Legolas was just getting ready to shed the last trace of baby fat when it was proposed that he go hunting with Falasglin. Just the two of them, hunting out in the Greenwood. Legolas tried very hard not to swell with pride over the thought. He chose his gear with care, and condescended to allow his mother to pack it. After all, he thought, shortly he would be a grown man and his mother would not have the pleasure of such activities.
The Greenwood elves were all very pleased with their prince's progress. He seemed to have left his childhood fantasies behind, and was becoming quite a serious and thoughtful young man. Certainly some of them hid smiles, or chuckled a little bit when he talked with them, but his people were most respectful of his feelings.
Falasglin was his favorite hunter, though Legolas was very careful not to show it because that might be hurtful to the others. Unlike some of the warriors, Falasglin was very patient with his young prince- most especially with his prince's worrying concern for animals. Legolas could not help feeling that it was not right to hunt defenseless deer, but Falasglin was never upset by this declaration. He still hunted deer, but Legolas felt a bit better about Falasglin doing it for he was never cruel or too quick to decide on an animal. And later, Falasglin would explain how he chose the deer and why, and Legolas would remember that Falasglin had not only been as kind as he could be to the deer, but he had also been kind to his prince.
Quellë was a good time to hunt deer, which were fattening themselves to face the autumn and winter ahead. Yet no deer were to be found within two miles of the river this year. Legolas reminded himself countless times to be quiet and not pester Falasglin as they hunted on, having found not one deer yet. It was unusual and Legolas could tell Falasglin was displeased with the situation. Rather than ask questions, Legolas tried himself to use his wits to locate the deer. Though he saw no traces of them, he did note something else.
Caught on a tiny twig, five feet up in a nearly bare oak tree, was a single green thread. Legolas found that strange, for surely someone escaping to the heights of a tree would go higher. Further along they found a disturbed beehive lying in the dirt. And up in another oak Legolas could see a single sticky print. The print clearly had five long fingers.
When Legolas pointed out the print to Falasglin, the hunter frowned. The print was too small to be a human adult, but surely no human child would be able to come back for the honey after having knocked down the nest. They were neither fleet enough, nor so invisible to honey bees. Legolas offered with a gesture to climb the tree and see what there was to be found there. Falasglin agreed with a nod, and went back to look at the nest more closely.
Legolas proudly clambered up into the oak, little knowing what he was about to encounter. He climbed above the handprint, and spying a hollow in the great tree, peeked in. Instead of the squirrel or owl he had expected, the green eyes of a child looked out at him in some surprise. But the bigger surprise was that Legolas recognized those eyes, which were the color of new grass. They were the eyes of the little elf-child!
"Why cousin," he said to her, "How did you get up here?"
However, just as before, she only frowned at him. It occurred to him that while he had been a young lad at their first meeting, she had been only just out of her infancy and might not remember him. So he slipped his hand into his shirt and pulled out the oak leaf from their encounter. He had, with no little help from the jewelers, preserved it between two sheets of glass cut into the exact same shape.
She was fascinated with the leaf, and he slipped the leather thong from around his neck and gave her the necklace. She then produced from the front of her tunic the perfect willow leaf. Legolas could hardly have been more pleased. This pretty little girl was same elf-child, just as he had thought!
"How do you come here?" asked the little child in Quenya.
"We are looking for deer for our people," Legolas replied in the same tongue, noting that she had a strange, but nevertheless delightful accent.
"The deer have gone farther east," she told him. Then she frowned mightily. "We?"
"Oh!" Legolas blushed for his rudeness. "I am with the hunter Falasglin. He is looking at the hive that has fallen."
"Not fallen," she corrected, "A pair of human boys threw rocks at it. They were quite well punished," she added primly.
Legolas nodded. The bees surely would not have been pleased with the loss of their home so near to winter. He then thought to fetch Falasglin to be introduced. But when he looked down, Falasglin was already standing below the tree, giving him quite the look.
