Upon Earth's Opening

Chapter 13: If She’ll Have You

Legolas carried her back to Rivendell. He carried her, and she slept in his arms. The entire time he debated silently with himself. He held a criminal in his arms. He loved the criminal in his arms. He would do anything for the criminal in his arms.

Anor broke the valley’s horizon, and sunlight began to shine down on them.

She was bleeding; her father hadn’t only knocked her unconscious, he had cut her, too. There was a long, deep slash down her side and across her stomach. Legolas could feel the blood seeping through his shirt that he had bound across her stomach. He was worried for her, and as he entered the Rivendell palace and called for Lord Elrond, he clutched at her unconscious form. She had lost a lot of blood and lost consciousness on the trip back.

A servant heard him and shrieked as she saw the unconscious and bleeding form of Caen in Legolas’ arms. “Fetch Lord Elrond, quickly!” Legolas shouted at her as she scurried off down a hallway. Legolas walked toward the healing rooms quickly and silently, looking down at Caen to reassure himself she was still alive every few seconds. She will be fine, Legolas thought fervently. He was getting worried about the amount of blood she had lost.

Lord Elrond, looking alert and stern as always showed up just as Legolas was opening the door to the healing rooms. He took one look at Caen and pointed to a free bed in the very corner of the room. “How long has she been unconscious?” he asked as Legolas set her down.

“Less than an hour,” Legolas replied, touching Caen’s brow lovingly. He tried not to think that she wouldn’t heal. No matter how much he tried to be angry at her for lying to him, he couldn’t do it. Not while Caen was lying there, so vulnerable. His thoughts were interrupted by Elrond shouting for an assistant. And with the assistant healer’s help they took off Caen’s clothing and inspected the wound. Elrond worked flawlessly, boiling herbs and sewing up the long gash across her stomach. Legolas stared intently at her skin, perfect except for the blood. He felt anger, an intense anger at Caen’s father. How could he have done this? This was unfair. Caen deserved better. No matter what she’d done.

“Legolas,” Elrond said to him, coaxing him back out of his thoughts.

“Yes, Lord Elrond?” Legolas replied quickly, blinking the daze out of his eyes.

“Who did this to her?” Elrond asked. Legolas noticed that he did not ask, ‘why’.

“It was her father, my Lord,” Legolas replied.

Lord Elrond did not look confused; he looked intrigued. “Her father? But she came to us as an orphan.”

“I do not know the full story, my Lord, but from what I heard-”

“You were eavesdropping, I assume,” Lord Elrond interrupted.

“Yes, sir,” Legolas said, looking at his boots. There was a blood stain on them, and he looked once more at Caen, sleeping peacefully. She would be conscious soon, and she would… “She was a spy,” Legolas said quietly. “Her father has been using her for centuries. It seemed that he abandoned her when she was young and came back for her when she was old enough to be of use.”

“And did she choose that life? Or was she forced into it?” Lord Elrond speculated.

“I know not, my Lord,” Legolas admitted, unnerved by Lord Elrond’s calm demeanor. Shouldn’t he be reacting a little more strongly to find out that his charge had been betraying him for years?

“I always suspected something was wrong with Caen,” Lord Elrond spoke, as if reading Legolas’ mind. “I remember when she was scarcely of age. She disappeared for a week, and when she came back, she was a very different person. She concentrated with more vigor, she was calm, cool, and collected in all situations, and her close friendship with Arwen started to dissipate. It was as if she’d been ordered to become a different person. In retrospect, I suppose my suspicions were true,” Lord Elrond said calmly.

Legolas gaped at Elrond. How could this man have suspected so many things and never said anything to anyone. How could he have sat by and watched Caen deceive him?

Leaning forward, Legolas voiced the question he was most intent on knowing the answer to. “What will happen to her?”

“I do not know yet, Legolas. I do not know.” Lord Elrond stood up to leave the healing chambers, looking tired and weary. “I know that is not the answer you want, but it is the only one I can offer at this moment.” He turned to leave.

“Lord Elrond?” Legolas said before he could stop himself.

“Yes?”

“I wish to offer for your daughter, Caen’s hand,” Legolas said with confidence.

“I would be glad to welcome you into our family. That is, if she’ll have you,” Lord Elrond said cryptically and walked out the door.