[Part 1: Prologue: Meet Merida]
"Prince Legolas?" A soft voice had echoed off the creamy white marbled walls of the kingdom, reaching the young elves ears. This piked the mans interest, as he turned his attention down the vast corridor, scanning over the area and spotting the source of the noise. A guard that had traveled with him and his father to Rivendell, he could tell by the colors he donned. "Prince Legolas, your father has called for your presence."
The Wood elf raised a single brow and cocked his head a tad, trying to think of something his father would want from him. "Did he say what it is he wanted?" The elven guard merely shook his head, his long blonde hair being thrown askew across his chest and shoulders.
"He had only requested you meet him in the mapping chambers in the East Wing, if you would follow me." With that, the guard turned on his heels and briskly retreated back towards the corridor, the arrows in his quiver loosely swishing around.
The Prince's brows knitted together in confusion, thinking back to what he had done in the past 24 hours that may have made his Ada mad, yet he came up empty handed. Perhaps his father needed him to do a task he could not do himself? No no, Thranduil had men for that. Mayhap it was a task needed by Lord Elrond.
The guard of Mirkwood pressed his palms against the large ornate door to the mapping room and pushed them open, the hinges making a deep creaking voice as the two elves entered the large room. The mapping room was quite something, bookcases lined the shelves, stocked with old and new books that Lord Elrond had collected over the years, collecting a thin coat of dust. In the middle of the room sat a table with a large tattered beige map, indicating the many towns and regions. That's where a few men were standing, speaking to each other quietly in Sindarin, the Prince spotting his father immediately.
"Ah, father. I was informed that you needed to speak with me."
Thranduil turned from speaking with the elven man in front of him and faced his son, both pairs of blue eyes meeting at the same time for a small moment before the elder of the two began speaking. "Yes, Legolas. Near the break of dawn a guard patrolling the outer skirts of Rivendell, near the hidden passage, found something that should not have been there." Thranduil had explained, folding his hands into the excessively large sleeves of his robe.
Legolas nodded slowly, still not understanding where he fits in. "And what did he find?"
"The patrol guard had found a small bundle of what appeared to be tattered blankets and silken linens, but when he had unfolded the many layers, he uncovered a child." Thranduil glanced over towards the door opposite of the bookshelves and watched as it opened slowly.
A woman had stepped in, and in her arms lay the small child silently sleeping away, it was now bundled up in clean sky blue silken linens that flowed freely through the womans slender fingers. "That is odd." Legolas had commented as the elf woman stood silently beside Thranduil and Lord Elrond. It was not common to find abandoned children around the Hidden Valley, that sort of event mostly happened around the poorer areas, where families could not afford to feed another mouth.
"Yes, it is." Thranduil had commented as his blue eyes tracked over to the baby in the elven womans arms, it's little arms clasping the silks gently. "Now Legolas, I am assigning you the care over this child."
Legolas' brows knitted together as he was taken aback. He blinked and tried to figure out if his father had meant something else, other than the surprising words that just came out of his lips. "Er, Ada- I will have non of it Legolas, I've asked you multiple times for a grandchild and you continue to fail me. You will take care of this child and realize the joys of raising a child."
Joys, funny Thranduil thought that. At least that's what Legolas thought when his father spoke, another crease adding to his brow. Legolas was mainly raised by a nanny, but he spent time with his father, just not the essentials of childhood. The 'joys' he had with Legolas would be when Legolas had already been quieted down from his toddler tantrums, and quietly played with his toys. Thranduil never really experienced the hard parts of raising a child.
"But father, is that even an elven child?"
"No, it is not. It is a mortal female."
Legolas took a deep breath in through his nose and shook his head a tad, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly. "I do not want to get too attached to this child, Ada, one day I will have to bury her."
"Son.. You would give her a good life, and you will share good memories." Thranduil explained once again as he reached his long arms out towards the woman beside him, and carefully placed them underneath the bottom of the bundle. Slowly, he brought the young girl up and against his chest, his eyes softening when he viewed the little girls face. "Besides, I am not letting you give me a no."
Legolas nervously watched as his father paced over in front of him with the tiny little bundle snuggled up against the soft fabric of his fathers robes, his eyes immediately attaching themselves to the little round face. Then, Thranduil had placed the light wrapped child into Legolas' arms, carefully at that.
The first thing the elven Prince noticed, was a thick red curl laying against her tiny little forehead, shining underneath the rays of sunlight from the sunroof. He nervously licked his lips and brought his hand up, gently petting her tiny little fingers that clasped the sheets so daintily. She will greatly stick out amongst the others in Mirkwood. The Prince had smirked to himself, imagining a little red headed girl running down the streets with her red curls in tow.
"Did she come with anything?"
"The blankets were of plaid design, red and blue. Neither Lord Elrond or I can figure out which region the design belongs to. The rags don't matter, they are riddled with holes and dirt." Thranduil spoke as he strode over to one of the large bookshelves, pressing his long fingers against the spine of a random book. "Ah, tucked underneath a layer of her blankets was a small note, a hastily scratched name was all that was written." He had gestured with his eyes towards the small dirty note that lay atop the glass table, just waiting for Legolas to read it.
Legolas bent slightly and got the note in-between his index and middle finger, seeing nothing on one side of the tattered little piece of paper, which was ripped out from a journal, or perhaps a book. He turned his fingers eagerly and had to squint just to manage reading the chicken scratch.
"Mmm.. Meerr?" He squinted a tad more, trying to get the last few letters of the little girls name. He did not notice Lord Elrond pacing over to him and snatching the note away from his fingers, reading it for himself.
"Her name is Merida, Legolas." Lord Elrond forced himself not to roll his eyes at the elf before him, gently placing the note back down onto the glass table. Perhaps raising a child will tie Legolas down so he need not leave all day to shoot targets in the forest. Elrond had chuckled inwardly at the thought and crossed his arms over his robe clad chest.
The Elven Prince tried to force a smile back, but his happiness overwhelmed his willpower and a large toothy smile surfaced on his face, beaming brightly, gradually growing bigger as the child stirred for a moment, her tiny eyelids beginning to open.
Little Merida had stared up at Legolas with glimmering eyes, as blue as the ocean and as clear as the sky on a beautiful day, amazing her adoptive father. Her tiny brows furrowed as her one lock of hair spilled over in-between his eyes, causing her to go cross eyed as she stared at the deep red color of it. She tried desperately to grasp the red lock, but she could not bring her arm up even to touch the end of it, causing her to be further intrigued yet angered. Merida shook her head to the best of her abilities, yet the curl remained where it was, her eyes remained crossed.
The newly made father laughed heartily, reaching over and gently moving the curl to the side of her head, relieving her of her criss-cross eyes. "You know, maybe this turn of events wont be such a hassle." He had whispered to her secretly, a smile still played on his lips. "Little Merida."
xxx
A/N: Well, I saw a photo on Tumblr of Legolas holding 'children leashes' and Merida, Katniss, and Clint were on the leashes, so I got some inspiration from that ! I honestly don't know if there's a fic out there like this, and I'm sorry if there is, but I really needed to write this ! Please note that this is the prologue, so of course coming chapters would be longer and have more to them, so please don't be bored !
Please review if you liked it and want me to continue?
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters, just plot line.