One Summer in Rivendell

Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.R.R. Tolkien. The theme is based on Much ado About Nothing which was written by Shakespeare not me!

Summery- Legolas and the King return from war with the intentions of having a peaceful summer, things do not go to plan. Chaos, romance, trickery and misunderstanding ensue.

Thanks to:

Gionareth: Thank you so much for your review, I hope I can keep it interesting!

Vikki: Thanks for the review mate but I can't answer your questions cos that will kind of give the ending away and would be no fun would it? ;) Hero is a cute name but it isn't mine it's Shakespeare's!

cold crystal tears: Thank you! I can't believe that I have created an Arwen that is it possible for you to like, jealous thing that you are! (he he).

lotrfan: Thank you for adding this to your favourites! I will read your story!

Anonymous reviewer: Thanks here is another chapter!

Chapter 2

His memory had become endless and he, as old as the Earth, or at least he felt it . As he pondered the mists of time and his contributions to it he weakened visibly and a pallor

came to his cheeks. One only his brother would recognise if he saw it because he felt the same way too.

Elladan was heavy of heart and soul and there were few reminders of late to show him that life was worth living. His had turned to a cruel existence. His heart was as cold and deep as the oceans. There was but one being who could save him now, but she had left for the Havens many years ago. With his mother gone there was only one light in his life now and that was Hero. Not Elrohir as many may have thought. His twin only served to remind him of how he had failed and of how much he had lost.

To look at Elrohir was akin to looking in a mirror. All his weaknesses and faults were echoed there in his brother's eyes. There was no hiding from it. There they were bound yet distant for the rest of their immortal lives. Bound with love and hate but most of all shame.

When he thought of it, it brought sickness to him. Grief. He did not get there in time. He had been the one who failed, who did not get to his mother before she got hurt. He was an outcast now, even if all were too afraid to speak of it. He saw it everywhere. Every time he looked at his father, it was there in his eyes. "Why did you fail to reach her?" or "Why couldn't you save her?"

It taunted him when he visited Lothlorian to recover from his mother's hasty departure. There were echoes of his mother in the voice of his Grandmother. Even she could not hide her disappointment in him and his twin.

It had been Arwen's reaction which had hurt the most, a wave of insults and the most hurtful and truthful things he had ever heard. His father had told him that she had not meant the cruel things she had said. That it was her grief talking and no more than that. But he knew otherwise. He felt otherwise. It was there in the coolness of her voice. It had been the reason that their family had broken.

She blamed him and she blamed Elrohir.

Time had done little to heal these ills although Arwen had returned and apologised for her

behaviour he felt it in his heart that she would never forgive him.

Elladan now stood in the Great Hall watching Aragorn lead The Prince of Mirkwood to his quarters. His blood boiled.

"The Prince wants Hero for his love?" He said aloud to Elrohir who merely blinked. "I will not tolerate it." He added.

"What do you mean to do about it?" Elrohir enquired, his rage escalating.

"Get rid of him." Elladan spat maliciously. Elrohir smirked for his heart was equally as cold as his brother's.

"Hero is our only link to Mother, she is the only one who cares about us Elrohir. We can not allow her to suffer the same fate."

"What are you talking about?" Elrohir asked. Elladan rolled his eyes.

"Legolas is from Mirkwood." He stated, upon seeing no reaction from his brother he added. "Our Mother was slain by fell creatures such as those that dwell therein Thranduil's dark forest." He cried.

Elrohir nodded slowly. "Hero seems to be likewise taken by the Prince, that does not bode well for our plans."

Elladan placed his head wearily in his hands and sighed deeply. He felt a arm rest upon his. "Do not lose hope Brother." He said softly. "Her growing feelings for the Prince can be suffocated as easily as the Prince can be deceived into returning to Mirkwood."

Elladan glanced up in shock. It appeared that his brother, usually the less intelligent of the two had already formulated a plan. "Do not taunt me Brother, if you have an idea then speak of it!" He demanded.

Elrohir's eyes flashed green anger. "We merely inform Legolas that The King who woos in his place, in truth woos for himself and that Brother, should be enough to force Legolas to leave Rivendell and Hero behind I warrant." For once Elladan smiled a genuine smile.

"That Elrohir, just might be simple enough to work."

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Hero glanced at her reflection in the mirror. "Do you think Prince Legolas will like this dress?" She said smoothing down the deep blue fabric. "The colour matches his eyes does it not?" Arwen rolled hers.