"Ah, I think we had better go down and talk to Falasglin," he said to the girl hastily. "He has not yet met you."
The little girl seemed most reluctant, but Legolas offered his hand politely and she took it. She was much more graceful in her descent than he was. However, that was as it should be, for girls were always more graceful than boys. Legolas gave Falasglin a happy smile, but it shortly faded to puzzlement for the hunter was frowning at them both.
"And who is this?" Falasglin inquired calmly.
Legolas looked to the elf-child to explain, but she frowned at him. It was a fairly rude greeting, but ought to be answered, so Legolas quickly told the hunter,
"This is the elf-child I told you about. The one who has my willow leaf?"
"And has she neither name nor tongue?" asked Falasglin. Legolas blinked and flushed with shame. He had not sought to learn her name, though he knew full well that she had not given it to him at their first meeting.
"I forgot to ask," Legolas admitted. He looked to the elf-child, but she was looking at the ground. Looking closer at her face, he realized that she was on the verge of tears.
"What is the matter?" Legolas asked her, taking her hand in his own.
"I don't understand when you talk that way," she said in Quenya, then used her free hand to rub at her eyes. "And he is looking at me so meanly. I. . . I am scared of him."
Here she burst into tears at last, and Legolas gave Falasglin a reproachful look before giving his friend a careful embrace. Falasglin looked more surprised than ashamed. When the little elf-child had gotten a bit more control of herself, she took the handkerchief Legolas offered. Falasglin was still looking more puzzled than sorry.
"How can an elf not speak Sindarin?" he asked the girl in Quenya. "Did not your parents teach it to you?"
"Parents?" the girl asked. "What is parents?"
"Your mother and father," Legolas supplied. The elf-child shook her head.
"Mother did not. She told me all our people speak our tongue. She said I was not to speak with those who did not." She gave Legolas a sweet look. "But you were very nice, so I knew you were not a bad one."
Legolas blushed with pleasure. "Thank you, cousin."
"A bad one?" asked Falasglin.
The girl shivered. "The ones touched by Morgoth. Mother said they went over the sea and chased him to our home. And when they returned, to make up for their mistake, they brought the old tongue to the land, but it was changed. Those who remained had developed their own tongue and laid a ban on the old because the ones touched by Morgoth had perverted it."
This was a distinctly new way of telling the legends of old. This perspective fascinated Legolas, but Falasglin was incensed. He shook his head fiercely.
"We did no such thing! The Dark One fled after doing great harm to our people, and we pursued him to prevent him from doing more harm."
"Mother said those who went over Sea came back because Morgoth had taken something they had made but should not keep. She also said," the girl added, clearly thinking this was a winning argument, "that when they tried to return, their kinsmen would not let them use their boats because they were not free to leave. So the ones who returned attacked and killed many of their kinsmen so they could take their boats."
"I remember that!" Legolas said, pleased. "The Valar would not let them return over Sea for a long time because of the great wrong they had done. And we did not end up keeping the Silmarils, either. They had to be returned to their proper places in the sky, the earth, and the waters."
Finding himself outnumbered, Falasglin had taken a moment to think of a reply. Suddenly he looked at the girl sharply. "You are Avari. Your people refused the Journey. Your people have never known the light of the Valar."
The little girl smiled. "Neither have you."
"I have not either," Legolas chimed in, much to Falasglin's apparent dismay.
"Where is your mother?" demanded Falasglin, clearly tired of being on the losing side of the argument.
The smile left the elf-child's face at once. "She has died."
"Your father, then?" Falasglin asked in a more subdued tone.
"He died when I was a tiny babe, Mother said."
"Then who is taking care of you now?"
"I am," said the girl in a tone of surprise.
"You are?" asked Legolas in amazement. "But what do you eat?"
"Nuts. Berries. Fruits. Vegetables." With a nod toward the fallen hive, she added, "Honey. And rabbits. Squirrels too." The last was said with a resigned look, clearly indicating how tired she was of said comestibles.
