Bound by the Forest

Chapter 4

"Gandalf returns already?" Legolas stood with the hobbit Frodo under the afternoon sun, watching as their comrade rode back to camp.

"Be thankful that harm has not befell the wizard. Were you not just asking for him yesterday?"

The elf inhaled deeply and thought of the past night, as he had been doing all day. When he awoke that morning, eyes weighted from not enough sleep, he questioned whether it had all been a dream. But it could not have been. The feel of her flesh was still on his fingertips; her scent heavy on his clothes. Legolas smiled half heartedly. "Yes, I am happy for his return."

He was grateful of course, because he had a promise to keep. But it was a bittersweet feeling, for when she gets her wish, he would have to truly wake from the blessed dream with no doubt of its authenticity. He dreaded that time and could almost feel it there as he stood. It was the moment between dreaming and waking, where the fantasy and the real seemed to overlap. Where the people you met while dreaming faded as much as you tried to remember them.

Frodo ran off the meet the wizard.

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"The journey before us is more harrowing than even I realized," Gandalf told his companions once everyone was seated on either the ground or on boulders. "There are beings that wish to halt our progress. Forces have been working against us already."

The friends, Merry and Pippin, looked at each other in dismay. Sam clasped a wide-eyed Frodo's shoulder to comfort him. Legolas only stared past the wizard, to the trees behind him. His mind was on other things, like how he was to get Gandalf alone and if he would be able to help the spirit-woman. Surely Gandalf would be able to help her. What other was more capable? Not himself. In this, he was useless. He remembered her words.

You will not be the one to turn me back. There is something else you were meant to do, but that is not it.

The elf was oblivious to the discussion around him. The only person that seemed the notice was Aragorn, who studied the elf thoroughly. What was in the wood that took Legolas's mind off of the problems at hand? The elf felt eyes on him and turned to look at his friend. He saw the concern on Aragorn's face but simply shook his head to tell him not to worry.

"We need only to keep our senses sharp," he heard Gandalf say. "Do not let anything lead you off of your intended path."

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After the men dispersed, Legolas intended to wander off on his own, not yet ready to ask the wizard for the favor. He knew not how he would explain the situation or if he could take this being the last day he would see the woman. It was Gandalf who sought out the elf. "Your mind seems focused on other things, Legolas.

The blonde sighed, trying to figure out where to start. "The woe of my friend weighs heavy on my heart. She needs help. Your help. I can do nothing for her." Legolas stared down at the grass in sorrow as they continued to walk further away from the others.

"What is your friend called?" Gandalf asked.

Legolas looked up in bemusement. "She has no name, Gandalf."

The wizard removed the pipe from between his lips and blew out a cloud of smoke. "Curious, indeed."

"She is no more woman than spirit. No more spirit than tree. That is what she was once, but she was then given a human body. She is a tree spirit still, I suppose, but she has no recollection of what happened or why."

"She was an ent-wife, mayhaps?"

"Possible. I did not think to ask."

"And what do you wish me to help her with?"

"She wants her old form back."

Gandalf heard the grief in his companion's voice and nodded his head softly, deep in thought. "Take me to this friend. I wish to meet her, presently."

Legolas did not know where to find the woman, but they were already moving towards the forest. The elf knew she would show up eventually, as she had before. She would hear them walking through her wood and joyously meet them with open arms. They would embrace for one last time and Gandalf would help her turn to a tree again... And she would be lost to him forever.

They were in the wood for almost an hour, trekking through the trees, silent and anxious, each lost in his own thoughts. The two checked the pool where he first saw the girl. They checked her tree, the one she would be for the rest of her days. They had no luck either time.

"I apologize, Gandalf. I thought I would be able to find her. But I suppose it will have to wait."

The wizard looked over Legolas's shoulder and smiled. "I think your friend has arrived."