Chapter Forty-Seven: News
A/N: I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY! Oh please forgive me. I haven't posted in FOREVER! Ah! I'm so unworthy of all of your reviews and I promise, I'll keep up on this. TITAN is over. We're got 3rd place for inspection, which is great. We got screwed for exhibition. But you know how it is: Luther Burbank HS holds the competition, Luther Burbank sweeps the competition. I'm really flattered by all of your reviews, none-the-less. I'm so anxious for my PSAT scores. I just can't wait. I'm just a freshman, so it's just practice, but I should get a good score, because last year when I took a practice SAT, I got a 1070. Not too shabby, eh?
Now that I'm getting back into the Action/Adventure part and out of the /Romance part, it's all good, and my writer's block is gone. (Funny how that works huh?) Well, I've been rambling long enough, but I just want to thank all of you guys again for your awesome reviews. You are really tight people, and I hope all of your stories (or whatever you're working on) goes just as well. I couldn't be happier on how this is going. Cheers, and Ciao!
…
"Findecano!" Aila was worriedly calling the name of her son. He was forever running away from her, causing mischief throughout the kingdom of Mirkwood. Thranduil was still the reigning king, but Aila could see the wear upon his face as his heart longed for the Grey Havens. He stayed, however, to watch his grandson grow. Now, Findecano was some decades old and he was in the prime of his toddler life. "Findecano, come back here this moment!" She was quickly losing her temper and was constantly reminded of why she hadn't wanted children in the first place. Many elves poked their heads out of doors along the hallway, and as soon as they realized the predicament, they gleefully joined in the hunt.
Aila sighed, knowing to Findecano this seemed like a giant game of hide-and-seek. He almost relished making trouble and unseating the entire realm, but that was a toddler for you. Thinking hard, Aila tried to remember all of Findecano's favorite hiding places. The other elves who had joined in the search were also looking in these places, but they left it to Aila to search within their private quarters. Going softly on her feet, knowing it was useless as Findecano could always hear her with his pointed elven ears, she hoped that he was too into what he was doing. She opened the door to their bedroom and was immediately relieved by what she saw.
Legolas sat in the chair, handling the various implements he always had scattered across his wooden desk, and Findecano was perched on his knee, as innocent as ever. At the moment, Legolas was showing the young child a long elven dagger. The fact that Legolas was teaching weapons to the small elf unsettled Aila a little, but Findecano was a gentle little child and he hero-worshipped his father. Every moment that Findecano spent with Legolas was like a thousand years of glory to the small child.
"Findecano," she began, but her voice was soft and almost amused. "You have caused quite a stir. I'd best go tell them that you've been found."
"But I was never lost," said the child innocently. His voice was high, but it was soothing, and his eyes sparked with light, deep blue but sometimes gray. Aila smiled at Findecano, then at Legolas, who raised his eyebrows at her harried appearance. From habit, she blew imaginary bangs from her forehead. Starting to turn away, Aila saw Findecano stand up on his father's knee and kiss his cheek before jumping down and hurrying towards her. Within moments, she felt his small hand slip into hers. "Teach me about history, mama." She smiled down at the young elf, who took deep delight in her tales, but he mostly seemed interested in the wars of her world.
"Later," came Legolas' voice as he walked over to them. "The King has summoned us both to a council, and you must run along and play with Vanidar." Aila looked quizzically at Legolas. Thranduil had never asked her to come to a meeting. Findecano nodded and ran in front of them, searching for his friends, several decades younger. Thrusting his arm around Aila's shoulders, he pulled her close to his side as they walked slowly down the hall. Aila leaned her head against his shoulder as well. "He is a handful, isn't he?" She could hear in his voice that he was smiling, and she smiled as well.
"I need a break," she said, still smiling, laughing slightly. "I need a break from constant games of hide-and-go-seek, and story-telling. I need a vacation." Legolas stopped, putting his hands on her shoulders so that she faced him and she looked up at him, surprised.
