Author's Note: Thanks, everyone, for your reviews. Yes, I admit it, I am a
hopelessly fluffy person...
There has been a bit of a delay with updating, well, real life got in the way- far too much happening at work, and no concentration left...
Please read, enjoy and review ... I am less certain about this chapter than about the others, so any comments are very much appreciated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 5 – To Make A Choice
Next morning.
Estel awoke because something cold was touching his face. He slowly opened his eyes, only to find a fully dressed, smiling Legolas bent over him. The 'something cold' had been a damp braid, the elf looked as if he had just come back from a cool morning swim in the river. His usually dark eyes were sparkling blue in the morning sun.
"Wake-up, Estel," Legolas bent down again and gently kissed Estel. "You are all cold, go away," Estel turned to the side, determined to get some more sleep.
"Estel, you need to get up. Your father is waiting us to introduce us to the rangers this morning. It is already quite late, breakfast must be well underway." Legolas sat down next to Estel, trying to pull his blanket away.
"Come on, get up."
With a groan and a sigh, Estel disentangled himself from his sleep covers, sat up and got out of bed. Sleepily he grabbed a towel and made his way to the washroom. Legolas looked after him and sighed. He loved the morning and could still not understand why Estel was so reluctant to get up in the mornings.
After a few moments, Estel returned, looking much more awake. He, too, had had a wash, and his dark hair was damp and curling. He quickly chose some clothing, got dressed, and tied his hair back into a simple braid at the back of his neck.
Legolas laughed. "Your hair is always such a mess!" Estel sighted, he had a long time given up worrying about his hairstyle. It would never be as neat as Legolas', and that was that.
Estel smiled. "Let's go. Let us not make them wait any longer."
The two friends made their way to the Great Hall, where they found Elrond, the twins and two unknown men in deep conversation.
On their approach, Elrond and his table companions looked up and saw Legolas and Estel approaching. They looked radiantly happy. Elrond thought that since relationships had become less strained, both Estel and Legolas had been somewhat less discrete about their relationship and looked much happier for it.
Elrond introduced the men at his table. "This is Halbarad", he introduced a tall dark haired man with the characteristic grey eyes of the rangers. He was dressed in dark breeches and tunic, even though the morning was already warm. His companion was Tharamir, similarly dressed, and appearing to be slightly younger.
Elrond smiled at his foster son and his partner. "This is my youngest, Estel. He is my foster son. His parents died when he was young, and his family is kin of ours." Elrond did not explain Estel's true identity; it was not yet time for this to be revealed. Halbarad looked curiously at the young elf, or rather, he corrected himself mentally, young man. Although dressed in elvish clothes, and at first glance moving with the same gracefulness as the elves, this boy was clearly more human than elf. Immediately he had a suspicion about the identity of the lad, but since Elrond did not chose to talk about it, he held his tongue as well.
"... and this is Legolas. Legolas is King Thandruil's son from the Woodland Realm." Halbarad focused again on Elrond's words. The ranger looked closely at the prince from Mirkwood, who looked quite different to the elves from Rivendell, with his light hair and dark blue eyes. The rangers had, of course, heard of Mirkwood, and many of the rumours gave cause to be wary. But these two men were rangers, and they had enough dealings with elves not to be overly suspicious.
Both Legolas and Estel gave the formal elven greeting, a half bow with their arm crossed against their chest. "Greetings to both of you, Halbarad and Tharamir", said Estel in Westron, his speech softened by a lilting Sindarin accent.
Elrond continued, "Halbarad and Tharamir have come here to ask for our assistance to fight orcs. We are just discussing what can be done. Would you like to get some food and come and join us?"
"Thank you, father", said Estel, "We will just get some food." They filled their plates with their favourite foods from the food laid out on a large table at the side of the hall, and joined Estel's father, his brothers and their guests at their table.