"But who has made your clothing?" asked Falasglin.
"I did." As one, they looked with some scrutiny at said clothing, and all present noted the worn and somewhat slapdash nature of the attire. Legolas also noticed that she possessed no footwear at all.
"But when the snows come, you cannot live comfortably in a tree," Falasglin pointed out.
"I do not live in a tree in the winter," said the girl with no little scorn for the thought. "I go south and west to the caves where the bears den. They don't mind me when they are sleeping, and it is very warm."
"But-but when they wake," Falasglin began to protest.
"I go over the mountains and to the shores. There are many clams to be dug up. And when it begins to be hot, I come back northeast to the woods called the Old Forest. It is very nice and shady there. Once the leaves are ready to fall, I come back to these woods."
Legolas very much liked the sound of such a life. To travel where she wished- why she must be very happy and free. Yet, Legolas sensed that she was not exactly those things.
He hit upon a plan suddenly, and was so pleased with it he could not hide his smile. Her clothes must be replaced, and that sort of thing took some time. Surely she would stay with them while they did that. And while she was there, could she not also learn a few useful skills, like sewing straight lines and riding? It was perfect; a certain blissful experience.
"You must come to stay with us," he announced. Falasglin gave him a look of incredulity, but Legolas continued unabated, "You need new clothes, and we shall outfit you properly. If you stay for the winter, you will only have to share a room with girls and they have a much better disposition and smell than bears. And you can learn Sindarin so that you can talk with all elves, and be no more frustrated."
Before Falasglin could utter a single protest, the little girl asked in a very small voice, "But will they want me?"
"Surely they will!" assured Legolas. "For I want you very much, and all who look upon could not help wanting you as I do. Is it not so, Falasglin?"
At this, Falasglin had little choice but to admit she was a very charming creature and agree to bring her to the Greenwood. If he had any qualms about the proceeding, he kept them to himself. Nevertheless, he did walk ahead of the pair, and made little speech with them as Legolas explained the wonders of living in his father's kingdom to the little child who had never stayed in any place longer than part of a season.
After a time, and a flood of praises from Legolas, Falasglin did think to ask the little child for her proper name. However, she gave him quite a look of confusion; they all paused to sort out what he meant. It was then that it was discovered that the only title she had been called by was daughter, and she had no other term of address to be applied to her.
This produced yet more silence on Falasglin's part, but Legolas instantly pointed out that she could choose a name of her very own. With his usual enthusiasm, he supplied a number of choices. At length the girl admitted she could hardly choose. After all, she told him, if a name was given by the parents to the child, how could she give herself a name? She was, she concluded, too young to choose wisely.
This subdued Legolas a bit, but he took her hand and gave her a charming smile all the same. They returned to more familiar territory, and were met with looks of wonder and curiosity. Knowing that they were not expected, Legolas paid these looks little heed. Falasglin spoke with a herald once they entered the Hall. He gestured for the children to have a seat while they waited.
"Your father will wish to speak with both of you," Falasglin told Legolas. "And, most likely, your mother shall come as well. Be on your best behavior," he warned.
Given his father's temperament, Legolas had to agree with the advice. Yet he could not help but wonder what anyone could possibly have against a person so inoffensive as his friend. Falasglin did take out a cloth and clean the child's face as best he could. Though elves rarely got as dirty as humans did, she had been on her own too long for a child of her age and had acquired a slight patina of dirt. Such a presentation would not please Thranduil, a king who preferred his subjects acknowledge his sovereignty at once.
Thranduil swept in, with the usual awareness of his majesty and also the usual train of followers from the heralds to the stewards. His queen, however, was not with him. He settled in his throne and looked down at his son. Legolas gave his best courtly bow, only then thinking that he had no idea if his friend knew how to behave at court.
"Well, my son, for what reason do you request my presence?" Legolas looked up and saw his father smiling indulgently at him. That was a good sign.
