I don't bow to crowns LOTR/Legolas love story #Wattys2015

A soothing tune...

The sky started to darken as Legolas and Nymerial sat in silence. The wind was also quiet and no noise was heard, none of the men behind them were talking nor the animals on the field before them were moving. Nymerial doubted if there even were any animals anymore there, the shadow creeping up from the distance had made all the living things hide somewhere, including the race of Men.

As Nymerial sat on the stone border with Legolas sat next to her, something popped into her mind and refused to leave. She remembered the argument between her and Delsin. 'You are a woman and they are weak!' She climbed down and laid down onto the cold rock ground. Her gaze was pointed to the sky, where some stars started to show behind the clouds. She focused her mind on them but no matter how hard she tried, Delsin's words still haunted her mind. She sighed and whispered to herself

"Maybe he is right..."

But Legolas heard it. He sat down next to Nymerial, his back against the edge, and asked

"Who?"

"Delsin."

"About what?"

"Maybe he is right. Maybe I am just a weak woman."

"What do you mean? You are not weak!"

"But just think about it."

She sat up and pulled her knees to her chest. As she stared at nothing in front of her, she continued

"Like I said to him, I have seen more, but I also said, that I have lost people dear to me."

Legolas interrupted

"All of us have."

"But other people were not responsible for their deaths."

Legolas stood up and almost yelled

"What are you talking about?!"

Nymerial flinched lightly. She said in a whisper

"If I had been stronger, I would have gotten to them sooner and they might have lived..."

She couldn't finish her thoughts because a single tear rolled down her cheek. Another followed, then more started to flow. Legolas sat down to his previous spot, his back facing the edge, and pulled Nymerial onto his lap. She put her head onto his chest and tried to stop the tears, but nothing worked, they just came. Legolas rubbed her arm and whispered gently

"You did all you could do. You did better than any of us could ever do."

"If I were faster, maybe Boromir would be with us. If I were more careful, maybe Aragorn..."

"Even if you did all those things, it would not change anything. Their destinies were written in the stars. And, as I said before, you did all you could, nobody could have protected them better than you did."

"But look at me. Heck, I am crying over something someone said to me. Every person who would see me right now would say: You are crying, you are weak."

Legolas wrapped his hands around Nymerial and rested his chin on her shoulder because her face was buried into his chest. He said

"Then they would be wrong. Crying is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign that a person has been too strong for too long."

Legolas lifted Nymerial's head so her eyes would meet his. He whispered

"All I see is a warrior who has suffered more than she could ever deserve."

Nymerial only saw honesty in his eyes. But she turned her head away and closed her eyes. She asked from Legolas

"What if I cannot control myself and my eyes change to red again? What if I kill a person who love?"

"Then I will be there to stop you."

Nymerial rested her head again on Legolas' chest. She felt safe in his arms, like nothing could harm her. After some time, she heard him humming a song she had never heard before. It sounded like a lullaby, it was soft and gentle. The music almost wrapped her into a blanket and, soon, she fell asleep.

She was standing in the middle of a meadow with a single tree, a swing hanging from one of its branches, in front of her. That place seemed familiar to Nymerial and she understood why as two figures stepped outside of the nearby forest with two wolves behind them. One of the figures was Aragorn and the other was her, only younger, maybe she had been only ten winters. The wolves were her brother and sister, they weren't even born when she was found by the pack.

Aragorn led the young Nymerial to the tree and lifted her onto the swing. He then went behind her and started to push the swing. As he was pushing, the real Nymerial started to hear music. It was the same tune Legolas had been humming. She smiled and watched as young Nymerial said to Aragorn

"Higher, higher."

"But you might fall."

Young Nymerial looked at the sky where some birds were flying. She answered to Aragorn

"But I wish to be free to fly wherever my soul wants, like a bird. And this is the closest thing to it."

Aragorn smiled and so did the real Nymerial. She had already forgotten how she and her brother used to go there.

But then young Nymerial and Aragorn suddenly disappeared, so did the wolves. The grass around her turned yellow and dry, the tree was leafless and the forest around her was on fire. The soft music had stopped, instead there was a loud voice mocking her

"Higher, and higher...More and more..."

A figure stepped out of the woods and through the fire. Nymerial realised that it was Delsin. He stopped near her and taunted her

"You always wanted more and more. You never did not think about what the others wanted, now did you? It was always you, you, you..."

Nymerial covered her ears and screamed

"No, Delsin. Stop!"

"Why should I? You are a killer, a murderer."

Legolas hummed his childhood lullaby to sooth Nymerial. And it worked because soon she was asleep. But Legolas hummed on, wanted that even her dreams would be happy, not filled with that day's events. He looked down at her and saw a smile on her face. He also noticed a small tear on her cheek so he wiped it gently off.

When the lullaby ended, the night fell silent. But as Legolas thought about carrying her to the place they were supposed to sleep, she started to move. Her eyes were moving rapidly behind her lids and soon, Nymerial started to speak in her sleep

"No, Delsin. Stop!"

That made Legolas angry: that guy already made her cry in the real world, is he going to ruin her dreamworld also? Legolas shook Nymerial and she jolted up. She looked around and wanted to run, but was stopped by a pair of strong hands. Legolas pulled her back and whispered

"She, it was only a dream. Go back to sleep."

Nymerial didn't protest. Legolas started to hum the same tune as before but only one thought crossed his mind: 'Tomorrow, that bastard will pay for what he did to Nymerial.'