The Last Dreamwalker

A Meeting With a Madman

"Lessien! I have been looking for you everywhere! Gandalf is upset that you left without telling him," Pippin greeted.

Lessien raised an eyebrow. "Upset, is he?"

"Uh. Alright, he is livid. I do not understand why," Pippin admitted.

"Me neither, honestly. I was just exploring. Besides, Gandalf is not my mother," Lessien paused and, as an after thought added, "My mother is long gone."

She scowled because she caught herself giving excuses like a toddler would.

Pippin ignored Lessien's last comment, not wishing to reopen old wounds and prodded, "Exploring Faramir?"

Lessien blanched.

Pippin was quick to amend his mistake. "I mean - I meant - that our, um, have you been exploring with Faramir? Not exploring him. That would be-"

Lessien cleared her throat, cheeks warming. After the embarrassment passed, the question registered and her brow furrowed. "No. How do you know him?" Her voice was snappish. She was not so much asking a question as she was interrogating him.

"I do not know him, just heard from Gandalf." Pippin paused. "He is a handsome fellow. I hope you are not getting any ideas." He rose his eyebrows in interest.

Obviously he was referring to Legolas.

"I am not," Lessien huffed. "This is a time of war, not a time to settle affairs of the heart." She began to walk inside to greet the ever-sour Gandalf. "Besides, I'm not interested," she claimed innocently.

Pippin struggled to keep up.

"You and Legolas are lovers, are you not?" Pippin pried. "I mean, I saw him to try to come after you when we left Edoras. And I saw you together the night before we left."

That night they had been so close. That night when Lessien had almost slipped up, almost let him kiss her and had almost let those kisses escalate to something much more dangerous.

"Nothing happened," she assured him, feeling oddly defensive.

"But you love him, do you not?" Pippin asked.

The two wandered the marble walls to their chambers. The castle seemed to be waking with the dawn.

New sentries replaced the tired out ones and stood stationary every twenty feet or so against the wall, somehow managing to stand stiff and tense their whole shift, ensuring the heavy fortification of the fortress.

Maids with their hair tucked into handkerchiefs bustled about with dusters, buckets of soapy water, brooms, baskets of mountainous laundry, and silver trays full with steaming plates of sausages, eggs, fruit, and toast.

Lessien could no longer distinguish her own echoing footsteps, for the whispering, giggling linen maids and gossiping courtesans distracted her. As well as the general clamor of people.

She could not help but notice lots of extra glances were thrown her way. Not that she cared, she was used to it, but Lessien made sure to rest her hand on the hilt of her sword.

"Lessien?" piped Pippin.

She cleared her throat, tearing her eyes away from a young couple locked in an eager embrace. "You love Merry, as a brother, do you not?"

"Yes, but-"

"And you would do anything to protect him?"

"Yes."

"Sometimes, to protect the people we love, we have to push them away. Like you and Merry. Like my father and Arwen."

"Like you and Legolas? Why?" Pippin questioned.