Disclaimer: It's not mine.
Reviews:
Silverdust: heh, I've got my fans in . . . agony. cool . . . I mean, sorry. Here's the next chappie! :D
Kaebabe: I fed my plot bunnies lots :D That's how I came up with it.
Elfaer: Yay! I've got you like sticky tape. . . don't ask where that came from. It's late.
Doyle: Yay! I have a religious worshipper! . . . heh. cool. :D Thanx.
Elenya: request granted. lol. Thanks for your enthusiasm. . . enthusyasm. . . I can't spell it. lol. Thanks for your review!
The sun beat down on his face as he slowly came back into consciousness. He gave a painful moan and roll onto his front to shield his sensitive eyes from it's blinding glare. Slowly opening his eyes in the shadow of his arms he waited until the were used to the suns intensity before slowly sitting up. His limbs were stiff and painfully cried out in protest at the action, wishing only to fall back into hibernation.
He looked around him, not remembering anything of his past, not even a name, age, he did not even know of what race he belonged to. To his surprise, a ring of twelve giant wolves sat calmly in a circle surrounding him. Wargs! his mind cried, although he did not know what the word meant.
A wolf, larger than all the rest, calmly stepped through the circle of surrounding wolves, slowly coming towards him. He shuffled away, trying to get further away from the beast, only to run into the forelegs of one of the wolves behind him.
The large wolf cocked it's head to the side, it's large padded paw coming down roughly on his chest, effectively holding him still. The wolf behind him silently back away from the larger one, to sit quietly ten feet away.
The large wolf's head loomed closer to him, and he thought for sure he was about to die. It's razor sharp teeth stopped, though, just bare centimeters away from his head. He felt the shift in the wind as the huge beast sniffed in his scent, as though searching for an odor that would give it the right to kill the tiny being beneath it's paw.
"Elven royalty. . ." The beast snorted, in a tongue the man could understand. "What is she doing with Elven royalty?"
"Man nar elye?" (Who are you) The man asked, surprised to find that the words he spoke were not of the same language as that of the beast. The words he spoke were graceful and fluid, while the words of the beast had been harsh and rugged.
"I am Tzarinita, Lord of the Wolves." The beast said.
". . . Wolves. . ." He said quietly, imitating the sound coming the beast. "My mind cried warg."
"Warg! That is an insult. Wargs are to us as Orcs are to your kind." The wolf growled angrily, suppressed rage behind his eyes. "Twisted and broken."
"What is to be my fate?" The man asked.
"Your fate? Your fate is not mine to decide, though I suppose it will be happy should Iluvatar choose it so." The beast said.
The man cringed at the sound of that name. Great pain had been caused by that being, the man remembered that. Whips and daggers, clutching hands and stinging bees, punching fists and razor sharp teeth. Than the faint memory of a woman, more fair than any other he could remember seeing. Violet eyes, pale hair . . . regal beauty.
". . . Where is she?" He asked dumfounded, for he did not remember her name, only a face and a feeling within his heart.
"Away on an errand. She is quite healthy, you need not worry. Your painful sacrifice did not go in vain." The beast said.
"Where are we?" He asked, still confused. "And who am I? Why can I not remember anything?"
"You are at the home of Lokrantara of the Eagles in the Misty Mountains. You are a prince. She spoke your name before she left . . . Legolas, I believed she called you. You have been through a great ordeal, you were prepared to sacrifice your life to save Honora. For that I am very grateful. She is a great friend of mine." The beast answered.
"A prince? Royalty . . . Honora . . ." Legolas asked. "Yes. . . I am beginning to remember. My name is Legolas . . . I am an Elf . . . from Mirkwood . . ."
"Great to hear. Now get on my back. We must reach the City of Men within a few days. She made specific instructions to take you there when you awoke." The beast said, kneeling down to the smaller being could climb up onto his back.
Legolas stiffly struggled to get onto the giant beasts back, once he was up, he sank back down into the beasts thick grey fur. He held on tight when the wolf took a giant leap forward, but was soon reprimanded for his action.
