Chapter 1

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Legolas glanced around at the fellowship warily.

The hobbits seem too wary to care about anyone else and were quickly falling asleep.

Restless, Legolas began to tour Lothlorien. How beautiful and peaceful this place is. If only Icould stay in this place forever. He soon came to a large, open area. Many of the elves had gathered there already and were singing a familiar song to Legolas' ears. His eyes drifted slowly from each fair elven face to another as he hummed. They finally fell upon an elf. She is an elf?

The woman was an elf, yet looked nothing like it. She had the elven ears, but none of the other elven traits. She was shorter, almost the size of a dwarf, and her hair was not of normal color. It was raven black, like that of a human. Yet her skin shone brightly as the sun and her eyes showed her wisdom and age. He had never seen anything like her before. Legolas yearned to speak to her; to learn of her, without even knowing her.

She inevitably felt his gaze and glanced his way. Legolas felt a small burning in his ears as he blushed. He turned his face away ashamedly. Why had he blushed? What was it about her dark violet eyes that stirred him so?

Lost in his own thoughts, Legolas did not even notice the small, gentle touch of the elfmaiden beside him.

Legolas turned brusquely and found himself looking down at the raven-haired beauty. Up close, Legolas was able to admire her small supple lips, and her soft creamy features. Legolas stood almost a foot taller than her, and when he looked in her eyes, he wanted to cradle her like a small child, and at the same time kiss her like a new love.

Smiling serenly, the small maiden placed her tiny hand in his and lead him away from the others.

Silky was her pale skin, and her hand seemed to fill only half of his. Her hand was barely in his yet her pull on him was greater than he knew. He simply followed, yet at the same time was being pulled. Through the soft foliage Legolas saw they were drawing near a talan.

As if it was natural for him, Legolas scooped up the maiden in his arms and carried her high into the trees. Upon reaching their destination, Legolas once again felt a burning within and it seeped through and touched his face, flushing him.

"Ta vanima, isn't it? <it's beautiful>" she said, the words seemed to be floating out of her mouth.

Legolas could only nod his head in agreement.

"Haeborwen"

"Mani?" <What?>

"My name is Haeborwen. LLe?" <Yours?>

"Legolas." Legolas grew more and more curious of the delicate flower that sat before him. "Manke tuulo lle?" <Where are you from?>

"Sinome." <Here>

"Are you--" he stuttered, not sure how to approach it.

"Earendil? Uma. My mother was half human and half elf. As was my father. An odd combination, isn't it." Haeborwen said this more as a statement than a question.

"Mmm." Legolas could think of nothing else to say.

"You are the Prince of Mirkwood, aren't you?"

"Yes," Legolas said, startled. "How did you know?"

She smiled teasingly in reply.

"Why did you bring me here?"

That smile again. "I would have thought you to have guessed already."

Legolas gave her a bewildered look. Suddenly his eyes widened in shock. "Certainly you mean not...."

"I do. Lle lava?" <Do you yield?>

Not wanting to hurt her feelings, Legolas replied, "Amin lava." <I yield>

Legolas was quite overwhelmed to have such a small creature be so cunning and bold. She was putting the moves on him.  And Legolas, even being over three thousand years old, was novice to her ways.  She moved like a breath of wind, moving over and through you.  This was the way she came foward to meet him. 

Her lips barely touched his, and moved over his face and his neck.  Her tiny hands pushed through his golden hair.  Legolas could think of no way to react and found himself slowly entranced with her. 

"Haeborwen..." Legolas whispered.  Without knowing so, his fingers deftly unbuttoned her silvery gown.  The gown had barely slipped past her pale shoulders when Legolas' eyes met a lurid sight.  "The cursed teardrop!" he gasped aloud.  Upon her whitened skin, sat a black teardrop pendant.  The pendant had many diamonds enbalmed into it.  It was beautiful, yet riddled with harsh lines and sharp corners.

The small face broke into a knowing grin.  "You did not know of this?"

"Well, I had no idea that it really existed.  'Twas only in stories I heard of such a thing.  I also had no idea where it was last bestowed."

"Alas, 'twas bestowed upon me, the cursed one."

Legolas blanched.  So stunned was he, that he could scarcely breathe.  "But-- to have this amarth<doom>-- 'tis never been proved!  Not even spoken of in the last hundred years!"

Her small smile faded into a face of graveness and pain.  Her eyes spoke of much sorrow and death, yet were merged with something unknown to Legolas.

