The Moth and the Flame (A Thranduil fanfic)

Chapter 11

They stopped for rest during the night. It was quiet and it felt as if the whole universe had stopped. But in reality, everything was in constant motion. Evelyn could hear the crickets from far away and she could see the twinkling of the stars up above. Every so often, she would hear a small rustle in the bushes, probably an animal of some sort.

Oropher had asked Thranduil and Evelyn to gather wood for a fire, for he needed to boil water. So the two went off into the forest, carrying only a lantern. He looked over at Evelyn and Thranduil could tell she was still upset. But he didn't say anything, he felt like there was nothing he could say to make her feel better. Instead they stayed silent and began picking up logs.

When they walked back to camp, they started a fire. Well, Evelyn did with nothing but two rocks. She had to, for Thranduil and Oropher had started arguing about who was better at starting fires. They didn't even notice that she started one, until long after she fell asleep.

Evelyn didn't bother to interfere with their battle. So she drifted off to sleep, without dinner or saying goodnight.

She was lying towards the fire, trying to stay warm. And Thranduil stopped arguing to cover Evelyn with a blanket. He noticed that she held Featä's feather close to her heart.

Oropher and Thranduil felt bad about arguing so much that she had to start a fire by herself, and go to sleep with no dinner. So they stayed quiet for the rest of the night, hoping they wouldn't wake her up.

*+*+*+*+later that night*+*+*+*

Evelyn awoke to the sound of a branch snapping. Sitting up, she heard it again. Her heart raced and she reached for her daggers. Carefully, getting past Deppson, she walked into the night, following the sound.

She stopped to hear whatever was making the noise. And she could hear that it started running in the opposite direction of camp. Evelyn would find her way back, and here was no way she was going back to sleep now. Picking up her pace, she too started running.

Evelyn followed the mysterious creature all the way out to the edge of a lake. Quickly, she stopped, not wanting to fall into the water. And she looked up, there was a full moon shining right above the lake. It was beautiful. Forgetting about the animal, she sat down and watched the moon for a bit.

Even though she missed Featä dearly, she knew that they would have to separate at some time. It was only to be expected. Either way, both of them would be in better places.

Evelyn got a bit cold, so she started a small fire to keep warm. All she did was light some sticks on fire and throw grass on top.

She could see her reflection in the water. And the bruise on her cheek was totally visible. Evelyn felt her own hate creeping up on her. The little voice on her head that kept on telling her that she was ugly. She thought she would never have to hear that voice again, but there it was. It was swollen and a purplish color. Evelyn felt like crying, but she couldn't. There weren't enough tears for her to shed right now. She splashed her reflection away until it was nothing but a blur.

"Why do you that to yourself?"A familiar voice asked. It was Thranduil. How long has he been standing there?

"Do what?" She asked, pretending she didn't know what he was talking about.

"Why do you...you make it seem like you hate yourself all the time."

"It's just how I am...it's how I've always been."

"I do not believe that you were always this terrible to yourself."

"So I'm terrible..."

"That's not what I meant Evelyn..."