Welcome Friends with Unwelcome News

"I hope all is well," said Peggy. "Matilda, do you know why Legolas left so suddenly?"

"No idea," Matilda lied, turning away so her mother could not scrutinise her face and spot the falsehood.

They were walking home through the windy darkness after the tense dinner party. Hattie had not wanted to leave; she was perfectly comfortable hanging onto Peter's every word but Matilda was glad to get away.

"Sam seemed to be behaving oddly too," mused Peggy, moving round a coil of rope as tall as her waist. The lapping of the lake knocked the boats together and they could hear the raucous sounds of a tavern on the edge of town spilling out into the night. "Did you think that?"

"Not particularly," said Matilda. She was anxious to get back to Legolas and give him a hug. He had tried so hard for her. "He was probably just drunk. There's really no need to read so much into it, Ma."

"And there's really no need to snap," replied Peggy.

"Sorry," said Matilda as they came in sight of their house. There could see golden light from the cracks in the shutters but there seemed to be more than one person moving around inside. Just as the family reached the house, the wind blew the shutters open of the window without glass and Matilda saw Myrin's pale face. Behind him, she could see Tauriel and Daeron.

"What on earth?" said Peggy.

"We really need to replace that window now we can afford it," said Teddy, closing the shutters from the outside.

Matilda was first inside, with her mother close behind her. "You came to visit us," she said in delight.

"Visitors?" said Peggy, sounding aghast.

"Matilda!" said Myrin, hurrying over and giving her a glad hug. "It's been so quiet without you girls."

"What's wrong?" asked Matilda, looking at Tauriel's unsmiling face. "What happened?" She glanced at Legolas. "Are you okay?"

Legolas looked past her to her mother and sisters, who looked slightly overwhelmed by the presence of these three new elves. The small one-room house was now very cramped. "Peggy, Hattie, Sarah, I'd like to introduce you to Tauriel, my Captain of the Guard, and my good friends Myrin and Daeron."

The elves bowed in unison. Hattie's mouth hung open in awe as she stared at Tauriel, the only female elf she had ever seen, and one with the most magnificent red-orange hair, decked out with weapons. It didn't help that all four elves were significantly taller than the humans so that they were naturally looking up to them anyway.

"You look like a goldfish," said Teddy bluntly. Hattie closed her mouth with a snap.

"Can I offer you any refreshments?" asked Peggy anxiously.

"No, thank you, madam," smiled Myrin kindly. "We have simply come to deliver a message."

"All of you?" asked Matilda.

"Truth be told, we wanted an excuse to see you," smiled Tauriel. "And your delightful home."

"Sarah, go and get ready for bed," said Peggy in a low voice. "It is late." Sarah seemed glad for an excuse to scuttle behind a screen and watch from a distance.

"And the message?" asked Teddy.

"The king is unhappy," said Tauriel. "He is displeased that Legolas travelled to Esgaroth without seeking permission first."

"The king is displeased with us?" gasped Peggy.

"No," said Legolas immediately. "Not with you. It is me who is to blame for the king's disapproval. He wants me to return to lead my own people at his side and not 'cower in a town of Men'."

"He is under the impression that you are shirking your responsibilities and duty to the kingdom," added Myrin.

Legolas rolled his eyes in a very Jane-ish way. "How irksome," he said, sounding undisturbed at the fact that his father, the fiercest temper within three hundred leagues, was upset with him.

Tauriel looked as though she agreed with Legolas, but delivered the rest of her message anyway. "You are to return immediately," she said. "And if you have not reported to him within the day, the king will send guards to escort you back to the Halls. If that is your choice, he will send a message to the Master of Esgaroth, ordering that he bar the gate of the city against you."

Legolas smirked. "Gates do not stop me," he said.

Tauriel raised an eyebrow, as though she knew the impact of her next words. "The message will also include a suggestion that illegal activity has been occurring under his nose, incriminating Matilda's family for harbouring you without his knowledge or permission-"

Peggy's jaw dropped. Hattie's face paled.

"No," said Legolas quickly. "This family will not be harmed on my account."

"You're leaving?" asked Matilda, stepping forwards.

Legolas took her hands. "I will not risk getting you into trouble or putting you danger," he said. "I have to go. I will return to my father in the morning."

"No," said Matilda quickly, her forehead knitting together at the thought of being separated from him.

Tauriel, Myrin and Peggy turned away from this intimate moment to give Legolas and Matilda some privacy. Peggy clapped her hands. "Teddy! Hattie! To bed!" she said. "You both have jobs to go to in the morning."

"But Ma-" said Hattie, wanting to stay within the conversation.

"No arguing," said Peggy quickly.

Legolas smiled ruefully at Hattie from where he was still hand-clasped with Matilda. "I still have to listen to my parent too," he pointed out.

Teddy was more willing to go to bed; he was so proud of his job that the reference to it had been enough to spur him into listening to his mother, much more diligently than usual.

"Do you have to go home?" Matilda pleaded sadly. Her reproachful eyes were making it very hard for Legolas to be resolute.

