Characters belong to JRR Tolkien
Thank you so much for reviewing! I can't believe I still get them… I know I'm like the worst updater in the world. But I give you all a promise that this story will get an ending! It's not going to be one of those stories that goes on and on and then suddenly one day the author just leave you hanging forever… It's quite scary to post up new chapters, but here's another one anyways.
The Party had started again and someone that seemed to be a relative of Freye had come to get her. Legolas got a scrutinizing look from the parent before she dragged the little dwarf maiden away screaming and kicking. Legolas folded his arms tight and shuddered. He walked in a circle for a while, a nervous habit that he had, before he stood still and inspected the walls for other doors. He also looked for the human, but he was nowhere to be seen. He brushed his hair back and breathed. He reckoned that the human had better things to do than to talk to a clumsy fool like himself. He had forgotten about his father for a short while and was grateful for that at least. However, he could not waste more time and needed to get back to his room as quickly as possible, only he didn't want to upset Gimli.
Gimli had found himself a dark foamy drink and was smiling broadly at it. Legolas had moved up behind him and lingered against the wall fidgeting. Gimli noticed after a while the nervous elf and turned, "What!" Gimli's nose had turned red and Legolas decided then to just flee without saying anything. The only thing that worried him was that the dwarf might decide to find his way back to his room.
Gimli saw the elf standing tall before him with his arms clutched around his slender body. He surly was spectacular to look at, Gimli admitted to himself and smiled warmly. He glared for a while before he shook his head and showed the drink up the elf's face, "Here, it will give you some relief!"
It had a distinct smell and Legolas was rather afraid of it. He pushed his fair head back and gathered his lips in his mouth between his teeth until it hurt.
"Oh, come on!" Gimli yelled "It has quite a variety of vitamins in it! And I will be offended if you don't drink!"
Legolas sighed and nodded. He thought he mines well drink it, and then think further upon his escape. He held the cup with two hands and starred into its brown pit and regretted immediately that he had accepted it, "Do you have some water?" He tried carefully, but the dwarf snorted, "Oh come on! Now, drink!" He gave the elf a hard knock in the shoulder so that the cup almost slipped from his hands. Legolas regretted that he hadn't lost it on purpose and realized that there was no way back. He tried not to breath through his nose and shut his eyes tight. Then he bravely put the glass to his lips and swallowed sip after sip until the cup was empty.
Gimli awaited eagerly his reaction and was not displeased. The elf got the most peculiar frown on his face and his blue eyes grew immensely big. The elf looked miserable while he dried his mouth in the most bad-mannered way Gimli had ever seen from an elf.
"What? What is this?" The elf gasped. The cup fell to the floor and the elf grabbed for his throat.
But Gimli was unable to answer, as he looked as he was about to die from laughing so hard. That worried the elf a great deal. He knew he had been tricked into doing something foolish again and looked at the remaining foam in the cup with revulsion. He stirred a finger in it and licked it, "yuck!" he frowned. "It's beer, is it not?" The dwarf was pointing at the elf with his mouth wide open, body shaking and eyes half open. Legolas narrowed his eyes and turned on his heels ready to leave, but there, in front of him stood the human.
"Aragorn!"
Legolas bit his lip, he didn't want to seem too excited, and he was puzzled to find the human looking at him with great worry in his grey eyes. The human reached for the elf's shoulder, but when he got a hold of it and opened his mouth as to speak the dwarf came between them with another little cup in his hand.
"Want some water to rid the taste with?" Gimli said and held the little thing in front of the elf. Legolas reached for it since the liquid was clear, and smiled gratefully. He was too happy to have seen the human to be mad at Gimli and he urged to get rid of the foul after taste from the beer. The cup was small so the content went down in one sip. It went in fact surprisingly quick and Legolas was almost about to excuse his greedy thirst when he noticed that his vision was rather unclear, sort of clouded up. That was something he seldom had experienced before. The elf shook his head and blinked a couple of times. He could hear giggling, and the sound sort of roared around him. It also felt like his mouth was on fire, so he tucked in a sleeve hoping to ease it a little. Then he said some unrecognisable words before he went for the barrels surrounded by several thirsty dwarfs drinking from large silver horns and wooden cups. The elf tripped twice in his own feet and ran just as much sideways as he ran forwards. Aragorn lowered one brow and looked at the dwarf, "Gimli… Did you give Legolas some of your grandfathers alcoholic drinks…" Gimli lowered his head and tried to cover his mouth between his hands, but could not control his rolling laughter.
