A/N: Based on Legolas' fighting scene in Lake-town in The Desolation of Smaug


Before he begins instruction in horse-riding, Legolas begins his studies in i naur a heleg liltha. They form some of his earliest memories, being taught by the greatest of the warriors in his father's realm.

The Eldar were the oldest of the races created by the Valar, the only ones who had ever set foot in Valinor. It was only among them that the memory of the Two Trees remained. And so, in their long years in Middle Earth, they had all but retreated from the mortals whose lives were nothing but candles in the wind to them, and those that remained connected to a world that seemed like one of constant death by and large strove to greater and wiser, higher than any other race.

And so they curtailed their emotions, but they did not forget. The fire that ran in an immortal's blood may have slow to light, but when it did, it burned hotter than any mortal would ever know. And in the heat of battle, even immortals burn easily.

So Legolas, like every other prince of the elves, like every other child destined to be a warrior before him and still to come, is taught control.

As he stands in a human town, with no other at his back and an orc pack surrounding him, it is the dance that serves him well. For it is a dance more than a fight – a dance of flowing limbs and whirling blades.

He is cool and logical throughout the fight, slashing and parrying when needed and wasting not one motion. For there is a reason that the dance he was taught so long was one of both fire and ice – fire gives one the passion to fight, while ice gives them the sense to stay calm.

The humans say it is elf-magic that ensures that the Eldar nearly always have the least dead when wars come. They whisper of healing magic that the immortals are too jealous to share. And though elven healers are skilled beyond measure, the dance serves the fighters much better than plants and herbs ever will.

And it is so with Legolas, for even though he is wounded, he stands victorious still. And that is enough.


A/N: I...have no idea where this came from. The new movie did things to my muse.
I hope you guys liked it anyways, and please don't forget to drop a review on your way out - this is my first time writing for The Hobbit fandom, and I'd love to know what you guys thought.

i naur a heleg liltha: literally, it should mean The Fire and Ice Dance in Sindarian. I got the translation from Ambar Eldaron's elvish language dictionary. If there's anyone who wants to correct me there, though, please feel free to go ahead.