Requested by the loveliest blossom, LittleBeauty0909!

Type: One-shot

Pairing: Legolas x Female (noble elf!) Reader

Note: Soulmate AU

Translations: 'Rinchon' = 'Brother of Cold'

Hope you like!

Legolas Thranduilion was deeply in love, and only one other knew it.

His secret affections had blossomed four months ago, on a visit to Imladris. The prince of Eryn Galen was accompanying his father and a large party on a trip to the valley kingdom for a festival celebrating the change of seasons when he first laid his eyes on Camila. She stood in the background of the welcoming ceremony, surveying the newcomers with a gentle, curious expression. Her eyes were the softest of lavender, a rare color for an elf's, and her long eyelashes fluttered as he met her gaze. Her skin was as pale as polished porcelain and looked to be just as smooth. Her long hair was a pale ivory blond, nearly white. She shot him a smile as their eyes met that sent his heart racing. Legolas knew in that instant that he had found his One.

Elves only fell in love once, every ellon and ellyth learned that in their early childhood. The identity of the One they were to fall for someday was unknown to all until the pair met. It was rare that and elf never found their One, but occasionally it happened, and this was the predicament that Camila found herself in at the moment she first locked gazes with her One. Unbeknownst to Legolas, her parents were eager to marry off their daughter. They were a family of nobles, her father a duke and her mother a duchess. Camila had been a wild child, and even as recently as three weeks ago, she had refused marriage to all who was not her One. But now, as her family's pressure started to increase day by day, she was starting to break down.

But then she saw Legolas and she knew it was he who she had been waiting for all her immortal life. As soon as the ceremony was over, she beckoned him away from his group and he, of course, followed her out of the throne room and into the city below. They traipsed down back paths that Camila knew by heart, down to the riverbank, where she showed him her favorite tree, an old willow that had been planted, coincidentally, on the day of her birth. They sat beneath it's swinging branches, secluded from the world around, and discussed the sudden attraction toward each other. It was quickly concluded that they were meant to be, fated to fall in love, but neither was sure where to go from there. Camila suggested a kiss, and so it was, and everything fell into place from there.

Now these four months had passed. Camila and Legolas had been courting all this time, but keeping their relationship a secret, for they weren't sure how their families would react. Camila was of quite a bit lower status than her dear prince, though she was still a noble. Legolas had remained in Imladris for this time, 'embassy reasons' being his excuses when the rest of his party left three months ago. His father seemed to suspect something other was the reason, but he made no protest and allowed his son to stay for the time being. Legolas and Camila debated and discussed and were getting ready to reveal their relationship sooner than later as the fifth month of their courting began when Camila's parents dropped a surprise bombshell that changed everything: she was to be married to a noble ellon from Lothlorien in two weeks' time. 

Her family was done waiting for her to find her One, completely oblivious to the fact she already had. Once hearing the news, she fled to Legolas and wept in his arms. However could they go on now? But he had a bold plan. He left her in the care of her good friend Lindir, who was shocked but joyous to learn of the couples' love, and rode for two straight days with no food and little sleep to Lothlorien. Camila was everything to him, and if he didn't have her, he didn't know what he would do with himself. This knowledge fueled his determination and he went before the noble family of the ellon Camila was supposed to marry soon. He told the ellon's parents of his and Camila's dear love, but they scorned him, crying he was a liar and a buffoon, even though they knew who he was. How could he love her when their son loved her?

And so Legolas went to meet their son, Rinchon, a furious fire in his heart at the thought of another elf loving Camila. It wasn't possible, no, it wasn't. They talked about the situation amiably enough, and Legolas was surprised to see Rinchon was friendly and charming... Or so it seemed. Five hours passed as they spoke and as time ticked on, Rinchon began to grow less amicable and more sharp in his tone. He let slip things that Legolas had not realized, like the fact that he'd never even met Camila. How could he love her, then? It was a ray of hope, but Legolas was disgusted to see the trickery at play here. This ellon was quite the actor. He had fooled even the highly-observant Prince of Mirkwood, but no longer. Legolas swiftly rode back to Imladris with new hope, yet he kept a neutral outlook. It was best not to predict good things to come if there was a strong chance they would not.