Aragorn felt sorry for the elf and moved forward, but Gimli stopped him, "Not yet! Let's see what he does!" He uttered quite excited. Aragorn took Gimli by the shoulders, "Listen," He had a anxious look in his face, "Thranduil hit Legolas..."
Gimli blinked, "My mother hits me too sometimes! So what!"
But Aragorn seemed to be ignoring the fact completely and continued, "He slapped him once or twice. I could hear it all the way to the end of the hall. Legolas didn't say a word though and Thranduil seemed to be leaving him alone. But then he suddenly went back and hit him real hard. I heard Legolas gasp and all. It sounded bad. He almost couldn't walk when he came out of the room."
"Did Thranduil see you?" Gimli asked in a low serious voice. Aragorn shook his head, "I don't think so. Or he might have, only he didn't say anything. I don't think it is important to him anyway"
Tears swelled up in Gimli's small eyes while Aragorn started telling him what Elrond had said. "What shall we do" Gimli sniffled when he was finished.
"I really do not know. It seemed very wrong when he was hit that hard by his own father, and I seriously thought about running away with him or something," The human looked sideways at the dwarf, "I mean, getting him away…" the human looked with a furrowed forehead over at the elf. Someone seemed to have organized a drinking game. All in the honour of the wonderful elf, the human suspected.
Aragorn nodded in the direction of the elf, "why did you bring him down here anyways. I thought it a good idea getting him to think about something else too, but this has gotten way out of control!"
"We could bring him to my room and sober him up" Gimli offered.
The elf was surrounded by several intoxicated dwarves and looked confused. He had a large brass horn in his hand and a dwarf standing opposite from him had one in silver. It was quite a lot of cheering going on. When a dwarf maiden yelled that they should drink, Aragorn made his way through the crowd and grabbed the elf by the shoulder. The elf's gaze was not as intense and alert as before, but the curiosity in his eyes sparkled more than ever. The human blushed and flickered his eyes nervously. He felt uncomfortable when the elf looked at him in that way, eye to eye. Aragorn knew that the elf was under the influence of Gimli's deadly potions, but he still felt that the elf looked him to deep in the eye when their gaze met. Then again when Aragorn remembered the sound of his shattering cries, his heart sunk in his chest and he felt like taking his hand and run away with him. Standing this close to him Aragorn was struck by his radiance, which made him rather uncomfortable as well. Overall the elf made him have strange feelings he didn't know how to handle. And he was mad at himself for not being able to behave like he normally did when he was around. But Aragorn had never in his life seen such a fair face. He knew that and he could not help it. One the other hand, he also knew that he wasn't the only one stuck by the elf's fairness, he had heard it had been talked about from others, and he had seen it in people's faces wherever the elf strode. Aragorn wanted him to leave Rivendell. Elves were beautiful in general, but this one made everything too difficult. Somehow it scared him to think that they had to fight together in the games. Yet what scared him even more was the fact that it sort of thrilled him…
The human smiled a sympathetic smile, "Don't you think you have had enough of that?" Aragorn reached for the silver horn, but the elf didn't let him take it. He blinked as in slow motion and the corners of his lips curled into a broad, clever smile. He held the silver horn at an arms length and was not intending to give in to Aragorn just yet. Standing this close, Aragorn noticed that the elf was in fact taller than he was, and this annoyed him a little, "Legolas! You are acting very spoiled!" He grabbed a hold of the elf's left arm and reached again for the other. But even in the elf's intoxicated state he was still swift. The human looked as he was struggling, but to the elf, it was a game. Aragorn was aware of this and stopped waving his arms at the elf. "Gimli" He pushed between his teeth, " Will you please help me before somebody gets hurt?" That everyone in the circle laughed and cheered for the elf didn't help at all. Gimli came up beside them and viewed the irritated human, "Aragorn, I thought you said you could take him blindfolded with your hands tied at your back…?" Aragorn looked at him with lightening coming out of his eyes, "yes Gimli, I can. I'm just a little upset right now, and like I said, I might hurt somebody if I even move just slightly…" He nodded in the direction of the way too playful elf "…So why don't you get him…" In the two seconds they had argued the elf had managed to drink all the content in the silver horn. Aragorn sighed.
