The Warrior and the Poet(Extended Edition)

A/N: Sorry I have been absent for so long. This last year has taken my family and I in a new direction. The Chaos Theory has taken hold and we are now officially homeschoolers. Finding time for myself not to mention time to write is something next to impossible. Please bear with my humble self as I try to get my older stories reposted and write new ones as Iembark on the advinture of forming the minds of my three very smart children.


Disclaimer: Tolkien's, not mine. Get it? Got it? Good!

A/N: Sorry I have been absent for so long. This last year has taken my family and I in a new direction. The Chaos Theory has taken hold and we are now officially homeschoolers. Finding time for myself not to mention time to write is something next to impossible. Please bear with my humble self as I try to get my older stories reposted and write new ones as I embark on the advinture of forming the minds of my three very smart children.


Disclaimer: Tolkien's, not mine. Get it? Got it? Good!

Part Three: Dawn’s Enchantment

The gray light of dawn broke slowly upon the Golden Wood as I stirred from my slumber. I could feel the smooth fabric of the pillow beneath my cheek. I sighed softly at the comfort I took from the morning quiet. I had never felt so at peace before.

I blinked my eyes open. I lay in a small hollow created by the colossal tree roots in a small clearing. The enormous ancient trees that surrounded me wore beautiful green-gold leaves that sounded like chimes as the breeze shook their branches. I lay still and drank in the intoxicating quiet of the morning. For the first time in my life, I felt like could take joy in the music of the Earth around me.

Slowly I sat up and looked around the camp. Somewhere off to the right, someone snored loudly. I giggled. The image of someone taking a buzz-saw to the gargantuan trunks of the Mallyrn only to have the blade dull against the bark flashed across my mind’s eye. I shook my head at the picture and smiled. Gimli’s earth-shaking snores would wake the others soon.

My gaze drifted and fell on Legolas’ sleeping form resting at a not-so-discrete distance from where I slept. He lay slightly on his side, his left arm curled beneath his head. His golden hair draped like a length of fine satin over his shoulder and neck. I let my eyes rove over his body, taking in his deceptively fragile form. He was not some idle fantasy to be lusted after, however beautiful he was. He was a true living, breathing, thinking being. In protecting my honour, the fantasy was shattered. I truly appreciated his concern for my well being and his determination to find my daughter. I knew I could not, in good conscience, encourage his attentions regardless of his customs. I could not be more than a friend.

I moved toward him slowly, so as not to wake him, and gazed at his sleeping face. I was only mildly surprised to see his eyes half open though they were darkened and glazed in slumber.

"There is no lust in your gaze this morning, my lady." His voice caressed my ears with his mirth.

"Are you disappointed, my lord?" I whispered, kneeling beside him.

"A little, perhaps. You are changing quickly. I sense desire from you, yet it is different than what I felt in your gaze only a few hours ago."

"You and those like you were once an idle fantasy of a bored mind, but no longer." I said honestly as I sat back on my heels. I felt safe here in this quiet place with him. "I feared that when I woke, you and this place would all have vanished back into the realm of Faerie."

He laughed softly, his lips curling into a smile as he sat up. "I assure you, it is all very real."

"I can not believe that Boromir would have . . . " My voice faltered as I remembered why he was there beside me. "Would the Ring cause an honourable man to act against his nature?

"If they were weak willed . . .yes, it would be a very real possiblity." He took my hand in his larger ones and I sensed a profound change come over him. "You did not see his eyes, Ithilin. In my long life, I have had a few lovers, yet I have never felt the need to defend them against another."

I looked up at him. His blond head rested against the tree and his blue eyes were closed. "Am I worth these strong feelings?" I asked. "I am not free. I don’t want to hurt you. I can’t abandon my respon-"

Shifting slightly, he captured my lips with his, drawing me into a kiss that made my head swim with the intensity of it.

:YES!: whispered his voice in my mind, so full of hope and joy that I felt myself respond.

