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*Even though I can deliver this "I love you" to you one million times
I wonder if this incoherent gap between us is able to change
Then, I will try delivering this "I love you" to you one million times again
Until the day you turn around with love...*
A handful of years had already passed since that incident.
That night when Celine had finally told Legolas everything she had ever felt about him without leaving a single detail uncovered.
She says that, but she herself knows that she never really told the prince everything.
Not that she thinks about those things back then but she does so now and so she hides whatever memory she had about that night in the deepest recesses of her mind.
All she could openly remember now without struggling to recollect is quite a few things, really.
That she left the balcony, bumped into Thranduil who had asked her about how she was and whose questions she entertained until he had somehow noticed that she is certainly not cut out for conversation at the moment and kindly bade her a good night and good luck on her journey, to which she was absolutely thankful for.
There was also that one last time she had seen Thorin and gave him a sudden bear hug that had certainly knocked the wind out of him by then. He was very much surprised but it didn't take long for his features to soften before turning furious upon realizing just what might've happened while they were out of his sight -Celine assured him everything was alright- and told him she was leaving. He didn't let her go that easily without insisting that he provide her food, supplies, and a horse for the travel after a couple of more hugs.
She wasn't able to ask whether or not he knew Luna was dead because it just seemed so irrelevant and all she could really do mechanically back then was speak, accept, nod, and shake her head. She had not dare risk anything else that involve too much mind or too much heart, afraid that one final nudge would certainly break through the last of her defenses.
She vaguely remembers a friendly kiss on the cheek and thinking that the dwarf might've already had a bit too much drink.
There were cheers from the crowd and Durin's folk having their thousandth toast for the night, everyone legitimately wasted. Tauriel had Kili's head resting on her lap when she noticed her and told her to come over, seemingly wanting to talk. Shaking her head and giving her a smile, she waved goodbye after giving each of the bubbly dwarves a farewell kiss on their foreheads.
Then there were the children and people of Laketown whom she resorted to talking to the rest of the night till the break of dawn. She found it hard for her to leave the little girls and boys who asked her for stories and kisses and hugs -not to mention the occasional men and older ones who lost a loved one or simply needed consolation and a few words of hope- that she stayed longer than necessary.
Still, it didn't change the fact that there were still those who perished and made these innocent villagers sad.
Celine knows that their hearts could not and would never be repaired, very much like hers. And that was when she ascertained that she wanted to be something more, do more than just heal broken hearts and mend broken souls.
She wants to prevent it all so that there wouldn't be anything to mend in the first place. So that nothing would have to break.
And then she turned to the elven guards singing and talking at the corner, who, upon noticing her, gave her elven salutes fitted for royalty as well as a couple of cheers that combined with the dwarves' shouts of celebration.
This is what she would've wanted to do and more.
To unite different races and keep them under her wing for protection.
After one final look and a resolute smile and wave, she went out the doors and accepted that that would be the last time she'll ever see those faces.
That after leaving those doors, she would never be the same.
-----
Lothlorien obviously needed an upgrade in their security. Especially now that Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn had openly accepted a stranger, and a human, to their family, and the ancient threat of Sauron's forces awakening.
And this strange party they came across to in the borders of Lorien's woods only added up to her long list of reasons why she's practically come down to the conclusion that the valars really meant for her to end up exactly where she is.
She knew her face was well-hidden underneath her royal blue scouting hood throughout the duration of their interrogation. It took her a bit of a nudge to properly handle Haldir's particular group of day patrols -she hates their guts but appreciates the challenge of taking control over them every time- good thing she is and had always been in good terms with the blond elven guard.
Majority of Lothlorien elves are blond.
Celine didn't mind. Not anymore.
"We are members of the Fellowship. Our group is sent out by Lord Elrond of Rivendell for a mission of great importance." One of the men -there are two- whom she learned from information to be Aragorn son of Arathorn, started cordially.
She nodded in contemplation, even though she knew they would definitely not see her from underneath her hood,
"I do not know whether you left the fact that you are a ranger out on purpose or not, Lord Aragorn, son of Arathorn." she wondered aloud as she sheathed her dual elvish swords on their place behind her back.
Said man's eyes widened in surprise and the rest of the party took their defensive stances.
She chuckled, "Quite the wrong time to be taking the defensive now, is it, Lord Boromir of Gondor?" She tilted her hooded head to the side to inspect the brunet from underneath the shadows, her tone cocky and enjoying the bewildered looks on everyone's faces.
