Konzen: Thank you!
Kitsune: I figured it would be ironic to have Erestor the 'stick in the mud' be assigned chaperone duty!
Arwen Undomiel: This chapter is more lighthearted.
Jebb: Unfortunately, Saruman is going to be very evil, although he will use intermediaries, of course. It will not happen in this chapter but the next.
Farflung: I like that—Legolas must be returned to Thranduil 'unencumbered'. Yes, that is basically the situation. Elrond cannot let Legolas promise (let alone 'give'!) himself to anyone without his father at least being told. It is too major a step when a prince is involved, although a commoner can pretty well do what he pleases.
Dragonfly: Might be one of the twins. Might not. Might be Legolas. Might not. You'll have to wait for the next chapter! Aren't I sadistic? ^_^
Melissa: I'm still being cruel, I'm afraid, because something will happen in Fangorn Forest, but we won't get there until the next chapter, and I'm not telling. ^_^ Hey, I've got to give you folks a reason to keep coming back, right?
Joee: You're right. I've got to fix that. Darn! Just when I thought it was safe to go back in the water.
Vocabulary
Antadar—'Gift Father'
gwador-nîn—'my brother'
Heard—'Fierce' or 'Strong' (Old English; pronounced Hey-ard)
Hyge—'Heart' or 'Courage' (Old English; pronounced Hew-guh)
Predictably, Legolas and his escort encountered no perils within Eregion, for Elrond had sent ahead numerous scouts to make certain that it was clean of any foes. As long as Legolas was within the reach of his forces, he would do everything possible to safeguard the well-being of his former foster-son. The elven company was thus able to pass through to Dunland without incident. They traveled only a short distance within Dunland before setting up their first camp in that land, in a clearing near a good water source. With practiced ease, the Elves unstrapped their baggage and turned their horses out to graze.
One of Legolas' saddlebags was completely filled with apples, and he now took that satchel and paced the perimeter of the camp. He stopped to place an apple beneath each bush. Perplexed, Thranduil watched him, but none of the other Elves seemed to notice his strange behavior. At length, the young Elf returned to his father's side.
"Legolas, why did you place apples beneath the bushes?"
Legolas grinned.
"You will see, Adar-nîn. The bushes have teeth!"
Sure enough, Thranduil soon heard a crunching noise. Peering toward one of the bushes, he could just make out at its base a pair of small and dirty bare feet that were topped by skinny legs clad in ragged trousers. No doubt the bearer of the teeth, thought Thranduil. He heard more crunching and realized that several other bushes had teeth as well. Legolas was smiling at him.
"You see, Adar-nîn, the bushes hereabouts are voracious!"
'They are indeed!" exclaimed Thranduil. "I hope they confine their munching to apples, however! Will I wake up in the night with one of these peculiar plants gnawing upon my toes?"
"Oh, fear not. They will take naught but what is offered them."
Each time they made camp in Dunland, Legolas repeated the same curious performance, and each time the apples vanished forthwith. At one camp he took his father with him when he went to visit a stand of saplings. He knelt down and examined them carefully. At last, satisfied, he arose.
"These saplings have been well tended. It is too soon for them to bear fruit, but in a few more years, if the Dunlendings continue to care for them as well as they have done thus far, they will be gifted with a bountiful harvest. Until then, I hope that the Rivendell Elves remember to feed the bushes whenever they have occasion to travel through Dunland."
Legolas looked a little sad at the thought that he himself would not be able to feed the hungry plants, and Thranduil placed a comforting hand upon his shoulder.
"I am sorry that we have no toothy bushes in Greenwood for you to succor," he said softly, "but I promise that you will find other objects who will be most grateful for your compassion. In the last dispatch I received from Gilglîr, he reports that refugees, Man and Elf, even Dwarf, have been fleeing through our realm. There is much for you to do, both in battle and in its aftermath."
Legolas smiled briefly. Then he grinned at one of the bushes.
