Wids Chapter 30

Legolas was up and dressed when he heard a soft tapping at the outer door of Tharmeduil's rooms.

'Healer Nestoril, good morning. Will you come in?'

'I will indeed, my prince. How was the night?'

'He's been awake a lot, writing and drawing, but he's sleeping now. He's not been ill again, though. No blood, no headaches.'

'That's excellent news. But what of you, Prince Legolas?'

'It's odd, hearing myself called 'prince' again.' He frowned. 'But, thank you for arranging for the bedding to be sent in. Not my own bed, but better than an open-sided flet. I don't suppose you know how my friends are?'

She smiled. 'I thought you'd ask. My healers say the care they've had has been instrumental in making sure they suffer no long-term issues…'

'Long-term? But…'

'Hunting venom and attack venom are not the same – we do not often come across attack venom and this sort seems to have been especially virulent.'

'The queens' guard spiders,' Legolas said. 'I've seen them at work, bigger than horses and as hard to kill as a hungry warg pack. But… my friends?'

'They will be fine. It may take a few weeks before the aches in their limbs properly leaves them and they are fit for duty, but don't fear – they'll be released from the healer halls by tomorrow at the latest. One – Govon – asked that his thanks be passed on to you.'

Legolas smiled. 'Govon was commander of the flet, and was worst affected. I worried over him.'

'Well, there is no need; he will be very well in time. Now. It has become a habit with me to break my fast with your brother. Today, I bespoke enough for three, if you will?'

'Yes, thank you.'

'Nestoril – is it you?' Tharmeduil's voice said from the inner room.

'Indeed it is I,' Nestoril smiled and went in to him, trying to look as if she wasn't in a hurry. 'Did you sleep well?'

'I've had a lot to think about,' Tharmeduil said. 'Some of the things I saw…'

'Well, we can work on it after breakfast, if you like. Any pain today?' She checked him over as she worked; his pulse was steady and strong, his eyes had cleared, and although he looked a little pale, he seemed well. 'Any numbness now?'

'No – no, it's fine, Nestoril. See?' he showed her how his entire left hand moved freely now, responded, all the fingers moving as they should.

'Good. Get yourself washed and dressed. Breakfast will be here soon. Your brother is going to join us.'

Nestoril kept a quiet observation on her charge during breakfast. She said nothing, but saw everything. The very minor tremor to Tharmeduil's left hand, the slight pallor to his skin. But he talked and smiled easily enough, even if he didn't laugh.

'Oh, one thing, Legolas…' Tharmeduil began once eating was finished and they were savouring hot fruit tisanes. 'We – Nestoril and I spend so much time together that we tend to forget our titles a bit. And she's even been known to remove that head-covering of hers…' He glanced at the healer, whose was currently wearing her blue head rail. 'Sometimes.'

'It's my opinion,' Nestoril began, ignoring the comment about her head-covering, 'that my attendance seems less intrusive if we forget I'm a healer and your brother a prince.'

'Don't let me stop you!' Legolas said with his bright grin. 'For five days on the flet I was: 'Hey, fair elf!' to my charges. I quite liked not being a prince, although Govon was a bit startled when his vision cleared and he recognised who this particular 'fair elf' was!'

'Oh, was he the one I saw you cuddling?'

'What did you say?'

Nestoril smiled at the shocked expression on Legolas' face and hastened to explain Tharmeduil's question to him.

'One thing we do now is record your brother's insights. In one, he was sure he saw you…'

'Shall we look over them again, Nestoril?' Tharmeduil suggested. 'Now more things have happened?'

'All right. Clear the table and I'll fetch the records.'

Curious, Legolas helped his brother gather up the breakfast things onto a tray and moved it off the table while Nestoril brought over a roll of parchment sheets from on top of a dresser.

'Start with these,' she said, turning back to the dresser where more papers and notebooks were stacked. 'I'll bring the rest presently.'

'It was one of the early ones, Nestoril…' Tharmeduil began spreading the pages out while Legolas looked on, delighted and intrigued.

'Did you do all this? It's very beautiful!' he said.

The parchment spread before him was covered with many small, colourful pictures and patterns, interweaving, randomly placed. Some had been circled with a charcoal line; an image of spiders rushing down the page, a hawk in flight, his father speaking with a group of warriors.

Tharmeduil tapped a spot on the page where someone who was obviously Legolas was staring into the eyes of another elf, cradling him in his arms.

'That's Govon!' Legolas exclaimed. 'And while I hate to disappoint you, he was very sick at the time and I was concerned for him; I was merely…'

'You say so now. Perhaps the cuddling of Govon is in your future? He wouldn't mind, you know…'

'Tharmeduil!' Legolas protested. 'I do not know why everyone is so keen to assign me to someone…'

'Perhaps because we don't like to see you alone. We know you feel it, sometimes.'

Legolas opened his mouth to expostulate, but Nestoril returned then with more papers and notebooks.

'So, we can circle the scene with Govon,' she suggested, careful not to use the word 'cuddle'. 'Ah. I note that on the first page there is only this, now.' She indicated an area of the page that seemed to show a divided landscape; it was a recurring theme on all the sheets and they had not quite sorted out its meaning yet. 'But as this appears on other pages, shall we mark it anyway?

Tharmeduil nodded. 'It feels good, to know everything on there has been dealt with.'

'Indeed. And what else can we see now that has come to pass?'

'Did you go and bandage that tree yet?'

Nestoril started, for she had indeed been thinking about returning to the grove of the fëar trees, although she doubted it would have occurred to her to apply a dressing to Tharmeduil's beech… but if he had seen it, perhaps it might help…

'Not yet. But I was intending to do so, when I have some time to spare.'

'Better leave that for now, then. But here.' Tharmeduil went to another sheet. On it was a small picture of four figures approaching the Great Gate. They held themselves tall, but there was something about the colours set around them to suggest something amiss. 'And here…' Another image, not far from the arriving figures, and it showed someone curled up in pain, someone who seemed, to Legolas, to have more than a passing resemblance to Tharmeduil.

'You, coming home,' Tharmeduil said. 'And me being ill last night.'

'You knew? You knew when you'd be ill?'

Tharmeduil nodded. 'More or less.' He grinned. 'You know, you got off lightly last night. If I hadn't known, I'd have had more to eat and…'

'Yes. You are my brother and I love you dearly, but that really was rather a test of my fraternal affection, especially as your clothing does not fit me.'

'Well, it's not likely to happen again,' Tharmeduil said. 'These attacks stop around Midsummer or just after.'

'What's this?' Nestoril said, reaching for a notebook and a writing stick. 'Is this new, or…?'

'No. It's just… clearer. There are more things to happen before then…'

'Go on, Tharmeduil?'

Legolas watched in fascination as Tharmeduil spoke and Nestoril began to hastily write in the notebook.

'…it's to do with the journey I keep seeing. A big one, it's… two houses coming together at the Great River… We're all there, you too, Nestoril… I'm ill, a lot, on the journey, when we get there… it's like I'm using the visions… but… then it stops. Everything becomes very calm and very dark. It's like the most beautiful night under the stars, all is soft and gentle and… and safe. I'm aware of sadness, but I don't know why and I don't know if it's me that's sad or if it comes from outside myself…'

He stopped and smiled swiftly.

'Nestoril, don't worry about it! I'm sure it'll be fine. Oh, and we should cross off the one where my father and Iauron are here, too, because Adar is on his way now and he's got our brother with him…'

Legolas made to get to his feet. 'Perhaps I should just…'

'Oh, no!' Tharmeduil grabbed his wrist. 'It's on the paper that you're here, so here is where you have to be!'