Adult-FanFiction.org : Lord of the Rings

Sleeping Beauty	By : SilentNiobe Category: -Multi-Age > Het - Male/Female Views: 6604 -:- 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
- 18
- 19
- 20
Author's Note: I would like to tell you that I was very busy with finishing my MA and looking for PhD scholarships right away, but this is not the case. I had enough time to sit down and write, but I couldn't do it. It all came out wrong every time I tried. Until I heard this song a couple of weeks ago... Legolas' and Alice's story and relationship became so clear then. I have put a link of the song at my Twitter account, you can find me as silentniobe. The lyrics of the song are just... sublime, but they are in Greek. Anyway, I felt I should give credit for Legolas' words to "Afti i nichta meni" (This night stays) by Stamatis Kraounakis.
Also, my own love for beautiful York has influenced the contents of this chapter a lot. Although all the places described do exist, I am afraid Greyham's house does not. :-P I would like to thank my sweet Ana for her help with the French dialogue. Last but not least, I would like to thank all of you for your wonderful reviews and for your support to this story. Thank you, thank you, and thank you again. Tomorrow I will reply to all the reviews I haven't replied to so far. The next chapter is on its way.
Disclaimer: See Prologue.
italics: thoughts
/translations/
--italics--: flashback
Chapter 18 – Fey souls
“Alice, are you sure this is the place?”
Alice looked at the scribbled address on the piece of paper in her hand, then back at the building in front of her.
“Yes, this is the house,” she finally said to her cousin, after she had double-checked the address.
“I’m not going in there, it’s barely standing,” Johan replied nodding towards the old house. “Not to mention this seems like a really, really bad neighborhood and I can’t see for the life of me why a researcher would be staying with hookers.”
“Johan!” Alice said in a harsh whisper and shoved her cousin, only to earn a small chuckle. “I don’t care what you say, I’m gonna knock anyway.”
“Be my guest.” Johan shrugged indifferently and shoved his hands in the back pockets of his jeans.
Rolling her eyes at the blond man, Alice raised her hand to knock only to jump back in surprise, as an aged faced stood where the door used to be. Jesus Christ, when did the door open??
“Que est-ce que vous voulez?” the old woman demanded none too gently in a voice roughened by years of smoking. /What do you want?/
“ Excusez-nous, madame. Nous voudrions parler à monsieur Greyham,” Alice answered as politely as possible, trying not to get on the bad side of the woman; she didn’t look exactly friendly. /Excuse us, madame. We would like to speak to Mr. Greyham./
“Qui? Il n’y a personne ici avec ce nom.” /Who ? There is no one here with this name./
“What’s wrong?” Johan’s concerned voice asked from behind her, as he sensed the unease of his cousin.
“She says there’s no Greyham here,” the red-head replied in a troubled voice.
“What? How is this possible? Do we have the wrong address?”
“Vous êtes certain qu’il ne habite pas ici? C’est très important qu’ on le trouve.” /Are you sure he doesn’t live here? It’s very important that we find him./
The woman gave a sigh of irritation.
“Oui, ma seur et moi sommes les seules habitants depusi de nombreuses années maintenant! Alors, allez! Laissez-moi tranquille!” the woman said in a frustrated voice and shooed them away. /Yes, my sister and I have been the only inhabitants for many years now. Now go! Leave me alone!/
“Mais, madame, vous ne connaissez personne avec ce nom?” Alice asked again in a desperate tone, watching with dread as the door almost shut in her face. /But, madam, you don’t know anyone with this name?”
“Marie, attends.” /Marie, wait./
Another voice was heard from deep inside the house. This voice was softer, yet as aged. The sound of dragging footsteps stopped the door a few inches from shutting completely. Johan and Alice watched with growing curiosity the door opening again slowly, to present a shadow leaning heavily on a walking stick. It seemed ages to both cousins until the figure reached the door and stepped into the light, revealing another old woman who –in contrast to whom Alice assumed to be her sister- wore a friendly smile on her lips.
