The Fair-Haired Ones

Legolas held her soft hair in his hand and stroked it as they sat beside the pool of water. The very same one they had been intimate at before. He loved the way it felt like lace and lied undisturbed often behind Veronica's shoulder as she sat.

"What now?" Veronica wondered.

"Only tomarrow can tell," Legolas answered.

Veronica wiped away her tears. "Don't speak in riddles!"

"It means I don't know, ok?" Legolas replied.

Veronica and Legolas both sighed deeply. He put his hand to her face and pulled a strand of hair behind her ear. She hugged him again.

"We'll just have to wait," Legolas said. "It'll all be right in the end."

"How do you know?" Veronica asked, twirling her fingers in his flowing locks.

He placed his hand beneath her chin and looked into her eyes.

"Do you not trust me?" he whispered.

His blue eyes with glowing specks of purple lit up like the heavens. Veronica gazed into them so long, she thought she had strayed into a dream. Legolas rested his hands on Veronica's cheeks and brought her lips to meet his. He ran his hands down her neck and shoulders until he reached her hips. He hugged them tightly and forced a passionate kiss on Veronica as she jumped slightly from his touch. She flung her arms around his neck as he caressed her silky- smooth skin, that was like the teardrops of the radiant moon. Legolas kissed her cheek, chin, and neck as his hands explored her body. He layed Veronica down gently as his hands found the knot that held up her top. Then, Veronica stopped Legolas and caught her breath.

"Not here; not now," Veronica added.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have," Legolas replied, holding her hand.

"It's ok. Let's just stay here, like this," she whispered.

They both lied still; their bodies making a heart shape on the leaves and grass. Legolas ran his fingers lightly down Veronica's side, as if a pebble following a stream. She shivered and giggled as it tickled her skin. Veronica traced the outline of Legolas's face, ear, and body, before twirling his hair in her fingers again.

"Tell me what you love most about me," she said.

"I love your wit and beauty," he began to list. "I love the way you smile. I love the way you make me laugh. I love the way you walk and move you body. I love the way you hair flows in the wind. I love everything about you."

Veronica smiled. "I love your voice, and the way you speak to me. I love how you are always listening to me, even when I am not speaking."

Legolas traced the outline of her body.

"And I love....your pointy ears," Veronica added.

Legolas laughed quietly. "Well, they come with the rest of me."

Veronica put her head on Legolas's chest and her golden curls tickled his lips. She placed her hand on his heart and he covered it with his own.

"Veronica, tell me of where you came from," Legolas requested.

"Well," she started. "There's not much to tell. I lived in this place we called the Lost World."

"We?" Legolas inquired.

"My friends and I. I had lived there alone every since the disappearance of my parents. Ned Malone and his four companions were the first and only I befriended," Veronica explained.

"Ah, and that unpleasent scaly beast in the forest? I see now why you did not fear it." Legolas asked.

"So, that was you who killed it," Veronica replied.

"What was it?" Legolas wondered.

Veronica peered into the distance and sighed contently. "It was one of the anciant forms of animals called a raptor. It was one of the many unpleasantries of the Lost World."

"Interesting," Legolas mumbled in his response.

Then, there was a moment of silence.

"Legolas, tell me, what happened before that journey?" Veronica asked. "Why would the author write those things in that book he observed about you if there wasn't a cause?"

"Are you sure you want to know?" Legolas asked.

Veronica shook her head on his chest and held his hand.

"Just start from the beginning," Veronica noted.

"Before the journey to Mount Doom...before the whole war with Sauron even existed....I was happy," he began. "I was younger then, not that I am that much older now. I met the most unusual girl in the forest one day..."

"More different than me?" Veronica joked.

"Much different. She was an elfling--half human and half elf. We spent many months together and then a whole summer. She was the most beautiful and wonderful young woman I had ever met..."

What happened?" Veronica asked in a whisper.

"One day the word was spread from the elven sanctuary Rivendell that Sauron had declared war on all of Middle-Earth. He would stop at all nothing to destroy every man, woman, and child of every race to get The One Ring. Then, the elder of Rivendell, Lord Elrond, called together members of every race to a secret counsel to decide the fate of the ring.

I had to represent my father at this counsel, my being a prince of the realm. When news of this reached my beloved, she could not bear it. I left without telling her the one thing I needed to tell her most..."

"You were in love with her," Veronica said, a tear running down her plush cheek.

"And after the war, I returned to my home of Mirkwood in high hopes of marrying the fair maiden. When I went to my brethren in search for her, they told me..." he added.

Legolas held back his emotions.

"They told me...that she had been killed by orcs while picking flowers in the woods one day," Legolas confessed. "And I asked, "'Where were the others while this innocent child picked flowers?'" But, they could tell me no answer I wanted to hear. After that, I grieved for so long. My one true love was gone forever, until I met you, Veronica," he replied.

Veronica arched her back and her golden hair fell around her. She rubbed the front and back of her hand along Legolas's face. She kissed him lovingly, before resting on his chest again. He kissed her hand and held her close as she drifted into a peaceful slumber. Sleep did not come to Legolas. He kept an ever watchful eye over Veronica as she slept through the night.