Sorry guys, I know the last one was short and kind of fast. Happy reading
this time around! And for all of you who think that Leggy's getting too
much attention, and Aragorn not enough, here's your chapter! Also, I've
decided that this is going to be a two-part story. This story has five or
six more chapters left, though.
Also, I apologize for how long it took me to get this chapter up. I had to rewrite a lot of it, and add new stuff and blah blah blah. As I heard someone on FF.net say it, (I can't remember who, sorry!) I was mugged by real life.
Anyway, the next post should be up quickly, with any luck and some really nice professors.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~
Aragorn looked up as the cell doors were opened later that evening. He smiled, expecting to see Legolas and wanting his friend to be greeted by a happy face, but the smile faded.
"What did you do to him?" He could not help his outburst as he stood up, his eyes on Legolas. The elf was being drug in by Merithol and one other, almost unconscious. Kaenji followed at a distance. Merithol smiled at Aragorn.
"I didn't do a thing to him. You can blame the mines for this." They dropped the elf at the ranger's feet. "'Spect he might not make it to morning. The drug we gave him on the way here tends to stay in the blood for a long time. Can't imagine that helped him today."
Aragorn barely hid a low growl in the back of his throat as he knelt by his friend. "Legolas?"
"No," Merithol said, his voice deadly. "Leave him be." He raised his voice so that all of the prisoners heard him. "No one is to touch the elf. Do not help him, or I will have your heads. Jeralin backs me up on this. Am I understood?"
Everyone nodded except for Aragorn. He paid no attention to the man, gently feeling for Legolas' heart rate. It was very, very slow.
"Did you hear me, Strider?"
Aragorn looked up, his hand gently prodding for any injuries the elf may have received. "I heard you."
The slaves quieted, making the room eerie in its silence. They knew well enough to never openly defy Merithol, or Jeralin for that matter. Strider was too defiant for his own good.
"I could kill you for that, Boy."
"Go ahead. I bet Jeralin doesn't back you on that, though. He wants me alive, and you know it."
The slaves murmured amongst themselves. Aragorn paid no attention to them. "He wants the elf and he knows he'll never be able to control him if I'm dead, isn't that right?"
He felt a weak hand grab his arm, and turned his attention to the elf below him. "Strider, don't, you'll only make it worse for yourself," he whispered in elvish.
He made to respond, but Legolas' eyes turned hazy and unresponsive. Unexpectedly, he was thrown against the wall.
Giving out a gasp, he had no time to gather his wits as Merithol threw a punch at him. "I can't kill you," he whispered, pinning the young man to the wall, "but I can come very, very close."
He pulled the young man away from the wall and out of the cell. Looking back, he added one last warning. "No one is to touch the elf."
Legolas attempted to stand and help his friend, wandering back into reality, but he was too weak to move. Instead, he closed his eyes and welcomed the darkness that enveloped him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
Merithol walked around Aragorn, who was tied to two poles, forced on his knees. "You will learn to never cross me." He nodded at someone behind the ranger, and Aragorn braced himself for what was to come.
The first lash fell, and Aragorn hissed. He had never felt pain like this before, though he had known the kiss of a whip. Merithol smiled at his pain.
"Like it, do you? It's something new the boss invented."
A second lash fell. Aragorn clenched his eyes shut against the overwhelming pain.
"There's metal weaved into leather."
The ranger could not suppress the small cry that escaped his lips as he was struck a third time.
"It's a broken weave, so that the ends of the metal pieces stick out."
Tears sprang to Aragorn's eyes by the fourth lashing.
"Quite effective, isn't it?"
The fifth produced a quiet scream. Merithol laughed.
"Go ahead and scream. You won't be able to stop yourself. Show me that it hurts."
The screams grew louder with the sixth and seventh whistles of the whip.
"Let me relish in the pain it causes you. Go ahead and scream."
Aragorn bit his lip, waiting for the eighth strike. He was not going to give this man the pleasure he was looking for.
Tears of shame rose in his eyes as he screamed fully. By the ninth lash, he was begging for mercy.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"Please," Aragorn whispered, dangerously close to falling unconscious, "please stop."
Merithol nodded again to the man behind the ranger, and a final strike fell on the man's unprotected back.