"Hero," She began ignoring the 'eyes' comment. "It has taken three hours for you to choose it. If he does not like it I shall kill him!" She turned and glanced at her sister who looked a little hurt by her coldness. She reconsidered. "Hero, you look beautiful, if the Prince does not fall in love with you upon sight I shall seriously doubt his intelligence." She smirked. "I have to say that I already do. Why he chooses to associate with Aragorn is beyond me! Ha! Perhaps he regards the king as a jester!" she laughed. "The fair Prince has a King as a jester!" She cried.

Hero smiled and shook her head, surprised at her sister's blatant deceit to herself. Why could she not see what was plainly clear to all? "Sister! I think Aragorn is a fine gentlemen. Indeed I think you have noticed that too! I saw your face this afternoon when you first encountered him." She said, laughing.

Arwen stood in one furious motion. "Do not speak of what you do not know, I told before that I....."

Hero placed her hand over her sister's mouth. "I will make a list of things I know to be true about the king and if you can truly say you disagree with any of them you may argue your case." Arwen rolled her eyes again.

"Hero, I doubt you will find one thing that I can agree with."

"We'll see." Hero said. "The King is handsome." Was her first point.

"Well that I can not deny but his terrible personality makes him far less than that!" Arwen retorted. Hero smirked.

"I knew you thought him handsome!" She paused. "The King is valiant." Was her second point.

"Then sister you have an odd definition of the word! The King is lazy!" She spat.

"He is not!" Hero said disgusted. "King Aragorn has just waged war against Mordor and won!" She paused. "I think you like him deep down in that warped soul of yours Arwen Evenstar!"

Arwen placed her hand on her chest in a gesture of mock pain. Hero giggled. "The King is wise, and strong and handsome, you can deny none of this!"

"All of a sudden you think yourself so wise?" Arwen said laughing at her sister's brazen cheek! "I will tell you of the first time I met him. Then you shall not think him so."

"Please do!" Hero requested, and took a seat by her sister.

Arwen sighed and cleared her throat. "Upon my return from Lothlorian many years ago, I decided to go walking in the forest... It had been many years since I had seen the trees and they always had provided the utmost comfort to me in my times of need. I cherished my time alone in there as I still do now.

That night was like no other. The sky was clear and the forest spoke with thousands of voices carried upon a soft breeze. It was the most beautiful I have ever seen it...."

"Sister!" Hero stated. "I am aware of the virtues of the forest ...What of Aragorn?"

"I was merely setting the scene. I was trying to say how peaceful it was!" Arwen retorted. She lifted the irritated frown from her face and continued. "I was walking by the stream, when a sound interrupted my reverie. It sounded rather like a dying warg but I later discovered that it was King Aragorn.... although back then he was not a King but a young man of twenty years and he was singing! My curiosity was aroused so I endeavoured to find out what the wretched noise was, that is when he saw me. "Tinuviel!" He cried. Of course I thought him insane so I did not reply. Instead I meant to return to father to inform him that a human was trespassing on our land. Then he cried again. "Tinuviel, Tinuviel!" So I turned and said in reply.

"Of course not you ridiculous human! Tinuviel has passed from this life and onto the next!" To which he frowned and replied. "Of course she has... I was merely stating...." Arwen paused and blushed. She did not wish Hero to know how the King had mistaken her for the most beautiful elf ever to walk Middle Earth. She cleared her throat. "Any way I went back to inform father of the trespasser and he informed me that he was not that at all, Father had taken him in as a child. I of course had never heard of him as I had spent most of the past years in Lothlorian with our grandmother."

Hero looked at her sister thoughtfully. "Arwen I think that was incredibly sweet of him... to call you Tinuviel and to chase after you.... it's ever so romantic!" She said.

"Pah! Romantic my foot!" She retorted. "I think he showed extreme stupidity and he has changed little since then." Hero opened her mouth to respond. "And I will hear nothing else Sister!" Arwen interjected. "Now we must move or we will miss this ball and the sun will be rising to signify the beginning of another day!"

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"What should one wear to such a party?" Legolas asked. Aragorn threw a mask and cloak at him. "Why cover ourselves in such a way?"

"Well for a Prince Legolas, you have lead a sheltered life!" Boromir exclaimed. "The point is.. .That any woman who you may ask to dance... or any thing else for that matter, will not know who you are!"

Legolas frowned. "I still do not see the point." He stated.

Boromir rolled his eyes for the second time that day. "The point is that if they cannot see who you are.. They are less likely to turn you down!" Faramir laughed heartily, Legolas started as this was a rare sound from the cousin of the King who was usually quite melancholy. "That is not true!" Aragorn announced. "It merely makes the party more fun." He lowered his voice loud enough only for Legolas to hear. "And provides the perfect opportunity for me to woo Hero in your place." He said.

