DISCLAIMER: Time for torture.I......don't....own....*sob* Legolas!!*breaks
down into sobs* *pulls self together* Oh, yeah, and I don't own anything
but my plot, unless you've seen it somewhere else, and Tolkien's characters
and ideas are all his own.
P.S: I gave Elledan and Elrohir brown hair and gray eyes like their father,
so don't sue me if you're a fan of them.Thanks.
Author's note: Elvish translations are at the end of the chapter,and um, happy reading!
Rated R for future violence.
~~~~~*~~~~~
Legolas Greenleaf perched high in a tree in Mirkwood, fingering his bow and singing softly to himself in his native tongue. It was a sad elven song, one that clearly carried the grief and confusion of his heart through his gentle voice and onto the wind. The elf had chosen to sing this song, because he was sad and frustrated, plain and simple. Even though the war of the ring had been fought and won 8 years ago, Legolas felt uneasy about something great that was coming. He truly couldn't help feeling this way either. For three weeks he had had this feeling, and it was becoming stronger, more urgent, more prominent in his mind. At times it shadowed even his sea-longing. To Legolas it felt as though the very earth was screaming at him to do something.
Legolas sighed and leaned into the tree, shutting his eyes tightly against the wave of emotion that washed over him. The tree. The tree was trying to convey its panic to him. Legolas could understand nature better than most, and he silently cursed this gift as the tree sent him its emotions. It was truly driving him mad, knowing something was wrong, yet not knowing what was happening to make anything feel this way. With a frustrated sigh, he dropped from the tree and landed in a crouch. Straightening and taking one last wistful look back at his usual place of solace, he turned and began to walk back to the halls of Thranduil, his home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elledan loosed the arrow, and watchied the flight of it, and then as it hit the leaf he was aiming for, about one hundred meters away. The arrow hadn't exactly hit dead center, though, and that bothered him. The elf sighed. He wasn't fully healed yet from an injury he had taken ownership of after a nasty fall on a hunting trip. He was healing fast with ll the speed of the elves and his father, Lord Elrond's treatments, but to him, not nearly fast enough. He silenced these thoughts with a shake of ghis head, and swung himself into the tree above him, leaping from branch to branch, following the path of his arrow.
His keen eyes located it, and he went easily to the leaf and removed the arrow. As he did so, a chill raced up his spine, and he laced his bow and readied it with fast, graceful fingers. The smell of evil came to his heightened senses, and suddenly his body was completely still, tense and alert.
"Yrch", he murmured to himself, slipping into his native tongue in the heat of the moment. His confused mind was failing to process everything. What were orcs doing so near to the borders of Rivendell? Unfortunately, the elf hadn't had much time to ponder such things, for five orcs clamored into the clearing he was perched over. Making a quick decision, he decided not to shoot, mainly because he didn't trust his faulty arm, and for lack or knowledge as to how many they were in sheer number. He decided to scout instead, and gather what information he could about this rare occurence. Elledan followed the orcs, stealthily creepong from tree to tree, all of his senses attuned perfectly to the world around him, keeping watch for any hidden dangers.
Elledan had been following these orcs for about thirty minutes, and he was beginning to tire of it. Looking around, he suddenly realized that they had simply been traveling around the Rivendell, and from the elf's calculations, about ten miles outside of their borders. To him it seemed as if the orcs were patrolling or garding something. 'Guarding Rivendell'. The thought came to Elledan unbidden, and he surprised himself with it. This revelation only served to confuse him more. 'What reason would there be for that behavior? Mayhap someone or something was the cause of this'. His own last thought frightened him. What power could harness orcs and force them to walk so stealthily? The last time he had seen this they had worked at the hand of Sauron, the Dark lord himself. 'I must tell father!' That was one thing that was sure. He did need to tell the Lord of Rivendell if they wanted to squelch whatever new evi was beginning to take hold of his land. The elf turned away from his previous objective, and carfully began his return trip to Rivendell, taking care to avoid anymore orcs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arwen stepped up beside her love on the balcony of their chambers in her husband's kingdom. She followed his gaze to the serene beauty set before them and smiled a bittersweet smile. The White city truly was beautiful, even if it held none of the beauty of Imladris. Arwen couldn't help but compare sometimes, and this habit was only a testament to how much she truly missed her brothers and father. Sighing and pushing the thoughts out of her mind, she wrapped her arms around the one person who could make her forget. Aragorn returned the embrace as she rested her head upon his shoulder. Arwen could feel a strange tension in her love this eve, a tension that did not belong on his shoulders. Something was wrong with him. Normally, she might have been able to tell automatically what was wrong with her husband, but her elven abilities were fading because of the gift she had given up for him. She almost laughed out loud at the irony. Since her abilities were down, there was no better way to figure it out than by asking.
