Sleeping Beauty

Author's Note: I cannot thank you enough for your reviews. Honestly, it's overwhelming seeing the number of hits on this story, a story that was born one night out of a crazy idea to satisfy a selfish plot bunny. I was very unsure about the reception it would have, but I am so happy to read in your reviews that you enjoy it.

As you have probably noticed in previous chapters, I have created a link between Tolkien's world and Greek mythology trying to "justify" and provide "historical proof" for some things in my story. Don't take me too seriously, though. :-P

Disclaimer: See Prologue.

italics: thoughts
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Chapter 9 – Painful memories and a bond reforged

“Your boss seemed relieved that we took you out to lunch!” Amy commented with a chuckle.
Alice swallowed her food and took a sip from her wine.

“Yeah… The little man thinks I’m working too much,” she replied, throwing an irritated glare at her friends, who were faking surprise at her words.

“What?” Marisa asked, feigning total innocence. “Did you actually expect me to say otherwise? I’m sorry, I’m no longer taking your side!”

“Nah-uh, she’ll never forgive you for missing her dinner,” Jean said laughing, raising her glass to Marisa who was sticking out her tongue at her. “Oh, now that’s mature!”

Alice joined in the laughter of her friends and leaned back at her chair. It had been a long time since the four friends had had a girls’ day out. Children, work and a house full of never-ending chores did not leave much free time for them to meet. But today, they had burst into her office and dragged her out to lunch with the blessings of Mr. Friser. Had she really overdone it with work?

“Alice?”

“Huh?”

Alice snapped out of her thoughts to find a frown on Amy’s face.

“Where was your mind traveling again?” she asked, taking another bite of her food.

“Logan!” Jean and Marisa replied in unison, giggling like schoolgirls.

Alice laughed uncomfortably. Her mind had been everywhere else BUT Logan the past few days. But she wasn’t about to let her friends find out and worry more than they already did.

“When is he coming back?” Amy asked.

“Have you prepared anything special for his coming home?” Jean wiggled her eyebrows, laughing at the rosy tint that spread on Alice’s cheeks.

“Maybe you could cook a nice dinner for him wearing only your apron,” Marisa suggested, tapping her finger on her chin, as if the action would launch more bright ideas on her head. Alice didn’t even want to imagine what thoughts were running through her mind at the moment!

“You guys!” she cut in, exasperated with her friends’ nosiness. “I think that’s enough. He’s coming back the day after tomorrow and he’s only been away for a few days, not a whole year!”

“He stayed there too long, though,” Jean remarked thoughtfully.

“Well, he’s in Miami, he’s probably enjoying himself!” Amy cut in. “He’s been working too much as well and he probably decided to take a little vacation!”

“What, without Alice?” Marisa asked frowning at the absurdity of Amy’s suggestion.
Alice was getting once more one of those nice, head-splitting migraines with her friends’ chittering.

“He’s just been delayed due to some unexpected problems that came up at work!” she said loudly enough to overcome their voices and stop this ridiculous conversation.

“And you don’t mind?” Jean asked genuinely confused. Alice remembered the countless times she had complained about Logan going away for many days and couldn’t blame Jean for finding her behavior strange.

“No! I mean… it’s his business, why should I mind? He’ll be back in a couple of days. Jeez, I can’t believe you’re making such a big deal out of it!” she answered trying to let the subject drop; it was already making her feel uncomfortable. She was sure the Inquisition itself would have been more gentle!

Three pairs of eyes stared wide-open at Alice, as if she had grown a second head. Jean raised an eyebrow at Marisa, who nodded and turned to look at Amy in turn. What were these three conspiring about behind her back?

“So you’ve been acting really strange the past week, you’re staying uncommonly late at the office, you found an excuse not to join us at dinner yesterday …-“

“It was not an excuse!” Alice protested, interrupting Jean’s little speech.

“…and now you say you don’t mind that Logan has been away for so long!” Jean paused to take a deep breath, as if preparing herself to say something really important. “Ok, what’s his name and how long have you been seeing him?”