Aragorn did not even try to keep his scream inside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
Legolas snapped out of his trance, rolling onto his stomach and pushing himself to his feet. "Where is Strider?" He was asking everyone, yet no one in particular. He just wanted an answer.
"Merithol took him," Mar said, not making eye contact with the elf. They had heard from legends about the wrath of elves, and none wanted to experience it. Naturally, hardly seeing any elves in their lifetimes, they could not be sure whether the legends were true or not, but nor did they want to find out.
"Took him where?"
"He's fine, Legolas. Don't worry about it."
Legolas thought back to his dream, the reason he had been forced out of his trance. "He's not fine. He's in trouble."
The slaves exchanged glances.
"What? I wish you would stop doing that. What are you all thinking?"
Mar kept his eyes down. "He will live, we can promise you that. Jeralin will not allow him to be killed."
"Who is this Jeralin you all keep speaking of?"
Berin shook his head. "You don't want to know."
Legolas sighed in frustration. Surely this is how Aragorn felt when he tried getting information from the elves. Thinking to himself, he revised Gandalf's quote. 'Never go to the slaves of a town of men for counsel, for they will say yes, no, and maybe.'
He tried speaking to Aragorn, a talent he had let go of after his last meeting with his grandfather, but saw only black, and spots of red. Wherever Aragorn was, he was near unconsciousness and in a lot of pain.
"I need to help him."
"No," Berin said firmly, "You need to stay here and learn your place, or you will be of no help to him when he comes back. He'll need you when he comes back. You don't want to be missing for that, do you?"
"Could you be any more cryptic?" Legolas growled, letting his temper get the best of him. The slaves shrank back, and Legolas sighed. "I'm sorry." He was not going to explain himself to them, they would not understand anyway.
'Aye, Valor, please protect him. Please let him come back to me.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
Legolas watched in silence as Mar finally closed his eyes- the final one to fall asleep that night. Now he was free to think of something he could do for his friend, but none of his plans seemed likely to work. He hated this place. It was as though they had thought of everything a slave could think of, and protected against it.
He hated the slaves too. The child in him wanted to spit in their faces, but he was almost scared of what that might bring. Not one of them cared about Aragorn, and what had happened to him. Damn them all to Mordor! His friend was in trouble, and he would do whatever he could to help him
He did not fear for himself at all. He had regained strength and energy from the unconsciousness he had been in earlier. And yet, he would go and do it all again tomorrow.
He fidgeted. He hated not knowing where Aragorn was, hated not being there to protect him. He needed to be doing something, needed to be useful. Sitting in a cage, (for there was nothing else the elf could rightly call it,) far underground and away from the sun while his friend might be dying was not doing anything to help him "learn his place."
So why was he here? He thought about everything he knew. The three men were from Gondor, but what of Jeralin, the man obviously in charge? They said they wanted an alliance with Mirkwood, but there had to be another motive behind that. He was lost at this point, his thoughts only turning over conjectures.
Where was his father now? Did Thranduil send out a search party for them? Could they really be in the town they were said to be in? Surely the men wouldn't give away where they were that night over dinner if only to bring their captives there.
Or maybe they would, if it was a trap. Had Legolas been taken for a ransom? What had been asked of Thranduil to get his son back? Legolas knew his father: anything they asked in exchange for him, they would get.
'Stop,' he told himself. He was only guessing now, and had no proof that any of this had actually come to pass.
The large cell door creaked open, drawing the elf from his thoughts. Aragorn was pushed in, his eyes half lidded, and pain written all over his face.
As soon as the guard left, Legolas reached for his friend. "Strider, what happened?"
"Legolas, you will never hear this from me again, and I'd appreciate if you didn't mention this to anyone back home, but please help me." He fell to his knees in front of his friend, the slowly laid of his stomach. Legolas drew in his breath sharply at the sight before him.
"Aye, what happened to you?" He lightly touched one of the lacerations, but Aragorn hissed at the contact.
"Just do me a favor and don't be like you are. If they ask you to do something, do it. Do not disrespect them. They have ways of stopping that, and I would not see it done to you. So set your pride aside, would you?"
Legolas smiled despite the circumstances. "Why, I don't know what you're talking about, Strider. Me, defiant? Surely you jest."
