Chapter nine

Legolas did not give much account of the journey to Imladris. The few times he woke up, it was plunged into a fever that prevented him from knowing what was happening. Half conscious, he noticed how someone carefully laid him down on a soft bed. Knowing that they should have arrived to Rivendel, he let the darkness carry him again.

Two days after arriving to Imladris

Thranduil looked up. He could swear he had heard his son moving. Thinking that it had been a false alarm, he turned back to the book he was reading.

Legolas opened his eyes. He saw his father sitting in a chair near his bed, reading a book. He smiled.

"Ada" he said, his voice sounding weaker than he had expected. The king turned to look at his son. He jumped up as he saw his son's eyes open.

"Legolas, at last!"

The prince frowned.

"What?" he asked "How many ... how many days have I been out?"

"Two. Not counting the journey." Legolas couldn't believe it.

"Two! But ... but ... but if it was just a scratch"

"Sure! Only a scratch! You could have told it before and I wouldn't have worried so much. And now stay here and don't you dare moving. Don't you dare. I'm going to find Elrond." Thranduil left the room. Legolas stared bored at the door.

Not even a minute had passed when he heard a great commotion in the hallway. Before he could get up to see what was happening, the twins came into his room.

"Well, well, look what we have here. The princeling deigns to wake up." Elrohir joked. Legolas smiled. Suddenly Estel came. Legolas gaped before starting to laugh. The twins did the same.

"Estel!" Elrond shouted, walking along the corridor and approaching Legolas' room. "Why on the Middle-Earth are you all wet? And…oh Valar, why do you have plants over your hair?

"Ask them!" an offended Estel said, as he removed the plants "They pushed me into the pond of the garden!"

"Guys!" shouted the Lord.

"Hey!" they said "there are a lot of "they" here, why do you suppose that we did it?" Elrond could not suppress a smile.

"Well, now let's address more important matters. How are you Legolas?"

"Fine" he said. Then he looked at Estel and he started laughing again. The twins laughed too.

"What's going on?" asked a surprised Thranduil that had just arrived. Elrond looked at him.

"Don't ask" he said.

"Alright…well, Legolas, I've a letter for you. Voronda gave it to me when he arrived from Deul this morning" The prince immediately stopped laughing.

"For me?" he asked.

"Yes, for you. From Deul's main councilor. I will give you if you let Elrond check on you without fussing."

"I don't fuss!" Now it was time for the twins to stop laughing.

"Admit it. You do. Always with yours 'I'm fine' and 'I don't need to stay in bed anymore' stuffs"

"But it's true!"

"You see! You're fussing right now!" said Estel, who had already changed his clothes.

"I'm not!... Am I?" asked the prince.

"Yes, you're. And now everybody shut up and let's see your shoulder." said Elrond.

"What does it say?" asked Thranduil, referring to the letter, after Elrond checked Legolas' shoulder, that seemed to be healing well.

"The councilor asks for my forgiveness and he says that…" Legolas frowned as he read the letter "he says that if I wanted to go to Nilen's funeral he would be really grateful…"

The twins, Estel and Elrond looked at him.

"And what are you going to do?" asked the man.

"I don't know. I think I will go"

"When is it?" asked Elrond and Thranduil at the same time. Legolas smiled.

"Don't worry. It's in eight days. I have enough time to recover, although I'm already recovered…"

"Legolas!" said his father.

"Alright, alright, I was only joking. I'll wait"

Some days later

"Are you sure of this?" asked Elladan.

"Oh Valar, guys, for the fifteenth time, I'm perfectly fine, even your father said so!" said the prince.

"I said that in some days you would be perfectly fine" Elrond intervened.

"Well, it's the same" said Legolas.

"No, not really…" replied the Lord.

"Well, never mind. Let's go or I'm afraid we will never arrive."

The journey elapsed without incidents. The elves rode with no hurry, because this time they were not looking for anyone. At the third day, they saw Deul's high towers, which guarded the city. The gates opened as they approached them. As they walked through the main street, they could see the damage that the battle had caused. Everybody looked at them with distrust and hate.

"I'm starting to believe that it has not been such a good idea" whispered Thranduil to his son.

"But it's what we have to do" replied.

"You're right…I suppose."

In silence, they arrived to the palace. The councilor was waiting for them at the door.

"Welcome, my dear guests" he approached them. "I hope you had a good journey" then he looked by the elves, who had already alighted from their horses, and he saw all the people of Deul looking at them, so he added "This elves are our guests, so we will treat them as such. They saved us from a tyrant, you know it."

"At what cost! Ours children's blood was the price!" shouted one of the people who were the closest. The rest of them nodded and agreed. The councilor tried to stop them.

"It was necessary! You don't understand!" he said. The people started to approach them and the elves took a hand to the sword's hilt. Not wanting to start another war, all of sudden Legolas took a step forward and said:

"People of Deul! I know your grief, believe me, I've felt the void that it's felt when someone very dear leaves you, and it's not a thing that I would want to repeat" everybody went into a silence "but every victory has a price. And that price may be very high. I'm not trying to say that the choice we made attacking the city was the right one. But sometimes there is not right choice. Sometimes there is no choice. Five days ago, we lost many lives, and there are some that we will always weep. But today we cannot live for the fallen ones. We must live for the ones who are still around us, so we must forget the mistakes of each race. We are here to honor your prince, Nilen. He saved my life. Twice. On the second one, he paid with his own life. Do you really think that that's what he would have wanted? Two peoples divided and feuding? I don't think so."