Alice coughed on her wine and fixed a shocked stare at her friends as soon as she had escaped choking to death. They could not be serious! She didn’t know whether to scream from rage or laugh at the picture her friends made: arms crossed in front of their chests, an eyebrow raised for good measure and a self-achieved look on their faces. She rolled her eyes; they probably thought their silly minds had finally solved the Great Mystery of Alice Green!

“The word ‘ridiculous’ cannot even begin to describe you,” she finally said in frustration.

Her friends gasped.

“Excuse me? WE are being ridiculous? The only one who’s acting ridiculously here, is you! Did you actually think we’d never realize it?” Marisa said, looking completely certain that Alice was lying to them.

“And when were you planning to tell Logan? He deserves to know, Alice. He’s been nothing but nice all these years. If there’s someone else, then let the poor guy go on with his life!”

Alice opened her mouth to protest once more, but shut it. They were right. She was falling in love with someone else and she was beginning to forget about Logan. She didn’t even know how to behave around him anymore. Yesterday their conversation on the phone was more than awkward and she had feigned tiredness when Logan had inquired about it.

But what to do?

She had fallen in love with an imaginary being! What end could their story have? I will go mad, she thought sadly,< i>and end up in a madhouse like those crazy people who hear voices that don’t exist! It was meaningless to even think about the possibilities. There were none. She had to end it. She had to talk to the elf, to ask him –no, demand- that he left her alone.

But what if there was no elf? What if it was all in her mind? How could she stop herself from going crazy?

She never took notice of the tear that slowly trickled down her cheek. And she truly hated crying in front of other people.

“Alice?” Marisa asked softly.

Alice jerked away from Jean’s hand and gathered her things.

“Please leave me alone!” was what she said, before storming out of the restaurant, ignoring the worried voices of her friends behind her.

Who would ever understand her?

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Funny how every time she awoke to the gentle touch of the elf, her troubles seemed already forgotten and her decisions unimportant. Just one more night, she would think, and that is how she found herself in this situation: madly in love with the elf, but refusing to act upon her feelings. As if by doing so, she would admit her madness.

So, she greeted him with a smile tonight, a comfortable smile of old lovers that warmed the heart of the lonely elf. She found him leaning over her and smiling as well, his thumb drawing incoherent shapes on her skin. She slowly rose, sitting beside him in the tiny bed she had been laying on. Confused, she looked around at the wooden house and the tiny furniture that adorned it. The lacy curtains and the round windows reminded her of her favourite doll’s house; it almost seemed fake. But it was such a cozy place; decorated with an open-hearted soul and a lively character, that spoke volumes about its inhabitants. Yet, once more, there was not a soul to be found inside the house. She was in a place created by Legolas’ memories, in the non-existent world of their dreams.

“It’s beautiful,” she finally spoke and rose carefully, afraid she would bump her head on the ceiling. But she was not so tall and stood exactly at the same height with it; something which, unfortunately, was not true for Legolas, who had to bend his head uncomfortably.

“Let us go outside,” he said laughing at his situation and pulled Alice through another room and a round wooden door out in the open. He smiled when he heard the woman beside him gasp. The Shire was beautiful and greener than ever in his memories. The flowers in the gardens had sprung open and the crops in the fields begged to be collected.

“It looks… it looks like those pictures in the fairytale books!” Alice exclaimed amazed. She even expected a talking animal to come out at any minute; she felt as if she was part of Disney movie.

“’Tis the Shire,” he told her in a soft voice. “I really wish you could meet the Hobbits. They were adorable… although terrible troublemakers and too curious for their own good,” he continued, smiling fondly at the memory of the four Hobbits he had the honour to acquaint himself with.

“Hobbits…” Alice repeated as the word triggered her memory. “The Ringbearer was a Hobbit, right?”

Legolas nodded, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She was standing close to him, her eyes traveling greedily over Hobbiton, marveling at its beauty and peacefulness. He smiled as he looked down at her and brought his arm around her shoulders tentatively. Alice did not turn to him, yet her rapid heartbeat betrayed her. However, she made no move to distance herself, but surprised him by encircling his waist with her arm and leaning on his chest. Legolas felt as if his heart would burst from joy. Even a gesture as simple as that meant the world to the elf, who thirsted to gain back her love and trust.

