"No! Absolutely not!" Nara shouted, bolting upright on the throne. She wore no crown as her coronation was three days away. Illeandir closed his eyes and sighed. He knew she would say no.
"I must leave," he said. Nara was shaking her head before he even finished. She stood and glared at him.
"I will not allow you to leave."
"Nara..." Illeandir began.
"You will address me as "Your Majesty"," Nara said.
"You are not yet queen, Nara," Illeandir stressed her name. Nara glared at him. "I do not answer to you."
"Who do you answer to then?"
"King Thranduil," Illeandir said. His home had been Mirkwood, now renamed Greenwood, while he yet lived with his mentor, and father-figure, Cúnor. He had personally met Thranduil during his accolade to become a soldier of Mirkwood. The noble king had left a deep impression on Illeandir that he still felt.
"How can you answer to a king who is dead?" Nara said. Illeandir flinched. Her words stung. Fighting anger he answered.
"I do not know that he is dead. And while I still hold that thread of hope he is my king and I answer to him alone!" Illeandir turned on his heel and strode out of the hall.
"Illeandir! Wait!" Nara shouted. Illeandir froze mid-stride and turned slowly toward the princess. She hurried after him. "I am sorry. I did not mean to anger you. Will you forgive me?" she pleaded.
"Your apology is duly noted. A queen knows to hold her tongue." Illeandir said. Nara hung her head. "You must also learn to see what others do and if you cannot, you must let them try to explain." he paused and waited. Nara sighed.
"You search still for your kin."
"Yes. I will not give up until I see their bodies dead before me. Every last one."
"What are they like?" Nara asked.
"What do you speak of?"
"Your dreams. What are they like?" she asked. Illeandir stiffened, Nara could almost see his mind closing. The muscles in his jaw knotted and flexed as he stared straight ahead.
"They are... disturbing." He would give no further information. His distress was palpable. Respecting his reluctance to speak of it she said nothing more, though she wished he would tell her. If not her then Ithilwen. But from what her friend had told her, Ithilwen knew as little as she, that the dreams were no ordinary terrors of the imagination but of something far greater. What that was remained a mystery, perhaps even to Illeandir.
"That is not the only reason I must leave." Illeandir said after a while. His eyes roamed over the white ceiling and marble statues lining the hall. "The people look for someone to blame for Eldarion's death. They will blame me."
"Impossible! How could they be so blind as to think you would have done it?"
"It is human nature to lay blame on what they do not understand. You cannot change it nor can you deny it. I know that at least once you considered that."
Guilt filled Nara, he was right. Yesterday morning after storming away from him, childish thoughts of him planning to overthrow her and take the crown for himself filled her mind. Though, admittedly, he was probably fully capable of doing so but she could not see him doing that. He was a free spirit, not to be bound by the demands of the court and kingdom.
"I am sorry for what I said to you yesterday." Nara said.
"You were not yourself."
"You forgive me?"
"There is nothing to forgive. I understand why you spoke as you did but I do not know the reason." he looked at her. "What did they say to you?"
"The council is..." Nara searched for the right word. "Shrewd. Many of them refuse to accept even the notion of a queendom. They believe an alliance with Rohan would benefit us."
"What do you think?" Illeandir asked patiently.
"I do not think it would be good for Gondor. I suspect something more is at work in Rohan that will do far more harm if we were to fight their battle for them as they want. I will fight alongside them to ensure that Eros does not claim the throne."
"How do you know Eros is the one who is corrupt? Perhaps his brother is feeding you lies." Illeandir said. Nara frowned.
"Why do you ask that?"
"Because I am an elf and I question everything." Illeandir said lightly. Nara giggled. "Also because it could very well be true," he said darkly. Nara nodded, seeing where he was coming from. After all, she had no idea what King Hassun was like. She had never met him and the only news of Rohan of late were rumors and speculation.
"What do you think?" she asked.
"Does it matter? I play no part in this feud between men. Besides, the art of politics does not come easily to me."
"You say that yet you seem to understand it." Nara teased. Illeandir shrugged.
"Men are like glass walls, easily seen through. I did not say it was man's politics that escape me, for they revolve almost exclusively around personal gain. It is elvish politics that confound me to no end. Though," he paused to think for a moment, "I suppose in the end they are for personal gain. Perhaps we are not so different from men..." he trailed off. Nara smiled to herself. As much as he denied it, she thought, Illeandir had a sharp mind and, with some training, would become a fine councilor. Though she knew he would never allow it.