Legolas nodded. "Indeed." He replied. "Let us hope that she does not recognise you." He said, feeling if truth be told a little apprehensive about the whole thing. He considered the alternative.

Flashback

In the Forest of Mirkwood there had been an elf notorious for her beauty. Second to none other than Tinuviel and the fair Lady Arwen herself. Her name was Adia. Such was her beauty that none of the elves had dared even to speak to her. Legolas, in spite of being a Prince had been one of them. Every time he had been within a foot of her, he found himself stumbling over his words and without sounding too harsh, speaking like an utter imbecile.

One morning, when snow covered the grand palace and the winter ball had taken place, he found himself in that all to familiar situation of having one too many glasses of wine. This had led him to believe himself to be slightly more confident than he was and he decided to take advantage of this new found self-belief by daring to speak to Adia. The Lady upon seeing him had been pleasant enough. He had never seen her that close before but even upon speaking to a Prince, it was clear that she thought herself to be a little more important than she was. This of course went unnoticed to Legolas as he was drunk on both wine and infatuation.

They had rather a pleasant conversation about the ball so far and the current state of affairs in Mordor when Legolas suddenly announced. "Adia, I love you!" It was a slightly revised version of the speech he had rehearsed over and over in his mind but it served to get his point across. The Lady's face crinkled in disgust and amusement. She was many years older than Legolas, old enough to be his Grandmother in fact. She politely changed the subject and Legolas had never recovered from the rejection enough to tell any other of it. Incidentally he had also never touched wine since.

"So what do you think Legolas?" Came a voice, awakening him from his reverie. Legolas frowned. "Pardon?"

"Do you not think that Lady Arwen would make a fine queen for Gondor?" Boromir said as if he were speaking to a person of limited intelligence. Legolas laughed as a cushion thrown by the King hit Boromir square on the back of the head. "Next time cousin, it will be a book or perhaps a stone, not something soft!" Came the King's warning. "Lady Arwen would not make a fine queen anywhere!" Aragorn stormed out of the room and Boromir laughed. "He fools himself!" He laughed.

"What do you mean?" Legolas enquired.

"Elf are you blind?" Faramir interrupted. "It is clear to all that the King and the Lady of Rivendell are in love!"

"Don't be so absurd!" Legolas cried. "From what I have seen they cannot stand each other!" Boromir shook his head.

"Then you must learn to read between the lines." He informed him. "The King is secretive when it comes to matters of the heart, but one night after he had consumed many ales. He told me of their first meeting. Would you like me to tell you?" He asked.

Legolas nodded.

"The King does not know that he told me, that was his extent of intoxication! When he was twenty years old he went wandering in the forest that surrounds this place. He hoped to practise his hunting skills.

He had been there a while when from behind a bush he saw the most beautiful light. In his wonder, he dared to step closer to it."

Legolas sat down eager to hear the rest of the story. His friend was indeed secretive and all he had shared thus far were methods of battle, these had proven extremely useful but were in no way as interesting as juicy gossip.

"It was of course Lady Arwen, and the King was instantly smitten. He even thought her to be Tinuviel herself." Boromir explained. "It was then that he called out to her, "Tinuviel." and the lady responded in a way that was most unexpected."

"Go on." Legolas demanded.

"She called him a fool and informed him that Tinuviel had left Middle Earth many years ago!"

"She said that?" Legolas asked. " Surely it was evident that Aragorn thought only to let her know how magnificent she was and calling her Tinuviel was a fair complement!"

"Indeed it is, that is what I said." Faramir added his eyes twinkling. "Lady Arwen has never been one to take compliments well though." He said on a lower note.

"That is true." Boromir agreed. "Legolas if you think her beautiful I warn you do not tell her unless you want your head bitten off." Legolas nodded, he had no intention of doing so.

"Any way since their meeting that day." Boromir continued. "Neither have spoken a kind word about each other in the other's presence."

"And this you view as evidence for their love?" Legolas asked, clearly baffled. "I do not understand the human method of thinking." Boromir, for the third time rolled his eyes.

"I told you to read between the lines. The Lady is much like a stubborn mule! She does not wish to be seen as weak enough to fall in love, especially with a human! Her eyes deceive her though. There it shows she loves him. Mark my words Legolas, the Lady loves the King and the King is as much in love with her."

Legolas grinned as a devious plan formed in his mind. He contemplated whether putting it into operation was the right thing to do. He shrugged. Of course it was. In many ways it would be like returning a favour.