"Yes," he said. "I wish you could come with me but I know you will not leave your home so soon after returning, and it is apparent that I cannot remain here without inciting my father's wrath. I have immensely enjoyed my time here and I have met your wonderful family." He smiled at Peggy, but Matilda still looked like he had just kicked a wounded puppy.

"But how do I know when I will see you again?"

Legolas looked up. "Is there somewhere we can go and be alone to talk?" he asked.

"Yes," said Matilda, with a quick glance at Myrin, who was gazing absent-mindedly towards the door.

Peggy mistook Myrin eyeing the door for him contemplating whether to leave or not. "You cannot travel back to Mirkwood now," she said. "It is much too late, and it would be dangerous crossing the lake in the middle of the night, even for someone who knew these waters well." She looked anxiously around her little house, which was already full enough with elves and people. "I do not know where you will sleep, though," she fussed. "Legolas is already bedding down on the floor and I do not know if there will be room for three new people. Unless one of you doesn't mind sleeping underneath the table-?"

"We are not tired," said Tauriel reassuringly. "It was not a long journey for us. We are simply content to sit quietly by the fire."

"You are certain?" asked Peggy. Not so long ago, she would not have dreamt that she would allow strangers to sit in her house whilst she slept with her children nearby, but Legolas had set such a good precedent and had charmed his way into all their hearts so successfully, that she was quite at ease with the elves she had known for less than an hour.

"Of course," said Tauriel. "You are very kind to grant us hospitality as such an unexpected time as it is. We do not expect special treatment."

"In that case if you'll excuse me," said Peggy. "I will go to bed too. It has been a long day."

After her mother had said goodnight and pulled the dressing screen across the house at the halfway point so the elves wouldn't feel slightly so invasive, Matilda turned to Legolas. "I know Myrin will want to be somewhere else than here tonight," she said. "But I will be back very soon, and then we'll talk, okay?"

Legolas nodded, and sat down by the fire to talk quietly with Tauriel and Daeron, asking for more news of his father and of his home. Matilda took Myrin's hand. She had not even taken her cloak off.

"Come on," she said, smiling knowingly. "I will take you to her." Matilda lit a lantern and swung it ahead of them as she led the way to Jane's house, thankful it had stopped snowing. When they arrived outside, the house was dark and silent. She gave the lantern to Myrin and whispered, "Wait here. Don't move."

"I would not dare," he whispered back.

Matilda, as she had done a thousand times before when she and Jane had been children, snuck round the back of Jane's house. There was a porch just below Jane's bedroom window with a flat roof, and the two girls had been climbing up and down it since childhood. As silently as she could, Matilda opened the shutters which, out of old habit, Jane still never locked, and then the window.

Her snoring, snuffling best friend did not wake up as Matilda climbed into the dark room where Jane slept by herself. Crossing the room to her bed and praying Jane would not scream, Matilda shook her awake.

"Jane! Wake up!" she hissed.

The lump that was Jane groaned and stirred.

"Get lost, Matilda!" she mumbled.

"Get up!"

"What on earth are you doing? It's the middle of the night?" Jane murmured sleepily.

"Trust me," said Matilda. "You're going to want to listen to me for once!"

Yawning and bleary-eyed, Jane pulled on a cloak and followed Matilda back out of the window and onto the porch roof. "What's this all about?" she moaned. "If you've taken me out here just because you left something in my house-"

"If I left something in your house, I'd still be inside your house," said Matilda. "You will definitely want to see what I found for you."

She pulled Jane round the house and back through the side-gate.

"Myrin!" Jane said delightedly, snapping wide awake in a second. She ran to him and they hugged each other tight.

"I'm always right," Matilda grinned smugly, watching her friends.

She took the lantern from Myrin, whispered "I'll see you in the morning," and left him with Jane. Hurrying back, Matilda slipped into her house as quietly as she could. Peggy had clearly thought that she couldn't sleep easy without insisting that her guests have a mug of tea to get them through the night as there were no beds to be offered. She nodded at Matilda and lifted the kettle out of the fire.

Matilda smiled at Tauriel and Daeron and took Legolas's hand, pulling him to his feet. "Legolas and I are going to go and find somewhere else to rest our heads tonight," she said. "It is not right us sleeping in our comfortable beds whilst declining them to our guests."

"No, honestly," said Daeron. "Do not go to any trouble-"

Matilda gave Tauriel a hard, meaningful look.

"Thank you," said Tauriel quickly, understanding immediately. "That is very kind of you."

Legolas snatched up a pile of blankets and Matilda grabbed a couple of cushions. "There is a warm, dry hay loft I know of," she said. "We will be back at dawn."

Before Peggy had time to realise what had been suggested, agreed and arranged, Legolas and Matilda had left the house.

"You are sneaky," said Legolas, sounding half-admiring and half-amused. "Under the pretext of giving our beds to Tauriel and Daeron, we have the night exactly as we wish."

"Hurry," replied Matilda. "We will freeze out here. The temperature has dropped since we walked home."

"I know," said Legolas. Matilda often forgot how sensitive he was to every sound and smell and sight, every sense around him.

