AN: I AM SOOOOOO! SORRY! I know it's been a lifetime since I've updated, I didn't mean to wait so long, but not long after my laptop broke, I lost my flashdrive, the one I store all my stories on. Just writing this chapter without it left my brain feeling like a short-circuited toaster in a bathtub (if you're wondering where that came from watch the Addams Family Values). Anyway, I pulled this up from scratch, but I hope it will do. Please review.

Oh, and obviously the sections where Thranduil is reading out of The Lord of the Rings belongs to Tolkien. Yes, I copied it word for word right out of my book, but that's sort of the point.

Please enjoy and review.

The departure of Legolas and Lizabeth, added to Antiel's continued sleep brought upon a dark sort of melancholy to my halls. The darkness of Dol Guldor grew ever stronger, ever closer to my halls. The fight was harder than it had ever been, but never, for all the disconnections with my children, had we ever been without one of them, in the Wood's need. Legolas was sorely missed and much needed. The help Lizabeth brought, however small it may have seemed at the time, was also missed.

Chloe was changed. Melda took to caring for Antiel in the Royal Wing, so she could also care for Chloe, though the child had become attached to my hip. Where I went, so did she. She clung to me, often begging me to carry her, as though she feared I would ride of as well, never to return. I did not believe Legolas would never return, I had to convince myself that he would, and could, return. I needed to carry the hope Chloe did not seem to possess, simply so my fea could better hold together Chloe's.

Unfortunately, my dear twins were hardly any different. Though our bond was so new, they leaned on me as though they had trusted me all their lives. They forced themselves to hope, much as I did, but when they could not quite manage, they turned to me. I did not dislike it, but I found it was a heavy burden. Hiding my own fears that perfectly mimicked theirs, only to tell them they were not so.

xXxX

"Ada!" Chloe's hands were thrust into my face, forcing me to watch them as they performed a difficult sequence of signs.

I sighed, frowning lightly. "Slower, cugu-nin. I cannot understand when you move so quickly."

Slower, and much simpler I believe, she signed, "Legolas, gone, come home, miss."

I smiled sadly, laying a kiss on her soft hair. "Soon, Little Dove. He will return home soon. We must be strong. And Ada must work, so you cannot constantly stop me to ask questions."

She frowned and something in our bond tugged, but she nodded, but signed, "Help. Lizabeth help. I help."

"There is little you can do, Cugu-nin, aside from keep me company as I work and warm my fea with your sweet light." To my surprise, she shook her head and slipped off my lap. Taking one of my much larger hands in her smaller, paler hand, she pulled slightly indicating she wanted me to follow her.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I rose. I had been working since dawn. It being nearly noon meant it was a good time to stop for dinner and check in on Melda and Antiel. Caving to Chloe's wants was hardly anything to feel guilty for.

We left my office, Hérion and Veryan following silently behind. She led me to her chambers, though she hardly spent any time in there as she spent days with whomever she had attached herself to, usually me, and slept with me, hating the large, cold bed she had. She slipped into the room, previously a guest room but easily redecorated for her use, leaving the door wide. She sifted through a chest of drawers, then the cedar-chest at the end of her bed. She wandered into the bathroom, then back to the cidar-chest. She paused, glancing at me with a slightly irritated frown, before snapping her fingers and with a bright smile scrambled over the chest and up to the splay of pillows resting at the top of the large bed.

Shoving her hand deep within the folds of the sheets and pillows, she sifted around until she pulled out a large thick book that I had never seen before. She settled herself on the bed, holding it out for me. Smiling indulgently, confused as to how this book she wanted me to read to her had anything to do with her helping and Lizabeth.

Taking it, I examined the outside. It was rather thick and the cover was hard. The pages somehow shone golden, though it was obvious the pages were made of paper. How the golden sheen was achieved without painting the pages together I had not a clue. The cover was black, with two gold circles one within the other. In the middle of the circles was an eye, fiery and red. Fiery symbols, matching the eye, wrapped the near circumference of the outer ring, save the top where the image of a diamond ring sat, the gem pointed down to the eye. Outside the red symbols were two more diamond rings, both gems pointed toward the eye, one on the lower right, the other on the lower left. Examining the words that was delicately scrawled across the thick spine cause my blood to run chill.

"The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien." I had not a clue what the last bit meant, but I easily understood and feared what this book held, simply from the first portion of the title.

Chloe stole my attention once more by bouncing off the bed and into my arms, her eyes bright and happy. She took the book. Opening it, she bypassed a series of maps and what appeared to be the prologue, to the first page of the first chapter and pointed. With great trepidation, I began to read and was rather surprised.

"Chapter 1, A Long-Expected Party...When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton."

I glanced up at Chloe, who giggled at whatever unimpressed expression that may have been on my face. She reached out and carefully flipped all the way to the back of the large book.

"Appendix A, Annals of The Kings and Rulers..." I stopped when Chloe frowned and shook her head, flipping the pages again.

"Appendix B, The Tale of Years..." I paused again, watching as Chloe's eyes glazed slightly in thought, before she nodded determinedly.

Putting her small finger in between the pages to hold the place, she signed, "Hungry."

I smiled, my heart melting with my love for her. "Would you like to have dinner with me as I read this strange book of yours?"

She nodded, beaming brightly. I silently promised to find Aran, should the world survive this coming darkness, and thank him for the priceless gift. I could hardly believe a few spare months ago I had simply happened upon her and Aran, that Aran had felt the need to reprimand me for my harshness toward her. How much I had grown and how much had changed in that little time was awing. It was so rare for so much to happen so quickly when elves were involved. Such fast ages of the world were long passed.

I put it from my mind as I settled myself in my chair, Chloe in hers beside me, in the private dining room in the Royal Wing. Food was brought without my needing to order it and Chloe returned the book to my possession and allowed me to read.