Thanks to the following for reviewing the previous chapter: Konzen, Kim, Farflung, Arwen Undomiel, Kitsune, Melissa, Jebb, Joee, Daw the Minstrel, and Dragonfly. And a general thanks to all those who have reviewed one or more of the earlier chapters! As for those who have asked that the series continue, fear not. I cannot stop now, for I, too, am anxious to see how things will turn out. And, so, on to the next installment.
"So Legolas leaves for Mirkwood at the turning of the moon," said Elrohir quietly.
"Yes, Elrohir. You and Elladan are relieved from patrol duty for the time being, as I know you will want to spend all your time with your brother."
"He is still our brother, Ada?" asked Elladan.
"Of course. And he will not be always in Mirkwood. Nor will you be always in Rivendell. You will see him from time to time."
"But not as often as if he were to remain here," Elladan pointed out.
"Perhaps not. But you would be seeing less of him in the future regardless, for you would have had your responsibilities, he his."
Elrohir and Elldan had to concede that this was at least in part true.
"I know I should be happy for him, Ada," said Elladan slowly. "I think I am happy for him. But I cannot help but be sad at the same time."
"Your feelings mirror my own, ion-nîn. I would like nothing better than for things to remain as they are, for Legolas to remain forever with us. But it has always been so, and will always be so: One is sometimes called upon to give things up, lose them, so that others may keep them" (Bk 6, ch. 9).
The twins arose to take their leave. Elrond raised his eyebrows quizzically.
"Elladan, Elrohir, why do you arise as if you mean to escape my chamber?"
"There is something more that you wish to tell us, Ada?" said Elrohir.
"Yes."
Elrond gestured for the twins to resume their seats.
"Thranduil and I have agreed that in this time of peril the ties between our two realms, as well as between Lothlórien and our respective lands, should be strengthened. Messengers will be traveling much more frequently between the various realms than they have been formerly. I have been given much consideration to this matter, for I wish the messengers who journey hence to Mirkwood to be none but the most fitted to convey my mind to the King. And it seems to me that no one could be more suited to do so than my own sons."
"Thank you, Ada," exclaimed Elladan and Elrohir, in a chorus, predictably enough.
The twins leapt joyfully to their feet, knowing that they would see Legolas more often than they had assumed. Again their father raised his eyebrows.
"So eager to leave?"
The twins blushed and subsided into their chairs once again.
"There is yet one more matter needs discussing. Legolas must be given a suitable escort on his return to Mirkwood, and I had thought—"
"Thank you, Ada!" exclaimed Elrohir, in his excitement yet again leaping to his feet. Elladan could only grin.
"Well," said Elrond, making a show of being acerbic, "if you are going to cavort about like an elfing, I may have to reconsider!"
"I am not cavorting about like an elfling," Elladan hastened to say, winning himself an indignant look from his brother, who had meekly returned to his seat..
Elrond smiled.
"I know how much you dread the leave-taking of Legolas," he said gently. "These are but the few small gestures within my power that I hope will ease the parting, both on your side and his. Yet part you must."
The twins nodded.
"Thank you, Ada," said Elrohir softly. Suddenly he arose, but not in order to leave the chamber. Instead, he leaned over his father, taking his face between his hands and kissing his forehead. "Thank you, Ada," he said again. Then he released his father's face and stood looking down upon him.
"You have ever done the best you could by us and by all those who have sheltered under your roof, often at great cost to yourself. I know that not one of us feels the pain of Legolas' impending departure any more keenly than you. Would that you yourself could escort Legolas to Mirkwood and carry messages back and forth between the two realms."
Elrond gazed up at Elrohir and could think of nothing to say that would be worthy of the gift that his son had just given him. After a moment, Elrohir laughed, but fondly.
"Elladan, I do believe that I have succeeded in rendering our father speechless, something that not a one of our pranks ever brought to pass. We shall have to try kissing and complimenting him more often."
