing, even with the effort. "Why can I not take your pain?" He finally whispered against her hair, brushing a kiss on her temple. She said nothing but closed her eyes and inhaled his earthy scent and clung to the warmth of his body like an island in the quickly rushing river of her angst.
"Forgive me, Legolas," she whispered.
"I want to be beside you in both darkness and in light, my love. Let me help you." He smoothed her hair back from her cheek as she nodded against him.
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