*Somewhat edited*

Italicized phrases with a * next to it means it's in elvish

I woke slowly, my eyelids opening to the bright sunlight. I felt the relaxing swaying of the horse and the hot sun on my back.

"Mmm," I got more comfortable, readjusting myself on the horse and moved my head slightly on the warm, soft surface, and readied myself to fall back into a peaceful slumber. 

Legolas. I tensed, fully awake and alert now that I realized that I'm sleeping against Legolas. I could feel my cheeks heating up to about the temperature of the sun and I wanted to go hide underneath a rock. Oh gosh. I clenched my teeth from the embarrassment.

Why can't I just disappear?

I sat there, petrified from embarrassment, for what seemed like hours. I barely breathed.

"you can go back to sleep if you want. I was perfectly fine with you resting*," Legolas said in that straightforward way of his.

I stayed silent, still mortified, but nonetheless, I relaxed a bit.

"Are you guys a couple?*" Duvaineth asked from her horse. I closed my eyes, I did not want to speak. Why can't I just disappear?!

I felt Legolas move his head towards Duvie, "no, why do you ask?*"  

You shouldn't have asked that.

"Because both of you act like it*," she said it like it's obvious.

"No, we don't*," Legolas and I said at the same time.

"Whatever you say, but as long as I'm here, no hand holding or kissing*."

I turned my head the other way and groaned. 

•••••••••

I sat staring into the fire, well, staring then relieving my eyes and then staring again. The sun had gone down and the moon had come up accompanied by beautiful white stars. 

Duvaineth had gone off in the woods, either to go relieve herself or to go run off, or maybe for something else entirely. Legolas is sitting up against a tree, sharpening his weapons, with a shadow cast over him from the fire. I was entranced by the portrait laid out before me, the shadow didn't enhance his feature, there is nothing to enhance, but it had some kind of an... awe like... effect.

Before he could notice me staring, I looked away.  I sighed and went over to where all our supplies are in a pile on the ground, giving the horses a rest. I pulled out my journal, ink bottle, and pen and settled down next to the fire again.

I began to pour my thoughts out onto the paper, easily filling up a page.

"What is that?*" Legolas's clear voice pulls me from my writings.

I take a breath, continue writing, and without looking up say, "oh, nothing*."

I could hear Legolas standing up and coming over, "mmh hmm, and I'm a parrot*."

I snorted but didn't stop writing.

"I don't know what this is all about, I'm hoping it will all be made clear but I also—"  Legolas starts reading, I snap my journal shut.

"Hey!*" I say standing up but still smiling, "these are my personal thoughts!*" I take a step towards him.

"Is that all I had to do to get you to tell me what you were doing?*" He laughed and had a gorgeous smile on his beautiful face. Wait, what?

"Agh!*" I laughed out. I step forward and put my hands out to push him—before my hands could even touch him, a force comes out of me and pushes him back a few feet.

I froze. My breath caught. What. Just. Happened?!

Legolas looked up at me with wide eyes.

"I—I—*" I stutter, but an unbelievably huge wave of fatigue washed over me. It was as if the force that had come out of me had been my energy, and now no energy had been left in my body.

My eyelids became heavy and I could hear Legolas calling out to me through a gray curtain and I could see him rush to me as I fell to the ground.

The darkness consumed me.

•••••••••

I cried out as blinding white light came to me, more urgently than the last times. That usual force of... Presence crashed into me again and my body spasms violently.

I then find myself in the same field with tall grass, blue sky, chirping birds, and a gurgling creek as last time. I'm sitting in the same position with the same clothes and in the body that does not feel like mine... But is mine.

The only thing that can move, my eyes, search around for Ammë. I see her walking up to me from afar.

'What just happened?! It-it was like some kind of—*' I start in panic.

"Energy?*" Ammë says with a knowing smile.

'Yes, and could you stop with the reading-my-mind stuff?*' I think irritatingly.