Back in Imladris at the same time, Camila went to her parents and revealed everything. She pleaded with them, but her parents were stubborn and disbelieving. She had found her One four months ago, and only was telling them now, when she was betrothed to another? To them, it seemed like a scheme to get her out of another possible marriage, and so her parents denied the end of the planned engagement and locked her in her room, planning to keep her there until the day of the wedding arrived. She wept in there for a short time, then brushed away her tears and began thinking of her escape. It only took her an hour to see how one could play out. She tied her bedsheets together as tight as she could and tied the makeshift rope to her bedpost. Her father, who was passing by outside her window at just that moment, saw her drop the rope and promptly ended that plan.

Four days passed and all other of Camila's escape attempts were thwarted. She could not leave through her door, as it was locked, nor the chimney, as a servant saw her climbing up and out and alerted her parents, and the window was now guarded 24/7. But then, a ray of hope- her older brother, who knew what it was like to be in love secretly, was found by a just-returned Legolas and convinced to help. He volunteered to guard her window on that fourth night, throwing up a message tied to a rock to her that told her of a rope he had bribed the guard outside her door to smuggle into her room. Just then, the door clicked open and a thick, bristly rope was tossed in without a word. She tied it to her bedpost, remembering her earlier escape attempt and how it was the likeliest to hold the rope steady, and quickly and carefully lowered herself out the window. Freedom! Her brother helped to sneak her to a citadel at the edge of the city, where Legolas was waiting with news, some good and some bad.

He told her of Rinchon's lies and acting prowess, and how he was surely much worse of an ellon than he'd pretended to be around Legolas. Camila grew fearful. She would have to marry one so treacherous? But Legolas quelled her worries with several kisses and an oath to break the betrothal before the sunrise the next morning. And so they went back to her home and had a servant wake her parents. They walked into the foyer, rubbing their eyes and yawning, but soon woke up fully at the sight of the prince of Eryn Galen, holding their daughter's hand and watching them grimly. One quick discussion and hinted threats of Legolas' father's kingdom's power later, Camila's parents agreed to call off the engagement and allow their courtship to continue, though now in public, of course.

Overjoyed, Camila kissed Legolas passionately, and once they broke apart, he promptly asked for her hand in marriage. As she replied with an exuberant 'yes', her mother fainted and her father beamed, catching his wife in his arms as he apparently realized this would be better for the family reputation anyway. Although... there was still the issue with Rinchon and his stubborn, foolish parents. Legolas rode to his home of Eryn Galen with Camila and broke the happy news to his father, who was rather unsurprised and gave the marriage a calm go-ahead. In a stroke of luck, King Thranduil was compassionate enough to send an envoy to Lothlorien to alert Rinchon and his family of the change in engagement.

 His parents, the first to find out, protested, as expected, but at threats sent directly from the king of Eryn Galen, they begrudgingly acknowledged the end of the betrothal. Rinchon, on the other hand, was furious and brutally attacked one of the messengers. The accompanying guards quickly dragged him off the messenger and threatened him with a lifetime of imprisonment should he ever attack one of their party again, as was custom in elven history. He, though still dangerously mad, backed off and the envoy left Lothlorien in peace. They gave a general warning to Galadrial and Celeborn, the rulers of the kingdom, of Rinchon's nature and the dramatic happenings of late that involved him, Legolas, and Camila, then swiftly set off for Eryn Galen, arriving back just in time to attend the wedding of the happy couple.

Camila had always believed in fairy tales, and here was her very own, happening right in front of her luminescent violet eyes. She knew as she kissed her dearest Legolas for the first time as his wife that her happy ending had arrived at last. And yet- she had such a long time left in Middle Earth, it could hardly be called a happy 'ending', now, could it? It was a happy beginning, more like, the start of a new life with the One she loved unconditionally. A new time was dawning in Camila's life, and the sun was bright and glorious and true.