OK! So here is the next chapter. I am not sure how long it is, but I hope you all like it. :) PLEASE R&R NO FLAMES!!!!!
Haha! Yes grumpy! I like that too! I read that in another fanfic somewhere and just had to pic something like it. I mean they are boys after all! No offense to boy.
Well Ymmas Sirron, this should explain her problem so to speak. And she is not stupid, just a little...*Thinks* befuddled, ok, so she may be a bit daft. But if you were in her situation you'd be like that too. Here's more!!!!!
Yes BabeyRachey, it is sad. But it will get happier, I hope so at least. *grins*
Haha Silvertoekee, plot bunnies are vicious things! And yes, so many questions, thankfully there is plenty of time. Hope you like this and it will answer your questions. You are very smart, you' know that!
LOL! No Leggylover03, *sarcastically* I was thinking of keeping him blind forever. Well, that is not a bad idea. I'll have to think on that. *Wicked grin* Thanks!!!
Ok Linwen!! Here is more for you!!!!!!!
Chapter 2
Sitting quietly was something that he, the prince of Mirkwood, rather enjoyed. It was such a splendid idea, sitting quietly. '
Even when the festivities were going on, the dancing, singing, and general partying were still going on and showed no sign of stopping.
Estel sat beside him, picking at his food with his silver fork and smiling sadly.
Food seemed so different when he could not see it, he was half afraid it would end up on the side of his face than in his mouth.
Galanion had left to dance for a mere moment, but it seemed so different, with the blonde elf lord there, everything seemed a bit more tolerable. Usually Legolas did this, but now, Legolas seemed still a bit far off.
"Is everything alright Estel?"
The voice of his best friend startled him a bit, and he smiled looking to where the voice had come from. "Yes my friend. Everything is just fine. Why?" he lied, hoping that it did not show on his face.
"Your lying? Even sightless as you are, I can see it in your eyes. I can feel it even."
"No mellon nin." the young man tried to hide it. "You know that my eyes are only uncertain." an innocent smile made the prince silently roll his blue-silver eyes.
"Whatever you say?"
Aragorn growled and placed his fork ,hopefully, on the plate. "It's just- Hard to cope with. Not being able to travel alone, not being able to find my own way, it's just a tad frustrating."
The elf smiled and patted his friend on the back, to reassure him. "Your fine, Estel. Even if you never regain what was lost, you will be able to learn to do all the things you love. You are too persistent to give up just because of some stupid cheating elf and his little bag of black powder."
"What do you suppose that powder was?"
The prince shrugged. "No doubt some evil concoction like what they used on my ankle."
Aragorn grabbed gently for his glass of wine, he raised it in the air.
"To our friendship, may it never die even when sight may flee and immortality grow old."
Legolas clanged his glass softly against his friend's. "Aye to that Estel."
Both drank, although, neither one of them knew exactly what would come next in this interesting life they traveled.
~_~
______________________________________________________________
Tomorrow morning if you wake up
And the sun does not appear,
I will be here
-Steven Curtis Chapman
_________________________________________________________________
Legolas pressed his eyes into his palms and sighed, he had decided, the night before, to sit beside Aragorn while he slept.
The prince could find no sleep and felt awkward to be alone when his mind was reeling so much, so many odd things had taken place, it was hard to realize what was really going on.
Hearing the slight rustle of sheets in front of him, he looked up to see the sun peeking through the balcony window. This meant that his father had opened the gates and that the light from the orb was shinning through.
He saw Aragorn slowly stretch and rest in the silent morning, he knew that it must be hard for his best friend, to not know what time of day it was.
Yet, Estel seemed to sense it.
But oddly, the young man did not hear Legolas, for as the elf watched, he could see a silent streak of tears dripped from the man's sightless eyes.
Wishing not to bother Aragorn for the moment, Legolas let his hands fall back into his palms, his mind still going at hyper speed from the day before, the day when Lingwen had been so weird.
It was as if she had wanted to kiss him, hug him, celebrate that he, her love, was home. Yet a fear was barely hidden behind her eyes. It was plain to see, she was hiding a secret.
They had never kept secrets before, not ones they kept from one another.
"Legolas?"
The elf's blonde head shot up, he looked to Strider, who was still starring to where the balcony stood, the fresh air coming through and playing with the warmth.
"Yes mellon nin, is there something you need?"
The young human smiled, a it sadly and propped himself up more.
"What does it look like? The morning I mean."
Licking his lips as if in thought, the prince watched the spring colors dance upon the balcony and the pottery and art inside, it caught on the man's face and he closed his eyes breathing in a deep sigh.
