Adult-FanFiction.org : Lord of the Rings

Sleeping Beauty	By : SilentNiobe Category: -Multi-Age > Het - Male/Female Views: 6613 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own the Lord of the Rings (and associated) book series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
Author’s Note: Some people asked me the reason why Alice is going to Rome... If you take a look at Chapter 4, you will see that I mention someone in Rome that Alice had contacted in order to get more information about the myth� Thank you all so much for your reviews! I hope you will enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Disclaimer: See Prologue.
italics: thoughts
--italics--: flashback

Chapter 15 – A visit to Rome
“Do you have a coin?”
Alice moved her attention from the happy crowd around them to her cousin.
“Why do you need a coin?” she asked confused.
“I feel like making a wish tonight,” Johan replied with a smile, as he lifted his eyes to the star-woven summer sky wearing an unreadable expression on his face.
Alice turned her gaze to the magnificent fountain beside her and the people who were now and then throwing coins in its clear water, their faces lit with the hope that their wish would come true. She loved the way the white marble shone on the lighted statues of the Tritons; the grandeur of Oceanus’ shell chariot took her breath away everytime. Fontana Di Trevi was full of tourists at this time of the year and Johan had insisted on going for a walk instead of “staying in the hotel and sulk”. He was once more his usual optimistic, annoyingly bright self and to Alice’s disappointment, he did not let her ponder on what had happened as much as she would like –which was probably his plan in the first place. She hadn’t completely registered the events of last night in her mind and she found herself standing somewhere between bitter rejection and renewed hope; occasionally one would overcome the other, but her pain at having driven away both Legolas and Logan was an ever loyal companion. What kind of selfish creature had she become...?
“Do you seriously believe in these things?” she asked with a mocking voice as cynicism reigned momentarily on her feelings. Those fountains and their ridiculous myths! Were people so naïve to believe in such tales?
Johan brought his gaze back to Alice, a small flicker of challenge in it. Reaching for the necklace hanging from her neck, he brought it in front of her eyes.
“Shouldn’t you as well?”
The red-head rolled her eyes. Yeah right. So she woke up to find a necklace miraculously on her neck. And so the necklace had extinguished the fire in Johan’s fireplace the moment it touched the flames. So what…? Were they enough proof that Legolas was real? When they had found no castle and she had stopped dreaming of him altogether? What were the odds? Believe. You need to believe, she reminded herself and sighed.
Wordlessly, she reached for the pocket of her jeans, searching for a coin. Her hand came up with, not only the object she was looking for, but also another that made her brow lower in thought. She gave the coin to Johan and proceeded to unfold the crumbled paper in her hand.
Professor Bianci’s address.
“Should I make a wish for you as well?” Johan asked with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, ready to throw the coin.
Alice looked up from the piece of paper in her hand, giving Johan a grin.
“You know you have to throw three coins with your right hand over your left shoulder and your back to the fountain, right…?”
Johan scratched his head.
“Really?”
Alice nodded amused and her cousin just shrugged.
“Oh well. I’ll take my chances,” he told her with a playful wink and turned his back to the fountain. “Wish?”
“No, thanks. I think I’ll make my own later,” she replied, watching Johan’s coin land in the fountain with a plop.
“Holy cow, now that’s what I call fast service!” Johan exclaimed laughing bewildered, his stare fixed in the distance.
Alice tried to follow his gaze confused at his words when she saw a young woman waving to Johan. She turned to him with a raised eyebrow; what was going on here? His cousin turned an excited face to her, a wild grin on his face.
“Johan? You’re scaring me…” she said with an uneasy laugh.
“My God, what is she doing here of all places…?”
He took a step forward to leave, but Alice grabbed him firmly and turned him around.
“Uhhh Johan…? Mystery blonde? Name?” she told him with humor in her voice, watching as her cousin’s smile grew even brighter.
“She’s Andrea!! Remember Andrea? The girl who knew all about the myth when we were kids?” he replied, as he started walking towards the young woman.
Holy cow, indeed.