Legolas ended up sitting next to Halbarad, with Estel across from him. This gave the older ranger an opportunity to observe the young elf unobtrusively. His first impression of the young elf had been an odd one, somehow he found this elf unnerving, he was too beautiful, too graceful, too 'elvish' – he could not put his impressions into words. None of the Rivendell elves had ever had this effect on him. But he was honest enough to admit to himself that he hardly ever had dealings with elves from Mirkwood and that most of his first impression could simply be based on the fact that Thandruil's son looked very different to the Noldor elves. Halbarad then focused on Elrond's foster son – what was his name, Estel? He looked strong and healthy, and despite his human blood, moved with elven gracefulness. He was also clearly still very young.
Whilst these thoughts were going through Tharamir's mind, both Legolas and Estel had tucked into their food. Halfway through his place, Legolas addressed his silent neighbour, speaking Westron: "Since we missed the first part of the conversation, could you tell us in more why you have come?" His voice was light and musical, his Westron only slightely accented.
The ranger looked at the young elf. He was surprised at the fluency with which Legolas used Westron, after all it was well known that the Mirkwood elves did not have many dealings with others outside their realm. He had not expected Legolas to be so competent in the human language.
He answered: "For as long as I can remember there has been some trouble with orc bands and wolves packs marauding even in the west. Most of the time they were not a real problem – they were enough of a threat that it was unwise to travel alone in winter, but with caution otherwise they left the villages alone.
"However, several years ago, something changed. We do not know what it is that has changed, and that is the reason why we have come here, we hoped that Lord Elrond would know or could at least help us find out. The orcs have become much more numerous in the west and have become a real threat to the villages in that area. They band together more and appear to be better led. They have begun to attack villages, rather than taking the unfortunate lone traveller. We cannot leave this situation unchecked."
Elrond added: "This is not good news. I would very much like to find out about what is happening to cause this increase of orcs and wolves. We also must inform Mithrandrir of this situation, he has recently been quite interested in what happened in the west. I would like all four of you to go onto this mission, your skills and experience complement each other."
He then turned to Halbarad and Tharamir. "Would you be happy to take these four with you? You have travelled with Elladan and Elrohir before and know their skills. Estel is a fine sword fighter as well, and Legolas is an outstanding archer."
The two rangers nodded. They could do with all the help they could get. Halbarad thanked Elrond and the four young people. It was decided that they would leave early next morning at first light.
~
They had been on the road for a week, and had travel hard, stopping late and rising early. The trip had been quite uneventful so far. The past week had brought ample opportunities for the six companions to get to know each other. Travelling as group in relative secrecy and in close proximity had necessitated intimacy. Both men realised very soon that the four young people knew each other well, anticipating each other's needs and preferences. Elladan and Elrohir being twins, the men were not surprised to find the two being close, but Halbarad in particular was somewhat puzzled by the relationship between Estel and Legolas. These two were obviously close friends, their body language had given a hundred clues to that, but he wondered if there was something else as well.
There had been some interesting moments.
On the first evening, after their meal, the two rangers located their pipes and filled them with pipeweed. Estel looked at them with curiosity, unable to work out the purpose of the little herb-filled stick. Both Elladan and Elrohir smirked at the expression of their brother when the pipes were lit and the two humans began to smoke. Finally Estel asked, "What is the purpose of these ... ?"
"These are pipes and you fill them with pipeweed, light it and inhale the smoke," Tharamir said with a laugh at the incredulous expressions of the young man.
"May I try?"asked Estel.
"I would not advise it, but you can try if you wish."
Estel looked at his brothers and Tharamir, who were all now laughing. Legolas' eyes sparkled with suppressed mirth. Determined, Estel took the offered pipe. He inhaled deeply. Immediately he started spluttering, coughing so hard that he doubled over.
His brothers and the human warriors laughed so much that their eyes started watering.
"I did warn you," said Tharamir, his eyes light with amusement in his usually solemn face.
When Estel did not stop coughing, Legolas got up and started to rub his friend's back.
"Better? Are you okay?" Estel nodded. "Why did you not warn me about this?"
