Title: Hope Is Born When All Is Forlorn
Notes: So I'm back after some Lee RPF. I do realise the idea is not new, but sometimes a writer's just got to write what she has got to write!
Disclaimers: Lee Pace, be mine. Okay, pull the other one. If it sounds like Tolkien, it's not mine either.
Genre: H/C. Traditional SICKFIC where the plot suffers for the sake of the genre.
Rating: T
Summary: Word reaches Legolas that his father is fading, but the prince has no wishes to become king. Variation on a previous theme.
Set: Post-BOTFA
Pairing: Legolas/Tauriel
Warning: Unless you like pure, unadulterated hurt/comfort for the sake of it, it's unlikely you will understand the point to this fic.
Mood: Determined
Travelling through the Shire, Moria and Gondor was an eye-opener for Legolas, convincing him all the more that the Mirkwood elves should've ventured out more and then they would've known Gandalf was right and how much protection and support diminutive races and remnants of once allies frequently needed to counter the growing threat of Sauron and his supporters. Even the small act of showing himself through villages was sometimes a help to raise the moral of the people and he was contemplating offering his services to the king of Rohan to protect their towns and cities that were constantly raided by Dunlendings when by the Mering Stream his archer senses alerted him that someone was most likely aiming an arrow at him. But he did not duck or drew a shaft out his quiver himself as he knew exactly who it was. Nobody could creep up at him the same way as Tauriel, the very person he had been trying to escape for the heartache she was inadvertently causing him. Legolas had barely been away for more than a year from his homeland and had not yet been able to shed his devotion to the Silvan and thus it still hurt when he slowly turned and looked into the green eyes of the woman he loved for over a century. The arrow intended to stop him in his tracks landed behind him. "Tauriel…" He whispered, wincing.
The redhead closed the distance between them, "Gin suilon Legolas," she greeted him informally. "I am so sorry to be the bearer of bad news," she started, expression sympathetic, "I have come to track you down and ask for your return because your father in unwell."
"Unwell?" The prince repeated bewildered. "Man te? Has he been injured?"
"No," Tauriel sighed, "but he is fading, Legolas."
The blond shook his head, "that's impossible. He was shining the same as ever in Dale."
"Are you sure of that? I…I didn't see it that way."
Legolas regarded her, uncomprehending. "I hardly think you had much time to notice such a thing," he brooded, miffed.
"You don't know what happened after you left, mellon. As we stood there, up on Ravenhill, I knew he was just as broken as I was. And while I healed, he didn't."
"Has he asked for me?" The Sindar was slowly digesting the information that his father was perhaps dying. He could not believe it and even so, unless it was a sudden heartache over the loss of a loved one, wouldn't it take years for someone as resilient, full of pride and self-righteous as Thranduil to fade away?
"Not that I am aware of," the woman flinched, having to admit her lack of knowledge, "but it's not like everything that happens up in a halls gets filtered down to the dungeons."
"You were imprisoned?" The self-exiled elf was surprised. He had always assumed Tauriel would flee herself before punishment could reach her.
"Yes. I left to find you on the day I was free. For the king's sakes, I just wish it would've been sooner. He is very weak and I am not sure if you coming back would save him now."
"If he has decided to go to Valinor, how can I change his stubborn mind?" The archer spoke annoyed. He was not ready to be a king. What was this, some sort of masterplan to get him to behave like the heir to the Mirkwood throne for once? "And besides, since when do you care if my father lives or dies? Mar agoreg?"
Tauriel gulped, taken aback and saddened, "we have…I have been wrong about him. I didn't expect him to console me over the death of my…of Kili. I did not expect him to visit me in the dungeons almost daily while he was still able to make sure I was well. He was a friend to me, he always had been, I was just too blind to see it. He loves and cares and it's killing him to remember how it is to feel," she imparted, eyes watering.
"I do not understand you Tauriel." Legolas admitted, "I don't understand this whole thing. What happened that made my father wants to die so badly that it reaches the otherwise by him, or by us Sindars unmovable pits of your heart?"
"I've had time to think in the dungeons and I came to the conclusion that it just got too much for him I think. The grief, the broken heart. He could only bear the absence of your mother if as little as possible reminded him of her, but it was a burden he carried for centuries. And then there were the losses of the battle, your challenging him, reliving his immense personal loss by looking at me, your departure…altogether, it was too much. I understand that feeling, wanting it to end so it doesn't hurt anymore…please come home Legolas, if not for anything else than giving him just a little happiness."
"You really care about him," Legolas established in shock. "You're telling me that my leaving was the last drop that made the glass overflow?"
"It is why I think that if there's anybody who can bring him back to us, it's you," Tauriel ventured.
"We should take the passage through Nindalf. It's closer. I know the trails across the wetlands." The prince suggested.
Tbc