"Where do you want to go?" he asked. "I will take you there." A sudden memory came across Aila's mind and her smile widened.
"I believe you still owe me a tour of all the beautiful places of Middle Earth." Legolas laughed as they began to walk down the hall once more towards the room where meetings were held.
"I'm pleased that you could join us," Aila heard King Thranduil say with a hint of sarcasm as they entered the room. Obviously, they were a bit late.
"Your pardon, King," Aila said, closing her eyes and curtsying. Beside her, Legolas bowed. Thranduil laughed, light and airy, and gestured for them to sit down. Around him sat his many advisors and captains.
"As most are well aware, the relations between Mirkwood and the men of the Lake are fading away to nothingness. The stories of the friendship between man and elf are disappearing and the new generations of men are coming to loathe the few elves who remain upon Middle Earth."
"Simply because they are not familiar with you anymore," Aila said, cutting Thranduil off. "If we were to re-introduce ourselves to them …"
"I fear it may soon be too late for that. However, this meeting was called because the trade between the men and ourselves has become ridiculous. They are expecting too much wine and finery in exchange for their crude bread and flour. I fear we are alienating ourselves from them further by wanting the same exchange as we have always had. But the men are greedy, and the children of noble fathers are drunkards and swindlers."
"Perhaps not quite that, Father," said Legolas, trying to ease the stereotypes of men today.
"Perhaps not, but still perhaps," replied his father, almost illogically. "We trade with them for flour and other implements for making bread. As well as several vegetables and other necessities that we cannot access here within the forest. But they demand for more of our expensive wine for less of their raw material."
"We must then reach an agreement with them," Aila answered, looking down at her hands in her lap. Her voice was almost timid. She lifted her eyes up to meet Thranduil's face, so that he might actually pay attention to her. "If they demand more wine, reason with them. If they want more wine, they must give you more flour and so on. Perhaps men are greedy, but they have not lost their wit. If we strike them a good offer, perhaps they will accept it. You see, if they send too much of their products over, for much of ours, they will soon lack the very things they produce, and their people will become hungry and their nation poor. However, maybe we could offer them something other than wine. Grapes, then, give them the grapes to make the wine, instead of simply the wine. Teach them to make jelly with the grapes, to feed their peoples with the sweetness of the fruit. Rather than simply send them an already made product. There must be something more that Mirkwood can offer the men, other than simply wine and fine cheeses."
Throughout her entire speech, Thranduil had been listening to her with a careful ear, digesting all that she had to say. It was at that moment that he truly realized her genius.
"Perhaps we may …" he said, trying not to seem as if he was about to take her advice.
"I say, your Highness," said one of his economic advisors, "that the Princess has a point."
Legolas also added an idea, to impress upon Aila's, and Thranduil questioned his son and daughter-in-law, pressuring them to find all of the answers. Suddenly, Thranduil found himself totally out of the conversation. Either Aila ricocheted answers and Legolas fired questions, or vice versa, and the couple unknowingly solved the problem momentarily for the King.
"Simple economics," said Aila, leaning back in her chair, when they had finished. Legolas smiled at her, realizing what they had just done. He looked up at his father and received a small wink.
The meeting was adjourned swiftly, leaving Aila and Legolas to talk about a vacation. But no matter how much they spoke of touring Middle Earth, they never quite got around to it while they could, not willing to leave Findecano's side. However, there was little time they could have done it in, for by the time Findecano was 1500, when they would have not felt so guilty about leaving him behind for a year or so while they vacationed, the enmity between elves and men was reaching an all-time high. All over Middle Earth elves were sending secret messages to each other, through birds or any other way they could invent to find out what they were going to do about this.
"Mother," Findecano said, taking Aila by surprise as she sat in the room that Legolas had given to her all those centuries ago. She was typing on her laptop, just writing a small story as she enjoyed to do when she had spare time. Her mirror's twin also stood within the room, a present given to her by Arwen and Aragorn after her wedding, who had long passed away. "Tell me a story." Aila turned in her chair and smiled at her son, now a young adult. It seemed no matter how old he got, he enjoyed her stories of history.