"Well," the prince began, trying to put the beauty into words that his young friend could follow. "The spring sun has just arisen nigh on an hour ago, the dew is shimmering as it's rays hit the trees and grass, not to mention the flowers and shrubs in the courtyard. Now it is coming more into the room and laying it's gentle touh on the pots and marble floor, the rugs seem so bright in the wondrous sunlight. And yet, darker also. The light runs up your face and then mine and seeps onto all the walls." he sighed and tried to think of more, could fine nothing.
Smiling, the young man opened his eyes again. This time he seemed happier, as if he had seen the whole thing by himself.
But alas, Legolas knew better. He knew that the boy was just remembering, not truly seeing it.
The prince stood to his feet and stretched, readying to leave so his friend could get dressed. "I am going to let you dress yourself now. Call when you are finished."
"Thank you Legolas."
The elf heard the whisper and smiled. "le hannon mellon nin. Now hurry and dress, I feel as if I need to get out of this place for a bit, and I am NOT going alone."
He watched as a wide grin spread on Strider's face and he almost fell out of bed to get his tunic and leggings on.
~_~
The morning light did wonders for Aragorn, already he was acting more his normal self, frolicking and trying to make his horse go faster.
"Settle down Estel. You want the horse to buck you off?"
The human grinned. "Well, it would be more exciting! Come on Legolas, let's race or something?" he placed his most puppy-dog-like face on the elf prince, and he just smirked.
"No thanks. I do not want to know what your father would say if I came back with you half-dead again."
Grumbling, the young man stopped fidgeting and sat, breathing in the fresh air and trying not to scare the horse.
Something reached both's ears, the young man smiled. "I feel like an elf." he whispered causing Legolas to chuckled.
"So you'd rather have elven hearing than normal human eyesight and hearing?" he asked, dodging the playful smack that Estel aimed for his face.
"No. It just gets annoying when all you elves ask me: "Did you hear that?" And I always have to say "No." Laughing at the boy's remark, Legolas went a bit forward, listening while he chuckled.
"Estel! those voices, they are elves! Heading this way!"
Aragorn sighed. "I have abnormal hearing now, you need not tell me."
"I would not call it abnormal, all of you sightless people have it."
The man scoffed. "That's not fair! I think you should call us 'Men At a Disadvantage."
At this Legolas chuckled and took his place beside is human friend as they rode through the forest, they would meet up with the elves in due time, now all he wanted to was talk with his friend.
"So, you presume I should call you MAD, Men At a Disadvantage?"
Thinking about it for a moment, the human nodded. "Yes!"
"Your all crazy." the elf confirmed.
Strider chuckled. "Yes, we are absolutely MAD."
Legolas grinned wickedly, while saying in his most innocent voice: "Yes, and a bit stubborn I might add."
The young man's smile faded to a frown and he glared, though not at Legolas. He let his eyes wander unsteadily ahead of him.
Listening he felt as if he could almost see everything again. The forests trees and streams, the sun gazing at them through the green and brown leaves, occasional spider webbing catching on their clothes.
But alas, he knew better. He could not see the things. Not actually anyway, he could if her closed his eyes and listened, imagining in his mind what they looked like again.
Legolas did not worry about his friend, he knew that the horse could easily navigate by itself, elven horse it was, and even if it had not been elven, it would have followed Legolas's black steed.
"The elves are getting closer." the human informed, enjoying his new hearing experience.
"I see, they are not far from here now."
The elf snickered as he heard the human curse under his breath. "You can't have everything Estel." he informed softly.
As the splayed through the trees, it bounced off many elven heads. Brown, black, a few blonde, silver, and gold.
He saw in the crowd, Taran sat atop his jet black steed, smiling at something the others had said. They were riding towards the two and a few had seen them, stopping in their tracks.
A few gasped as they watched the two horses make their way forward, the prince smiled as Taran turned from his regiment and looked into his liege's eyes.
A look of pure surprise came over his face, no one spoke, no one moved. They only starred at the two, supposedly, dead friends.
"P-prince Legolas?" One of the other darker haired elves spoke first, nodding his head in respect as his prince came closer.
Though Legolas had continued forward, grinning like a mad-man, Estel had stayed behind, afraid that his horse might walk into one of the others.
He gulped and waited patiently, trying to race his speeding heart as Legolas left him behind.
"Prince Legolas? How is that possible? You were dead?"
The elf prince smiled and turned back to make sure his friend was following.
"Estel. Come on."
Seeing the fear in Aragorn's eyes, he slid off his horse and walked back taking the reigns from the young man, and leading the beast slowly forward.
