Waves Like the Sea
Chapter Two
Legolas soon finds that the sea-longing is not as effective a weapon as he first thinks. He can lose himself entirely in the call, but when he resurfaces, as he always does, to aches and pains of which he does not remember the origin – when he resurfaces, the pain only seems greater the next time he insults them. He knows at some level that he should stay in the present. Still, when the pain grows unbearable (and it always does), he finds himself sinking and does nothing to slow the descent, and the power of the sea does not recede. If anything, it gets stronger, more powerful, enclosing Legolas in a deceptively soft embrace. And every time he resurfaces, he realizes that he has spent more time in the sea. And every time he sinks, he loses himself just a little bit more.
Aragorn son of Arathorn, Estel son of Elrond, King Elessar of Gondor, Strider the Ranger steps out of the ship onto the shores of Harad in the guise of Adeneth, a free agent in kidnapping, murder, and all things illegal. He hopes Legolas will laugh at the name – it means "named again" in Sindarin – and Gimli too, if he has yet mastered anything beyond the most rudimentary Elvish. If they are together, perhaps the lessons will have helped to pass the time and the Dwarf will greet him in fluent Sindarin.
He hopes they are together, for it has been long since they disappeared – more than a month. It was over a week before he realized that they were missing, several more before he discovered who had taken them and where they were taken, and another week to make the voyage. It is the first time he has left his duties since his coronation, and though he half-feels that it is still too early, that he should not have left his people – although Faramir can handle things perfectly well in his absence – his friends need him.
It takes only a few inquiries to discover their whereabouts. That it is this easy galls him: they could have been rescued weeks ago! He explains that one of his clients has a taste for the exotic, asks if there are any creatures – Elves, Dwarves, Halflings – on the market.
There are not at present, he is told, but a month or so back an Elf and a Dwarf were sold, the Dwarf to a rich miner, the Elf to a rich merchant. The Haradrim traders he questions do not seem to know why the merchant bought Legolas, but there is something in the way they look at each other when he asks that makes Aragorn worry. He considers buying them another round of drinks in an effort to learn more, but decides against it. Legolas has been a slave too long already.
Aragorn makes his way, almost running, to the house and tells the owner outright that he is looking to buy an Elf and heard that he could find one there.
The man agrees to sell readily enough, which surprises and worries Aragorn. "I'm not sure if he's broken or not," the man says upon inquiry. "He doesn't do as we tell him but he doesn't fight either…it's like he's not there."
This worries Aragorn more than he is comfortable with, and he pays the first price the man names, skipping the haggling process. He insists the Elf be brought out immediately.
Legolas is pale, thin, and dressed in a too-small shirt obviously just forced on him; blood is already beginning to seep through the fabric. He is not well; he has been badly hurt, but his body can be mended. It is not his body that concerns Aragorn.
When Legolas sees Aragorn, there is no spark of recognition, no secret look: the Elf is as if dead; his face, his blue-gray eyes are utterly vacant.
Aragorn leads Legolas, bound, back to an inn. He hates to do it, but appearances must be kept. Legolas neither protests nor accepts Aragorn's unspoken apology; he simply follows, vacant, unseeing.
When Aragorn takes Legolas to the room he has bought for the night, nothing changes. The Elf allows himself to be freed but does not turn to Aragorn, nor react when Aragorn calls his name and speaks to him, in Sindarin, in Common, in Silvan, in Quenya, even in Dwarvish.
Legolas does not - will not? can not? Aragorn doesn't know which prospect is worse - respond. Aragorn peers into his eyes; they are completely blank. No matter how he tries, there is nothing he can do. Eventually he gives up. He cleans Legolas' many wounds and tells him to sleep, which the Elf does, close-eyed.
The man was right: Legolas is not there. Aragorn has not given up hope, though – he is not called Estel for nothing. There is still Gimli, and barring that, the peaceful forests of Ithilien, of Lasgalen, of Imladris, and barring that - but he will not think of that, not yet.
The morning presents a new challenge: he does not know what to do with Legolas. Finally he gives the Elf a knife and directs him to defend himself if necessary – Legolas is obedient to most of his commands (excepting "Come back!" "Wake up!" and "Talk to me!") which convinces Aragorn that Legolas, on some level, is still there – the man said that Legolas would not obey them, but he listens to Aragorn easily enough. The revelation gives him hope. The prospect of retrieving Gimli, and the thought that the Dwarf will be able to help Legolas where Aragorn cannot, gives him more. He goes to find Gimli.
Gimli does not like this life, but he has grown accustomed to it. It is repetitive, mind-numbing work – mining the sands for oil –and his owner is not cruel, merely enterprising, and Gimli is treated well enough - better than most, in fact, due to his skill. It irks his pride to be a slave, but the work is familiar, so he endures. It is only a matter of time until he finds the moment to escape – though they have been watching him too closely for that, they grow less wary with every passing day and he knows that soon his chance will come – or until someone (Legolas, Aragorn, his own people perhaps, here by some lucky chance) comes looking for him.
Life is not enjoyable, but it is easily bearable. He only hopes that Legolas is as well off. He hopes it, but he does not believe it – the Elf seems to have the worst luck.
One of the overseers calls him over, tells him briskly, "You're leaving. I regret it - you're a good worker, but the price is too high. You're sold."
Gimli takes this in with some trepidation – he does not want to be taken farther from Legolas – but it turns to elation when he sees who has bought him: Aragorn, looking more like Strider the Ranger than he has in years. The man shoots him a warning look and Gimli quickly schools his features. He is saved, Legolas is saved – but why does Aragorn look so worried?
Gimli finds out on the road. He walks behind Aragorn, bound as a slave ought to be, but he is close to the man and can hear his muttered words. "I bought Legolas yesterday. He's not well. He doesn't recognize me."
Gimli's heart seems to stop. He loves that annoying, frustrating Elf, and if he were to lose him – "What happened to him?"
"I do not know," Aragorn says reluctantly. "It is like he is not there."
When Gimli sees Legolas, he understands. He recognizes the look, though that does not console him. "I have seen him like this before," he tells Aragorn, "but never for long, and he always brings himself out of it. It is how he looks when he hears a gull."
"The Harnen?" Aragorn names the river that runs through the city.
"Nay; we sailed it on our journey here, and it did not affect him then, at least not that I could see," Gimli says.
"And he has not been near it since," Aragorn murmurs, almost to himself.
They try everything they can think of: speaking to Legolas in every language they can think of, even those the Elf himself has not heard; ordering him, asking him, pleading him to wake up; but he does not respond.
"He doesn't want to come back," Gimli says. "Not to this. Can you call him, like you did to Eowyn?"
Aragorn protests that athelas is only effective with dark wounds and that he doubts that anything will happen, but it is worth a try. They light a fire on the dirt floor, boil water, and Aragorn crushes the plant and calls, "Legolas. Legolas, mellon nin. Lasto beth nin, tolo dan nan ngalad."
Nothing happens.
"Wake up, you infuriating Elf!" Gimli shouts.