Elf Adventure
Chapter 3 - Legolos, third son of Thranduil
Elisil pores over the kerchief that the wise and aged king, Thranduil, has given them. Helcanor is with her, sleeping, her breast moving up and down to the rhythm of her quiet breathing. She studies the abstract shapes and symbols, her mind struggling to make any sense of them.
Suddenly, something snaps in her mind. There! She got it. The shapes were not abstract after all! She scans through the shapes eagerly, recognizing them as shapes of maps. The symbols were just words upside down! She hurriedly figures out as much as possible...before, exhausted, she falls asleep.
¤
The next day, Elisil wakes up full and refreshed at day-break. She has a long bath, relaxing in the cool water, scrubbing all the dirt she has not bothered to thoroughly clean over the past few days, being too worried about the kerchief to bother about herself. Helcanor and Earvende too, she thought, they were so worried...
She steps out of her bath and dries herself in front of the bathroom mirror, combing her hair. Suddenly, she is aware of someone watching her. She is alarmed, and quickly wraps herself up, and walks over to the window. There, she spots an elf.
Furious, she shouts, "LEGOLOS, YOU COME OUT NOW!" Legolos, third son of Thranduil, brother of Legolas and Legoluin timidly steps out of his hiding place in the bushes. Elisil is fuming mad, and musters all her energy.
Her hand come down from above, swift as a falcon, it lands on Legolos' left-hand side of the face. SMACK! Elisil slaps Legolos with all her strength that Legolos' cheek turns red immediately. The slap stings and Legolos' hands go up to nurse his painful face. His face is drained of all colour, with every single drop of blood going to the hurt spot. He starts crying silently, his tears falling down, dropping on the sweet-scented green grass of the yard. Elisil is satisfied, and turns away from a bent-over Legolos. She slams the window shut and locks it, while closing the curtains.
Elisil is irritated but then, she looks at the kerchief and calms down again. She sprays some cool water on herself to cool down, and stands in front of a different mirror and starts combing her hair, getting it rid of all wrinkles, smoothening it, making her hair shine with an alluring glossiness. She dries herself and feels her smooth, fair skin. She washes her body with moisturing lotion, and softens her skin. She takes her light blue robe and dresses herself, the silk cool against her skin. She lets down her hair, now fully dried, and walks out of the bathroom.
She is shocked. "What in the name of Lady Galadriel are YOU doing here?" She frowns.
Legolos stands in front of her, his skin a little darker than Elisil's, but just as smooth. His facial features are handsome, his hair combed and shining. He is, for the first time Elisil has seen him, clean all over. He is dressed in a green robe, the colour of the royal family. His eyes, a dark hazel, stare into Elisil's, his lips in a slight smile.
Elisil's eyes are locked into Legolos'. Suddenly, she pulls away. "After what happened this morning you dare to see me?" Elisil is seething.
"Yes, Elisil, I come to see you." Legolos answers without hesitation.
"And what is your reason for coming?" Elisil is annoyed.
Legolos takes a long time to answer, pretending to think. "Ah, my lady..." From behind, he takes out a small bunch of rhunnen, grown exclusively in Eryn Lasgalen. "This is for you, lady, in proclamation of my love for you."
"I do not accept, Sir Legolos, you know what you did." Elisil walks past Legolos, resolutely forward, never looking back. She closes the door into her sleeping quarters.
Legolos stands in the hallway, his face forlorn.
¤
Elisil sits on her bed, thinking about Legolos' words. That prince, how dare he! She thinks, Just because he is a prince does not warrant his allowance to peek at people showering and then proclaiming his love. As if I will ever love him. Dream on. She frowns. Damn. Why can't I get him out of my mind? She picks up the kerchief that she brought back from the bathroom, and looks at it. She sees the map of Middle Earth, the names of the places: Gondor, Mordor, Rohan, Imladris, Lorien, Hobbiton, Dunland, Moria, Isengard, Bree, Weathertop, Evendim, Alqualonde, Eriador, Arnor, Mirkwood...
She stares at the map for a good half hour, and her mood lifts. Tap, tap, tap. Somebody knocks on the door. Elisil crosses the room, and softly opens it.
It is Earvende, her hair golden-beige. She, too, looks better in weeks. "Mae govannen, Elisil. Such a fair maiden like you is not fit for our lowly halls," she greets.
"You too, Earvende, you seem to me more beautiful than ever before," Elisil replies.
Earvende sits on Elisil's bed. "So, have you managed to figure out the kerchief mystery?"
Elisil smiles sweetly. "Oh, yes, Earvende! After many hours of toil I have finally managed to put the pieces of the puzzle together!" She picks up the now frayed kerchief.