"Some experiences you have to make by yourself," Legolas said, finally unable to suppress the smile that tucked at the corners of his mouth.
Estel did not try smoking again on this journey.
~
One evening they had dared to light a small fire, and everyone had gathered around, more or less silent since they had marched hard on this day and everyone was weary. Legolas and Estel were sitting next to each other, Legolas crossed legged, when Estel suddenly leaned against him, half asleep. Legolas smiled, and putting his arm gently around Estel, pulling him close. "Elrohir, could you get me a blanket for him please? He is weary." Legolas smiled gently, and both his smile and gestures conveyed such tenderness that both Halbarad and Tharamir were startled. Elrohir brought the blanket and Legolas covered his friend, who was now leaning against his chest, fast asleep.
"Legolas? May I ask you a question?" Halbarad looked at Legolas searchingly. The prince just nodded, wondering what was on the ranger's mind.
"Legolas, this is not really my business, but before we reach the human settlements, it would be good to know. Are you and Estel lovers?"
Legolas had not expected that question. He had assumed that the two rangers had already answered that question for themselves. He was also startled by the bluntness of the human's approach. He decided to be equally forthcoming. "Yes, we are. But first and foremost we are friends. Estel is very special to me in many ways." Legolas looked fondly down at the sleeping human leaning on his shoulder.
Both rangers just nodded and absorbed this information. Neither was surprised, both were experienced enough to have been almost certain that these two were not only friends.
Halbarad said with a small smile: "You don't need to tell me, but how long ago was coming of age?" All of the sudden he had the suspicion that Legolas was still very young, at least for an elf.
"It was forty years ago this summer," said Legolas slightly hesitantly. He did not quite understand the reason for the question.
Halbarad looked at Legolas with surprise. He had guessed that Legolas was young for an elf but had not expected him to be *that* young. Clearly growing up in Mirkwood had marked the young prince. That Estel was young, was obvious from his lack of experience. Halbarad knew enough of elvish customers to realise that the relationship between these two was unusual.
"You met young," he said, looking straight at Legolas. The elf looked at him levelly and simply admitted: "Yes, we did," but did not volunteer any further information. Halbarad decided not to pry any further, but instead to bring something up that had been on his mind since he had guessed that Legolas and Estel were lovers. He took a deep breath.
"Legolas, this is difficult to say, but I have to warn you ... many men do not look favourably at relationships between males or between females. It could potentially lead to a great deal of trouble if they found out. So when you two are around other men, you must be discrete, much more so than you were with us." Halbarad smiled to take the sting out of his words.
"I had heard about this already", said Legolas. "But I thought this was just a rumour. I do not understand why humans should object to two people caring for each other."
Halbarad answered: "I am uncertain why some humans feel that way. But I have seen that these prejudices can cause much hurt, and indeed I have seen people being badly abused simply for loving one of their own gender."
Legolas looked shocked. To be scorned, worse still, injured, for loving another ... this did not do much to recommend the race of men to him. But he promised to Halbarad to talk to Estel about this topic at a suitable moment.
~
In the following weeks, both Estel and Legolas learned a lot about the ways of men and rangers in particular. Halbarad and Tharamir told them about the ranger's traditions and hard way of life, about their expectation that one day a genuine leader with royal blood would be found again. Estel found that in many nights he did not sleep much, there was too much going through his mind. One day he would have to decide whether he wanted to embrace his heritage. He was very uncertain whether he even wanted to consider this further. He loved his adopted family and could not imagine living among men. To him, they seemed foreign. Legolas also told him about his conversation with Halbarad. This did nothing to increase his desire to live among men.
Often, when he could not sleep, Legolas would often stay up with him and they would talk in quiet voices whilst the others slept.
