Due to encouragement from fellow writers, I have decided to use what skills I have to attempt to describe the other six Caves in Helm's Deep. Thus this chapter, and hopefully many more, have and will come into existence.
Firstly, thank you to my reviewers—Eregriel Gloswen, Elle Greenleaf and clrules. Sorry this chapter took so long but what with homework and writer's block I just couldn't get my act together.
DISCLAIMER: You probably noticed I forgot to do this last time, so this one will go for the whole story: I don't own Legolas (wish I did) or Gimli or the idea of the Glittering Caves' existence. These belong to Tolkien and I respect that. I do own my impression of what the Glittering Caves look like.
Even when convinced by Gimli, his companion, to leave the Earth Cavern, the "wondrous" first hall as it seemed to the Elf, Legolas looked back numerous times, and not without regret—though the hall was soon out of sight down the darkened passage. At length, the companions reached the end of the tunnel and the entrance to the second cave. They could hear the melodic babbling and chattering of the waterfall before them, echoing hollowly down the tunnel from the hall before them. Legolas closed his eyes as they stepped through the doorway, not knowing what to expect.
The Elf's eyes opened on another world, as different to the one he had left as the last hall had been to the world outside. Indeed, he no longer felt himself still in Middle-earth; it was as if he had suddenly stepped into a totally new and unsullied time and universe. He had dived into a lake of pure crystal; every movement was echoed and reflected around him. The Hall of Waters was an unquestionably enchanting place.
At the center of the cavern, a pool of clear, ever- rippling water sparkled in the light of Gimli's torch. It was fed by the stream, the daughter of the sweet-voiced waterfall joyfully accompanying every movement, every sound. The reflections of the moving water flickered in an endless, ever-changing dance on the cave's walls.
As he watched this mesmerizing spectacle, Legolas became aware of the walls that rose from the pale marble floor of the chamber and was once more amazed. Covered with diamonds and many-shaded blue stones, they were never the same for two moments together. As they glittered in the torchlight, the reflections of the rippling water played on their myriad surfaces.
Attempting to move forward and study these wonders more closely, the Elf found his path unexpectedly blocked by an unmoving, yet invisible obstacle. He turned his attention to the space around the pool and found yet another miracle of nature before his eyes. Many hourglass columns of fluted, clear crystal stood tall and regal around the chamber. Even Gimli, used to dark underground mazes, was more than momentarily puzzled. To the eyes of Legolas, the hall resembled a dense forest of ice, made of stone yet alive, always changing yet always the same. The Elf found that his earlier predictions had been correct—he now marveled at past feelings of reluctance to leave the last chamber.
With some difficulty, the companions found their way across the shining marble floor to the doorway that would lead them, eventually, to the next chamber. As well as the omnipresent, almost invisible columns, the marble was smooth to such a degree as to become rather slippery. In the open doorway they turned and looked back at the shining pool, reflecting its every movement on the glittering, gem-covered walls. Then, reluctantly, the Elf and Dwarf turned away and went forward expectantly, almost eagerly—but still not daring to look back for fear they would be compelled to stay.
Even as he looked on many new wonders in otherworldly chambers, Legolas' thoughts often turned to the first and least cave, filled with nature's magnificence frozen in stone, the world as it should have been; for, no matter what wondrous things may cross any person's path, that which the eye looks first upon will always remain dearer to the heart than anything seen thereafter.