Oriana: The Last High Elf Of Lothlorien

Chapter Six: Grief...

***3rd POV***

The dwarves were forced to flee, Smaug basically ignored the dwarves, only going for his new fortune. Balin and Dwalin had to drag Thorin out of the Mountain.

Thorin was leading the dwarves now through Mirkwood. He hadn't spoken to anyone unless it was to give an order...even then, he was growling.

He was walking ahead of everyone...when he was met with a Prince, pointing a bow in his face. Legolas was glaring at him. "Where is Princess Oriana, dwarf?! She was in your kingdom!" He growled.

Thorin glared right back. "Ori-...Oriana sacrificed herself for my people...she, unlike your coward father, was willing to give her life for someone else." Thorin growled. "What relation is she to you that you are obviously here without Thranduil's bidding!?" He snapped.

Legolas lowered his bow. "Do you not know of the deal my father offered to her?" He asked. "She was sent to keep you from becoming King...to kill you. It seems she cared for you...as you are still breathing." He said with disgust.

Thorin hated that Legolas was even speaking to him...much less speaking of things he didn't understand. "Do not speak to me, elfling...you know nothing." Thorin was about to continue walking, but Legolas spoke up.

"I knew her for more than two thousand years, mortal! We grew up together...we were to be married someday. To be betrothed! And now she is prisoner to a dragon that would torture her!" Legolas barked.

Thorin's heart dropped into his stomach. "What are you talking about?" Thorin asked, hiding his emotion with monotone and hateful eyes.

"How do you think the dragon knew her!? She spent one hundred years in the northern ice lands, killing dragon after dragon! To avenge the fallen in the Dragon War! Every serpent knows her name! Smaug is the only one that ever escaped her! Now? HE HAS TAKEN HER FOR A PRIZE AND IT IS NO FAULT BUT YOUR OWN!" Legolas bellowed at the top of his lungs, dwarves heard him.

"WHAT SHOULD I HAVE DONE!?! WHAT COULD I HAVE DONE!?!" Thorin shouted back.

Legolas growled. "YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED IN HER PLACE! SHE SHOULD STILL BE HERE! NOT YOU! AN IRRELEVANT MORTAL WHO WILL DIE ANYWAY!" Legolas yelled in his face.

Thorin took a step back. He realized that Legolas must have wanted to marry her. "You care for her more than as a comrade, don't you? You cannot deny it." Thorin said smugly. "You are not the only one...believe me." Thorin's eyes dropped to the ground, then he continued on walking west.

Legolas stood there with wide eyes, he knew what Thorin meant. He was frozen on the spot. Another thought occurred in his mind. Who would tell the Lady Galadriel, her family, that her child was dead? Or worse?

***

The Lady of Light knew...as soon as the dragon had taken her. There was no explaining to be done...

She dropped her book from her hands and collapsed in her library, falling to her knees. She let out a wail of grief and pain. Her cries were said to echo through all of Lothlorien...to places as far as Gondor, Rivendell, Edoras...even Hobbiton was disturbed.

Lord Celeborn went running into the library, seeing his wife on the floor. He kneeled beside Galadriel, taking her in his arms. "What happened, my love? Who has pained you do?" He asked desperately in their tongue.

Galadriel clung to Celeborn, weeping shamelessly. "My child! She is taken! Taken into the bowels of Erebor by a fire drake!" She sobbed.

This struck Celeborn hard...she was his daughter after all. "That is not possible...Oriana would never-...never be felled by a dragon...it is not true! It cannot be true!" His own eyes welled with tears as he embraced Galadriel to console her.

"My baby...my precious girl..." Galadriel sobbed.

No elf or dwarf would find peace for what felt like eternity after that night...and if anyone knows eternity, it is the elves...