The group scouted the area west of Bree. They came across a number of largish groups of orcs. They tried not to be seen, but counted numbers, and looked for patterns. As hard at it was at times, they avoided being seen or to be engaged in any kind of skirmish. Their luck held for a few weeks, and they were able to gain much information about the orcs bands that plagued the west. By the time autumn approached, they were certain that these orcs were sent out according to a plan, not randomly; and they were equally certain that these orcs were looking for something, although the scouting party had not yet identified what it was the orcs were searching.
One day in early autumn their luck run out. Whenever possible, the group of elves and rangers had travelled high up through the branches of the trees. It was easier to avoid orcs that way – they usually did not look up. The three elves and Estel were familiar with travelling this way, it was fast and safe. Halbarad had dealt with elves often enough to have some experience too, but Tharamir was not experienced much in this way. One day, when they were almost on top of a fairly large group of orcs, he stepped on a branch not strong enough to support his weight. With an almighty crash, the branch and Tharamir tumbled down into the middle of the orcs. There was a stunned silence, and then the orcs began to attack.
Quickly, Tharamir's companions jumped down from the tress, forming a protective circle around the younger ranger. The orcs, although surprised to find elves and men in their midst, attacked immediately. Tharamir had injured his ankle during his fall, but was otherwise unhurt.
At first, elves and rangers alike used their bows. Both rangers were amazed at the skill that Legolas displayed with the bow, elves were generally good archers, but Legolas was exceptional. But soon, bows became less useful as the orcs closed in. The fight deteriorated into close combat. Halbarad had fought with Elladan and Elrohir before, and knew their skills. As far as he could in the melee, he observed Estel and Legolas.
Halbarad was surprised at the ease and confidence that Estel displayed with the sword. Elves mostly excelled with the bow, but Estel's strength was clearly the sword. Legolas was a superb archer, and he displayed considerable skill in close combat with the two long knifes he was carrying.
Estel was fighting a particularly vicious orc when another of the evil creatures saw the opportunity and tried to tackle him from behind. Legolas saw the danger, and with a desperate effort, quickly dispatched his own foe and threw one of his knives at the orc attacking his partner from behind. He struck true. Estel, aware of what Legolas had done, nodded, and smiled at him briefly. There would be time later for thanks.
Legolas had let his concentration slip for a moment. Focussed on Estel, he had not watched his footing. He stepped backwards, trying to evade the blows of yet another of Sauron's creatures, and stumbled over the body of a fallen orc. His current enemy seized the opportunity, and moved in with a vicious drive of its scimitar. But it never got to the elf. Elladan had seen Legolas fall and immediately covered him, blocking the attacking stroke with his own sword. The orc pressed hard, not wanting to lose its prone prey. But Legolas got up onto his feet again quickly.
Unfortunately he had now lost his second knife in his fall, and the bow was not much use – this meant he was almost weaponless in the midst of a battle. Legolas briefly wondered what to do, when a sword was thrust in his had. Halbarad had passed on his own sword to Legolas and had gripped one of the dead orc's weapons to defend himself. Legolas nodded his thanks and began to fight back in earnest.
Many hours of sword practice with Estel kicked in. Estel preferred the sword, and, as Legolas readily admitted, was an expert at using it. Which Legolas was not, and did not claim to be. He found swords unyielding and heavy, not suitable for a fighting style reliant on skill and speed rather than strength.
Halbarad watched the young elf. He was good with the sword, but nowhere near as good as with his knives or bow.
Finally, the number of foes began to diminish, and eventually a growled command of their leader resulted in the quick flight of the remaining orcs. The battle came to an end.
Halbarad took stock. His party had killed a large number of orcs, but they had also not escaped unscathed. Tharamir could not walk, his ankle was either strained or broken, this remained to be seen. Elladan and Elrohir were relatively unscathed, but sported various scratches and bruises. Estel had a deep cut on his left arm, not serious, but a large and bothersome wound that would need stitching. Legolas had a rapidly darkening bruise on his forehead; he had obviously been hit by something heavy.
Nevertheless, for their first engagement with orcs, they had not done badly. No one was injured seriously, although everyone had some injuries and the entire party was exhausted. It was time to move away from the battlefield and find somewhere safe for the night.