“Tu es Alice, n’ est-ce pas ma fille?” /You are Alice, right my daughter?/
It took the red-head a moment to recover from surprise and answer the old lady.
“Oui, c’est moi.” /Yes, it’s me./
“J'ai habité ici avant que ma sœur vienne s'occuper de moi… quand Greyham habitait ici aussi.” /I used to live here before my sister came to take care of me… when Greyham lived here, too./
Alice’s eyes lit up with hope.
“Vous connaissez Greyham?” /You know Greyham?/
The old woman smiled, the wrinkles around her eyes becoming even more accentuated.
“Oui. Il m’ a dit que tu viendrais.” /Yes. He told me you would come./
“What is she sa-”
Alice waved her cousin off to keep him silent.
““Qu'est-ce qu’ il vous a dit?” /What did he tell you?/
“Il m'a dit que, quand vous viendrez, je dois te donner ceci.” /He told me that, when you come, I have to give you this./
Johan picked behind Alice’s shoulder to see what the woman was looking for in the small pouch around her neck, carefully hidden under her clothes. He furrowed his eyebrows as the woman produced a crumbled piece of paper and gave it to his cousin. Alice unfolded it hurriedly and paused to read the scribbled words.
“York??”
“Merci beaucoup, madame,” Alice said with a relieved smile to the woman, ignoring Johan’s exclamation, and slipped the paper to the back pocket of her jeans. /Thank you very much, madame./
“Il a dut partir, mais il dit que c’ etait très important que tu le reçoit.” /He had to leave but he said it was very important that you get this./
Alice thanked the old lady once more and waited until the door closed to turn around and face her cousin and the annoyed look she had expected.
“So… England, huh?”
“Well, you can always see it as a belated Eurotrip…” she said with an innocent smile and pretended to not have heard her cousin’s groan.
**************************************************************************************************
“I am not 18 anymore, Freckles. Travelling around Europe with a backpack doesn’t seem very appealing to me,” Johan said as he fiddled once more in his seat, in an attempt to get more comfortable.
Alice rolled her eyes. Her cousin had been whining like an old spinster ever since they had left Paris, but she couldn’t really blame him. They had been on the road for what seemed like ages and the train trip was beginning to get to her, too. She sighed annoyed at the thought that she would have been in a comfortable bed by now if they had been lucky enough to find plane tickets to Manchester; the train trip to York would not be so long… So unbelievably long! the little voice in her mind complained.
“I think you’ve spoilt yourself to much, dear cousin. And where’s your backpack? This seems like a very adult suitcase to me,” she said trying to lighten up the mood of both.
Johan made a face and moved around in his seat again with a sigh.
“Will you stop moving?? The seat won’t get any more comfortable no matter how much you fiddle and…- Achoooo!!”
“Bless you, Freckles! Did you catch a cold?”
“I don’t…I…”
Johan watched with a horrified expression as his cousin’s eyes glazed over.
“Oh no, no, no… Not now, Freckles, we still have three hours left in this damn train!!”
When he realized his cousin was once again having a vision, he leaned his head back on the seat and sighed.
“Fuck. I forgot my ipod."
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“What is wrong? Are you ill?”
Alice tried to pry Legolas’ hands away from her face in vain; he was determined to feel her temperature no matter how much she protested.
“You are warmer than usual… are you running a fever?”
The panic in his voice and his roaming hands made her chuckle. The Prince paused his ministrations and looked at her incredulously. Was that anger in his eyes, as well?
“I just sneezed, Legolas. I am not sick and I am definitely not dying,” she replied shaking her head. Disregarding the elf’s weird behavior, she untied her cloak and left it on the wooden chair of the hut; the small building beside the woodman’s storehouse became their love nest every time its owner was not around. With her lover’s keen hearing, they would never be caught anyway. The Prince’s outburst caught her off guard.
“Do you think this is a laughing matter? Or have you forgotten how easily you mortals fall sick to the point of death?”
Alysse blinked. What was that all about?
“Have YOU forgotten that us, mortals, get sick all the time and recover, your Highness?”