"Milord", she said, " I can feel your tension. What ails you?" Aragorn placed his hands on the small soft ones wrapped abput his waist, feeling ultimately thankful for her love. He should have known it was never any use to try to hide anything from her. Arwen was anything but dumb to the world around her. He sighed, and his jaw tightened as his face turned grim.
" I fear i cannot tell you that, milady. There is a feeling of darkness plauging me, one that seems to travel plainly on the air. Can you not feel it?" Arwen's hands tightened on her lover's as he leaned forward slightly, narrowing his eyes as if that would permit him to see this new threat. She could in fact, feel a shadow on the horizon, but she couldn' t tell whether it was imminent or leftover from Sauron's fall. The fact that Aragorn, a human, albeit one seasoned for this kind of thing, could feel it stirred fear in her heart. Her arms loosened slightly as she was lost to her own thoughts, and she sighed. Aragorn sensed the change in her, and turned in her arms, concern evident in every line and curve of his face.
"Arwen?", he questioned, turning inquiring eyes to her face. Arwen sighed again and looked upat him. In her eyes was worry and even a bit of fear.
" I too, have felt something." Arwen said, casting her eyes downward. "Something is...........out of place in this world, but I know not what. i can sense the shadow covering the evil, and that tells me it is not good, but imminent or leftover, i cannot say. it must be a great evil to be sensed by a human." Aragorn smiled. So there it was. The fear in her eyes had scared him, and now he knew the cause of it. If a human with no special senses could feel it, it had to be a great thing. Aragorn hooked his fingers under her chin, tilting her head so as to look into her eyes. He grinned amusedly at her.
"By a human? My elven love", Aragorn teased, stretching the word elven to make it more prominent "you would dare to belittle my race?" It would have been a believable accusation, if not for the grin nearly covering his face and his mirth filled eyes. Arwen laughed, knowing that Aragorn was merely making an effort for her, to chase away her despair, and being grateful for it.
"Now now, my human love", she retorted, flashing her own grin at him "humans belitle there own race simply by not being elves. Blind and deaf, you are." Aragorn stumbled dramatically and grasped his chest as though her words were a dagger to the heart. Arwen's silvery laugh floated on the air and joined with Aragorn's deep one as he swept her into his arms. Slowly that laughing died down, and Aragorn looked at the woman in his arms once more.
*"N'dela no'ta, a'maelamin. Tel' dae nailvee' beleg vee' lye mela ar' alye lye na tait tulvanwa.", He murmured to her in the soothing tongue of the Sindar elves. Arwen smiled at him, and he saw the fear melt from her eyes and felt the tension melt from her body. There was still worry in her eyes, but it was still a step toward solace. They leaned forward and their lips met in a gentle kiss. The kiss was cut short by a curt knocking on the chamber door. The kiss was broken as Aragorn slipped out of her embrace and hurried to open it. The door swung to and revealed a soldier, one whom Aragorn recognized as a member of a hunting party that had set out this morn. There was a large cut on his forehead that was bleeding profusely. The crimson liquid was falling almost as fast as the tears streaming down his dirt-streaked face. As Aragorn looked him over, his natural healing instincts kicked in.
"Come in, that cut needs to be cleaned." Aragorn said, stepping toward the man with an outstretched hand. The soldier didn't move, except for a small step back he took, as if her were afraid of being touched.
"Nay my lord", the soldier explained himself "tis' but a minor wound, and how i came about it is the more important of the two" The soldier took a deep breath as Aragorn looked at his curiosly, as if he were preparing himself for his next words. "We are surrounded by orcs, my lord." Aragorn and Arwen stiffened and froze. ~~~~~~~~~~~
Elledan bowed respectfully to his father in the throne room of Rivendell. Elrond merely waved his hand distractedly.
"Come now, **amin hin, and save the formalities. Tell me what is wrong." Elledan looked at his father questioningly,wondering how he knew something was wrong. "i feel something is amiss in your aura, my son", Elrond explained to his son's curious gaze. Elledan sighed, as their current predicament was brought to mind.
"Indeed your senses are finely tuned. Ill tidings I bring. I was on a practice archery course, attempting to return some strength to my arm again" Elrond merely nodded. He knew his son well enough to know that he was impatient when it came to healing. No one was as impatient as Aragorn, though.His son's voice brought his mind back tot the present. "As I retrieved my last arrow, I noticed the smell of orcs and felt the chill of evil." Elrond sat up straighter.
"Orcs?"
