This has been a labour of love and I want to dedicate it to a group of three friends who have been very kind to me recently. This is for Rachel for being always there, Jo for always cheering me up no matter what, and Isabelle for listening to me talking non-stop about fanfiction for months without once complaining. This is for you guys.

Anna.

~

Chapter Twenty: Coda

Every good story has an end. And this particular end was set in a place that most of us spend most of our lives. The bedroom. It was the bedroom of a fine house in Ithilien. The fine house in Ithilien belonged to Legolas Greenleaf the hero of this story; he shared it with his lover Eldarion, the son of the King.

They had created a bond many years ago in the forest that ran alongside their house. The leaves had fallen many times over the very spot where they stood and embraced, concluding the ceremony. Legolas was older than he could remember, but at least Eldarion remembered his age. He was of a grand age, one hundred and four. Only a fraction of the age of the elf that was lying beside him. Still, it made him feel old and weary.

The blood of Numenor granted to him by his father and some of the elvish blood from his mother had kept him sprite and youthful -though he denied it- long after the ages when mortal men become frail and their health declines.

The mother and father he had inherited it from had passed away. Elessar had been the first to go, Eldarion and Legolas stood in the Silent Street as Arwen came out slowly, and her eyes moist and she told him that the King had gone.

The Evenstar then had wandered in Lothlorien where her people had long gone and then finally, she lay down upon the mount where she had met her husband and then she died.

Gimli had gone to his rest before them. Tragically he had been killed in a mining accident. The stone that he loved so much had ironically been his killer. It had taken Legolas many months to recover from the dwarf's death.

Eldarion's blue eyes kept their sparkle and his dark hair had lightened to grey. His skin was covered in more wrinkles, but he had not let his figure go. He had remained slender and tall, not letting old age weigh his shoulders down. His breath now came harder. It rattled around in his lungs slightly before he breathed. His heartbeat was still steady as ever.

Legolas had his head rested against the man's chest as it slowly beat. He had listened to the regular rhythm of his heart every night since they were wed.

Though the prince had become mortal, forsaking the long lives of his people, there was only one visible sign of aging. His beautiful golden hair that Legolas was gifted with, had lightened considerably and now in his gentle features could be discerned an uncanny resemblance with his mother. His hair was the whitest blonde as Niphredil's had been and his dark eyes shone with wisdom and pain intermingled.

His nose was long and proud, his cheekbones high and prominent and his eyelashes were long and black as they occasionally fluttered against his marble skin when he blinked. He could not sleep that night. There was something in the air.

A decay that Legolas could only describe as mortality. He knew that Eldarion was dying. This night was his last on Earth.

Legolas shifted slightly so that his white head was rested straight above the slowly beating organ. His delicate elf ears listened intently.

The beat became slower.

Slower.

Slower.

...

It stopped.

The elf prince felt tears pricking in his eyes and let the small droplets drip down his face and onto Eldarion's unmoving torso. There they trickled down and soaked into his skin.

"My love," Legolas whispered. "Tenna' ento lye omenta" [until next we meet] he told the dead prince and sobbed as he kissed Eldarion's lips.

Then he wrapped one arm around Eldarion's waist and placing his head back on top of his chest, Legolas closed his eyes and sank into a deep slumber.

He did not awaken from that slumber and instead let his mortal heart carry him to the Halls of Mandos.

~

Legolas had never been so impatient in his life as he once again stood by the Gates to the Halls of Mandos.

Behind Námo he could see his mother Niphredil, beaming as she looked at her son proudly. Then next to the elf-woman was Eldarion. Now he looked young and handsome. His hair was once more dark and glossy.

"Legolas Greenleaf, once again you stand before us in judgement," Mandos said and a look of the slightest amusement was on his face.

"You have completed what has been assigned for you in destiny. You have slain Gladrau the dragon as was mentioned previously and you have joined yourself with Eldarion, a noble act. For this I will say only one word to you."

Legolas felt his feet stepping forward as Námo said the final word:

"Enter."

~