I tangled my hands in his long blond hair, pulling him down on top of me as his tongue licked my lips begging for entrance. My mouth opened and his tongue flicked in, enticing me to taste him. My tongue danced with his, finally gaining entrance to the warm sweetness of his mouth. I tasted him, drinking in the wet honey of that opening. It wasn’t long before he turned the tables and I felt his eager tongue explore my mouth. I closed my eyes, giving myself completely to this moment. A moan of intense pleasure escaped my throat as I arched into him.

:I do not do this to arouse, meleth-nîn.:

:Iston, Legolas.: I felt myself respond. I was aroused, but not in the sexual sense of the word. This response was out of pure joy. I had never known this feeling and I wanted it to last.

"You enjoyed that," he chuckled, giving me a chaste kiss.

"I never knew what it was to be fulfilled, Legolas." I said, tucking a strand of pale golden hair behind his pointed ear. "I don’t want this feeling to end but it must. For the sake of honour."

"I will not let it."

"Please, Legolas, my beautiful prince, don’t do this. I don’t want to hurt you."

"The pain will come, meleth-nîn, regardless of whether we give in or no."

My eyes closed as the back of his fingers brushed my cheek and I felt all my protestations die on my lips as I leaned into his touch. His hands were warm and gentle though rough with calluses. They were the hands of a warrior. A beautiful but deadly warrior that needed a place of comfort and peace in the maelstrom of darkness that threatened to devour his world. I wanted to be that comfort, that peace, but could I? Should I? How could I do this to the both of us?

"What are you thinking, Ithilin?"

"So much has happened, is happening, will happen. Where do I fit in all of this? I know too much. Am I in danger because of that knowledge?" I sighed despondently, "I beg you not to ask me about what knowledge it is that I possess. I don’t want to jeopardize an already perilous quest. Also, can I go back home? If I can, I must, for my children. Yet if there truly is no way home, would there even be a place for me here."

He kissed the tip of my nose, "I will not ask. I hope, however, that you will tell me when you feel the time is right for me to know. As for going home, we will deal with that when and if it’s possible." He paused, letting his long, slender fingers trace the outline of my lips. "But that is not all you were thinking, was it."

"Are you reading my mind?" I laughed.

"I do not have to. I see it in your eyes."

"I was also thinking about you."

"I can imagine." He grinned knowingly.

"Not that kind of thinking."

"Like you have not mentally undressed me recently."

"I didn’t have to a few hours ago. You were bare from the waist up." I stuck my tongue out at him and made a face, but sighed. "You are a warrior, Legolas. Don’t you ever get tired of fighting?"

"Until now, I have not had a reason to be tired of it." He murmured, nuzzling my ear, silently demanding my attention.

"Have you found one?"

"I think you already know the answer to that." He bit down gently on my earlobe, his lips closing around the soft flesh as he let his tongue play over the skin. "You are both my reason to be weary of it and my reason to continue, Ithilin."

I smiled as I played with the little silver clasps on his tunic. "The others will be waking soon, Legolas." I giggled as Gimli let loose a particularly loud snore. "If they aren’t already."

He sighed resignedly as he let go of my ear and gave me a quick kiss. "Spoil my fun."

Laughing, I pushed him off me. "That’s enough, randy elf."

He gave me a smug grin before attacking me with a fierce open mouth kiss. When he finally let me up, I felt flushed and breathless and I’m pretty sure I had a goofy grin on my face.

"There is more where that came from," he purred saucily.

Suddenly, he tensed. As he twisted around, he grabbed one of his white handled knives from somewhere beside us, his movements a deadly blur, and threw the blade, imbedding it in the trunk of a tree but scant inches from the man’s head.

"I warned you, Boromir." He hissed. His body strained with tension, coiled like a tiger waiting to spring on its prey. "Stay away from her."

"So much for your elven patience, Legolas." The human sneered, but fear swirled in his blue eyes. "You could not wait to taste her, could you?"

