Disclaimer: The world of Tolkien is so beautiful; I only borrow it for a little more time. I do not make money with this, but
it does generate a lot of happiness (and writers block, then and again!). I can only hope that Elbereth will look down on me
once like she does at the end of this story.
24 Rîn o'Môr.
Legolas stared down the hall. There, sword drawn, was Thûlocuil! She was here! Here in Eryn Lasgalen, here inside his
father's caves! He could not believe his eyes. She was really standing there with a smile on her face and in her eyes that
roguish look as if to say 'Well, what do you say to that!'
"B-but I thought..." he stammered: "You s-said... Y-you would not..." And then with a broad grin he concluded: "You're
here!" Her eyes shone like a tree's bark after a summer's cloud-burst, her smile broadened. He walked over and took her
hand. "Welcome to Eryn Lasgalen," he kissed the back of her hand, "I hope your trip to and through," he cast her a look,
"our realm was not troubled."
Her laughter tinkled through the hall like the sound of a final rain after a muggy day. "I know what I've said," he was struck
again by the radiance of her eyes. "But there is something I have to show you Legolas. So, I came here." She made it sound
simple, but he knew better. "And the trip..." he asked softly, not letting go of her hand. She sighed and smiled
simultaneously: he did not know that was possible. "The trip, well, let's say that it was useful to learn that your guards are
not too pleased with strangers who walk in here carrying a sword openly." He had to let go of her hand as she made a
gesture towards her sword, hanging from her belt, when she mentioned it.
Disbelieve was still obvious in his voice when he asked: "You came to Eryn Lasgalen just to show me something?" The
emphasis on me was not meant to be heard, but he could not help himself. She had come here for him, for HIM! "Well," he
continued, "you've faced the guards so... What do you have to show me?"
There was that broad grin again, she observed. He sounds eager as a little elfling who's been given a surprise and promised
an even better one, she thought and laughed again. "It's not here Legolas. I could not bring it with me. You'll have to come
with me to..." She had almost forgotten the presence of his father, now she cast him a look. Thranduil sat on his throne,
following with great interest the conversation that evolved between his son and this mysterious lady. On his face was an
amusing smile. Thranduil had been right about himself when he stated that he was good at combining information. The
moment he saw her, he was convinced she was the source of the name 'Nenmírdan'. He had caught on and understood that
his son's worry for her safety while travelling did not apply to coming to his realm; it applied to travelling through it.
Another, most important, piece of information came from the ease with which she put his son in the first place, seeming to
completely overlook the king's presence. Which she was not, she was fully aware of him, she knew of his presence, she
knew who and what he was. She couldn't have missed the shouting between Legolas and himself the moment she walked
in here. She was aware of him, but Legolas was clearly the one that mattered.
Thûlocuil recovered and rephrased her sentence: "You'll have to come back with me." Legolas eyes had taken on a dazed
expression. "I have to come with you?" he slowly said, not for one moment taking his eyes from hers. I'm going to travel
with her to Mordor he thought! He said: "That's at least going to take two weeks!" Thûlocuil's face fell a bit. "I hope it's not
a problem." she said, "But you REALLY have to come with me Legolas," she said. Another huge smile immediately
reassured her. "No, no problem at all! Any problem there is I will solve!" I could spent days looking into these eyes, he thought.
How right I was, my son, Thranduil thought looking at them, this definitely is 'more'! He cleared his throat. Thûlocuil was
the first to look at him, and Thranduil had the feeling his son only looked at him to see what she was looking at. "Ai...
Adar...,"[Oh... Father...] the way Legolas said those two words was like he tried hard to remember someone he met a long,
long time ago. "Ai, Adar!" he said again, like waking up. I'm glad he still knows who I am, Thranduil thought and a
bemused smile showed on his face. "Ai Adar," Three times, Thranduil thought. "Adar, this is..." Legolas fell silent; he did
not know what to say. How much could he tell his father, now that she was here? Thranduil saw his son's confused face,
but suddenly it lit up again. "Ai, Adar," he started again. She will be impressed by your vocabulary, Thranduil thought, but
he remained patient. "This is the person we were just talking about," with a conceit smile on his
how-did-I-manage-that-face Legolas turned again to Thûlocuil.
She kneeled down before the king, for a moment her head was bowed, then she looked Thranduil in the eyes and said: "My
name is Thûlocuil," she turned her head from Thranduil to Legolas, standing next to her, and looked at him when she said:
"My name is Thûlocuil O'Môr (1) and I wish to pay my respect to you, Thranduil, King of Eryn Lasgalen."
He had already suspected her to be 'the person we were just talking about'; as he had stated before: he was Legolas's father
too. But it was not until she stated her full name that the pieces started to fall in place fast, tumbling over each other in
their speed to do so: the legend of the Gadorben [Prisoner]; his son's behaviour; even the legend of the Heir of Sauron and
finally the emotions on their two faces before him right now. Legolas first emotion had been proud and it applied to her
but that passed quickly. The look in his son's eyes now applied to himself and their message got easily across: "I'll fight!"