"Do you not know why, melamin?  Ten'..." she trailed off morosely.  "Because, the teardrop was lost to all our people.  The sindarian elves, had destroyed it so that the only way to revive it was for the true heir of the stone to cry one single black tear and it would crystalize and form the forbidden stone."  A glittering tear threatened her, but she fought it.  "Many years ago, I was in love with a mortal.  The day he was killed, I was so distraught, that I screamed revenge upon his slayer.  With those words, a tear wretched down my face and formed this."  Haeborwen lifted the delicate stone away from her ivory skin.

Legolas was torn between so many emotions he could hardly control them.  Surprise and fear wretched his face; pity and a deeper feeling grew inside his heart.  "How do you deal?  And why doth you choke your tears like they are a poison?"

"Because they are.  To you.  And everyone else in this world."

Chapter 2

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Not understanding, Legolas questioned her with his deep sapphire eyes.

"If I let tears overrun like a fountain, mountains of crystals shall reign on this world.  The crystals will steal their hearts and the owner becomes but a shadow in this world.  'Tis why I must kill the tears that pursue me."  She averted his eyes quickly.  "Amin hiraetha. <I'm sorry> I did not mean for it to be this way. 

"I would rather know about it rather than not," Legolas breathed, "but it hurts me for you to carry a burden of this weight.  To be immortal and carry this is beyond me."

Her eyes still carried a great burden, but suddenly they filled with a light that glittered and sparkled.  "Miqulamin." <kiss me>

'Twas like jumping off a mountain, kissing this woman.  Legolas leaned in ever so slightly, and she met him with a passion and fierce need that sent Legolas' mind into abyss.

She broke them apart and searched his soul through his clear blue eyes.  "How am I able to trust thee so well?"

"I know not how your mind works, all I know is that your trust is not in vain."  Legolas' eyes drifted once again to the black tear that ruined her natural light beauty.  His eyes then traced her delicate features back to the deep violet pools of her eyes.

"My trust will ever be, though I may not."  Haeborwen then jumped past Legolas so quickly, even his keen eyes were spinning.  He could barely hear her light patter of feet as she descended the ladder.  He barely heard it, but it was unmistakable; "Forever, is too long to live melamin."

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Legolas sat an looked upon the stars for many hours.  Or was it days?  He could not tell, and he did not care.  All that dwelt on his mind was the raven-haired jewel.  Forever, is too long to live melamin.  The words were stained in his memory.  He did not want to believe of what she said, yet he knew there was no evading them.

I must speak to her again.  Haeborwen.  Legolas repeated the name, as if it were a song that he longed to remember forever.  Haeborwen.  He said it for the last time in his mind. 

Cursing himself, he realized how preoccupied he had been.  How long had he been idle?  The absurdity of it made his temper boil.  Legolas had known the whole time of what he wanted to do, yet he procrastinated.  And for some reason, he knew he was already too late.

Chapter 3

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Haeborwen descended the silver ladder as quickly as she could, hardly making a sound to those around her; but to her ears, her feet sounded like dead weights.  What she was planning on doing was making her feel as though she were moving through water.  Without knowing it, tears streamed down her face. The water glittered, making them all the more noticeable.

Haeborwen.  She stopped dead.  Her lady was calling her.  Turning up a small slope, she ran towards a small pond.

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"Do not fear the choice you must make.  For it may free you; or imprison you."  The Lady Galadriel stood before her, beautiful as ever.

"Pardon milady, but, I do fear.  The people I may leave behind --"

"Will never forget you.  Do not worry, child.  Your heart will guide you, for it is true and speaks clearly."  Galadriel smiled.  Legolas thinks of you.

At this, Haeborwen's eyes grew wide.  "He does?"  Then blushing furiously, she turned away.

Galadriel's smile broadened.  "Of course, did you not see the way he glanced at you earlier?  Even I noticed."  A hint of a tease played on Galadriel's features.

"Oh, milady.  Begging your pardon, you noticed Legolas, too?" 

Galadriel faked a small gasp.  "Haeborwen!  Rude is your tongue!  I shall remind you to hold it next time or you shall wind up without one."

Haeborwen bowed mockingly, "As you wish, milady." 

"Now," Galadriel said, growing stern.  "What are your intentions?"

"You know my intentions.  And I shall go through with them."  Haeborwen glanced down at the hidden teardrop pendant.  "Make sure he understands, milady.  I do not wish to hurt anyone."

Galadriel's eyes said it all.  Turning away, Haeborwen jumped lightly and swiftly through the sunlight, her hair shining.

Chapter 4

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Running with all her might, Haeborwen finally reached her small home within the golden trees.  She quickly sought out a small box hidden beneath a floor board.

"Nall n'uma ner" <To cry no more> she read aloud, for upon the small oak-colored box, were those golden inscriptions.

