Immediately after the door to the cell had closed Thranduil hurried over to Legolas who was hadn't move much after the last dose.

Legolas looked up when Thranduil came closer and weakly tried to push himself up from the floor Thranduil was there immediately helping Legolas sit up and lean against the wall behind him. Legolas sighed and leaned his head back with closed eyes.

Thranduil swallowed thickly and placed his hands on Legolas' cheeks, "Legolas?" He questioned softly.

Legolas opened his eyes slowly and gazed at his father. Thranduil could see pain and exhaustion in Legolas' eyes and it made his heart twist.

"Are you all right?"

It seemed silly to ask but Thranduil didn't know what else to say. Legolas nodded before closing his eyes and leaning slightly against the hands on his cheeks.

Thranduil examined the cut on Legolas' forehead and found that it had stopped bleeding. He could faintly see bruising around the wound underneath the cover of blood. Looking around he quickly spotted a bucket of water at the side of the cell. He took his hands off Legolas before moving over to it and lifting it over to Legolas. After hesitating a moment he ripped a piece of his cloak off and soaked it in the water. Then he used it to gently wash the blood off his son's face. Legolas grimaced when he came close to the actual wound and Thranduil knew that he still had a headache.

"My King …my Prince. Are you all right?" One of the older elves asked.

Thranduil looked up and saw that every elf in the room was eyeing them with either concern or guilt, but Legolas' eyes remained closed.

"I'll live." Legolas said when Thranduil continued not to answer. "…Anyone have any idea what he put in that thing?"

"No my Prince." Some answered sadly.

The last portion Legolas had been given had been four times as much as the first dose and he was still slightly dazed from it. He knew that if he opened his eyes the world would spin drastically before him so he kept them closed until he felt it was safe. Tremors occasionally shook his body, but as time passed since the dose they slowly started to abate. He could still feel it working its evil inside him and used the time he had with closed eyes to calm himself and slowly with each breath push the poison down. To the elves that watched him it looked like his aura brightened with each intake. Then he opened his eyes.

The first thing that met him was his father's concerned face. Thranduil's eyes were wider and more pained than usual a testament to how hard it had been for him to see Legolas get hurt, especially after his own guilt for having hurt him before. Legolas took a deep breath and cautiously moved slightly away from the wall to see how his body would take the movement. When nothing happened he slowly got to his feet despite Thranduil's exclamation. As soon as his father had realized he wasn't going to stop he grabbed his arm and supported him until Legolas stood steadily on his feet.

Legolas turned towards the elves in the room and looked them over. He knew that the three younger elves at the end were the ones who had broken under Canben's concoction because they continually avoided his gaze even though he was staring at them. With a sigh he turned to one of the other elves instead, one of the wounded. He did not fault the elves for telling it to Canben, they were young and had not experienced as much pain. It was understandable that they had talked. He would talk to them later though, when the wounded had been seen to.

He crouched down in front of the elf and studied the wound, "Let me take care of this." He said.

"There is no need my Prince." The elf protested, "The bleeding has already stopped."

Legolas looked up and shrugged, "Might as well. I don't really have anything else pressing." He knew that if he preached the necessity of taking care of injuries, infection, pain and whatnot the warrior would continue to argue, this way he was left with no remarks except.

"Please just rest my Prince." He begged after the stupor over what Legolas had said left him. "You were given more of that concoction than any of us here and we were in need of rest afterwards. Please he gave you over a third of a lethal dose, you need rest."

"Don't worry." Legolas said softly, "I will rest." Then he grabbed hold of the edges of the tear in the elf's leggings and made it larger so he could see the wound underneath. It seemed like it was a sword that had nicked his thigh, but the injury itself wasn't that dangerous. He looked up to locate the water bucket only to see that his father was already bringing it to him with a resigned look on his face.

When Legolas was about to shrug off his cloak to use as bandages Thranduil stopped him and handed him his own. He didn't want Legolas to take off the extra warmth. Legolas took the cloak and started ripping it to pieces for bandages, he had more medical experience than his father and his was sure that if Thranduil had any idea what needed done he would have done it instead and spared Legolas the effort. The warrior had already given up on trying to convince Legolas to rest, he knew of Legolas' stubbornness and that there was really no chance of him convincing him to leave him and go to sleep.