Alice could feel the heat rise on her face. She felt as if back in high school, when she would secretly kiss behind trees and hold hands until a teacher or a parent came in view. Even a gesture as innocent as being in his arms felt forbidden; and she felt guilty of entertaining thoughts that involved more intimate acts with the elf. But for how long could she hold herself back? For how long would she be able to deny him?

“Let’s go for a walk,” she suddenly said in a trembling voice that hinted the turmoil inside her. Just being in his arms was too painful to bear when she wanted so much more…

Legolas chose not to let her know he was aware of her inner battle and very much in the same state, so he just nodded and offered his arm. Alice took it hesitantly and began walking down the small path of the village.
Their talk was friendly; so were their gestures and their smiles. But hidden behind all of them was an unrequited desire that threatened to be unleashed. Both were afraid it would just destroy; neither of them knew it would only rebuilt their love on its dusty foundations, which had survived millennia. Legolas was afraid to lose his Alysse and Alice was afraid to lose herself; and in their fear they lost one more opportunity to find what they were both looking for: love.

“In a way, I’m glad the other races are no more,” Alice suddenly said, earning a confused look by Legolas.

“How can you say that?” he asked her in a voice that was a little harsher than he intended.

Alice couldn’t help but feel like a scolded child at his tone. She dropped her eyes to the ground and fidgeted nervously with her hair:

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way… It’s just… We are only one race in this world and yet we wage war against our own kin… If there were other races as well, things would have been so complicated…”

Legolas saw the reasoning behind her statement and his face softened. She had reached a sore spot and he had reacted in a way that was opposite to his nature: rashly. He gently placed his fingers under her chin and raised her head to make her look at him.

“Forgive me. Perhaps you are right; we will never know.”

Alice could not send away the question that rose in her mind. But seeing the sad look in his fathomless eyes, it kept stopping at the tip on her tongue, afraid it would cause more sadness. Yet, that greedy reporter inside her… that terrible, unfeeling beast that feasted on untold stories and new knowledge…

“Legolas?” she paused and swallowed hard. “What happened to Middle Earth? What happened to the Elves… and all the other races?”

His hand dropped from her face and he took a step away from her. Sighing, he crossed his hands over his chest and turned his head to the round houses standing on the road below them. Legolas seemed to gaze somewhere faraway, beyond centuries and human lifetimes. His memory dug up worlds long forgotten or even never recorded in human history. Suddenly, bringing his gaze down to the young woman before him, he realised he was indeed very old. Being close every night to the same person he had bound himself to thousands of years before, he recalled those times past like they were yesterday; it seemed as if not a day had passed. But it was in situations like this, when he had to face the unrelenting flow of time, that he truly grasped the amount of years he had to pass in the total darkness of his loneliness.

“Legolas?” Alice touched his cheek softly, startling him out of his thoughts. The blond elf looked inside her eyes for a moment, then turned his face away from her once more, lest she saw the tears gathering at their corners.

“It was so long ago, Alysse. So long ago, that the most thriving cultures of civilization known had not even been created yet…”

Alice felt the hairs on her arms rise as she registered the age of the elven prince before her and the discoveries she was about to make. She set herself on one of the tiny wooden benches numbly, ready to hear the deepest secrets of humanity. Legolas kept facing away from her for a few moments in silence, as if gathering his thoughts, when he finally spoke.

“It was long after Aragorn had passed away, that the last elves sailed to the West. I could have sailed with them as well, but no peace awaited me in the blessed lands of Valinor; I could rest nowhere, unless by your side…

“All my friends had either answered the Call of the Sea or had passed away, and my loyalties to their descendents had started to weaken, until they were no more remembered. I saw the land change; I felt the Earth rumble beneath me and saw the sea slowly swallow places that were once inhabited by people. Some mountains fell; other rose higher; and with them, Men built and rebuilt cities, cultures, surviving every change.

“Unfortunately, the other races could not adapt to this new world that was slowly forming. They perished; and along with them, their memory perished as well. They were only fairy-tales, my race as well. People made up myths about immortal gods…”

At that Legolas shook his head chuckling. Alice looked at him confused.

“Gods… Men and their exaggerations!”

