Title: Perplexed, But Not in Despair

Author: Calenlass Greenleaf

Disclaimer: Aragorn and Legolas belong to Tolkien. The Mellon Chronicles belong to Cassia and Siobhan. I own nothing, save a few words.

Spoilers: Big time spoilers for the MC story, "Cell Number Eight". Go read it first if you have not.

Rating: PG-13, same as the story itself. Rated for angst. No slash or smut in any way. I don't support it, like it, etc. Any love is brotherly, fatherly, or familial. Nothing more.

Summary: A prose poem on "Cell Number Eight". Features Legolas and Eldarion. Post-LotR. Don't flame me if you don't like my interpretation.


Perplexed, But Not in Despair

Endless days of torment,

Of trials,

Of fighting.

My hands are stained with blood

Blood that is not my own.

oOo

Oppressed in a frenetic world,

I fight for my life,

But I have become a spectacle

One to be stared at,

As a warrior, this is no honorable fight.

oOo

Surrounded and beset in a cruel surroundings,

The mortals here are little more than animals,

Desperate, and ravenous,

Ravenous for entertainments,

Their appetite for such things is insatiable--

They disgust me.

oOo

I can no longer count the days of my captivity.

The only thing that keeps me going,

The one hope that I have,

Are the stars in the heavens,

Shining and glimmering high in the skies.

oOo

But even that hope is fading.

Cloud gather, enshrouding Eru's gift from me.

The celestial bodies are gone from my sight,

Like my hope.

oOo

Desolate in this place,

I am holding on, barely,

Ever tiring,

Ever weakening.

It is a wonder I am still alive.

oOo

I try to remember the days of the past,

When I was still carefree,

When I was like a leaf in the spring.

oOo

No more am I,

I have become a shadow of myself,

As a dying plant in the turning of the seasons.

oOo

My memories are slowly fading,

Fading into this unbearable reality,

This despairing, wearisome reality.

oOo

Doomed to die in this place,

A captive,

Forgotten.

Legolas

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

But you didn't want to do this.

It wasn't your fault,

This wasn't your plan.

oOo

I can't offer you much,

But I can give you hope.

oOo

Clouds can't cover the whole sky,

Neither do storms last forever.

Though stars are hidden,

They're still there,

Shining in the darkness.

oOo

I know you're hurting,

In and out,

I wish I could do more for you,

I want to take away the pain,

The pain that I see in your eyes.

oOo

But I'll be here for you.

Just be with you.

oOo

You helped me with my fears,

And comforted me when no one else did.

oOo

You showed me love,

Love just like my parents'.

oOo

You showed me kindness,

Something I haven't seen for so long.

oOo

It's the least I can do,

To stay with you here.

oOo

One day, we'll get out of this place,

And escape into the sunshine,

Leaving behind the troubles,

The bad things.

oOo

Don't despair, Leg'las.

I'm here,

You're here,

We're together in this,

Together,

You and I.

—"Dari", aka Eldarion

Finis

Calenlass Greenleaf, Keeper of Legolas' Pronunciation of "Aragorn" and the brotherly bond between Aragorn and Legolas.