Secrets

Chapter 3

I sat in one of the many trees of Mirkwood, Ithilwen's favorite tree, to be exact. I wanted to talk to her, so I went to a place where I would ve sure to find her.

Sure enough, Ithilwen soon was climbing up to her usual perch. "Hello" she said when she saw me, not seeming at all surprised.

"Have you been expecting me?" I asked, for normally, she would have been a bit startled to find me here.

"As a matter of fact, I have." She answered. "With Lancaeron leaving and all"

"You know me too well" I laughed slightly. The two of us sat in the tree, somehow communicating without words.

I turned to see a slight smile coming across Ithilwen's face.

"What is it?" I asked. It was rare to see her smile nowadays.

"I was thinking about when I first came here." She replied. "Do you remember that?"

"Like it was yesterday..." I laughed.

Feredir and Rumil had found her bruised and unconscious in the middle of the forest. She had only been around 12 in the eyes of the human, and there had been no sign of where she had come from.

I had only been a couple hundred years older than her, and was naturally curious. I had studied her closely, wondering who she was.

I had been in her room with Rumil when she woke up. The first thing she had said was,"Am I in Rivendell?"

"No" Rumil answered.

"Good" she had said, a spark of some sort of satisfaction and defiance in her eyes, and fell back asleep.

She never talked about why she had left. I had once told her that her parents must be worried about her.

"My mother left years ago" She had answered bitterly. "And my father wouldn't want to even look at me again."

"Are you worried?" Ithilwen suddenly asked, snapping me back to the present.

"Worried about what?" I replied.

"About Lancaeron." She told me, and I sighed.

"Very much so." I answered.

She gave me a reassuring smile. "Don't be. He'll be fine."

I smiled back, her words of comfort slightly lifting the fear that had covered me.

We gazed at the stars for a while, taking in their silver light. Ithilwen started to sing, her voice weaving through the trees and fading off into the night. Her voice truly was beautiful, flowing like water. It was gentle, and anyone who had first seen Ithilwen wouldn't have believed that such gentle melodies could come from such an icy and broken soul.

I could see why Tauriel didn't like her. Ithilwen hid herself behind a cold personality. But once you got to know her, and she began to trust you, her inner layers would begin to show through.

With these thoughts, I let all my worries drift away, and before long, I was asleep.