@beginning-end-314 : Kel fic is in progress. I'll post it next year.

@Karina : Now that I know you like Glorfindel so much, I dedicated this chapter especially for you! (You'll know why!)

@Hp-Azn : You so like angst, don't you? LOL!

@Twinlakesghrl : I love that scene with the oliphaunt too! Leggy rules!

@yeen : I'm thinking of making a Faramir/Eowyn fic. So pray for my muse to never leave me!

@LegolasLover2003 : You and me both. The last glimpse of him from the movie is the only scene that kept playing over and over and over in my mind. It's not too odd for a college student like you to have the poster of your idols on the wall. Look at my case. I'm a working girl, and I have a blow up of Leggy on my door!

@LOTRFaith : You'll see how it goes in this chappie! Oh. Buy yourself a huge fan. It works better than your hand. And please, I love to read your review of ROTK. Send it to me.

@Alkvingiel : Sorry for that…uh…'kapow' and all went down the drain! He! He! Not a nice twist, wasn't it?

@Menthol : You really want them to kiss again? Don't worry. There'll be more!

@szhismine : Forgive me, my lady. I was too absorbed with my Leggy that I forgot to reply to you. Forgive me? (Bats her eyelashes demurely.)

@Abbicat14 : I am the angst queen? Oh, thank you, madam! Thank you!! All right! I won't stop! I will keep writing because there is lot more to come for our Leggy. And yes, this is the longest review you have ever given to me. Thank you, mellon! (I hope my muse heard what you just said so it won't desert me again!)

@Irish QT ; Of course he will read it! He'll go quite berserk afterwards.

@Jamie : Thank you for the ideas, mellon! I'll be thinking of using them in the future!

@Kayo : Yes, I've seen 'The Bird'. God, that was scary! 'Gangbuster'? Ha! Ha! Well, let's find out later if you are going to see that happens! p/s : You have an overactive imagination! LOL!

@Gerri : It's a good thing Aragorn wasn't there!

*************************************

Legolas involuntarily took a couple steps back as his father advanced on him and snatched at the nightshirt.

"What happened to you?!" Thranduil roared again, staring hard at the horrid marks all over his son's alabaster skin. He quickly discerned the writings on Legolas' chest and belly through narrowed eyes. "Answer me!"

Legolas flinched. He looked uncertainly at his father, totally at a lost of what to say to appease the king's obvious anger and shock.

Thranduil reached over and spun his son around to better see the prince's battered back. Keeping his silence, Legolas could only listen in dismay as his father started to curse and rant in three different languages. "Father…" he tentatively voiced out, but Thranduil immediately cut him off.

"How could Aragorn let this?" the king spun his son to face him once more, shaking the prince's shoulders as he demanded answer. "Why did he let this happen?!"

"Father, stop! Please!" Legolas cried out, gripping hard at his father's forearms. He gazed down at the floor for a moment before looking up and said, "Aragorn is not at fault, father. He had no power to stop this from happening to me." Legolas then told his father what had happened the week before.

"What kind of a king is he then for being so powerless to stop this?" Thranduil's voice was still high and sharp.

"Uh…a human one?" Legolas supplied, grinning weakly.

Thranduil blinked. He then sighed heavily before grabbing his son into his embrace. "Ai Legolas! Why are you always in trouble and pain?"

Legolas had to smile at that. "I'm born with it, I guess. It's in my blood."

Pulling away, Thranduil stared deeply into his son's eyes. He searched the stormy silver orbs and saw some trace of agony and despair there. "There's something else you are not telling me," he remarked quietly.

Legolas quickly averted his gaze. He turned back towards the dresser to take out a fresh tunic. "Don't worry, father," he softly replied. "I'm fine now."

"No, you are not!" Thranduil exclaimed. "Don't try to hide anything from me!"

"You really want to know?" Legolas instantly rounded on his father, his eyes glinting furiously as his fingers quickly button up his clothes. "I'm trying very hard to forget it and you want me to recall it all?"

"Legolas…"

"I'm sick, father! I've been losing my mind for months! I've been missing you like crazy while the sea is calling me like a lover! I'm torn and I don't know what to do about it!"

Thranduil's eyes widened, shock and dismay at knowing his son's true problem. There was a shadow over his son's face that he had never seen before, which was not so different from the one that had appeared on Keldarion's face when the elder prince had suffered the same malady. "Valar. Legolas. I…"

"And you know what's even more 'wonderful'?" Legolas' voiced out cynically. "It made me inept in doing my job! I totally blew it as a vassal to Aragorn! I didn't even know what was going on in my keep or Gondor! I didn't know what I was doing! Elbereth! Sometimes I didn't even know who I am!"

Slowly shaking his head, Thranduil reached over to hug his son, but this time Legolas resisted. "No! I will not let you pacify me like a baby!" the prince cried out, pushing his father away. "My problem is my own! Just leave me be!"

