Title: Winter Solstice
Rating: K
Summary: Just a drabble about Legolas and Aragorn and their views on this particular holiday.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Everything belongs to Tolkien.
Author's note: The first one of each is when both are very young, the next is at a time when things have changed from what they used to be and the last is before Arwen and Aragorn have a son but after the coronation.
I haven't got a clue about why I wrote this I just felt like it!
Ok, I have reposted this after reading it a few times because I noticed there were several mistakes in it. It is almost no different, save very few minor things.
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Estel ran down the hall and into the room his twin brother's shared.
"Dan! Ro! Get up!"
He jumped onto a bed and started to bounce enthusiastically on it's owner and, occasionally, the bed.
"Estel," Came a mumbled moan of a reply from the bed.
Estel jumped off it and onto the floor, making as much noise as he possibly could as he landed, and clambered onto the other bed and joyfully continued his bouncing.
"Estel, why are you up so early?" Came a muffled question from the twin he was bouncing on.
"Don't you know!?" It's the first day of the Winter Solstice!" He said, now a little out of breath for excitement and all the bouncing.
Elladan sighed but a smile was on his face. He surfaced from the covers and looked to where his brother was being shaken awake.
"Come on! Get up lazy!"
"Lazy!" Elrohir shot into a sitting position and pointed a dangerous finger at his little brother. "I'll show you lazy!" He said and promptly gathered the covers and threw them over his head as he lay back down again.
Elladan laughed and shook his head at Estel's confused face.
"Come on Estel, I'll come with you and we can leave Mr. Droopy here to mope in his warm, comfy, cosy, bed." Elladan said, catching his little brother as he bounced into his arms.
As they turned to leave they heard a slight creaking noise. Elladan frowned and hesitated. A fatal mistake as, in the next moment, Elrohir sprang onto his back, reached round his brother and started to tickle the little boy still in his arms.
Elladan yelped in surprise as Estel started to shriek with laughter and kick at the tickling hands. Elrohir moved his hand to avoid being kicked and fell off his brother's back and onto the floor in a most un-Elflike manner. Elladan whirled around to face his brother and received a perfectly aimed pillow in his face. Placing Estel down he grabbed it and threw it back.
"Hey! That's my pillow!"
"Well you shouldn't have chucked it at me then!"
"Even so! Adar said to you not to throw things!"
"Only because he thought I was you!"
The twins bickered, all the while throwing and hitting the other with pillows. They completely forgot about Estel.
"Oh Elrohir!" Estel called in his singsong voice.
Elrohir turned and received a smack from a pillow in his face, a look of complete shock was revealed when Elladan next saw his face, sending him into fits of laughter.
Estel beamed at making his brother laugh but it zipped off his face soon enough and he flew behind Elladan for protection, once again wishing for Elven speed as his brothers pillow homed in on it's target.
Elladan scooped up the little child before the pillow could strike and made off with him down the hallway, laughing all the way.
Elrohir gathered the fallen pillows, and arranged them back on his bed. Thankfully his presents to them had remained unfound in the battle and were still in perfect condition.
He held them up to inspect. Two beautifully crafted pendants awaited his brothers. Both with silver chains but each had a different figure made from a different gem. Elladan would have the Owl, made from snowflake obsidian and Estel the Stag, made from tiger's eye. He had been working on them for several weeks, striving for his brother's gifts to be perfect.
He took a deep breath and started down the hall.
"Mr. Droopy indeed."
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Legolas blinked, waking, and excitement flooded through him.
Winter Solstice was finally here.
Legolas loved this time of year. There was lots of snow on the ground for him and his friends to play, there would be singing and dancing nearly every night of the Solstice and there were presents to be had!
He sat in bed for a few moments, relishing the thought of what was to come with unquenchable excitement and anticipation. As he lay in his warm bed with his windows, as always, wide open and sunlight now streaming into his room, he made the promise he made every year.
"This will be the best Winter Solstice ever!"
And with that he sprang lightly from his bed and dived towards his parents room, only a short way down the hall.
Silent as a feather landing on soft snow he crept towards his parent's room and opened the door. Still as silent as before, he made his way to the huge, spongy, four poster bed that his parents shared. He stared up at the high mattress, wondering how he was to get on it this year.