"Hannon le mellon nin." he whispered and Legolas nodded.
The blonde elf watched the confused stares of the others, but did not answer their questions, they would all learn in time, and his heart already throbbed with the though of Aragorn being blind for the rest of his life.
'NO!' a voice inside him screamed, but he just gave Aragorn back the reigns and mounted his own horse, smiling all the while.
Turning, he laid his blue-silver eyes on Taran and the captain nodded in respect.
"So, what have you been up to Taran?"
"I should be asking you the same question my liege? But! If you wish, I have merely been living life as best I can when one loses their friend to an untimely death." he smiled sadly.
"What about the filthy human?" the young teen spoke up from the side, a bright smile upon his face, though it did not reach his eyes, in fact, there was no emotion in his eyes.
Legolas saw his concern and noticed he was about to speak to the man, shaking his head firmly, the prince mouthed: 'No., I will tell you later.'
Nodding softly, Legolas moved his horse forward, towards the palace.
~_~
The courtyard was all abuzz with excitement when the contingent of warriors entered the elven realm.
Many families hugged and kissed as they met once again.
Taran smiled and leapt off his horse, handing it off to a stable hand. He skipped forward, which , Legolas noted, was a rather odd sight.
Legolas leapt down from his beast and ran forward, catching the elf in his dance and surprising him slightly.
"Why on earth are you so happy?"
Taran stopped a moment, thinking it over in his mind, he smiled. "Well, when one is married to the most beautiful woman, save the Lady Arwen, it is no wonder they are so joyful on their way home." he chuckled as the prince's eyes went wide with surprise.
He grabbed the darker haired elf's hand, shaking it vigorously.
"Congratulations Taran! Who is the lucky lady?!"
The other elf's smile faded and his face went pale.
"You mean to tell me that you do not know?" he starred a moment into the silver-blue eyes.
Legolas shook his head slowly, turning his eyes to Estel to make sure the man was getting down alright.
"Lingwen did not tell you."
This hit the prince like a bolt of lightning, or rather a ton of bricks. He staggered back a moment, feeling as if someone had punched him in the stomach.
"Lingwen?" he asked, the whisper cut off when he heard Aragorn cry out as one of the elves handled him none to gently. They obviously could not see his wounds.
"I'm sorry Taran, give my best wishes to your new family, I must go see to Estel." dismissing himself form the conversation, Legolas went forward, tears forming in his eyes as he navigated his way to Aragorn.
"Strider?" he called for a moment, only to stop realizing how choked his voice sounded. He gasped a moment as a pain inside him took his breath away, but it was not physical pain.
"He is here Prince Legolas." one elf called, trying to hold the young human up as he coughed and hissed at the pain in his ribs.
"Careful," Legolas chided as he took Aragorn from the other elf.
Strider looked up, even though he could not see his friend, it helped to look up and feel as if he was looking in the right direction. "Sorry-Legolas-Hurts-bad."
The prince smiled and put his arm around his best friend's small waist. "I know. Just lean on me, how about we take a rest."
Too tired to argue, Aragorn nodded gently.
He tried to make conversation on the way back to his room, but Legolas seemed not to be there. It was like he was floating somewhere else and only the shell of himself , including his bone and muscle.
"How is Taran?" Aragorn asked, trying to somehow break the spell that seemed to have launched it self upon Legolas.
"He is fine, never better."
This, however, did not help and Aragorn knew that it was not the truth for the tone the prince answered in was a trance-like state, he hated his friend like this.
"How was Lingwen? Did she say when she next wanted to meet together?"
The prince just nodded, but of course, Estel could only feel the movement and he was not sure if it was a nod or a shake of the head.
"Yes or no?"
"I can't remember." he said softly, stopping to open the door to Estel's guest room.
Inside the room it was warm and a fire was blazing comfortingly.
Legolas made sure Aragorn was on the bed before he made hsi way to the door.
"Goodnight Estel." he said softly, opening the door.
Sighing, Aragorn just nodded. "Goodnight Legolas."
The prince closed the door behind him and tried to collect his thoughts, he walked to his own room and jumped in the bed hoping desperately that he would later wake up from this horrible nightmare.
TBC~
OK! So now we know what's bothering Lingwen! Yahoo!!! Poor Leggy!!! *Shakes head sadly*
So please do not kill me!!!!!!! I am just trying to write a good story here. Am I succeeding?
PLEASE R&R! NO FLAMING!!!!!! OH, and P.S. I know they probably did not think up things like MAD back then, but I just could not help myself. So please forgive me if I should not have put that, and it will not come to play in any major part of this story. :)