Author's note: A huge enormous THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed. I cannot believe how many reviews I have had for the last two chapters. Please continue to review, it keeps me going!

Many of you asked for faster/quicker/more frequent updates: My apologies for not being faster – I regret it, too! I am trying but 'real life' keeps me very busy at the moment, and I do not wish to sacrifice quality for speed with this story.

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This is a re-post of this chapter since I was made aware of one very amusing typo and found several others. I did not want to leave this chapter with these errors, they were all created by the spellchecker by inserting inappropriate words and subsequently missed by me. The content has not been altered.

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Chapter 9 -  To Make A Choice

Legolas woke early.  Dawn was rising late at this time of the year, but the human town around them awoke early. Horses clattered on the cobbled streets, carts squeaked, there were noises of people and cattle. It was really quite noisy.

There room they were sleeping in was still dark, and even Legolas' elven eyes were not able to see clearly. He felt, rather than saw, the presence of Estel next to him. He was grateful that Halbarad had made it possible to have this room; it had allowed them to spend some uninterrupted time together, which, as he readily admitted, both of them had needed. It had been a very enjoyable evening, well, perhaps it was better to say night – they did not go to sleep until a few hours ago. Legolas did not particularly mind, he needed much less sleep than Estel. He would be fine for the coming day.

At this current moment he wondered how he would be able to get out of bed without waking Estel, who occupied the outside of the bed. The young man laid on his side, facing Legolas, and one of his arms was wrapped around the elf's waist in a protective gesture that never failed to touch Legolas. But since he was now awake, the young elf realised that he needed to find the washroom. He carefully moved Estel's hand from his body and slowly began to climb over the human when Estel stirred.

"Where are you going?" a very sleepy voice mumbled, and a hand tightened around his arm.

"I will be back in a moment." Legolas pulled on his leggings and tunic, it would not do to walk around unclothed in this inn.

True to his word, the elf returned minutes after he had left.

"Come back to bed. It is far too early to get up, and I could think of much nicer things to do than to get up." Estel smiled at Legolas, his eyes large in the lifting dark. The first rays of twilight were now entering the room. Legolas did not hesitate for long.

Later, as they laid facing each other, Legolas gently pushed some of the tangled dark hair out of Estel's eyes. Their eyes locked for a long time, and neither wanted to break the moment. But then Legolas said

"Estel, after we return to Rivendell, I will not be able to stay much longer. I must return home. My father waits for me. This journey has taken far longer than we anticipated and we will not be in Rivendell for at least another ten days."

"I know. I will miss you. This has been the best summer we have ever had together. Father accepting you really made a huge difference. I wish only he had done this earlier. Imagine how nice it would have been if all our time together had been like this summer…"

"I wish my father would change his mind as well. Not very likely. You know him…"

"Yes," was Estel's whispered answer. He knew Thandruil did not welcome him. But neither had he been sent away, and so, out of affection for Legolas, mixed with a good deal of stubbornness, he had returned to Mirkwood year after year. But this had not been easy, and now, after they had had this glorious summer together, it would be even more difficult.

He hugged Legolas tightly. "Legolas, whatever happens in the future, I need you to know how much you mean to me. I don't want to loose you, ever."

"I know, Estel. You know I feel the same. But we do not yet know what the future holds, and we both know that we both have choices to make. One day you will have to decide which path you will follow, Elves or Men, you cannot do both. And for me … you know what my choices are …"

 "Perhaps we should have never allowed ourselves to fall in love with each other." Estel sounded slightly bitter and sad.

"Many would say so, my father certainly. But do you really feel that? I would not want to miss any moment we have had together, even those moments when we had disagreements or inadvertently hurt each other…"

The young man looked at the elven prince and gently touched his face.

"Let us not spoiled this morning with worries. Come, let's get up and ready and have some breakfast."

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Sometime later Estel and Legolas made it downstairs to the bar room. The bar maid was already up, having cleaned and aired the room for breakfast. She looked scrubbed and clean, attractive in a robust way.

When she saw Estel and Legolas coming down the stairs, she smiled and decided to tease a bit. She smiled at Estel in particular. "Good morning! I hope you had a good night's rest. I see that you found better company to spend the night with than me!" To her surprise, both elves blushed. This was an odd reaction.

