Author: Mirrordance
Title: Journey's End
Summary: As Aragorn's passing away draws near, Legolas decides to 'kidnap' him to the Undying Lands and save him from his death, with the grudging help of Gimli the dwarf and the twin sons of Elrond.
* * *
CHAPTER 2: Trials of the Sea
They reached the docked ship just before the dawn. It was a weathered, earthy gray in the first light of the day, the skies shifting from black to a bleak white, preceding the rise of the sun. Legolas' ship rested majestically against the banks of the Anduin, the running water splashing most soothingly against its body. The morning mist was so thick that they could not see the water beneath the ship, or even the lower parts of its body, only its rearing Swan-head, as in the fashion of the great Teleri ships inspired by Ulmo, the Valar ruling over all waters. Everything was gray and dirty white and black, obscured by fog and mist, like a misplaced dream.
The riders dismounted, and Legolas, bearing Estel in his arms, sauntered over to his ship and settled the King most comfortably within it, encasing him in a thick coat and resting his head upon a bedroll. He jumped back down to the shallow waters, his light boots and step making a slight splash on the river water. His companions were looking at him most curiously.
"An interesting ship, Legolas," Elrohir said, his hands running absently across the swan's neck, "The blood of the great Teleri shipbuilders must indeed run through your veins, distant though your ancestry may be."
"It's as if my hands knew precisely what they must do," Legolas said, "It is a good, solid ship. May it take us where we need to go."
* * *
Despite the promise of the morning light, the winds of the previous night held other plans and other fates, and the sun did not raise any higher beyond the clouds that struggled to contain its warmth.
The steady current of the Anduin began to move swifter along its length as the winds blew harsher, and the clouds thickened further, and the skies darkened.
"We are not welcome here," Elladan told Legolas quietly, as the elf adroitly navigated the waters.
"We knew this at the onset," Legolas replied, "But you of course have my leave to depart from this. I know what danger I have brought you into. You may leave anytime you please…"
"For myself I do not fear, mellon," said Elladan, "But stubborn as you may be, and foolhardy, I would consider it a great quiet in my life if you departed it. Same goes for my impossible brother. I might even miss the dwarf, if we should lose him."
"Ha!" Gimli exclaimed from behind them, "I most certainly will not be missing you, elf!"
"You won't," said Elladan wryly, "because I won't fall, will I?"
The company traveled along the river, following its current until the lands bordering it began to fall away from their sides, and they ventured out into open sea. The current was now no longer so straight, and little waves teased their ship, sending diamond sparkles splattering.
"Osse, the Lord of the Waves greets us," Elrohir whispered, knowing much relied upon this gleeful spirit's whim. Mariners loved him and feared him, for he tended to be reckless with his waves, lost in its harsh passions, all seamen caught in its lethal embrace forgotten.
Legolas murmured a quick prayer to Uinen, Osse's wife and his complement, the most beloved Lady of the Calms, to ease her husband's tempestuous heart. For a moment, the waves seemed to shatter and fall away around them, creating a calm that was misplaced in the open sea. The surface was suspiciously almost glacial, and still. The winds howled around them, but the waters remained stubbornly unmoved…
Then lightning flashed across the sky, and thunder boomed over their heads. The clouds gathered and thickened around them, darkening the seas as the heavy rains began to fall. Then the water about them receded, suddenly becoming most unnaturally shallow.
The sailors narrowed their eyes towards the near distance, where a great wave had gathered all the water about it, and seemed to be heading for a massive crash their way…
"I do not think he approves," Gimli growled, before he was shushed by Elladan.
"Rope yourselves to the ship," Legolas said quickly, working upon securing Aragorn first, "Do not let yourselves fall over, these waters will claim us and toss us until we do not even have bodies left."
The group worked hurriedly as the wave approached, its large menace made more known as it moved closer and closer. They watched it approach, and braced themselves with horrified eyes as it crashed over their heads, ramming the boat and the force of the water pressing them against the wood.
"This is not just Osse," said Legolas breathlessly, gathering his feet and steering the ship, "The storms and the winds are from the very hands of Manwe."
"Will the ship hold?" Elrohir asked over the din of the storm.
"It will do as it must!" Gimli growled when Legolas opened his mouth to respond but looked rather unsure. The dwarf settled on the floor of the ship and braced himself for the next battering wave, holding Aragorn's body tightly.
The wave crashed over their heads, and tossed the ship almost to its side. But Legolas' hands and heart were set. As surely as his soul knew to yield to the calling of the Sea, his body knew to navigate towards it. Stubbornly, their ship held its course and stayed miraculously upright as wave after wave slammed against it.
With wide eyes, Elrohir watched Legolas stand up to the battering of the gods. Gimli, with his lesser ears and great preoccupation with staying aboard could not hear what the elf Prince was murmuring, but Elrohir and certainly, also Elladan could.
~You will not claim us,~ he said stonily in his native tongue, ~I will not let you.~
The winds picked up, even as it had seemed that it could not get any worse. The waves rose, tall and mighty and one after the other.