Thranduil looked on in alarm as Legolas almost ran for the door. "Legolas, wait!"

"Just leave me be!!"

At that, Legolas was gone, leaving the fading sound of his pattering feet for the king's ears. Thranduil felt his knees weakened. He approached the bed and sat down heavily, putting his head in his hands. First Kel, now Legolas. Ai Elbereth! Why my sons?

The king was still sitting there even when the special luncheon to honor Legolas' return was being served in the dining hall.

**************************

A bird was joyfully singing at the top branch above him. Legolas looked up, saw the bird, and growled, "Be gone!"

The little creature instantly flew off in panic. The prince leaned once more against the bark of the tree and continued to brood. He had calmed down somewhat, though his temper was still simmering. Truthfully, he didn't even know what he was so angry about. Furious at his father for his concern? That sounded absolutely silly.

Hugging his legs to his chest, Legolas closed his eyes and rested his head against the rough bark of the tree. He began to realize what was actually nagging him. It was his blasted wounded pride.

Always the apple of his father's eyes ever since he was born, Legolas never lacked the attention and protection. Someone was always there to watch over him and keep him away from harm. After joining the fellowship and had his own share of protecting the hobbits during the long journey, he started to enjoy his new role. To appear vulnerable in other people's eyes—especially his own father—was no longer acceptable.

"Is this seat taken?"

Legolas' eyes flew open, startled. Were his senses so weak now that others managed to sneak on him twice in one day?

Glorfindel grinned down at the young elf and asked again, "May I join you?"

Legolas shrugged in nonchalance without replying. Glorfindel took that as consent and lowered himself to sit on the branch beside the prince. "So. This is your tree."

Legolas gave the elder elf a sidelong glance. "This is not my tree."

"But your father told me this is where you always spend your time brooding."

"I am not brooding."

"Really? Then what are you doing?"

"I'm thinking!" Legolas snapped.

"Oh. What are you thinking of then?"

"I'm figuring out on how to push a certain elven lord off this tree so I can get on with my thinking!"

Glorfindel chuckled. "Come on. There must be something else on your mind before I arrived. What was it?"

"Why do you want to know?"

The elder elf turned serious. He stared hard at the prince before replying, "Maybe I can help."

Legolas groaned. "Did father tell you?"

"About your sea longing? Yes, he did." Glorfindel nodded. "You were absent in the luncheon in honor of your name, so I had to ask."

"Then what is there to discuss? There's no cure for what I'm suffering from anyway."

"He also told me about the burnt scripts on your body," Glorfindel said softly.

"That's it! I'm out of here!" Legolas made a move to jump off the branch but Glorfindel quickly grabbed his shoulder and held him in place. "You are not going anywhere, young one. Not if your vile mood is going to hurt my Nara."

"I will not hurt Nara!"

"Are you sure about that?"

Legolas lowered his gaze and was silent for a long moment. "I don't know. That's the problem," he finally answered.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Well, I…" Legolas hesitated. He looked away from Glorfindel, feeling greatly disturbed of what he was going to say. "I was also thinking about me and her just now. After all those things that had happened to me, I'm not sure if…if our relationship is going to work."

Another long silence reigned afterwards. Legolas was a little afraid to look up to see the elven lord's reaction, so he just kept quiet and waited anxiously.

A while later, Glorfindel softly sighed. "Nara would gladly punch your lights out if she heard you just now."

"I bet she would." Legolas chuckled, and then grew sober again. "She deserves better, my lord. My life is full of heartache and peril. I have not the heart to drag her along through the muddy path that I'm walking. I can't do that to her. Her innocence, her beauty and her happiness should not be tainted in such a way. I want her to remain pure as she is."

Glorfindel lightly gripped Legolas' shoulder. "You sound as if you are a walking disease, lad. Why are you so hard on yourself?"

Legolas' eyes were sad as he gazed back at the elder elf. "I feel like a disease, my lord. Troubles and disasters seem to follow me anywhere! I can't live with myself if some of it rubbed onto Nara, or worse, get her kill."

"Legolas, you can not control every one's fate," Glorfindel patiently said. "What made you think that Nara's life would be better without you beside her?"

The prince looked down at his feet. "Maybe she would find more happiness with someone else finer than me," he said in a low voice, almost inaudible to Glorfindel's ears.

The elven lord shook his head. "Legolas, Legolas. You are forgetting who you really are."

"You may be right, my lord. Sometimes I cannot remember who I truly am," Legolas said quietly.

"But you are the crown prince of this realm, a royalty of noble birth."

Legolas gave a slight smile. "That does not help matters much. My noble birth does not exempt me from death or pain. In fact, sometimes, it only became the bane of my existence."

"You were once a manyan, the one with the healing gift. Your powerful ability had saved many lives for many centuries."

