Title: Inseparable
Author: Legolas-gurl88
Disclaimer: I still don't own anything… I hope Tolkien will share Legolas and Aragorn with me! Please, Tolkien! *pulls puppy dog face* *worships* J.R.R. Tolkien! J.R.R. Tolkien! J.R.R. Tolkien!
Enjoy the story! This will be one of the last cute ones before major angst! *evil laugh* *coughs* *chokes on Legolas's arrow, which she had been picking her teeth with* *Legolas comes by and pulls the arrow out of Legolas-gurl88's mouth and says 'That's mine, thank you very much!'* *Legolas-gurl88 says 'Sorry Legolas'* *As Legolas walks away, Legolas-gurl88 does a double-take* LEGOLAS!? LEGOLAS! WAIT! I'M YOUR BIGGEST FAN! LOOK AT MY NAME! LEGOLAS-GURL88! *Runs off and leaves computer running*…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 13: Laughing, a Healing Power within itself
Estel still lay, crying as he had been doing for some time.
"Legolas, come back! Come back!" He whispered loudly. Suddenly, he heard a groaning from beside him. He looked over to Legolas stirring! The color in Legolas's face returned and his breathing got faster as Estel's breath was taken from him by happiness and disbelief. Legolas clear blue eyes opened and he stared around, confused until his eyes met with Estel's.
"Legolas?" Estel said. "Legolas?"
"Estel." Legolas said.
"I don't believe it. This has to be a dream."
"Why? Are you wishing I was gone?"
"No! No, I don't want that!" Estel said as Legolas sat up. Legolas opened his arms to the child and Estel ran into the elf's embrace.
"I'm sorry, Estel." Legolas said, hugging the child closer to him as though he had not seen him in years. "I'm sorry for leaving you and putting you in danger."
"No, Legolas, it is my fault! It's all my fault! I failed you! I'm sorry! Are you still mad at me? Will you ever forgive me?"
"There is nothing to forgive, Estel." Legolas said. "Will you forgive me?"
Estel paused and looked at Legolas.
"Legolas, will you sing me a lullaby?"
Legolas smiled. And then he sang:
"En elenath ta en gwilith
Lina din lind
Na en galta Ithildin
Hi baw nallolle.
Mellonamin, nolle letholle
Oh en mab osen aur,
Silivren, Silivren.
Hollen ho henea,
En beleg anar
Anta en erin na tulota.
Cheblle amin arlle
A ta noamin ennas,
Tal en mith tao en erin."
[The stars in the sky
Sing a sad tune
To the shining moon
Now don't you cry
My Friend, let yourself free
From the clutches of day,
Glittering, glittering.
Closed his eyes,
The Great Sun,
For the Morning is to come.
Keep me with you
And I will be there
In the Mists of the Morning.]
Legolas finished the song with a gasp. There was a pain in his back. It must be from the Balrog whip, he thought. Apparently, any injuries he had obtained during his stay in The Soul Box had followed him back to conciousness.
"Are you alright, Legolas?" Estel asked.
"Y-yes, Estel, I'm fine." Legolas lied. He didn't want to worry the child for he could see tear stains on the boy's cheeks already. On the contrary, his back felt as though it were on fire. His eyes started watering but he blinked them away.
"Are you sure, Legolas?" Estel asked, "I could get Ada to look at it for you." The boy stopped suddenly and gasped happily "I've just remembered! Ada! He and everyone else will want to see you! Come on! I know where they are!"
"I don't think I can stand, Estel." Legolas said.
"Come on, I'll help you." He took Legolas's hand and pulled the elf eagerly out of bed. Legolas slid out of the bed and found himself and a silky green and blue nightshirt and his old leggings. And also, for the first time, he realized his head was bandaged heavily. Once he placed his feet on the cool ground and put his weight on them, he crumpled to the ground.
Estel caught his arm and pulled him up a little bit, "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."
"N-no, I'm fine, Estel." Legolas panted. "Just give me a moment. I haven't walked for a long while and I just need to get used to it again." After a moment, he placed his hand on Estel's shoulder and heaved himself up, holding the boy's shoulder firmly, feeling slightly dizzy.
"Ready?"
"Yes."
Estel took a small step and Legolas followed him, his hand still on Estel's shoulder. They walked slowly to the door, then tackled the stairs one by one. Legolas almost fell a few times due to the pain in his back which was making him even more dizzy. With all the effort he put up for walking, the bandages on his head were wet with sweat (hey, that rhymes!)
