A Silver Lining (Lord of the Rings) [Legolas]

XVIII. An Interesting Turn of Events

XVIII. An Interesting Turn of Events

            Everything was starting to come together. Last minute details were being smoothed out, and everything was fitting nicely into place. Things seemed to be going without a hitch—

Unless you counted in that there was the chance that there was a murderer running around in Greenwood, undetected.

            How did such a ridiculous thought come to fruition? It all started at the rehearsal. Not much was really set up, as it would all be in place when the big day came. The rehearsal was running just fine until Nikita started acting strange. She nearly toppled over a few times when walking; she developed a nasty case of tremors too. Those who were at the rehearsal became concerned, and by the time healers were called, the poison had set in, and Nikita had to be taken away to a chamber to be examined and healed. It happened so quickly that it left everyone with a flurry of questions.

            It was no accident that Nikita had fallen ill so close to the wedding day. It was obvious someone was after her. But we could not understand who, or why. The king was in an uproar about it and demanded that everyone be interrogated thoroughly to seek out the assassin. Nobody was to leave Greenwood until the mystery was solved.

When it came to suspects, my mind went to Halian, but I did not believe she despised Nikita that much to poison the bride-to-be. When I found Halian, the news had spread by then, and she was just as astonished as most of us were, so unless she was being a very good actor, she did not poison Nikita. I then had asked her opinions on suspects, but she had believed that none of the female Elves were that driven to take Legolas from Nikita.

            The healers made good time and were able to treat Nikita. She was put on bed rest for a few days, leaving some fellow female Elves to finalize everything. Legolas and I visited Nikita as often as we could. Sometimes we visited around the same time, others we were separate. I liked it when I was alone with Nikita, I did not feel so uncomfortable with just her. Though, I had a feeling Nikita had an inkling of a suspicion that I poisoned her, because every time I came in alone, she remained asleep the entire time when I very well knew she was capable of being wide awake. The times when Legolas and I were together, when he was not looking, she would shoot me her signature dirty look. It reminded me all too well of her threats back in the forest.

 I had a feeling I would receive the same threats, if not more or worse ones, once she confronted me about it.

            The wedding was a week away. Nikita was back to her normal self now, going back to worrying about the wedding. She avoided any contact with me unless it was absolutely necessary to acknowledge me when others were around. She and I never had the chance to talk about this poisoning incident, but we did not need to for me to know that she still suspected that I was after her. Her reason was obvious: she believed that I was still after her husband-to-be.

            I sometimes wondered if the poison made her more paranoid than ever before or if it gave her permanent brain damage.

            I just came back from a lovely bath, dressed in a second dress from the pack I had conjured up in Gondor. It was the green gown with swirling patterns and sleeves that stopped at the elbows. It was strange to feel like I had made a home in Greenwood when my real home was Lórien. I partially blamed it on Halian and Legolas, and the fact that I had not been attacked since I stepped inside of the kingdom. But just because I was safe did not mean that they had forgotten about me. If the Men wanted me dead, they would not give up until they had me and had my blood on their hands.

            I let my hair dry with the air when Halian came knocking on one of the walls. I nodded, allowing her inside. She had an apprehensive look about her.