Through Fire and Water (A Legolas Love Story)

Awkwardness

Morning comes around far too soon and before I know it the calls of birds are seeping through my dreamless sleep and I am pulled back to reality. I stretch out my arms and open my eyes, surprised to find myself sat on the ground and leaning against a tree. The surprise only lasts a moment though because the events of last night come rushing back and I cringe, feeling an urge to slap myself as I realise I fell asleep on Legolas’ shoulder. Legolas is gone now though, he must have woken in the night and gone back to his bed. My entire body shudders as I remember how I spilled my guts to him. I don’t know why, I just found myself telling him everything. And then he flirted with me and I encouraged him! Ugh! Just… ugh! I want to curl up and hide from it, pretend to still be asleep but I’m awake now and I am not going to get comfortable again leaning against a tree.

It’s fairly early but I am not the first awake, that’s dad. When I see him I want to close my eyes again and pretend that I am asleep, at least until someone else is awake. It can’t be just the two of us. I know that Legolas was right about Aragorn last night but it still feels weird to think of him as my father. I am about to pretend to be asleep again when he looks over at me and it’s too late.

“Good morning” he says cheerily.

“Good morning” I reply stiffly, trying to hide the uneasiness I am feeling.

“Why are you on the floor?” he asks, looking slightly puzzled.

“I went for a walk. When I got back I sat here and dosed off” I say in the same stiff tone I used earlier, trying to fit my explanation into as few words as I can. Aragorn looks at me slightly suspiciously but he accepts my explanation.

“Did you sleep well, despite being on the floor?” he asks.

“Yes” I say, wishing he would stop talking to me. The more he talks to me the more I have to talk back and the greater the feeling of uneasiness grows. He looks even more suspicious now but he goes back to fixing a hole in his jacket anyway. I clamber to my feet, feeling my muscles complain as I force them to move from the position they have been locked in for hours. I stretch my arms and yawn, rubbing my eyes and running my hands through my hair which is a mess from sleeping against a tree. I head over to where I left my things and find a brush which I drag through my hair, fastening half of it back with a band and leaving the rest loose. I can feel Aragorn’s eyes looking at me from time to time as he throws me anxious glances. Just as I finish tying back my hair he walks across the clearing. I hear the sound of a small chain moving as he passes the tree where I was asleep and his foot hits something. My hand goes up to my neck but I find only my usual necklace there, no locket. Of course! I fell asleep holding it.

“Is this yours Ana?” father asks and I turn around to see him holding up my locket. I swallow before replying with a small “Yes”

“Is it new? I haven’t seen it before”

“Yes”

“Where did you get it?”

“Lady Galadriel gave it to me last night” I say and walk over to take it from him but when I wrap my hand around the locket he doesn’t let go.

“Is everything alright?” he asks, looking at me. I look down at the floor but he puts his hand on my chin. I flinch away from his touch but he doesn’t move. Instead he commands “Look at me” Slowly I do so, practically trembling against the feel of his hand on my chin. When our eyes meet again he lets me go and holds my gaze “Is everything alright?” he asks again. My eyes drop down a tiny bit, just so that I am not holding his gaze as I say “Yes, everything is fine”

“Are you sure? Because you’re acting extremely oddly for a person who is fine”

"Yes, I'm sure"