Okay a few things first: this is my first ever LOTR fanfic. YAY! After years and years of reading other wonderful fanfics, I finally wrote my own. As much as I tried to put my creative writing degree to use, this is mostly a fluffy piece about Legolas and the woodland realm in general. I tried to make my characters 3-D and not flat, but honestly sometimes I am a lazy writer. I will probably spruce up parts later.
This fanfic follows the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and you have to assume there are jumps in time because it takes a heck of a long time and a lot of chapters to write to the timeline of the books/movies and honestly, ain't nobody got time for that. The main characters are adults, but as for Legolas and Elwena and their friends, they are still young adults enjoying life. Mostly, it's a happy ever after/happy in between the Hobbit and LOTR piece, because after all that darkness and evil, the characters all deserve to be happy.
Mirkwood Courier: A newspaper printed by journalists in Mirkwood. A network of news and raven carriers exist throughout Middle Earth, because news! Duh! Mostly how the peoples of Middle Earth get their news. Imagine the Harry Potter newspapers with moving pictures, but in this case, the photos are short movie scenes from the extended edition. Crazy, right? Well that's what fanfiction is for. It's elf magic, just go with it. So keep that in mind while this story follows some scenes from the books/movies and for the rest of it, you'll have to use your imagination.
*Classic disclaimer: If I had a hand in making The Hobbit or LOTR I wouldn't be writing fanfiction now would I? Nope, I'd be living high off the hog on a spin-off sequel about everyone's lives after the war. The appendices just weren't enough, Tolkien. The fangirls want more! In short, the characters originally brought forth by Tolkien are not mine; only the custom ones are. Also, I borrowed a few lines from a few other movies because I am a well-rounded fangirl.
Ch. 1: Elwena
Rare rays of morning sun shone through an open window upon a high level of the Mirkwood palace. The sun highlighted the golden trickles that lay in the walls. Particularly, the sunshine shone upon a young elleth's fingers as she worked a needle and thread through a patch of fabric, one patch of many in a large tapestry that told the tales of the Greenwood in its former glory. Before it was Mirkwood, before the darkness descended and turned the trees an unhealthy shade of brown and green and brought ugly, large arachnids to the forest.
Early morning hours before the palace got busy was Elwena's favorite time to work. No other loom-workers or clothes-fitters or what-have-you odd jobs disturbed her. Down and around and over again, she worked the blue thread into the tapestry. Sewing just came natural to her, as if she was born with the ability or blessed by the Valar to have such talent.
Lost in her thoughts until the clang of armor sounded as the morning patrols went out in search of spiders and deer when they could shoot it. Elwena broke her concentration and sprinted to the window in hopes of catching the sight of a blond-haired elf.
As she peered out the window, staying low enough not to be noticed by anyone else, there he was, giving instructions to two other captains, her friend Tauriel and the other captain whose name she did not know. Her heart fluttered as she watched him, commanding and composed. She could just barely hear the conversation through the open window, but she ducked out of sight when Legolas' gaze looked at the front face of the palace. When she peeked out again, the company was on its way into the forest.
Elwena would only see him again after the patrol returned in time for breakfast. The patrols made a quick sweep of the forest nowadays, reported their findings and quickly returning. Since the spiders had grown in numbers, King Thranduil wanted the guards staying closer to the palace and its surrounding villages. Her ada had been caught up in meetings since the first large spider entered Mirkwood. As a senior advisor to the king, his opinion was highly valued. Even though she was the daughter of a warrior, she did not inherit her ada's gift for fighting. Rather, she inherited her mother's gift for sewing.
Elwena returned to the tapestry but her mind was not on sewing and it took her longer than normal to finish the curve of the river. The week before, Legolas had sat next to her at breakfast and they had polite conversation. Elwena was almost too shy to say anything, for fear it would be something unintelligible or dimwitted. She managed a few sentences and then spent the rest of the time strategically eating so all she really had to do was nod and smile while he jabbered away.
Painfully shy was she and to tell Prince Legolas she was romantically interested in her was more than she dared to dream. What if he didn't return her feelings? Would she be made a laughing stock of the advisors' children? Her friends group? Which only really consisted of Tauriel and Nolien.
