Chapter Five: Will You Wait For Me?

By Ellwyn J

The elf lay awake, staring blankly up at the canopy of stars overhead. Legolas could tell the girl encircled in his arms was in a deep sleep by the sound of her calm breathing. He, too, wanted to sleep, to forget everything for a night and to dream under the stars. But his mind kept him vigilant and he sat, engrossed in his thoughts.

He saw her riding again into Mirkwood, into their city, surrounded by his kindred. He saw her dismounting, and the cold glare she had given him. He saw her breathlessly admiring the beauty of the woods. She had been haughty and capricious, glaring at everything with defiance. He had known there was something behind that image, and it seemed now that it had finally resurfaced. But now, after finding her again, there was a great shadow always looming over her. He had felt the anxiety and suffering when she was sobbing in his arms. She was changed now, but not the way he had hoped she would: now, when he looked into her eyes, he saw a look of utter hopelessness.

Legolas sighed, leaned back onto the rock he had been sitting against, and listened to the calmly gliding waters of the Anduin, attempting to still his mind. Finally, he dropped off to sleep, soothed by the sounds of the wilderness he loved and by the quiet breathing of the sleeping girl.

* * * * *

Durwyn had watched Legolas jump from the tower and disappear from the city with a despairing expression on his face. He beckoned for Arod to follow him and went to the alcove, just moments after his prince had dashed away, leaving the Lady to sit in quiet pondering. They both kneeled before Galadriel.


Durwyn asked in a hesitant whisper, "Nîn arwen, iad nant mîn ernil?" My Lady, where has our prince gone? Galadriel's eyes opened and a look of sorrow swept over her ivory face.

She did not reply for many a moment, so Arod added, "And the half-Elven girl we came with. What has become of her?"

"They have departed. They travel on their own path, now." The Lady sounded tired when she spoke. "You must leave upon yours."

"But we had journeyed this far to seek revenge for the pain inflicted on our beloved ones…" Durwyn interjected, but was stopped by a sigh from Galadriel.

"The suffering they endured was indeed tragic," she said calmly, "but do not bring more pain into this world that has borne a great many sorrows. Follow the road back to your home. There is nothing that remains for you to do." The finality in her voice made it feel impossible for the two Silvan elves to do naught other than she decreed. They nodded in resignation, realizing there was something happening that they should not interfere with.

* * * * *

The sun had barely shone itself above the horizon of the mountains in the east. It was bright but the morning air was cold and damp, and Legolas could feel Ellwyn shivering beneath her cloak. They had been riding for more than an hour now, her in front, directing Phaere, and Legolas behind her, his arms around her waist. He held her closer and she relaxed noticeably. Resting his head on her shoulder so that his cheek was pressed near hers, his mind drifted to his thoughts the previous night.

Legolas asked, very softly as if careful not to disturb the peacefulness of their surroundings, "Why did you leave alone?"

Although he could not see her face, he felt her shift slightly and she turned her head away. He pulled his head back and moved his hand to her hand, warming her cold fingers with his. "Why did you leave?" he asked again, a trace of annoyance in his voice. "I wanted to protect you. Arod and Durwyn wanted to avenge the suffering of their families and friends…do you not think it selfish of you to go on without them?"

Selfish? Ellwyn smiled bitterly, though he still could not see her face. She looked down at her hands buried in Phaere's mane and then at Legolas' long fingers resting on her waist. If anything, it was far from selfish. More like selflessness. Oh, Legolas, there is so much you do not know, that I so wish to tell you. But you will never know or understand until it is too late… Why did he have to come? Why did she let him? She felt a miserable aching in her heart, and guilt pounded into her head. She was grateful he was there; his presence was so comforting and she had regretted having to leave him. When she saw the love and warmth in his eyes she wanted to tell him everything and to make him go back, to leave her alone once more, as she should be. But she could never tell him, because he would only insist for her to turn back then. He would never understand the anguish she had endured since she could remember. He could never feel as alone as she did, or feel the despair in her heart. He would never understand her need to find her father.

"I wanted to be alone," she replied finally. She could tell Legolas was not satisfied by her answer because he sat back slightly.

"Aníron istad eg," he breathed, lowering his face so that his lips brushed against the curve of her neck when he spoke.

"I do not understand," she replied with a hint of irritation. She wanted to yell out, 'stop tormenting me with the beautiful words of your language and the touch of your skin,' but she bit down on her lower lip.

"I want to know you," he said quietly, after a pause in which he kissed her cheek lightly.

I want you to know me too, she thought, to share it all with me. Share with me the pain, the anger, the frustration…the love. Ellwyn shook her head and sat forward, pulling away.