~Legolas!~ Elrohir yelled at him, ~Are you mad? Must you taunt them?~
The elf turned to glance at him only for a moment, before turning back to his work. It was a quick look, but enough for Elrohir to see that his face streamed not only with the smattering of the rain but with his own, cold tears. In all of the years he had known the proud Prince of Mirkwood he did not know him to show great pain or great emotion. Seeing him this way was like watching the first snows of winter melt in the warmth of the coming of the spring. He seemed to melt with it.
These past days, he was angered by Legolas' selfishness without understanding his loneliness. He, at least, always had and would always have his brother. Legolas, on the other hand, found his kindred in mortals who would inevitably be taken from him forever, to places where he could not go. The Prince always had a restlessness uncharacteristic of his kin. It was a passion that neither time or age could wear out or consume. He was too spirited for the complacency of the elves, yet too aloof to be a human. Always did he tarry somewhere in between, distant from most elves and men or other beings, until he had come across Aragorn, who was not only so disarmingly likeable so as to tear him from his solitude, but also so disconcertingly like him in spirit.
Losing Aragorn was not just losing a friend, or a brother. Legolas was ultimately losing himself, and for such a fight to keep it, he would defy the gods.
Elrohir growled in dismay as he steadied himself on the floor of the ship. He wished he had been kept in the dark of his anger, it was much easier to constantly resort to it. Understanding hurt, it was much harder because with it, he could not complain, or keep himself from aiding Legolas.
~Give me something to do,~ he said.
~Secure more of the ropes,~ Legolas told him breathlessly, ~They will fray with the strain. The gods will not release us from their clutches until we have failed. And we will not fail for as long as we are able to fight them.~
* * *
Dearest Prince, why must you forsake us…
Legolas blinked his tired eyes against the salt of the sea and the harshness of the winds. The words were spoken straight into his heart, skipping languages and striking straight towards his understanding. Elladan, Elrohir and even Gimli heard it too.
~I do not forsake you,~ Legolas replied aloud, ~I can only do what it is that my heart pushes me to do. How could I doubt it, mighty Valar, when it is the same heart that seeks to bring me to you?~
These mortals do not belong to our land, came the unearthly answer, you know this, as they know this. Theirs is a fate apart. Theirs is a promise from Iluvatar, a gift we cannot keep from them.
~But what of the Heaven we have made here?~ Legolas asked, ~What need have we for distant promises when we have made a Paradise here?~
Iluvatar's plans are his own, said the gods, Not even to us are all revealed. You must have faith. Turn back, and no more harm shall come upon you or those whom you love. Sit through the ages and watch the years unfold with patience and trust, Legolas.
~You do not know what you ask of me,~ Legolas said shakily, ~'Tis a fate worse than death. It is eternal, lonely waiting! If the immortal can be made mortal, than the reverse is so. And if anyone in all the Circles of the World and beyond it is worthy of such a prize, he lies in this ship. The dwarf, who is a friend of the elves and of whom even the Lady Galadriel speaks well of. And Aragorn, whose traits are unparalleled.~
He is of Numenor, the gods said dispassionately, the Realm has been taken from this Earth by their very ambition. These mortals are not welcome here.
~With all respect to you,~ Legolas said coldly, ~I will go to where I am headed.~
We can strike you all where you stand, said the gods, and the storms about them grew, the clouds completely black by now, and the lightning gathering within it in a cackling menace. The waves also rose about them, and seemed to freeze in time, surrounding them and just waiting to fall over their heads.
Legolas looked toward his companions with sorrow and a decision in his grief-hazed eyes.
Let them not pay for my transgression, Legolas thought to the gods, knowing they would hear him, Give them this chance, I beg of you, and you will find in me the most worthy of servants.
--
Your will is great, said the gods, And your heart is a prize, if laid upon the proper master's feet. Let it be done.
--
Legolas, in a flash of movement, took a dagger from his boot and tore at the ropes that anchored him to the ship.
~What are you doing?!~ Elladan exclaimed, jumping forward to grab him, just as he opened his arms to the sea, and let it claim him. The waters rushed around the ship, and took Legolas with it into a dark void where none can reach.
"Legolas!" Gimli exclaimed, practically throwing himself into the water to reach his friend. Elrohir grabbed his legs and pulled him back.
"He is lost to us, Gimli!" he yelled over the din of the wildly rushing waters, "He is lost to us!"
"Legolas!" the dwarf yelled, squirming in the solid grip of Elrohir, and Elladan who soon aided his twin in holding back the strength of the dwarf, "Legolaaaaas!"
* * *
The angry storms abated and the waters calmed. The cold winds hushed to a warm breeze, and the ship seemed to steer itself towards where it had been made to go, for all the good that it did now, when they had lost another of their own.
"Legolas…" cried Gimli uselessly, sinking to his knees on the wooden floor, "Blasted elf! Blasted, stupid, crazy elf! Biggest fool of a race already full of fools in the first place! A blasted race full of fools!"
Elladan watched him quietly, taking absolutely no offense. His eyes too, had dimmed. His body sank against the planks, exhausted by their ordeal almost as much as his heart was.
Beside him, Aragorn stirred, and blinked, and woke, just as the sun rose over their heads.
TO BE CONTINUED…