As the captain of the guard, she naturally find it her duty to know not only the events and people within the land she serves but the whole of Middle Earth as well. She would catch up with the news as much as she could as she trains with the guards and prepares herself for war should need be.
So, herself knowing much more information than what was let in with the guards shouldn't really come as a surprise for the faction she personally handles.
Although she was working with Haldir's faction for the day and so, couldn't have avoided the bafflement radiating from the stilted postures of the guards.
"Next time, remember to brief your guards whenever I'm the one handling the shift." She turned to Haldir with a snicker in her tone, "they look lost."
Haldir shook his head, "They are merely surprised. The identities of the Fellowship had not been disclosed to us guards." He rose an elegant brow at her as if to ask for some form of explanation.
She shrugs casually, "I simply wander too much."
"Aye, if you must know, my lady. It is common courtesy to us dwarves to show our faces to whom we talk to." The ginger axe-wielding dwarf stepped forward only to have all the arrows of the guards pointed at him.
Celine rose a black leather gloved hand up to command her men to lower their weapons. This particular dwarf looked a lot like someone she knew.
Of course he would.
"I admire your courage to act so rash considering the situation you are in, Master Gimli, son of Gloin. But I believe you are in no position to ask for such a request." She turned to leave before she could even take a closer look to whoever else composed the intruder's group but from what she saw, there were at least four hobbits -exactly like the Bilbo Baggins she knew: curly hair, mere children to the eyes, huge hairy feet and unshakable innocence in their eyes- and an elf.
She tried not to look at all that much at the elf.
That didn't stop her from retrieving one of her swords and swishing it in front of her, "You see, Master Gimli, generosity is never one of my best traits-"
before abruptly turning around and pointing it's tip at the dwarf's throat,
"And it's swordsmaster, not my lady." A dangerous smile flitted across her lips.
She'd grown to be much more sadistic than necessary.
"You would die before your stroke fell!" An all too familiar elf threatened from behind the dwarf, drawing his all too familiar bow with an all too familiar arrow pointed straight to her chest.
Wrong move, she realized as she slowly looked up.
"If it isn't Legolas of the Woodland Realm, son of Elvenking Thranduil, Prince of Mirkwood." She drew back and returned her sword, tipping her head at the blond ellon whilst trying her best to keep her tone from getting darker.
Said elf rose an inquisitive brow at this, as perplexed as his companions are. No one knew his full identity, and if they did, never had they come across to any one who'd speak of it in full detail.
And so Legolas, slowly feeling that there's no need to aim at the stranger, drew his bow and placed his arrow back on his quiver. Speaking the only thing that came to his mind,
"That voice- Who are you?"
A chuckle that was much more bitter than she would've anticipated had left her mouth as she turned and waved a dismissive hand,
"Nobody important. Now come, my lady and lord are already waiting for you."
The Fellowship wordlessly followed the enigmatic hooded figure, not as if they had any choice, not when all these guards had arrows aimed at their hearts.
Legolas couldn't shake that familiar colored cloak. An unsettling feeling that he had seen that somewhere before had accumulated in his very being with every step they took that led them closer to the Lady of Light's domain.
"And for the record, Master Gimli. You look exactly like your father."
And that was when it all fell into place for him.
Celine felt he needed the push. He was close enough anyways.
She could never shake off that deep velvet blue hood that Legolas had given her as a gift.
It didn't mean that she hadn't tried. Or dreamt of trying.
It's her own way of keeping that 'million 'I love you's' she had promised she'd send the Sindarin prince before she left.
'If you would just let me send you a million 'I love you's' until they run out. You don't even have to give me any form of answers in the end. Just... Let me.'
'From Lothlorien?'
'How does I love you's from Lothlorien sound?'
A deep chuckle,
'I do not think they would sound any different,'
"Celine."
She visibly flinched and nearly stopped walking. Not now.
"My lady?" Haldir asked from besides her, his tone indicating concern and an underlying question along the lines of 'how on earth does the prince of Mirkwood know your name?' As he tried to keep up with her speeding footsteps.
"Surely you would not fancy my sword at your throat, Haldir. Keep moving."
And Haldir knows better than to question the swordsmaster at the face of such a threat. For the captain, threats as such are promises she'd take pleasure in fulfilling should they cross the line.
-----☆To be continued