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.
* * *
PART SEVEN
* * *
Biggles took their horses to the stables, while Damien helped them with their packs and wordlessly led them into the house. Biggles was as noisy as Damien was painfully quiet. Cecilia, on the other hand, was an entirely different kind of person altogether. Apparently, she was a minor goddess here, and she strode regally up into her home as if it was a great castle.
The house was radiantly warm with laughter and candlelight, making it more pleasant than crowded, even if there must have been at least one child everywhere one turned. They were looking at the pair of new arrivals with hungry curiosity and bright eyes.
One of the younger children, a young boy of about four years, boldly stepped forward along their path. "Have you come to take Sari away?"
Apparently a young troop-leader, a few more kids stepped alongside him and followed his bold defense.
"I'll have none of that, little Allan," Damien scolded, "These are our guests. You show them Cecilia brought you up right."
Allan's steely eyes remained upon the pair of elves, and Haldir looked down upon him coolly.
"No one will be taken against their will, young sir," Haldir assured them, "He will go with us if he desired."
"He wouldn't want to," Allan said confidently, "He likes it here."
The group of Sari's defenders moved out of their way warily. Haldir's face was expressionless, but his mind was reeling. When he had known Sari, the elf was one of their mightiest warriors. Illustrious, handsome Sari, a hero through and through. And now he had a band of scrawny young orphans come to his defense. Perhaps Legolas was not the only one here who had come looking for a friend and instead found a stranger.
The house was reasonably spacious, and it had such a strange, eclectic character to it. Nothing matched, nothing fit. And yet it all came together in some distortedly comforting way. Rooms seemed to be extended and extended, enlarged and enlarged from their original size, undoubtedly to accommodate the growing number of permanent house guests.
Damien led them into the kitchen, which was by far the 'emptiest' place in the house, occupied by just two grown-ups. The child in Legolas understood perfectly well why; to stay in the kitchen was to court a chore, and any child by principle did not wish for any.
Damien ushered them into seats, and murmured something about putting their things inside their rooms. Legolas looked at him quizzically.
"We will not stay long, you know," he told the old man.
Damien's face held a strange, knowing look. "That's what they all said."
And then he left, leaving Legolas puzzled, and strangely touched by the easy, quiet welcome. He turned to face the two grown-ups in the room, who were in turn looking back at Haldir and himself.
One of them was a young woman with a strikingly beautiful face. At first glance, Legolas found her to be a little on the heavy side-a far cry from the lithe forms of the elvish woman. But the more he looked, the more he appreciated the softness of her features. Her skin glowed healthily, her amber eyes glistened with a strange kind of warmth and magic. There was no harshness to her at all, everything curved in a graceful, fluid manner.
The elf beside her must have been Sari. His eyes still had their elvish sheen to them, unmistakably bright. But it was dulled somewhat by his apparent weariness, and he was more gaunt than they usually were. Bony and grave, he looked, though still handsome. His golden hair came in short, jagged wisps that framed his sculpted face, and was as chiseled as the woman beside him was healthily round.
Sari was looking at Haldir with a smile teasing his lips. It was a look that belonged to one sighting an old friend, a look that was full of comfort and memory. Legolas watched them with envy.
~I used to be better looking than you,~ Sari said to Haldir, his fingers running through the corners of his unkempt hair consciously.
Haldir hmphed, but smiled as well. The warmth of it was distinct and true, and was the most disarmed Legolas had ever seen of the Lothlorien elf.
"This is Teresa," Sari introduced the woman beside him, "She makes a fantastic cup of tea."
"Is that a pointed hint that I should be making some for your friends?" she asked him good-naturedly.
"Yes."
She laughed and told him he was impossible, just before she turned to do as he asked.
"The glorious and pompous elf there is Haldir, an old friend of mine," Sari introduced.
"Which one of the pair of them?" Teresa asked him, winking at the new arrivals.
"A fair question," Sari laughed.
"This is Legolas," Haldir introduced, "of Mirkwood."
"The Prince of Mirkwood?" Sari's brows raised, "Why, the last I heard, you were accused of murder and killed."
"He's long been exonerated," Haldir said wryly, echoing what Legolas said to him but days ago. He was still yet to hear that curious little tale, but let it rest for now.
"You look like a prince," Teresa commented over a pot of boiling water, "Haughty-like. But not in the bad way, if you get my meaning."
Legolas looked at them with undisguised misery.
Just then, Estel stepped into the kitchen with the basket of fruits they brought with them from Bree. There were still children around his feet at the door, and magically, they gradually dissipated as Estel delved deeper into the kitchen.
"This is where you enter for peace and quiet," he said to their guests by way of explanation, "The kitchen, where they do not want to cook. And the stream, where they refuse to bathe."
"Hello Dalsegno," Teresa smiled graciously at the new arrival, peering at the basket as Estel placed it atop the counter, "Was it you who picked up the pair of strays?"
"Yes," Estel grinned, "More slaves to do your bidding."
"We won't be staying long," Legolas found the need to say.
"That's what we all said," Estel told him cheekily.
"I've been hearing that," Legolas admitted.
Estel stepped over, and tugged at the cloaks of the new arrivals. "Let me hang these for you."