"Yeah. Now please help me. This hurts like you wouldn't believe."
Legolas was smiling at his friend's good humor, but he did not see the tears of pain that Aragorn was crying.
Aragorn buried his head in his arms, face down. He would do whatever it took to keep the elf's spirits up, no matter what it cost him.
"So what happened to you today?"
"Nothing, Strider. They told me that I was poisoned on the way here. I seem to remember someone saying that, but only vaguely. It causes extreme weariness, but that is all. It wore off more quickly than they expected, I think."
"Don't you think we should see about that? The poison, I mean. It can't be healthy to keep it in your body like you have."
"And what do you expect we do about it, Strider? It won't kill me, or it would have by now. I can deal with weariness, it is not worth another of these incidents," he said, indicating the human's back.
Aragorn smiled, and eventually fell asleep with the elf still tending to his wounds. Somehow, everything seemed like it would work out in the end. They had each other, holding onto the solace the other could give them, and if all else failed, that alone would keep them alive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
Reviewers: (Look, no cliffhanger!)
Leggylover: Ask and ye shall receive, lol.
F h c: Nah, I always reply. No review is boring! (I have a few papers I need to be working on as well.)
SPEoD: Wow, I'm amazed. . . there is an email address behind the name! You swim too? I used to be a competitive swimmer. Then I found everything else I'm into and I just couldn't make time for it, plus my coach was a jerk. I miss it though. Yeah, I have midterms coming up next week. I am not looking forward to those. Yes, I am flattered. You should be too, because I have papers to write and I should be studying, but I'm replying to your review, lol! Yes, Legolas cannot lie dormant for long, as we well know. Thanks for the review and good luck! ! !
Gwyn: I love your speculations. Thranduil is good guy, a good king, and a good daddy. ::smile:: We shall see what happens to Legolas. And you are assuming they are gonna be rescued.
Deana: You nailed that one!
Nenya: I was considering taking Nienna as my elvish name, as she is my favorite of the Vala, but I figured people would yell at me for that, so I took Elenillor instead. (From the stars is what it means.) Yes, Elrond has Vilya, the ring of air. . . which leaves the ring of Fire with Gandalf, doesn't it? Contrary to the movie, I don't think Celeborn has it, though I could be wrong because I can't quite remember. Anyway, I like that quote too, and yes, I am proud of you! ::smiles::
Coolio02: Aw, thanks! ! !
Limiothiel: Haha, hey, I liked that as an answer. ::shrugs:: OMG, you raced all the way to the top? Why? I would have raced to like, the third floor. Holy monkeys. (OMG by the way stands for Oh My Gorilla. I'm into the using "monkey" or any variation thereof as profanity.) No wonder your legs hurt. Dude, it just MIGHT be the last thing you do. Go on strike. . . no, that's just all the transit and grocery employees in Southern California. All I can tell you is that Legolas isn't going to like being a slave. . . (that wasn't helpful, was it?)
ElvenRanger13: Lol, I know. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. Thanks!
Sky: Of course. Eh, yeah. . . it actually jumped about a month from that chapter to this before the rewrite. . . sorry 'bout that.
Das Blume: That is the biggest review I have gotten. 4k in my inbox! My big ones are only 3k! "What business does a man, and elf, and a dwarf have in the Ridermark?" Estel says, "I am Strider, ranger of the north, and this is Legolas from the Woodstock realm." I am never gonna forget that now, lol. Haha, yeah, Gimli's hating me right about now. OMG, (look a couple reviews up for the meaning of OMG,) I can't believe you actually starting a bet. . . It won't let me through to the website though. Did you give em the right address? I'm so curious to see this! Haha, no, I think his problem was that he wasn't locking his door since Family Ties, so Merithol had no trouble getting in. "It seems he wants me to abduct him: he left the door wide open!" Hahaha, yeah, I guess that's true. "Great, the horse gets all the sympathy. I feel loved. Not." LMAO! (Laugh My Apes Off.) "Well, if there's going to be drugs, I'll come." Wow, I'm crying, that was so funny. Thanks for the very long and comical review! (I need to change my bio. All the pity for my horse didn't work.) PS. Thanks for the right link, lol. That's so awesome! There's actually a couple that are pretty close. . . ::wink::
ForceofHobbit: Yes! I can stop it there, lol. Well, okay, I forgot about Mith meaning grey, it makes sense. So what's "fa" mean? I could just be a filler, like -illor means "from the" no matter what it's attached to. So there you have it, it means grey leaf. Lol. Thanks for the review (and the help figuring out my own character's name, sham on me, lol.) I swear I know what all of my other OC elves' names mean!