Alice stood shocked for a few minutes, looking back and forth from Johan to the fountain. Well, that was some story! She wondered what Johan could have possibly wished for… Her lips formed a soft smile as she pondered at the possibilities. Of course. Her sweet, caring Johan would have wished for some luck with their search, anything to help them get out of this mess… so like him to be so thoughtful.
“Alice! Do you remember Andrea?”
Johan could feel himself almost bouncing from excitement as he dragged a laughing Andrea behind him to re-introduce her to Alice. This was beyond luck, chance, fate, karma, whatever! He could not believe the perfect timing of their meeting! He had just wished –quite childishly, he should admit- for a little luck to help them find the castle and… tada! In less than two seconds, he had turned his head to find Andrea staring at him, probably trying to figure out whether it was her old friend or just some stranger who looked like him. She was truly like a gift sent from above; bright blue eyes, strawberry blond hair that reached her shoulder blades in straight locks and the foxy smile he would never forget… who forgets their first love anyway?
“Yes, I think I do… Hello Andrea, I’m Alice!” his cousin replied with a smile and shook Andrea’s hand a little too excitedly. Andrea seemed to notice and shot him a curious glance, but smiled politely to Alice.
“Hello Alice, nice to see you again.”
“Um… we are actually very lucky to have found you,” Johan said in a low voice, not quite sure how to explain the situation. Alice gave him a warning look; perhaps they should not talk about it here.
“Really?” Andrea seemed genuinely surprised. “How so?”
“Why don’t we go for a drink?” Alice suggested.
“Good idea! That’s if… you’re not otherwise engaged…?”
Johan had not meant for the last word to come out as having a double meaning, but Andrea lips parted in her characteristic foxy smile, making Alice the curious one this time about their interaction.
“No, I’m not otherwise engaged. I was actually planning on making some dinner,” she said showing the grocery bag she held. “Do you guys want to come over?”
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“So…”
Alice could detect the sound of nervousness in Johan’s voice. Over dinner she had watched amused the silent communication between her cousin and the blond woman, but none of them had let any clue of their relationship slip through their casual conversation. It had turned out that Andrea was Johan’s neighbor and classmate throughout all their school years and that she had been working in Rome for the past couple of years in some Law company… which was all the information she had gathered from their recounting of childhood memories while eating the German’s delicious pasta.
“Yes?” Andrea sounded amused, as if she knew what Johan would ask her. She gave him the last dish she had washed with humor in her eyes, but Johan seemed too lost in his thoughts to notice.
“You know, the last time I met you in London… in that conference…”
“Hmm-mm”, Andrea nodded. “I used to work for a company in England back then.”
“Yeah I remember… I also remember you worked there because your boyfriend did…”
Alice almost burst out laughing from the couch where she sat. She had been so right in thinking her cousin had something going on with his childhood friend. Andrea was biting her lip as well, probably expecting this kind of question at some point.
“Yes, well, as you can see I am in Rome now and not otherwise engaged,” she replied with her characteristic smile and Alice could tell Johan was probably as red as a tomato by now.
“Right… well…”
“So why are you here? You still haven’t told me,” Andrea changed the subject quickly, as if trying to spare Johan the embarrassment. “Alice, do you want some coffee?”
“No thank you, I won’t be able to sleep again,” Alice grimaced knowing that sleeping wouldn’t do any good either.
“Oh. Some tea then? Or chamomile with honey, it helps with sleeping problems,” Andrea offered again, to which Alice nodded.
“Chamomile sounds great.”
Alice watched as Johan helped Andrea prepare their drinks, rolling her eyes at the way Johan’s hands seemed to touch Andrea’s more boldly. Not that Andrea seemed to mind, but Alice needed some help with explaining the situation to the German woman and Johan’s mind seemed to be on everything else but the myth. Eventually, they both walked to the couches carrying the mugs and took their seats, Johan next to her and Andrea on the couch facing them.
Oh, this is going to be fun.
“So…?” Andrea looked at both cousins expectantly. “You said you were really glad to find me because…?”
Alice heard Johan gulp beside her.
Fun, indeed.
“Andrea, um… Remember that myth in our village? About the Enchanted Prince?”
