Title: The Tale of the Years
Disclaimer: It's all Tolkien's. Quotes are taken from "The Fellowship of the Ring", Book II, "Lothlorien".
A/N: Thanks to the various friends who read the first chapter and encouraged me to write more. Thanks to my beta, Half Awake Warning. Go read her stuff, it's awesome!
Chapter One: Into the Golden Wood
We must continue on until we have lost ourselves in the forest. We cannot risk being found.
Boromir fears Lothlorien, he fears what fortune is set for us here. He asks if there is no other way, he fears evil here. He doesn't realize yet that the wood fears evil as well.
I lead on into the forest, a heavy but peaceful silence is upon us. My mind begins to wander, the memories in my heart begin to stir. It seems that time has been still here since the day I left. I find myself thinking more and more about the calm, more and more about the events that took place here forty years ago. Nothing else has ever felt more meant to be to me than my decisions during my stay in Lorien. The decisions have had their consequences, and at times the results of those decisions have left me with a burden I do not think I can carry. But back in the land where my fate was appointed, it all feels right again.
We have walked a mile now and there is a stream- the Nimrodel. It relieves our weariness and washes away our grief as we wade across.
Now we rest with food, Legolas speaks of Lothlorien of old. My own experiences are different here, yet they are both fair accounts.
The peaceful silence returns, each now a possession of his own thoughts. The sound of water is intertwined with that of soft singing. "Do you hear the voice of Nimrodel?"
Legolas's voice breaks the spell that appears to have held us all. His clear voice sings the Song of Nimrodel softly. I've heard it many times before, sung by the Elves in Imladris. I'm brought back to Rivendell and my memories there, rather than being taken to Lorien of old, rather than watching the tale unfold before me.
Legolas stops, he does not remember anymore. Instead, he tells the rest as a story. I do not see hope in his song but I see hope reveal itself in the midst of chaos and despair- friendship. Legolas and Gimli begin to see from each others eyes and begin to understand. There is light where there once was darkness.
We turn now away from the road and deeper into the forest. Here it seems like Spring, though Winter is still cold just outside these woods. The scent of the forest is refreshing after Moria and there is peace in this eternal Spring, yet fate unresolved for me within its borders.
Our company finds a cluster of trees unlike those found elsewhere in Middle-earth. Their name is mallorn, or mellyrn in the Sindarin tongue.
Legolas jumps up and embraces one of the mallorn branches to climb the tree.
"Daro!" a voice commands.* Legolas lets the branch go, immediately pinning himself to the tree's trunk, fear in his eyes. Are we in danger? Are these friends or foes? We shall soon see, nothing is as it seems in the beginning.
Legolas whispers to us, warning us not to move, not to speak. I hear laughter from the tops of he trees, now a voice speaking Elvish, saying that the could shoot us in the dark from the sounds of our breathing. Legolas now answers the voice and Merry asks who they are.
"They're Elves. Can't you hear their voices?" Sam replies.
"They are Elves," Legolas confirms, "and they say that you breath so loud they could shoot you in the dark. But you need not fear. They have known of our presence for some time."
Still Sam covers his mouth with his hand, conscious of his breathing.
"They bid me climb up with Frodo. They ask the others to wait a while and to keep watch at the foot of the tree, until they have decided what is to be done," Legolas continues.
A shimmering ladder, made from silver rope is let down from the tree. Legolas climbs it easily but Frodo is slower, not being at home in the trees such as the Elves. Sam follows his master, still careful with his breathing.
I wait with the rest of the Company at the tree's base. Merry and Pippin whisper quietly, or as quietly as they may, wondering aloud what is to become of their dear friends, Sam and Frodo, and of Legolas, and what will be the fate of the Company. Gimli seems carved of stone, unmoving. He does not show the emotion he probably possesses now; indifference towards the Elves and their customs.
Boromir speaks to me, still convinced of evil, "You are so sure of this place Aragorn. What gives you this confidence?"
"I have been here before. Fair it is, many fates were set. The memory lives on within me."
Boromir does not understand, yet my words calm him a little. "You speak fond words of a place I have only ever heard fell rumors of. I am doubtful, but it might be that you would know better than I, and with that I'm comforted a little."
Legolas interrupts our conversation- he hops down from the ladder and tells us what the Elves have said. The hobbits are to stay in the talan with Frodo, Sam and the Elves who abide there. The rest are to stay in the talan in the next tree.
Though new here, Legolas is at home. It's obvious he is comfortable here among the trees, singing, speaking and walking with a confidence I've never known him to have.
------8--@
I lie awake in the talan I share with Boromir, Legolas and Gimli. A great company of Orcs passed not long ago, and Orophin has left to warn his people. There is little I can do, the Elves work and thrive in silence, sneaking from one tree to another, making it impossible for Orcs to find them. Though accustomed to hiding, I know I would only hinder them.
Already, Boromir and Gimli speep again, but Legolas watches into the dark from the talan. I am weary, but unable to sleep. Instead I lose myself in a reverie. Is this what it feels like to "sleep" as an Elf does?
*I can't find the translation for daro, and it wasn't translated in the book. To the best of my knowledge, it means "hold" or "drop" but I'm not certain.