From his perch in the crows nest Legolas could hear the small sweet voice of Elizabeth Swan singing, of all incongruous things, a pirates drinking song. He smiled slightly to himself, Elizabeth showed far to healthy of an interest in pirates. He chuckled as one of the more superstitious members of the crew stopped her song and her father chastised her for her interest in the foul lot that were pirates. His private laughter was cut short however as he noticed the remains of a flaming ship to starboard. Mentally chastising himself for not noticing sooner he prepared to sound the alarm only to be preempted by Elizabeth's shout of "A boy, there's a boy in the water". Deciding that there was no use now, they had already been well alerted of the scene they would soon encounter he descended the rigging to see if he could be of any help.
As he reached the deck he was met by the chaotic scene of boats being readied to go and look for more survivors. He went to look to the boy that had been pulled from the water having made use of his elven healing abilities by traveling as the ship's surgeon on this voyage. Granted, compared to Lord Elrond he knew nothing about healing but to these human sailors his meager abilities seemed positively miraculous. He found the boy and Elizabeth near the middle of the starboard side and quickly decided that the crowded and busy deck was no place for a little girl and an unconscious young boy. In one fluid motion he stooped and picked up the boy and motioned for Elizabeth to follow him to the ship's infirmary.
Reaching the small cabin he gently laid the child on his bunk and began examining him for injuries. "Has he awoken at all?" he asked Elizabeth. "Only for a moment, he said his name was Will Turner, that's all I found out." "Will Turner? Are you certain?" Legolas looked up in surprise. "Y yes sir" the girl replied somewhat flustered. Legolas ponder over this new information for a few moments then remembered the small girl who was staring at him. "I think I should take you back to your cabin young Miss Swann" he stated abruptly. "Bbut…" she tried to protest, but the elf firmly but gently led her out of the cabin and a few doors down to hers. "Someone will come and get you for dinner Miss Swann" he stated in a tone that left no room for arguments then shut the door and left her to pout.
"Will Turner?" he mussed, it could certainly be a coincidence, both Will and Turner were relatively common names, but what if this boy had some news concerning his son; or, in a shocking new thought, what if this was his grandson? He hurried back to the infirmary hoping to find some answers.
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Several hour later the boy finally awoke and immediately began a torrent of panicked "Where am I, what happened, who are you…" questions. Legolas did his best to calm him down
"Easy lad, you are aboard the HMS Rebecca, you were pulled from the water after your ship caught fire, you're actually quite lucky Miss Swann spotted you. What is your name son?"
The boy's eyes blazed at this, "We didn't catch fire, we were attacked, by pirates, and I know why to, they were after me. Name's Willy Parker."
"Pirates?" As much amusement as Legolas found in Elizabeth's fascination with them he actually felt little more than contempt for these men who seemed to embody the worst of humanity. "What makes you think they were after you?"
The boy grinned, "Because of this!" and moved as if to grab something around his neck. But his grin quickly fell when he didn't find what he was looking for "I must have lost it in the water" he said sorrowfully
Legolas shuddered at the memories of Frodo that the boy clutching for something around his neck brought back then asked somewhat nervously "Lost what?"
"The medallion, Bootstrap gave me, I was supposed to give it to a Mr. Will Turner"
Legolas started at this "I am William Turner" he said cautiously
Willy brightened, "Really! I knew Id find you! Bootstrap said you'd take care of me real good. Oh, here's a letter for you. Sorry I lost the medallion"
Legolas would have been amused by the outburst had he not been so confused by it. 'Who is Bootstrap, and he said I'd take care of you?' He thought as he took the letter scrawled on what looked to be the back of part of an old map of the English Channel and began to read it. "Dear father, I haven't much time. Please take this boy and raise him as you did me, he is alone in the world. Do not blame yourself for what I have become. This medallion is something very special; never let it be taken. I do love you father. Your Son, Bill" Legolas was now even more confused but one thing was clear, the boy needed looking after
"Well Master Parker, it appears that I am to be your guardian, and as such I believe it is time for you to rest." The boy looked about to argue but was silenced by, "no buts, rest" as Legolas blew out the light and left the cabin
Sorry that was kinda short and not very good but this chapter was a pain in the rear to write. This was the part that was the hardest to explain around with my whole Will=Legolas thing since its been a good 4,000 years or more since Legolas was a kid and I didn't want to give him a grandson. I am so psyched at all the great reviews I've gotten. 17! I couldn't believe it, and all of them really nice! You brought up some good questions most of which will be answered in future chapters. As for the "Aragorn would never ask Legolas to stay away from Valinor", I totally agree. I guess I was thinking of it as Aragorn asked him to stick around for awhile to keep an eye on Eldarion just till he was ready to be in his own then Legolas would sail, but Legolas himself decided to watch over them forever, that's just where my brain was going.