Opening the box, she found the small school, no bigger than the palm of her hand, and a vile that contained a black, smoky liquid.

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"Iire huine tyel, ar'kalina sil, sina iire amin wany.  Aa' gwaithamin coi.  Amin on coia'amin."  <When darkness ends, and light shines, this is when I depart.  And my people live.  I give my life.>  Haeborwen chanted this, while clutching the small pendant in her hand.  She slowly sat upon the small bed that lay in the middle of an open space in Lorien. 

"Coia'amin tyel sinome." <My life ends here.>  Slowly but surely, she lifted the small glass vile to her lips.  The liquid had turned a bright amber, proceeding the chant.

"PUTTA!!  <stop!!>  Melamin!  What are you doing?" Legolas yelled, breaking Haeborwen's concentration. 

Haeborwen stared at him.  Oh, how beautiful he was.  His face slightly flushed, his hair flying, was the most captivating sight Haeborwen had ever seen.  Entraced by him, she did not reply.

"Melamin, mankoi?" <Why?>  Legolas' eyes looked at the small figure before him, deathly pale, yet the light in her eyes still remained.  "Gurtha," Legolas said, pointing at the vile, which seemed huge compared to her tiny pale hands.  "You were going to drink the death poison!  Mankoi?  MANKOI?"  Legolas was shouting now, fear ripping and tearing at his mind, threatening to burst into fire if he did not control it.

"You are not to be here," Haeborwen said.  "I wish to be alone.  I need to do this.  You cannot interrupt."  Haeborwen's soft face changed.  Hardened was her statement, as if coals had been dropped into her eyes, and poison in her very breath.  "Leave me!  Do not disturb things you do not understand!" she hissed at him.  Haeborwen wanted him leave, for if she did not act soon, the poison would settle and become dormant for another thousand years. 

Legolas sensed this, for he had heard of the amber liquid in her hand.  "But tarienamin, <princess> I cannot leave you to die.  I could not."  Legolas felt if he stalled her, the poison would curdle and turn still once more.  "Do you not understand?  Amin mel lle." <I love you.>

Haeborwen's eyes softened to violet petals and her voice soft as a breeze, yet clear as a bell.  "Is that the truth, Legolas?  Or is this to prevent me from completing my task?  For if that is it, you understand nothing.  For if I live, you should want to stay in Lorien.  But you may not.  You are on a quest.  You do not need another worry on your mind.  Be gone now, for I delay no longer."  Haeborwen, quicker than Legolas swallowed the liquid in a small gulp.

"MELAMIN!" Legolas screamed into the silence.  He ran to her side and clutched her hand, which was already growing cold.  "Melamin... coramin...coia'amin... Lle lemb amin..." <My love... my heart... my life... you leave me behind.>  Tears wretched down his face in hopeless rivers,  as he held his first love, his last love, his life.

Chapter 5

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How long he held her he did not know.  But as he slowly released her to hold onto her beauty, he noticed Haeborwen's hand tight around two objects.

Releasing her grip, he found the pendant and a small piece of paper.  Legolas gasped aloud, for half was all that was left of the black pendant.  It had been disappearing ever since her life had been taken.  Surprisingly, the small paper in her hand was addressed to him.  Fearing the words, Legolas slipped it into a pocket for later.  Looking upon her face again brought all the grief back upon him like a crashing river.  The sight alone took his breath away and left him struggling to breathe.

"How can I live without you, elle'er? <little one>  I fell for you so quickly.  And thus I lost you even quicker."  He buried his head in her bossom and cried once more.

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Galadriel watched from a distance as Legolas continued to hold onto her.  Galadriel felt a stray tear wander down her cheek.  Her little one, her small jem... gone.  Forcing her tears down, she looked into Legolas' mind, making sure he did not die of grief.  His thoughts struck her like a blunt blow to the chest.  My love... my soul... How could you leave me?  Did you not know my love for you had blossomed more in an hour than you could ever know.  My heart... I cannot go on.  You have become the star in my life.  My guiding light.  My beautiful jewel from within.  My love...

How could he love her so?  He had barely known her! 

Galadriel's thoughts raced.  He called her so many things, yet she thought Legolas knew nothing of the pain she endured those few thousand years she was alive.  Sighing, she moved toward Legolas.  She knew if he lingered too long, he would die. 

"Legolas... Ma ie' amin." <Look at me> Galadriel whispered.

Legolas' head snapped around at her.  Galadriel wanted to cry when she saw Legolas' eyes, haunted and drowned in pain.