Every year he tried to find a new way to climb onto the bed without them noticing. His parents secretly loved the game he played and, every year, they strived to make it more difficult for their baby to get to them.
Legolas frowned in thought. He looked towards the heavy curtains and at the chest of drawers standing near it and smiled as he had an idea.
He stood on the chest of drawers, taking all valuables off first just in case. And, from there, jumped nimbly to catch the wooden bar the curtains hung from. He caught it on the first try but didn't stop to praise himself, he did allow one, huge, grin of satisfaction though.
Climbing onto the bar he used his excellent balance to walk atop it until he was quite near the bed.
Now for the tricky bit. He furrowed his brow in concentration and imagined the top beams to be branches on a tree, a tree that would catch him if he missed, banished all fear and jumped.
He soared through the air and landed lightly on a beam. Feeling chuffed he made his way along it to one of the posts holding it up. He planned to slide down it but he stopped for a moment to watch.
He loved to see his parents sleeping. They always looked to peaceful and calm and it made Legolas glad to see them like this. They also always looked happy and Legolas didn't want them to stop being happy, just because they woke up.
Legolas watched them sleep for a long time, rejoicing in the fact his parents were in a happy place.
Eventually, he carried out the rest of his plan and slid down the post and onto the headrest. There he sat until his father stirred and saw him there.
"Well, ion nin, you seem to have bested us this year!" He said, Legolas' mother waking at her husband's voice.
"Darling, how long have you been sitting there?" She asked.
"About thirty minuets." He replied.
"Why didn't you wake us?" She asked in her gentle, loving voice, lifting Legolas down from the headrest and into the warm bed.
"I like to see you happy." Legolas replied. "And you look happy when you are asleep."
His mother gave him a cuddle and his father wrapped them both in his arms, making Legolas giggle as he squeezed them.
"But you know," He said, "We're happier when we're awake."
"Because you are here." His mother finished.
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Aragorn opened his eyes and sighed.
He wanted to be home, with his brothers and father. Now more than ever.
Winter Solstice was upon them once again, and he was alone.
Well, he had Halbarad and the other Rangers but it just wasn't the same without his two brothers there to wake him with a pillow fight. It wasn't the same without his father there to make him laugh with his stories of his many, many Solstices. Tales he may never hear again.
He sighed again and got out of his bedding. He shivered as the icy cold temperatures bit at his skin and chilled him to the bone.
Even inside his makeshift 'house' it was freezing as the wooden walls did little to keep out the cold.
He heard the other Rangers waking as he hurriedly dressed and lit a fire. He was just heating up some stew when Halbarad walked in, without knocking as usual.
Aragorn smiled at his old friend. "You know Halbarad, one of these days you're going to walk in here and see something you don't want to."
Halbarad merely laughed and helped himself to some of Aragorn's stew.
"Hey!" He exclaimed, rather childlike.
"What?" Halbarad asked innocently, "It's the first day of Winter Solstice today isn't it?"
Aragorn nodded, silently.
"Then you can count this as my present!" He exclaimed, drawing a laugh from Aragorn.
"If only everyone else was as easily pleased." He said as he watched the stew disappear down his friend's throat.
Halbarad laughed. "Well, they possibly are, it's just a case of how you will get it to them whilst it's still hot and without drawing a lot of wild animals to you with the smell of it!"
Aragorn laughed, glad of the company of his friend. "You may have invented a new hunting technique!"
Halbarad joined the laughter rising from where he had been seated beside Aragorn.
"I must go now, but here," He gave Aragorn a small package, "This came for you."
With a final smile he left Aragorn alone with the package. He looked down at it and beamed as he recognised the flowing Elvish script on the paper attached to it.
"Bet you thought we'd forgotten you!"
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Legolas blinked himself awake and gasped when he realised what day it was.
The first day of Winter Solstice.
He lay in his bed, silent, thinking of the snow covering the ground that he didn't want to play in, the dances he didn't want to join, the songs he'd rather not sing and especially the presents he felt he did not deserve.