"I must be going. Ithilwen will be looking for me." Illeandir said. Nara nodded.
"She is a demanding nurse." she said. Illeandir snorted and shook his head viciously causing Nara to laugh.
"Won't even let me leave the room without an escort. I only managed to come here because she allowed it. Escort is waiting outside." he muttered and started walking toward the door and Nara followed. Two guards opened the massive doors to reveal heavy rain falling from a dark sky. A clap of thunder caused all four of them to jump. A man, not much older than Nara, ran in through the doors completely soaked. Illeandir eyed the man and then looked out at the raging storm.
"Perhaps I will stay here for a while."
"Not fond of being wet?" Nara teased as the doors closed and they walked back to the throne.
"No. Not really. Ithilwen would have my head if I got wet." A strange note crept into his voice and Nara gave him a puzzled look the tall elf pointedly ignored. Was he complaining? Nara thought in wonderment. He seemed different than when she had first met him, more open to expressing himself when he spoke instead of using the flat tone she had become accustomed to. Was it because he no longer felt so alone in the world? She desperately wanted to ask him but restrained for she felt it would be impolite and imprudent.
"There is another thing I failed to mention." Illeandir said as Nara sat on the throne. He had stopped at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the white throne with his hand folded in front of him. Nara sat down slowly. "Ithilwen wishes to accompany me and I have agreed to let her."
Nara slowly let out a breath of air to calm the anger that rushed through her. She pinched bridge of her nose between her fingers and slowly counted in her head. Illeandir looked upon her with approval. It was several moments before she spoke.
"Sit down," she said gesturing to the black steward's chair that sat down and to her left. Illeandir stubbornly remained standing. "Please, I'm not asking you to defer to me. You are shaking." Illeandir acquiesced and sat in the chair with one leg propped over the arm and faced her. Color returned to his face and he stopped shaking. He inwardly cursed the person who had poisoned him. He could hardly stand on his feet for more than an hour. How was he supposed to be ready to leave in less than three days?
"Will you please explain to me why you must leave so soon when clearly you are in no condition to do so and why Ithilwen, my councilor and life-long friend, is leaving with you?" Nara leaned forward and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. Her blue eyes bored into his. Illeandir sighed and settled more comfortably into the chair. He began the tale with Zaharias' disappearance and the Balrog attack along the borders of Imladris. Nara listened fervently while he spoke of his two-hundred year long search for his kin and then thirty years ago when news reached him that they had vanished from Valinor and the dreams had started, slowly worsening. He told of how they beckoned him to the Misty Mountains and the goblin tunnels beneath them. He finished with telling her that Zaharias was still alive and if he was then perhaps the other elves were as well. It was a thin thread of hope that Illeandir clung to but he hung on anyway.
The doors opened and Ithilwen stormed through surrounded by a halo of watery sunlight. Her blue eyes blazed with fury. Illeandir groaned softly and muttered something under his breath. Ithilwen fairly flew toward them, her white dress swirling in the wind she created. Nara felt a pang of worry for Illeandir. The furious elleth marched up the stairs and stood glaring in front of a nervous looking Illeandir. She folded her arms across her chest.
"It was raining." Illeandir said feebly. Ithilwen scoffed.
"It has been done for nearly an hour!"
"Wen!" Nara exclaimed, barely containing her mirth. "I kept him here. It's not his fault." Ithilwen glared at her.
"Very well," she said turning to Nara, who suddenly felt as nervous as Illeandir looked. "I will have a word with you in a moment. You," she faced Illeandir again. "back to your bed." Illeandir rose and sullenly walked out. When he was gone Ithilwen rounded on her friend.
"You do realize you could have reversed all the work I've done to keep him alive."
"Wen," Nara got up and stood next to her. "He's not a child."
"Nara, he's all I have left. For two-hundred years I believed I was alone, that I had no kin left. I will do everything in my power to keep him alive."
"I think it would take much to kill him," Nara said. "He has suffered much more than many thousands of years older."
"So he told you," Ithilwen said. Nara nodded.
"I know that you are going with him."
"Yes, I will not lose him when I have just found him." A tear escaped Ithilwen's eye. There was more she left unsaid but Nara knew her pain. She had watch Ithilwen struggle with it for thirty long years.
"Promise you will come back, Wen."
"I will always come back, mellon nin," Ithilwen embraced Nara.
************************
I have done it! I told you I would get it done before Tuesday! And I did!
I'm going to bed now.