Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings and I do not own Legolas, they belong to New Line Cinemas and J.R.R. Tolkien. However, Tolin, Rylin, Tedic, Jenna, and Danic are my original creations, thus they belong to me.
Author's note: The title for this story was borrowed from one of my Dad's short stories (he writes historical fiction) so a big Thank You to him. Also my way of ageing elves is a little different from other people as I just take an age and divide by ten. For example, if I say an elf is ten years old in human terms, he has the mental and physical abilities of a one year old. Twenty years equals the abilities of a two year old and so on. In this story Legolas is around 120 in human years which makes him about 12 in elf years. Finally please Read and Review if you want but Flames will be ignored. Thank you!
Rites of Passage
Legolas Greenleaf grabbed the closest branch and pulled himself higher into the tree, sighing as he straddled a sturdy limb.
If anyone had bothered to look up at the tree from the ground it would have appeared empty; that was why Legolas had chosen this particular tree.
He was in no mood to see anyone.
After years of pleading, his father had finally agreed to let him study with the other noble children, instead of having a private tutor like most princes had.
Legolas wouldn't tell his father that things were not going over as well as he had hoped.
He didn't mind the good natured ribbing that the other elflings tossed his way; in fact he enjoyed teasing them back.
Only with Rylin and Tedic it went beyond harmless teasing.
In front of the others their jokes were mean spirited but they were just jokes.
But when they caught him alone…Legolas shivered as he thought of what often happened.
He couldn't tell anyone that he was being teased and beat up or they would tell his father and his father would insist that he go back to the tutor and that would just convince the other elflings he was a stuck up prince who thought himself too good to be around them.
He glanced down when he heard the sound at the base of the tree and sighed again, Tolin the Chief Healer of Mirkwood was standing there.
"Legolas, I know you are in that tree. Come down now, your father is worried ill about you."
"Tell him I'm fine but I'm staying in this tree till next century," a surly growl floated down and Tolin frowned.
"Legolas, either you will come down or I will come up."
When he heard no response he grabbed the nearest limb and climbed up until he was on the branch next to Legolas.
Legolas had his face turned to the other direction, but Tolin could tell that something was wrong.
"Legolas, it isn't like you to disappear all afternoon and not tell anyone where you were going. I asked your teacher and he said you where going to the archery grounds but when I arrived there only Rylin and Tedic were there and they said they hadn't seen you since they had been dismissed."
"Then they lied."
Tolin was startled by the iciness in Legolas's voice, "Why do you say that?"
Legolas exhaled loudly and turned his head so that he could fully face Tolin.
Tolin started involuntarily when he saw the child's face, his left eye was almost swollen shut and a few other bruises marked his cheeks and forehead.
He wanted to ask who had attacked him but from Legolas's reaction when Rylin and Tedic were mentioned he had a fair idea what the answer would be.
Finally he spoke, "Why did they beat you up?"
"They said it was good for warriors to learn to take beatings, it made us stronger," Legolas answered, gritting his teeth.
Tolin sighed, he had heard that story from many other elflings who were being bullied and he often wondered if bullies would ever think of any better lies.
"Why don't you tell your father, get his help?" he suggested.
Legolas's eyes widened at the thought, "No, I can't do that; he would only insist I go back to the private tutor and I would be a tattle-tale on top of it."
"Why don't you fight back?"
Legolas turned his face away but continued to speak, "They are both older then me and it is improper for a younger person to attack their elders. Also you are only supposed to fight with enemies, not other elves."
"Legolas, enemies aren't just orcs and spiders. It seems to me that Rylin and Tedic are also your enemies, just a different type."
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that it is all right for you to defend yourself against someone who is physically hurting you."
"What if you know you'll get in trouble if you do get caught fighting?" Legolas shifted slightly and looked back at Tolin.
"You misunderstood me. I'm not saying you should beat up every person who disagrees with you or you would be no better then Rylin or Tedic and that will get you in trouble with everyone. Nor should you let people hurt you because then you'll just be training yourself to be a victim and that may work well for you as a child but it will get you killed once you become an adult."
"So if I fight only to defend myself or someone else, what does that make me?"
"A warrior," Tolin said with a smile.
Legolas leaned back against the tree, thinking.
A few minutes later he stirred and looked down, "I suppose I should be going back to the hall."
"You aren't going to stay up here till next century then?" Tolin asked as he watched the young elf skillfully climb down.
"No. I would have either gotten too hungry or I would have fallen asleep and fallen out of the tree. Of course that would have given me an adequate excuse for this," he gestured at his black eye.
Tolin had also climbed down while Legolas was talking and he walked up besides him, "Why haven't we ever seen any bruises before this?"
Legolas shrugged, "Normally the bruises were just on my arms. No one would see them there."
Tolin gently touched the black eye, "I can take the swelling and discoloration down a bit. But you should tell your father," he added the last part hesitantly, already anticipating Legolas's answer.
Legolas smiled, "Thank you but I don't think I'll tell him just yet."
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The next afternoon after classes, Legolas walked into the sunshine and began to walk home.
He didn't hear the teacher call his name.
Danic, one of Thadruil's advisors and also the teacher for the group of elflings, stopped trying to catch Legolas attention and instead grabbed the arm of one of his students, "Jenna, I had something I needed to give to Prince Legolas but he is all ready gone. Perhaps could you find him?"
The girl nodded, "Yes sir."
"Good," he handed her a piece of paper and watched as she ran down the path.
Legolas meanwhile had come to the lonely corner by the archery fields where Rylin and Tedic usually waited for him and today was no exception.
"There you are." Rylin sneered.
"If you leave me alone no one will ever have to know about this," Legolas began, "But if you continue everyone will know."
Tedic began to laugh, "What are you going to do prince? Tell your father?"
Legolas watched as they both started laughing.
Finally Rylin regained some control of himself, "Then I'll give you something else to tell him about."
He punched Legolas in the mouth and began to laugh again as Legolas stumbled backwards into a tree.
Legolas slowly stood up and felt his mouth with his hand.
When his fingers came away bloody, Legolas looked at the two of them for a few seconds.
Without warning he punched Rylin in the stomach.
As Rylin crumpled, Tedic tried to grab Legolas and got a broken nose as a reward for his efforts.
A few minutes later the fight was over. Rylin and Tedic had finally limped away, leaving Legolas alone.
That was when he heard someone behind him.
Jerking his head around he saw one of the girls from lessons, he was pretty sure it was Jenna.
"The King won't be happy when he finds out you were in a fight."
Legolas wiped the blood away from his mouth with the back of his hand, "I wasn't in a fight; I won a fight."
Fin.