"I have held to my honor, human. Which is far more than you would have done. You would have taken her in the night, with or without her consent, like a common brigand."

"You have magicked her into believing what you want her to believe."

"How the race of humans has lasted this long, I will never know."

As he helped me to my feet, I felt his lips press against my ear, "Find Aragorn, Ithilin. He needs to know what is going on within the Fellowship," he whispered so low that if his thoughts had not been echoing in my mind I might not have heard all of it.

"Let us settle this, elf. Winner takes all."

Legolas smiled coldly. "As much I like sparring, I will not fight you over a woman. Especially since she has already made her choice quite clear."

"Has she? Or was it made for her by elf magick?"

Before I could leave to find Aragorn, Boromir made a grab for me, but Legolas’ quick reactions batted his hands away. Boromir was determined not to be thwarted, though. Again, he snatched at me. This time he managed to pull me to him, crushing my body against his.

He gave Legolas a narrowed glare. "I assure you, my lady, that I am a much better choice by far," he growled before forcing his tongue into my mouth.

Angrily, I fought against him. Then I heard Legolas’ mind voice brush my thoughts.

:Relax. It will be easier to pull you free without hurting you.:

I fought down my panic and did has he asked. Boromir found it difficult to hold onto my limp form and I fell to the forest floor. When I looked up, Legolas had him on his back with a knife pressed to his throat. I saw a trickle of crimson blood sliding down Boromir’s neck. For a moment, I almost felt sorry for him, but that quickly passed. Ring or no, he had brought this on himself.

"That is enough, Boromir! Legolas!" another voice roared.

I turned to see Aragorn striding into the clearing, anger burning in his gray eyes. Behind him stood Haldir and his brothers, looking almost as though they were loathe to refrain from killing Boromir outright for this transgression. Aragorn, however, hauled Boromir to his feet and backed him against a tree, while shooting Legolas a warning glare.

"I do not wish to hear another argument over Ithilin again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, mellon-nîn."

"Aragorn, this is not a decision that a woman can make, " Boromir said smoothly. "They just do not have the ability weigh all of the facts in choosing a husband."

"Rauko!" I spat, furious. Why did I always run into guys like him? "I am capable of making my own decisions about who I see. Obviously things have not changed so much in many millennia. I still have to deal with arrogant men who think they’re God." I hissed. "I am a grown woman. I have a mind."

"That should be bent on keeping home and hearth ready for her man upon his return."

"But I will not submit to being some pig’s bloody whore!"

"Ithilin!" Aragorn reprimanded harshly, his hand gripping my upper arm and propelling me backward before I could launch myself at the man. "Boromir! Women are neither slaves, servants or brood mares."

"Thank you" I interjected sarcastically, rolling my eyes. I noticed, suddenly, that not only had Legolas placed himself between me and Aragorn and Boromir but the brothers took up defensive positions around me as well.

"A woman has a right make up her own mind about who she takes as a mate," Haldir snarled, visibly bristling, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Boromir pushed the ranger back a little. "What about Legolas?" He said loudly. "Why are you not lecturing him?"

Legolas’ elven light flared, yet he remained silent. Not that he really had to say anything as his whole stance cried a warning that even the dullest individual could read quite plainly. Startled, Boromir backed up a pace.

"I do not have to. So far he has done nothing but treat her with the utmost respect."

"That is not what I just witnessed. He was on top of her, kissing her."

Aragorn raised an eyebrow at Legolas who clenched his hands into white-knuckled fists at his sides.

"Not without her consent, human," the elf growled. "Which is more than I can say for what you were going to do."

"You know nothing about my intentions toward her -"

"I think that you have made your ‘intentions’ painfully obvious, Boromir," I snarled.

"Enough! This ends now."

Aragorn turned to me. His whole demeanor was furious, but when he spoke to me his voice was calm and gentle.