Legolas’ eyebrows furrowed with annoyance at her ironic tone. Alice knew every time she used his title she angered him even more, but she was never one to control her mouth when upset. Legolas remained silent for a few moments, as if trying to calm himself before he spoke.
“I will not risk your life, Alysse. I am taking you to a healer.”
“What?? No! No, Legolas, stop!”
Alysse pulled away from Legolas and threw down the cloak he had put around her shoulders.
“Have you lost your mind? Yes, I was ill with fever last week, but as you see I have recovered!”
“You were running a fever?” he said once again in a panicked voice and cupped her face with his cool fingers, feeling once again for her temperature. “Why did you not send for me, I would have taken you to my father’s healer!”
“Yes, taking a random mortal from the nearby village to your father’s healer would have been the smartest thing to do, Legolas!”
Alysse wished she could take her words back, the moment they left her mouth. It was a sore spot for both of them. Legolas had been walking on the fine line between his responsibilities as the Prince of Mirkwood and his love for her and she already felt very guilty for putting him through this.
“I do not care what my father says, Alysse. I would never risk your life for his good graces.”
And that was exactly what made her feel even worse.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Why? Because it seems I have to keep you safe from everything, be it orcs or illness!”
Alysse’s mouth opened to deliver a harsh reply but nothing came. She closed her eyes, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose in an act of habit. Taking a deep breath, she tried to gather her thoughts. When they last exchanged such harsh words, they had spent all their precious time together to nonsense; and such time was very limited.
“Legolas, I never asked you to keep me safe from anything. I have survived well enough by myself until now.”
The blond Prince shook his head and walked to kneel before her, his eyes never leaving hers.
“You don’t understand. I have to do this. I have to keep you safe, Alice, for if anything ever happened to you, I… I…”
Alice’s face softened at the sound of his breaking voice. She kneeled down to look at his lowered eyes, at the desperation and the helplessness moving like a fatal whirlwind inside them. Her heart felt once again faint at the weight of immortal emotions. She thought Legolas had come to terms with her mortality when he had stopped fighting his feelings for her. But it seemed he had still not accepted that, as a human, her fate was to die sooner or later, one way or the other; and the thought of the impending doom of her death was so clearly reflected in his features, that she could not really blame him for being so desperate about keeping her alive.
“I will die, Legolas. One day, I will die. And before I do, sickness will claim me many times, as it has in the past. I will get injured, as I have in the past. I will be in danger, as I have in the past. You cannot shield me from the world or my mortality, my Prince.”
Her voice was tender, as was the kiss she bestowed upon his lips. As she moved to pull away, Legolas reached behind her head and entwined his fingers in her red waves, keeping their lips locked in a kiss of someone fearing it would be their last.
“I cannot help but keep trying,” he whispered as he pulled away.
“Why are you doing this to yourself, Legolas? Why, when you can sail with your people to the Undying Lands? Only the sea stands before your happiness...”
Legolas shook his head with a bittersweet smile.
“The sea that stands between me and my happiness is much greater, my sweet Alysse,” he said, tracing her face with his fingers. “You see, I am a mortal in the body of an elf. I cannot fit in your world, but neither in mine. I used to lose myself into the stars… or to the very end of the abyss. Always chasing something, always searching for my happiness… and then I found you.”
It was not because of his words that Alice held her breath and didn’t stop the tear which escaped the corner of her eye. It was the pain, the unsatisfied, eternal ache pooling into his blue orbs that made her soul pant and weep and find no words of comfort.
“So there you are: a human. And here I am: an elf. Doomed to be separated by death, as Beren and Luthien were before us.”
Alysse’s breath came out shaky, as a lump constricted her throat.
“This night has been frozen in centuries… A night when two souls could not find their shelter… came as strangers into the world, fey souls, doomed to live an earthly love.”
Legolas turned his head towards the candle burning on the table beside them.
“Do you see this candle?”
Alysse nodded wordlessly.