"What would you like to hear about, Findecano?" Her son took a seat upon the floor in front of her chair. She knew that he would reply something about the wars from her time's past. His future, of course. It seemed as if that was what he was mostly interested in.
"The Mongols."
"That is one of my favorite subjects," said Aila. "You see, when he was a young boy, Genghis' father was killed by a clan leader from another Mongolian clan, so Genghis became a clan-chieftain at a young age. After much planning and thinking, many years later, Genghis Khan decided to take over the world. He conquered the other Mongolian clans and united them under one leader--himself. He trained them in horseback riding, as they had already known, and came up with battle strategies. Eventually, he was able to conquer most of Asia," she paused a moment for Findecano to remember what she had told him about Asia. She had taught him all of his geography and he was quite worldly at a young age. "Despite his military genius, however, Genghis was a poor leader. He didn't know what to do with all the land that he had conquered, so eventually his descendents lost all of the land."
This, of course, was the shortened version of what Aila told Findecano, but it seems satisfactory here. Many know already of the story of Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan.
"I know what I must do now," replied Findecano, and Aila stood up with him and took his hand as he went to leave.
"You have always known what you must do," replied Aila. She looked up at him, as he was taller than her. His brown hair had blonde streaks running through it, and his eyes were bright hazel. "Now, you know how to do it." Findecano gave his mother a swift hug before leaving quickly. Just as he left, Legolas entered.
"My father is leaving for the Gray Havens," he said, his eyes full of sorrow, but Aila shook her head.
"He may just want to wait a while for the rest of the elves," she replied. "Their salvation is on its way. Findecano is beginning his plans." The sorrow that he enveloped Legolas' eyes vanished and a new light appeared. He took Aila's hand and pulled her along with him as he went to find Findecano, who was not far off.
Immediately, father and son together, sent message to all of the elven colonies over Middle Earth by bird. Aila watched wordlessly in the background as Legolas and Findecano relayed the messages to the birds in their own tongue, a skill Aila lacked. Chirps, tweets, and twiddles filled the air as the birds responded en masse and then flew off to their various destinations, some veering south, many winging west, fewer north, and a solitary bird went east.
…
Within the next few weeks Aila worried lightly about her son. He paced the halls of the castle and surrounding city, constantly asking if any of the birds had returned. Legolas did the same.
"Can you believe it?" said a middle-aged female to her friend as she walked behind Aila, unaware of the princess' presence. "The way that Prince Legolas and Prince Findecano are acting, it's even worse than when Princess Aila was pregnant!" Aila laughed at this, drawing attention to herself, and the offending elf immediately began to apologize, but Aila just waved her hand for her to stop and winked slightly.
"Not quite," she said and kept laughing as she walked away. Soon after however, the humor died off and she began to worry once more. Sighing with an air of frustration, she headed toward the common archery range where many of the warriors of Mirkwood exercised daily.
"Hi, Princess," said one of them as he waited for his turn at a target. The range was even fuller than it usually was, the hay strewn across the ground barely to be seen from under elven feet.
"Good 'morrow to ye, fine Gentlemen," she joked, laughing as she usually did when she was around these men. They hardly ever took her seriously and she liked it that way. The soldiers respected her greatly, and Aila soon found herself with her bow in hand and a fresh quiver upon her back. The soldiers stood aside so that she could loose a few arrows into the center. She laughed and joked with them most of the time and had a grand time, until one of them asked about the moods of Legolas and Findecano. Her smile faded until it was lopsided, and then was no more. The other soldiers made moves to silence the one who had spoken up, angry and respectful, but only verbally held them off.