"Aye," joined in Elladan. "Now why did we not think of this strategy a few centuries back? 'Twould have saved us many a lecture."
"I have got my voice back," said Elrond, entering into the raillery. "Begone, scamps, before I find something to say with it."
Much happier than when they had entered Elrond's chamber, the twins took their leave and went off in search of Legolas so that they might take advantage of every last minute that remained to them together in Imladris.
After they had left, Glorfindel knocked upon the door.
"Elrond, Thranduil has requested that he have a private conversation with you. He wishes no others to be present."
Elrond could not help but wince. He had known this meeting would be coming, and he dreaded it more than he had the interview with Gilglîr. He had harbored Thranduil's son for a millennium, and Thranduil knew perfectly well that he had not been unaware of the identity of the elfling whom he had sheltered. Glorfindel looked at him sympathetically.
"If you like, I could stay close by, just outside the door, in case, well, in case you need me."
Elrond laughed in spite of himself.
"I doubt Thranduil will come at me with a sword, Glorfindel. No, his words shall cut sharply enough, I am sure. Do not trouble yourself. Escort Thranduil hither with all honor and then retire, if you please."
"And if I do not please?"
"Glorfindel, you know that is only a manner of speaking!"
"Ah, so, in other words, bring Thranduil here and then make myself scarce."
"Yes, if you prefer to put it that way!"
"As you wish, my Lord," declaimed Glorfindel, giving an exaggerated bow. With that he left to call upon Thranduil, leaving Elrond, like the twins, in much improved spirits. Glorfindel had ever been crafty in his own way.
So it was that when Elrond heard the knock upon his door he arose to welcome Thranduil with much more equanimity of spirit than he had dreamed possible.
"My Lord Thranduil," he said, inclining his head, "you are very welcome."
"Thank you, Elrond," replied the King, "and I mean no disrespect by addressing you so. Pray dispense with the formalities and call me naught but 'Thranduil'. After all," he added, smiling, "we are all but kin, having as we do a son in common."
Astonished, Elrond let his mouth fall open. Whatever he had expected, he was not prepared for this. Fortunately, Erestor was not there to see this grievous error in deportment, else Elrond would have been hearing about it for several centuries to come. As for Thranduil, he let Elrond's befuddled expression pass without comment, having no mind to add to a situation that was already fraught with tension. Moreover, he had more than a little inkling of the sorrow that Elrond feared he was about to experience. Thranduil knew what it was to lose a son.
"Elrond, you have perhaps been wondering what I have been thinking since learning that my son has been alive for the past millennium and living in Imladris as your son."
Elrond, having just managed to draw his lips together, answered with only a nod.
"Part of me," Thranduil continued, "desires to proclaim that you have done me an injustice by hiding my son from me. But the part of me that desires to be honest knows that I would do you an injustice if I gave way to such feelings."
Thranduil hesitated. The next sentences were going to be hard.
"Had I immediately regained my son, I would have rejoiced—but I would have done no better by him than I had formerly. It is only lately that I have developed both the wit and the ability to be a father to my son. In the meantime, I have no doubt that he was much better off with you."
Elrond exhaled, not having realized that he had been holding his breath. Thranduil looked expectantly at him. Elrond took in another breath, this time in prepare himself to speak.
"Thranduil, I thank you for not holding against me the fact that I understood it was your son whom I harbored, even though I pretended both to myself and to others that I knew not his name."
"I am sure," said Thranduil, with wry mirth, "that you were very careful never to be certain of his true identity."
Elrond conceded that this was true.
"I am also sure that you had a great deal of help. Legolas tells me that it was Mithrandir, who knew the Prince of Greenwood by sight, who escorted him on the final stage of his journey when he first came to Imladris."
"Yes, that is so."
"He also tells me that he has been to Lothlórien several times. On those occasions he was in the presence of the Lady Galadriel. Shall we say that the Lady proved to be remarkably unenlightened as to his identity?"