TBC. - Please review!
There has been a bit of a delay with updating, well, real life got in the way- far too much happening at work, and no concentration left...
Please read, enjoy and review ... I am less certain about this chapter than about the others, so any comments are very much appreciated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 5 – To Make A Choice
Next morning.
Estel awoke because something cold was touching his face. He slowly opened his eyes, only to find a fully dressed, smiling Legolas bent over him. The 'something cold' had been a damp braid, the elf looked as if he had just come back from a cool morning swim in the river. His usually dark eyes were sparkling blue in the morning sun.
"Wake-up, Estel," Legolas bent down again and gently kissed Estel. "You are all cold, go away," Estel turned to the side, determined to get some more sleep.
"Estel, you need to get up. Your father is waiting us to introduce us to the rangers this morning. It is already quite late, breakfast must be well underway." Legolas sat down next to Estel, trying to pull his blanket away.
"Come on, get up."
With a groan and a sigh, Estel disentangled himself from his sleep covers, sat up and got out of bed. Sleepily he grabbed a towel and made his way to the washroom. Legolas looked after him and sighed. He loved the morning and could still not understand why Estel was so reluctant to get up in the mornings.
After a few moments, Estel returned, looking much more awake. He, too, had had a wash, and his dark hair was damp and curling. He quickly chose some clothing, got dressed, and tied his hair back into a simple braid at the back of his neck.
Legolas laughed. "Your hair is always such a mess!" Estel sighted, he had a long time given up worrying about his hairstyle. It would never be as neat as Legolas', and that was that.
Estel smiled. "Let's go. Let us not make them wait any longer."
The two friends made their way to the Great Hall, where they found Elrond, the twins and two unknown men in deep conversation.
On their approach, Elrond and his table companions looked up and saw Legolas and Estel approaching. They looked radiantly happy. Elrond thought that since relationships had become less strained, both Estel and Legolas had been somewhat less discrete about their relationship and looked much happier for it.
Elrond introduced the men at his table. "This is Halbarad", he introduced a tall dark haired man with the characteristic grey eyes of the rangers. He was dressed in dark breeches and tunic, even though the morning was already warm. His companion was Tharamir, similarly dressed, and appearing to be slightly younger.
Elrond smiled at his foster son and his partner. "This is my youngest, Estel. He is my foster son. His parents died when he was young, and his family is kin of ours." Elrond did not explain Estel's true identity; it was not yet time for this to be revealed. Halbarad looked curiously at the young elf, or rather, he corrected himself mentally, young man. Although dressed in elvish clothes, and at first glance moving with the same gracefulness as the elves, this boy was clearly more human than elf. Immediately he had a suspicion about the identity of the lad, but since Elrond did not chose to talk about it, he held his tongue as well.
"... and this is Legolas. Legolas is King Thandruil's son from the Woodland Realm." Halbarad focused again on Elrond's words. The ranger looked closely at the prince from Mirkwood, who looked quite different to the elves from Rivendell, with his light hair and dark blue eyes. The rangers had, of course, heard of Mirkwood, and many of the rumours gave cause to be wary. But these two men were rangers, and they had enough dealings with elves not to be overly suspicious.
Both Legolas and Estel gave the formal elven greeting, a half bow with their arm crossed against their chest. "Greetings to both of you, Halbarad and Tharamir", said Estel in Westron, his speech softened by a lilting Sindarin accent.
Elrond continued, "Halbarad and Tharamir have come here to ask for our assistance to fight orcs. We are just discussing what can be done. Would you like to get some food and come and join us?"
"Thank you, father", said Estel, "We will just get some food." They filled their plates with their favourite foods from the food laid out on a large table at the side of the hall, and joined Estel's father, his brothers and their guests at their table.