Legolas gently took care of the elf's wounds and then moved on to the next. He could feel the exhaustion inside himself and knew that the poison was still affecting him even if he had managed to push it down. If there was one thing he didn't want it was for anybody to worry about him, but he knew that it was impossible no matter how much he pretending not to feel any effects. They were watching his every move, wincing at his every tremble or misstep, constantly telling him to sleep.

Finally he just heeded their words and laid down letting sleep carry him off, to the immense relief of everyone in the room. Thranduil walked over to him and gently repositioned his cloak so it covered him more and took the circlet off his head. He was saddened to see that Legolas was almost sleeping with his eyes closed and even in sleep his body trembled from time to time as if from cold.

"What happened?" He asked as he sat down beside the commander of the ford, Urion. "How were you captured?"

The commander sighed and said, "I will tell you my King, but please tell me first if there were any survivors?"

The King looked at him sadly, "I am afraid not. We held the funeral the day Legolas and I were taken."

Urion closed his eyes pained and whispered a silent prayer for the dead.

"No wait." Thranduil remembered, "Gwonion survived."

Urion looked up and smiled. There was both relief and pain in his eyes, then he began saying, "We were attacked at midnight. The darkness had covered them from our sight and therefore the first warning we had was when fire started raining down upon us. They threw torches onto the roof and we managed to send a message to you before getting forced out of the building. They were waiting for us outside, surrounding the building so we had nowhere to run and only half of us had managed to get our weapons. We stood no chance. Soon all were grabbed and sorted. All the higher ranked like myself were brought here while they… they killed the others. It took a week to bring us here from the ford. Halfway along the path the orcs split up, I don't know where the others went my King."

Thranduil stopped him with a raised hand, "Don't worry the orcs are destroyed. Your letter warned us of them and Legolas led a gathering to the crossing where they managed to defeat them."

"That's good." Urion said, "Do you remember the old set of dungeons we had during the war?"

Thranduil nodded and then looked around …of course. He thought that this had seemed familiar. But that was five days travel to the southeast from the halls! He and Legolas had been unconscious for five days!

"When we were brought here we were immediately questioned about the defenses of Mirkwood. He chose the youngest and started giving them the poison Legolas has just gotten." Urion swallowed thickly and glanced at the three elves under his command. They had told Canben about Legolas and Thranduil's knowledge about a hidden path after much pain. The three elves looked to the ground horrified that the king was about to gain knowledge about what they had done …that they had betrayed him. Urion sighed, "I offer my deepest apologies my king but the poison was too much for them. I accept their punishments as my own." He then bowed his head.

Thranduil shook his head and placed his hand on Urion's shoulder, "It's all right. He was going to have us killed anyway." Then after squeezing his shoulder he stood up and walked over to the three elves offering the same forgiveness to them, but also an apology that they had been hurt for his kingdom. The three elves had tears in their eyes and their guilt only seemed to enlarge.

"But my king." One of them said shakily, "Legolas… He will… It's our…"

Thranduil looked over to his son. Legolas was still sleeping fitfully; he had curled in on himself slightly as if he was in pain. It wouldn't surprise Thranduil if he was, he had been inflicted with so much pain earlier and it had been obvious that it still affected him slightly.

"He's strong." Thranduil said, but all of them could hear the slight uncertainness in his voice. "He'll be all right."

"We cannot just let him die!" Urion exclaimed angrily, but stopped when the king turned pained eyes on him.

"What do you suggest I do?" He asked, but he wasn't expecting an answer. No one came either.

O

Legolas walked inside the forest always keeping an eye on his surroundings. The last couple of weeks there had been someone stealing in one of the small villages outside Mirkwood's halls and he had been used the disguise of going hunting to figure out who was doing it. His father hadn't though that it was important, but something pulled Legolas to it.

As the trees opened and gave way to a clearing Legolas stopped and looked at the small figure by the bank. There was an elfling sitting crouched drinking by a small stream. His clothes and hair were a mess and in the corner of the clearing there was some kind of nest in the grass where several of the things reported stolen were lying. The boy had not seen him yet and for that Legolas was thankful as he continued to observe him. He was skinny and tense, constantly looking around like a hunted animal.

Suddenly the boy tensed further and he whirled around already dagger in hand and threw himself at Legolas. Legolas easily parried the blade with his own and arched his eyebrow at the boy as he continued to try and cut him. He had to hand it to him, the boy had determination and some skill, but Legolas still didn't break a sweat or move as he continued to parry. He had trained and fought a lot.

