The golden radiance of the morning sun shown through Adele's eyelids as she rose from her sleep. She splashed the cool water against her face, enlivening her for the day ahead. Throwing on a pair of dark blue pants and a light green tunic, she grabbed her bow for her morning archery lesson. with Legolas. "Oh great." she thought to herself remembering how she fled from him the night before. Hoping that he would have forgotten, Adele slipped on her cattle hide boots and made her way down the cold marble staircase.
        She finished her breakfast meal of honey bread and water, and headed for target practice like normal. No sooner had she entered the courtyard, than she ran into Legolas exiting the stables with two horses following.
        "A beautiful morning, is it not?" he cheerfully exclaimed. "I decided it is a day fit enough for you to try the advanced skill of horse-back archery," he continued his long blonde hair blowing across his face.
        "Oh, Legs, come on I'm not nearly as advanced as you would think," a bewildered Adele answered, eyeing the saddled horses warily.
        "Aye, well I do think to much," he said jokingly, jumping into the seat of a tawny mare.
        Adele straddled herself onto the saddle of the chestnut horse beside him and carefully lifted her elfin bow from her right shoulder. She aimed carefully at the first target, practicing at a dead stop. As soon as she pulled tight her string, she heard a voice from behind.
        "Be off horse!" she heard Legolas proclaim, followed by a slap to the flank of her steed. She was racing at a galloping speed far away from her first goal.
        "Well, come on, it's time you started on moving targets!" cried Legolas, enjoying himself thoroughly. Adele turned around so fast to scold him for giving her such a start, that she accidentally let go of the arrow, ejecting it straight through a palace window.
        "Oh, you stupid elf!" she yelled, gawking at Legolas who was clearly amused. "I'll have your head for this! I swear, Legolas Greenleaf, if but one person even ATTEMPTS to scold me." However her rants were interrupted as she was thrown from the saddle of her horse rearing on it's hind legs. Thrown, that is, right into the wet and muddy bog to her left.
        Legolas was clearly pleased with the events, and walked over to help Adele out of the soaking mud pit. She shot daggers through her eyes at him as he quickly tried to suppress a laugh. He reached a hand down to pull her out and she accepted it, a warm tingle once more flowing through her veins. Without another thought, she pulled him in, as he landed in the mud with a SpLaT! .Right on top of her. "Well isn't this a compromising position," he said, the look of entertainment sparkling in his sky blue orbs. "Adele, I think your eyes are brown today, or is that just the mud you're covered in?" he jested.
        "Why must you always obsess about my eyes!" she cried, rolling out from under him.
        She walked to a nearby hill, stretching out her waterlogged self to sun dry in the heat radiating from overhead. Legolas soon walked over and laid down beside her, intertwining his hands behind his head in a relaxing position. The silence was peaceful, or menacing depending on which elve's point of view, when Legolas interrupted her thoughts.
        "You know what I want more than anything?"
        "To publicly humiliate me to my grave?" was the sarcastic reply.
        Legolas laughed, "Yes, but I'm trying to be serious here," he said, plucking a daisy from the ground and weaving it through Adele's long braid.
        "I don't know Legs, what could you possibly want? Your father would give you the world if you asked him politely," she responded in a more somber tone, watching Legolas fill her braids with small and delicate daisies.
        "I want to be a hunter again, I want to see the world alone, and take a chance on life again."
        "Legolas, you're father is a king. He wouldn't want his only heir wandering the world in the face of danger," sighed Adele.
        "If YOU were a king up there on your throne, would you be wise enough to let me go, to let me leave and live the life I desire?" Legolas said with a heavy heart, putting down her braid and gazing into her soulful eyes.
        "Legs, I would make it my obligation to let you have whatever your heart desired," she said evading his prying stare to look up at a bird landing softly on the branch of a maple tree swaying in the breeze.
        "The crown they've placed upon my head feels too heavy now; it's the only thing keeping me from experiencing my life. My freedom will be taken away for good if I ever am the King of Mirkwood." he conversed, sharing a burden resting upon his troubled mind with his closest confidant.
        There was one long pause before Adele began, for all the while she was thinking, "I don't know what to say to you but I'll smile anyhow. please don't leave me here Legs, I'd be so alone."
        "Legolas," she said finally speaking out loud, "if you do go, promise that you'll take me with you," she sighed gravely turning her hazel eyes back to Legolas with a pained look.
        "I swear to you Adele," he said picking up her hand and giving it an assuring kiss, "as long as you can carry the supplies," he teasingly whispered to her ear before running towards the palace doors.
        "As long as you can carry my heart," she murmured into the wind.
        The day passed quickly, and she only saw Legolas once or twice in the palace halls. He gave her a warm smile and a quick nod each time. Adele took dinner in her room, trying to finish up a task one of the wizened elves had placed upon her. She was not able to see Legolas below in the banquet hall casting glances towards the empty seat across from him, longing for Adele to join the hall for dinner. He skipped the after dinner dance in an urgency to find his friend. The moon cast a silver glow on the marble staircase as he ascended towards her room. He knocked softly on her door an opened it to find her fast asleep, completely tired out from the events of the day. He bent down as to wake her but thought better of it, instead laying a small item on her oak wood dresser. He swiftly left for his own chambers, taking one last fleeting look at the softly sleeping elf, the moon casting a peaceful glow across her features.
        A bird outside sang sweetly through Adele's window as she swung her legs over the side of her bed, fumbling for her clothes and heading straight to the courtyard. Early for practice, she waited quietly inside the stables, for Legolas had promised to take her horseback riding through the Mirkwood Forest. Five minutes passed, then ten minutes, growing to twenty minutes. She raced up towards the balcony, scanning the scenery for a sign of Legolas playing another one of his tricks on her. She stumbled upon an elf that smiled and said, "What's your hurry young one?"
        "Sir," she panted taking a breath, "Could you please.please tell me if you know the.whereabouts of Legolas Greenleaf?"
        "Ah, yes, in fact I saw the young prince leave upon horseback quite early- even before the sunrise," he answered kindly. She quickly thanked him and rushed towards her room. As she nearly reached the top of the staircase, her foot slipped out from under her. She fell quite hard upon the icy marble, no outstretched arm to catch her anymore. Her lip split open and blood trickled out from the ragged cut. However she felt nothing, hot tongues of anger lashed at her thoughts at the present moment.
        Adele burst through the heavy wooden door, the entrance to her room. She fled to her bed raging mad and pried off her heavy riding boots. She then spotted a small white object that had been left upon her dresser. She stood up, the iron grasp of anger releasing its hold, and stood over the petite daisy. As Adele gazed upon the lone flower slowly wilting before her, she felt a single tear fall, and watched it flood the daisy's small petals. For she knew and her heart cracked a little more.