"Yes," smiled Elrond, "let us say that. Mayhap her Mirror was cloudy at the time."
Thranduil smiled too, but a little sadly.
"You must have thought me a dreadful father to have all joined together in this unspoken compact to protect my son."
"Thranduil, at length we began to hear news of you that suggested it would be good for Legolas to return. But your fitness was not the only matter that had to be addressed. Both of you needed to be ready, and Legolas was not. Indeed, I feared that he might refuse to meet with you this time as well."
Thranduil nodded.
"Yes, Legolas made that clear to me even as we spoke in the Hall of Fire, and he has since said more on that subject. You were not trying to prevent him from rejoining me; indeed, you were encouraging our reunion more than discouraging it. What would you have done if he had outright refused to speak with me?"
Elrond hesitated, but knew only the truth would serve.
"Thranduil, I would not have forced him. I had long ago resolved that the choice to return to you would be his and his alone."
Thranduil nodded.
"As was only proper. He has long been of age. Moreover, he would have been my 'son' in name only had he been dragged unwilling back to Greenwood. Nor would he ever come to view me as his father, as I am in hopes that he someday will."
"Yes," said Elrond, suddenly somber. "He will indeed come to view you as his father."
Thranduil looked keenly at Elrond.
"My friend, you must not fear that he will love you the less or view you as anything other than his Ada! It is plain to me that he views Mithrandir as a father as well. Did you feel threatened by his affection for the wizard?
"No."
"Then, too, he has a great fondness for Glorfindel. Did you feel that his love for the balrog-slayer threatened his love for you?"
"No."
"Nor his affection for Erestor, I warrant."
Elrond smiled.
"Truly you are ready to be a father, Thranduil, for you know how to offer comfort. You are right. Legolas has a great heart; he will find room in it for you, but he will not dispossess those who already dwell within it."
"Of course," Elrond added, "I cannot help but sorrow at the prospect that he will no longer be with me in Rivendell."
"I am sure he will want to spend time in both Greenwood and Imladris."
"One year in Greenwood and one year in Rivendell?" said Elrond hopefully.
"Elrond," said Thranduil in mock reproof, "would you have our son forever traveling!? He would no sooner arrive in Rivendell than he would have to set out for Imladris, and vice versa."
Ruefully, Elrond had to admit that this was so. He also had to concede the next point made by Thranduil.
"Your daughter Arwen has long dwelled with her grandparents in Lothlórien," Thranduil pointed out. "That is not as far from here as is Greenwood, but, still, although you have visited her and exchange letters, you cannot see her on a daily basis. Think of the coming departure of Legolas in the same terms. He is going to live with kin, but you will not be altogether deprived of contact with him."
Laughing, Elrond threw up his arms in a signal of defeat.
"I yield, Thranduil. I yield! Come, it must be nigh lunch time. Let us see what the Cook has prepared for us."
"Whatever it is, I hope Legolas did not have a hand in it. He told me a most interesting story of a cake he once cooked for Glorfindel and Erestor."
"Ah, yes, the famous bad eggs—really bad eggs."
Glorfindel, who, in spite of his promise to make himself scarce, had been hiding behind a column near Elrond's sanctum, tensed as the door to the chamber swung open. Out strode Elrond and Thranduil, side by side—and laughing. Glorfindel wrinkled up his face in disbelief. A millennium of secrecy and plotting, and they were laughing over—no, they couldn't be laughing over that. This was—this was anticlimactic! Where was the knocked-down-dragged-out battle he had been anticipating? Where were the accusations, the recriminations, the tears? This was it? This was how the story would end?
After a few moments he shook his head. No the story couldn't possibly end here. With Legolas, nothing could be that simple. The story was simply going to get more complicated, that was all.
With that happy thought, Glorfindel hastened after the two other Elves. After all, he reminded himself, it wouldn't do to miss even so much as a minute of the deliciously convoluted events that were sure to unfold in the decades to come.