"My skin is not the reins of a horse, Legolas. I can feel your fingers digging into my flesh, loosen up." The beast growled. Legolas obeyed the great beasts order, fearing to anger the beast.
Soon he was once more asleep upon the great wolf's back, the hours of the day passing slowly as they travelled the rocky terrain of the Misty Mountains and down past to the Forest of Lothlorien.
He awoke again when Tzarinita suddenly stopped at the edge of the Golden Wood. The sun was setting brilliantly off in the horizon and night was beginning to fall over the land.
"Guards of Lorien! I have need to take this Elf to the Lord and Lady of the Wood." Tzarinita called into the shadows of the forest.
A guard walked slowly out of the shadows, his long blonde hair hung down his back, a small warriors braid plaited at the side. His sparkling blue eyes shone out in the growing darkness, a grim look upon his face.
"We have no quarrel with the Wolves, but the Lord and Lady would not allow you to bring in a stranger." The guard said sternly.
Legolas struggled to sit up, still painfully stiff after the torture he had gone through. His golden hair was tangled and the clothes he wore were still torn and covered with his own blood. He looked at the guard and his jaw dropped.
"Haldir! You live! But. . . I saw you fall at Helms Deep. . ." Legolas said in shock, obviously regaining all his memory.
"Legolas?" The guard asked. "Oh, great joy it does bring me to see you well! Yet not in perfect health, I can see. Come, come! I will see you to the Lord and Lady right now!"
They soon entered the city of Lorien, the candle lights glowing brightly in the darkening sky. They arrived at the stair leading to the House of Galadhrim after a hurried reunion between the two Elves. Legolas and Tzarinita watched in awe once more as the Lord and Lady of the Wood slowly walked down the stairs toward them. They all bowed their heads in reverence, Galadriel's beauty still as fair as ever and Celeborn's strength still was obvious in his stance.
"A great ordeal, we have been told, you have have gone through, Prince of Mirkwood. Lorien offers to you it's hospitality." Galadriel said softly.
"Who spoke to you of my ordeal, My Lady?" Legolas asked, his voice sounding very loud in the silence of the forest surrounding him.
"Many voices. The tree's, the wind, the rising and falling sun. . . and an Eagle rider." Galadriel said, smiling mischievously at the end.
"Honora. . ." He whispered.
"She holds a great power. I have sensed it within her." Celeborn said. Legolas merely nodded, choosing not to reveal his knowledge of her family to him.
"Go now, Legolas. Get some rest, perhaps the tranquility of Lorien will heal your troubled heart." Galadriel said quietly. "I know." He heard within his mind.
"Haldir, lead him to his chambers." Celeborn said. "And Tzarinita, you and your kin are always welcome in the forests of Lothlorien."
Haldir led Legolas away, Tzarinita choosing to find a more suitable place to sleep for himself in the forest beyond. They walked in silence through the Golden Wood for many minutes.
"You still have not told me of how you survived, Haldir. I saw you fall, I saw the life fade behind your eyes." Legolas said.
"The powers of others are often stronger than we can comprehend. I do not remember much . . . violet eyes and a musical voice. I do not know who she was, but my life was given back to me and now I walk in the forests of Lorien once more." Haldir answered slowly.
"The mother or the daughter?" Legolas mused to himself quietly.
"You know of whom I speak?" Haldir asked in surprise.
"If it was the mother, Melwa, she gave me my last comfort during my torture . . . the daughter is my beloved, yet I do not understand what to do now . . ." Legolas said, his thoughts and doubts flowing from his lips in the presence of his friend.
"What do you mean?" Haldir asked, leading him to a bench near a flowing fountain.
". . . Iluvatar . . ." Legolas said painfully. "She is his flesh and blood, worthy more of Lorien, if anywhere, than of Mirkwood. Would it be right, or fair, to take her to the Dark Wood? To make her face to constant dangers of the spiders and the Orcs that roam there? Who am I to choose her fate?" Legolas asked.
"You are her beloved, and she has chosen you. Does that mean nothing?" Haldir asked after a moment of shock at the mention of her heritage.