Nolien was one of the horse trainers, along with herself. If she inherited one thing from her father, it had been his skills as an equestrian. Nolien and herself had been childhood friends since the beginning, since both had learned to ride at the same time. Though Nolien was not a child of a royal adviser, his family still enjoyed a few more comforts than the average elven family, being they had trained horses for generations for the royal family.
"Elwena, how long have you been here?" a voice interrupted her. It was Moranna, the royal clothes maker. "I would guess before the dawn, am I right?"
"You would be right but I feel no guilt. I've almost completed the river," she ran her fingers along the fine silky threads.
"That you have. Just add some silver and it will shimmer just like our real river," Moranna said. "If you have time later today, would you be willing to help me fit a new tunic for the prince?"
Elwena blushed brightly. To be so close to the prince when he would be scantily clad (okay, he'd have his undershirt and pants on, but still) tickled Elwena's sides.
"Yes I'll come back for that. But I'm really only good at tapestries and other stuff. I haven't tried clothing yet," Elwena said.
"Well the thing about sewing is you need to be well-versed in all sewing, because one day, there won't be enough walls in the palace to hold all of your tapestries, at the speed you sew," Moranna joked.
"Well they can change them weekly," Elwena giggled. The two worked in a contented silence until the breakfast bell rang. Elwena stored the half-finished tapestry on the rack next to the window. Before she could move away, the guard returned, led by Legolas and Tauriel. Elwena drilled her eyes into Legolas, trying to take in every feature of him.
"Girl, believe you me, if you don't get your father to make a formal request between you two soon, someone else is going to snatch him up, like your red-haired friend there."
"Tauriel doesn't like Legolas. They fight all the time. They couldn't possibly be attracted to each other," Elwena said, pulling away from the window and scrunching her nose.
"Opposites attract, deary. You don't see it, but I've seen the way he looks at you. You're not the only shy one," she said, leading Elwena down the hall toward breakfast.
"Why is it so difficult? And he just jabbers along."
"It doesn't have to be. Whereas you are quiet in your shyness, he talks a mile a minute in his," she replied. "It's just like your sewing. Find a starting place and start. Tauriel's got a head start on you, so you better get going."
With a little bit of hope and more spring in her step, she walked toward the hall. Elwena was bound and determined to say something to the prince this morning. But what? Good morning my prince. Good patrol? Maybe. What say you, my prince? Ugh, no. Marry me.
No sooner than she had rehearsed the lines in her head, she walked straight into someone. Someone with blond hair. She gasped and quickly curtsied, "My prince. Good morning. Good patrol?"
He bowed his head back to her, "My lady. Yes it was, we found a company of dwarves and some spiders."
"Spiders!?" she said. "Are you hurt?"
"Why is that always the assumption?" he sighed and rolled his eyes, rubbing his forehead. Legolas was infamous for coming back with at least one injury from every patrol. "Just a small cut from a thorn bush no less."
"Luckily it wasn't on your pretty face!" Tauriel called as she walked over to the buffet table. Elwena's nostrils flared. Was Moranna right?
"Suppose that would be a loss, wouldn't it? Ah, as long as I could still be a warrior," Legolas said. He led Tauriel and Elwena to three chairs at the long table, where Tauriel recounted the tale to her friend.
"And then Legolas came sliding down a tree branch while firing arrows and also freeing a dwarf from the grasp of a spider," she said.
"But then Tauriel sprinted off another branch, shot an arrow, tucked and rolled and then shot another spider," Legolas said. And back and forth the two volleyed the tale.
"Wow, did anyone else help?" Elwena said without thinking it could be taken as an insult after the pair didn't reply right away. "I mean, it was almost a single-handedly fight for both of you?"
"Oh, the others always help," Tauriel cut in. "They watched our backs and kept an eye on the dwarves."
"Well that's good then," Elwena said, too shy to say thing else.
"Sometimes it does seem like Tauriel and I do a lot of the work, but I guarantee the soldiers are recognized handsomely," Legolas said. "If you'll excuse us, we have to go question a dwarf prince."
They bid Elwena farewell and left the hall. Elwena could swear she saw Tauriel positively skipping up and down as she walked alongside the prince. Her heart twisted, along with her stomach. Later, she'd question her friend. For now, she was going to see the horses and Nolien.