Dimostiel: That's it? That's all the review I get? Two sentences? Just for that, no more action the rest of the story. Legolas will sit in his corner of the cell and watch Bob, his new spider friend. (I'm kidding, don't hurt me.) Lol, yes, there will be action, I promise! (You're gonna be complaining in later chapters when I get into the cliffhangers!)
Hitokiri Youkai: I thank thee, for thou art truly a master of archaic diction. I shall write more, if it pleases thee.
Arayelle Lynn: Ah, thanks so much! I know, I think I'll make a pattern: two rhyming, one free, two rhyming. So what rhymes with Alliances? Lol.
Angel With No Wings: Lol, I know. . . I have a length problem. Lol. Feisty Legolas is a good thing!
Halandleg4ever: Haha, it's Legolas. . . "nothing too bad." Mhm. That'll happen. Sure. Lol.
Nikki: Lol, yes, captured. By the way, I think your second review was the shortest review I have ever gotten. I'm not sure how to respond to "wow," lol.
Lulu Bell: We're not undefeated anymore. We may still come in first in league, but the title would have been nice. It was 27 to 25 all games. It was a really close, really hard loss. Congrats on your excellent win, though! ! Yeah, our game was brutal. Our main setter rolled her ankle, so coach took her out and iced it. Luckily, everyone on our team can set if we have to. Then we lost our best outside hitter. We thought she broke her ankle, but she only sprained it really badly. They may have to reattach ligaments in three weeks. It was downright ugly. We all started crying and everything. LOL, thanks so much for the review. And yes, I'm a US girl. ::smile:: I could not survive in an all girls school, lol. Hope your wrist feels better. Hey, they always have to try to break him, don't they? Humans just never learn.
LegolasLover2003: Thank you! Thank you so much! I'm curious, though. . . how do you see me playing my characters? I mean, why is it unique to you? (I love reader insight, can you tell?)
Also, I apologize for how long it took me to get this chapter up. I had to rewrite a lot of it, and add new stuff and blah blah blah. As I heard someone on FF.net say it, (I can't remember who, sorry!) I was mugged by real life.
Anyway, the next post should be up quickly, with any luck and some really nice professors.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~
Aragorn looked up as the cell doors were opened later that evening. He smiled, expecting to see Legolas and wanting his friend to be greeted by a happy face, but the smile faded.
"What did you do to him?" He could not help his outburst as he stood up, his eyes on Legolas. The elf was being drug in by Merithol and one other, almost unconscious. Kaenji followed at a distance. Merithol smiled at Aragorn.
"I didn't do a thing to him. You can blame the mines for this." They dropped the elf at the ranger's feet. "'Spect he might not make it to morning. The drug we gave him on the way here tends to stay in the blood for a long time. Can't imagine that helped him today."
Aragorn barely hid a low growl in the back of his throat as he knelt by his friend. "Legolas?"
"No," Merithol said, his voice deadly. "Leave him be." He raised his voice so that all of the prisoners heard him. "No one is to touch the elf. Do not help him, or I will have your heads. Jeralin backs me up on this. Am I understood?"
Everyone nodded except for Aragorn. He paid no attention to the man, gently feeling for Legolas' heart rate. It was very, very slow.
"Did you hear me, Strider?"
Aragorn looked up, his hand gently prodding for any injuries the elf may have received. "I heard you."
The slaves quieted, making the room eerie in its silence. They knew well enough to never openly defy Merithol, or Jeralin for that matter. Strider was too defiant for his own good.
"I could kill you for that, Boy."
"Go ahead. I bet Jeralin doesn't back you on that, though. He wants me alive, and you know it."
The slaves murmured amongst themselves. Aragorn paid no attention to them. "He wants the elf and he knows he'll never be able to control him if I'm dead, isn't that right?"
He felt a weak hand grab his arm, and turned his attention to the elf below him. "Strider, don't, you'll only make it worse for yourself," he whispered in elvish.