"Yes father. it cane into view as a small party,but they were being deliberately stealthy. I stayed my hand on my bow, and decided merely to scout because of lack of imformation and not trusting my arm. They aroused my suspicions, though, so I followed them, thinking perhaps they might lead me to something else. Yet it was strange........."Elledan trailed off, his eyes growing distant as he became lost in his own thoughts. Elrond watched his son until he couldn't wait anymore and had to ask.
"Strange? How?" Elledan snapped out of his reverie and looked perplexed for a moment before answeing his father.
"They seemed to be walking, circling ten miles outside of our borders. Twas' nothing my eyes have seen before, father. They were patrolling our land. Guarding Rivendell. I doubt anyone can be let out." Elrond's mind walked the same confused path his son's had walked some time ago in the forest. 'Guarding Rivendell?', he repeated in his mind. 'Why?' This time, it was Elrond's turn to be broken out of his thoughts by his son. " One more thing was strange.I did not realize there presence until they were nearly upon me. Perhaps it was because my mind was occupied, but I believe i still should have sensed them."Elrond frowned as his mind spiraled into despair. Elves relied on their senses more than almost anything to help them in times of danger. Being unable to sense evil was as debilitating as not haing any weapons or losing an arm. This couldn't be possible. At that moment, Elledan's brother Elrohir walked in. Elrond should have known that somehow his other son would be present. You rarely saw one without the other. Elledan merely glanced at his sibling before returning his gaze to his father and continuing." I did smell evil though. It seems the smell of evil cannot be stifled." Elrohir looked confused and alarmed at his brother's words.
"What is going on here? He asked, looking from father to son with steely gray eyes that mirored his brother's. He was ignored.
"Elledan, this is very serious indeed. If we cannot sense these creatures......."Elrond trailed off, knowing he did not need to finish the sentence to tell what could happen. His sons knew. His people would not be able to leave Rivendell with out a large group and heavily armed. They would be forced to live with caution of the strictest kind that would be new to them. it could very well turn into another version of southern Mirkwood. Elrond frowned as he recalled Legolas's home and the constant war they waged to keep the creatures of the dark of Dol Guldur from invading their lands. With the fall of Sauron, it had lessened somewhat, but it was still a struggle. As his thoughts turned to that forest, and idea clicked in his mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ *The shadow is not as strong as our love and together we will overcome.
**my child ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Click the review button please!! I know this chapter was a bit talky, but more Legolas and other characters along with some action next chapter, I promise!! I like reviews, by the way. Review!!!
Author's note: Elvish translations are at the end of the chapter,and um, happy reading!
Rated R for future violence.
~~~~~*~~~~~
Legolas Greenleaf perched high in a tree in Mirkwood, fingering his bow and singing softly to himself in his native tongue. It was a sad elven song, one that clearly carried the grief and confusion of his heart through his gentle voice and onto the wind. The elf had chosen to sing this song, because he was sad and frustrated, plain and simple. Even though the war of the ring had been fought and won 8 years ago, Legolas felt uneasy about something great that was coming. He truly couldn't help feeling this way either. For three weeks he had had this feeling, and it was becoming stronger, more urgent, more prominent in his mind. At times it shadowed even his sea-longing. To Legolas it felt as though the very earth was screaming at him to do something.
Legolas sighed and leaned into the tree, shutting his eyes tightly against the wave of emotion that washed over him. The tree. The tree was trying to convey its panic to him. Legolas could understand nature better than most, and he silently cursed this gift as the tree sent him its emotions. It was truly driving him mad, knowing something was wrong, yet not knowing what was happening to make anything feel this way. With a frustrated sigh, he dropped from the tree and landed in a crouch. Straightening and taking one last wistful look back at his usual place of solace, he turned and began to walk back to the halls of Thranduil, his home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elledan loosed the arrow, and watchied the flight of it, and then as it hit the leaf he was aiming for, about one hundred meters away. The arrow hadn't exactly hit dead center, though, and that bothered him. The elf sighed. He wasn't fully healed yet from an injury he had taken ownership of after a nasty fall on a hunting trip. He was healing fast with ll the speed of the elves and his father, Lord Elrond's treatments, but to him, not nearly fast enough. He silenced these thoughts with a shake of ghis head, and swung himself into the tree above him, leaping from branch to branch, following the path of his arrow.
His keen eyes located it, and he went easily to the leaf and removed the arrow. As he did so, a chill raced up his spine, and he laced his bow and readied it with fast, graceful fingers. The smell of evil came to his heightened senses, and suddenly his body was completely still, tense and alert.