"It's all right, I imagine you all have a right to know, don't you? You're all aware of my son's prophecy? The first initial steps of it becoming part of history rather than a prophecy are beginning. Obviously, the anxiety between the two greatest parts of this, Findecano and his father, is great. That may not be a very good explanation, but it's all I have," she finished, not taking her eyes off the target. The soldiers would have believed that she was all right with it, had she centered the arrow. But they knew everything was not all right when she fired--it went horrible left, pulled by too strong a grip.
They backed off suddenly as she turned around, her face red and flustered, hair falling from the bun on her head to frame her face. All of the sudden, she didn't seem so happy as she usually did.
"I'm sorry," she said, and for a moment, she looked it. Then she handed her bow back to one of the soldiers, who stared dumbstruck after her as she almost ran from the enclosure. She walked back to the center of the castle, wondering what she could possibly do now, to take her mind off of her husband and son. She had scheduled an entire hour and a half for archery, and it had hardly taken up fifteen minutes. Hands gripped her shoulders from behind and she wheeled around, not surprised to see Legolas anxious behind her.
"Have you heard anything yet?" he asked, his blue eyes in turmoil.
"No," she replied calmly, prying his hands from her shoulders. "If anyone received any type of information, you would be the first to know. Or your father. I would probably be the last to know, Legolas, you know that."
"Yes," he replied, hanging his head in a shamed manner. Immediately, Aila felt bad, like it was her fault that Legolas was anxious, and she was about to apologize when Findecano came bounding into the large passageway. It was quite unlike him, to be running and waving a scroll in his hand like mad. A smile was plastered across his face and his bright blue eyes were flurried with excitement, his brown hair hanging extravagantly to his shoulders. His pale skin shone in the bright sunlight that filtered through the windows of the room and he ground to a halt in front of his royal parents.
"Father!" Findecano cried as he tried to stop. "The messengers have begun to return!" He handed the scroll to Legolas, who hurried unrolled the paper and read the letter with anxious eyes. Aila, confused between the two, could see in both of their eyes that the news was indeed good and she slipped off back towards the archery range. Behind her, she could hear father and son making plans of their next move, like they were partners in a strenuous chess game, and indeed they were.
Almost running now, Aila was at the archery range quickly and silence reigned over the range as the soldiers stopped what they were doing to look at the princess, but now she was smiling, and they could tell she was really happy now.
"We have received the news," she said to them, ranging her hands wide and playing them out. "The news is good. I suggest you all find your officers--war may soon begin. Practice your skills and make ready, for the elves are to be saved!" She turned and ran away, back towards her husband and son, but she could hear the cheering and the laughter as she ran away from the range, and the soldiers were pleased.
"Good," said Legolas, when he found she had returned. "We were looking for you. You must come with us to a counsel to decide what must be done from here, now that we have the support of Ithilien, Lothlorien, and Rivendell."
"No, Legolas," she said. "I doubt I could be of much help," she lied. She had extensive knowledge of battle strategies from her own time, but she didn't quite want to go talk of war at the moment. She suddenly felt tired and needed to relax, realizing how high-strung she had been waiting for the replies. "I think I will take a walk."
"But Aila," Legolas said, and she thought he would refute her suggestion of not going to the counsel, but he said otherwise. "You cannot go walking alone. There are men abroad in Mirkwood, hungry for revenge upon what elves never did. If they found you out there, think of what they would do."
"You forget Legolas," she smiled, vaguely. "I'm not an elf. If they find me, I'll just be a wandering, lost human. Nothing more. I can always lie." The look on Legolas' face told her that she was not going to be able to go, but she turned and began to walk away anyway. "You and Findecano plan your wars. I will walk."
"Aila …"
"Good-bye, Legolas." Little did she know it would be her final good-bye.
…
A/N: Forbidding, huh? Yeah, that's what I thought. I just got a Nirvana CD, Nevermind. With "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Boy, what an awesome song, and my stereo can pull off the bass too, it's freaking awesome. "Hello hello how low? Hello hello hello how low?" I love that song. It's tight. Well, I've got to get back to my life. I've got some English homework due tomorrow, not to mention a math test tomorrow too. Hope you enjoyed!
