"I cannot blame you fully for the words you said, Ellie, but you understand that they hurt me so deeply. I am surprised I am still here." Lirrian managed to get out as we both wept in each other's arms.
A Month had passed since I had seen Legolas in the mirror, and it seemed without Haldir's guidance we could not apologise to each other. We were sat on a bench in the rose garden, hugging
"I know, oh I am so sorry!" I choked out. I felt a painful kick inside of me. "Not again..." I looked up as a messenger stood before us.
"I have a letter for the Lady Greenleaf." he placed the envelope softly in my hands before walking off.
I looked at the envelope, all it said was 'Elanor'. I ripped it open, my fingers trembling.
Ellie, melamin.
We won the battle of helm's deep, although I feel the only reason I managed to survive was of your presence when you looked into the mirror. Boromir is dead, and Frodo and Sam have journeyed to Mordor alone, though I do not know how long for. All I know is that Merry and Pippin are safe. Gandalf is alive! I scarcely believed it myself, but he helped us win our battle in the end. We are to ride for Gondor in a month's time. The final battle shall take place outside its walls. At the moment we are going to be heading to Isengard, Saruman has been trapped there. I bring worse news than I wish not to write, but it must be said, even though it pains me to do so. Haldir has been killed. It took me a great while to write that sentence. I am so sorry; I knew you had become close. Twins. What are we going to do with you? You must be bigger than a house by now, only two months or less. I have my names chosen, you will be pleased with my choices, I am sure. I am so sorry for your loss of Haldir. He said you had begged him to take you with him to helm's deep, and that your sister and you had an argument. I do hope you have made up, I remember how well you hold a grudge, and I feel for the person on the receiving end. It turned out that it was Aragorn reading the letter over my shoulder. He was smirking at me the whole day; I hope that makes you happy. I must go; I hope to see you very soon. Remember that I love you.
Legolas x x x x x
I sat in shocked silence as I read it over again. 'Haldir has been killed.'
"Lizzy, he's dead. Haldir is dead!" I said softly, Pain hitting me in waves. I wanted to cry, but the tears would not come. "He is dead."
Neither of us said anything for a long while, and the only sound uttered was me when one of the babies kicked me hard again. I stood shakily and made my way slowly back to our talan, before stopping and turning around, walking down the stone path I knew lead to the Lady Galadriel's Mirror.
I poured some of the enchanted water into the bowl and looked into it, thinking of Legolas.
He was on horseback, talking to Gimli and Gandalf. His face was grave, and he had a faint bruise on his temple. I smiled, and I saw him laugh quietly to himself, before mouthing something to Gimli, who nudged Aragorn, whispering something in his ear. Aragorn smirked, and leaned over to tell Gandalf, who grinned in a very un-Gandalf like way.
"We know you're watching us, Lassie!" Gimli said loudly, and Gandalf said a rapid succession of spells before an exact copy of me appeared in his hand, leaning over the mirror. I rolled my eyes as the group of them laughed at my size, and I said, even though I did not think they could hear me, "You want these two inside of you, beating you to a bloody pulp from the inside out?"
More laughter. The mirror was starting to steam too much, and I said "I have to go!" I heard Legolas's soft 'I love you.' And I pulled away from the mirror, feeling a little happier, but not much. I still felt the grief that was almost unbearable.
"Child, the pain shall never leave. We must grow and become stronger as the result." The lady's voice said in my mind, and I sighed, thinking of all the times shared between Haldir, Lirrian and I over however long I had been here.
"Thank you for not reprimanding me for using your mirror, My Lady." I said to the empty clearing. As I left, I am sure I heard a light 'you needed to, child.' And I smiled into the growing dark.
()()()()
"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I sat bolt upright in bed, screaming in pain. My sister, who had taken to sleeping in my room the last two months, was alert quickly. She sat up in the spare bed, her face worried."Are you alright? What is it?" She asked, and I looked at her sarcastically, then my contorted as I felt the pain again.
"It hurts!" I moaned, screwing my eyes up tight and I realised what it was. "Oh Valar, it is..."
"...The babies!" she finished, pulling a long white robe, and dashing around for things.
"HEALER!" I yelled as another of the contractions came and went.
"Right." She breathed, and ran out of the talan we shared at top speed. I felt wetness pooling around me, and I groaned.
I sobbed as the pain worsened, and I knew the intervals were becoming shorter, the pain coming closer together.
"We're back!" Lizzie gasped, skidding round into the room from the balcony, Marianna, another of the healers I had gotten to know, running on light feet behind her.
"I see we're a little early. It's only two weeks, it is normal. Lirrian, get behind Elanor, and rest her on you. Yes, just like that. No, not now! I need you to help me first!" She laughed as Lirrian got behind me.
"I'm sorry." She said sheepishly. "What should I do?"
"Pull back the bed covers, for a start. No, we need to get you out of that bed, Elanor. Lirrian, Put some clean towels over your bed and help her over." I watched, breathing deeply as Lizzy threw off the covers and placed the white towels on the bed.
She grabbed me under my arms helping me to stand. I walked unsteadily to the bed, my vision blurring slightly as another contraction came. I was sat down on the bed, and the contractions were slowly coming quicker, and I started panting as they became worse.
"OW!" I cried as a nasty one came. I felt Lirrian behind me, and I saw Marianna kneel in front of me.
"Bend your knees and keep them wide so the baby can come out, Elanor" I did as I was told, panting through a particularly painful one.
As the next one began, I said in a dry voice "Marianna, I think i..." She nodded.
"Then go ahead." I leaned forward, and I felt Lirrian push her weight onto me.
"AH!" I shouted, as the pain worsened. I pushed again and again as Marianna instructed, and through the contractions. I sobbed as I pushed again, I hurt so much.
