After explaining a little of what Pippin had said to Lothiri, leaving out a few details, Mallyra decided it best to stretch her legs. Lothiri had left shortly after she'd explained what had happened, as Aethibryn had summoned for her. Mallyra quietly removed the cover from her bed, and draped them over Pippin's shoulders to keep him warm. Looking back over her shoulder, she sighed at how peaceful he looked. His mop of brown curls covering half of his face, and a small smile tugging at his lips as he dreamt. Silently, Mallyra disappeared out the door and into the courtyard.
The cobblestones of the yard glowed white in the early morning moonlight, and cause Mallyra's footsteps to echo. She sensed that the incident with Glasin had changed her, but wasn't quite sure how yet, and so thought it best to enjoy her own company for a while. She'd brought her drawing pad, and had her small pencil tucked behind her ear, as she knew that she thought better when drawing. Drawing was her escape from the world, allowing her to enter her own mind, and portray her thoughts in the graphite scribbled onto the paper before her.
A good few minutes later, Mallyra had found herself a secluded spot on a roof top looking out over the courtyard. It had taken her a few moments to scale the crates which led to the roof, but the effort was worth the view. To her left, the view lead out over the Ettenmoors, the crisp landscape then sloping into the silhouette of mount Gundabad in the distance. The moonlight caused the land to shimmer and ripple, as the wind blew through the grass. However, to her right, the view wasn't so pleasant. Small orange flames danced on the roof tops of buildings, walls were still continuing to fall brick by brick, and the moonlight did little more than highlight the still figures which lay on the floor. The silence offered little comfort, and Mallyra was delighted to hear the breeze blow through the thick brush behind her spot of hiding.
Two hours passed quite quickly, as Mallyra had been drawn into her world inside her sketch book. In her time away, Mallyra had drawn an incredibly detailed portrait of Glasin from memory alone. After pressing the pencil to paper in once last attempt at fine detail, the end of the pencil snapped. With a loud frustrated sigh, she looked up. To her surprise, Mallyra watched as Pippin emerged from the room she'd slept in and stepped out into the moonlight. After hearing his confession as she'd pretended to sleep, Mallyra had needed time away from him. After Lothiri's warning, what Pippin had said terrified her. She couldn't let herself get attached to him romantically, or at least.. try to hide the fact from him that she already was. Thinking to herself about this, Mallyra fell into one of her daydreams again. Little did she realise, this had blown her cover from the shadows, and mad her visible to Pippin.
Pippin desperately around the courtyard, trying to find some sort of evidence which showed where Mallyra had been. He'd awoken to an empty room, realising his attempt to get Mallyra on her own to tell her how he felt had failed. Now he felt he'd lost his last chance, and had simply gone to find her. To his amazement, Pippin saw her sat on a low roof, only just shrouded from the moon by a tree's branch.
"How on Middle Earth did sh-" he started, tilting his head to the side as he wondered just exactly how such a small lass has climbed onto the roof. However, his thoughts were soon answered, as he spotted the slightly disorganised crates which stood behind the building in the shadows. Trying as quietly as he could, Pippin followed in Mallyra's footsteps, and scaled the piled crates, before clambering onto the roof behind her. Astonishingly, he remained undetected by Mallyra, until his was only but a few steps behind her. His presence didn't startle her, as she knew exactly who it would be who found her. Once Pippin sensed she knew he was there, he became less tentative with his steps and sat down beside her on the thatched roof. A moment of silence passed, before Pippin swallowed the lump in his throat,
"How's your head? You were asleep for quite a while.." he asked, wincing at how pathetic his attempt at making conversation was. Mallyra smiled up at him, her blue eyes shimmering slightly.
"My head's fine thanks Pip, I don't really know why I fainted.. I guess it all just got a bit too much." Mallyra admitted, awkwardly rubbing her arm. "I wasn't really prepared to fight a dragon today."
Pippin chuckled quietly to himself, "I wasn't prepared to watch you either! I thought I'd lost you back then.." he said softly. Mallyra went to answer him sarcastically, but Pippin jumped in. "Listen, there's something I need to tell you.. And to be honest.. I should've said it a long time ago." Mallyra felt herself wince, as she knew exactly what he was going to say, if it was relating to what he'd said to her while she was 'asleep'. She looked up slowly, her heart stinging as she looked up into Pippin's glistening green eyes. He was slightly smiling, with a blush beginning to creep onto his cheeks. Slowly, he shuffled closer to her. "Well, the thing is.." Pippin himself beginning to stutter, as he looked deep into Mallyra's eyes. But his words stopped, as he noticed something. Something in Mallyra's eyes. A look of terror. "What's wrong?" he asked. The unexpected question from Pippin caused Mallyra to lose her prepared response, and left her in a slight daze.