Once at the bottom of the stairs, Estel turned to Legolas.
"Just a little farther." He told the elf. Legolas nodded. From his surroundings, he could tell that he was in Lothló rien. Estel helped him over to a door, then turned to the elf again and put a finger to his lips. Then, he poked his head around the door to the reading room where the five elves (Elrond, Thranduil, Elladan, Elrohir and Arwen) were all reading their books silently.
"Hello, everyone." He said. The elves looked up.
"Mae govannen, gwanur." Elladan said. [Well met, brother]
"Yes." Estel said, slowly translating what his foster brother had said, being sure to keep only his head in plain sight of the elves, so Legolas could hold himself up, out of sight.
"What are you up to?" Elrohir said.
"Nothing." Estel said innocently.
"Don't say nothing. I know it's something. I've seen that look before."
"I-- I just wanted to come down and say hello."
"Estel, why don't you come sit down?" Elrond said. "We haven't seen you in a while and I have missed reading to you. Come. Sit."
Estel looked around and smiled. He stood up strait and walked slowly so Legolas could keep up.
The looks on the elves faces was priceless when they saw Legolas, standing and walking. The next few moments were a blur of tears and hugging and rejoicing. The elves all stood up and ran to Legolas. Thranduil was first to make it to the prince.
He hugged his son, crying and saying, "You've come back! My son! I missed you so much! I thought the worst!"
Legolas returned his father's hug, aware that everyone was watching him.
"Ada." Legolas said. They parted. Next, Elladan and Elrohir clapped Legolas on the back, making his back smart where the Balrog wound was. After that, Elrond approached and Legolas bowed his head. The two elves smiled at each other, then Arwen walked around her father to face Legolas. All was silent between them as they stared at each other. Then, Legolas opened his arms. Arwen let out a sob of happiness and ran into his embrace. The two elves hugged for a long time. (Note: This is not a Legolas/Arwen romance. Not in this story, anyway. They're just really good friends.)
When they separated, Arwen reached at her wrist and pulled off the charm bracelet and clasped it back on Legolas's wrist. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. Before leaning back, she whispered in his ear:
"Promise me we will always be friends."
"I promise." Legolas whispered back. They hugged again and Arwen cried into Legolas's shoulder.
"Legolas," Elrond said pointedly, "your back is bleeding."
"Is it?" Legolas asked. Apparently, the Balrog wound had not only brought back the pain, but the injury as well.
"Yes. Do you know what happened?"
"If my thinking is correct," Legolas said, "there was a Balrog in the Soul Box. I couldn't escape its whip fast enough."
"Oh, Legolas!" Arwen said sympathetically.
"It is fine, Arwen." Legolas said, "It does not hurt."
Elrond touched the elf's back and Legolas gave out a small cry of pain.
"It doesn't hurt, eh?" Elrohir said, "Ai, Legolas, you should know by now not to lie to us."
Legolas laughed a little.
"Nothing can escape you, O Elrohir the Watchful."
"Come, Legolas, sit down on the stool so I can have a look at your back." Elrond said and the elves helped Legolas limp over to the stool where he sat down. Elrond sat behind him.
"Take off your shirt, Legolas." He said, "I need to look at your back."
Legolas reluctantly did so, bracing himself for the cold air to chill him to the bone. Surprisingly, he was very warm, despite the fact that his whole upper half had no cover whatsoever. The rest of the elves sat down and stared at Legolas, smiling as though he had died and come back, even if that had happened in a way.
"Elladan," Elrond addressed his eldest son "Fetch me some warm water with Athelas in it and a cloth. And bring some more bandages as well, please, my son."
Elladan nodded and stood up. While walking by Legolas, he mumbled, "You're going to use up all our bandages."
"You're just jealous." Legolas said and the two laughed. The laughs sounded funny and unfamiliar to everyone, for it seemed a long time since they were able to laugh at anything. The laughs had brought back memories of happy times in which weren't there anymore. But today was different. Today, they would laugh, talk and smile. Today, they would live.
"Estel," Legolas said as Elladan exited the room. The boy looked up. "I remember promising you that I would teach you elvish." Estel cracked a smile.
"Could you?"
"Arwen," Legolas said, "Doesn't Galadriel have a book on how to learn elvish?"