The hay loft was not locked. Matilda had known of it since she was little when she had been desperate to become an explorer and she and Teddy had gone on thrilling 'adventures' to discover new territories. It was above the blacksmith's forge, more often used for the production of weapons to stock the armoury than shoeing a horse, accessed by a rather precarious ladder. The hay loft was warm from the heat of the forge, which had been fired up all day, and dry with a strong roof over the top.

The string holding the hay into bales was easily cut and fresh, sweet-smelling hay could be spread out to make more than adequate beds. The only downside to sleeping in a hay loft was that no fires could be lit, but Matilda and Legolas set the flickering lantern in the corner, wrapped themselves in their cloaks and blankets, and put their heads down on the cushions.

The only noise was the drip-drip-drip of a leaky roof corner, where a mouse had nibbled the wood to make a hole large enough to see a single star. Under a blanket, Legolas's hand found Matilda's, and their fingers entwined as easily as if they were made for each other.

"This could be our last night together for some time," said Matilda sadly. "I will not sleep one wink to make the most of it with you."

Legolas sighed. He couldn't deny that he would not be permitted to see Matilda for the next few weeks. "I will write," he promised. "Daeron will be our messenger and you will not be without news of me, just like you will keep me informed with news of your life."

Matilda smiled at this prospect. "Nothing happens in my life," she said.

"Nonsense," said Legolas. "I want to know even the tiniest, seemingly insignificant details. I want to know what you ate for breakfast. I want to know if Sarah has her hair cut. I want to know how Teddy is faring at his job. Everything. Do you promise?"

"Of course I do," said Matilda. "But it's not the same as having you next to me. I will miss you terribly. I even missed you on the journey from Mirkwood to Lake-town, and now I'm expected to go more than a week without seeing you once?"

"You have managed it before," said Legolas.

Matilda thought about it. "I was unconscious!" she said. "Hardly a voluntary separation!"

Absent-mindedly, her hand went to her side, where the scar stretched across her ribs and curved around to her belly button. Just thinking about it made Matilda recall the excruciating agony of the sword piercing her skin and flesh, severing muscle and cutting veins. Legolas saw her squirm.

"Does it still hurt?" he asked.

"No." Legolas looked at her. "Okay, yes," she admitted. "Sometimes. But it's not as bad anymore and it's only really at night when-"

Legolas pressed a gentle finger against her lips and she kissed his fingertip. "I hope the pain will fade one day," he whispered. "I know you dream of it too. I know you can still see Aubron's face in your mind's eye at a moment's notice."

"How did you know?" asked Matilda, raising her head slightly to look at him properly.

"Because I do too," said Legolas. "What we went through is not an easy thing to forget. Nor for our friends."

"But no matter how hard they try to imagine what it was like, they were not in that room with Aubron and his kin," said Matilda. "They do not understand as you do. And now," she sighed heavily, "you are leaving."

"They say absence makes the heart grow fonder," Legolas hedged, not knowing how else to comfort Matilda, but at the face she made, he quickly said, "Whoever 'they' are, they clearly do not know what they are talking about."

Matilda laughed. "My heart is already fond enough," she said. "And it will not be the same without you. It feels like Lake-town is your second home already."

"I've been here for less than three days," smiled Legolas.

"It feels like a short lifetime," Matilda replied. "A man's short lifetime, that is, not an elven lifetime." She thought for a moment, yawning in between sentences. "Do you know, I've never thought to ask you when your birthday is?" she said.

"And do you know, I've forgotten when my birthday is," said Legolas, stroking Matilda's temple with his thumb. "Perhaps my father will have remembered in that all-encompassing memory of his."

"You do not celebrate it?"

"After so many, they lack significance," said Legolas. He gazed up at the single star which was still shining resiliently through the hole in the roof that had become a hungry mouse's lunch.

"Every year holds significance," said Matilda, her mind drifting with exhaustion. Every breathy word was an effort to say but her sleepiness made her ramble. "For example, this year I met you, and next year I will have known you for a year, and the year after that it will have been two years since I met you, and the year after that will mean that three years will have passed since-"

"I understand," chuckled Legolas. "I have to say, I have never had an autumn like this last one before. Nor have I ever appreciated being alive and healthy and free-" Matilda opened her mouth to contradict him "-well, free-ish, as much as I have this year."

"If only you weren't a royal prince," said Matilda slowly, struggling to keep her eyes open. "Then I could keep you here with me forever."

"Would you still love me the same?" asked Legolas in a quiet voice. "If I was a lowborn elf, or a man even?"

With her eyes shut, Matilda pretended to think about it for a second. "Hmm, I guess so," she grinned. "I would rather be annoyed by you for the rest of my life than by someone else, if that's what you mean."

"For the rest of your life?" Legolas pounced on the words. "You would want that?"

"Yes," Matilda said simply, fighting to stay awake.

"And it is my dearest wish," whispered Legolas, kissing her forehead as he watched her fall asleep, and he held her a little bit tighter in his arms, knowing this would be the last opportunity to do so for the foreseeable future.

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