The Forbidden Child

Falling Petals and Growing Thorns

A few weeks later, Eve was alive and recuperating. Her wounds had been fatal and, restless as she may be, she was still restrained to her bed.

Now, she had collected more gnarly wounds. Her chest remained wrapped and underneath there were diagonal gashes from where the Warg had slashed her. On her right shoulder, above her breast, there was a deep wound from the arrow that had impaled her. This was wrapped too. She looked like a soldier that had been mangled in battle.

But all she was was a young, foolish girl that had bad luck and made reckless decisions.

Eve knew Strider had many choice words for her but he seemed to hold them back. Perhaps he didn't want to damage her self esteem as well with her body being so broken. She knew she had messed up. She didn't need anyone to tell her otherwise.

Now, she had a raging fever as Legolas sat by her bedside.

Legolas didn't need training, Eve knew at this point. He just needed to get away from something that he wouldn't speak of. She wondered if he ever got bored just going out shooting and talking to Strider.

Maybe, Eve thought, he just wasn't bored of her. They spoke of everything except maybe the questions that were burning in Eve about him and about his past.

Legolas was fond of her.

And to Eve, the elf-prince had graduated from his previous puppy status to a friend. He was a kind and handsome friend but that was it.

Legolas often took Eve out for walks, supporting her quite a bit, and she often got frustrated only a couple minutes into their sessions. It made her tired and she did not like being dependent at all. This annoyance often got to her, which wasn't good when she was just a commoner amongst two fierce, well-trained warriors.

So, these walks ended in the phrase, "I want to go home. I can make it there alone." Which she couldn't, not even close.

Now, though, the two were wrapped in a quiet, unproblematic conversation.

"Is he worried?" she asked Legolas, referring to Strider, for he didn't speak much.

Legolas hesitated. "Orcs are not common in these parts and it worries him, as do your injuries but you're strong. You will heal. For a while though we didn't know if you would survive them. I believe almost losing you took its toll on him."

"Why?" Eve snapped.

"Because, Eve, he loves you. He didn't leave you of his own accord. You still haven't asked about the whole affair."

"If he really cared he would've found me earlier. He would've tried harder."

Eve shot Legolas a look and he didn't respond. He seemed to be slightly irritated, which he never was.

Instead of acknowledging his annoyance, she changed the subject to something that had been at the back of her mind.

She pursed her lips. She knew, for some weeks now in fact, that Legolas was keeping a secret from her. "What is really going on?" she inquired quietly, in a weak whisper, as though she were afraid to even ask.

Legolas began explaining solemnly, bowing his head slightly and saying, "I have to leave."

Eve's eyes widened, for she was not expecting this. "You're not serious, are you?"

Those were the lame words she could muster in her shock. She felt her heart sinking into her stomach, a feeling she was all too familiar with.

Surprisingly, she found that tears were brimming in her eyes. Maybe it was from the heightened, unbalanced emotions that were caused by many pain-killing, herb concoctions that Strider had administered to her. Either way, Eve wished to not acknowledge the "why" in the equation.

"Do not weep on my account, Eve," Legolas comforted. "After all, we only just met."

Eve just looked at him. She was hurt for a moment. Desperately trying to think rationally, she asked herself why should she care if Legolas left her? Answers wouldn't come to her clouded mind easily. He was no one of significant importance. They had only just met after all, as Legolas said, but he was a friend. He was her only true companion now, temporarily, she hoped. Strider could become closer after things had settled.

"Yet I feel as if I have known you my whole life," Eve countered. She hesitated before she went on, "Maybe I think this might be more than friendship. I would never admit to it unless you were to leave, as you are now."

Legolas looked away. "You shouldn't fret over me. We will see each other again," he promised.

To Eve, this seemed a way for him to say that he wasn't interested so she bit her lip and tried to forget the last couple of weeks. Maybe it would make her feel better. It was foolishness on her part.

-

Later on that evening, Legolas took pity on Eve's caged and restless soul by helping her to their formed spot. It was the spot where they sat that fateful night. Now, it wasn't dusk. It was a decorated, clear sky above them.

There they two sat and looked at the stars.

Eve was so busy stargazing that she did not catch Legolas gazing at her until he took her frail hand in his. That's when she suddenly looked at him, her eyes now softened.

"Why must you go?"

"Immortality is simply tied with responsibility."

"You're so cryptic. You expect me to ask Strider all of these things about my past when you won't provide me the luxury of knowing what is going on with you. You have hardly mentioned anything about you, in fact. When you do speak of yourself it seems to always be about the shallow aspects of your life. It's always about me, even though I am nearly clueless about my past when you know everything about your own. Now you're leaving and you say that we only just met as though that statement can erase the past couple of weeks."

Legolas just looked at her dumbly. "There are things that you just cannot understand. You're simply so young, Eve."

"I'm eighteen now. And what are you? Perhaps in your mid-twenties."

There was this eternal gap before Legolas said, "I'm much older than I look. Surely you must know about an elf's immortality."

Then it clicked in Eve's mind. That was why he had been so awfully mysterious about his age, but it didn't explain the rest of it. He was an elf so she didn't know why she hadn't thought of it. It felt like his age was irrelevant, not when their relationship had progressed so far. The years between them were not at all relative.

Eve corrected herself. Friendship, not relationship. It was a good friendship though, had she already thought of that?

Her chest felt constricted. "I still think I'll miss you," she whispered.

There was another pause before Legolas added, "And I daresay I'll miss you more."

Butterflies fluttered in Eve's stomach and her heart pumped in her chest. She hadn't noticed that the gap between them had lessened until then.

Legolas put his hand on her face and kissed her quickly. He didn't intend getting anything more than a quick kiss but Eve found herself wanting more, deepening it for a moment before pulling away and throwing her arms around him.

Accidentally, a few tears spilled from her eyes but he didn't see. That was why she had hugged him in the first place.

No, she was wrong. 

She certainly would miss him.