He got out of bed, his usual spring gone, and made his way to his father's chambers. He hadn't played their game since his mother had stopped looking happy in her dreams and that had been years ago.
He opened the door quietly and tiptoed to the giant, four poster bed that was no longer out of his reach and that was no longer as inviting as it once was.
He stood on the right hand side of the bed and watched his father sleep. He looked the same as he had always done when sleeping at first glance. Calm and peaceful. But Legolas knew something was missing. His smile. The small, content smile he had worn before was no longer there. It saddened Legolas that his father was suffering and he prayed that he wouldn't leave him like his mother. This was how she had started.
He made his way to the left hand side and silently slipped into the bed. He looked once more at his father and his sorrow was increased as he watched a tear sliding down his cheek.
He took a deep breath and lightly touched his father on the shoulder. He blinked a few times and turned towards him.
Legolas had tears spilling down his own cheeks now as his father looked at him. Properly looked. Took in the tears, his hopeless eyes, pale skin. He looked and felt such fear grip him that his own tears stopped immediately. Legolas was following his mother.
Determination gripped Legolas' father and gave Legolas strength he never knew he could have again.
"She's gone." He whispered softly.
Legolas watched as his father took a deep breath and nodded pulling Legolas into a warm, welcoming embrace.
"Yes, she's gone lasse. But I'm still here." He heard his father whisper as he cried silently.
It wasn't until the Solstice was over that he realised he had forgotten to make his promise.
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Legolas woke and smiled.
Winter Solstice.
He closed his eyes and listened in silence to the world. He could hear Gimli's snoring coming from the room beside his, he could hear the birds as they woke and sang to him, he listened to the trees as they greeted him and wished him happiness, he listened and imagined the faint sound of his mother singing, and he smiled.
There was snow on the ground, songs to be sung, dances to be done, presents to give and be given. He couldn't wait for it all to begin.
He barely suppressed his excitement as he lightly bounced out of bed, dressed and made his way down the hall to a room where two very special people were sleeping.
He opened the door, as quiet as the little Elfling that snuck up on their parents whilst sleeping so long ago, and crept to the side of the bed.
He had always loved to watch people sleep, something that many others thought was very strange, but anyone that knew him knew that it stemmed from a love of peace and happiness, and a desire to help people be content.
He looked at the chest of drawers next to the curtains and smiled. He had an idea.
For the second time in his life he made the jump from the curtains to a beam on a four poser bed, without waking the inhabitants.
He sat on the headrest and studied the two. Arwen. Her beauty was legendary but that wasn't what Legolas was interested in. She looked happy, peaceful and perfectly calm. It made Legolas smile to know that the Evening Star had, at last, gotten the happiness she deserved. Aragorn. His old friend had very much the same expression as Arwen but there was an added expression to his. Mischief. Legolas grinned. His friend often dreamed about past pranks with his brothers, not to mention himself, and it always made him happy to dream of these things.
Legolas sat there, perfectly happy, for the better part of half an hour, until he decided to wake them. He had heard the Hobbits going downstairs to open presents and whatnot but he knew they would wait for Aragorn and Arwen to be there before they opened anything.
He grinned, another brilliant idea coming to him.
He jumped from the headrest, landing in between the two and startling them awake.
"Elbereth!" Aragorn yelled then frowned at his friend and muttered moodily, "I was having a good dream."
Arwen merely shook her head as Legolas laughed at his friends expressions.
"I know you were mellon nin!" He said with fake pity, patting him on the head.
Aragorn grabbed his pillow and hurled it at Legolas' head but he batted it harmlessly out of the way, still laughing, as he lightly sprang off the bed.
"Come on you two! The Hobbits are downstairs waiting for you!" He said as he danced out the room leaving the sleepy ellith and Man behind.
"Will he ever lose his childlike ways?" Aragorn grumbled as he pulled on his clothes.
"Do you really want him to?" Came the reply from his wife.
A smile spread across Aragorn's face.
"Never."
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Translations
Ion nin - my son
Lasse - Leaf
Elbereth - The Elves name for Varda. She is the most loved, by Elves, Queen of the Valar
Mellon nin - My friend
Ellith - Female Elf