Alice could not help but be amazed every time at the reaction the simple mention of the myth brought out of everyone. Andrea’s face seemed to pale for a moment, her jaw slack, but she quickly put on an impassive face and tried to look unaffected.
“Yes, what about it?”
“Well… it seems that the myth is real and we need your knowledge to help Alice find the castle…”
Way to go cousin.
Andrea looked back and forth between the red-head and her childhood friend, her eyes wide. Great, another one who thinks we are loonies, Alice thought with a groan and took the mug with her chamomile drink from the coffee table. Andrea’s mouth shut at some point and she let out an uneasy chuckle.
“You’re… You’re joking, right?”
“Uhhh… no. Unfortunately.”
Alice tried to tune out Johan as he began explaining the story to Andrea; she did not need to go through all the painful memories once again. A bittersweet smile formed on her lips. Painful. Three days ago, those memories were the most wonderful nights of her life; now, they were only painful reminders of what she would never feel again, if they did not find the castle. And she wasn’t as sure anymore that they would.
She closed her eyes as she brought the mug close to her face and inhaled the scent of chamomile. A strange feeling enveloped her senses. The smell did not disturb her exactly… no… it stirred. It stirred images… a memory hidden in the far corners of her mind… Her hand lowered the mug from her lips and she stared unseeingly to the picture which started unfolding before her eyes, the sound of the river and the birds drawing out the worried voices of Johan and Andrea…
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Alysse hummed a merry tune to herself as she carefully cut the chamomile flowers scattered in the field around her and threw them in the bag lying on her lap. Now and then, the voices of the villagers would travel across the lake and disturb the melodious rustling of the trees around her. But she paid no heed to them as she focused on her work; the Elvenking had run out of the soft-smelling herbs and had sent word to her father that he needed a generous supply of his special mix containing the dried flowers.
Her father was well-known of the mixtures he made of herbs and spices, and people from all over Middle Earth visited his spice store for supplies. These were dangerous times, however, and his customers had narrowed to those near Laketown, including the Elvenking. Rumor had it that his son was very fond of her father’s secret mix with the chamomile flowers, so Aysse had to pick the finest of the ones adorning the soft green grass and she did so with great care.
“Now I know who I will hold responsible for every flower disappearing,” a soft voice spoke behind her, startling her out of her thoughts.
Her biting retort died on her lips, as the owner of the voice moved to sit across from her on the grass.
“’Tis… ‘tis you!” she managed to say as she willed her heartbeat to a normal pace, wondering once more why this elf made her cheeks burning like the infatuated silly girls she always made fun of. He was handsome, alright. Actually, handsome was an understatement. And he had… kissed her. She felt her blood boil under her skin at the memory and she glared at the elf. He only seemed more amused.
“Were you expecting someone else?”
She could not believe the audacity of this elf. Was that irony in his voice?
“What do you want from me?”
“Nothing but your company.”
“My company does not involve kissing me against my will!”
The elf’s smug smile seemed to fall at her statement.
“I can only offer my apologies my lady, for I cannot explain what came over me that day. I assure you it was completely out of character and will not happen again.”
Alysse leaned her head to the side trying to decide whether to believe the elf or not. His face betrayed nothing of his thoughts, but his eyes were holding hers in a steady gaze, their clear blue making every objection against this elf melt away. She really hated him for disorienting her so easily.
“So what are you doing in our humble town again?” she asked trying to make her voice sound casual, when in truth her heart kept fluttering like a bird in a cage. “Is the court of the Elvenking so boring?”
An unreadable smile crept on the elf’s lips and he shook his head.
“Nay, my lady. Although I must agree with you on the court being absolutely boring, I was sent here on a trading mission again.”
“But you wear the braids of warriors, the ones worn by those in command of the King Thranduil’s army,” the woman pointed out and the elf’s eyebrows rose in surprise.
“You know a lot about elven customs, Lady Alysse,” the elf commented and Alysse could not help but smile once again at the way her name sounded spoken with such velvety texture of voice.
