A Cure for Love
Lea of Mirkwood
Disclaimer: I do not own anything you would find in the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ciriel and Eleniel are mine, as are the random Elves you find walking around. Song belongs to Loreena McKennitt, called Samain Night.
Explanation: I had no intention of trying my hand at a separate Legolas romance after going through four or five notebooks in Cast Your Fate to the Wind (now under heavy revision and removed from FanFiction.Net for the time being.), but got a perfect idea from one line of dialogue in a Jude Deveraux romance called A Perfect Arrangement. So here it is, the plotbunny that wouldn't die.
Author's Note on the Genre: I'm putting this under Romance/Comedy, but it really borders on parody as well. The extreme to which Legolas falls for Eleniel (who is a classic Mary-Sue) reminded me of a lot of parodies I've read, and I think it can be called a parody as well. All the descriptions of Eleniel are cathartic exercises for me in letting out all Mary-Sue-ish things I have read. So yes, that song does come from somewhere else. But thankfully, it is not a pop song. And it was difficult for me to type the word "dulcet" in association with a singing voice.
2948, Rivendell
Legolas slightly resented his father's assumption that he needed a vacation. Just because Thranduîl had found him sitting bolt upright in the study, surrounded by papers detailing complaints about land borders and fast asleep, did not mean he needed a break. The fact that he was asleep had nothing to do with it. The Elven prince shook his head and patted his horse's neck lightly.
"There you are," he said, steering the palomino towards the box of grain. "Nice grain for you. Good boy. I'll come back tomorrow and hopefully sneak back home."
His horse definitely did not just give him a reproachful look.
"Stop that!" he hissed. "I do not need a rest!"
The palomino turned back away from him and began munching his grain so mundanely that Legolas felt that he had, indeed, imagined the look. Maybe I do need a rest.
Legolas left the stables, trying to ignore the memory of his father hiding chuckles when he had appeared in the great hall with a smear of ink on his temple. It hadn't been his fault that he had not slept in days and hadn't paid attention to the ink blotch on the side of his quill, and then wiped his face. Not his fault, not his fault. As he walked through the small path through the snow-white birch trees, he heard a high voice singing a lovely song. He stopped dead in his tracks and listened closely. Yes, that was a voice, and it was most likely not in his head. He tilted his head, trying to discern the words. The sweet dulcet tones rang through the trees and was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.
"When the moon on a cloud cast night
Hung above the tree tops' height
You sang me of some distant past
That made my heart beat strong and fast
Now I know I'm home at last
You offered me an eagle's wing
That to the sun I might soar and sing
And if I heard the owl's cry
Into the forest I would fly
And in its darkness find you by.
And so our love's not a simple thing
Nor our truths unwavering
But like the moon's pull on the tide
Our fingers touch our hearts collide
I'll be a moonsbreath by your side."
Legolas stepped from the path and started towards the sound of the voice singing. He pushed aside the leaves and branches, walking faster and faster until he stepped into a clearing. Sitting in front of a large oak tree was the fairest Elven maiden he had ever seen. He stopped dead in his tracks, mouth open in shock. She was singing, an endless, wordless note that seemed to sing to the stars. Her long hair was a silvery gold, and cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall. Her skin was pale and shone like the moon. He could not see her eyes, for they were cast down and masked by her long eyelashes. One graceful hand was slowly swishing the water in a small pool by her side, making small tinkling noises like bells that accompanied her song. With every swish of her hand, a few droplets of water would hit her gown, making little darker spots on the pale pink cloth. Legolas looked down for a moment, and realized he was standing in a stream. He leaped back quickly, and with the movement and the noise the Elven maiden looked up in surprise, her long note of song abruptly ceasing. Legolas stared for a few breathless moments at the shocking blue of her eyes, the clearest blue, as blue as the skies, as blue as sapphires-
Before he fell over backwards.
--- --- ---
It had taken the Prince of Mirkwood about ten seconds of sitting on his backside in the middle of the stream with the lovely Elf tittering merrily at him before he realized he really ought to be elsewhere. Right then. So he had jumped up and ran out of the forest, as though an army of orcs had been on his tail. In retrospect, running like a chicken was probably the least dignified thing he could have done, but it was over now, and no amount of perfect hindsight would erase that. That or the laughter of Elladan when he saw his northern friend walking into his hall with one soaking boot and a wet splotch on his behind.
But what was done was done, and he might have to hide his face when he went out in public now.
Just in case he might see her.
But not in any way because he was embarrassed. Oh no.
--- --- ---
Ewwww...don't you hate Eleniel already? And she even has the sappy type name. "Maiden/Daughter of the Stars." I can't wait to put poor Legolas out of his misery. Sorry this was so short. But it's my goal today to get up this, a chapter of Morning Rising and a chapter of Shield and Sword.
Feedback is much appreciated.
