Chapter Sixty-One: In Peace
A/N: AH! I'm glad to say that this is a record--fastest I've updated in the past six months probably! I'm again, so sorry about taking forever about it before, but now … well now I'm sorry to say that this is the LAST INSTALLMENT! Yes. After more than a year of writing this glorious novel (geez, it really is that long!) it has finally come to an end. Aila and Legolas may now rest. But not me! Ha ha ha! Of course, I've got another LOTR story in the works, though I doubt it will be much like this one. (I've decided that this has been what I like to call my "Classical LOTR Period" and all things must come to an end). I hope that you will support me through that long tale as well! Enjoy the last chapter! I love you all!
Until the next time, much love--
Intarille
…
"Quickly, quickly now," the whispering voices of many elven warriors ushered the people through. Children were kept quite and those who could not keep up with the swift pace were helped along. "Almost there, now, quickly." At the rear of the party strode Legolas, bow in hand, quiver attached securely to his back. His ears were alert to anything that happened behind them.
He knew it would not be an easy journey--nor would it be a quick one. Their plan was to travel up the Anduin in the ships they had been building for the past few months, sped along with the help of the Lothlorien elves. The Ithilien elves had been long in coming and Legolas assumed that their party had not made it.
But his secret hope was that they had found a way to the sea for themselves.
He knew that their plan was foolhardy and that they had a good chance of failure, but there was no room for anything else. The men wanted them gone. Middle-earth now belonged to the mortals. There was little the elves could do. Their time in Middle-earth was drawing to a close, and he could feel the snow of winter falling on their existence. It was to the Gray Havens for them.
After traveling north up the Anduin, they were planning on tacking west on the Hoarwell and crossing the steep mountain pass through that water, in their sleek elven ships. It would be difficult and navigation would be near impossible, but the Lothlorien ship-captains were with them and it set Legolas' heart at ease for the moment.
After the Hoarwell, the elfin elites had decided that they would join with the Greyflood, and that would lead them to the great western sea. Once they were in the sea, it was pure luck until they made it to the Western Shores--the Undying Lands.
Pure luck had always been on Legolas' side.
At this point, they had barely begun their journey. A few miles ahead they were waited for by a few shipbuilders and warriors, who were waiting at the shores of the Anduin, ready to begin the long, arduous journey. They were traveling through the forest and Legolas could almost smell the relief on the air.
The men were left long behind them.
After Aila had turned Findecano into stone, the spirit Melkor had risen into the air in a great fury. Fearful of the great light that had suddenly emitted from the elfin castle, many of the men had laid themselves prostrate on the ground. Seeing this, the demon took little pity on them. It was pure havoc--but Aila and Legolas were passed out. They had been informed of that later. The men were trapped by the hell-raising spirit and the elves were free to exit quietly. To exit for their new home.
Aila had surprised Legolas that day, and she was continuing to surprise him with her changing moods. She seemed to understand that it was how history was meant to take its course, but Legolas had the sneaking suspicion that something that had been said to her was gnawing on her mind. And he knew it was not well. Some days she wept over the loss of Findecano, other days she sang with joy and glee at the freeing of the elves.
There was no telling what mood she would be in, but this day she was happy and light-footed, leading the front of the large party to the Anduin. Suddenly, Legolas heard a tiny crash in the woodland behind him and he turned and stood fast, listening to the creature behind them, and also listened that there was nothing besetting the elves behind him as they continued their journey.
A tiny, glowing pair of eyes stared out at him and he lifted his bow. He didn't know half of the creatures of the wood, and shuddered to think of what they might be. Whether for evil or for good, he didn't want to risk whatever harm this tiny thing could inflict. He shot the poor creature between those glowing pinpoints and continued on the journey--the echoing scream reverberating in his head.
He jogged to catch up with the group, and found that they had reached the wood's edge. Before him stretched eight worthy-looking ships. Though they lacked the usual beauty of elven ships, Legolas knew that they would be trustworthy in carrying his people and the people of Lothlorien where they would be safe. Legolas boarded the ship in the forefront and was presently joined by King Thranduil and Aila.
Thranduil's eyes were tranquil and serene, taking his last look of the forest where he had lived his entire life. Legolas put a comforting hand on his father's shoulder. "It is best to leave now, Father. Though we leave much behind."
"It is less that we leave behind and more that we push onward to," came Aila's voice. Her eyes drifted and were vacant as she stared out away from the forest of Mirkwood and to the Misty Mountains. "Though there are many things that we leave here," her heaved, broken sigh caught Legolas' attention, "there are many more things that we have in our future."