Hesitantly, Legolas and Haldir complied, and Estel vanished from the room once again. Sari watched the man leave, and his sharp eyes landed upon Legolas'.
What a strange arrangement, Legolas reflected, that both of those who battle for Arwen's heart inadvertently found themselves finding peace not merely away from her, but even together.
~You know who he is,~ Sari concluded by the look on Legolas' face, ~And therefore you must know who I am too.~
~I thought so,~ Legolas shook his head, admitting, ~But now I believe I don't really know much at all.~
* * *
They had a modest dinner of much-diluted broth, but it had a nice kick to it, and the company certainly filled the heart some, if not the stomach.
The children were miraculously saintly in Cecilia's presence, charming and kind. Estel was jovial and light of heart, seated next to her. The table was impossibly long and filled from corner to corner. Sari was even holding a babe in his arms and feeding her. Haldir watched him curiously, and Sari felt the weight of that distinct gaze. He met the other's eyes easily, and his lips tugged at a helpless smile. He shrugged almost imperceptibly as if saying, I don't know how it happened either.
"Do you have any stories?" the young girl seated beside Legolas asked him, as she tugged at his sleeve.
"I bet the elf has lots!" a rowdy young boy said from across the table, "They live forever you know. Lots and lots must have happened to them."
"How old are you?" asked another, "Raul said you were eight thousand years old, like. Almost older than Cecilia."
The children laughed, and the old woman who was being teased just scowled at the clever child.
Who's Raul? Legolas wondered inanely, uncomfortable with the barrage of questions, not to mention the ardent attention he was getting.
"Now, now," Estel said with a laugh, calming down his troops, "Easy on the elf, he's rather tired, you know."
"Elves don't tire," argued Allan, "You said so."
"This one is tired of you," Estel pointed out, "There's a difference."
The children returned to their food, listening to the orders of the man who was, for all intents and purposes, seemingly their King.
Well he can't exactly loose all of himself, Legolas thought wryly.
* * *
It was another circus altogether getting the children to their beds to sleep for the night. A massive room held all the boys, and another held all the girls. A smaller room was shared by Cecilia and Teresa, while another slightly bigger one was for Biggles, Damien, Sari and Estel. It was in this room that Legolas and Haldir found their things, and mats laid out for them. Cecilia accepted them wordlessly into her home, and such was her outwardly cold but caring way.
Or perhaps she may just be simply resigned, Legolas resolved.
Biggles stretched out on his mat, yawning and stretching indulgently. In moments he was snoring and beside him, as quiet in wakefulness as he was in sleeping, Damien curled into a ball, taking up as little space as possible.
Sari walked them into the room but lingered by the door, and Haldir looked at him inquiringly.
"I take first watch," he explained, "Have a good night."
"I shall join you," Haldir said, stepping towards him.
"You needn't," Sari said quickly.
~We need to speak,~ Haldir told him flatly.
Sari stared at him for a moment, and nodded. The two elves excused themselves with polite murmurs, and Legolas found himself alone in the room with Estel.
"Don't forget to wake me for my turn!" Estel called out after Sari, before he turned to face Legolas, saying, "He always says he forgets. But I think he does it on purpose."
"I don't doubt it," said Legolas after a moment of thought, "Elves are stronger than men. He can take the entire shift. You need your rest more than we."
"He is sicker than I," Estel pointed out, "I should know better and take the first shift. But he always promises he will make the necessary changes. And he never does."
Legolas breathed deeply, not quite knowing what to say. Estel seemed to be scrambling for petty things to discuss himself, and their discomfort was stifling the room. He sat beside Estel, folding his arms over his knees and resting his chin on them, thoughtful.
"How did you come upon this place?" he asked the man.
"A curious thing, really," Estel smiled, "Cecilia said I must have been just walking by. And then orcs came around here, and I aided them. Cecilia said I fought like a vindictive demon. I'm not at all sure if that is a good thing. But there it was. But I must have been injured because." he touched at the healing wound against his temple absently, "well, when all enemies have been felled or have fled, a strange darkness closed in and I woke up here."
"And you never left," Legolas said flatly.
"I had nowhere to go," Estel said softly, "I remember I woke up, not knowing. much. It's as if my heart beat furiously, but it was empty. Cecilia said it will pass. She said this was my family now. And she was right."
Legolas noted the multitude of Cecilia said's in the man's 'recollections.' Recollections that were obviously not his own.
"You do not remember," Legolas concluded.
Estel pursed his lips, shook his head.
"It will return," the man said hesitantly after a moment. He paused suddenly, as if intentionally leaving something out.
"But what?" Legolas asked him.
"But I'm not sure if I want them to," Estel confessed, smiling at the elf hesitantly, "Does that make sense?"
Legolas brows furrowed in thought.
Yes, he fervently knew of that ardent desire to escape. To simply leave things behind. To plunge into things one knew not much of, as long as it was away from where he had come. Oh, how well did he know.
Estel was looking at him expectantly. But he kept these thoughts to himself. Instead he smiled as much of one that he could muster; it was unfortunately but a dull flinch of light in the night.
"Go to sleep," he told Estel softly, as he turned away from the man and laid upon his mat, pretending to drift away into dreaming,
Escaping for now.
TO BE CONTINUED.