The boy was starting to get tired, probably due to the fact that he looked like he hadn't eaten for days. Legolas grabbed his wrist and took the dagger out of his hand.

"I mean you no harm elfling." Legolas said.

The elfling snarled and ripped his hand out of Legolas'. He turned around and fled into the forest. Legolas let him; sure that he could draw him back with the smell of food. So he sat down and started a fire in the clearing. He cleaned a rabbit he had caught on the way there and started roasting it.

It wasn't long before he could hear trepid footsteps nearing the clearing, but stopping just outside. He knew that the elfling probably didn't trust anyone at the moment and he only imagine why and what had led to him living out here.

Legolas ate some of the rabbit, but then pretended to get tired and lay down in the grass beside the fire. He wrapped his cloak around him and let his eyes glaze and breathing deepen. It was a whole hour before the elfling dared come out and even then he moved cautiously over to the rabbit and started eating, always keeping an eye on Legolas. Legolas was hard-pressed not to smile.

The next day the elfling dared come a little closer.

The third day even closer.

And the forth day he talked for the first time.

Legolas had just returned from hunting in the forest. He had gone out when the child had fallen asleep in his nest. As soon as he stepped into the clearing his eyes widened as he saw the child crying softly and hugging his legs to his chest. Legolas hadn't seen him cry before, he had always seemed so tough, but then it hit him. He didn't know how long the child had been alone out here and then his first contact in maybe years had gone without a word…

Legolas hurried over to the elfling and pulled him into his arms. He weighed the same, and was probably the same age as his sister Hithel back home. Immediately arms were locked around his neck and a shudder coursed through the child's body. Legolas sang softly and ran his hand up and down his back until he stopped crying, but since the child kept his grip on him he didn't let go and didn't stop singing. Singing usually calmed his sister.

When the boy was completely relaxed against him Legolas stopped singing. "What is you name little one?" He asked softly.

The elfling sniffed and whispered hesitantly, like he hadn't used his voice for some time, "Aewon…"

Legolas opened his eyes to the darkness in the cell. He was cold and he could see his breath before his mouth as he exhaled. His body and mind felt heavy after the dream he had had. It been the way he had met Aewon, all alone in the wilderness. He had stayed with him for two weeks and then took him to Mirkwood.

In the past he would have smiled over having such a dream but now pain stabbed through his heart. Aewon was dead. They had killed him to capture him. They had killed him because he had protected him…

The pain in his heart overrode the pain in his body and he felt his throat constrict. The cold suddenly seemed a lot colder and he shivered.

With a flash Legolas realized that he had almost given himself to his grief. He had to go on. Like he had done when his mother died. Like he had done when his men had died. Like he had done when the world had fallen to pieces. He had to hold on.

For what? An annoying voice inside his head spoke.

Legolas shook his head hardly to get the voice out. His family needed him… Kirion, Hithel, Thranduil, Faneth, Aewon… Legolas froze. Aewon was dead.

The cold was excruciating by now. Chilling him to the bone and marrow. Was this fading? His heart felt completely empty…

Aewon's grinning face came before his eyes. His mother's face came before his eyes. The thousand times his father had hit him zoomed through his mind. Hithel crying. Kirion crying. His dead man. His father's expression as he had stabbed him. Himself sitting on the floor crying as the pain inside him felt like it did now.

Every elf has its breaking point. The annoying voice said once more.

His father rocking back and forth begging, crying. Pain from the poison. Pain from torture, capture, wounds, heartache, hits, kicks, words, whips, knives, swords, bows, poison, daggers. Pain, pain, pain.

Aewon… Mother…

Legolas snarled and pushed himself from the floor. If there was one thing he wasn't then it was weak! He punched the wall hardly enough to almost break his hand and leave wounds on his knuckles.

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!

He had forgotten about all the elves in the room and when arms suddenly circled him and held him tight he struggled against them until the voice reached his ears.

"Legolas!" Thranduil called as he struggled to hold Legolas close, "Legolas stop! It's me!"

Realization hit Legolas like a hammer and he stilled completely. Thranduil maneuvered them both to the ground when Legolas' legs gave out from under him. As Legolas trembled Thranduil held him against his chest and hummed softly attempting to soothe him. He didn't know what was happening but Legolas was scaring him immensely. He seemed frail in his arms.

"Legolas…" Thranduil breathed, "What's wrong?"

Legolas shook his head sharply. He looked around the room and was utterly relieved to see that the only one who was awake and eyeing him concerned was Urion. When Urion and him locked eyes Urion's eyes widened and his mouth dropped.

