The Fellowship's Silvertongue. Part 2.

First day in Helms Deep.

It wasn't long before the others arrived. Eowyn and I stood up and joined others in welcoming the soldiers. 

"So few of you have returned," Eowyn said to Theoden as he dismounted his horse.  

"Our people are safe." Theoden smiled and walked away. 

Eowyn searched for Aragorn, and I joined in, trying not to look snobby. Then Gimli approached us. 

"Lord Aragorn, where is he?" Eowyn asked.

"Gimli, where is my brother?" I think one year in high school drama paid off.

Gimli glanced at me, and at Eowyn before he spoke. 

"He fell." Eowyn's eyes widened.

I stood motionless but in sorrow. Gimli patted my arm and walked away. Eowyn, left my side to assist the wounded, and she probably thought I wanted to be left alone. I wanted to disappear once I caught sight of Legolas walking toward me. Maybe he would punch me in the face-- Instead, he hugged me. I tried to hide my confusion. This was better than a punch to the face. 

"Did you know?" He asked. I pulled away from the hug and looked down. "Rosa, did you know that he would fall?"

"He told me, to go with Eowyn and protect the people," I responded. Legolas waited for me to say more. "There was nothing I could do." 

"So you did know?" Legolas took a step back. His jaw clenched and his brows were low. "And you did not tell us." 

"I couldn't. I can't change a person's fate." I said. 

"But you knew," Legolas repeated, his voice rising. "You knew that he would fall-"

"Legolas, not here." I hissed, glancing about the deep. 

Without warning, he grabbed my upper arm and pulled me aside towards the wall to stand away from the crowd. He watched as a few people walked by before he looked down at me again, his eyes cold.

"Why did you let that happen? Why did you let him fall?" He questioned. 

"I can't change someone's fate, Legolas. Bad or good. If someone doesn't die, another has to take their place. I can't mess up this whole story. Aragorn fell for a reason," I explained. 

"What is that reason? So that he could die? With him dead, there is no heir to the Throne of Gondor." Legolas argued. His grip on my arm tightened. 

"There's me." I'm an idiot. 

Legolas gave me an incredulous look. "You are not of royal blood. It does not work that way." 

"I know, you're just putting me under a lot of stress right now," I said, hoping it would lower the tension between us. 

"You should have told him." He said again. 

"I can't do that, it'd mess this entire story up, I thought that you would figure that out by now." I lowered my voice, seeing that a few people were watching us. "Look, I'm sorry." 

Legolas shook his head. "You still should have saved him."

He let go of his grip on my arm and walked towards the keep's entrance. I breathed out impatiently then looked to the ground in thought. 

"Dammit," I muttered. Suddenly tears stung my eyes and I couldn't tell if it was from anger or sadness. 

Great, Rosa! You just killed your brother! And now the prince of Mirkwood hates you! What if he's actually dead! Now you're an orphan and we're all going to die because no one is going to warn us about the army of ten thousand Orcs on our front doorsteps!