He made to respond, but Legolas' eyes turned hazy and unresponsive. Unexpectedly, he was thrown against the wall.
Giving out a gasp, he had no time to gather his wits as Merithol threw a punch at him. "I can't kill you," he whispered, pinning the young man to the wall, "but I can come very, very close."
He pulled the young man away from the wall and out of the cell. Looking back, he added one last warning. "No one is to touch the elf."
Legolas attempted to stand and help his friend, wandering back into reality, but he was too weak to move. Instead, he closed his eyes and welcomed the darkness that enveloped him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
Merithol walked around Aragorn, who was tied to two poles, forced on his knees. "You will learn to never cross me." He nodded at someone behind the ranger, and Aragorn braced himself for what was to come.
The first lash fell, and Aragorn hissed. He had never felt pain like this before, though he had known the kiss of a whip. Merithol smiled at his pain.
"Like it, do you? It's something new the boss invented."
A second lash fell. Aragorn clenched his eyes shut against the overwhelming pain.
"There's metal weaved into leather."
The ranger could not suppress the small cry that escaped his lips as he was struck a third time.
"It's a broken weave, so that the ends of the metal pieces stick out."
Tears sprang to Aragorn's eyes by the fourth lashing.
"Quite effective, isn't it?"
The fifth produced a quiet scream. Merithol laughed.
"Go ahead and scream. You won't be able to stop yourself. Show me that it hurts."
The screams grew louder with the sixth and seventh whistles of the whip.
"Let me relish in the pain it causes you. Go ahead and scream."
Aragorn bit his lip, waiting for the eighth strike. He was not going to give this man the pleasure he was looking for.
Tears of shame rose in his eyes as he screamed fully. By the ninth lash, he was begging for mercy.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"Please," Aragorn whispered, dangerously close to falling unconscious, "please stop."
Merithol nodded again to the man behind the ranger, and a final strike fell on the man's unprotected back.
Aragorn did not even try to keep his scream inside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
Legolas snapped out of his trance, rolling onto his stomach and pushing himself to his feet. "Where is Strider?" He was asking everyone, yet no one in particular. He just wanted an answer.
"Merithol took him," Mar said, not making eye contact with the elf. They had heard from legends about the wrath of elves, and none wanted to experience it. Naturally, hardly seeing any elves in their lifetimes, they could not be sure whether the legends were true or not, but nor did they want to find out.
"Took him where?"
"He's fine, Legolas. Don't worry about it."
Legolas thought back to his dream, the reason he had been forced out of his trance. "He's not fine. He's in trouble."
The slaves exchanged glances.
"What? I wish you would stop doing that. What are you all thinking?"
Mar kept his eyes down. "He will live, we can promise you that. Jeralin will not allow him to be killed."
"Who is this Jeralin you all keep speaking of?"
Berin shook his head. "You don't want to know."
Legolas sighed in frustration. Surely this is how Aragorn felt when he tried getting information from the elves. Thinking to himself, he revised Gandalf's quote. 'Never go to the slaves of a town of men for counsel, for they will say yes, no, and maybe.'
He tried speaking to Aragorn, a talent he had let go of after his last meeting with his grandfather, but saw only black, and spots of red. Wherever Aragorn was, he was near unconsciousness and in a lot of pain.
"I need to help him."
"No," Berin said firmly, "You need to stay here and learn your place, or you will be of no help to him when he comes back. He'll need you when he comes back. You don't want to be missing for that, do you?"
"Could you be any more cryptic?" Legolas growled, letting his temper get the best of him. The slaves shrank back, and Legolas sighed. "I'm sorry." He was not going to explain himself to them, they would not understand anyway.
'Aye, Valor, please protect him. Please let him come back to me.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
Legolas watched in silence as Mar finally closed his eyes- the final one to fall asleep that night. Now he was free to think of something he could do for his friend, but none of his plans seemed likely to work. He hated this place. It was as though they had thought of everything a slave could think of, and protected against it.
He hated the slaves too. The child in him wanted to spit in their faces, but he was almost scared of what that might bring. Not one of them cared about Aragorn, and what had happened to him. Damn them all to Mordor! His friend was in trouble, and he would do whatever he could to help him
He did not fear for himself at all. He had regained strength and energy from the unconsciousness he had been in earlier. And yet, he would go and do it all again tomorrow.