"Methinks I see a plant that is particularly dear to me."
He beckoned encouragingly toward one particular bush, and a scruffy, tousled Dunlanding boy emerged, but cautiously, for he had never seen Thranduil before and the King was not dressed like the Imladris Elves with whom he was familiar.
"Hyge son of Heard, you must come and meet my father."
"Ah,' said Hyge, reassured, "so this is Lord Antadar."
Legolas laughed.
"You may call him that. But how do you?"
"Well, Master Elf."
"And your parents and brothers and sisters?"
"They are all well. Another baby will be coming soon. Indeed, Ma says she thinks she will have twins, so great has she grown."
"And how many children will that make in all?"
"Counting me?"
"Aye, counting you."
Hyge considered his fingers.
"If Ma has one baby, there will be nine of us. If twins, ten. That is not counting the three who died."
He said the latter so casually that both Thranduil and Legolas were cut to the heart. How ephemeral were the lives of Men! Yet the lad did not seem troubled, and like as not he would see more siblings die before he reached manhood. Whatever losses they suffered, apparently Men had learned to take pleasure in that which remained to them.
"I wish your family good fortune," Legolas said.
"Thank you, Master Elf. Will you be back soon?"
"I do not think so," Legolas said sadly. "Not for several years, mayhap decades."
The boy looked disappointed.
"I had hoped to offer you an apple from our first crop. The trees are growing well."
"Yes, you have tended them carefully."
The boy straightened his shoulders with pride.
"That I have. And I have been taking especial care of our garden as well. The people hereabouts call me Hyge the Farmer, and they come to me for advice about their own gardens. When the chiefs call out levies for patrols, our village headman sends out his own son in my place for he says my skills may not be spared. And both the blacksmith and the cooper have been visiting my father, trying to persuade him to promise me to one of their daughters. The blacksmith has offered my father a great trove of tools!"
"So will you marry the blacksmith's daughter, then?"
"Nay, I like the cooper's daughter much better, and my Da says I have proved my worth and so earned the right to choose for myself!"
"As I have told you before," declared Legolas, "your father is a wise man!"
"Aye, he is, and the headman is very old and there is much talk of choosing my Da as the next headman."
"I foretell a great future for your people if they so chose, for a wise people choose wise leaders, and in the end, no matter what tribulations the wise encounter, things will go well for them."
"Then things will go very well for you, Master Elf!"
Legolas smiled gratefully at the boy. He had been having difficulty imagining any future, let alone one in which things turned out "very well." He hoped that the lad was as wise as his father and that his words proved true! Suddenly he believed that likely they would. If an orchard could flourish in this bleak land, then surely he would flourish in Greenwood.
"I thank you for your words, Hyge. I must go now. Give my greetings to your father and mother."
Legolas began to turn away but then something else occurred to him. He hailed the lad one last time.
"Hyge the Farmer, if you like I could send a message to Imladris and ask the Lord Elrond to from time to time send you one of his gardeners to continue your instruction. There are many things he could show you, such as how to graft fruit trees. Would you like that?"
"I would like that very much. But Master Elf, do you suppose that I might someday journey to Imladris? Its gardens are famous, and I would very much like to see them for myself."
"I think you would be very welcome," Legolas assured him. "When you have made the acquaintance of the gardener, send that request by him, and I am sure that the Lord Elrond will send you a favorable reply."
The next day, when the Elves resumed their journey, Legolas once again rode by the side of Thranduil, as he had every day of their journey. Elladan and Elrohir rode side by side further back in the column. They were beginning to feel disgruntled.
"We might as well have stayed in Rivendell," complained Elrohir, "forasmuch as we have scarce been able to speak more than three words to Legolas."
Elladan nodded glumly.
"Aye, Thranduil is ever by his side. I suppose, however, that we should try to remind ourselves that we have had a thousand years to go about in the company of Legolas."