"See, we've been looking at this the wrong way all along!" Elisil holds the kerchief gently, and flips it around. "Eloriel left many, many years ago, as you would know. Over time, the ink soaked through the fabric, leading us to believe that the bright part was the right way round. King Thranduil did not manage to read the ink on the first day of its discovery as it had been written many years before Eloriel even came into Eryn Lasgalen."
Earvende looks at the kerchief. "So that it why we could not read it! Now..."
Elisil points. "I have managed to read about half of it so far, as the rest is a bit smudged. Look here, we can see that Eloriel is planning to go from Lorien to Eryn Lasgalen, then out, past Lorien. So far that is all I can see. The path line gets a little hard to read after going past Lorien. But never mind, we can take our time. It is better for us to go straight to the right place than to wander from dwelling to dwelling, guessing where she went."
"Indeed you are right, Elisil." Earvende's heart goes out for Eloriel, yet she does not want to lose Elisil, the only good friend she has that is near her age.
Suddenly, they hear bedsheets rustling. "Ah, Helcanor, you have woken up!" Helcanor stirs and shifts herself out of bed, stretching and yawning.
"Helcanor, we have deciphered the kerchief!" Elisil tells her.
"Oh...great!" Helcanor sighs deeply, "let me wash up and then shall I listen to your explanation..." Helcanor walks into the hallway and to the bathroom.
Elisil and Earvende burst out in fits of laughter. In a flash, Legolas pokes his head in and says, "Stop laughing, will you? You two are already adults, counted in the census. You should know better than to be so immature!" Legolas' eyes are a light hazel, a frown is on his face. "Hail Brother Legolas, Prince of Eryn Lasgalen, Son of King Thranduil, Crown Prince to the Ndaedeldhrim Throne!" Earvende proclaims.
"Oh, do keep -" Legolas begins.
"What's all this noise?" Legolos walks into the yard. Seeing him, Elisil blushes. "I am trying to prepare for a small Ndaedeldhrim history test my father Thranduil is going to give me. I can concentrate not with all this noise going around my study!"
Just then, Legoluin appears. "Where is my dear brother Legolas? Ah! there he is. Oh...why are there so many people?" Legoluin speaks.
"What a nice party we have here. Come in, guys!" Earvende says. "Now comes Elvende, my sister." She raises her voice. "Elvende! Come here!"
Legolas, Legolos, Legoluin and Elvende step into the room. Helcanor comes out in her soft pink robe and joins in the 'party'.
¤
The party goes on, with King Thranduil being informed and agreeing to the informal gathering. Elisil is drinking a refreshing drink of the Ndaedeldhrim herbal drink Lothnen when Legolos, having finished his cup of Lothnen, comes up to her and asks, "Elisil, may I speak with you in private?"
Elisil sees him and realizes that it will never end if she does not do anything. "Anything you wish, Legolos." They go into a small room furnished with many comforts at the back of the house, that only royalty are allowed to enter. Legolos locks the door.
They stand in the middle of the room, on a rug, surrounded by many cushions. Legolos takes Elisil's hands in his own.
"Elisil, please listen to me." Legolos is solemn.
"I'm listening. Go on, Legolos, I will hear." Elisil replies to Legolos quietly.
"Yes. You see, Elisil, when you first came all dirty and flushed, I immediately realized that underneath that coat of dust was a fair elf-maiden indeed. I suddenly knew the answer to all my heart's questions, for you were the one that I loved.
"I knew you loved me too, but refused to admit it; I knew from the way you looked at me, it was different from what you gave to any other elf. I know that we are both not young but not yet old, we are about one thousand and five hundred years each. But my love for you is unstoppable, Elisil, yet I know you love me. Accept my love for you, Elisil, I assure that you will not regret your choice."
Elisil listens to his words and knows that they are true. "Legolos, Legolos, I do not wish to get tied down yet. But yes, you are right, I do love you..." She leaves her words in a trail. Suddenly, Legolos puts his head down, and kisses Elisil on the lips. He hugs her and caresses her. Elisil realizes what is happening and returns Legolos' kiss, putting her arms round him, feeling the warmth of his body. They keep on kissing, their mouths together.
After moments of eternity, they break, and Legolos says, "Forgive me for what happened this morning, will you, Elisil?"
Elisil nods. "Yes, I will." They kiss again, and walk out of the room, Legolos' arm around Elisil's waist.
¤
The gathering ends and the royal family goes back to their quarters, while Elisil and Helcanor lie on their beds and recollect the events that had happened in the party.
"You remember, it was really funny when Legoluin accidentally let Elvende pour a whole bucket of cold water on him --"
"Oh yes! Remember when Earvende and Legolas competed to see who could drink the most Lothnen?"
"And also when I tripped Legolos over and he started howling?"
Elisil and Helcanor are so busy recounting that they do not take note of the time, until Earvende happens to drop by and tell them that the moon has already disappeared. Then, Elisil and Helcanor put on their bedclothes and go to bed, waiting for the sun to rise...