Alysse smiled, imagining how awkward Legolas must have felt at hearing such distorted tales about his people.

“They called the Grey Havens ‘The Pillars of Hercules’,” the elf continued, turning his face away from her to look once more at the view before him. “It was the entrance to the unknown world… the way that lead to the Garden of Hesperides, a blessed island at the edge of the sea, where a grove of immortality-giving golden apples grew.”

“Valinor…” Alice remarked softly.

The elf did not turn to look at her. His silence made Alice wonder whether he had heard her at all. But it was impossible for the elf’s keen hearing to miss the one word that brought turmoil in his heart. The Call of the Sea was still alive and strong within him; the desire to see his family and his friends, his own kin, even stronger. Yet his love for the mortal woman surpassed all these; and with a sigh, he finally turned to Alice.

“Valinor,” he repeated. “I will never see it.”

Alice gently wrapped her fingers around his hand, squeezing it tightly; she imagined the thoughts and memories running through his mind at the time were disturbing. He gave her a small smile in return, to show her he acknowledged her support.

“Why did you not leave, Legolas? Were you not able to join your kin?”

Her question was asked out of innocent curiosity, but to a soul bearing the marks of all this change, loss, suffer and loneliness like Legolas’, it caused a bitter laugh spill forth from his lips. If she only knew… if she only knew what he had been through!

“Could I not leave?” he repeated with an ironic smile. “Yes, I could. I could built myself a boat to sail, join my people in the Blessed Realms of Valinor and stay there in peace and happiness; is that not what you think?”

Alice was taken aback by his sudden change of tone. She couldn’t tell whether he was offended, or laughing at her naivety or just got tired of her stupid questions. She slowly withdrew her hand, her downcast eyes suddenly watering. She felt his fingers wrap around her chin, pushing her head up gently to look into her eyes.

“I would have left,” he said in a softer tone, “but no rest awaited me in Valinor. The memories of you haunted me day and night, making me wander the lands like a ghost’s spirit, who could not find peace. I traveled everywhere Alysse, because that was your wish. I remained here, years after years, watching mankind evolve, while I remained the same. I met important people, I learned from them and they learned from me; I saw wars; Kingdoms rise and fall; I watched the land I loved become a stranger to me.”

He released her face and turned away from her, to look at the golden sea of wheat in the distance, moving in waves from the soft rustle of the wind. She could not tear her eyes away from the painful look on his face. He started talking again, with clouded eyes and eyebrows drawn.

“But I grew tired, my love. I wandered aimlessly for many years trying to soothe my pain with the beauty of different places, but it was all in vain... Nothing could compare with the people and places of Middle Earth that I held dear in my heart. There was nothing left that reminded me of them and the world I was familiar with. I could never walk under the shadows of the trees in Eryn Lasgalen again. Or marvel at the glory of Minas Tirith. Or visit the great mallorn trees in Lothlorien. I had lost my love, my friends and now my home. I had nothing to live for anymore…”

“So you retired in a castle to fade away…?”

Legolas turned to look at Alice at her question, frowning as he saw tears running down her pale cheeks. He gently cupped her face and wiped them away with his thumbs, looking into her glistening eyes.

“Why do you weep, my love? These memories and their pain are mine to bear.”

“I can feel it, Legolas… I can feel your pain… All of it…” she said between shaky breaths, clutching at her chest.

Alice was confused. His pain had rushed to knock her breath out of her lungs and almost choked her. It was enveloping her in a thick veil, suffocating in its grip.

“’Tis the bond we share, Alysse,” he said in a soft voice, as he tried to put his emotions back in control. So lost was he in his memories, that he had let his feelings unchecked to pour out into his wife, through the bond they shared. “Forgive me, I caused you much pain,” he told her regretfully, as he pulled her in his arms.

Alice sank her face in his chest, breathing in his scent and willing her sobs to die out.

“Forgive me, Legolas,” she said in a whisper after a while. “I was the one to have caused you all this pain in the first place.”

Legolas held her more tightly, burying his face in her neck to kiss the soft skin there. You are in my arms again, my love; all this pain was more than worth it, he thought with a small smile. Soon, they would be once more together and not only in their dreams.

Their bond was completely reforged.
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