"True, but I think Thranduil is planning on the next two thousand!"
"Elrohir, be reasonable. It will not take Thranduil two thousand years to question Legolas about the doings of the past thousand years. Surely, it will not take longer to tell about events than it did to live them in the first place!"
"Oh, I am not so sure of that, Elladan. Legolas has had a very eventful life!"
But Elrohir smiled as he spoke, and his irritation subsided for the time being, although he still longed to spend more time with Legolas.
While this conversation was taking place, Thranduil had at last gotten around to thinking of Durrandîr. Even though he had recovered his own son, he was still concerned about the well-being of the young Elf who had been injured on his behalf.
"Legolas, have you ever heard of an Elf named 'Durrandîr'?"
"In Imladris I was always 'Anomen'. Elsewhere, however, I went by other names. 'Durrandîr' was one of them."
Thranduil was stunned.
"So that was you in Greenwood!"
"Aye. I traveled there twice, once as part of a company that escorted Glorfindel to trade negotiations, the second time during the Battle for Dol Guldur."
"Twice! And the second time you nearly died but feet from where I stood!"
The two rode on silently for a time. Thranduil at length spoke again, but hesitantly.
"Legolas. Legolas, when you rushed into battle after the Orcs ambushed my party, did you know who it was for whom you fought?"
"Yes," Legolas said simply.
Thranduil did not try to hide the mingled tears of shame and gratitude that sprang to his eyes.
"You were loyal to me even after I treated you so badly?"
"You were still my father."
Legolas tried to utter those words carelessly, but he could not disguise the shaking in his voice.
"And the Elf who pushed me away from you?"
"Ada, that was Thoron. He did not know I was your son. He thought I was a refugee who had fled your wrath. He sought only to protect me."
Thranduil nodded. Still, it rankled a bit to know that his son had been almost within his grasp—literally, too! He had to remind himself that at that point he had still not been prepared to father his son. A reunion then might have gone ill. He glanced over at Elrohir and Elladan, who had just ridden up.
"King Thranduil," said Elrohir, "I suggest that we stop here to prepare the noon meal. We will not reach the next good water source until nightfall."
Thranduil gave his assent. After the twins had ridden off, he turned to Legolas and spoke softly.
"You and I will share many meals in Greenwood. The twins seem a trifle glum, and I think you should make a point of sharing this noon meal with them and them alone. Indeed, after the meal, ride with them until we make tonight's camp."
Grateful, Legolas eagerly assented and rode after the twins. When he came to the spot where they had dismounted and joined them, Elrohir was a trifle truculent.
"You called him 'Ada'," he said, scowling.
"Did I? I am not used to the word 'Adar'. It does not come naturally from my mouth."
Legolas looked appealingly at Elrohir.
"Gwador-nîn, this is hard for me."
"Hard for me, too," growled Elrohir.
"For shame, Elrohir!" Elladan chided him. "This is not nearly as difficult for you as it is for our brother!"
Elrohir was appropriately chastened.
"I am sorry, Anomen.," he said contritely. "Ah, Legolas, that is."
"See," teased Elladan. "You yourself are having difficulty settling upon the right name!"
Elrohir blushed.
"Oh, very well!" he conceded. "It is confusing for us all." Then he grinned, the old mischief in his eyes.
"One thing is certain. You are younger than Elladan and I. Therefore, as you seem to be joining us for the noon meal, 'tis you, skivvy, who must fetch the water! Elladan and I were on the point of drawing lots, but you have saved us the trouble!"
Legolas laughed and gladly took the proffered camp kettle. He would have cheerfully skivvied for the trio for another century, he thought. If only all those whom he loved could be gathered together forever in the same place! More and more, he did look forward to returning to live in Mirkwood, but at the same time he still regretted leaving Rivendell and the coming separation from his foster-brothers. Ai! What were the Valar thinking when they made Middle Earth such a complicated place!?