“My father holds business with your King for many years, so I have learned many things beside him,” she replied, watching in curiosity at the way the elf’s lips twitched slightly every time she mentioned something about their King.
She noticed the elf’s eyes focusing on something at the far end of the lake, a small frown appearing on his face. She followed his gaze, but could not see anything behind the row of trees that blocked her vision.
“Indeed,” he said absentmindedly after a while, turning his attention to the white flowers in her bag. “I love their scent.” He brought one to his nose inhaling the sweet fragrance.
“Apparently your Prince loves it too, which is why I’m gathering these flowers now,” she said laughing as she resumed her work, remembering why she was sent to the field in all haste at the first place.
The elf’s eyebrows rose once again in surprise.
“Does he? How come you hold such private knowledge about our Prince?”
“Secrets of our job,” she replied with a wink and giggled.
“By the Valar, I was not aware that gossip about the Prince had escaped our borders!” he said with mock offence but joined the young woman in laughter. Alysse was momentarily distracted by the beautiful sound but shook her head to fight off the daze.
“Oh why do you care? He must be some arrogant royalty, pampered and bratish like all princes, sending poor girls like me gathering herbs for –hear this- relaxing his aching muscles in bath!”
Her voice was heavy with sarcasm, as she made dramatic gestures with her hands. The laughing reaction she expected never came, however, and she noticed with dismay that the elf across from her looked troubled.
“Me and my big mouth,” she sighed, “I have offended your Prince, please forgive me!”
“I… is that what your people think about our Prince?”
“No, ‘tis what I think of princes in general,” she replied a little unnerved by his sudden change of spirit.
“I assume you have met many princes in your life, to have formed an opinion.”
His comment made her feel a little embarrassed.
“No, actually I have met none.”
“Then how can you be so sure about what our Prince is like?”
“I am not, I just imagine he must be like this.”
“Why must he?”
Alysse sighed exasperated at the persistence of the elf.
“Because that’s what princes are like!”
“How do you know what princes are like, if you have never met one yourself?”
Alysse was almost distressed at this point. She felt like a scolded child and to her dismay tears threatened to escape the corners of her eyes. What if the King punished her for speaking ill of his son…?
“Because that’s what I HEARD princes are like…”
Her voice was small this time, tinted with a shade of embarrassment.
“I can assure you our Prince is nothing of the sort. From what I have heard, he is risking his life protecting the borders like every other soldier serving our King and after fighting off orcs for hours or even days, I believe the aching muscles of an archer deserve your father’s herbs in his bath.”
Alysse blinked. The elf looked offended. Actually, she thought he was offended, because she could never be sure with the usually stoic faces of his race.
“You sound like you know the Prince personally,” she said a little hesitantly, afraid now that the elf would drag her in front of the Prince to have her head for her insolence.
“Let us say that I do, in a way.”
The unreadable smile again. Perhaps he was not truly offended.
“In what way?”
“Have you also heard that he is one of the best archers among his kin? His aim is unparalleled,” the elf said with a proud smile, clearly avoiding answering her question. Alysse rolled her eyes and got up dusting off her dress; of course she had heard the rumors about the elven Prince’s archery skills and she couldn’t care less.
“As much as I would love hearing tales and songs about your Prince’s courage and legendary battle skills, I must return home. My father needs to prepare the herbs for his bath. It would not do to leave the Prince’s muscles aching… Being so skilled with the bow must be exhausting!” she said with a dramatic sigh and bowed to the elf who was grinning like a child.
“My Lady, you truly have no idea…”
Alysse shook her head chuckling and took the road leading to the town on the lake, turning back only once to look at the elf; sitting on the same spot, he was watching her leave, the same unreadable smile on his face.
She had hardly made it to her house, when she heard her name being called and turned around to find her best friend running all sweaty and flustered towards her. Reaching Alysse, she doubled over, trying to catch her breath then grabbed her and shook her like a madwoman.
“What was he like??”
Alysse looked at her clueless, trying to pry her hands off her shoulders.
“What are you talking about…?”
“Stop acting so dump, my brother was at the far end of the Lake fishing and he said he saw you talking to him!”
