Current mood:	content
Current music:	the sound of birds chirping on the balcony banister

Hearts open like a river, feelings flow downstream
She slept in my arms last night, her long, seemingly infinite strawberry blonde hair brushing over my bare skin as her head rested on my chest. How is it that we came to this? How is it that she ended up embracing me and subsequently bedding with me for what was the most peaceful night since I had returned to the Golden Wood.

I had been over 20 years since I set foot in the woods of Lothlorien. The trees to swell and open up that evening and the setting sun gave the leaves a reddened, amber hue. Beautiful as I remember it, timeless, like a painting. Nothing had changed, but then again why should they have? The hills, as well as their inhabitants, were immortal.

I couldn?t remember when I had last seen a wood that bore such memories. As I rode the rivers Anduin and Entwash, my heart yearned to be back at my home away from home. Lorien had proven to be very relaxing so long ago, but it was a person, more than the place, that drove me back and kept me alive until I returned.

Vorladien Galadyrin...

Vorladien (lorienmaiden) was a student and companion to me for many many years prior to my departure. I grew quite fond of her, as she did of me, but we never spoke of our hearts. It was a relationship between mentor and pupil, that is all... It could never and did never advance beyond that, much to my dismay and as I left Lorien for what I believed to be the final time, my heart sank as she saw me off.

But I returned, bearing battle scars and nightmarish memories, to my Light of Lorien, my Vorladien...

When I arrived, Haldir greeted me in a regal manner, not smiling as could be expected and then escorted me to the Caras Galadhon, as if I hadn?t spent centuries walking this path before. It amused me really... Perhaps he felt that I forgotten my way. I don?t think I was gone that long...

I wander the quarters, retracing my steps as if I were walking in dream. The sun was getting dimmer, and the silver lights flickered and glittered about me. I was dazed, slipping off into a trance like state when I heard someone calling to me: "Legolas! Legolas!"

I immediately knew who it was.

Running towards me was the Lady Vorladien, clad in a simple dress, her hair flowing about her slender shoulders. Her bare feet didn?t make a noise on the fallen foliage as she approached and stopped dead in her tracks a few feet from me. For a while, we said nothing and looked silently at each other, not sure of whom was to speak first, who was to make the first gesture. At least, she bowed low, in her usual regal way, and gazed into my eyes.

"Legolas..." she said, her song-like voice almost humming the Sindarin, "It has been far too long."

"Indeed it has, Vorladien." Smiling, I stepped forward and took her hand. "Would it be foolish to say that you haven?t aged a bit?"

I watched as her fair, slender fingers entwined with my own and she grinned gently, regally like her mother, and she looked at me gently. "I had wondered when our paths would cross again..."

I nodded slightly.... As did I, my lady, as did I...

The remainder of the evening was spent reminiscing, updating each other on our adventures, stories. However, as we spoke, our hearts began to open and my words became more that of a suitor than a friend, but I cared not. It had been too long to pretend not to care for her. She had learned most of what she needed to know in my absence and it was time things became less tense between us.

I had many things I wished to give her, but most importantly, I wished to give her something of great importance to me: my bow. Immediately after I left it in her hand, she attempted to return it to me. I raised my hand to stop her and shook my head.

"Keep it," I demanded, "It has seen many battles and has served me well.. It is time it served you..."

Her eyes widened and blinked in shock, but in thanks she did something that both shocked and pleased me. Her lips met my forehead, her cool breath brushing my skin. It was the most beautiful feeling in the world.

The night had long fallen around us, but it didn?t matter... She escorted me to my room, down the corridor from hers, where I had stayed for centuries past. My royal garb still hung in the closets, the large, cumbersome grey robes of my people, and the more manageable silver-threaded leggings and shirts, all there as I had left it so long ago. It was if I never left.

She stood in the doorway, her head resting against the wall, as she watched me get settled, speaking to me of what she had been doing, stories of meetings and hiding from her cousin, Haldir. Finally, she spoke of how much she missed me, how the days seemed longer, how she looked out until the South and East for me day after day.

By Elberleth, I adore her. She was so radiant and pale in the light of her people. She looked almost ethereal...

It was a good time to give her the gifts that I had saved when I had been away. First, I gave to her a silver horse broach from Rohan, inlayed with sapphire eyes. It took to her immediately, reminding her of Nereleen, the horse that I had taught her to train on her own. The first lesson I ever gave her.

The second, most protected gift I had kept in the bottom of my quiver, where I knew it would never be lost or unsafe. It was a Mithril ring on a silver chain. Written in Tengwar was the inscription TO THE LIGHT OF LORIEN, MAY THIS KEEP YOU SAFE IN TIMES OF UNEASE AND LONELINESS. It took to her at once and her aqua eyes became little pools as she cried happily, repeating how perfect and beautiful it was as I clasped it on her slender neck.

I don?t know what happened next, but soon we were in a gentle, but passionate embrace, kissing in a way that we had never done before but had always meant to. It felt so right, but I pulled away anyway and looked at her, my eyes full of both pain and love. She stepped back and left me along briefly to "fetch something I saved for you", she said. When she returned, she gave to me a Lothlorien bow, long and stout, with expert carvings at the center. At first I believed it to be hers, but she handed it to me, placing it my shocked, stunned hands. "I had made this... for your next return...you will see that it is just right for your need and skill.." she uttered, though I am surprised that I could even hear her. I ran my hands along it and felt like I was a boy again, receiving gifts for my birthdays from my family!

However, if that wasn?t enough, she gave me a silver ring, that bore the White Light and read: MAY THE LIGHT BE YOUR STRENGTH IN PERIL AND LONELINESS

I set the bow next to my quiver and put my ring on my finger. Once again we found ourselves kissing again, speaking words of love, but how is it that I could be with her....

The truth is that I shouldn?t feel this way for her, I shouldn?t love her. This love is a doomed one, she knows this as well as I, but we still remain together. Somehow, whether it be through force or will, I will end up leaving her, I know. But now that I have her, how I can I let her go? What awaits me back at Mirkwood will forever murder our hearts, so I remain her, in her presence, until I am forced to return to my home...

Will we spend our lives together or be forced apart? For now the love between I, Legolas Greenleaf, and the maiden Vorladien shall remain in secrecy, until the path of our fate is clearer in front of us.