With a secret mission to marry an elf, Wynne must join Legolas' and Elvenking Thranduil's new quest as a horsekeeper. She begins an adventurous journey, encountering orcs and monsters, friendly uruk-hai, a lady dwarf and many Fellowship heroes - but...
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~ Wynne is plagued by frightening memories and intimidated by the elves' immortality, and gets comfort from an unexpected direction. ~
8. Hard to Sleep
The singing and flute music went on for long after Wynne had excused herself and gone to bed in her lonely tent.
She had abandoned all thoughts of another try to seduce Thranduil. It was obvious he still mourned his wife, despite the many years that must have passed since he lost her, and even if she somehow could make him want her that way it was unlikely he would allow anything to happen.
She suspected King Thranduil never did anything of an impulse.
Besides, she didn't even want to seduce an elf anymore; not him, not anyone else. It had been a bad plan from the beginning, one that had made her feel false and wicked.
She remembered her resolution from yesterday, that she would act like she was strong and experienced. So little time had passed since then and yet she felt completely different now. Like she was another person.
The elves were becoming her friends – even Thranduil though he scared her wits off at the same time – and she didn't want to pretend in front of them.
Perhaps she should go somewhere else after the quest was over? Mother couldn't punish her if she never came back home. Wynne could just take the horses and run away.
But she knew it wasn't that simple. There were evils other than orcs; human men in packs could be almost as bad, if the rumors from her hometown were true, and a woman living alone would be easy prey.
Sighing deeply, she buried her face in her blankets. There was just no way out of this.
She moved fitfully in her bedroll, unable to sleep. Her thoughts kept alternating between Mother's demands and the upsetting memories of the orc fight today. It had scared her more than she had believed possible. All had gone well, yet the shock refused to ease its grip on her.
In the end she gave up sleeping and went back outside. The fire had burned down to red embers and all was quiet, not even a snore. But elves were probably too beautiful to snore.
She spotted Galion on his watch, walking leisurely with his hands behind his back.
How could he be so calm? Wasn't he afraid another pack of orcs might sneak up on them?
She joined him.
"Cannot you sleep?" His pale face had an almost ethereal glow in the faint light.
"No." She sighed. "Too much on my mind tonight."
If Galion had been an older man like her father she might have asked for a hug, but he was an elf and hugging him would feel like touching an exquisite porcelain doll with dirty hands. She wasn't worthy.