Chapter 3 - Legolos, third son of Thranduil
Elisil pores over the kerchief that the wise and aged king, Thranduil, has given them. Helcanor is with her, sleeping, her breast moving up and down to the rhythm of her quiet breathing. She studies the abstract shapes and symbols, her mind struggling to make any sense of them.
Suddenly, something snaps in her mind. There! She got it. The shapes were not abstract after all! She scans through the shapes eagerly, recognizing them as shapes of maps. The symbols were just words upside down! She hurriedly figures out as much as possible...before, exhausted, she falls asleep.
¤
The next day, Elisil wakes up full and refreshed at day-break. She has a long bath, relaxing in the cool water, scrubbing all the dirt she has not bothered to thoroughly clean over the past few days, being too worried about the kerchief to bother about herself. Helcanor and Earvende too, she thought, they were so worried...
She steps out of her bath and dries herself in front of the bathroom mirror, combing her hair. Suddenly, she is aware of someone watching her. She is alarmed, and quickly wraps herself up, and walks over to the window. There, she spots an elf.
Furious, she shouts, "LEGOLOS, YOU COME OUT NOW!" Legolos, third son of Thranduil, brother of Legolas and Legoluin timidly steps out of his hiding place in the bushes. Elisil is fuming mad, and musters all her energy.
Her hand come down from above, swift as a falcon, it lands on Legolos' left-hand side of the face. SMACK! Elisil slaps Legolos with all her strength that Legolos' cheek turns red immediately. The slap stings and Legolos' hands go up to nurse his painful face. His face is drained of all colour, with every single drop of blood going to the hurt spot. He starts crying silently, his tears falling down, dropping on the sweet-scented green grass of the yard. Elisil is satisfied, and turns away from a bent-over Legolos. She slams the window shut and locks it, while closing the curtains.
Elisil is irritated but then, she looks at the kerchief and calms down again. She sprays some cool water on herself to cool down, and stands in front of a different mirror and starts combing her hair, getting it rid of all wrinkles, smoothening it, making her hair shine with an alluring glossiness. She dries herself and feels her smooth, fair skin. She washes her body with moisturing lotion, and softens her skin. She takes her light blue robe and dresses herself, the silk cool against her skin. She lets down her hair, now fully dried, and walks out of the bathroom.
She is shocked. "What in the name of Lady Galadriel are YOU doing here?" She frowns.
Legolos stands in front of her, his skin a little darker than Elisil's, but just as smooth. His facial features are handsome, his hair combed and shining. He is, for the first time Elisil has seen him, clean all over. He is dressed in a green robe, the colour of the royal family. His eyes, a dark hazel, stare into Elisil's, his lips in a slight smile.
Elisil's eyes are locked into Legolos'. Suddenly, she pulls away. "After what happened this morning you dare to see me?" Elisil is seething.
"Yes, Elisil, I come to see you." Legolos answers without hesitation.
"And what is your reason for coming?" Elisil is annoyed.
Legolos takes a long time to answer, pretending to think. "Ah, my lady..." From behind, he takes out a small bunch of rhunnen, grown exclusively in Eryn Lasgalen. "This is for you, lady, in proclamation of my love for you."
"I do not accept, Sir Legolos, you know what you did." Elisil walks past Legolos, resolutely forward, never looking back. She closes the door into her sleeping quarters.
Legolos stands in the hallway, his face forlorn.
¤
Elisil sits on her bed, thinking about Legolos' words. That prince, how dare he! She thinks, Just because he is a prince does not warrant his allowance to peek at people showering and then proclaiming his love. As if I will ever love him. Dream on. She frowns. Damn. Why can't I get him out of my mind? She picks up the kerchief that she brought back from the bathroom, and looks at it. She sees the map of Middle Earth, the names of the places: Gondor, Mordor, Rohan, Imladris, Lorien, Hobbiton, Dunland, Moria, Isengard, Bree, Weathertop, Evendim, Alqualonde, Eriador, Arnor, Mirkwood...
She stares at the map for a good half hour, and her mood lifts. Tap, tap, tap. Somebody knocks on the door. Elisil crosses the room, and softly opens it.
It is Earvende, her hair golden-beige. She, too, looks better in weeks. "Mae govannen, Elisil. Such a fair maiden like you is not fit for our lowly halls," she greets.
"You too, Earvende, you seem to me more beautiful than ever before," Elisil replies.
Earvende sits on Elisil's bed. "So, have you managed to figure out the kerchief mystery?"
Elisil smiles sweetly. "Oh, yes, Earvende! After many hours of toil I have finally managed to put the pieces of the puzzle together!" She picks up the now frayed kerchief.