The girl now looked at Legolas properly for the first time. Yesterday she had focused very much on the dark-haired elf with those beautiful grey eyes, and had not paid much attention to anyone else at the table. His companion was slighter in built, with very dark blue eyes and long blonde hair. He was undoubtedly very attractive, but she found the other one much more appealing to her taste in men. He looked …. more manly. She scolded herself. These thoughts did not make sense; after all, these two were elves. She decided to introduce herself.

"My name is Liselle. And who are you?"

The blond elf responded. "This is Estel, and I am Legolas."

"Are you from Rivendell?"

"Estel is, but I am from the Great Greenwood. It is often called Mirkwood now." Legolas' voice betrayed the sadness he felt about this change.

Liselle's hand went to her mouth in surprise. Mirkwood! There were many rumours about this place, and none of them good. She had another good look at Legolas. He did not look evil, just different. She had noted that the other two elves in their party looked much more like Estel, so they were probably from Rivendell as well.

"Liselle, stop chatting and serve our guests some breakfast." Barliman Butterbur's voice sounded from the back of the bar.

"What would you like for breakfast?"

Estel and Legolas looked at each other. Legolas took the lead.

"We normally have fruit and perhaps a bit of bread or pastries, with some tea. Have you got anything like this?"

"Yes, we have got apples and blackberries, and fresh bread and butter. We have not got pastries because they are usually not eaten for breakfast."

Legolas nodded. This would be fine. He asked Liselle to bring what she could, and to set the table for the other four members of the party as well. The girl quickly set a table near the window, and told them that the other four had already been up early and had left to go to the market.

After a quick breakfast, Estella and Legolas also made their way to the market. Like the other four, they needed to replace some of their clothes and equipment before the onward journey to Rivendell, they had no desire to improvise to the same extent that they had to do on the way to Bree. Once they had finished their meal, they thanked Liselle and made their way to the door.

The pair intrigued Liselle; she could not quite work out what it was. She was a shrewd observer; in her position she saw and had seen many people. The way these two moved together, even without any touch there was an intimacy about them that surprised her. And then, on the way out, for a brief moment, Estel slipped his hand in Legolas'. The gesture was so brief that Liselle wondered if she had seen what she thought she had seen, but it was when Legolas smiled at Estel that she knew she had been right. It was a brief flash of a smile, full of affection and intimacy. At that moment she knew that these two were lovers.

Liselle was not particularly bothered, even though she was still young, she was neither naïve nor inexperienced and it was not the first time she had seen love between two people of the same gender. It also explained some of Estel's inexperience with women. Liselle also remembered some time ago having heard that elves were not particular about gender when choosing mates. She tried to remember the context and the speaker, but only remembered that whoever had said it had sounded full of disdain, and had received a lot of agreement for his comments amongst the other men in the bar.

Liselle decided that at some opportune moment later she would warn Estel and Legolas to be more discrete. It was not that they had not been – but anyone looking closely enough would immediately know that they were close. The young barmaid quite liked the two elves, unlike many visitors, they did not try to make passes at her and both were well mannered and pleasing to look it. And Estel's reaction last evening had been very funny – what a pity that he had not taken her up on her offer!

Whilst Liselle was pondering these issues, Legolas and Estel had made their way to the market. It was not far, the market square was not large, with a number of permanent shops around it and temporary stalls and huts in the middle. It did not take long for Legolas and Estel to find the twins and the two rangers. Elrohir could not resist teasing them about being late, but both Elladan and Halbarad asked him to leave the young couple alone. Elladan and Elrohir were almost finished buying spare clothes, blankets and other necessities. They had bartered hard and felt they had come away with some good deals.

Legolas found to his surprise that Estel was much better at bartering than himself. His father had never tried to negotiate a price, if it was within acceptable limits, the item would be bought, if the price was outside these boundaries, the item would not be bought from this trader.

Currently Estel was negotiating the price for a pair of breeches. They were dark brown tanned leather, looked durable and about the right size for the young man. Estel had managed to talk the trader into selling for less than half of the original price.

When they left the stall, Legolas asked: "How did you do that?"

Estel laughed. "Practice! Elladan and Elrohir taught me how to trade and never to accept a trader's price in the first instance. It is quite fun, once you know how to do it. Come let's get you some spare clothes as well."

They easily found a tunic for Legolas but were still looking for leggings or breeches that were the right size for the slender elf, when Elladan approached them. "Legolas, I have to be very rude and ask for my brother's company for a while. We will be back shortly."

Estel and Legolas looked at each other. What was that about? But Elladan took Estel's arm, and pulled his foster brother away.

"I have to show you something. I think you might like to buy it for Legolas, so he should not see it."