Legolas's s hands that were hanging loosely by his side, his feet standing firmly on the ground; it enhanced the image of the
awaiting warrior. Her emotions had been more various: a little fright but more respect, self-consciousness and pride.
However the emotion that he mostly based his answer on, had been in her eyes from the moment she had said her first
words in this hall: love, love for his son.
"Well, Thûlocuil o'Môr, I do hope you'll have time to have dinner with me before you drag my son away."
It was easier to talk and act as a carefree father than to be one, Thranduil thought with a sigh. He was looking at his own image in his mirror, as he was getting ready for dinner. He did have a good feeling about this and Legolas's judgement counted. His son had already judged that 'the safety of the realm was not in question' and he trusted that judgement. Legolas had been brought up in a world that was constantly threatened by evil, he was the Prince of Eryn Lasgalen, one of its most skilled captains and he had been part of the Fellowship. His son had seen more war in his short life than he himself had in his long one; the War of the Last Alliance and all! But the idea that someone was out there stating to be 'from Mordor', and however with some fright, doing it proudly, made him restless. Somehow he felt he had to know everything there was about this lady before he could let his son take this trip. He smiled, when talking about children and 'letting go' mortals were always excused by their short life-time, well, from first-hand experience he could tell that time did not have anything to do with it: even when they were 2953 years old it was still hard not to over-care for one's children! He stared at his reflection and took a decision...
Legolas and Thûlocuil were in the library. Wanting to meet as less other persons as possible, especially not his men who
would recognize her, Legolas had decided that the library would provide the solitude and quietness he was looking for.
Deep in his heart he knew he did not do this for her benefit only, he just wanted to keep her 'for his own' a while longer.
And didn't she like books? He knew about her equal interest in weaponry, but an encounter with one of his men was far
more likely to occur within the armoury then inside the library. They had talked and laughed and laughed and talked, it had
been just perfect! He had tried to coax information out of her about what she wanted to show him. But she did not falter
one bit. "Legolas?" "Thûlocuil?" "Did you ever felt the inclination to stare at me when we first met?" "No, not the first
time..." he said and continued in thought: but you bet I stared after the second time on that training field in Gondor! She
blushed and he couldn't help grinning. "Why do you ask?" he said when he felt the teasing had continued long enough. "A
lot of elves do," she answered. He could see she was seriously annoyed. "Who doesn't?" he inquired. "You, well, not the
first time anyway..." the look in his eyes made her laugh, she had defeated him with his own weapons; she carried on:
"Arwen, your men and your father" she had become serious again. Thinking out loud he said: "Elves you say, not man, not
dwarves?" "Not even hobbits and especially not orcs, but hey, they don't usually get the time to stare..." she said. "You've
met hobbits?" There was that grin of his again. "Sorry," he said, "to get back to your question: I think it is because of your
sword. She-elves who wear them openly and with ease, like you do, are rare, I only know..." she looked expectantly at him:
"...one!" he couldn't help himself grinning again. "You!" she started but was interrupted by someone opening the door: it
was Thranduil.
"Ah, there you are!" he said, taking in the scene in front of him. The smiles on their faces, the light in their eyes, he almost
felt guilty... almost. "Well, I came to tell you that dinner will be served in about half an hour and that I need you," he
looked at Legolas, "to look into some documents before you leave." "Adar!" "No, Legolas, I mean this. I have asked a clerk
to bring them up to your room. So..." he looked expectantly at his son. Legolas gave in. "Well, then I'll escort our guest to
her room to change," he held out his hand to her. Thûlocuil stood up and girded her sword. "Oh, don't worry, my son, you
just go bother about those documents, I'll be honoured to escort our guest," Thranduil bowed slightly towards Thûlocuil.
She looked from the son to the father and back again. "Adar!" "No, Legolas, really, you're skills as a captain are needed..."
Thranduil held his own hand out to Thûlocuil and stepped aside to let her pass, thus screening of Legolas. But his
mentioning of the fact that Legolas was his captain as a king was hint enough. "Oh, Adar, let me open the doors for you
two," Legolas over-politely offered. "I'll see you at dinner then..." he said to them when they parted ways but the message
in his eyes was meant for his father only and it clearly stated: "I'll fight!" and with that Legolas turned. That's the second
time I got that threat this day, Thranduil thought.
