@Szhismine; You have heart attacks now because of my cliffies? Go get life insurance, girl! I plan to give you more!
@DiamondD; My birthday is on this coming 1st of October. Can you send me intan berlian via e-mail? Or shall I meet you at Tiffany KLCC? He! He! Just kidding! Anyway, you are right. Orli shouldn't have kissed you-know-who in Ned Kelly (She's way much older than he!). She should have been me!!!
@Kayo : You and Kel? What about me??
@Fire Breathing Ferret & Aranel of Mirkwood; Your idea for a story of Legolas' childhood (you know which one) is making me busy right now! Wait and see!
And now, for the conclusion of this story…
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To everyone's relief, Keldarion's eyes fluttered open a full minute later. He looked around him in a slight confusion before he realized that Legolas still had not stopped his healing effort. "Legolas…that's enough," he said softly.
Legolas shook his head. "No. Just a little bit more."
Keldarion sat up, pushed his brother's hands away and pulled the trembling Legolas into his embrace. "That's enough, little one. I'm back. I've returned."
Legolas broke down then, sobbing and crying earnestly. Keldarion gently rocked his brother in his arms, whispering soothingly, "You never gave up on me, so I returned."
Legolas looked up to gaze at his brother. "You'll stay?" he asked brokenly.
"Definitely," was Keldarion's reply, in tears himself.
With their arms wrapped around each other, the brothers turned to look at their father and the lord of Lothlórien. Both lords were staring back at them, misty eyed. The warriors had discreetly left the hall after they were assured that the situation was now under control.
"Jakarran's dead," Keldarion said.
Celeborn nodded. "He is now truly dead."
There was a long silence after that before Legolas spoke hesitantly, "Forgive me, father, my lord."
"For what? For protecting your brother?" Thranduil asked. He gazed at both his sons with deep love in his eyes. "I'm so proud of you two. Don't ever stop loving and trusting each other, and you will overcome every obstacle lying in your path, like you just did. And I hope you both will forgive me. I was wrong to despair."
The princes looked at each other before they hurled themselves into Thranduil's startled arms. The Mirkwood king looked down at his sons, so overwhelmed he was with mixed emotions. He immediately knew he was forgiven. Hugging them tight to him, Thranduil kissed the top of his sons' heads. "How I love you both."
Celeborn who had been watching silently, laid his hands on the brothers' shoulders. "The two of you have more guts and fortitude than I. It humbles me."
"I plead your forgiveness, my lord, for stabbing you before," Keldarion said, looking steadily into Celeborn's eyes.
"That was not you, Keldarion. That was Jakarran. You are not at fault." Celeborn then smiled as he stared at Legolas. "But I'm quite sure that Legolas was not possessed by any demon when he banished me from the chamber in my own home."
Legolas blushed deep red in embarrassment. "Err…I'm sorry, my lord. I forgot my place."
Celeborn laughed. "No need for that, Legolas. Just promise me one thing."
"What is that, my lord?"
"Don't tell my lady wife. My ego is already bruised as it is."
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"Legolas threw you out of the room?" Galadriel burst up laughing.
Celeborn scowled. "Aye, figuratively speaking, that he did."
She laughed even harder. "My lord, are you or are you not the lord of this realm?"
"I completely forgot at that time!" He looked sheepish. "Well, it just shows me that the manyan prince can be very dangerous when crossed! He has such a short and high temper!"
Galadriel laughed again, bringing smile to Celeborn's lips at that wonderful sound. He clasped her hand tighter as they headed towards the garden to join the others.
Elrond and his twin sons had just arrived that morning. The young elves were elated to see one another again and had decided to have their afternoon tea outside for a change. Their loud laughter and playful bickering could clearly be heard throughout the realm.
After the terrifying episode yesterday, Keldarion had recovered completely. Still, Legolas never ceased watching warily over his brother, much to Keldarion's annoyance and amusement. Looks like the brat has inherited some of my protective streak, he thought.
He smiled at Arwen who sat next to him at the long garden table. She smiled back, a little shyly. They both listened in amusement as Elrohir once again told them of his latest success. "Ell can be so dense sometimes! I mean, he should at least check his bathtub before jumping right in! I might put live snakes next time!"
Elladan was glaring at his twin, still annoyed that Elrohir had dared to sabotage his bathing session with poison ivy. He could not stop scratching against the burning itch for two whole days! "Next time, I'll put live snakes into your bathtub!"
"Oh, really, Ell. I'm scared now!"
Legolas chortled at that. "You know what? I think your tricks are just too dull. You should know what I did to Kel and Arwen! I've tied their hair…"
"Shut up, brat!" Keldarion reached over to wring his brother's neck. Legolas jumped out of his seat to get out of his brother's reach.