"It's all in the past now. I would never get back what I had lost," Legolas easily replied with a nonchalant wave of his hand.

"You are one of the Nine Walkers. You helped defeat the Darkness of Sauron. That is enough to put you on the highest level of esteem in the eyes of the people of Middle-earth."

"But that had almost caused me my downfall. I nearly remained blind if not for Aragorn's stone of Elessar. Even then, I knew how vulnerable and weak I could be, my lord. Nara needs someone who can assure her safe future, not someone who would only cause her grief."

Glorfindel sighed, throwing up his hands in exasperation. "Legolas, you are stubborn! Aye, that's what you really are!"

Legolas blinked, and then broke into laughter. "Now you sound just like my father!"

The elf lord glared at the prince. "Is that a compliment or insult?"

"What do you think?" Legolas goaded.

Glorfindel's eyes narrowed before he chuckled. "Don't change the subject, young prince. We are not finish with our discussion."

Legolas rolled his eyes. "You are so persistent!"

"Come now," Glorfindel said. "Tell me. What bothers you the most? The sea longing, or what had been done to you recently?"

Legolas bit his lips and shrugged. "I don't know. The burnt marks on my body, I think. I hate to be brought so low by the Haradrim that way. I hate being so weak and defenseless. It left me feeling so humiliated beyond measure I feel like burying my head inside a hole!"

Smiling benignly, Glorfindel said, "Listen to me, Legolas. The Haradrim are twisted people. They hate to lose. They see in you the beauty they want to destroy, the innocence they want to conquer, and the power they want to defeat." Still smiling, he continued, "Will you let them defeat you, Legolas? Will you? You know, you are a thousands times better than them all. Don't ever forget that."

Legolas stared wide-eyed at the elven lord, perplexed. He never thought that Glorfindel was able to come out with that kind of speech. He felt both embarrassed and flattered by Glorfindel's words. "Well…I…" Legolas cleared his throat nervously. "I don't know what to say, my lord. I…thank you?"

Glorfindel laughed out loud and slung an arm around the prince's shoulders. "You are welcome, lad. I hope that had made you see some light in this situation!"

"I guess so."

"I'm already proud of you as it is," Glorfindel said, turning serious. "Don't make a decision that will change that view of mine. If you hurt Nara in any way, you'll answer to me."

Legolas grimly nodded. "I won't, I swear." Then he sighed. "But my sea longing is something that I cannot control. I might intentionally hurt her without meaning to."

"Hmm." Glorfindel was thoughtful for a moment. "Let me tell you a story. It's about a noble elf who was slain in the Fall of Gondolin many ages ago."

Legolas kept listening intently, his interest picked.

"After his death, his spirit remained in the Mandos's Hall of Waiting, completely assured that he had lost all his chance for Valinor. But miraculously, after a time, he was re-embodied by the Valar and returned to Middle-earth to lent aid to his kin in the Great War. His longing for the Undying Land grew tenfold now that he'd gotten a second chance, but he knew he was greatly needed so he fought to resist the call. It seemed impossible at first but he somehow succeeded. The sea is calling him still, but he remains stronger. As long as he remembers his purpose here in Middle-earth, he will prevail."

Legolas stared hard at Glorfindel. "My lord, are you talking about yourself?"

Glorfindel smiled benevolently. "What do you think?"

Still awed, Legolas asked, "Are you or are you not the slain Glorfindel of Gondolin?"

"You are one curious child, aren't you?" Glorfindel chuckled.

"I just simply want to confirm the stories that I've heard about you," Legolas responded. "Well, are you?"

Glorfindel smiled surreptitiously. "That's not truly important here. What is important is that you keep true to your heart. Find the will in there to either submit or resist the calling the sea. It's your choice. Only you can defy it. And only you can let it consume over yourself."

Legolas sighed. "It's easier said than done."

"Legolas, no pain, no gain. And nothing is highly impossible if you always believe that nobody else holds the key to the door of your destiny except for you. Remember that."

They gazed at each other for a long moment before Legolas nodded. "I know what you mean, my lord. For Nara's sake, I'll remember."

"Good." Glorfindel squeezed the prince's shoulder. "Now go take a swim."

Legolas blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Swimming is good to clear the cobweb off someone's head," Glorfindel said, the secret smile still plastered on his face. "The backyard stream is a good place for swimming, don't you think?"

Still frowning at the elven lord, Legolas prepared to descent from the tree. What does he has up his sleeve?

"Thank you, my lord," Legolas said. "I appreciate talking to you."

"My pleasure, young prince," Glorfindel said. "Now, go. Don't keep her waiting."

Her?

Glorfindel watched in amusement as Legolas nimbly jumped from branch to branch like a squirrel in his haste to get down. The golden haired elven lord was still laughing as the prince swiftly disappeared around the bend that led to the stream behind the Mirkwood palace.

TBC…