At that moment, a very beautiful woman climbed the palace's stairs and stood beside the prince.

"You all know who am I!" she shouted "I'm Neire." Legolas opened his eyes very wide. Neire was Nilen's bride! "I, more than anyone, knew and loved Prince Nilen "she looked at Legolas. "You said that Nilen died protecting you, it is that true?"

"I swear it is" nodded Legolas.

"I've heard many things about elves. One of them is that they never lie. I believe you." She smiled "After all, it's the kind of thing that Nilen would do. And I think that you must believe him too!" she said, now talking to the people "If Nilen died protecting an elf it's because, maybe, they're not so bad. We cannot condemn a whole race for something that whas caused by one of us. Perhaps they deserve a chance. After all, that's what Nilen would have wanted."

The last words remained in the air the few seconds the people stayed in silence. Suddenly, a murmur was transformed into a whole town talking. In the confusion that the elf and the woman had caused, the councilor approached them and said:

"Let's go inside"

Elladan approached Legolas.

"Nice speech, princeling." He said.

"Luckily Neire came… I had run out of pretty phrases" Elladan laughed.

...

From that day, Deul's people treated them much better. The smiles they shared were still a bit overdone, but it was a starting.

"Where is Erew?" Legolas asked suddenly to the councilor, a few hours before the funeral. "Surely he wants to go to his son's funeral"

The councilor looked at him.

"Well, my prince, Erew killed himself two days before you came."

Legolas remained silent for a few seconds; "I'm sorry. Really"

"Don't be. He was a traitor."

"Well, traitor or not, he was a man, wasn't he?"

"Yes, of course, but…"

"If he became what he was, it was for a reason. His wife's death changed him, so we cannot blame him for-."

"Sorry, but…what do you mean with his wife's death? I did not know it had anything to do with this story"

"It had everything to do! Erew tried to kill me because he wanted to avenge his wife."

"But she was not killed by elves, but by orcs!"

"I know, but Erew didn't think so."

"I think that I have to learn a lot of things from you…"

The councilor told Legolas that Erew had not said anything about his son's death or about why he had taken captive the prince, so Legolas told him everything he knew about Erew.

"I'll tell it everyone after the funeral. But now, I think we must go or we will be late."

Nilen's funeral was a solemn one. All the people went. All of them together, elves and men, accompanied the body to the pyre where tradition ordered the corpses of Deul's princes and kings to be burned. The councilor and Neire grabbed two torchs. Then, the man approached Legolas and offered him his torch.

"What?..." he asked.

"It will be the landmark of a new relationship between Mirkwood's elves and Deul's men."

Legolas smiled and grabbed the torch. He then approached Neire, who awaited him. Together, they set fire to the pyre. Everyone looked at the smoke, which rose in the sky, coming in perfect combination with the clouds and the sun, that was hiding slowly behind the mountains. That sunset was remembered like one of the most beautiful ones that had been seen ever by Deul's people. Some people say that it was the last goodbye the prince of Deul gave to the Middle-Earth.

The End

…..

Well, that was the final chapter. Thank you for reading it. And a big hug to my best friend (she left a review as Kvothe the Arcane) for her support and to my father for reading each chapter and correcting my mistakes (my father is a fan of LOTR since 1980). Please, tell me what you think of the fanfic.

And now, more than ever, I need your opinion. I've a story in my mind, I left you a preview, but you will decide if I write it or not.

….

Legolas leaned against the tree's trunk.

"I'M GOING! AND THAT'S FINAL!"

The discussion he had had with his father just a few moments ago came to his mind.

"Legolas, you cannot go. Can't you see it's a trap?" Thranduil said.

"And what am I supposed to do? Stay sitting idly knowing that he can be alive and still doing nothing to save him ?" the prince was furious.

"It's only been three days since it happened. You're not recovered yet."

"And I will never recover if I do not go!" Everyone could see that the prince's eyes were filled with tears.

"Ion-nin, listen, I know it's hard, I know what you're going through and-"

"NO, YOU DO HAVE NO IDEA OF WHAT I HAVE LIVED THESE DAYS. IF YOU KNEW YOU WOULD LET ME GO!" everybody was silent. "Damn it, ada. You don't understand." he looked at his father. " You can't understand "he whispered. Then, Legolas turned and walked towards the door. Elladan grabbed his arm.

"No, Elladan, let me go" he looked into his eyes. "Please" he added.

"Where are you going?" asked the twin.

"To my room"

"Legolas ..."

"Let me go" After some seconds, he let him go.

Legolas closed his eyes. The smell of blood seemed to follow him wherever he went. Two tears swept down his cheeks.

The prince stumbled. Again. He was hurt and tired. They were outnumbered by the orcs, and only a few elves were still fighting. The rest of his patrol was badly hurt or dead. He fell near a corpse. He looked at it. And he recognized it. He was Anenfel, one of his best friends. He knew him since their childhood.

'It's not fair' Legolas thought, as his eyes filled with tears.

The prince opened his eyes. The determination shone on them. He clenched the letter that was in his hand. He would carry out the decision that he had made long ago. With a last look at the castle where his father and his friends should be looking for him, he said:

"I'll find him and we will return. This is a promise"

And then he looked away and began to walk toward a place from which he might never return.

….

What do you think? Do I write it? Review! :)