He fidgeted. He hated not knowing where Aragorn was, hated not being there to protect him. He needed to be doing something, needed to be useful. Sitting in a cage, (for there was nothing else the elf could rightly call it,) far underground and away from the sun while his friend might be dying was not doing anything to help him "learn his place."
So why was he here? He thought about everything he knew. The three men were from Gondor, but what of Jeralin, the man obviously in charge? They said they wanted an alliance with Mirkwood, but there had to be another motive behind that. He was lost at this point, his thoughts only turning over conjectures.
Where was his father now? Did Thranduil send out a search party for them? Could they really be in the town they were said to be in? Surely the men wouldn't give away where they were that night over dinner if only to bring their captives there.
Or maybe they would, if it was a trap. Had Legolas been taken for a ransom? What had been asked of Thranduil to get his son back? Legolas knew his father: anything they asked in exchange for him, they would get.
'Stop,' he told himself. He was only guessing now, and had no proof that any of this had actually come to pass.
The large cell door creaked open, drawing the elf from his thoughts. Aragorn was pushed in, his eyes half lidded, and pain written all over his face.
As soon as the guard left, Legolas reached for his friend. "Strider, what happened?"
"Legolas, you will never hear this from me again, and I'd appreciate if you didn't mention this to anyone back home, but please help me." He fell to his knees in front of his friend, the slowly laid of his stomach. Legolas drew in his breath sharply at the sight before him.
"Aye, what happened to you?" He lightly touched one of the lacerations, but Aragorn hissed at the contact.
"Just do me a favor and don't be like you are. If they ask you to do something, do it. Do not disrespect them. They have ways of stopping that, and I would not see it done to you. So set your pride aside, would you?"
Legolas smiled despite the circumstances. "Why, I don't know what you're talking about, Strider. Me, defiant? Surely you jest."
"Yeah. Now please help me. This hurts like you wouldn't believe."
Legolas was smiling at his friend's good humor, but he did not see the tears of pain that Aragorn was crying.
Aragorn buried his head in his arms, face down. He would do whatever it took to keep the elf's spirits up, no matter what it cost him.
"So what happened to you today?"
"Nothing, Strider. They told me that I was poisoned on the way here. I seem to remember someone saying that, but only vaguely. It causes extreme weariness, but that is all. It wore off more quickly than they expected, I think."
"Don't you think we should see about that? The poison, I mean. It can't be healthy to keep it in your body like you have."
"And what do you expect we do about it, Strider? It won't kill me, or it would have by now. I can deal with weariness, it is not worth another of these incidents," he said, indicating the human's back.
Aragorn smiled, and eventually fell asleep with the elf still tending to his wounds. Somehow, everything seemed like it would work out in the end. They had each other, holding onto the solace the other could give them, and if all else failed, that alone would keep them alive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
Reviewers: (Look, no cliffhanger!)
Leggylover: Ask and ye shall receive, lol.
F h c: Nah, I always reply. No review is boring! (I have a few papers I need to be working on as well.)
SPEoD: Wow, I'm amazed. . . there is an email address behind the name! You swim too? I used to be a competitive swimmer. Then I found everything else I'm into and I just couldn't make time for it, plus my coach was a jerk. I miss it though. Yeah, I have midterms coming up next week. I am not looking forward to those. Yes, I am flattered. You should be too, because I have papers to write and I should be studying, but I'm replying to your review, lol! Yes, Legolas cannot lie dormant for long, as we well know. Thanks for the review and good luck! ! !
Gwyn: I love your speculations. Thranduil is good guy, a good king, and a good daddy. ::smile:: We shall see what happens to Legolas. And you are assuming they are gonna be rescued.
Deana: You nailed that one!
Nenya: I was considering taking Nienna as my elvish name, as she is my favorite of the Vala, but I figured people would yell at me for that, so I took Elenillor instead. (From the stars is what it means.) Yes, Elrond has Vilya, the ring of air. . . which leaves the ring of Fire with Gandalf, doesn't it? Contrary to the movie, I don't think Celeborn has it, though I could be wrong because I can't quite remember. Anyway, I like that quote too, and yes, I am proud of you! ::smiles::
Coolio02: Aw, thanks! ! !