"Yrch", he murmured to himself, slipping into his native tongue in the heat of the moment. His confused mind was failing to process everything. What were orcs doing so near to the borders of Rivendell? Unfortunately, the elf hadn't had much time to ponder such things, for five orcs clamored into the clearing he was perched over. Making a quick decision, he decided not to shoot, mainly because he didn't trust his faulty arm, and for lack or knowledge as to how many they were in sheer number. He decided to scout instead, and gather what information he could about this rare occurence. Elledan followed the orcs, stealthily creepong from tree to tree, all of his senses attuned perfectly to the world around him, keeping watch for any hidden dangers.
Elledan had been following these orcs for about thirty minutes, and he was beginning to tire of it. Looking around, he suddenly realized that they had simply been traveling around the Rivendell, and from the elf's calculations, about ten miles outside of their borders. To him it seemed as if the orcs were patrolling or garding something. 'Guarding Rivendell'. The thought came to Elledan unbidden, and he surprised himself with it. This revelation only served to confuse him more. 'What reason would there be for that behavior? Mayhap someone or something was the cause of this'. His own last thought frightened him. What power could harness orcs and force them to walk so stealthily? The last time he had seen this they had worked at the hand of Sauron, the Dark lord himself. 'I must tell father!' That was one thing that was sure. He did need to tell the Lord of Rivendell if they wanted to squelch whatever new evi was beginning to take hold of his land. The elf turned away from his previous objective, and carfully began his return trip to Rivendell, taking care to avoid anymore orcs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arwen stepped up beside her love on the balcony of their chambers in her husband's kingdom. She followed his gaze to the serene beauty set before them and smiled a bittersweet smile. The White city truly was beautiful, even if it held none of the beauty of Imladris. Arwen couldn't help but compare sometimes, and this habit was only a testament to how much she truly missed her brothers and father. Sighing and pushing the thoughts out of her mind, she wrapped her arms around the one person who could make her forget. Aragorn returned the embrace as she rested her head upon his shoulder. Arwen could feel a strange tension in her love this eve, a tension that did not belong on his shoulders. Something was wrong with him. Normally, she might have been able to tell automatically what was wrong with her husband, but her elven abilities were fading because of the gift she had given up for him. She almost laughed out loud at the irony. Since her abilities were down, there was no better way to figure it out than by asking.
"Milord", she said, " I can feel your tension. What ails you?" Aragorn placed his hands on the small soft ones wrapped abput his waist, feeling ultimately thankful for her love. He should have known it was never any use to try to hide anything from her. Arwen was anything but dumb to the world around her. He sighed, and his jaw tightened as his face turned grim.
" I fear i cannot tell you that, milady. There is a feeling of darkness plauging me, one that seems to travel plainly on the air. Can you not feel it?" Arwen's hands tightened on her lover's as he leaned forward slightly, narrowing his eyes as if that would permit him to see this new threat. She could in fact, feel a shadow on the horizon, but she couldn' t tell whether it was imminent or leftover from Sauron's fall. The fact that Aragorn, a human, albeit one seasoned for this kind of thing, could feel it stirred fear in her heart. Her arms loosened slightly as she was lost to her own thoughts, and she sighed. Aragorn sensed the change in her, and turned in her arms, concern evident in every line and curve of his face.
"Arwen?", he questioned, turning inquiring eyes to her face. Arwen sighed again and looked upat him. In her eyes was worry and even a bit of fear.
" I too, have felt something." Arwen said, casting her eyes downward. "Something is...........out of place in this world, but I know not what. i can sense the shadow covering the evil, and that tells me it is not good, but imminent or leftover, i cannot say. it must be a great evil to be sensed by a human." Aragorn smiled. So there it was. The fear in her eyes had scared him, and now he knew the cause of it. If a human with no special senses could feel it, it had to be a great thing. Aragorn hooked his fingers under her chin, tilting her head so as to look into her eyes. He grinned amusedly at her.
"By a human? My elven love", Aragorn teased, stretching the word elven to make it more prominent "you would dare to belittle my race?" It would have been a believable accusation, if not for the grin nearly covering his face and his mirth filled eyes. Arwen laughed, knowing that Aragorn was merely making an effort for her, to chase away her despair, and being grateful for it.
"Now now, my human love", she retorted, flashing her own grin at him "humans belitle there own race simply by not being elves. Blind and deaf, you are." Aragorn stumbled dramatically and grasped his chest as though her words were a dagger to the heart. Arwen's silvery laugh floated on the air and joined with Aragorn's deep one as he swept her into his arms. Slowly that laughing died down, and Aragorn looked at the woman in his arms once more.