"Legolas, understand.  She wanted what was best for all.  Haeborwen, --"  At the mere mention of her name, Legolas paled and his eyes swam in threatened tears.  Galadriel forced herself to continue for his own sake.  "Haeborwen cared for you.  More care than she has ever let herself feel.  Know that she cared for you.  Read the slip of paper in your front pocket.  I daresay she has announced her love for you in it." 

Legolas' eyes widened slightly then looked down at his front breast pocket.

"Mellonamin, <my friend> read it.  After, you must clear your mind.  Do not hang upon her.  Haeborwen is gone.  Her body is but a shell.  Her spirit has fled."

Legolas nodded his head slightly, then abruptly stopped, as if it made him sick.  "I understand, Galadriel.  Thank you.  May I still have time with her? One last goodbye?"

Galadriel nodded solemnly.  She turned away and walked into the shadows of the trees.

Chapter 6

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Legolas ran his hand over her porcelain skin.  Over her eyes, her cheeks, and then her lips.  Legolas bent over and kissed each.  "I am with you forever, my love.  Farewell, for now." he said, barely audible.  Grasping her hand one last time, he kissed it and set her down gently upon the bed.  Uncapable of staying any longer, he turned and walked away from her.

He couldn't look back.

He could never look back.

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"Legolas!  We have missed you!  Where have you been?" Pippin squealed when Legolas returned to them.

Legolas managed a small, grim smile.  "I have been staying with the elves.  It heals me to be among so many other wood elves."

Pippin sensed something morose hanging on his words, so he left him alone.

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"We leave at dawn tomorrow.  So be ready."  Aragorn smiled at his comrades.  He had been much healed at spending time with the elves.  Hoping no one else sensed his profound sadness of leaving, he turned away and began to gather his things. 

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"I bid you all farewell.  Be wary, for Gandalf's absence is a loss.  Remember all that I have said to you."  Galadriel looked around at the eight men standing in front of her.  She gazed into each of their eyes, saying her own private farewell.  "I have gifts for each of you.  I shall call to you one by one." Galadriel said, and while turning away, called Legolas to follow her.

"Legolas Greenleaf. Much you have learned in your short time here.  I give you this bow and quivers, for I fear you shall need them.  I hope that you like the bow, I made it myself."  Galadriel handed him a white bow with many intricate gold designs upon it.  Elvish characters also were engraved.  The elvish rune L and H were upon it. 

"H, milady?  H stands for what symbol?"  Although in his heart, Legolas already knew, but he wanted it answered by herself.

"H is for Haeborwen, for she shall dwell forever in your heart.  So now a part of her shall always be there with you.  Even in battle, for that is her elven hair upon it.  She requested it before she departed with me.  Be strong, Legolas, and let your bow sing!"

Chapter 7

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The group of eight began out onto the river slowly, regretting every inch they put between themselves and the wonderous woods of Lothlorien.  But none felt such remorse as Legolas as their boats glided silently on the river. 

"Be gone now, I delay no longer."

Her last words to him were like poison.  They wretched through him and ate at his very soul.  And as if responding to his very thoughts, he heard a clear voice in his mind.

Do not dwell on the past, for the past may become your future.

As if awakening from a dream, Legolas saw things more clearly, and heard more sharply everything around him.  Legolas let a small smile play upon his lips and he heard Galadriel speak once more.

Smile.  For she looks upon you with love and honor.  Oh, and don't forget about her note.

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The note.  He had completely forgotten while he had been lost in grief.  He made a note to himself to read it when they stopped for the night.

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Lifetimes it had seemed since they had left the golden wood.  Legolas stood away from the group and sat beneath the canopy of a large tree and read her first and last note to him.

My dearest Legolas,

       Do not despair.  I have sacrificed my life because 'tis needed for my people.  For me to survive is like a sleeping dragon.  The dragon could awake and engulf my people.  I could never do that to them.  I care for everyone more than they know.  I care also for you. 

Legolas' heart skipped a beat. 

Please know that the moment I laid eyes upon you, I knew I loved you.  But I could not even begin to, for love can do many things to people.  And I do not ever want to be a burden on you.  And if I began to love you, you would turn from your destiny to be part of the Fellowship of the Ring.  I could never do that to you and your comrades.  Never abandon them because of me.  They need you more than I.  Forgive all things that I might say before I leave.  For I know you will try to stop me.  I thank you for trying, for it shows that you care.  I love you Legolas Greenleaf.  And always will.  Namarie.

Much love,

Haeborwen

Legolas swallowed his tears and bit his lip until it bled.  Turning slowly, he returned to the rest of the company.  Stopping suddenly, Legolas looked up to the stars and murmurred, "Love you always, Haeborwen."

*~End~*