A/N: I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY! Oh please forgive me. I haven't posted in FOREVER! Ah! I'm so unworthy of all of your reviews and I promise, I'll keep up on this. TITAN is over. We're got 3rd place for inspection, which is great. We got screwed for exhibition. But you know how it is: Luther Burbank HS holds the competition, Luther Burbank sweeps the competition. I'm really flattered by all of your reviews, none-the-less. I'm so anxious for my PSAT scores. I just can't wait. I'm just a freshman, so it's just practice, but I should get a good score, because last year when I took a practice SAT, I got a 1070. Not too shabby, eh?
Now that I'm getting back into the Action/Adventure part and out of the /Romance part, it's all good, and my writer's block is gone. (Funny how that works huh?) Well, I've been rambling long enough, but I just want to thank all of you guys again for your awesome reviews. You are really tight people, and I hope all of your stories (or whatever you're working on) goes just as well. I couldn't be happier on how this is going. Cheers, and Ciao!
…
"Findecano!" Aila was worriedly calling the name of her son. He was forever running away from her, causing mischief throughout the kingdom of Mirkwood. Thranduil was still the reigning king, but Aila could see the wear upon his face as his heart longed for the Grey Havens. He stayed, however, to watch his grandson grow. Now, Findecano was some decades old and he was in the prime of his toddler life. "Findecano, come back here this moment!" She was quickly losing her temper and was constantly reminded of why she hadn't wanted children in the first place. Many elves poked their heads out of doors along the hallway, and as soon as they realized the predicament, they gleefully joined in the hunt.
Aila sighed, knowing to Findecano this seemed like a giant game of hide-and-seek. He almost relished making trouble and unseating the entire realm, but that was a toddler for you. Thinking hard, Aila tried to remember all of Findecano's favorite hiding places. The other elves who had joined in the search were also looking in these places, but they left it to Aila to search within their private quarters. Going softly on her feet, knowing it was useless as Findecano could always hear her with his pointed elven ears, she hoped that he was too into what he was doing. She opened the door to their bedroom and was immediately relieved by what she saw.
Legolas sat in the chair, handling the various implements he always had scattered across his wooden desk, and Findecano was perched on his knee, as innocent as ever. At the moment, Legolas was showing the young child a long elven dagger. The fact that Legolas was teaching weapons to the small elf unsettled Aila a little, but Findecano was a gentle little child and he hero-worshipped his father. Every moment that Findecano spent with Legolas was like a thousand years of glory to the small child.
"Findecano," she began, but her voice was soft and almost amused. "You have caused quite a stir. I'd best go tell them that you've been found."
"But I was never lost," said the child innocently. His voice was high, but it was soothing, and his eyes sparked with light, deep blue but sometimes gray. Aila smiled at Findecano, then at Legolas, who raised his eyebrows at her harried appearance. From habit, she blew imaginary bangs from her forehead. Starting to turn away, Aila saw Findecano stand up on his father's knee and kiss his cheek before jumping down and hurrying towards her. Within moments, she felt his small hand slip into hers. "Teach me about history, mama." She smiled down at the young elf, who took deep delight in her tales, but he mostly seemed interested in the wars of her world.
"Later," came Legolas' voice as he walked over to them. "The King has summoned us both to a council, and you must run along and play with Vanidar." Aila looked quizzically at Legolas. Thranduil had never asked her to come to a meeting. Findecano nodded and ran in front of them, searching for his friends, several decades younger. Thrusting his arm around Aila's shoulders, he pulled her close to his side as they walked slowly down the hall. Aila leaned her head against his shoulder as well. "He is a handful, isn't he?" She could hear in his voice that he was smiling, and she smiled as well.
"I need a break," she said, still smiling, laughing slightly. "I need a break from constant games of hide-and-go-seek, and story-telling. I need a vacation." Legolas stopped, putting his hands on her shoulders so that she faced him and she looked up at him, surprised.