"More than you would know, Haldir. I too have been past death and then cast back into this world like a fish too small to keep." Legolas said spitefully.
"You are not glad to be back among the living?" Haldir asked in surprise.
"I thought . . . I would save her and then I would cause her no more trouble. Once I was gone that she would accept her fathers choice, for truly Eomer is a noble man." Legolas said, troubled.
"Eomer! He is a Man! Is not the woman you speak of an Elf? For the Eagle rider who came her four days ago was!" Haldir exclaimed, his voice echoing in the forest.
"Eomer is a Man and yes, she is an Elf. The Guardian and Hope of Men, as she called herself. And so, Iluvatar has chosen a Man for her to wed." Legolas said sadly.
"He would choose that both nations of Men had rulers wed to the immortality of the Elves?" Haldir asked in surprise.
"I know not of what he would choose, merely that I was not it." Legolas said wearily. "I must find my chambers, Haldir, I am about to fall asleep in mid-conversation!"
Haldir nodded and led him again down the trails of Lorien, his mind carefully analyzing all that his friend had said. Perhaps, Legolas had gone mad, he thought, then looked at the grim face of the other Elf and knew that was not so. He had no choice but to accept all the prince had said as truth, and so became a fairy tale in later years of the tale of an Elf from the dark of Mirkwood and the grace of the daughter of The Creator.
Once Legolas had reached his room, he nodded his thanks to his friend and was almost asleep before his head graced the soft pillow of his bed. Haldir smiled and silently walked away into the forest surrounding the city. He would search for the Wolf and gather more information if he could.
The sunrises in Lorien were just as brilliant as the sunsets, Legolas however was not thinking so as the glistening rays of sun beat down on his face from the window. He moaned and stuck his head beneath the pillow, but for some reason the light did not fade.
"Fate has not chosen you, but I have." A soft voice said to him.
Legolas sat up and found himself, not in his bed in Lorien, yet not in the endless white of the heavens. He was in a forest, amazingly green and so thick that the sun could only just filter in through the leaves above. Before him stood Melwa, but as he gazed at her, she began to fade into the slightly shorter image of Honora.
"Honora . . ." He asked in wonder. Then looking around again, he asked. "Where are we?"
"We are in the depths of Greenwood." She said softly, coming to kneel by his side. The pale blue gown she wore rustled as she moved.
"Greenwood? It has not been called that in more than an age! Nor does it look like this. Do not deceive yourself, Honora! The wood is far darker, sunlight does not enter it and it is filled with stagnant puddles and enchanting streams. Spiders reside within it's shadow, as do Orcs." He snapped.
She pressed her soft lips to his angry frown, running her hand down his cheek. He relaxed under her touch, his anger slipping away from him as fast as his sanity. She was maddening, with only a look she could have him falling over himself and her touch drove him insane.
"Evil can be undone." She whispered against his mouth. Then all faded and when he opened his eyes again he was under his pillow in Lorien, hiding from the suns morning rays.
He slowly sat up and heard quiet laughter to his left. He turned to find Celeborn standing near the door, a grin of mirth upon his face.
"And to think, the rising of the sun in Lorien is usually a joyous occasion!" He said, his laughter now flowing from his lips unchecked.
Legolas smiled at the Lords happy mood. "It was disturbing my rest." He said, smirking.
"Your rest! Indeed, I have never seen an Elf sleep past noon before in my long life!" Celeborn cried, tossing to Legolas some fresh, untorn, clothes.
"Past noon! The Wolf is going to be furious!" Legolas cried, jumping out of his bed.
"Yes, he was when you did not arrive ready to go as the sun was rising. It took a lot to calm him, particularly three lambs." Celeborn said. "Now he is dosing peacefully with his stomach full near the stream."
Legolas nodded, shucking off his old torn clothes and hurriedly putting on the new. They were soothing against his healing skin, yet when he looked on his arms he could see no wounds, just feel where the scars lay, hidden from the sight of others.
Moments later he was ready to go, but Celeborn insisted that he first break his fast. And so he was led to a great dining hall where many Elves were eating their lunch. He was given a plate of food and silently ate it, brooding on the dream he had had.