The elfin King gave Aila a warm smile, his golden hair alighting in the twinkling sunlight. It had been a long time since the elves of Mirkwood had seen the full onslaught of the sun. It wreaked havoc on their light eyes and pale skin, but Thranduil learned to relish it. He cupped Aila's cheek thoughtfully and kissed her forehead. "Spoken like a true queen. One day, my dear, you will make a fine ruler."
"Ruler of what?" she asked, looking back to Thranduil and Legolas. "You leave your kingdom and princedom behind. All you have now are people."
"It is not land that we rule," Legolas smiled, putting an arm around her shoulder, and holding her tightly against him. "It is the people, the elves, it is to them that our duty lies."
The boat shuddered beneath them and they went on their way, Lothlorien captains shouting out commands to their crews and Mirkwood elves desperately trying to learn the commands and speech to help where they could.
"Our hearts should not break so easily," Aila said. "For it is Celeborn and Galadriel who have suffered the most. In this departing they may not see the last of their realm." In the ship behind them, they could plainly see Celeborn and Galadriel looking with saddened faces south of the forest of Mirkwood, to their own home of Lorien.
"Onwards!" shouted the Lorien captain of the leading boat. The crew around them cheered, and the boats behind them took on the same cry. Legolas' heart settled and he brought Aila to the side of the ship to watch the lands they were leaving behind disappear in the morning sunlight. "Onwards," he said quietly, and kissed her cheek. She smiled up at him and nodded. They were leaving for safety. For the Undying Lands.
Aila grasped Legolas' hand in her own and gave him a glittering smile, but he could tell that the grin didn't reach her eyes. Her saddened features gazed out at the forest and on the land of Middle-earth. Slowly, she opened her mouth and began to sing softly.
"I sit beside the fire and think
Of all that I have seen,
Of meadow-flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer
In autumns that there were,
With morning mist and silver sun
And wind upon my hair.
I sit beside the fire and think
Of how the world will be
When winter comes without a spring
That I shall ever see.
For still there are so many things
That I have never seen:
In every wood in every spring
There is a different green.
I sit beside the fire and think
Of people long ago,
And people who will see a world
That I shall never know.
But all the while I sit and think
Of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
And voices at the door."
Onward, she thought gladly, thankful for Legolas' voice that softly joined hers as they sailed away. The misty mountains loomed ever closer and she smiled to greet them. Finally, they pushed onward.
"I love you, Aila," Legolas whispered in her ear, his long hair falling about his face as he leaned in and kissed the lobe of her ear gently. She smiled up at the sky and to the West.
"I love you, too, Legolas. Let's go." They slipped inside the cabins of the ship as it sailed onward. Thranduil watched, with a fatherly glint in his eyes, his smiled as the tear slipped down his pale cheek.
…
It had been long years since they had left the shores of Middle-earth, but the elves formerly of Mirkwood were happy and had their own little place in the Undying Lands. They lived away from the shores, toward the vast forests, as Sindarin elves prefer. They left those of Lothlorien long ago at the beaches, who chose to remain closer to their old beautiful home in Lorien.
Though they never emerged from Oiolosse, the Ainur received the elves of Mirkwood and Lothlorien with open hearts and gave them places in the Undying Lands to call their new homes. The elves of Mirkwood built platforms in the high trees, in honor of the elves of Lothlorien who now took to eloquent little huts set on stilts in the ocean. The breezy platforms were more open and comfortable than the old stone castle, and the elves of Mirkwood decided they liked it much better.
Never again did they pay much worry to the problems of Middle-earth, but lived in essence of their true selves--they sang and they feasted, as elves do. And they never looked back. That is, the elves of Mirkwood.
The elves of Lothlorien never stopped looking back over the oceans to their old home. Nothing they saw compared to the beauty of their realm and eventually a few of the elves departed the Gray Havens and traveled back to their old home. It was in this journey that Galadriel took her second parting from the Undying Lands. Those elves have never been seen again, and those in the Undying Lands hope they found peace and well-being, far from the wars and machines of men. But it is widely assumed that they perished in their beloved homeland of Lorien.
Upon arriving in the undying lands, Thranduil realized that he was not the king that the elves needed to build their homes and rebuild their communities. He relinquished his crown to Legolas.
