Love of Thy Father (3?)
"How did you know why I came?" Aragorn asked Legolas after he'd tried to explain what he was doing there. The Elven King merely smiled, a little bitterly, and refilled his goblet. Aragorn and Gimli had finished their meal quickly and in silence, barely looking upwards. Legolas had not touched his meal and had consumed half the wine on his own.
"Answer the man Legolas. This I long to hear."
Legolas drew a piece of parchment from inside his cloak and handed it over to his friends. He drank deep of his goblet while their eyes moved swiftly over the message.
Your Highness,
As thou may have guessed, we have taken into our care thy Son. We wish also to inform thee that thy friends children be also in our power, also that they shall be on their way to thy palace. We shall contact thee and thine afore mid-summer's eve. If thy wish is to see thy child again, you shall cooperate with our wishes.
Signed
General Ackler
"So you see," Legolas said once they'd finished "I knew already that you would be arriving. And why."
"It's mid-summers eve tomorrow, Legolas." Gimli ground out, his eyes glaring at his friend from under their bushy brows. "I have been here days. You could not have told me earlier!" Aragorn placed one hand on Gimli's shoulder in order to calm the dwarf. This of course did not work, but it at least had the effect of stopping him jumping out of his chair or of shouting at the wine studying Elven King.
"I know this." Legolas replied calmly before knocking back the remaining wine with a flick of the wrist that the King of Gondor had seen him perform one time too many.
"And what are we planning on doing?" Aragorn asked, "Besides watching you drink yourself into oblivion that is?" His hand was still holding Gimli in check, but not just to keep the dwarf's temper reigned in. He was determined to stay calm long enough to get his little girl back, and keeping his grip on Gimli's swarthy shoulder was helping with that goal. Legolas' drinking wouldn't have gotten to him as badly as it was, but their children's lives were on the line.
"We are planning on meeting them and finding out what they want." Legolas Greenleaf answered in the same disturbingly calm voice; he pushed the empty goblet aside after discovering the decanter to be empty.
"It says they will contact us, but not where or when. We can't afford to wait," Aragorn pointed out, casting a brief appraising glance at the elf. "We can't be sure they won't kill them."
"Don't be a dullard." Legolas stood steadier than his companions would have given him credit for, and approached one of the many open windows the hall possessed, with his back to his friends. "I will not sit by afterwards and leave them in the hands of Orcs. I am intending on searching for them the moment communication has ceased on the morrow. What you do -" he turned to the Man and Dwarf "-is up to you. Are you joining me?"
"Yes" Aragorn agreed immediately, standing. Gimli, not one to be left out of any adventure agreed with the same force and went one further by standing on the table. Legolas smiled at them.
"This will be quite the adventure."
Alleria, Gertol and Lothlorn did not see the three strangers that day, but only two Orcs guards that kept shooting them glances every few minutes. Alleria had become more and more worried about her elfin friend, who had become more and more quiet as the night wore on. Now with dawn raising some life seemed to inject itself into him, and he at least appeared to be listening to...something. She shook her head wearily and lay her head down next to Gertol's, deciding to sleep as much as possible to pass this time all the quicker. Gertol Had been terrified earlier, of the three, she was by far the youngest in attitude. She'd kept giving Lothlorn and Alleria the sort of looks a frightened green private might give a commanding officer.
The sun rose slowly, and as it's first rays hit Lothlorn, he awoke fully, and instead of moving he stayed still and listened to the pulse and beat of the Forrest around him. He wondered vaguely if he'd ever see home again? Would his Father be angry that he'd gotten captured so easily? He didn't know. Unlike Alleria and Gertol, he did not see his father often. He deliberately closed his eyes to shut out the light, not noticing the pair of human eyes that watched him from under hooded lids. Alleria frowned and went to sleep on it.