What had it meant? Had she sent word to him? Or was it just his own unconsciousness playing with his mind? Evil could be undone? Why had she spoken of that? And of Greenwood? It did not look like that, indeed he had searched the entire forest, with the exception of the spider lairs, and had found no place like that. It was a dream, he reasoned, no more than his own wishful thinking.
He sighed and pushed his plate away, leaving it only half-eaten as got up from the table. He was not hungry, he just wanted to the back to Minas Tirith, back to his friends. And perhaps there he would be able to sleep without her haunting his dreams. He knew now, he could not allow her to come back with him to Mirkwood. She was higher than that of the Dark Wood, she would not accept it.
Dejectedly he left the eating hall, in search of the Great Wolf, Tzarinita. He found the wolf, sleeping on his stomach on the banks of the stream, his tail slowly swaying in the water. A smile came to his lips, would the wolf be mad his tail was wet?
"Tzarinita?" Legolas asked. The wolf didn't move. "Tzarinita?" He said a bit louder, but still received no response. "Tzarinita, your tails getting wet!"
The wolfs head jerked up and his tail was tugged from the water so quickly, that drips of water sprayed Legolas. Legolas merely laughed at the dark look the wolf gave him.
"You little trickster. You put it there didn't you?" The Wolf demanded angrily.
"No, I arrived and there was your tail swaying happily back and forth in the stream." Legolas said honestly. "I would not wish to anger an beast as great as yourself."
Tzarinita snorted and shook his tail again, the water droplets flying this way and that. "Are you ready yet, Elf? Indeed it must be past midday." Legolas nodded in agreement. "Elves! I've never seen them sleep so long!"
Legolas smiled as the beast kneeled down, his mood was much higher now after his short laugh at the wolfs expense and he climbed happily onto Tzarinita's back. He was ready for another day's journey.
So after a gracious farewell from the Lord and Lady of the Wood and friendly nod from Haldir they were on their way once more. The speed of the wolf surpassed even the fastest horse, Legolas noticed. He would soon be among friends, he thought, and then things would be much better.
TBC
Reviews:
Silverdust: heh, I've got my fans in . . . agony. cool . . . I mean, sorry. Here's the next chappie! :D
Kaebabe: I fed my plot bunnies lots :D That's how I came up with it.
Elfaer: Yay! I've got you like sticky tape. . . don't ask where that came from. It's late.
Doyle: Yay! I have a religious worshipper! . . . heh. cool. :D Thanx.
Elenya: request granted. lol. Thanks for your enthusiasm. . . enthusyasm. . . I can't spell it. lol. Thanks for your review!
The sun beat down on his face as he slowly came back into consciousness. He gave a painful moan and roll onto his front to shield his sensitive eyes from it's blinding glare. Slowly opening his eyes in the shadow of his arms he waited until the were used to the suns intensity before slowly sitting up. His limbs were stiff and painfully cried out in protest at the action, wishing only to fall back into hibernation.
He looked around him, not remembering anything of his past, not even a name, age, he did not even know of what race he belonged to. To his surprise, a ring of twelve giant wolves sat calmly in a circle surrounding him. Wargs! his mind cried, although he did not know what the word meant.
A wolf, larger than all the rest, calmly stepped through the circle of surrounding wolves, slowly coming towards him. He shuffled away, trying to get further away from the beast, only to run into the forelegs of one of the wolves behind him.
The large wolf cocked it's head to the side, it's large padded paw coming down roughly on his chest, effectively holding him still. The wolf behind him silently back away from the larger one, to sit quietly ten feet away.
The large wolf's head loomed closer to him, and he thought for sure he was about to die. It's razor sharp teeth stopped, though, just bare centimeters away from his head. He felt the shift in the wind as the huge beast sniffed in his scent, as though searching for an odor that would give it the right to kill the tiny being beneath it's paw.
"Elven royalty. . ." The beast snorted, in a tongue the man could understand. "What is she doing with Elven royalty?"
"Man nar elye?" (Who are you) The man asked, surprised to find that the words he spoke were not of the same language as that of the beast. The words he spoke were graceful and fluid, while the words of the beast had been harsh and rugged.