"Where do you want to go?" he asked. "I will take you there." A sudden memory came across Aila's mind and her smile widened.
"I believe you still owe me a tour of all the beautiful places of Middle Earth." Legolas laughed as they began to walk down the hall once more towards the room where meetings were held.
"I'm pleased that you could join us," Aila heard King Thranduil say with a hint of sarcasm as they entered the room. Obviously, they were a bit late.
"Your pardon, King," Aila said, closing her eyes and curtsying. Beside her, Legolas bowed. Thranduil laughed, light and airy, and gestured for them to sit down. Around him sat his many advisors and captains.
"As most are well aware, the relations between Mirkwood and the men of the Lake are fading away to nothingness. The stories of the friendship between man and elf are disappearing and the new generations of men are coming to loathe the few elves who remain upon Middle Earth."
"Simply because they are not familiar with you anymore," Aila said, cutting Thranduil off. "If we were to re-introduce ourselves to them …"
"I fear it may soon be too late for that. However, this meeting was called because the trade between the men and ourselves has become ridiculous. They are expecting too much wine and finery in exchange for their crude bread and flour. I fear we are alienating ourselves from them further by wanting the same exchange as we have always had. But the men are greedy, and the children of noble fathers are drunkards and swindlers."
"Perhaps not quite that, Father," said Legolas, trying to ease the stereotypes of men today.
"Perhaps not, but still perhaps," replied his father, almost illogically. "We trade with them for flour and other implements for making bread. As well as several vegetables and other necessities that we cannot access here within the forest. But they demand for more of our expensive wine for less of their raw material."
"We must then reach an agreement with them," Aila answered, looking down at her hands in her lap. Her voice was almost timid. She lifted her eyes up to meet Thranduil's face, so that he might actually pay attention to her. "If they demand more wine, reason with them. If they want more wine, they must give you more flour and so on. Perhaps men are greedy, but they have not lost their wit. If we strike them a good offer, perhaps they will accept it. You see, if they send too much of their products over, for much of ours, they will soon lack the very things they produce, and their people will become hungry and their nation poor. However, maybe we could offer them something other than wine. Grapes, then, give them the grapes to make the wine, instead of simply the wine. Teach them to make jelly with the grapes, to feed their peoples with the sweetness of the fruit. Rather than simply send them an already made product. There must be something more that Mirkwood can offer the men, other than simply wine and fine cheeses."
Throughout her entire speech, Thranduil had been listening to her with a careful ear, digesting all that she had to say. It was at that moment that he truly realized her genius.
"Perhaps we may …" he said, trying not to seem as if he was about to take her advice.
"I say, your Highness," said one of his economic advisors, "that the Princess has a point."
Legolas also added an idea, to impress upon Aila's, and Thranduil questioned his son and daughter-in-law, pressuring them to find all of the answers. Suddenly, Thranduil found himself totally out of the conversation. Either Aila ricocheted answers and Legolas fired questions, or vice versa, and the couple unknowingly solved the problem momentarily for the King.
"Simple economics," said Aila, leaning back in her chair, when they had finished. Legolas smiled at her, realizing what they had just done. He looked up at his father and received a small wink.
The meeting was adjourned swiftly, leaving Aila and Legolas to talk about a vacation. But no matter how much they spoke of touring Middle Earth, they never quite got around to it while they could, not willing to leave Findecano's side. However, there was little time they could have done it in, for by the time Findecano was 1500, when they would have not felt so guilty about leaving him behind for a year or so while they vacationed, the enmity between elves and men was reaching an all-time high. All over Middle Earth elves were sending secret messages to each other, through birds or any other way they could invent to find out what they were going to do about this.
"Mother," Findecano said, taking Aila by surprise as she sat in the room that Legolas had given to her all those centuries ago. She was typing on her laptop, just writing a small story as she enjoyed to do when she had spare time. Her mirror's twin also stood within the room, a present given to her by Arwen and Aragorn after her wedding, who had long passed away. "Tell me a story." Aila turned in her chair and smiled at her son, now a young adult. It seemed no matter how old he got, he enjoyed her stories of history.