"Legolas, Legolas. Still teasing these two, are you?" Celeborn said, smiling at the golden haired prince. He placed each hand on top of Arwen's and Keldarion's shoulders.
Thranduil, who had been conversing with Elrond on the other end of the long table, looked at his youngest son and said, "For that prank, Legolas, when we get back home, I'll tie you to a tree and let the ants and gnats swarm all over you!"
Legolas stared at his father in horror. "You wouldn't!"
Thranduil grinned. "Of course I wouldn't! But it surely was fun to see your panicked expression just now!"
Legolas sent his father a dirty look as the others around him roared in laughter. "Very funny, father. Very funny."
"Serves you right, brat!" Keldarion exclaimed as he stood up to relinquish his seat to Lady Galadriel…then stopped abruptly when he was yanked back down. Arwen had also cried out in surprise. They both looked down and found that the edges of their cloaks were tightly tied together!
Keldarion and Arwen both screamed, "LEGOLAS!!"
The manyan prince was wide eyed. "Why look at me?"
"You did this, didn't you?" Keldarion grumbled as he and Arwen untied the knot.
"Now wait just a second! That wasn't me!" Legolas hastily back stepped as Keldarion advanced on him.
"Throw him into the river, Kel!" said Arwen.
"Good! We can help!" The twins had already jumped out of their seats to join in the fray.
Legolas shrieked when they grabbed his arms and legs. "Stop! It wasn't me!"
"Yeah, right!" They shouted back.
"I'm speaking the truth! It wasn't meeeeee!!!"
The elder elves looked on in great amusement as the youngsters dashed away with the screaming Legolas between them towards the direction of the river, Arwen following them not far behind. Elrond and Thranduil also stood up to go after them to assure themselves that Keldarion and the twins did not kill Legolas in the process.
Then Galadriel saw a funny look on her husband's face. "My lord!" She stared at him in disbelief.
"What?" Celeborn looked back, his face the picture of innocence.
"It was not Legolas. It was you!!!"
Celeborn blinked. "I don't know what you're talking about."
She folded her arms, staring deeply into her husband's eyes. "Don't give me that. I know you tied that knot to their cloaks!"
He grinned. "I was that obvious?"
"Only to me, because only I know you enough to believe that you can be devious and mischievous at your will."
He wrapped an arm around her wife. "And I'm smart, admit it. Arwen and Keldarion are perfect for each other. Our granddaughter is so beautiful that no one is good enough for her except for the handsome Mirkwood prince, and a great noble warrior to boot. "
"But don't you think it's up to Elrond to decide her daughter's future?"
"Yes, but there's no harm if I speed things up a little bit!"
"My love, you're impossible!" She laughed then. "Come, let's save the innocent Legolas."
"You're not going to tell them I did it, are you?"
She only smiled in reply.
THE END.
Okay. There goes another one! I hope you all enjoy reading that as much as I enjoy torturing Legolas' and Kel's life! He! He! And thank you so much for being very supportive in giving me wonderful and constructing reviews. It's the soul food for an amateur author like me.
And here are the faithful reviewers in alphabetical order; AbbiCat14; Ailsa; Alivyan; Alkvingiel; Angelbird12241; Ankhesanamun; Anolinde; Aranel of Mirkwood; caz-baz; Chanra; DiamondD; Ebony Falcon; feanen; goblz; Iawen Londea; Jamie; Kayo; Kirsten; Kitten; Lady Lenna; Lisseyelen aka Lady V; LOTRFaith; Lucy; manders1953; Menthol; MoroTheWolfGod; namarie2legolas; Nikki1; purplesmackers; randomramblings; Sailor Elf; Siamese; Sirithiliel; szhismine; Tamara; tbiris; The Fire Breathing Ferret; Tinnuial; Trista; Vana E (Anybody left out? Please tell me!) THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!
And Meagan, my beta, thank you for proof reading my works. You are always the best! MERCI!!
My coming LOTR fic will be 'Terrifying Darkness'. I know I promised you Battle of the Pelennor Field, but I decided to skip that one and give you the afterwards' Battle of the Black Gate instead. This is where the incident concerning our favorite elf truly begins. Aragorn will successfully walk through the Path of the Dead and become the King of Gondor, Faramir will meet Eowyn, Eomer might meet Lorithiel daughter of Prince Imrahil, but what will become of Legolas in the last battle? Make a guess.
(I know some of you already know how my mind works and instantly knew what I'm going to do to Legolas, right?)
I will not return to the board until early October due to my massive workload. In the meantime, keep on smiling and breathing! See ya!
I'll be back! (in the perfect impersonation of Schwarzenegger's Terminator!)