This was how Legolas and Aila became King and Queen of the elves formerly of Mirkwood, and they named their new home Taurave, which in the Sindarin tongue roughly means "Fruited Forest." For indeed their new home was a wonderland and living was easy and the elves were made soft with easy success.
It was in this region as well, deep in the heart of Taurave, that Aila took it upon herself to destroy the mirror, thus stripping the world of its magic. It was a strange feeling to her, to feel time jolt to a start again. She felt guilty, knowing that her family and friends must wonder where she suddenly disappeared to, but Aila was well pacified in the Undying Lands, with Legolas at her side.
Of course, there was one thing that the elves did not feel comfortable in, and that was the small size of the royal family. Most of the elves had loved Curufinwe, and many refused to believe the sudden evil that possessed him, and his death weighed heavily on them. Each knew that he stood forever, curled in pain, as a warning on the front ramparts of the elfin castle, foreboding its appearance. Seeing this, the men of the region did not venture to explore into the castle for a long time, for Melkor's spirit still resided in the castle.
Upon the journey, Aila gave birth to another sun, who they named Maeglin and loved more dearly than Curufinwe, though his birth was less magnificent and he had no prophetic future. Which was particularly why they loved him.
Maeglin. He was a small child, tall and lithe like his father, but he was as dark and mysterious as Aila. The small child spoke very little and was a well mannered child, letting his actions speak far louder than anything he ever said. Once or twice did ever the boy actually speak, and these were when he was far into his late childhood. For a long time, Aila and Legolas had feared he was mute, but the community loved him all the same. When he did speak, it was to assure them that he was not mute.
The second time he spoke was in the Undying Lands, upon the birth of his sister. Her golden hair, fair skin, and piercing blue gaze shocked the young boy and he placed a hand delicately on her forehead. "Mother, Father," he announced. "Her name should be Luthien, for she is as fair as the elf of long ago." And the boy has not spoken since.
Luthien did not speak much either, but rather cavorted around in song and riddle, and anytime she spoke it was normally in rhyme and had more than one meaning. She was always with Maeglin and hero-worshipped him. The boy allowed his sister to speak for him and she hardly ever let him down by portraying exactly what he meant and wanted to say.
And so the time of the elves passed in Middle-earth and they began their new existence in full in the home of the Ainur.
A/N: AH! I'm glad to say that this is a record--fastest I've updated in the past six months probably! I'm again, so sorry about taking forever about it before, but now … well now I'm sorry to say that this is the LAST INSTALLMENT! Yes. After more than a year of writing this glorious novel (geez, it really is that long!) it has finally come to an end. Aila and Legolas may now rest. But not me! Ha ha ha! Of course, I've got another LOTR story in the works, though I doubt it will be much like this one. (I've decided that this has been what I like to call my "Classical LOTR Period" and all things must come to an end). I hope that you will support me through that long tale as well! Enjoy the last chapter! I love you all!
Until the next time, much love--
Intarille
…
"Quickly, quickly now," the whispering voices of many elven warriors ushered the people through. Children were kept quite and those who could not keep up with the swift pace were helped along. "Almost there, now, quickly." At the rear of the party strode Legolas, bow in hand, quiver attached securely to his back. His ears were alert to anything that happened behind them.
He knew it would not be an easy journey--nor would it be a quick one. Their plan was to travel up the Anduin in the ships they had been building for the past few months, sped along with the help of the Lothlorien elves. The Ithilien elves had been long in coming and Legolas assumed that their party had not made it.
But his secret hope was that they had found a way to the sea for themselves.
He knew that their plan was foolhardy and that they had a good chance of failure, but there was no room for anything else. The men wanted them gone. Middle-earth now belonged to the mortals. There was little the elves could do. Their time in Middle-earth was drawing to a close, and he could feel the snow of winter falling on their existence. It was to the Gray Havens for them.
After traveling north up the Anduin, they were planning on tacking west on the Hoarwell and crossing the steep mountain pass through that water, in their sleek elven ships. It would be difficult and navigation would be near impossible, but the Lothlorien ship-captains were with them and it set Legolas' heart at ease for the moment.
After the Hoarwell, the elfin elites had decided that they would join with the Greyflood, and that would lead them to the great western sea. Once they were in the sea, it was pure luck until they made it to the Western Shores--the Undying Lands.
Pure luck had always been on Legolas' side.
At this point, they had barely begun their journey. A few miles ahead they were waited for by a few shipbuilders and warriors, who were waiting at the shores of the Anduin, ready to begin the long, arduous journey. They were traveling through the forest and Legolas could almost smell the relief on the air.