"What would you like to hear about, Findecano?" Her son took a seat upon the floor in front of her chair. She knew that he would reply something about the wars from her time's past. His future, of course. It seemed as if that was what he was mostly interested in.
"The Mongols."
"That is one of my favorite subjects," said Aila. "You see, when he was a young boy, Genghis' father was killed by a clan leader from another Mongolian clan, so Genghis became a clan-chieftain at a young age. After much planning and thinking, many years later, Genghis Khan decided to take over the world. He conquered the other Mongolian clans and united them under one leader--himself. He trained them in horseback riding, as they had already known, and came up with battle strategies. Eventually, he was able to conquer most of Asia," she paused a moment for Findecano to remember what she had told him about Asia. She had taught him all of his geography and he was quite worldly at a young age. "Despite his military genius, however, Genghis was a poor leader. He didn't know what to do with all the land that he had conquered, so eventually his descendents lost all of the land."
This, of course, was the shortened version of what Aila told Findecano, but it seems satisfactory here. Many know already of the story of Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan.
"I know what I must do now," replied Findecano, and Aila stood up with him and took his hand as he went to leave.
"You have always known what you must do," replied Aila. She looked up at him, as he was taller than her. His brown hair had blonde streaks running through it, and his eyes were bright hazel. "Now, you know how to do it." Findecano gave his mother a swift hug before leaving quickly. Just as he left, Legolas entered.
"My father is leaving for the Gray Havens," he said, his eyes full of sorrow, but Aila shook her head.
"He may just want to wait a while for the rest of the elves," she replied. "Their salvation is on its way. Findecano is beginning his plans." The sorrow that he enveloped Legolas' eyes vanished and a new light appeared. He took Aila's hand and pulled her along with him as he went to find Findecano, who was not far off.
Immediately, father and son together, sent message to all of the elven colonies over Middle Earth by bird. Aila watched wordlessly in the background as Legolas and Findecano relayed the messages to the birds in their own tongue, a skill Aila lacked. Chirps, tweets, and twiddles filled the air as the birds responded en masse and then flew off to their various destinations, some veering south, many winging west, fewer north, and a solitary bird went east.
…
Within the next few weeks Aila worried lightly about her son. He paced the halls of the castle and surrounding city, constantly asking if any of the birds had returned. Legolas did the same.
"Can you believe it?" said a middle-aged female to her friend as she walked behind Aila, unaware of the princess' presence. "The way that Prince Legolas and Prince Findecano are acting, it's even worse than when Princess Aila was pregnant!" Aila laughed at this, drawing attention to herself, and the offending elf immediately began to apologize, but Aila just waved her hand for her to stop and winked slightly.
"Not quite," she said and kept laughing as she walked away. Soon after however, the humor died off and she began to worry once more. Sighing with an air of frustration, she headed toward the common archery range where many of the warriors of Mirkwood exercised daily.
"Hi, Princess," said one of them as he waited for his turn at a target. The range was even fuller than it usually was, the hay strewn across the ground barely to be seen from under elven feet.
"Good 'morrow to ye, fine Gentlemen," she joked, laughing as she usually did when she was around these men. They hardly ever took her seriously and she liked it that way. The soldiers respected her greatly, and Aila soon found herself with her bow in hand and a fresh quiver upon her back. The soldiers stood aside so that she could loose a few arrows into the center. She laughed and joked with them most of the time and had a grand time, until one of them asked about the moods of Legolas and Findecano. Her smile faded until it was lopsided, and then was no more. The other soldiers made moves to silence the one who had spoken up, angry and respectful, but only verbally held them off.