"Ithilin, I know you have only known any of us a short amount of time -"

"Forgive me, my lord Aragorn, but I have not tried to create a quarrel between either Man or Elf," I said, heatedly, glaring at Boromir. "I have spurned him, yet still he persists. How can I make myself more clear, my lord? I will be no man’s whore."

" ‘No man’s whore’? What do you call -"

"I said enough, Boromir!" Aragorn snapped, then turned to me. "Aye, little one, I know that you speak clear enough. You have not asked for any of this. I know you have even been reluctant to offer your friendship even to Legolas," he paused then turned to the elf in question. "What are your intentions, mellon-nîn?"

"Honorable, as any of those of my race," answered the elf. "Aragorn, it is not like the others. It is the Fire. I have explained it to her to the best of my knowledge and ability."

"I trust you, mellon-nîn" Aragorn nodded, clapping his friend on the shoulder. "You are a true friend. Now, Boromir, I ask you the same. What are your intentions?"

"Wha . . . wh . . ." he half laughed indignantly, "I will pursue her attentions if she will allow."

"And if she spurns you yet again," Legolas’ voice dripped with contempt for the human, not that I blamed him, seeing as how Boromir had tried to rape me. "will you leave well enough alone?"

Boromir sneered at the blond elf, "I can be just as charming and smooth as you, my elven friend. We shall see who wins in the end."

"Not you, obviously." I muttered under my breath as the toad walked away.

Once Boromir had left, the shock of what had just happened set in. I shivered uncontrollably.
"Why. . . are jerks . . . like that . . . always a. . . . attracted to me?" I stammered, hugging my arms.

Legolas came up behind me and gently wrapped his strong arms around me. "This has happened to you before?"

I nodded shakily. "But not like this. I was much younger then and didn’t know better." It had been fifteen years ago, but it might as well been yesterday. The only real difference was that I was not being pushed up against my locker by an overweight, twenty-year-old, computer geek. I was older now, and hopefully wiser, but it still had an effect on me.

"Do not fret, meleth. I will not let him near you again," Legolas soothed.

"Do not promise her the impossible, Legolas," Aragorn said as he stood gazing intently after the steward’s son. "I do not think we have seen the last of this."

"I’m inclined to agree with you, Estel," I said. I knew that this would not be the end of this dispute although I could not fathom what either man saw in the likes of me. Yet I could not ignore the strong feelings that Legolas had stirred within me.

Again he left, yet this time I felt more of a sense of loss at his leaving. Absurdly, I felt abandoned.

"You do not have to do this, Legolas," I said as he slung his quiver onto his back with long practiced grace. "Your place is here among the Fellowship, not chasing after an errant child."

He smiled tenderly as his fingers grazed my cheek. "Ithilin, think on this. If she is to be found, will she not trust me more than any other elf?"

"How do you figure that, master elf?" Boromir asked skeptically from where he lounged against a tree, looking pointedly at me, "You are as much a stranger to her as anyone else. ‘Tis a noble act, to be sure, but why would she trust you above . . . me? Then again," he smiled slyly, "perhaps you think to impress Lady Ithilin with such simpering nonsense?"

"I do not see you offering to find the child, human," Gimli growled. "Perhaps it is you who thinks to impress the lady with your callous wit and inaction?"

"Why should I search for a child that is not of my loins? The brat is none of my responsibility. My resources would be better spent on getting that blasted ring where it be belongs."

Legolas rounded on him, his voice a low and deadly snarl. "This is why children of humans have such a high mortality rate, Lord Boromir. These are dangerous times and all children, regardless of whether they belong to us or no, should be kept close and cherished. They need our protection. Ithilin’s child is no different. I will find her, meleth," he said softly, turning back to me and shouldering his bow. "This I promise you."

"Aye, my lady," Gimli smiled up at me as he lay a stubby hand on my arm, "you must hold on to hope"

I nodded. I could not find a voice to express my gratitude eventhough in my heart I knew she would never be found. I had resigned myself to that unhappy fact after the nightmare and the grief that came on its heels threatened to spill over the tight lid I was keeping on my emotions. Still, he wanted to find some sign of her for me.