*"N'dela no'ta, a'maelamin. Tel' dae nailvee' beleg vee' lye mela ar' alye lye na tait tulvanwa.", He murmured to her in the soothing tongue of the Sindar elves. Arwen smiled at him, and he saw the fear melt from her eyes and felt the tension melt from her body. There was still worry in her eyes, but it was still a step toward solace. They leaned forward and their lips met in a gentle kiss. The kiss was cut short by a curt knocking on the chamber door. The kiss was broken as Aragorn slipped out of her embrace and hurried to open it. The door swung to and revealed a soldier, one whom Aragorn recognized as a member of a hunting party that had set out this morn. There was a large cut on his forehead that was bleeding profusely. The crimson liquid was falling almost as fast as the tears streaming down his dirt-streaked face. As Aragorn looked him over, his natural healing instincts kicked in.
"Come in, that cut needs to be cleaned." Aragorn said, stepping toward the man with an outstretched hand. The soldier didn't move, except for a small step back he took, as if her were afraid of being touched.
"Nay my lord", the soldier explained himself "tis' but a minor wound, and how i came about it is the more important of the two" The soldier took a deep breath as Aragorn looked at his curiosly, as if he were preparing himself for his next words. "We are surrounded by orcs, my lord." Aragorn and Arwen stiffened and froze. ~~~~~~~~~~~
Elledan bowed respectfully to his father in the throne room of Rivendell. Elrond merely waved his hand distractedly.
"Come now, **amin hin, and save the formalities. Tell me what is wrong." Elledan looked at his father questioningly,wondering how he knew something was wrong. "i feel something is amiss in your aura, my son", Elrond explained to his son's curious gaze. Elledan sighed, as their current predicament was brought to mind.
"Indeed your senses are finely tuned. Ill tidings I bring. I was on a practice archery course, attempting to return some strength to my arm again" Elrond merely nodded. He knew his son well enough to know that he was impatient when it came to healing. No one was as impatient as Aragorn, though.His son's voice brought his mind back tot the present. "As I retrieved my last arrow, I noticed the smell of orcs and felt the chill of evil." Elrond sat up straighter.
"Orcs?"
"Yes father. it cane into view as a small party,but they were being deliberately stealthy. I stayed my hand on my bow, and decided merely to scout because of lack of imformation and not trusting my arm. They aroused my suspicions, though, so I followed them, thinking perhaps they might lead me to something else. Yet it was strange........."Elledan trailed off, his eyes growing distant as he became lost in his own thoughts. Elrond watched his son until he couldn't wait anymore and had to ask.
"Strange? How?" Elledan snapped out of his reverie and looked perplexed for a moment before answeing his father.
"They seemed to be walking, circling ten miles outside of our borders. Twas' nothing my eyes have seen before, father. They were patrolling our land. Guarding Rivendell. I doubt anyone can be let out." Elrond's mind walked the same confused path his son's had walked some time ago in the forest. 'Guarding Rivendell?', he repeated in his mind. 'Why?' This time, it was Elrond's turn to be broken out of his thoughts by his son. " One more thing was strange.I did not realize there presence until they were nearly upon me. Perhaps it was because my mind was occupied, but I believe i still should have sensed them."Elrond frowned as his mind spiraled into despair. Elves relied on their senses more than almost anything to help them in times of danger. Being unable to sense evil was as debilitating as not haing any weapons or losing an arm. This couldn't be possible. At that moment, Elledan's brother Elrohir walked in. Elrond should have known that somehow his other son would be present. You rarely saw one without the other. Elledan merely glanced at his sibling before returning his gaze to his father and continuing." I did smell evil though. It seems the smell of evil cannot be stifled." Elrohir looked confused and alarmed at his brother's words.
"What is going on here? He asked, looking from father to son with steely gray eyes that mirored his brother's. He was ignored.
"Elledan, this is very serious indeed. If we cannot sense these creatures......."Elrond trailed off, knowing he did not need to finish the sentence to tell what could happen. His sons knew. His people would not be able to leave Rivendell with out a large group and heavily armed. They would be forced to live with caution of the strictest kind that would be new to them. it could very well turn into another version of southern Mirkwood. Elrond frowned as he recalled Legolas's home and the constant war they waged to keep the creatures of the dark of Dol Guldur from invading their lands. With the fall of Sauron, it had lessened somewhat, but it was still a struggle. As his thoughts turned to that forest, and idea clicked in his mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ *The shadow is not as strong as our love and together we will overcome.
**my child ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Click the review button please!! I know this chapter was a bit talky, but more Legolas and other characters along with some action next chapter, I promise!! I like reviews, by the way. Review!!!