"Yes, she does. Here it is." She reached over to the bookshelf, pulled out a book and handed it to Legolas. He opened it to the first page.
"Alright, Estel, we must take it one-by-one. First word-- cat. Miog. Think of it as
Mee-ogg, which sounds like 'meow.'
"Miog." Estel said.
"As you know, to say 'my cat' you would not say 'amin miog,' which would be 'my cat,' but you would say 'miogamin,' which, in the Common Tongue, would be 'cat my.'"
"Miogamin." Estel said. "What about 'Your cat?'"
"The word for 'you' is--?"
"Lle." Estel said.
"And if the stem word of 'your cat' is 'miog' what would it be?"
"Mioglle."
"Very good. Maybe we should skip ahead in the book, you know this already…"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Happiness had spread all around Lothló rien in the time that Legolas had been restored to his body. Estel was quick in learning elvish and was saying full sentences now, one of his favorites was 'lasta lalaithamin' or 'listen to my laughter.' He would run around the palace yelling "Lasta lalaithamin!" and upsetting the peace.
Legolas had learned that Galadriel had ridden to Morier to bring him back and he realized the realms no longer belonged to the elves, but to Morier. The Light at Lothló rien was now fading since Galadriel and Celeborn no longer owned it.
On the sixth night since Legolas had returned, Galadriel rode into the forest and walked into the dining hall, where the elves were all talking.
"Pack your things. We must leave at once." She said as she entered. The elves stood up as she walked over to Legolas. "Welcome back, Legolas. Unfortunately, I return without good tidings. We must ride for Gondor. There, Lord Ecthelion will welcome us."
"How can you be so sure, Galadriel?" Thranduil asked.
"I don't. Nor can I predict it. Along with Lothló rien, went my power to foresee the future. We must trust men. But we have something they will want."
"And that is?"
"The King."
"Me?" Estel asked.
"Yes, my child. With you as our company, they will welcome us."
"What about the other elves?" Arwen asked.
"They are free to stay. It is the royal line that is banished. We must leave at once. We only have one day to depart. Hurry."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Within the hour, everyone was packed and ready to leave. The horses, Mä ron of Legolas, Rä londï r of Estel, Tí rina of Elrohir, Rauku of Elladan, Cormamin of Arwen [My Heart], Maladar of Galadriel, Lagor of Thranduil [swift], Tindu of Celeborn [twilight], and Faer of Elrond [spirit], ran fast over the lands.
Legolas had been reimbursed with his weapons and now carried a longbow that had once belonged to Celeborn.
Estel looked behind himself a lot to make sure the elf prince wasn't falling behind. When he was not worrying about his friend, he was worrying about himself. He was not yet ready to return to Gondor. He was only ten. He did not want to be in charge of thousands of people yet.
"I know what you are worried about, Estel," A voice said and Estel jumped. He stared around to see Legolas looking at him.
"Oh." Estel said shortly, not wanting to talk.
"Don't worry, Estel." Legolas continued, "Ecthelion has control over the lands until you feel ready to step up to the throne. It doesn't have to be today or tomorrow. You don't have to do it ever."
"What would you do?" Estel looked at the elf, who smiled.
"Since I am destined for a throne, I have no choice. My Adar and I are the only ones in Mirkwood of royal blood. All I can say to you is this: Never run from your fears. You will never be able to outrun them. They will haunt you your whole life. Take what your father gave you. King Arathorn gave you Gondor, so you could see Gondor through to the end of your days. Don't run from that power, for you are the true King of Gondor."
"I don't want to be." Estel said.
"You don't ever have to want to be, Estel. But then again, you don't ever have to be. But Gondor is rightfully yours."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Estel was growing weary, due to the fact that the elves weren't stopping. Elves didn't need to. Legolas could tell the child was sucking up all the pride he could and wouldn't let anyone know he was tired. So, he offered the child to ride with him on Mä ron. Estel obliged, gratefully. Estel's horse, Rä londï r was tied to Elladan's horse Rauku.
Estel was now asleep, his head resting on the crook of Legolas's arm, Legolas's cloak draped over his shoulders.
"We shall stop here." Elrond said. "Legolas, when you are settled, I would like to check your back and head wounds."
Legolas sighed and shook his head. Why did people constantly baby him? He was a grown elf. Okay, so in human years, he would only be about twenty years old, but what did that matter?
Estel groaned and stirred in Legolas's arms. He opened one bleary eye and peered at his friend.