Legolas ended up sitting next to Halbarad, with Estel across from him. This gave the older ranger an opportunity to observe the young elf unobtrusively. His first impression of the young elf had been an odd one, somehow he found this elf unnerving, he was too beautiful, too graceful, too 'elvish' – he could not put his impressions into words. None of the Rivendell elves had ever had this effect on him. But he was honest enough to admit to himself that he hardly ever had dealings with elves from Mirkwood and that most of his first impression could simply be based on the fact that Thandruil's son looked very different to the Noldor elves. Halbarad then focused on Elrond's foster son – what was his name, Estel? He looked strong and healthy, and despite his human blood, moved with elven gracefulness. He was also clearly still very young.
Whilst these thoughts were going through Tharamir's mind, both Legolas and Estel had tucked into their food. Halfway through his place, Legolas addressed his silent neighbour, speaking Westron: "Since we missed the first part of the conversation, could you tell us in more why you have come?" His voice was light and musical, his Westron only slightely accented.
The ranger looked at the young elf. He was surprised at the fluency with which Legolas used Westron, after all it was well known that the Mirkwood elves did not have many dealings with others outside their realm. He had not expected Legolas to be so competent in the human language.
He answered: "For as long as I can remember there has been some trouble with orc bands and wolves packs marauding even in the west. Most of the time they were not a real problem – they were enough of a threat that it was unwise to travel alone in winter, but with caution otherwise they left the villages alone.
"However, several years ago, something changed. We do not know what it is that has changed, and that is the reason why we have come here, we hoped that Lord Elrond would know or could at least help us find out. The orcs have become much more numerous in the west and have become a real threat to the villages in that area. They band together more and appear to be better led. They have begun to attack villages, rather than taking the unfortunate lone traveller. We cannot leave this situation unchecked."
Elrond added: "This is not good news. I would very much like to find out about what is happening to cause this increase of orcs and wolves. We also must inform Mithrandrir of this situation, he has recently been quite interested in what happened in the west. I would like all four of you to go onto this mission, your skills and experience complement each other."
He then turned to Halbarad and Tharamir. "Would you be happy to take these four with you? You have travelled with Elladan and Elrohir before and know their skills. Estel is a fine sword fighter as well, and Legolas is an outstanding archer."
The two rangers nodded. They could do with all the help they could get. Halbarad thanked Elrond and the four young people. It was decided that they would leave early next morning at first light.
~
They had been on the road for a week, and had travel hard, stopping late and rising early. The trip had been quite uneventful so far. The past week had brought ample opportunities for the six companions to get to know each other. Travelling as group in relative secrecy and in close proximity had necessitated intimacy. Both men realised very soon that the four young people knew each other well, anticipating each other's needs and preferences. Elladan and Elrohir being twins, the men were not surprised to find the two being close, but Halbarad in particular was somewhat puzzled by the relationship between Estel and Legolas. These two were obviously close friends, their body language had given a hundred clues to that, but he wondered if there was something else as well.
There had been some interesting moments.
On the first evening, after their meal, the two rangers located their pipes and filled them with pipeweed. Estel looked at them with curiosity, unable to work out the purpose of the little herb-filled stick. Both Elladan and Elrohir smirked at the expression of their brother when the pipes were lit and the two humans began to smoke. Finally Estel asked, "What is the purpose of these ... ?"
"These are pipes and you fill them with pipeweed, light it and inhale the smoke," Tharamir said with a laugh at the incredulous expressions of the young man.
"May I try?"asked Estel.
"I would not advise it, but you can try if you wish."
Estel looked at his brothers and Tharamir, who were all now laughing. Legolas' eyes sparkled with suppressed mirth. Determined, Estel took the offered pipe. He inhaled deeply. Immediately he started spluttering, coughing so hard that he doubled over.
His brothers and the human warriors laughed so much that their eyes started watering.
"I did warn you," said Tharamir, his eyes light with amusement in his usually solemn face.
When Estel did not stop coughing, Legolas got up and started to rub his friend's back.
"Better? Are you okay?" Estel nodded. "Why did you not warn me about this?"