"I am Tzarinita, Lord of the Wolves." The beast said.
". . . Wolves. . ." He said quietly, imitating the sound coming the beast. "My mind cried warg."
"Warg! That is an insult. Wargs are to us as Orcs are to your kind." The wolf growled angrily, suppressed rage behind his eyes. "Twisted and broken."
"What is to be my fate?" The man asked.
"Your fate? Your fate is not mine to decide, though I suppose it will be happy should Iluvatar choose it so." The beast said.
The man cringed at the sound of that name. Great pain had been caused by that being, the man remembered that. Whips and daggers, clutching hands and stinging bees, punching fists and razor sharp teeth. Than the faint memory of a woman, more fair than any other he could remember seeing. Violet eyes, pale hair . . . regal beauty.
". . . Where is she?" He asked dumfounded, for he did not remember her name, only a face and a feeling within his heart.
"Away on an errand. She is quite healthy, you need not worry. Your painful sacrifice did not go in vain." The beast said.
"Where are we?" He asked, still confused. "And who am I? Why can I not remember anything?"
"You are at the home of Lokrantara of the Eagles in the Misty Mountains. You are a prince. She spoke your name before she left . . . Legolas, I believed she called you. You have been through a great ordeal, you were prepared to sacrifice your life to save Honora. For that I am very grateful. She is a great friend of mine." The beast answered.
"A prince? Royalty . . . Honora . . ." Legolas asked. "Yes. . . I am beginning to remember. My name is Legolas . . . I am an Elf . . . from Mirkwood . . ."
"Great to hear. Now get on my back. We must reach the City of Men within a few days. She made specific instructions to take you there when you awoke." The beast said, kneeling down to the smaller being could climb up onto his back.
Legolas stiffly struggled to get onto the giant beasts back, once he was up, he sank back down into the beasts thick grey fur. He held on tight when the wolf took a giant leap forward, but was soon reprimanded for his action.
"My skin is not the reins of a horse, Legolas. I can feel your fingers digging into my flesh, loosen up." The beast growled. Legolas obeyed the great beasts order, fearing to anger the beast.
Soon he was once more asleep upon the great wolf's back, the hours of the day passing slowly as they travelled the rocky terrain of the Misty Mountains and down past to the Forest of Lothlorien.
He awoke again when Tzarinita suddenly stopped at the edge of the Golden Wood. The sun was setting brilliantly off in the horizon and night was beginning to fall over the land.
"Guards of Lorien! I have need to take this Elf to the Lord and Lady of the Wood." Tzarinita called into the shadows of the forest.
A guard walked slowly out of the shadows, his long blonde hair hung down his back, a small warriors braid plaited at the side. His sparkling blue eyes shone out in the growing darkness, a grim look upon his face.
"We have no quarrel with the Wolves, but the Lord and Lady would not allow you to bring in a stranger." The guard said sternly.
Legolas struggled to sit up, still painfully stiff after the torture he had gone through. His golden hair was tangled and the clothes he wore were still torn and covered with his own blood. He looked at the guard and his jaw dropped.
"Haldir! You live! But. . . I saw you fall at Helms Deep. . ." Legolas said in shock, obviously regaining all his memory.
"Legolas?" The guard asked. "Oh, great joy it does bring me to see you well! Yet not in perfect health, I can see. Come, come! I will see you to the Lord and Lady right now!"
They soon entered the city of Lorien, the candle lights glowing brightly in the darkening sky. They arrived at the stair leading to the House of Galadhrim after a hurried reunion between the two Elves. Legolas and Tzarinita watched in awe once more as the Lord and Lady of the Wood slowly walked down the stairs toward them. They all bowed their heads in reverence, Galadriel's beauty still as fair as ever and Celeborn's strength still was obvious in his stance.
"A great ordeal, we have been told, you have have gone through, Prince of Mirkwood. Lorien offers to you it's hospitality." Galadriel said softly.
"Who spoke to you of my ordeal, My Lady?" Legolas asked, his voice sounding very loud in the silence of the forest surrounding him.