Yet two days shy of a fortnight later Legolas returned as I sat mending a hole in Aragorn’s shirt- having argued with him over letting me fix it.

"Finally!"

I looked up at him in confusion. "What, my lord?"

"This," he said waving a hand at the shirt. "Finally, I see you do something seemly for a woman."

"Will you not let her have some peace?" Aragorn growled.

"Aragorn, can you honestly say you would want your woman to be your equal or better?"

"You forget, Boromir, I was raised by the elves. Ellyn and Ellyth are equal. I would want a mate that is my equal but I do realize that that is not always possible."

"Aragorn, they just do not have the same ability or the same strength as a man."

"You put too many limitations on them. Women are far stronger than you realize."

"Peace, brother," I said with a mirthless laugh, "It’s no use trying to convince that stallion that a mare is not a goat. He only sees what he wishes to see. And like most men that I have met in my life, he does not think with the right head."

Gimli roared with laughter as he entered the camp. "You are going to give that elf a run for his money, my lady."

"I hope you do not think this of all men, little sister," Aragorn said, as he inspected my work over my shoulder.

"Only the unenlightened ones."

"Legolas?"

The tall, slender elf entered the camp slowly, almost reluctantly as if he dreaded facing me, yet as I looked at his face I could see pain clearly written in his eyes. I dropped the shirt and ran to him. Had he been injured looking for my daughter? If he had, I how could I ever forgive myself for letting him become involved in this?

"Nay, Ithilin, I am unhurt," he purred gently in reply to my unasked question. "I found something, though."

It was then that I saw that he held something in his hands. A small ragged rectangular piece of patterned blue cloth unfurled and pooled in my hands. Large crimson stains soaked the thin material, obscuring some of the images. It could have been anything left by anyone yet still he brought it to me hoping that it was some sign that Moragain was here. My heart sank at the sight, my worst fear realized in that moment as he gave me the stained fabric.

"It’s just a bit of cloth, woman," Boromir scoffed taking it from me, but I managed to snatch it back with numb fingers. "It means little."

But it wasn’t just any fabric. How could he say such callous words? How many months had I painstakingly worked on hand stitching those quarter inch seams? How many time had I pricked my own fingers, drawing my own blood, to make my daughter’s beloved friend.

I felt numb as I clung tightly to the raggedy blankie in my hands. I couldn’t breathe and the world began to spin. NO! I could not let the tears come, I could not give voice to my grief. I stood mute and lost, unwilling to give Boromir or anyone else cause to ridicule any sign of weakness. Turning on my heel, I walked slowly away.

"Ithilin!"

I didn’t stop.

"Ithilin, stop."

A long fingered hand around my upper arm halted my retreat. I didn’t struggle, I couldn’t, I had lost the will to. I just stared blankly down at my feet, waiting.

The hand released me.

"Non sí, meleth-nîn. Sîdh. You have done nothing wrong."

I looked up at him. "How?" was my whispered reply. "But I . . . " my voice trailed off as a new wave of guilt and grief threatened to drown me.

He stepped closer, his open stance drawing me in to his waiting arms. Callused fingers gently tucked a wayward strand of hair behind my ear then traced the line of my jaw. I turned into the touch, demanding more from him. His response was a firm but gentle pressure beneath my chin and I almost gave in to the comfort he offered but at the last moment I shifted away. What was I doing? I was interfering in something beyond the scope of myself or my daughter. My very presence here was impeding the quest. The destruction of the ring was more important than even my own pain.

"Ithilin?" His fingers brushed my cheek.

"No, Legolas," I said tightly, reluctantly pulling away from him. "Go back to the others and continue on."

I turned from him and slowly walked away, leaving him alone on the path. I did not see his face but I knew I had hurt him. He had to understand that his dalliance here, his dalliance with a married woman, would cost the Fellowship precious time, time they did not have.