"Some experiences you have to make by yourself," Legolas said, finally unable to suppress the smile that tucked at the corners of his mouth.
Estel did not try smoking again on this journey.
~
One evening they had dared to light a small fire, and everyone had gathered around, more or less silent since they had marched hard on this day and everyone was weary. Legolas and Estel were sitting next to each other, Legolas crossed legged, when Estel suddenly leaned against him, half asleep. Legolas smiled, and putting his arm gently around Estel, pulling him close. "Elrohir, could you get me a blanket for him please? He is weary." Legolas smiled gently, and both his smile and gestures conveyed such tenderness that both Halbarad and Tharamir were startled. Elrohir brought the blanket and Legolas covered his friend, who was now leaning against his chest, fast asleep.
"Legolas? May I ask you a question?" Halbarad looked at Legolas searchingly. The prince just nodded, wondering what was on the ranger's mind.
"Legolas, this is not really my business, but before we reach the human settlements, it would be good to know. Are you and Estel lovers?"
Legolas had not expected that question. He had assumed that the two rangers had already answered that question for themselves. He was also startled by the bluntness of the human's approach. He decided to be equally forthcoming. "Yes, we are. But first and foremost we are friends. Estel is very special to me in many ways." Legolas looked fondly down at the sleeping human leaning on his shoulder.
Both rangers just nodded and absorbed this information. Neither was surprised, both were experienced enough to have been almost certain that these two were not only friends.
Halbarad said with a small smile: "You don't need to tell me, but how long ago was coming of age?" All of the sudden he had the suspicion that Legolas was still very young, at least for an elf.
"It was forty years ago this summer," said Legolas slightly hesitantly. He did not quite understand the reason for the question.
Halbarad looked at Legolas with surprise. He had guessed that Legolas was young for an elf but had not expected him to be *that* young. Clearly growing up in Mirkwood had marked the young prince. That Estel was young, was obvious from his lack of experience. Halbarad knew enough of elvish customers to realise that the relationship between these two was unusual.
"You met young," he said, looking straight at Legolas. The elf looked at him levelly and simply admitted: "Yes, we did," but did not volunteer any further information. Halbarad decided not to pry any further, but instead to bring something up that had been on his mind since he had guessed that Legolas and Estel were lovers. He took a deep breath.
"Legolas, this is difficult to say, but I have to warn you ... many men do not look favourably at relationships between males or between females. It could potentially lead to a great deal of trouble if they found out. So when you two are around other men, you must be discrete, much more so than you were with us." Halbarad smiled to take the sting out of his words.
"I had heard about this already", said Legolas. "But I thought this was just a rumour. I do not understand why humans should object to two people caring for each other."
Halbarad answered: "I am uncertain why some humans feel that way. But I have seen that these prejudices can cause much hurt, and indeed I have seen people being badly abused simply for loving one of their own gender."
Legolas looked shocked. To be scorned, worse still, injured, for loving another ... this did not do much to recommend the race of men to him. But he promised to Halbarad to talk to Estel about this topic at a suitable moment.
~
In the following weeks, both Estel and Legolas learned a lot about the ways of men and rangers in particular. Halbarad and Tharamir told them about the ranger's traditions and hard way of life, about their expectation that one day a genuine leader with royal blood would be found again. Estel found that in many nights he did not sleep much, there was too much going through his mind. One day he would have to decide whether he wanted to embrace his heritage. He was very uncertain whether he even wanted to consider this further. He loved his adopted family and could not imagine living among men. To him, they seemed foreign. Legolas also told him about his conversation with Halbarad. This did nothing to increase his desire to live among men.
Often, when he could not sleep, Legolas would often stay up with him and they would talk in quiet voices whilst the others slept.
The group scouted the area west of Bree. They came across a number of largish groups of orcs. They tried not to be seen, but counted numbers, and looked for patterns. As hard at it was at times, they avoided being seen or to be engaged in any kind of skirmish. Their luck held for a few weeks, and they were able to gain much information about the orcs bands that plagued the west. By the time autumn approached, they were certain that these orcs were sent out according to a plan, not randomly; and they were equally certain that these orcs were looking for something, although the scouting party had not yet identified what it was the orcs were searching.