The men were left long behind them.
After Aila had turned Findecano into stone, the spirit Melkor had risen into the air in a great fury. Fearful of the great light that had suddenly emitted from the elfin castle, many of the men had laid themselves prostrate on the ground. Seeing this, the demon took little pity on them. It was pure havoc--but Aila and Legolas were passed out. They had been informed of that later. The men were trapped by the hell-raising spirit and the elves were free to exit quietly. To exit for their new home.
Aila had surprised Legolas that day, and she was continuing to surprise him with her changing moods. She seemed to understand that it was how history was meant to take its course, but Legolas had the sneaking suspicion that something that had been said to her was gnawing on her mind. And he knew it was not well. Some days she wept over the loss of Findecano, other days she sang with joy and glee at the freeing of the elves.
There was no telling what mood she would be in, but this day she was happy and light-footed, leading the front of the large party to the Anduin. Suddenly, Legolas heard a tiny crash in the woodland behind him and he turned and stood fast, listening to the creature behind them, and also listened that there was nothing besetting the elves behind him as they continued their journey.
A tiny, glowing pair of eyes stared out at him and he lifted his bow. He didn't know half of the creatures of the wood, and shuddered to think of what they might be. Whether for evil or for good, he didn't want to risk whatever harm this tiny thing could inflict. He shot the poor creature between those glowing pinpoints and continued on the journey--the echoing scream reverberating in his head.
He jogged to catch up with the group, and found that they had reached the wood's edge. Before him stretched eight worthy-looking ships. Though they lacked the usual beauty of elven ships, Legolas knew that they would be trustworthy in carrying his people and the people of Lothlorien where they would be safe. Legolas boarded the ship in the forefront and was presently joined by King Thranduil and Aila.
Thranduil's eyes were tranquil and serene, taking his last look of the forest where he had lived his entire life. Legolas put a comforting hand on his father's shoulder. "It is best to leave now, Father. Though we leave much behind."
"It is less that we leave behind and more that we push onward to," came Aila's voice. Her eyes drifted and were vacant as she stared out away from the forest of Mirkwood and to the Misty Mountains. "Though there are many things that we leave here," her heaved, broken sigh caught Legolas' attention, "there are many more things that we have in our future."
The elfin King gave Aila a warm smile, his golden hair alighting in the twinkling sunlight. It had been a long time since the elves of Mirkwood had seen the full onslaught of the sun. It wreaked havoc on their light eyes and pale skin, but Thranduil learned to relish it. He cupped Aila's cheek thoughtfully and kissed her forehead. "Spoken like a true queen. One day, my dear, you will make a fine ruler."
"Ruler of what?" she asked, looking back to Thranduil and Legolas. "You leave your kingdom and princedom behind. All you have now are people."
"It is not land that we rule," Legolas smiled, putting an arm around her shoulder, and holding her tightly against him. "It is the people, the elves, it is to them that our duty lies."
The boat shuddered beneath them and they went on their way, Lothlorien captains shouting out commands to their crews and Mirkwood elves desperately trying to learn the commands and speech to help where they could.
"Our hearts should not break so easily," Aila said. "For it is Celeborn and Galadriel who have suffered the most. In this departing they may not see the last of their realm." In the ship behind them, they could plainly see Celeborn and Galadriel looking with saddened faces south of the forest of Mirkwood, to their own home of Lorien.
"Onwards!" shouted the Lorien captain of the leading boat. The crew around them cheered, and the boats behind them took on the same cry. Legolas' heart settled and he brought Aila to the side of the ship to watch the lands they were leaving behind disappear in the morning sunlight. "Onwards," he said quietly, and kissed her cheek. She smiled up at him and nodded. They were leaving for safety. For the Undying Lands.
Aila grasped Legolas' hand in her own and gave him a glittering smile, but he could tell that the grin didn't reach her eyes. Her saddened features gazed out at the forest and on the land of Middle-earth. Slowly, she opened her mouth and began to sing softly.
"I sit beside the fire and think
Of all that I have seen,
Of meadow-flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer
In autumns that there were,
With morning mist and silver sun
And wind upon my hair.
I sit beside the fire and think
Of how the world will be
When winter comes without a spring
That I shall ever see.
For still there are so many things
That I have never seen:
In every wood in every spring
There is a different green.