"See, we've been looking at this the wrong way all along!" Elisil holds the kerchief gently, and flips it around. "Eloriel left many, many years ago, as you would know. Over time, the ink soaked through the fabric, leading us to believe that the bright part was the right way round. King Thranduil did not manage to read the ink on the first day of its discovery as it had been written many years before Eloriel even came into Eryn Lasgalen."
Earvende looks at the kerchief. "So that it why we could not read it! Now..."
Elisil points. "I have managed to read about half of it so far, as the rest is a bit smudged. Look here, we can see that Eloriel is planning to go from Lorien to Eryn Lasgalen, then out, past Lorien. So far that is all I can see. The path line gets a little hard to read after going past Lorien. But never mind, we can take our time. It is better for us to go straight to the right place than to wander from dwelling to dwelling, guessing where she went."
"Indeed you are right, Elisil." Earvende's heart goes out for Eloriel, yet she does not want to lose Elisil, the only good friend she has that is near her age.
Suddenly, they hear bedsheets rustling. "Ah, Helcanor, you have woken up!" Helcanor stirs and shifts herself out of bed, stretching and yawning.
"Helcanor, we have deciphered the kerchief!" Elisil tells her.
"Oh...great!" Helcanor sighs deeply, "let me wash up and then shall I listen to your explanation..." Helcanor walks into the hallway and to the bathroom.
Elisil and Earvende burst out in fits of laughter. In a flash, Legolas pokes his head in and says, "Stop laughing, will you? You two are already adults, counted in the census. You should know better than to be so immature!" Legolas' eyes are a light hazel, a frown is on his face. "Hail Brother Legolas, Prince of Eryn Lasgalen, Son of King Thranduil, Crown Prince to the Ndaedeldhrim Throne!" Earvende proclaims.
"Oh, do keep -" Legolas begins.
"What's all this noise?" Legolos walks into the yard. Seeing him, Elisil blushes. "I am trying to prepare for a small Ndaedeldhrim history test my father Thranduil is going to give me. I can concentrate not with all this noise going around my study!"
Just then, Legoluin appears. "Where is my dear brother Legolas? Ah! there he is. Oh...why are there so many people?" Legoluin speaks.
"What a nice party we have here. Come in, guys!" Earvende says. "Now comes Elvende, my sister." She raises her voice. "Elvende! Come here!"
Legolas, Legolos, Legoluin and Elvende step into the room. Helcanor comes out in her soft pink robe and joins in the 'party'.
¤
The party goes on, with King Thranduil being informed and agreeing to the informal gathering. Elisil is drinking a refreshing drink of the Ndaedeldhrim herbal drink Lothnen when Legolos, having finished his cup of Lothnen, comes up to her and asks, "Elisil, may I speak with you in private?"
Elisil sees him and realizes that it will never end if she does not do anything. "Anything you wish, Legolos." They go into a small room furnished with many comforts at the back of the house, that only royalty are allowed to enter. Legolos locks the door.
They stand in the middle of the room, on a rug, surrounded by many cushions. Legolos takes Elisil's hands in his own.
"Elisil, please listen to me." Legolos is solemn.
"I'm listening. Go on, Legolos, I will hear." Elisil replies to Legolos quietly.
"Yes. You see, Elisil, when you first came all dirty and flushed, I immediately realized that underneath that coat of dust was a fair elf-maiden indeed. I suddenly knew the answer to all my heart's questions, for you were the one that I loved.
"I knew you loved me too, but refused to admit it; I knew from the way you looked at me, it was different from what you gave to any other elf. I know that we are both not young but not yet old, we are about one thousand and five hundred years each. But my love for you is unstoppable, Elisil, yet I know you love me. Accept my love for you, Elisil, I assure that you will not regret your choice."
Elisil listens to his words and knows that they are true. "Legolos, Legolos, I do not wish to get tied down yet. But yes, you are right, I do love you..." She leaves her words in a trail. Suddenly, Legolos puts his head down, and kisses Elisil on the lips. He hugs her and caresses her. Elisil realizes what is happening and returns Legolos' kiss, putting her arms round him, feeling the warmth of his body. They keep on kissing, their mouths together.
After moments of eternity, they break, and Legolos says, "Forgive me for what happened this morning, will you, Elisil?"
Elisil nods. "Yes, I will." They kiss again, and walk out of the room, Legolos' arm around Elisil's waist.
¤
The gathering ends and the royal family goes back to their quarters, while Elisil and Helcanor lie on their beds and recollect the events that had happened in the party.
"You remember, it was really funny when Legoluin accidentally let Elvende pour a whole bucket of cold water on him --"
"Oh yes! Remember when Earvende and Legolas competed to see who could drink the most Lothnen?"
"And also when I tripped Legolos over and he started howling?"
Elisil and Helcanor are so busy recounting that they do not take note of the time, until Earvende happens to drop by and tell them that the moon has already disappeared. Then, Elisil and Helcanor put on their bedclothes and go to bed, waiting for the sun to rise...