One day in early autumn their luck run out. Whenever possible, the group of elves and rangers had travelled high up through the branches of the trees. It was easier to avoid orcs that way – they usually did not look up. The three elves and Estel were familiar with travelling this way, it was fast and safe. Halbarad had dealt with elves often enough to have some experience too, but Tharamir was not experienced much in this way. One day, when they were almost on top of a fairly large group of orcs, he stepped on a branch not strong enough to support his weight. With an almighty crash, the branch and Tharamir tumbled down into the middle of the orcs. There was a stunned silence, and then the orcs began to attack.
Quickly, Tharamir's companions jumped down from the tress, forming a protective circle around the younger ranger. The orcs, although surprised to find elves and men in their midst, attacked immediately. Tharamir had injured his ankle during his fall, but was otherwise unhurt.
At first, elves and rangers alike used their bows. Both rangers were amazed at the skill that Legolas displayed with the bow, elves were generally good archers, but Legolas was exceptional. But soon, bows became less useful as the orcs closed in. The fight deteriorated into close combat. Halbarad had fought with Elladan and Elrohir before, and knew their skills. As far as he could in the melee, he observed Estel and Legolas.
Halbarad was surprised at the ease and confidence that Estel displayed with the sword. Elves mostly excelled with the bow, but Estel's strength was clearly the sword. Legolas was a superb archer, and he displayed considerable skill in close combat with the two long knifes he was carrying.
Estel was fighting a particularly vicious orc when another of the evil creatures saw the opportunity and tried to tackle him from behind. Legolas saw the danger, and with a desperate effort, quickly dispatched his own foe and threw one of his knives at the orc attacking his partner from behind. He struck true. Estel, aware of what Legolas had done, nodded, and smiled at him briefly. There would be time later for thanks.
Legolas had let his concentration slip for a moment. Focussed on Estel, he had not watched his footing. He stepped backwards, trying to evade the blows of yet another of Sauron's creatures, and stumbled over the body of a fallen orc. His current enemy seized the opportunity, and moved in with a vicious drive of its scimitar. But it never got to the elf. Elladan had seen Legolas fall and immediately covered him, blocking the attacking stroke with his own sword. The orc pressed hard, not wanting to lose its prone prey. But Legolas got up onto his feet again quickly.
Unfortunately he had now lost his second knife in his fall, and the bow was not much use – this meant he was almost weaponless in the midst of a battle. Legolas briefly wondered what to do, when a sword was thrust in his had. Halbarad had passed on his own sword to Legolas and had gripped one of the dead orc's weapons to defend himself. Legolas nodded his thanks and began to fight back in earnest.
Many hours of sword practice with Estel kicked in. Estel preferred the sword, and, as Legolas readily admitted, was an expert at using it. Which Legolas was not, and did not claim to be. He found swords unyielding and heavy, not suitable for a fighting style reliant on skill and speed rather than strength.
Halbarad watched the young elf. He was good with the sword, but nowhere near as good as with his knives or bow.
Finally, the number of foes began to diminish, and eventually a growled command of their leader resulted in the quick flight of the remaining orcs. The battle came to an end.
Halbarad took stock. His party had killed a large number of orcs, but they had also not escaped unscathed. Tharamir could not walk, his ankle was either strained or broken, this remained to be seen. Elladan and Elrohir were relatively unscathed, but sported various scratches and bruises. Estel had a deep cut on his left arm, not serious, but a large and bothersome wound that would need stitching. Legolas had a rapidly darkening bruise on his forehead; he had obviously been hit by something heavy.
Nevertheless, for their first engagement with orcs, they had not done badly. No one was injured seriously, although everyone had some injuries and the entire party was exhausted. It was time to move away from the battlefield and find somewhere safe for the night.
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