Chapter 39

As the sun's journey curved even further westwards I felt my arms fall limp and heavy to my sides. Finally, I admitted defeat and did not make another attempt to lift the wooden sword.

"Enough?" Glorfindel was grinning, but he was leaning back against the fence and his breath, too, came in quick puffs.

"Aye," I said. "Enough."

There was a hint of an ache in my shoulders and my breeches were matted with dust. I longed for a bath and the stillness of evening. Yet I was proud and happy that I had made it here today.

Four feet away from me, Elladan also lowered his sword and nodded at me. "Not bad, father," he said, and there was dirt on his cheeks but a sparkle in his eye. "You fight better than most orcs."

"You are generous with your praise," I told him dryly.

"I do my very best," he said. Then he winked at me. "Indeed, I have learnt from the master himself." And his grin was directed at Glorfindel.

"Hold your tongue," said my Captain. "And gather the swords together, and Legolas' knife. You shall have the honour of carrying them back. How is that for showing generosity?"

"I would be glad to help," said Legolas, who was coming up to join us. Elrohir was only a step or two behind. They were well-matched in battle and Glorfindel had made them work hard. "Give me your sword, Elladan, and I shall carry it for you."

But Elladan shook his head "No," he said. "Give me yours instead. You are our guest and it was our idea that you should join us."

At his words, there flashed across Legolas' face a mix of emotions that came in such a hurry that I did not have the time to read them all. However, the sight tugged oddly at my heart and I thought I understood. But he quickly recovered and surrendered both sword and knife to Elladan. Elrohir swept past us then and nodded at me, and spoke:

"Best we disarm you, father, lest you should develop too strong a taste for fighting and ride off and leave us to governing."

"Perhaps it would do you good," I told him, but gave my sword up.

"Let us not find out," said he. "Come, brother! I have had enough dust kicked into my face for one day." Then he shot Legolas a sideways, sly grin. "I know that trick now. Next time I will be prepared."

Legolas acknowledged this with a nod but then he, too, grinned. "Perhaps next time it will rain."

In the end, Glorfindel joined them and carried two swords of his own. They disappeared off into the sunlight that melted down into the Valley and for a while I stood listening to the weaving together of their voices. Then Glorfindel's laughter exploded into the air and my heart was filled with the deepest love for he had played a role in my sons' lives I had not even seen the need for, and there were no words to describe my gratitude. That was when Legolas stirred.

"My lord?"

I nodded. "Aye, let us return to the house."

Sunset was still a few hours away and over us, where we were walking, the sky was high and a luminous milky blue. We wandered slowly towards the house between the streams and a butterfly followed us above the grass for a while until it fluttered off eastwards.

After a while, Legolas drew closer and caught my hand in his. He smiled as I looked at him.

"You look happy," he noted.

"Aye, happy and weary. Next time, please remind me to remember that I have urgent matters to see to when Glorfindel demands another round."

He laughed at this. "We shall see," he said. Then a glint of something very different flashed in his eye. "For it might be that I enjoy the sight of you like this, my lord."

My mouth went as dry as the day but I hoped it did not show. Instead of speaking, I strengthened my hold on his hand and we continued up the path.

The grassy lanes on either side of the running waters were cut off by a line of blooming jasmines and I could not help but notice how Legolas' shoulders dropped just the width of a breath as we stepped in between the bushes. For the path continued on through them, though it was narrower. Now, I also cherished the flowers and their sweet heady scent, but Legolas' seemed to melt into them and I think he did not notice that he came to a stop and closed his eyes.

Gold and white among the green. I watched him and wondered once again if my Valley was enough for him. Yet in that moment I felt less fear and more a willingness to finally know for certain. Therefore, I drew closer to him and when he smiled, I brushed a kiss to his lips.

"Do you know you look as though you wish to be one of them?" With my knuckles, I lightly traced his cheekbone and my skin came away dusty. "Tell me, have I leaves and branches enough for you?"

His grey-blue eyes slowly opened. There was no other way to describe the way he looked other than sated. It sent a liquid warmth flowing down my spine and I felt a peace that I had not anticipated, and I knew beyond a doubt that I was feeling what he was. But Legolas held my gaze and from far away I could hear the waterfalls merrily tumbling down from the rock.

"I should like another apple tree," he said.

I blinked at him and he laughed. The space we were standing in rang with the melodious sound of it and it blended with the song of the waters and the dance of a faint breeze that stirred the leaves.

"You shall have two," I said, when I found my voice again.

"Then I shall be content," he smiled. But then he stepped even closer to me and my arms found their place around his waist. "Nay," he amended softly, "not merely content, but delighted. And it shall be more than enough."

o.O.o

We had made it out of the bathing chamber but no further than the bed. If one of us was to blame for that it was Legolas for the way in which his gaze had lingered upon me as we washed had driven every other idea from my mind. And yet we had ended up talking and now I was nearing another point:

"So, when Gil-galad dwelt here–"

His eyes widened. "Gil-galad dwelt here?"