"Many voices. The tree's, the wind, the rising and falling sun. . . and an Eagle rider." Galadriel said, smiling mischievously at the end.
"Honora. . ." He whispered.
"She holds a great power. I have sensed it within her." Celeborn said. Legolas merely nodded, choosing not to reveal his knowledge of her family to him.
"Go now, Legolas. Get some rest, perhaps the tranquility of Lorien will heal your troubled heart." Galadriel said quietly. "I know." He heard within his mind.
"Haldir, lead him to his chambers." Celeborn said. "And Tzarinita, you and your kin are always welcome in the forests of Lothlorien."
Haldir led Legolas away, Tzarinita choosing to find a more suitable place to sleep for himself in the forest beyond. They walked in silence through the Golden Wood for many minutes.
"You still have not told me of how you survived, Haldir. I saw you fall, I saw the life fade behind your eyes." Legolas said.
"The powers of others are often stronger than we can comprehend. I do not remember much . . . violet eyes and a musical voice. I do not know who she was, but my life was given back to me and now I walk in the forests of Lorien once more." Haldir answered slowly.
"The mother or the daughter?" Legolas mused to himself quietly.
"You know of whom I speak?" Haldir asked in surprise.
"If it was the mother, Melwa, she gave me my last comfort during my torture . . . the daughter is my beloved, yet I do not understand what to do now . . ." Legolas said, his thoughts and doubts flowing from his lips in the presence of his friend.
"What do you mean?" Haldir asked, leading him to a bench near a flowing fountain.
". . . Iluvatar . . ." Legolas said painfully. "She is his flesh and blood, worthy more of Lorien, if anywhere, than of Mirkwood. Would it be right, or fair, to take her to the Dark Wood? To make her face to constant dangers of the spiders and the Orcs that roam there? Who am I to choose her fate?" Legolas asked.
"You are her beloved, and she has chosen you. Does that mean nothing?" Haldir asked after a moment of shock at the mention of her heritage.
"More than you would know, Haldir. I too have been past death and then cast back into this world like a fish too small to keep." Legolas said spitefully.
"You are not glad to be back among the living?" Haldir asked in surprise.
"I thought . . . I would save her and then I would cause her no more trouble. Once I was gone that she would accept her fathers choice, for truly Eomer is a noble man." Legolas said, troubled.
"Eomer! He is a Man! Is not the woman you speak of an Elf? For the Eagle rider who came her four days ago was!" Haldir exclaimed, his voice echoing in the forest.
"Eomer is a Man and yes, she is an Elf. The Guardian and Hope of Men, as she called herself. And so, Iluvatar has chosen a Man for her to wed." Legolas said sadly.
"He would choose that both nations of Men had rulers wed to the immortality of the Elves?" Haldir asked in surprise.
"I know not of what he would choose, merely that I was not it." Legolas said wearily. "I must find my chambers, Haldir, I am about to fall asleep in mid-conversation!"
Haldir nodded and led him again down the trails of Lorien, his mind carefully analyzing all that his friend had said. Perhaps, Legolas had gone mad, he thought, then looked at the grim face of the other Elf and knew that was not so. He had no choice but to accept all the prince had said as truth, and so became a fairy tale in later years of the tale of an Elf from the dark of Mirkwood and the grace of the daughter of The Creator.
Once Legolas had reached his room, he nodded his thanks to his friend and was almost asleep before his head graced the soft pillow of his bed. Haldir smiled and silently walked away into the forest surrounding the city. He would search for the Wolf and gather more information if he could.
The sunrises in Lorien were just as brilliant as the sunsets, Legolas however was not thinking so as the glistening rays of sun beat down on his face from the window. He moaned and stuck his head beneath the pillow, but for some reason the light did not fade.
"Fate has not chosen you, but I have." A soft voice said to him.
Legolas sat up and found himself, not in his bed in Lorien, yet not in the endless white of the heavens. He was in a forest, amazingly green and so thick that the sun could only just filter in through the leaves above. Before him stood Melwa, but as he gazed at her, she began to fade into the slightly shorter image of Honora.