Making small-talk Thranduil and Thûlocuil walked through the caves. Thranduil let her to a secluded garden. "Maybe we
could sit down here," he suggested when they came to a bench. Observing how her fingertips lightly touched the hilt of her
sword, he added: "Just lay it on your knees." She looked betrayed and surprised. She knew that with a sword on her knees,
she would be able to do him harm before he tried anything on her. By allowing this, he made clear that his intentions
meant no harm, at least no bodily. She nodded. When they were seated, Thranduil sighed. "There were of course no
documents that needed Legolas's immediate attention." She arched her brows. "I just wanted to have a talk with you
without him around." Thranduil continued. He looked at her, something in her posture made him feel like he should ask
her permission. He shrugged, he was a king! "You stated that your name was Thûlocuil O'Môr; what is your intention with
that land?" When she answered him her eyes got a glance like she had an authority unknown to him: "I intend to make sure
that life and light returns to it... as it deserves in my opinion!" Thranduil was taken by surprise, he had intended to interrupt
her but with her voice and eyes she had prevented him, him: the last King of Elves in Middle Earth! "I hope we agree that
it has seen enough darkness to last the lifetime of Arda itself," she continued.
It was then that, with a sudden insight, Thranduil, King of Eryn Lasgalen, the last Elven-King in Middle Earth grasped a
sliver of the intention of the Valar and the true meaning of the Legend of the Heir. He nodded as a token of respect and
said: "Your people would have been proud of you, child of Eregion, Lady of Mordor!" This time it was Thûlocuil who was
completely stunned. "H-how..." she started while her hands automatically gripped the hilt of her weapon. Thranduil
recognized the almost instinctively reaction of a warrior and smiled. The moment her eyes darkened he continued: "Don't.
He didn't. Legolas kept his promise. He didn't tell me." "B-but..." "Like I was telling him when you interrupted our
conversation this morning: I'm good at combining information from one source to another. That helped. But you gave
yourself away the moment you walked into my throne room: you look every bit as an elf of Eregion, your stance, the colour
of your eyes and hair even the way it is braided. It is strange to hear you not talk with their accent." Thûlocuil was too
overwhelmed to say anything; she could only stare at Thranduil, tears flowing silently from her eyes. "My son's answer
about the staring only counts for the younger elves of my realm. The elder stare because they see what I saw: an elf of a
people that was thought lost forever."
The trip to Mordor had been all he had expected from it and more. It was so good to see her relaxed. It was good to get to know her better; she had humour and little habits like always breaking of the left bottom corner of a lemba before eating the rest of it or to whistle to the moon sometimes at night, soft and seemingly not aware of her surroundings. When they had entered Mordor she showed him secret cisterns that contained water on the way. They were the remnants of the ones that had provided Sam with the last water for his master Frodo. At one of those cisterns they had made camp for the night. Thûlocuil was on watch, but Legolas was not sleeping but just lying awake and watching her instead. Without looking at him she said: "If you have no intention to sleep at all, maybe we could travel this night." She turned her head and continued: "I know this land and what I want to show you is more beautiful at night."
They had been walking for only a short time when she suddenly stopped. "Ha gellin!" [They have grown!] she whispered
and started to run, she shouted: "Tolo Legolas!" [Come Legolas!] They came closer and closer. There was a soft light,
coming from the desert's soil in the distant. When they stopped they were standing on a carpet of stars! "They are flowers,
Legolas! Flowers, here in Mordor! When I returned from my last travels to Ithilien I found them inside my room. They
grow out of the little cave behind the curtain. Their stalk is thick and full of fluid but protected from the sun by a thick,
fleshy layer. They're leafless and their flowers only grow at night. They survive one night and the next morning they
wither. The wind distributes their light pollen in the morning, but they merely increase by use of rhizomes. Very long
rhizomes: I've dug one up that is about eighty feet long!" She looked around like a child does when it sees snow for the
first time. "This is what I had to show you! Doesn't it just take your breath away?" she asked him. "Yes, it does." Legolas
said, but he was watching her observing her happiness in her voice and face and from that moment on he knew he would
love her forever. She was the one and only person he wanted to share his live with, no matter her future or history. "You
made this be Legolas, your memory... that was the thing I could not give to Mordor, for it was not in my veins." She took
his hands in hers and looked in his eyes: "This is all your work Legolas; you gave the earth back its remembrance, your
remembrance. You are the remembrance of Mordor and for this I'll be eternally grateful." She stepped even closer to him,
with their lips almost touching she whispered: "Thank you Rîn o'Môr." [Remembrance of Mordor] Legolas whispered
back: "What is a remembrance without a breath of life? It is only half, no not even half, it is death..." and then they kissed.
And Elbereth smiled; for it had been foretold since the beginning of time that for the remembrance and the lifebreath only in their union laid their subsistence.
(1) 'Breath of Life of Mordor' her full name, given by Sauron.
(2) Elbereth was the spouse of Manwë. She set stars in the sky, for which she was named 'star-lady' by the Elves.
A/N: 14-08-2003: Just changed a bit; a great idea from a reader!
