I don't own "any" of the named characters in this story. They come from the books by C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkein and the first movie based off C. S. Lewis' "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" by Disney and Walden media, and Peter Jackson's movies based off of Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" series. I am forever grateful to all of them for first showing these character on the page and on the screen.
I've had this one sitting on my computers and other places for a while now. I finally decided to post it since I've had a long dry spell otherwise. Hopefully, I'll "someday" get around to tell the story of how Legolas "got" to my Narnia-verse from my Middle Earth-verse. For now, just know he is living in Narnia and more than willing to serve the Four while there.
This story is for entertainment purposes only, so please read and be entertained.
Legolas and I were flower-seeking when it happened. Flower-seeking isn't the same as flower-picking. I only pick flowers when they're also considered weeds. Even then, I only pick them if, as Legolas puts it, "they have already reached the fullness of their blossom." They're prettier that way anyway. Flower-seeking is different.
Flower-seeking is finding all the different kinds of flowers you can. You also have to spend time enjoying each one. You find them, crouch or lie down in front of them, breathe in their perfume, gaze at them in silent awe, and then leave them like they are.
So, it's sort of like bird-watching, except for the smelling part. Legolas and I bird-watch too, but flowers are easier to find. They stay put.
Legolas is an excellent flower-seeker. He taught me how to find them. He can't teach me everything though. He hears them in the "Song" of Narnia before he even sees them. I can't, which makes me sad sometimes. He also sees them before me, because of his elf eyes too. He never points them out though. Instead, we play "near or far."
Susan says this is childish. I think its fun. Legolas agrees with me.
Susan likes it better when he makes up poetry riddles about both what flower it is and where it is growing. Then we listen closely together and guess while we search, but we'd listen closely to the poetry riddles anyway. They are beautiful.
Even Edmund doesn't know how Legolas thinks the poems up so fast. They are always superior poetry too. Susan says so.
Legolas and I, and whoever we take with us, find other things in the spring too. We find birds' nests with eggs or chicks in them, fawns hiding in the brush, fox cubs playing outside their dens, and cocoons and crystallizes turning into butterflies. I love spring. It's Legolas' favorite season too.
He becomes very "Silvan" in late winter. Silvan means a type of elf that lives in the forest, and is considered wilder than other kinds of elves in his world. Legolas is half-Silvan, but Legolas says he often feels entirely Silvan, especially in late winter.
It starts when he feels the warm winds coming. We can't keep him inside then even if it's still freezing out. He sneaks out a window or tunnel. Sometimes, we can't find him for hours or even an entire day!
He comes back into the Cair covered in snow, with a wide grin on his face, and his eyes shining. Then the snow melts off his clothes and drips all over the floors. He laughs at everything. He especially laughs at the servants and Susan as they scold him, and make him drink hot tea and cocoa. Everyone in the castle has decided its best not to give him coffee, particularly when he is feeling Silvan.
When the snow actually begins to melt outside, and green things poke out of the dirt or emerge from the branches, he cannot wait for Susan and me to spot these changes ourselves. He grabs our hands and pulls us along behind him to show us. He doesn't make up riddle poems then. He just points out the buds or sprouts. He always knows exactly what they will be. He is almost like a dryad or hamadryad when it comes to knowing such things.
Once everything is out and blooming, he calms down. In fact, he becomes too calm in Peter, Edmund, and especially Oreius' opinions. He doesn't want to spar, train, or even practice archery. Sometimes, he doesn't show up for training at all! When he does, he gets it over with as soon as possible.
Oreius growls at him then. He just smiled back. Legolas is the only one besides Susan and me, who isn't a bit afraid of Oreius. Legolas does all the exercises perfectly, no matter how grueling everyone else finds them. This can make Peter and Edmund grumpy, particularly in the spring. When he's through, Legolas asks Oreius if he did the exercises correctly. Oreius then has to admit he did. After that, Legolas rushes off somewhere to just enjoy the spring. I join him a lot.
He seemed dreamy that day, which is normal for him in the spring. He kept gazing at the sky, or at one flower, or at a flying bee. His smile was at its softest and warmest. That smile is how I know he understands what I mean when I talk about being "just too happy to stand it."
That day though, he changed. It wasn't a fast change. I barely noticed as his voice grew less dreamy while giving me directions to hidden flowers. I noticed it a little more, when he sounded like he wasn't really thinking about what he was saying. Then, he stopped talking altogether.