"L-Legolas?" He asked.
"Hush, Estel. We are merely camping here for the night. Do not worry."
"How long until we make it to Minas Tirith?" Estel asked. (Okay, so they're now going to Minas Tirith, but that's in Gondor, so I didn't lie!)
"If we ride swiftly, about a day and a half."
"Have you ever been to Gondor?" Estel asked randomly.
"Not since you were born. Why?"
"What do you know of it?"
"Well, I know that the Lord Ecthelion has a son who is about your age. I think he is a year older."
"What is his name?"
"Denethor II. You do not have to call either of them 'Lord' because, as much as they might not like, you are higher than them both."
"What about you?"
"Well, if I were a prince of Gondor, I wouldn't have to call them 'Lord' but I am the prince of an elven realm, meaning I must call them 'Lord' but they, in return, must call me 'Prince Legolas.' It is sort of complicated. But do not worry."
"Legolas?" Elrond called from a tree. "I would like to check your wounds this century."
"You could live long enough to check them next century." Legolas mumbled so only Estel could hear, then, he raised his voice and said, "I'll be right over."
When he dismounted, he looked up at Estel, who was still on the horse.
"Estel, could you care for Mä ron for me while I'm gone?"
Estel nodded.
"Hannen lle, mellon nin."
"At least I understand that much." Estel said, before kicking Mä ron's flanks so she would gallop over to where the other horses were tied up.
"Lasta lalaithamin." Legolas said, walking to Elrond. The elf and child laughed for what would be the last laugh in a long time, for danger (yes, people, more danger) was yet to come.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
… *stifles yawn* Well, if that wasn't a boring chapter, I don't know what is! I was snoring by the end of this chapter! That took almost a week to write, it was so boring. And it was short! I've been attacked by the boring monster! Why must all the boring chapters be the ones that take the longest to write? Well, it was sort of informative. If you've seen Return of the King (Bless Peter Jackson) you all know who Denethor is (if you are still clueless, he is Boromir and Faramir's father). I'm getting all this information from the timeline in the back of the book Return of the King. I'm not sure if all the books are the same, but I think they all have the Appendices. I'm trying to time everything with the timeline in the back of the book. I've read over it, like, twenty times and I will again tonight. So, if you are mad at me for writing a boring chappie, I understand and I will expect angry reviews. I'll try to do better next chapter. And to keep you all here, I'll try to post it real soon! I promise. WAIT! Here's the deal: Review and I'll post! I call that fair. What say you?
WOW! That poem took like, ALL DAY to write! NO LIE! I had to write what I wanted in the poem, then I had to translate everything, correct it, and some of the words were not in my elvish dictionary, so I had to re-do it and… I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY!
AUTHOR NOTE: You guys are VERY lucky! This chapter had originally been TWO chapters instead of one, but I decided since they were both boring, I would combine them and get the boringness over with! YOU ARE VERY LUCKY! So, you actually got two chapters! I'M SPOILING YOU GUYS!!!!!
Trinityelf- I had the strongest urge to put 'HA!' at the end of this chapter! You know, 'Lasta lalaithamin!' 'HA!' I'm not sure my Legolas costume would win 'Best Costume Award.' They might not allow you to win two years in a row : ( Oh well… I hope you can come to Lopez too! Talk to you later! MORIER IS EVIL… LIKE MR. FEELY! Heh, heh… ONLY TWO MORE MONTHS UNTIL TROY!!!!!!!!!!
XxgemxX- I'm responding to your review for chapter 11. I got the elvish from www.hobbitslive.com. Just go to 'Learn elvish' on the left side of the screen when it loads up, and there you go! Glad to be of help!
Deana- You are WAY too smart! I didn't think ANYONE would even remember the Balrog wound, but there's your answer! I couldn't leave my favorite character in the box… but the next chapter it gets better! YAY!
Thank you to the… three… people that reviewed to me! I FEED OFF REVIEWS! AND RIGHT NOW, YOU GUYS ARE STARVING ME! I'M HUNGRY! FEED ME! PLEASE REVIEW! I think I have 76 reviews right now, so why don't we bring it up to… at least…81-82 reviews! PLEASE!
DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW! PLEASE! DO NOT STARVE ME! Most of you are probably on Spring Break, so for those people, I understand, but PLEASE… REVIEW!
Luv,
Legolas-gurl88