"I can see the head! Push again, you can do it!" I did as she said, and she helped the shoulders out so I did not tear.
"One last push, darlin'." Lirrian said encouragingly. "One last one and the baby will be out, and you will have a break before the next one." I pushed again, and I felt the child slide free. I gasped for air, the bulge in my stomach had reduced dramatically.
"It's a boy! He is a little small, but twins always are, dear. Let me just clean him and you may hold him..." I shook my head as a fresh set of contractions began.
"No time! This one will be here soon, I Kn...AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!" I screamed as an awful contraction broke through
He stopped dead, closing his eyes. Legolas was stood outside the white city, the Orcs and Uruk-Hai defeated.
"Legolas, what is it?" Gimli asked from his side. Legolas shook his head, feeling her pain. He smiled suddenly.
"She is having the babies." He said in a hushed voice. "One has already come, the other is coming." He said to the dwarf, looking down on him. "I am a father."
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
"Come on, almost there, little sister..." I shook my head, crying out.
"I cannot do it! I cannot..." I sobbed, panting.
"Yes you can! One more push, it will all be over." I summoned up all my remaining energy, and l leaned forward in one final push, and I laid back, closing my eyes as the last child came out.
"It is over, you can rest. You have a son and a daughter, Elanor. Do you have names?" Marianna asked.
"For the girl...Selena..." I panted, smiling.
"Mother!" Lirrian gasped, and I nodded.
"I shall leave the baby boy to Legolas as promised. He said in his letter that he has names chosen. I feel so tired..." I moaned, and I felt pillows propping me up as Lirrian moved away.
"You will need to change, Elanor. I will clean up here and leave the two of you to sort yourselves out." Marianna said kindly, and helped me out of my blood-stained white gown and into a lightweight blue one with buttons down the front to my waist. I smiled as the two babies were placed in a wicker basket, and I rubbed my now almost normal stomach. I was incredibly sore, and it felt strange to be rid of the huge bulge in my stomach.
"Your daughter and your son. Selena and baby. They are human as I can tell, though I think they have some Elven features. See the ears are slightly pointed?" I smiled as she placed the basket on the bedside table, my babies! They were small, and they had soft downy blonde hair on their heads. The little boy was wrapped in a blue blanket, the girl in pink. I gasped as one of them started to cry.
"Oh no, why is he crying? Is something wrong, what ..." I was cut off by Marianna.
"He is hungry, is all!" She laughed. "You need to feed them. Unbutton the front and put him to your breast, he'll know what to do." She handed me the tiny baby, and I just held him for a moment in my arms. It was a wonderful feeling.
I unbuttoned my dress and awkwardly held him to me, unsure of what else to do, but Marianna was right. His small pink mouth found my nipple, and he began to suckle hungrily. It was an odd sensation, almost painful but not quite. Soon he seemed to have his fill, and he yawned, his eyes opening a crack. They were exactly the same as Legolas's, the brightest, clearest blue I had ever seen.
"I shall take m leave, you know where I am if problems should arise. Get some rest, you're body will need it." She waved at us, smiling at Selena and baby before leaving.
"I have a present for you!" Lirrian said suddenly. "Well, two. One was the carrying basket, the other was this..." she pulled out a large box. I held Selena to my other breast as she fed, opening it with my free hand.
"Oh my goodness! Lizzy, you did not need to buy these!" I exclaimed. There were several small baby outfits, some in pinks and yellows, the others in blue and green, they were all pastel shades. Some were dresses, some all in one's. There were white pyjamas and tiny shoes and gloves.
"Some of them I made myself, and I bought a few. The cardigans and little gloves are knitted, see?" She pointed out.
"Help me dress them! What should I put baby in? The green all in one is so pretty! The little yellow sunshine on the pocket is adorable!" She nodded.
"I thought so too...Here, let me help..." She picked up baby and laid him down on the bed, pulling a small piece of white cloth and pins from the bottom of my bag. "You'll need to change them every few hours, or when they smell." I pulled a face.
"Nice." I said as I patted Selena until she let out a small burp. Here eyes were chocolaty brown like mine, and she waved her arms slightly. Her hands were so small, and they clamped around my 1st finger.
"You will get used to it. There you go, baby, all done!" She buttoned up the suit, and placed him back in the basket. "There is one more thing..." She went back under the bed, and brought out two blankets. They both had E.S sewn onto them.
"The Blankets Nanna and Grandmummy made for me!" I said, looking at them. One was pink and one was yellow, they both had gold stitching. I wrapped baby in the yellow one, placing him back in his basket. I sorted through the little outfits until I found a yellow suit with a pink and blue teddy- bear on the collar. I did her napkin with a little help from Lirrian as she showed me how to do it, and dressed her in the all-in-one. Wrapping her in the pink blanket, I held her out to Lizzy.
"Hold her!" I laughed, then winced. "Owie." I said and she gently took Selena into her arms. I picked baby up, and stroked his face softly.
"You are so handsome, just like your daddy!" I said quietly, and I felt deeply how I missed Legolas. A lone tear slipped down my cheek, and I brushed it away. "And my little girl, you are beautiful. You'll break hearts, I can tell." I sniffed, and thought of my Mother.
"I wish she was here." Lizzy said softly. I nodded, lifting baby back into the basket, kissing his head. I did the same with Selena, and shifted over in bed.
"The other bed needs to dry, you'll have to sleep next to me, like we used to when Grandmummy came to stay before she died. Come, it is late, or should I say, early, and we both need sleep."
She slipped into the bed next to me, and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. "I love you, sis. I do not know how I would have survived if you weren't here. I miss the old times back in Eldora, when I was only small. Now I am married and with children!" I smiled, and drifted off to sleep, listening to the soft breathing of my sister, and of my beautiful babies.