"It's all right, I imagine you all have a right to know, don't you? You're all aware of my son's prophecy? The first initial steps of it becoming part of history rather than a prophecy are beginning. Obviously, the anxiety between the two greatest parts of this, Findecano and his father, is great. That may not be a very good explanation, but it's all I have," she finished, not taking her eyes off the target. The soldiers would have believed that she was all right with it, had she centered the arrow. But they knew everything was not all right when she fired--it went horrible left, pulled by too strong a grip.
They backed off suddenly as she turned around, her face red and flustered, hair falling from the bun on her head to frame her face. All of the sudden, she didn't seem so happy as she usually did.
"I'm sorry," she said, and for a moment, she looked it. Then she handed her bow back to one of the soldiers, who stared dumbstruck after her as she almost ran from the enclosure. She walked back to the center of the castle, wondering what she could possibly do now, to take her mind off of her husband and son. She had scheduled an entire hour and a half for archery, and it had hardly taken up fifteen minutes. Hands gripped her shoulders from behind and she wheeled around, not surprised to see Legolas anxious behind her.
"Have you heard anything yet?" he asked, his blue eyes in turmoil.
"No," she replied calmly, prying his hands from her shoulders. "If anyone received any type of information, you would be the first to know. Or your father. I would probably be the last to know, Legolas, you know that."
"Yes," he replied, hanging his head in a shamed manner. Immediately, Aila felt bad, like it was her fault that Legolas was anxious, and she was about to apologize when Findecano came bounding into the large passageway. It was quite unlike him, to be running and waving a scroll in his hand like mad. A smile was plastered across his face and his bright blue eyes were flurried with excitement, his brown hair hanging extravagantly to his shoulders. His pale skin shone in the bright sunlight that filtered through the windows of the room and he ground to a halt in front of his royal parents.
"Father!" Findecano cried as he tried to stop. "The messengers have begun to return!" He handed the scroll to Legolas, who hurried unrolled the paper and read the letter with anxious eyes. Aila, confused between the two, could see in both of their eyes that the news was indeed good and she slipped off back towards the archery range. Behind her, she could hear father and son making plans of their next move, like they were partners in a strenuous chess game, and indeed they were.
Almost running now, Aila was at the archery range quickly and silence reigned over the range as the soldiers stopped what they were doing to look at the princess, but now she was smiling, and they could tell she was really happy now.
"We have received the news," she said to them, ranging her hands wide and playing them out. "The news is good. I suggest you all find your officers--war may soon begin. Practice your skills and make ready, for the elves are to be saved!" She turned and ran away, back towards her husband and son, but she could hear the cheering and the laughter as she ran away from the range, and the soldiers were pleased.
"Good," said Legolas, when he found she had returned. "We were looking for you. You must come with us to a counsel to decide what must be done from here, now that we have the support of Ithilien, Lothlorien, and Rivendell."
"No, Legolas," she said. "I doubt I could be of much help," she lied. She had extensive knowledge of battle strategies from her own time, but she didn't quite want to go talk of war at the moment. She suddenly felt tired and needed to relax, realizing how high-strung she had been waiting for the replies. "I think I will take a walk."
"But Aila," Legolas said, and she thought he would refute her suggestion of not going to the counsel, but he said otherwise. "You cannot go walking alone. There are men abroad in Mirkwood, hungry for revenge upon what elves never did. If they found you out there, think of what they would do."
"You forget Legolas," she smiled, vaguely. "I'm not an elf. If they find me, I'll just be a wandering, lost human. Nothing more. I can always lie." The look on Legolas' face told her that she was not going to be able to go, but she turned and began to walk away anyway. "You and Findecano plan your wars. I will walk."
"Aila …"
"Good-bye, Legolas." Little did she know it would be her final good-bye.
…
A/N: Forbidding, huh? Yeah, that's what I thought. I just got a Nirvana CD, Nevermind. With "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Boy, what an awesome song, and my stereo can pull off the bass too, it's freaking awesome. "Hello hello how low? Hello hello hello how low?" I love that song. It's tight. Well, I've got to get back to my life. I've got some English homework due tomorrow, not to mention a math test tomorrow too. Hope you enjoyed!