They arrived at the stall of a silversmith, whose work had already caught Estel's attention. The craftsman's work was of unusual quality and much finer in design than what was usually found amongst human traders. Elladan pointed to a ring that was laid out with some other pieces on the back of the table. Estel had not seen it when he had glanced at the silversmith's work. The ring was made from gold. A circle of delicate small golden leaves intricately interwoven held a small deep blue stone. Estel gasped. This ring had 'Legolas' written all over it. The young man looked at his foster brother.

"It is beautiful!"

"Elladan, thank you. But I am sure I have not enough money for this. I did not bring much money on this trip and have spent some of it for clothes and other equipment."

"Elrohir and I have decided to give you all our spare money, if you wish to buy it. Between us, we should have sufficient funds for this ring. The stone is not that large."

Estel was so surprised that he just stared at his brother. This offer was completely unexpected. Although relationships had much improved over the summer, Estel had not yet forgotten how much the twins had shunned Legolas previously.

So, after some negotiating, they bought the ring. It did not leave them with much spare money, but to Elladan, the huge smile on Estel's face was worth every single gold coin they had spent. His younger brother had been much too serious too many times in the last few years.

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Later that day, Estel suggested to Legolas a brief walk outside the town. He wanted to be alone with Legolas when he gave him the ring. They walked through the autumnal woods. The rain had, at least temporarily, ceased, and the evening sun broke through the remaining golden, red, yellow and rust coloured leaves. It was a windstill, peaceful afternoon. Estel and Legolas walked in companionable silence for quite some time until they stopped in a small forest glade that still held some autumn-yellow soft grass. Without needing to talk, they sat down together and enjoyed the moment. After a while, Estel said:

"I have a present for you." With these words he took out a small soft leather pouch that contained the ring with the blue stone and golden leaves.

"This is for you. It is a token of my affection. Something to remember me by when I am gone." With a somewhat bittersweet smile, Estel took Legolas' hand and tipped the ring into his hand. Legolas gasped with surprise.

"It is beautiful! Estel…" Legolas was at a loss for words, his dark eyes huge and full of emotion. 

Estel took the ring and carefully slipped it on Legolas left index finger. It was a good fit.

"Will you wear it?" There was a question in Estel's eyes.

"Estel! Of course I will. ….  How can I thank you for this?"

Estel's answer to that was to embrace the elf and hold him very tight. "Do not feel you have to. I am pleased to see that you like it." He looked at Legolas with a huge grin that was only slightly belied by the lingering sadness in his eyes.

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Some time later, the pair was on their way back to Bree and the Prancing Pony. Both had enjoyed the day – it had been unpressurised and they had had much time just to themselves. Now it was time to join the others again.

By the time they arrived back at the inn, Elladan, Elrohir, Halbarad and Tharamir were downstairs in the bar room, waiting for the evening meal. When Estel and Legolas entered the room, Elrohir was about to make a flippant remark about their tardiness and how they spent their time, when Elladan nudged his brother, and, once he had Elrohir's attention, simply shook his head. Knowing his twin extremely well, he knew what Elrohir had been about to do, and the bar room of the Prancing Pony was not the right time or place for this type of remark.

Once everyone had exchanged greetings, Halbarad ordered food and drink for everyone. As on the previous evening, the food was good and plentiful, this time a strong vegetable soup with freshly baked bread and cheese.

Whilst the scouting party ate and talked about the events of the day, the room was filling up. Locals, other travellers from near and far and even the occasional hobbit congregated in the inn, got drunk together and exchanged news. Both elves and rangers noticed that no one neared their table. In Bree, strangers were common, but neither elves nor rangers were frequent visitors. Lack of contact of local people with elves and rangers had led to the increase of rumours and estrangement.

But neither elves nor rangers were bothered by the lack of welcome by the locals. In contrast to the previous weeks, they were warm, dry and had plenty of food. After their meal, they remained at their table and discussed the plans for the next days. Elladan and Elrohir pressed for a return to Rivendell, they knew that Elrond was waiting and was probably growing concerned by this stage.

Halbarad and Tharamir wanted to wait a few days because Tharamir's foot was still not fully healed. Neither Estel nor Legolas contributed much to the discussion, both being torn between wanting to return to Imladris and the knowledge that Legolas would have to leave to return to Mirkwood.

In the end the decision was taken for the three elves and Estel to return to Rivendell after one further day of rest, and for the two rangers to join them as soon as Tharamir could travel unaided.

TBC.  Please review!