Slowly, very slowly the crouching figure lowered his frail hands from his pointed ears. He was obviously greatly overwhelmed and his face was lined with strain. The haunted eyes raised and met Legolas's eager expression with one of blank ignorance.
"Lianrei?" Legolas said again, the joy ebbing from his face. "Why do you not speak?" For the first time he seemed to notice how weak his kinsman was. There was nothing about him to indicate he was an elf at all, but for the pointed ears. He was groveling pathetically in the dirt, an expression of childish fright on his face. The sight seemed to stab into Legolas sharply and he shrank back, horrified. "Liarnei! You must know me... It is I, Legolas, your brother! I thought you fell at the hand of the enemy. Please speak!" He put out his hand, as though somehow he could reach into the mind of the creature before him and make him understand, but Liarnei only gave a start of fear at the sudden movement and scuttled farther back.
Aragorn looked as though he was going to say something, for indeed the entire fellowship, or what was left of it, seemed almost unable to move as they tried to grasp the situation, but before he could Legolas shoved past him and rushed toward his brother frantically. The spell was broken, and before anyone could stop him Liarnei scrambled to his feet and stumbled back into the woods.
Legolas would have overtaken him, but Aragorn held him back firmly, with the help of Gimli who stood in front of his friend, obviously pained by what he had just seen. It took all their strength to wrestle him to a sitting position on a boulder, and his heart-wrenching cries were enough to tear their souls in two. Finally he regained control of himself and he fell silent, staring blankly at the ground, his long hair hanging about his face.
Pippin cast an anxious glance into the forest. He was about to go off in search of his friend, but Merry shook his head. "Let him go Pip. He's been through a lot."
"But is it safe out there? He cannot protect himself, or, at least I do not think so, and night is coming."
"Treebeard's people will make sure he doesn't come to any harm," said Merry with a sad smile. "I know you're worried Pip, so am I. Gandalf said that this would be difficult, but I must say it is more then I expected. However I think he would want us to stay with Aragorn and the rest. We are still a fellowship, though not all of us remain."
Reluctantly Pippin agreed. They turned and went to sit with the others. Nothing was said for a long while. They silently shared the grief of all that happened. Finally Legolas stood and strode off behind the buildings alone. No one raised a hand to stop him, for they knew he was battling despair deep inside himself, and such a burden could not be eased by even the truest of friends.
After he was out of sight Gimli found his voice again and stood, leaning on his axe, his keen eyes glaring down at the Hobbits. "What do you rascals know about this?"
Merry opened his mouth to answer, but Pippin quickly cut in looking distressed and a bit guilty, "Was it our fault? We did not know that they knew each other... And we would never have guessed he was Legolas' brother. I didn't even know he was an Elf! The man never spoke a word to us, ever, and Gandalf said nothing about this. Just that he would bring distress to the fellowship. I never thought it was be like this!" And with that he burst into tears.
Aragorn sighed deeply and shook his head. "While you may be a trouble maker I cannot see either of you two purposefully trying to hurt any of us. But there are many things not yet explained and I can see that another tale is at hand. Tell us now where you found this... elf... and perhaps some of the puzzle will begin to fall into place."
Merry sighed, looking nearly as downcast as Pippin. He took a bit of cured meat wrapped in a handkerchief from his pocket and began to chew on it while he related the events.
