Malthenpeg
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Author's Notes: I'm going to be taking some general
liberties (and a few major ones) on LotR as this goes along. The
characters, at least their appearances, are based more upon the movie than
the books.
Hope you like it!
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Four
"I thought it all a dark dream, a conjury created within
my mind by the burning plants, but... I woke with a foul taste in my mouth...
dark blood on my chest, face and hands. Orc's blood. I could not remember
what I had done exactly, but I knew..."
"A cat..." Aragorn said softly, recalling the small,
rarely seen animals. There was one in all of Rivendell, a gray beast who
allowed only barest glimpses before vanishing into the shadows. In Bree they
were a handful, scruffy monsters almost indistinguishable from the rats they
hunted. They did not seem in the same class as the fair elf before him. Then
it came to his mind what Elrond had said on his one mentioning of the spell.
'A magick borne of desperation and fear, Estel. First
discovered by those of the Eldar in fear of both going into the West or the
Halls of Mandos. They forsake their elven forms in exchange for those of
the creatures of fur and feather, until even their minds are no longer as
ours. They are lost to us, indistinguishable from the beasts of the forest
until slain. Only in death do they regain their natural forms. It has caused
great strife with every cast, it is forbidden to even entertain the idea
of the Rite, and it should only be spoken of with careful discretion. I only
tell you now because in this time as the dark powers grow stronger, though
I pray it not to be, you may find that the deer or bird you slay with your
arrow is not the beast you thought.'
"Save the markings you still look as you should... I
thought the magick..."
"You see a glamour..." there was pained reluctance in
the elf's voice, choked, "Gandalf helped me place it upon my..."
"Gandalf? Then he knows...?"
"He has kept my secret well for more than a century.
I went to him after the... the changes became more noticeable. It hid all
but the marks... those showed through even the strongest spell"
"Show me?"
"Aragorn..."
"Can it be so bad?"
With a heavy sigh, Legolas relented, closing his eyes.
His body shimmered briefly as the glamour faded. He opened his sapphire eyes
and looked at Aragorn with more pain than the ranger could fathom.
"Here is your answer. The punishment for my foolish
impulses."
Aragorn slowly circled the half-cat standing demurely
before him. Indeed, the glamour had done a fine job of hiding Legolas' nature.
He gingerly stroked the soft fur of the elf's shoulder, feeling him flinch
under his touch. It felt of the finest silk, and he thought for a moment
on all the men he knew who would gladly hunt down the prince for his pelt.
It frightened him, the mental image of the beautiful cat-elf slaughtered,
muscles bared and skin stretched on a drying rack to be turned into a cloak
or perhaps gloves, and his face wrenched in revulsion.
Legolas read the disgust on Aragorn's face as directed
at him and fought the urge to run. He should never have come. He was a liability
to the Fellowship. Aragorn's hand ran down his spine, lingering for a moment
at the base of his tail before it encircled the long appendage and ran down
it. It surprised the ranger when the cat-elf's tail coiled around his wrist
as he touched it.
"Can... Can you use it as a possum does?"
"No... It is flexible, but has no real strength in it.
It is at best a decoration."
Strong human hands left his tail and instead touched
his ears, feathered along his jawbone. Despite his best efforts, Legolas
could not suppress a soft purr as the ranger's deft fingers stroked the velvet
of them. He did not see Aragorn smile a bit, but he felt the fond stroking
increase in pressure. The elf half-closed his eyes and the thrumming intensified.
To be touched with such gentleness in this form, this bestial form...
The sudden weight of the cat-elf suddenly pressing against
his chest started Aragorn, and he stumbled back. Legolas dug sharp claws
into the leather of his doublet face pressed against his chest. Tears slowly
leaked from between tightly closed lids, streaking the sandy fur
dark.
"I am barred from finding love and comfort among my own;
any that would see my marking would surely flee or slay me. Not thinking,
I have made myself a monster!"
"You are not a monster. You are still beautiful. Moreso.
I do not lie. Any who would reject you in this form is indeed a fool." Aragorn
stroked Legolas' hair gently, feeling the claws dig deeper into his
clothes.
"Could you love me? Would you, in this furred form?"
Legolas' words came out in a growling purr, and Aragorn wondered if he knew
just how seductive it sounded, "My friend, things that I would like to tell
you, things that fill my heart to bursting..."
"Legolas..." the human felt the half-cat's hands snake
up his chest to his neck, the claws lightly scraping the flesh there. Soft
lips brushed his throat, nipping lightly, and he closed his eyes to savor
the feeling. Legolas' tongue raked through the stubble of his jaw, a strange
feeling.
"Do you know what it is to love another and never be
able to... to know they will see you as a beast to be shunned..?" Petal-soft
lips across his cheek. Aragorn let his hands wander down to rest on Legolas'
back, down to his hips... The prince made a soft noise and pressed closer,
his sharp teeth catching bits of skin along the ranger's jawbone. Nails dragged
red lines down his neck, causing him to wince. The claws caught in something,
tangling. He opened his eyes long enough to see what had snared the half-cat.
The chain around his neck. The Evenstar.
Arwen...
He didn't mean to be so rough in pushing Legolas away,
but he also caught the elf off-guard. Legolas stumbled back away from him,
graceless in his surprise, and fell among the stones and soil of the bank.
He looked up at Aragorn with a look of betrayal, mud splattering his pale
flanks. The ranger shook his head in apology, at the same time stepping back
a bit.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean... It is... I do not... it
is not right."
"I know." Legolas whispered, barely audible, "it is never
right. Not with the likes of myself."
"Legolas..."
"Leave me be. I will... I will rejoin you and the others
in my own time."
Legolas watched Aragorn reluctantly go, following his movements as far as feline hearing and sight could before slipping back into the water and diving beneath where he could not feel the tears pouring unbidden and unimpeded from his eyes.
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And here I leave it for a while... but not for long. This story started out with intent to go in one direction and has done a -189 degree turn. Which means I have to replan a few things... I've got most of it figured out fairly well...
Oh, and if anyone is curious as to how I think he looks as a furry, since I did write this mess... http://home.att.net/~Amarin_Astarte/Malthenpeg.jpg Elves make good kitties IMNSHO! ^_^ _^..^_
Matta ne!
Amarin-chan