Limiothiel: Haha, hey, I liked that as an answer. ::shrugs:: OMG, you raced all the way to the top? Why? I would have raced to like, the third floor. Holy monkeys. (OMG by the way stands for Oh My Gorilla. I'm into the using "monkey" or any variation thereof as profanity.) No wonder your legs hurt. Dude, it just MIGHT be the last thing you do. Go on strike. . . no, that's just all the transit and grocery employees in Southern California. All I can tell you is that Legolas isn't going to like being a slave. . . (that wasn't helpful, was it?)
ElvenRanger13: Lol, I know. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. Thanks!
Sky: Of course. Eh, yeah. . . it actually jumped about a month from that chapter to this before the rewrite. . . sorry 'bout that.
Das Blume: That is the biggest review I have gotten. 4k in my inbox! My big ones are only 3k! "What business does a man, and elf, and a dwarf have in the Ridermark?" Estel says, "I am Strider, ranger of the north, and this is Legolas from the Woodstock realm." I am never gonna forget that now, lol. Haha, yeah, Gimli's hating me right about now. OMG, (look a couple reviews up for the meaning of OMG,) I can't believe you actually starting a bet. . . It won't let me through to the website though. Did you give em the right address? I'm so curious to see this! Haha, no, I think his problem was that he wasn't locking his door since Family Ties, so Merithol had no trouble getting in. "It seems he wants me to abduct him: he left the door wide open!" Hahaha, yeah, I guess that's true. "Great, the horse gets all the sympathy. I feel loved. Not." LMAO! (Laugh My Apes Off.) "Well, if there's going to be drugs, I'll come." Wow, I'm crying, that was so funny. Thanks for the very long and comical review! (I need to change my bio. All the pity for my horse didn't work.) PS. Thanks for the right link, lol. That's so awesome! There's actually a couple that are pretty close. . . ::wink::
ForceofHobbit: Yes! I can stop it there, lol. Well, okay, I forgot about Mith meaning grey, it makes sense. So what's "fa" mean? I could just be a filler, like -illor means "from the" no matter what it's attached to. So there you have it, it means grey leaf. Lol. Thanks for the review (and the help figuring out my own character's name, sham on me, lol.) I swear I know what all of my other OC elves' names mean!
Dimostiel: That's it? That's all the review I get? Two sentences? Just for that, no more action the rest of the story. Legolas will sit in his corner of the cell and watch Bob, his new spider friend. (I'm kidding, don't hurt me.) Lol, yes, there will be action, I promise! (You're gonna be complaining in later chapters when I get into the cliffhangers!)
Hitokiri Youkai: I thank thee, for thou art truly a master of archaic diction. I shall write more, if it pleases thee.
Arayelle Lynn: Ah, thanks so much! I know, I think I'll make a pattern: two rhyming, one free, two rhyming. So what rhymes with Alliances? Lol.
Angel With No Wings: Lol, I know. . . I have a length problem. Lol. Feisty Legolas is a good thing!
Halandleg4ever: Haha, it's Legolas. . . "nothing too bad." Mhm. That'll happen. Sure. Lol.
Nikki: Lol, yes, captured. By the way, I think your second review was the shortest review I have ever gotten. I'm not sure how to respond to "wow," lol.
Lulu Bell: We're not undefeated anymore. We may still come in first in league, but the title would have been nice. It was 27 to 25 all games. It was a really close, really hard loss. Congrats on your excellent win, though! ! Yeah, our game was brutal. Our main setter rolled her ankle, so coach took her out and iced it. Luckily, everyone on our team can set if we have to. Then we lost our best outside hitter. We thought she broke her ankle, but she only sprained it really badly. They may have to reattach ligaments in three weeks. It was downright ugly. We all started crying and everything. LOL, thanks so much for the review. And yes, I'm a US girl. ::smile:: I could not survive in an all girls school, lol. Hope your wrist feels better. Hey, they always have to try to break him, don't they? Humans just never learn.
LegolasLover2003: Thank you! Thank you so much! I'm curious, though. . . how do you see me playing my characters? I mean, why is it unique to you? (I love reader insight, can you tell?)