Vulnerable (A Legolas/LOTR Fanfiction)

II • : The Decision : •

Emerging from around the corner, Lord Elrond stood with his hands clasped tightly together behind his back. He strolled forward with long strides without a single stumble or blip. An elegant dove train trailed so slightly along the floor as he walked. His deep brown stare bore into his daughter. "Nephenee." He responded to her greeting.

Nephenee lowered her eyes that happened to be identical to her father's. His deep voice made her subtly flinch and left a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as if a chunk of charred coal continuously churned within it.

"Do follow." He shattered the awkward silence.

Nephenee pitched a muted sigh and shifted her gaze to Elladan. With a frown, she reached out her pale hand and snatched back her weapon-of-choice. She gave her brothers a glare of a mixture of both fury and disappointment (since they totally stabbed her in the back and brought her back instead of just letting her go. Assholes.) Elladan seemed to be taken aback by her expression while Elrohir continued to straight-face his way out of it.

As Nephenee began to step forward, she was abruptly halted by a gentle touch over her shoulder. She swirled her head around only to see her sister, Arwen, standing behind her.

"Good luck... And be easy on him. He's old." She spoke with a faint empathetic smile.

"Too old." She whispered to her under her breath. Nephenee inhaled sharply and set off in the direction the Half-Elven Lord headed.

Elrond led his daughter outside. The humidity seemed to have lifted which allowed a more breathable atmosphere. The sun dangled above the tree tops and let it's rays sprinkle through the leaves and interlacing branches. The father and daughter sat in the shady protection of a gazebo-like structure. It was made purely of wood and painted a pearly white. The light from the sun reflecting off of it's surface gave it a glossy look.

Malachite vines twisted and twirled tightly around the frame of the gazebo and crawled along the roof and ceiling. Seashell pink bulbs sprouted every other inch or so along the serpentine vines.

Nephenee found herself getting lost in the beauty of the nature around her. She hadn't even realized her father was talking.

"Nephenee?" He said sharply to get her attention.

"Hm? Oh, oh, sorry. Just... The vines are so pretty an-" she paused when she realized the annoyed look on his face. "Sorry..." She lowered her head. "What were you saying?"

He sighed as if the fact he had to repeat himself was unbearably painful and nearly impossible to do. "This is the last time you sneak out without permission. You have duties to do here, things you must attend to for the elves of Rivendell. I fail to see how these simple tasks such as meetings with the towns people are so unbelievably horrid to you. I simply do not understand."

"It's not that they're difficult or anything it's just the fact that I am not fit for this life. I don't... Look, I'm not like you, okay? I'm..." She fumbled for the words that seemed to linger on the tip of her tongue but would not jump out of her mouth.

"Nephenee, I understand that being my daughter may prove to be a... Challenging job that was brought upon you, but that doesn't mean that-" The older elf failed to finish his sentence before his daughter budded in.

"No, father, that isn't what I mean. I don't want to be just another royal doctor healer leader thin- oh you know what I mean. I want to go on an adventure." She said the final word as if it were the most important of all of their language.

"An ADVENTURE? What? Nephenee that's... Well, that's just absurd!" He protested as his straightened frame leaned forward a bit in concentration.