"Honora . . ." He asked in wonder. Then looking around again, he asked. "Where are we?"
"We are in the depths of Greenwood." She said softly, coming to kneel by his side. The pale blue gown she wore rustled as she moved.
"Greenwood? It has not been called that in more than an age! Nor does it look like this. Do not deceive yourself, Honora! The wood is far darker, sunlight does not enter it and it is filled with stagnant puddles and enchanting streams. Spiders reside within it's shadow, as do Orcs." He snapped.
She pressed her soft lips to his angry frown, running her hand down his cheek. He relaxed under her touch, his anger slipping away from him as fast as his sanity. She was maddening, with only a look she could have him falling over himself and her touch drove him insane.
"Evil can be undone." She whispered against his mouth. Then all faded and when he opened his eyes again he was under his pillow in Lorien, hiding from the suns morning rays.
He slowly sat up and heard quiet laughter to his left. He turned to find Celeborn standing near the door, a grin of mirth upon his face.
"And to think, the rising of the sun in Lorien is usually a joyous occasion!" He said, his laughter now flowing from his lips unchecked.
Legolas smiled at the Lords happy mood. "It was disturbing my rest." He said, smirking.
"Your rest! Indeed, I have never seen an Elf sleep past noon before in my long life!" Celeborn cried, tossing to Legolas some fresh, untorn, clothes.
"Past noon! The Wolf is going to be furious!" Legolas cried, jumping out of his bed.
"Yes, he was when you did not arrive ready to go as the sun was rising. It took a lot to calm him, particularly three lambs." Celeborn said. "Now he is dosing peacefully with his stomach full near the stream."
Legolas nodded, shucking off his old torn clothes and hurriedly putting on the new. They were soothing against his healing skin, yet when he looked on his arms he could see no wounds, just feel where the scars lay, hidden from the sight of others.
Moments later he was ready to go, but Celeborn insisted that he first break his fast. And so he was led to a great dining hall where many Elves were eating their lunch. He was given a plate of food and silently ate it, brooding on the dream he had had.
What had it meant? Had she sent word to him? Or was it just his own unconsciousness playing with his mind? Evil could be undone? Why had she spoken of that? And of Greenwood? It did not look like that, indeed he had searched the entire forest, with the exception of the spider lairs, and had found no place like that. It was a dream, he reasoned, no more than his own wishful thinking.
He sighed and pushed his plate away, leaving it only half-eaten as got up from the table. He was not hungry, he just wanted to the back to Minas Tirith, back to his friends. And perhaps there he would be able to sleep without her haunting his dreams. He knew now, he could not allow her to come back with him to Mirkwood. She was higher than that of the Dark Wood, she would not accept it.
Dejectedly he left the eating hall, in search of the Great Wolf, Tzarinita. He found the wolf, sleeping on his stomach on the banks of the stream, his tail slowly swaying in the water. A smile came to his lips, would the wolf be mad his tail was wet?
"Tzarinita?" Legolas asked. The wolf didn't move. "Tzarinita?" He said a bit louder, but still received no response. "Tzarinita, your tails getting wet!"
The wolfs head jerked up and his tail was tugged from the water so quickly, that drips of water sprayed Legolas. Legolas merely laughed at the dark look the wolf gave him.
"You little trickster. You put it there didn't you?" The Wolf demanded angrily.
"No, I arrived and there was your tail swaying happily back and forth in the stream." Legolas said honestly. "I would not wish to anger an beast as great as yourself."
Tzarinita snorted and shook his tail again, the water droplets flying this way and that. "Are you ready yet, Elf? Indeed it must be past midday." Legolas nodded in agreement. "Elves! I've never seen them sleep so long!"
Legolas smiled as the beast kneeled down, his mood was much higher now after his short laugh at the wolfs expense and he climbed happily onto Tzarinita's back. He was ready for another day's journey.
So after a gracious farewell from the Lord and Lady of the Wood and friendly nod from Haldir they were on their way once more. The speed of the wolf surpassed even the fastest horse, Legolas noticed. He would soon be among friends, he thought, and then things would be much better.
TBC