"If you please father, for the sake of my friend, might we speak in Quenya?" Legolas carefully asked.
"As you will, my son," Thranduil responded in Quenya, and then looked to the little elf-child. She had scooted around so that she was very nearly behind Legolas completely. She peeked, most becomingly, around him to look at the king in amazement.
"Come closer child." And Thranduil beckoned her with a finger. "There is no reason for shyness. I do not, in spite of many rumors to the contrary, bite most of my visitors."
Legolas took her hand and they walked up to the throne together. Once they were close enough, Legolas gently guided her in front of him so that his father might have the clear look he desired. To reassure the child, he gave her hand a light squeeze.
"What a pretty child you are," said Thranduil with a gentle smile. "Now, do tell me what it is you and my son wish to ask for. I know not how I could refuse such innocent faces."
"If you please," the girl began in tiny voice, "If you please, must there be so many people here?"
Thranduil gave her a look of astonishment, and then looked around. As if just realizing how many had followed him, he gave a great frown. He gestured abruptly at the crowd.
"Away! Have you all nothing better to do than stare at a poor, frightened child?" After the crowd had scurried away, he asked, "There now. Is that better?"
"Oh, yes. I have never seen so many people all at once." The girl looked inquisitive. "Have you as many people here as leaves on a tree?"
Thranduil laughed. "Not nearly so many as that. But how come you to have never seen such a crowd?"
"I think it is because I lived in the forest. It should be very hard for so many people to travel so closely in the trees," replied the child meditatively.
"And how come you to be living in the forest and not within my Hall? Are you the child of wanderers?"
The girl looked puzzled. Falasglin then stepped forward and bowed.
"If I might have leave to speak," he inquired.
"Ah, Falasglin. Yes, if you can help clear up this matter, I should like to hear it."
"It has become clear through our conversations that this child is Avari." Falasglin continued quickly as if by speaking faster he could hurry Thranduil through any prejudices he might experience, "She is also without home or family to take care of her. Our prince believed it would be a great kindness if you would be so good as to supply her with those things as are within your great power."
Thranduil was silent a long moment, and Legolas feared briefly that his father would be as displeased with her being Avari as Falasglin had been. However, Thranduil looked at the little girl again, and placed a hand on her head. He also looked to Legolas for a moment before speaking.
"Little child, how old are you?"
"More than four yen," she replied. "Maybe almost five."
"And how old were you when you lost your mother?" Thranduil pressed.
"Two yen," answered the girl, looking at the floor. Thranduil shook his head.
"And in all this time, no one has offered you shelter?"
"No-o. But I am not supposed to talk to people I have never met," she pointed out.
"You have met my son before, then?" Before she could answer, Thranduil said in surprise, "Why, you must be the child he met so long ago south of the river."
"In the oak trees," she affirmed.
"And he gave you something?"
The girl reached into her tunic and brought out the willow leaf for him to see. "Mother coated it in tree sap for me so that it would not crumble."
"A fine gift," Thranduil said, with a nod to his son. "So, little one, you wish to stay here with us for a time? Perhaps to acquire some better attire and learning you could not gain out in the wilds?"
"Yes, please," the child said sweetly.
Thranduil turned to Legolas once more. "And you, my son. Will you swear to her good character?"
"Oh, yes," Legolas said, and then added quickly, "I do so swear."
"Very good. Falasglin, find one of those heralds and have him write that out. Lazy things that they are; they could use the work. Now children," Thranduil said after Falasglin had left the room, "Tell me more about your adventures today."
Legolas settled happily on his father's knee and started the story of finding no deer, only old tracks. The little girl stood shyly listening until Thranduil drew her in with the information that he indeed possessed two knees. Having been settled, she told of the two naughty boys who had knocked down the beehive. Thranduil shook his head grimly at their misbehavior and laughed heartily at her reenactment of their unfortunate fate. Legolas glowed with the pleasure of knowing that his dear friend would be safely and happily settled in their halls with his father's approval.
