Athëa - Queen of the Savages

Blurred and Blinding

"My apologies Lady Athëa, but we have strict orders from Lady Galadriel herself", Haldir spoke.

He and Athëa had taken some distance from the rest of the group to discuss the matters at hand; she wanted to leave Lothlórien with her men to go back to the east, and he couldn't let her.

But the last couple of days, that she had spent straying in the forest around Lothlórien, had opened her mind and she had regained the matter of her purpose. Though it had been blurred by her being in the fellowship, now her cause stood clearly before her. The cause of the quest, her Men, The Hidden City, her life.

She had not been alone in the forrest...

Her mind strayed away from the stern yet pleading voice of Haldir, as she turned to find Legolas looking back at her. For a moment she scanned all of his features, tilting her head, as if she didn't quite remember his face. And she almost didn't.

He had been so far from her thoughts of lately, and yet now that she actually looked upon him again, all the memories of him came flooding back to her. As if she had been under a spell, and only the soothing blue in his eyes could break it.

She blinked hastily as Legolas turned his gaze away from her, making her feel almost naked in the absence of his eyes. The memory of her hand striking hard against his face, came plummeting back, making her heart ache from her own idiocy. He had only been trying to protect her, and yet she had repaid him with such unjust anger.

"We will go with you", Athëa stopped Haldir's stream of words as she placed an acknowledging hand on his left shoulder, and he repaid her with a relieved smile.

She turned to her men, her eyes lingering at Legolas for a moment, though he seemed unwilling to face her.

She started walking towards Wreigh, who was leaning against a tree watching the others carefully from a distance. She placed herself determinedly in front of him and spoke to him silently.

"You cannot be serious!", he responded with disgust written on his face as he unintentionally demanded the attention of everyone around them.

"You know we are stronger and faster than them right!?", he continued pointing at the three elves from Lothlórien. "The Lady of the Light has worked against our Queen and our purpose, yet you mean for us to submit ourselves to her chains!?"

Athëa looked at the man in front of her, with loving eyes. She placed her hands on both sides of his face and pulled him towards her until their foreheads met. She looked him deep into his silver eyes and spoke calm words. Words the others could not hear.

Wreigh exhaled deeply and let his shoulders sink and his arms hang lifeless down his sides in a defeated manner. He closed his eyes and clenches his jaw, before he pulled himself away from the elleth's grip and turned to face his kin.

"Unsheathe your swords and daggers, and remove your bows and quivers", he demanded looking to his men, who instantly turned their disbelieving gazes towards their Queen.

But Athëa only gave them a nod in return. And so she turned to Haldir removing her own weapons, before handing them to the ellon. She then turned her back to him, with her hands behind her back, letting him bind them together.

She watched as her men followed her example, and she gave them a reassuring smile, hoping that it would ease their troubled minds.

But her own mind was not truly at ease. And before a cloth was placed across her eyes, she turned to the fair haired woodland Prince, who was now failing to hide his loving concern, as his eyes met hers. Hopefully this was the right decision, she thought to herself. Hopefully he was not blinding her to her true cause.