I sit beside the fire and think
Of people long ago,
And people who will see a world
That I shall never know.
But all the while I sit and think
Of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
And voices at the door."
Onward, she thought gladly, thankful for Legolas' voice that softly joined hers as they sailed away. The misty mountains loomed ever closer and she smiled to greet them. Finally, they pushed onward.
"I love you, Aila," Legolas whispered in her ear, his long hair falling about his face as he leaned in and kissed the lobe of her ear gently. She smiled up at the sky and to the West.
"I love you, too, Legolas. Let's go." They slipped inside the cabins of the ship as it sailed onward. Thranduil watched, with a fatherly glint in his eyes, his smiled as the tear slipped down his pale cheek.
…
It had been long years since they had left the shores of Middle-earth, but the elves formerly of Mirkwood were happy and had their own little place in the Undying Lands. They lived away from the shores, toward the vast forests, as Sindarin elves prefer. They left those of Lothlorien long ago at the beaches, who chose to remain closer to their old beautiful home in Lorien.
Though they never emerged from Oiolosse, the Ainur received the elves of Mirkwood and Lothlorien with open hearts and gave them places in the Undying Lands to call their new homes. The elves of Mirkwood built platforms in the high trees, in honor of the elves of Lothlorien who now took to eloquent little huts set on stilts in the ocean. The breezy platforms were more open and comfortable than the old stone castle, and the elves of Mirkwood decided they liked it much better.
Never again did they pay much worry to the problems of Middle-earth, but lived in essence of their true selves--they sang and they feasted, as elves do. And they never looked back. That is, the elves of Mirkwood.
The elves of Lothlorien never stopped looking back over the oceans to their old home. Nothing they saw compared to the beauty of their realm and eventually a few of the elves departed the Gray Havens and traveled back to their old home. It was in this journey that Galadriel took her second parting from the Undying Lands. Those elves have never been seen again, and those in the Undying Lands hope they found peace and well-being, far from the wars and machines of men. But it is widely assumed that they perished in their beloved homeland of Lorien.
Upon arriving in the undying lands, Thranduil realized that he was not the king that the elves needed to build their homes and rebuild their communities. He relinquished his crown to Legolas.
This was how Legolas and Aila became King and Queen of the elves formerly of Mirkwood, and they named their new home Taurave, which in the Sindarin tongue roughly means "Fruited Forest." For indeed their new home was a wonderland and living was easy and the elves were made soft with easy success.
It was in this region as well, deep in the heart of Taurave, that Aila took it upon herself to destroy the mirror, thus stripping the world of its magic. It was a strange feeling to her, to feel time jolt to a start again. She felt guilty, knowing that her family and friends must wonder where she suddenly disappeared to, but Aila was well pacified in the Undying Lands, with Legolas at her side.
Of course, there was one thing that the elves did not feel comfortable in, and that was the small size of the royal family. Most of the elves had loved Curufinwe, and many refused to believe the sudden evil that possessed him, and his death weighed heavily on them. Each knew that he stood forever, curled in pain, as a warning on the front ramparts of the elfin castle, foreboding its appearance. Seeing this, the men of the region did not venture to explore into the castle for a long time, for Melkor's spirit still resided in the castle.
Upon the journey, Aila gave birth to another sun, who they named Maeglin and loved more dearly than Curufinwe, though his birth was less magnificent and he had no prophetic future. Which was particularly why they loved him.
Maeglin. He was a small child, tall and lithe like his father, but he was as dark and mysterious as Aila. The small child spoke very little and was a well mannered child, letting his actions speak far louder than anything he ever said. Once or twice did ever the boy actually speak, and these were when he was far into his late childhood. For a long time, Aila and Legolas had feared he was mute, but the community loved him all the same. When he did speak, it was to assure them that he was not mute.
The second time he spoke was in the Undying Lands, upon the birth of his sister. Her golden hair, fair skin, and piercing blue gaze shocked the young boy and he placed a hand delicately on her forehead. "Mother, Father," he announced. "Her name should be Luthien, for she is as fair as the elf of long ago." And the boy has not spoken since.
Luthien did not speak much either, but rather cavorted around in song and riddle, and anytime she spoke it was normally in rhyme and had more than one meaning. She was always with Maeglin and hero-worshipped him. The boy allowed his sister to speak for him and she hardly ever let him down by portraying exactly what he meant and wanted to say.
And so the time of the elves passed in Middle-earth and they began their new existence in full in the home of the Ainur.