“This your life… This is the happiness your love brings to me, the light shining the path in my life. The candle will burn in a few hours, so we have to make as much as we can out of the light it now offers us. Then the hut will be dark, as my world will be when you pass away. But I had to light the candle, even if I miss its light after it’s burnt; I could not stay in darkness forever and deprive myself of love’s light.”
The elf’s carefully chosen words perhaps gave Alysse a helpful insight into his soul and decision to remain by her side; however, they did not make their situation any less painful.
“Forgive me if I grow desperate when I see the candle melting too fast or its flame threatened by the wind,” he continued with a voice thick with emotion. “I have to keep your flame alive in any way I can.”
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Alice turned around the corner and walked with determination into the small alley, Johan following faithfully behind her. Her last vision had made her desperate; she had to find Greyham… she had to find a way back to Legolas. They could not find a “shelter” for their love in her previous life… but she was going to make it work this time. They had been given a second chance for a reason. And she was not going to rest until their fey souls reunited. However, when her eyes met the same little shops for the third time, she stopped and let out an exasperated sigh.
“I give up! We passed this street fifteen minutes ago!”
“I thought you’ve been to York before…” Johan said smirking.
“Shut up! I had a guide showing me around,” his cousin replied and put her hands on her waist looking around. “This is hopeless.”
Alice walked to the small traditional candy shop a few feet away and peeked into the little window, smiling at the impossible number of toffee products. She absolutely adored York. She had visited the picturesque town four times, three of them being because of some story for the TV station, based on its rich history. The old houses and the small alleys with the traditional shops enhanced the medieval atmosphere of the place, something which excited the young woman and kept York in a very special place in her heart. But no matter how many times she had walked the little streets, she always managed to get lost.
“Let’s go back to the main road, we’ll ask someone again for directions,” she said and pulled Johan’s arm to the opposite direction from where they had come.
“Wait,” Johan said and halted abruptly as they passed another street crossing the one they were walking on, causing Alice to lose her balance.
“Wha…-”
“Did that guy say we are looking for a big sign with Old English or something written on it?”
“Yeah...”
“Is that the one?” Johan asked pointing to a narrow sign above the street standing between two old houses in the distance.
Alice squinted her eyes to make out what was written and smiled triumphantly when she made out the words written with yellow letters.
“‘Ye olde starre inne’… This is it!”
Johan replied with a smile of his own and both cousins started walking with lifted spirits towards the sign.
“Okay, there is a shop with swords in this street and the guy said that the house we’re looking for is right above it,” Alice said more to herself than to Johan, looking around for the shop.
The two Americans split to both sides of the street, checking the windows of every shop they came across.
“Over here!” Johan called excited and Alice ran to where he stood looking with amazement at the collection of swords and armor in the window. “Are these real?”
“This is the door,” she whispered and tried the wooden door beside the shop to see if it was open. To her surprise, the door gave in and she peeked inside to find a narrow staircase. “Come on,” she told Johan and started walking up the first steps.
“What if he’s not here either?” Johan asked skeptically behind her.
“What if he is?” Alice said with a smile, turning around to look at her cousin. This was her last chance; Greyham had to be there, for the sake of her love.
Johan snorted.
“With our luck, we’ll be soon looking for a flight to Australia, or the North Pole…”
Alice chuckled, but deep inside she was just as doubtful. Even though she tried to be optimistic, her stomach still constricted at the thought of a possible failure. What if Johan was right? What if they had reached the end of their search no more knowledgeable than they were before? What if she never saw her Prince again and had to spend the rest of her life regretting her refusal to believe?
Shaking her head to clear the unpleasant thoughts, she walked the last steps of the stair and reached another door at their end. Wasting no time for second thoughts, she knocked loudly on the door. For those few seconds before she heard footsteps behind the door, she could hardly breathe. When the door opened and revealed a tall elderly man, she stopped breathing altogether.
I know you probably hate me now, but it made more sense to end the chapter here. Plus, I love cliffhangers. :-P Your reviews are more than welcome... I love reading what you think about the story! :-)
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Sleeping Beauty