She comes and sits on her knees in front of me. She surprises me with the urgency in her voice, "you must turn around and go to Lórien. You can not help in Imladris. But help will come to your side in Lórien. This is how you can start helping in Middle-Earth*," her tone turns softer, "Take care Nirrin Mîn, and treat Legolas nicely. My knowledge tells me that you both have feelings for each other, whether you realize it or not.*"

With that, I am plunged into blinding light.

•••••••••

I bolt awake, with a gasp, into a sitting position, barely hitting my head on Legolas's.

I layer of cold sweat coated my body and I struggled to get enough air into my lungs

"Lumornel?" Legolas sounded scared. I looked at him, he was breathing heavy, his eyes wide, he looked very worried. I don't know why he's this worried, I'm fine... I think.

Before I could do anything, say anything, I was encased in a big warm Legolas hug.

"Thank Eru Ilúvater that you're alright,*" he breathed into my hair, "don't scare me like that again.*" 

I was speechless, that's the only word for it. I-I can't even. I then remember what Ammë said about our feelings for each other. Is it actually true? Does he have feelings for me like that? Do I have feelings for him?

Whether or not I have feelings for him in that way, I was grateful for his hug. I was tired of rejecting his offers of help and comfort.  The truth is that with everything that has been going on, I've been needing a hug. I've been needing a hug for a while. I leaned into his hug and clutched onto him tight.

"What was that?*" Legolas asked in a soft voice.

I took in a deep breath, breathing in the woodsy-clean smell of him. "I don't know what the thing before I blacked out was—I've never experienced it before,*" well... That isn't entirely true. I've experienced it in my first dream, when the energy slammed into me, that energy was the same energy.  "But when I blacked out, I had another dream. We need to turn around and go to Lórien. I will be of no help in Imladris.*"

"The elleth told you this?*"

"Yes*."

"Did she tell you anything else?*" He asked quietly.

"No...*" I lied. It's not that I don't want to tell him, it's just that I can't talk about my feelings. No, it's just awkward. And I don't even know if my feelings for him are true or not. All of this is just so confusing.

Legolas pulled back from the hug, but I didn't want to let go. "Very well. We will leave in the morning, but first, we must rest.*" 

I watched him as bundled up some piece of cloth and used it as a pillow and laid down next to me, his back to me. D-did he just forget that hug we shared, the way he was scared for me? Or does he not care? 

"Legolas?" I call out tentatively 

"Yes?*"

"I'm scared,*" I said softly.

He turned around onto his other side to face me, "there is no reason to be scared. We are perfectly sheltered, no orc pack will reach us here,*" he reassured.

I shook my head while still laying on my side, "no, I'm not scared of that, I know that you'll protect me. I'm scared of what is to come, of what is happening to me will mean.*"

Legolas thought for a moment and looked up at the night sky, "I can't control what is happening to you, or to Middle-Earth. But I know I can help you along the way. Do not cast all hope away, if everything changes, we will always have a constant, a hope. And that is the stars, up in the sky above us, nothing can change them. Their eternal beauty and knowledge will always shine down on us, making a path. That path may not always be clear, but it is enough to lead us on.*"

He looked to me, "I see the stars in you, Lumornel.*"

We looked up at the sky, a blanket of stars. As I gazed up into the night sky full of never-ending lights, I felt a hand wrap around mine, keeping me safe throughout the night.

•••••••••

"Yet do not cast all hope away. Tomorrow is unknown. Rede oft is found at the setting sun."

                             -Legolas

I have no freaking words for this chapter. Because. They. Held. Hands. GAAAAHHHHH. I wasn't expecting them to hold hands. If you're an author, you'll know that sometimes when you are writing, stuff just happens and you do not expect it, or maybe you plan to write something and you end up writing it sooner. But anyways, I thank our God for letting me be able to write this story down, let my ideas flow, and to be able to share it with you all.    *smiles then walks away slowly around a corner*    *random people hear my squealing in the distance*

&@&@   It's safe to assume that since Lumornel's first language is Sindarin, her thoughts would also be in Sindarin   &@&@

Novaer, mellyn!