"What? N-nothing's wrong, I just, well.. I was thinking." She replied hastily, trying to keep her cool. But her attempt was short lived as she felt Pippin place his hand on top of hers.
"Thinking about what?" he asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion. The way he did this made Mallyra's heart flutter, and her train of thought come off it's tracks completely.
"You. Wait, what?" she questioned herself, after blurting out her true thought before having a chance to think about what she was saying. Pippin's face turned a bright shade of red,
"Me?.. Well.. I was thinking about you too, but I hope I didn't look as terrified while doing it." he smirked, but still held a serious gaze with Mallyra. The lass was speechless for a little while, not knowing how to cover up the fact he had been terrified of what she Pippin was going to say.
"I-Er the whole thing with Glasin kinda freaked me a bit.." She lied, rubbing the back of her neck. However, Pippin saw right through her attempt to change the subject.
"I can see that, now what else is it that's bothering you?" He asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. Mallyra gazed deep into Pippin's eyes, and yet again lost her words. All she could hear was his voice when she'd heard him saying those beautiful things about her. She slowly looked Pippin up and down, her heart racing.
"I-I" she stuttered, not knowing what to say. "I don't know.." she finally whispered, attempting to blink away a slight haze in her eyes being caused by the beginning of tears. Pippin watched her carefully, before putting his hand to her cheek, lifting her chin so Mallyra's deep blue eyes looked up at him, and brushing a piece of wavy hair from her face using his thumb.
"I think I know, or.. at least I hope I do.." he said softly, before slowly leaning closer in. Mallyra knew exactly what he was doing, but as much as she knew she had to stop herself, she couldn't. He looked so handsome in the pail moonlight, and his green eyes were making her heart melt just by looking into hers. Pippin's hand which was placed on her cheek began to slowly pull her towards him, but Mallyra then began to lean in herself. Within moments, their noses were touching, and their eyes locked in pure silence. Mallyra's heart was beating so loud she thought Pippin may have been able to hear it. Little did she know he was thinking the exact same as he began to close his eyes and move in closer. Their lips met gently at first, and only for a second or two as they shared their first kiss. Pippin pulled away slowly at first, nervously glancing across at Mallyra. She was now blushing heavily, with a teary haze forming in the corners of her eyes. A smile tugged at her lips gently, before she moved towards him again. This time, their lips met for a longer period of time, a slight rocking motion behind their heads as Mallyra put her hand on top of Pippin's, which still rested on her cheek. The tears which had hazed over Mallyra's eyes now escaped and rolled silently down her cheeks one by one. This caused Pippin to pull away once more.
"What's wrong? Did I hurt you? I gosh I did I'm sorry please don't cry," he panicked, wiping the tears from her blushed cheeks quickly. Mallyra smiled softly back at him, resting her forehead against his.
"You haven't hurt me.." she whispered, causing a smile to form on Pippin's lips. But then Mallyra pulled herself further away from him, and looked away, "But I fear I may have hurt you.." she added. Pippin sat up quickly, shuffling right up beside her and wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
"You could never have hurt me," he smirked, nuzzling at her cheek. Mallyra shrugged, before casting her glance back towards him.
"I can't say how I feel Pippin. I shouldn't have even shown it.. please, you must forget this happened? It's for your own good.." she sniffed, one solitary tear rolling down her chin and glinting in the light.
************** (two minutes earlier)
Aiwendil walked out into the courtyard, as no one had seen neither Mallyra or Pippin for a good few hours, and there was a hint of worry starting to fill the air in the home of Aethibryn. The elf searched through all of the rooms which met in the courtyard, and found nothing. No trace what-so-ever. He was just about to begin to worry himself, when he spotted something. The silhouette of two small figures on a roof top, wrapped in a passionate embrace. Aiwendil felt himself beginning to smile at first, but once the seriousness dawned on him, his smile began to fade.
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Oh my gosh I'm so glad so many of you love this story! I love reading your comments so much, and I really appreciate your support guys, it means a lot. It really does! So thank you! I have some bad news, because it may take a while for me to post my next update due to my exams in less than a month and I seriously need to do more revision so I won't have time to be able to write the next part. But I promise I'll try as hard as I can to write it in small sections just encase you're desperate to find out what happens next;) So thanks again for taking the time to read my story! Love you all, Ellie x)