Author: Mirrordance
Title: Escape
Summary: Aragorn is lost during a tour with the Rangers, and Legolas later finds him in Bree, without his memories & happily relieved of all his noble burdens, making the elf hesitate to bring him back to who he truly was.
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PART 3
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Road from Rivendell
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Legolas rode with Haldir of Lothlorien quietly and without complaint, though hardly with any pleasure in his company, often glancing at him warily. The perceptive elf in turn clearly felt the Mirkwood prince's reserve.
~To be fair,~ said Haldir coolly, ~I find little joy in traveling with a murderer myself.~
~I've long been exonerated,~ Legolas snapped, a breath before he felt annoyed at himself for responding so passionately to a barb that was undoubtedly meant to agitate him. The situation was dire enough without a frigid Lothlorien elf's quips, thank you.
~We do not hear much from Mirkwood,~ Haldir conceded after a moment, tilting his head at the prince thoughtfully, considering his fiery countenance, ~You have the most curious compassion for this troublesome man.~
Legolas said nothing, let him think what he wanted.
~The Lady Galadriel would be glad to hear you are alive,~ Haldir said suddenly.
~I do not know her very well,~ Legolas admitted, ~I cannot believe her joy over my living would be as great as her curiosity over how I managed it all these years.~
Haldir considered, ~Perhaps. I am quite curious myself.~
Legolas let him stay that way. The past was incorrigible, and he had no plans of reminding himself of it for the sake of a stranger's prying.
They fell into uncomfortable silence. Or at least, Legolas found it uncomfortable. The unflappable Haldir certainly seemed to bear it well. The Prince of Mirkwood could have even believed the haughty Lothlorien elf preferred traveling this way. He in turn was used to an entirely different journey altogether.
His older travels had been with his delightful brother, who was by now unfortunately long-deceased. And then Estel came around, and the man was irresistibly contagious, somehow weaving his way into Legolas' centuries-hardened heart. It was a companionship that lent him so much light and fire, so much warmth. So much life. The young human King lived so vicariously! There was always so much of him to go around, there was always something for him to give, to share. Whenever Legolas felt he knew the man inside-out, there's some new tale to tell, some new facet of his character to enjoy and love.
Estel, his heart called, Would you dare leave us?
~The man will die eventually, you know,~ Haldir told him flatly, reading the expression on his face, ~One way or another.~
Legolas' eyes narrowed in irritation. Since we are being candid…
~Have you ever been told you are not very good company?~ Legolas asked him outright.
~I am the March warden,~ Haldir said coolly, though his eyes glinted a little, appreciating the Prince's dry humor, ~I have walked with many. I've received no complaints.~
~You will remember me always then,~ Legolas told him primly, annoyed.
Haldir almost smiled. The Mirkwood elf was such an irrepressible curiosity. So much wildfire, as if he would burn before Haldir's very eyes. It was all at once enviable and repulsive for an elf, to be so passionate, to be so alive.
~You act as if you will die tomorrow,~ Haldir scolded him instead.
~What?~ Legolas asked, confused.
~You've been around the man too long,~ Haldir clarified, ~You are stubborn and tireless. Have you always been this way? I cannot imagine what an exhausting centuries of existence you must have had thus far.~
Legolas, dismayed, turned away from the Lothlorien elf. ~I much prefer your silence after all.~
Haldir shrugged, and complied.
* * *
Night soon fell, and wordlessly, the two warrior-elves took rest and made camp. While both were loath to admit to weariness, it was painfully apparent that they each came from days-long journeys from their respective homes without rest.
Besides, Legolas reasoned, it was always sensible to have a respite when one can afford it, rather than to be caught weary when time sped up again and one was, say, in the middle of a battle with the despicable yrchs.
They had taken over a wide old tree, with great branches that spread up to the skies like wide open arms embracing the bright multitude of glimmering stars overhead. If not for the situation or the company, Legolas thought, it might have been truly enjoyable.
~I shall take first watch,~ Haldir offered, his voice quiet and soothing as he himself looked up to the stars in fascinated reverence, ~Though your road from Mirkwood was shorter than mine headed towards Rivendell, you do look a bit more the worse for wear.~
Legolas resented that. The Lothlorien elf should have cut himself off after his offer and at least pretend to be marginally kind. The comment pricked at the Mirkwood elf's formidable pride, but he bit his tongue, this time.
~How fares Lothlorien?~ he asked quietly, changing the subject to what he assumed would be safer ground.
~As well as always,~ Haldir replied easily, ~It will weather all these horrid events that go on around it.~
~Who was Sari in the Golden Wood?~ Legolas asked, ~Why did the Lady Galadriel find it prudent to have him escorted back?~
~He was our token fallen warrior in all these lifetimes,~ Haldir replied, ~Our kin, a son of our woods. His return cements the surety and completeness of our strength.~
~I thought perhaps he would at least be a friend to you,~ Legolas said, thinking out loud, ~And this is why you would take him back yourself.~ Truly, how impersonal Haldir's reply had been.
~He is this also,~ Haldir said, his tone softening somewhat, making Legolas' eyebrow quirk at the discovery. Perhaps the Lothlorien elf wasn't really so callous. It was just all his years sitting heavily upon him, this poisonous complacency that seemed to ultimately plague most of them. Or perhaps he was just really made this way, as armored with his feelings as his body was in warrior's garb.
~You do have friends after all,~ Legolas murmured.
Haldir's lips quirked a little. ~More than you, I imagine.~
Legolas frowned. There was little uncertainty to the truth of the statement that was actually only meant to humor him.
~Ah, I see I've hit a nerve again,~ Haldir said, feigning indifference although he was honestly beginning to be more wary of his words.
~I will tell you the truth, Haldir,~ Legolas said, ~I do have few true friends. As a matter of fact, I have so few I could count them with just my hands.~
He glanced down at his fingers, considering. He lost old friends from Mirkwood, of course, after his centuries of exile. And now he was so seldom home he did not have the chance to reclaim them, even if they weren't as wary of him as everyone else in his Kingdom was. His digits mainly consisted of Lord Elrond and his family. But one hand… one entire hand could have belonged only to Estel. To lose Estel was to lose his right hand.
~One of them is Estel,~ he said, with all that it implied.
I cannot lose him.
Haldir stared at him, struggling to understand. ~You've this strange mortal attachment. I am more than ever curious of this man, who seems to have captured the heart of the Lord of Imladris, his pair of notoriously illustrious sons, the elusive Evenstar, even an exiled Prince from an isolated kingdom. Curious indeed. I almost cannot wait to come across him.~
~You believe he lives, then?~ Legolas asked.
Haldir shrugged, feigning indifference. ~I would know if I lost a hand. Wouldn't you?~
~He is not dead,~ Arwen had said to him some hours ago, ~My heart would know, wouldn't it, Legolas?~
~As would mine,~ he agreed, nodding reassuringly.
Let our hearts not be mistaken.
TO BE CONTINUED…