Legolas felt a deep ache in the recesses of his heart. "Ellwyn, stop it. Accept someone's love for once. You cannot live your entire life without trusting someone. You cannot live on your own."

She flinched at the harshness in his voice. He knew that his words would smart, and she could not blame him for saying so, for she, in turn, had caused him so much more hurt. "Legolas…there are things you do not understand, nor can you know of them. I left you because of them, and I wish you would have left when I asked you to."

Legolas sighed. He could see the hills of the Emyn Muil to the west across the river and could hear the roaring of the Falls in the distance. He knew there were things she had locked within her that she would not share. "Ellwyn," he said, "I would never have gone back no matter how you begged me--"

He was interrupted by an unnatural sound of a bird squawking overhead. They looked up simultaneously and saw a black bird circling the air a few hundred feet above them. Ellwyn halted Phaere and twisted around to face Legolas. He returned her worried glance. "Craban," he muttered.

"What?"

"A black bird. They are spies of the dark, servants of Sauron. It has seen us."

"But couldn't we be mistaken…? It might be just--" she stopped when it turned and flew straight in the direction of Minas Morgul.

"No," he said with finality, "it flies to the black lands to tell of our coming. Once we cross over the mouths of the Entwash, we will be in Orc territory."

* * * * *

The night air was cold and biting. The moon had completely disappeared behind threatening gray clouds that shrouded the entire dome of the sky, but there was a hint of silvery light that still shone through. Ellwyn shivered and pulled her cloak around her. They could not light a fire, for they could not risk being found by the spies of Sauron or even the men of the southwest lands. Legolas sat resting against an outcropping of stones, and she could tell even in the darkness that he was watching her. She began to feel the sense of despair that always came over her at night, just as it had years ago upon the Long Lake. Her eyes were beginning to water and sting at the lifeless air and she shut them tightly. She sat there, huddled against her knees, for quite some time, fighting against the will to let all her secrets out in a torrential wave of sobs.

A hand lifted her chin and then rested on her cheek. She opened her eyes slowly to see Legolas kneeling before her, a look of the utmost concern and love in his eyes. The elf was so in tune with everything that he even noticed her discomfort in the black of the night, and she found herself wondering about the seasons and times he had seen in his extended life. She asked in a very small voice, "Legolas, will you tell me a story of your people?" Ellwyn felt utterly stupid, thinking she sounded like a child begging to be comforted with a story at night.

But Legolas sat down next to her and then began in a quiet, soothing tone, "An Elven-maid there was of old, and she was called Nimrodel. She was beautiful and fairest of her people, and there was an elf that fell deeply in love with her. His name was Amroth, and he was an Elven-king of Lothlorien…he disappeared into the sea, looking for Nimrodel, and never was seen again by his people. Nimrodel's kindred left their dwellings and departed, and she was lost far in the South, in the passes of the White Mountains. She came not to the ship were Amroth waited for her. But in the spring when the wind is in the new leaves the echo of her voice may still be heard by the falls that bear her name. And when the wind is in the South the voice of Amroth comes up from the sea; for Nimrodel flows into the Silverlode, that Elves call Celebrant, and Celebrant into Anduin the Great," he paused to beckon to the great waters of the river near which they were sitting. "And Anduin flows into the Bay of Belfalas whence the Elves of Lorien set sail. But neither Nimrodel nor Amroth ever returned. It is said that she had a house built in the branches of a tree that grew near the falls, and maybe she dwells there still."

Ellwyn smiled, his warmth washing over her in waves. She closed her eyes as she listened to his quiet voice, and lost herself so completely that she did not realize when Legolas stopped speaking. When she opened her eyes he was gazing into her face, one hand resting on her leg and the other buried in her hair. Her eyes widened as he leaned in closer, and she could detect the faintest trace of the pungent scent of the woods. Then his lips closed over hers, enveloping her in sweetness. He pulled away and caressed her face.

"That was a beautiful story," she murmured, "but did Amroth ever see Nimrodel again?"

"Perhaps," said Legolas, a smile playing across his face, "perhaps he could only find her once more in his own dreams, and forever he waited at the Mouths of the Anduin for her to run into his waiting arms. And so he waits now, as he will for many years to come…maybe a day not far from now, she will hear him calling for her and travel down the Anduin to the one who loves her."


In the faint light she saw him grin, and she smiled inwardly at his innocent charm. Legolas sat back again, relaxing, his arm around her shoulders. "Will you wait for me there, when I am gone?" she asked quietly after a moment of silence. But he had already drifted into the fields of dreams.

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All names, places, or plot/history affiliated with LOTR are entitled to J.R.R. Tolkien. The rest is from my imagination. If there are any errors in the history/land/names of anything related to Tolkien's works, please inform me.