"Legolas, son of Thranduil, Prince of Mirkwood…" The human held out his hand and looked at Legolas with despair. The elf's smile eventually died on his lips and abidingly he took Aragorn's hand in his own and followed him out of the circle. Gimli led them into a small door in the opposite wall from where they had entered earlier, while the elf tried his best to walk in a straight line. Aragorn tried a couple of times to release the elf's hand, but the elf wouldn't let go of his. Behind them continued the everlasting party as if nothing had ever interrupted it.
It wasn't too far up to Gimli's room and Aragorn noticed that things were in fact a bit smaller down there. Elrond had this suite especially build for the dwarfs many decades ago. Gimli's room was small and cosy with no windows and rough surfaced walls. There were lots of candles to light it with and very peaceful, since no sound came through the thick rock walls. The elf leaned limp against Aragorn's shoulder while the human ordered the dwarf around to make a comfortable setting. Legolas was for a change easy to cope with as he went along with pretty much everything. They put him down at the bed and sat down next to him. The bed was small but soft and covered with silk and thick woollen blankets. The elf drank four cups of water before he laid back and uttered low sounds of satisfaction when he felt his back sink into the bed.
Just when they had put down the intoxicated elf, a cloaked being stepped into the room. Aragorn recognized the dark velvet cloak in a second and jumped to his feet at once to greet him. And rightfully it turned out to be lord Elrond. Elrond pushed Aragorn aside and went next to Legolas lying on his back across the small bed. His arms and legs hung outside the edge of it. Elrond murmured quietly to him in Sindarin and Legolas responded, moaning softly. He petted his head and rubbed his hand until the elf was in a state of complete relaxation.
Gimli faced the wall and spoke first when the elven lord stepped away from the bed. "I'm so sorry lord Elrond!"
Lord Elrond hushed him and shook his head, "The two of you have much to learn" He looked from Gimli to Aragorn, "You are behaving like two ignorant fools. But we will talk about that tomorrow. When Legolas have rested follow him up to his room unnoticed" Elrond decreased his brows at Gimli, "Gimli, I think it is best you stay here" Then he gave Aragorn a nod, " I will occupy Thranduil." When Elrond tried to leave, Aragorn grabbed his arm and yanked it back. "Don't leave!" He cried and ran over to the peaceful elf. Elrond's eyes grew large when his beloved adopted son ripped the clothes off the elf's upper body. "Look!" He cried again and pointed to the elf's naked torso, "See what he did to him!" Everyone in the room looked in silence to where Aragorn was pointing. The elf had not awoken and was breathing steadily. His pale chest raised and lowered in a normal phase and one would think that there was nothing wrong until you saw the dark marks on his stomach. Elrond stepped swiftly over to inspect.
The elf was lean, and to Aragorn's surprise he was quite muscular too. Aragorn figured he was a little older than he had reckoned him to be. Yet he was in fact awfully thin. The bones of his rib cage and hipbones carved the air. Only skin and muscles covered the bones from showing through his skin. Elrond had a troubled frown and let his fingers glide over the bruised stomach.
"I told you I heard Thranduil hit…" Aragorn started.
"Hss!" Elrond put a finger to his mouth and strained his ears, but the hall outside was silent. He rubbed his hands together and looked back at the battered elf, "He of all does not deserve this" Elrond shook his head and sighed. He brushed the blond head again, "We will go through with the original plan" Aragorn had kneeled down next to the elf but he felt Elrond's piercing eyes at the back of his head. "Aragorn, I meant what I said. We have no right to question how Thranduil decides to raise his children. All we can do is to be his friend" Aragorn could see the pain the graceful elf when he left the room and he knew that Elrond probably knew more than what he would say.
"Hnhhhh…" The elf released an annoyed grunt while he awoke from his short sleep. He looked from the human to the dwarf with sleepy eyes. Then he touched his head and whined. Gimli folded his hands, "Elf…" He started with honest remorse, "This is all my fault. Forgive me" The elf rubbed his forehead, "Nonsense!" He gave Gimli a harsh look, "I think I shouldn't have drank those last couple of drinks… But thank you for have introduced me to it, whatever devilry it was. Though I will never drink it again. No matter how upset you or anyone gets…" The dwarf smiled gratefully through tearful eyes. Then the elf noticed that he was undressed. Without looking up he covered his stomach swiftly. No one dared say anything for some moments. Gimli swallowed and Aragorn shifted nervously his position. Only Legolas lay completely still. Moments went by and finally Gimli cleared his voice, "Err… Yes, So there I was outside… It was dark I'll tell you!" His voice died eventually though, since either Aragorn or Legolas looked up.
"I hate owls…" Gimli whispered, "That's all"