Immediately Thranduil felt dread well up inside him over what Urion must have seen …Legolas' eye color. He spent a moment gathering his own courage before he looked at Legolas. Instantly his heart fell down to his stomach. Dark blue… They were dark blue…

"Legolas please…" Thranduil begged, "Tell me what's wrong. Tell me what's happening… If you have even the slightest hint of trust for me in you then please tell me what it is you're thinking that's destroying you."

Legolas gazed at Thranduil for some time before saying so softly that Thranduil had to strain himself to hear it. "Aewon is dead."

Thranduil opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment the door smashed open and Canben along with his guards came into the room. Immediately it was like all the emotion flooded out of Legolas' expression and his eyes became steely. Thranduil hated seeing the change. Hated that Legolas could just hide that amount of sorrow. Hated that it was necessary for him to do that. Hated that he had just now lost probably the only chance to comfort his son.

"Grab them." Canben said calmly and his elves went over to Legolas and Thranduil. Thranduil didn't fight them, but Legolas felt the need to punch something really hardly so he fought against them. It took five elves to bring him down after he had knocked the first three out. It felt strangely satisfying and even the pain afterwards when they hit him seemed to take his mind off the pain in his heart.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" Canben asked when he walked up to Legolas and grabbed his chin after having allowed his men to rough him up.

"Where are you little orcs?" Legolas asked, "Have they simply abandoned you and left you to hide behind someone else's skirts?"

The sound of Canben's fist connecting with Legolas' left cheek sounded throughout the room. Legolas flexed his jaw and spit some blood at Canben's feet. "You'll have to hit a lot harder than that I've been told that I am both stubborn and hard-headed, a dangerous combination if you ask Ecphen."

"You infuriate me! I have sent the orcs out to attack your precious little kingdom! I promised them blood and they were getting tired of waiting! I don't need you or your stupid path any longer! I am free to kill you!" Canben snarled and kicked Legolas to the ground. Four elves immediately grabbed Legolas' arms and legs as Canben uncorked the bottle a shoved the liquid down Legolas' throat giving him a larger portion than he had ever tried before. After looking dazed for a few minutes Legolas cried out in pain and struggled against the elves that held him down.

Legolas struggled to think of something else and not let the pain overwhelm him, but it never succeeded for more than bits of time.

"I am not an elfling!" Aewon persisted, "I can fight!"

Legolas chuckled at the determined expression on Aewon's face from where he was sitting in the clearing. He then got to his feet and got two wooden sticks from the forest, one slightly smaller than the other. He handed the small one to Aewon.

"Show me your skills then."

The pain coursed burning through his veins and he could feel his heart bursting in his chest from the rapid pace it was going at.

Legolas continued to parry Aewon's attacks while jibing him and calling him elfling. Chuckling inwardly when he saw Aewon's expression darken with anger and his attacks became even more ferocious.

"Move your feet elfling!" Legolas said.

"You're the one… who isn't moving…" Aewon panted annoyed. Then he sprang at him once more.

He could barely discern one voice from another around him as countless voices rose in what seemed like protest. The only thing that he was completely and painfully aware of was that his father was continually shouting his name.

Legolas was barely breathing as it seemed impossible for him to draw any amount of air into his lungs and even more impossible for his lungs to make something good of it.

"Again." Legolas said as he studied the slash Aewon made with the wooden sword Legolas had carved for him.

It was only yesterday Aewon had finally given up at defeating him and had instead asked him to train him, something that Legolas was happy to do.

"Keep your arms up."

"They are up!"

"Not high enough."

Legolas writhed in their grips as the pain destroyed him from the inside. Not even a scream could fight its way out of his mouth and he knew that it wouldn't help anyway. He clawed the insides of his tightened fists until he was sure that they were bleeding, but it couldn't take the attention away. Legolas forced himself to slip into another recollection.

Aewon ravenously dug into the food Legolas handed him. Finally after almost two week the child was up to eating larger rations and he had gained a little weight. Legolas watched with a smile on his lips as Aewon discarded anything that even bothered call itself manners.

Only an hour later he was sleeping. Not peacefully though, never peacefully. He fitfully tossed and turned and Legolas could do nothing but watch him as he kept watch as he had done all the other nights. When the moves became frantic Legolas sang and his voice as always soothed the elfling, causing him to move closer to Legolas.