The Raven [A Legolas Fanfiction]

Chapter Four

A/N
This chapter goes out JadenSeptum for all her support, votes and comments. Please check out her fantastic story "Between Two Worlds," because it is so amazing and extremely well written!
Sorry for the delay and any mistakes.
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No one had truly bothered to notice her before, but tonight she was the object of many's attention.

It was nearly a year after her parents had died, and Silmarwen coped with her grief through constant training. Tauriel and Legolas were forced to drag her away from the training fields for tonight's feast. The elleth was secretly glad they had. Although her practice enabled her to satiate the hole in her heart, it exhausted her to her core.

Now, arrayed in a breathtaking red and flamboyantly golden gown, she caught every ellon who may have passed her by's eyes, even from the corner in which she observed the room.

Mirith An-Giliath, The Feast of Starlight. It was a sacred holiday for the Eldar and Silmarwen's favorite. Ellith danced in the arms of their gallant suitors, flirting and laughing. She watched in amusement as Tauriel quickly dismissed an invitation to dance. Although there were stares, no one asked the young beauty in the corner to dance, for she was as a stranger to them. None, save her closest friends and trainers, truly knew who she was or of what she was capable. Even in her contentedness to watch others' enjoyment, something was missing, and rapidly it began to consume her. All the joy and laughter seemed empty and meaningless.

Little did Silmarwen know that the prince had been watching her. He saw how short-lived her joy was, and it pained him.

Without a word, Legolas stood and walked around the glittering room to where she hid in plain sight. The elleth was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice him until his smooth voice whispered, "May I have the pleasure of this dance?"

A startled Silmarwen turned to see her prince give a slight bow and motion towards the other dancing couples.

She bit her lip. "Legolas, I-"

He cut her off with a wave of his hand. "Please, come. It will do you well to get out of your dark." Sensing her hesitation, he begged, "If anything, do it for me, for if I do not dance with an elleth soon, my father will force me to dance with an insufferable noble."

Silmarwen laughed softly and replied, "Well, if that is the case, I guess I will survive one dance."

Legolas beamed, and reluctantly she let him lead her to the dance floor. The prince placed a gentle hand on her waist, and she placed hers on his shoulder. Suddenly aware of their closeness, the elleth could not bring herself to look into his eyes.

"Will you not look at your dance partner?" Legolas teased with mock hurt. When she looked up, her innocent eyes saw that he was teasing and glared at him.

She looked so defenseless, and yet her glare managed to make the prince laugh.

Seeing the joy in her friend's eyes and hearing his musical laugh caused the elleth to smile her first genuine smile since her parents' deaths.

"I have missed that," Legolas softly stated upon seeing her smile as the moved in rhythm with the calm melodies of the music.

The smile lingered on Silmarwen's lips as she tilted her head at him. "And what is it that you have missed."

"Your smile." His words caused he now blushing elleth to find the floor astonishing once again. There a was a pause, and all that that could be heard was the beating of Silmarwen's heart in her ear and the smooth rhythms of the music. "If you are so uncomfortable with me saying such things ,then smile more often, and I will not have to," teased Legolas which earned him the melodious laugh that he had missed as well.