“Fena, you’ve talked to elves before, you know what they are like!”
Alysse could not for the world understand what had gotten into her friend all of sudden.
“Sweet Elbereth, do you honestly not know who you were talking to..? This is the Elvenking’s son, Prince Legolas of Mirkwood!!”
Alysse just stared at her speechless. It seemed a whole lifetime to her until her heart started beating again, and when it did, she really wished for the ground to split in two and swallow her, so she would not have to face such a humiliation. Of course, he had said his name was Legolas. And of course, she was probably the only person in Esgaroth that didn’t know the name of the Elvenking’s son.
Had she really mock the Prince right at his face??
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“Alice? Talk to me, Alice!”
“Oh my God, what’s wrong with her?? Should I call an ambulance??”
She could hear the voices clearly now, and she instantly became aware of two strong hands shaking her. Alicewas about to open her eyes, when a smack reverberated across the room and the burning on her cheek informed her that someone had slapped her- and from the strength of the hand, it could be no other than her cousin.
“Ow! Dammit, Johan, was that necessary?!”
She didn’t have time to glare at Johan, as he pulled her in his arms, muttering ‘Oh, Freckles…’ repeatedly, rocking her back and forth like a baby. Her gaze travelled to Andrea standing pale over Johan’s shoulder, a cell phone in one hand and a terrified expression on her face. Her voice was shaking slightly as she asked them what happened.
Johan pulled back and looked at his cousin’s eyes.
“You blacked out again,” he told her in a quiet voice and Alice nodded.
“What do you mean ‘again’?? What’s wrong with her??”
Andrea was not as calm as Johan as she sat next to Alice, her hands shaking as she rubbed the red-head’s arm in an effort to soothe her. The truth was, she needed soothing more than Alice did at the moment.
“I told you she had visions, but you didn’t believe me,” Johan muttered in a tone that was enough to tell Alice all about Andrea’s reaction to her cousin’s story.
“A vision? About him?”
Alice would never think it possible, but Andrea grew even paler.
“Yes,” she slightly winced at the memory. “Idiocy seems to be a trait in both my lives on earth.”
She felt both their curious gazes on her back as she got up from the couch and started walking around the room.
“I made fun of him at his face! I can’t believe I was so stupid! I mean… argh!”
She heard a throat clearing behind her.
“Freckles? I don’t think either of us is following...”
Alice sighed and moved back to the couch, recounting the memory for her cousin and the blonde German. Despite her shocked state, the woman could not help but chuckle at Alysse’s blunder, the sound covered entirely by Johan’s barking laugh –which was the reason why she hadn’t wanted to get into details before.
“Sounds like something you would do!” he said but stopped laughing when his attention was once again caught by the gleaming emerald. “This is the necklace,” he said turning to Andrea this time. “The one whose origin her father could not find.”
“I don’t understand…” Andrea replied thoughtfully. “If you have so much evidence, why don’t you just follow the instructions in the myth?”
“We did.” Alice’s eyebrows lowered over her eyes, like every time she was confused. “We went to the clearing, under the full moon…”
“But it’s July.”
Both Alice and Johan blinked. Andrea’s features changed as realization hit her.
“You thought it was yesterday…! It has to be the full moon of August! Only then!”
Alice didn’t know which feeling to embrace. She was torn between her desire to kill Johan for making her go through all this earth-shuttering pain of thinking everything was lost and the relief which filled with hope that she still had a chance to happiness. In the end, she just kissed the emerald hanging from her neck and threw every drop of disbelief and skepticism out of her system.
“See? I told you we had done something wrong! I told you!”
Johan was ecstatic. He was moving around the room excitedly, coming back to the couch to kiss his cousin’s cheeks, then standing up again to run his fingers through his hair taking deep breaths of relief. Andrea still looked dumbfounded at both, probably trying to register the revelation about the true existence of the myth in her head.
“No matter,” Alice said when she managed to pull her wits back together from the unexpected joy. “We’ll still visit Professor Bianci tomorrow and make sure we learn everything about the myth, as originally planned. Just to make sure we’re not missing anything this time.”

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Sleeping Beauty