Within Dreams [A Legolas love story]

Dreamless

I did eventually find my room that night, but sleep would not come.

I sat, cross legged, on the balcony that overlooked the forest and considered the plan I had laid out.

Albeit hesitantly, both the Lord and Lady consented to it, though with some reservations. Thranduil agreed to pen the letter, however, which would be to Aragorn.

It was to state that on behalf of himself and Lothlorien, he would ask Gondor to ally with them to find me, as I had been captured by Remnant loyalists that day. Urgent aid was to be sent.

Legolas, familiar with the route, would ride to Gondor and inform Aragorn of the contents of the letter, which he would never receive. If all went according to plan, the letter would be intercepted and found by the Remnant forces.

I, meanwhile, would not be taken by Remnant loyalists as the letter claimed, but rather "captured" by someone who agreed to act as a traitor and hand me over to Falcon.

To minimize the chance of things going awry, there would be hidden scouts, supplied by both Greenwood and Lothlorien, posted along the route as I went to ensure I never actually was captured by enemy forces.

The idea was that if I were handed directly to Falcon, I could cut him off there with much less opposition than if I had to fight to get to him through prepared ranks.

This way, it would be--dare I say it!--easier to finish Falcon and, by extension, the rest of his forces.

It was a grave risk, for if I were to be handed off to another forcefully I would be cut off from safety, but the scouts posted nearby would try and stop any attack on my life.

The letter was to be sent tomorrow. I had one full day before I had to journey, yet again, to Mordor.

I may as well do something other than sleep, I thought, after realizing that the night air, the moonlight, and the soft woods weren't helping me in the least to do so, not to mention the thoughts running through my mind faster than a Rhosgobel rabbit.

So, I stepped back into my room and found the door, silently pushing it open.

The halls of Galadriel were eerily silent, but beautifully so, wreathed in white and silver. I hardly dared breathe as I padded through the halls in my bare feet, the hem of my light dress barely brushing the cool stone floor as I went. It was dreamlike, the night. More ethereal than sleeping, the shadows themselves seemed calm in their repose.

I finally came to a wide balcony, laced with latticed stone, that looked out across the forest. The silver buds of the mallorn trees shone with light and somewhere, a nightingale sang sweetly, trilling through the night.

"No sleep tonight?"

"Legolas, I wish you would not startle me so, I could faint and fall over the balcony to my death," I reprimanded sternly.

"I hardly think I startled you, my lady, and if I did, I do not believe you would even show it." he said, amused. "No dressing gown, either?"

"I was under the impression I would be alone," I sighed. "Which is unreasonable, since you're always coming out of the shadows. I should know better."

"You should," he replied, with a mock air of disapproval.

"I suppose now you're going to point out my lack of shoes," I said, finally looking back at him.

"No shoes, either! My, you seem to have quite forgotten a greater part of your wardrobe."

He was smiling now, standing against a curled pillar of white ash that stood a few feet behind me.