"Yes," I said. "For three years he and Círdan stayed beneath my roof ere we marched to war upon the plains of Dagorlad." I heard myself the bitter streak in my voice. "And there, in his defiance of Sauron, he was slain, alongside Elendil."

Legolas nodded but there was still a sense of bewilderment about him. He sat silent for a while before he finally shook his head.

"Gil-galad was here..."

And despite the lingering traces of sorrow, and the memory of all the terror that Evil had wrought in those blackened days, I found that I smiled as I looked upon him.

"Well," I said, "not in my bedchamber. And certainly not in my bed."

Then I laughed, and I reached for him

"Come!"

I urged him down to lie beside me again. He was supple as sunlight but his eyes were fastened on my face and there was in them a shift to grey. I lifted my hair over my shoulder to better be able to see him.

Against the pillow, he shook his head anew.

"I could never match you, my lord," he said softly. "I will lag behind you always. For you have seen all that once was and will never come again."

"I have," I agreed. "I have seen enough for both of us."

With that, I bent my head and placed a kiss over his heart. Then I glanced up again and though I still perceived in him a shade of thoughtfulness, I repeated the action. A third time I kissed his chest, and then did not raise my head again for a quite some time.

Sinking kisses into his skin, I worked my way to one of his nipples and took it gently between my teeth. At this he arched up and let go of a shaky laugh.

"You make a good argument, my lord."

"Hm," I agreed, before I kissed him there also.

His hand came into my hair and he held my head gently as I teased him with my tongue until he was squirming under me and his breaths turned into whimpers. It was then that I lifted my head again and was delighted to note how his eyes had darkened.

"Your hand, my lord?"

I propped myself up on an elbow and gave my free hand to him, and he took it, and guided it under the covers. There I found him aroused.

He swallowed as I encircled his length and gave a first stroke. It was a wonder to me how much I had come to crave this form of lovemaking.

"There is no competition, Legolas," I told him. "There is no race. As for Gil-galad, over two thousand years and more have I had to contemplate his life and deeds and doom. Should I wish to do so further, I could beg of Círdan to come here and with him speak of it."

Absurdly, in that moment, I remembered Thranduil and how he had mocked me. All of a sudden, his derision did not seem altogether unreasonable.

"Too long, I suspect, have I let the past cast its shadow over me," I said now. "I think it is time I looked also to the future."

Legolas shifted. His length was still in my hand and I gave him a new stroke, firmer this time. His lips parted a little. So I stroked him again, and a thrill sped through me at the way he filled my hand and was hot and hard.

I smiled and shifted, too, until his mouth met mine.

"Will you be my future?" I murmured against his lips.

His eyes were the hue of a thunderstorm but his smile was soft like dew.

"Aye," he whispered.

Then I stroked him until he trembled and his hands fisted in the linen. I bore down upon him with kisses and he curled around me as best he could until my hand was quite trapped between us and I could no longer move it. His breath came like fire over my neck and his voice well-nigh drowned in the heat:

"Please, Elrond..."

It shook something within me. I kissed his shoulder and extricated my hand and stroked my palm over his hip. He fell against me completely and I ran my fingertips over his skin until I could dip them into his crease. His whimper turned into a moan when I found his opening but he did need not much this time. The press of a fingertip against it made him stiffen against me, and one more kiss to his throat saw him shudder through his release in my arms.

I tightened my hold on him, felt every tremor and even thought I heard his heartbeat thunder

through him. I caressed him: his back, his thigh, his arm. I chased the shivers that ran across his skin, and I breathed in greening leaves dappled with sunlight. When his breathing had slowed at last, I gave him a little nudge and could finally look into his face again.

When he was spent, he glowed.

"I love you," I whispered.

When he would have blushed and turned his face away I brought him back and fixed his eyes with mine.

"Tell me again," I said, "if you will be my future?"

There appeared a line between his brows and I perceived in him a sudden rising tide of questions. Gently, I stroked his cheek and held his gaze.

"Be no longer my guest, Legolas, but make your home here. In every way possible, be my future?"

And there burst into his eyes the most brilliant light and I smiled as I kissed him. I did not need to hear him speak for his answer came exploding into his mind, and it was my own and there I read it; and as my arms came around him I vowed to him that I would keep him in my heart always.

There among the white linen we lingered, skin to skin, and after a while I closed my eyes and felt him settle against me. There, I rested my mind in his and together we strayed on starlit dream-paths until the Moon had climbed high over the Valley and the dew upon the grass was strewn pearls of silver. That was when he kissed me and brought us back and once again I looked upon his face; and his presence in my arms was sweeter than any song that had ever floated on the summer wind beneath the green crowns of the trees in my Valley.

TBC