He was sitting in a tree. So, I called up to him. "Legolas?"
He didn't answer. His eyes were closed. He had that empty look he gets when he's listening. Finally, he jumped down and took my hand. "Let us go back to Cair Paravel, my queen."
His mouth was smiling, but his eyes weren't smiling as much. I might not have noticed a year or so ago. He's better at hiding those things than even Edmund. In fact, he's almost as good as Oreius. I took his hand and we left. I tried not to sigh in disappointment. We hadn't found many flowers.
We were going deeper into the woods, walking in a straight line to the Cair. He was striding forward. I had to step quick, to keep up. As we walked, he suddenly changed direction pulling me along behind him. After a while, he changed direction again. Now I was squeezing his hand. Then he froze.
I stopped beside him. Our surroundings looked peaceful to me. There were trees, undergrowth, soft shadows, and sunlight streaming through breaks in the leaves, but I didn't hear any birds singing or squirrels chattering. That wasn't right at all.
I looked up at Legolas. He gazed down at me. He didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. I read his eyes. Courage, Valiant Queen.
He let go of my hand. Then he drew out his knife. I looked around again while drawing out mine. When I looked back toward Legolas, he was gone.
I took a deep breath. I kept looking around while backing up into the trunk of an oak my arms couldn't even begin to encircle. A Wolf jumped out from the bushes. I bit back a scream. He landed one stride from the hem of my skirt.
He glared up at me with narrowed eyes. They should have been gold, but they were kind of orange, from the redness the fells' eyes have. Saliva dripped from his mouth as it curled into a grin.
"A Queen for a Queen, sweet shall be my Lady's revenge."
I swallowed. I thought about throwing my knife, but I held it tight instead. Another fell beast was probably nearby. I dared not lose my only weapon. I could stab the Wolf if he came too close.
Legolas dropped out of the oak I was pressed against. He landed just out of striking distance from the fell. Even I wondered why. Only the Wolf's eyes darted aside to look at him. "Move that blade and she dies!"
Legolas held his blade before his face, edge outward and toward the Wolf. He kept it still, but his other hand moved. The Wolf snarled, and then quieted.
Legolas slid his empty hand behind his knife. Then he swiped his palm along the blade's edge. I almost shouted.
Legolas held his empty hand out towards the Wolf, palm up and facing out, the way people do to let dumb beasts sniff them. The lines of his hand were overflowing, red streams. Drops of crimson fell onto the fern fronds, tree roots, and soil.
The Wolf's eyes widened. Legolas grinned. The Wolf's gaze darted from Legolas to me and back again. The Beast's breath came faster. Long streams of drool dripped from his mouth to land on his paws.
A noise came from the bushes to Legolas' left. Another Wolf launched itself at him jaws open. Legolas ducked beneath it and thrust his knife up into its chest. He twisted out from under the Wolf while drawing his blade free. The second wolf collapsed behind him.
Before Legolas could stand, a third Wolf leapt over him. It landed between him and me. Then it turned and jumped at Legolas again. Legolas whirled and whipped his arm in an arc. His blade sliced the fell's throat open. Legolas jumped aside as the body flew past.
Before it landed, another Wolf leapt at Legolas' back. He fell to his knees. The Beast flew over him, landed, and kept running. Legolas stood and threw his knife. It pierced the back of the Wolf's neck. The fell dropped.
The wolf before me gathered himself to spring at Legolas. With one plunge I buried my knife all the way to the hilt in the side of its neck. The Wolf dropped. His eyes glazed.
"BEHIND!"
I yanked out my knife while turning. A Wolf, as big as a leopard, was charging towards me. I threw my knife.
The Beast thudded to the ground, my blade buried in his chest. I sank back against the tree. Then I began glancing about for a large stick.
"It's all right, my queen." I turned my head. Legolas was grinning at me. "There were only the five."
I sighed in relief and nodded at him with a smile of my own.
. . .
We each fetched and cleaned our blades. Then we went to a nearby stream where I cleaned and bandaged Legolas' hand. He insisted he would have no need of the cordial when we got back to Cair Parevel. When I was done, he looked up and asked, "Do you want to find some more flowers before we go back?"
I shook my head. "I think Peter and the others will want to know what happened and examine the bodies."
He nodded with a smile, and then we returned to the Cair at a leisurely stroll.
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God Bless :)
ScribeofHeroes
