"What's taking so long?" fretted Pippin as he paced the hallway outside the chamber door where Merry, Eowyn, and Boromir's brother Faramir lay. Legolas watched him go back and forth while Gimli slept in a quiet corner.

"They have each suffered injuries that are greater than their own strengths," Legolas explained calmly, though he certainly didn't feel calm. He was worried too, and not just about the three injured people. In order to heal them, Aragorn would have to expend much of his energy and might possibly have to take himself to the brink of death in order to call them back. "We must trust that Aragorn knows what he's doing," he said aloud.

Pippin flopped down next to where Legolas sat on the floor. "Strider wouldn't have to heal them if I'd been more useful," he bemoaned. "I should have done something more! What good am I anyway?"

"What good are you?" Legolas repeated, looking at the hobbit sharply. "Mithrandir told me all that you've been up to these last few days. You saved him from an orc blade; not many people can honestly claim to have come to a wizard's rescue. And I understand that it was you who saved the Lord Faramir from the pyre."

"But I should have done something sooner!" cried Pippin. "I could see how poor Denethor was losing his mind and I just sat around and watched until it was almost too late. And what about Merry? I just left him behind all by himself to come to the city."

"Pippin," comforted Legolas, putting an arm around him. "Don't twist your memories to make yourself feel worse. You didn't leave him because you wanted to. And remember this: if Merry hadn't stayed in Rohan, Eowyn would probably be dead or captured by now and the Lord of the Nazgul would still walk this earth. Where would we all be in that case?"

"I still could have tried to stay with him," muttered Pippin in a self-loathing manner. "I could have not looked in the palantir in the first place. I could have done something."

"I've thought that way as well," confided Legolas. "At Amon Hen, when we got back to your hiding place to find you and Merry gone. I blamed myself for your capture right up to the moment that we found out that you two were safe in the care of the Ents. I kept asking myself why I hadn't stayed with you, or why did I choose that particular place."

"If we hadn't been in that place," said Pippin as understanding slowly came to him, "then Frodo might have been captured. And if you'd stayed with us, you probably would have died too. If you'd saved us from being caught then we'd never have met Treebeard, or gone to Isengard, or to Rohan. Legolas, where do you think our path would have taken us?"

"I don't know," answered Legolas simply. "All I know is that we all took the roads that we were supposed to go on, no matter how painful the journey proved to be."

"Too true, too true," agreed Aragorn as he came out of the healing chambers. At the sound of his voice the elf and hobbit sprang to their feet. "However, I come now to relieve you of some of that pain. All three should be fine after getting the proper amount of rest. Pippin, Merry wants to see you right away; Lord Faramir is asking for you as well."

"Really?" Pippin's face brightened as he scampered to his feet. "Thanks Strider! Thanks Legolas!"

"No thanks are necessary," laughed Aragorn as he shut the door behind the enthusiastic hobbit.

Legolas wasn't fooled by his lover's cheerful tone. "Come," he urged. "I see that you are weary. Let's give Pippin some time alone with Merry and Faramir. I'm sure Eomer and Eowyn need some uninterrupted time alone as well. You need to get some rest and I need to have some time alone with you."

"Let's go to the encampment outside the city," agreed Aragorn with a smile. He started when Gimli let out an unusually loud snore. "Should we wake him so he can come too?"

"No," replied the elf with a scrunch of his nose and a shake of his head. "He should be fine here until the morning. Besides, you know firsthand how unpleasant it is to wake a sleeping dwarf."

"Good point," Aragorn shuddered only half-playfully. "Come, meleth; we leave these patients in good hands."

"That healer who was running in and out of here a little while ago?" wondered Legolas, a little startled.

"No," snorted Aragorn. "He was full of something and it wasn't just useless facts. I mean an old healing woman named Ioreth. I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving them if it weren't for her trust in and knowledge of ancient lore and wisdom."

"I must thank her later if that's the case," said Legolas, slipping and arm around him. "Now come before you fall asleep on your feet in the hallway."

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Legolas laughed at the sight that greeted him and Aragorn as they approached their tent (and Gimli's too, since there weren't enough tents for anyone to have one to himself). "Well, look who we have here!" he exclaimed.

Aragorn grinned at the snorts of greeting that he and his lover got from Hasufel and Arod. "I see they came all the way from the Paths of the Dead to feast on the grass of Pelennor Fields," he observed with a quirk of an eyebrow.

"Yes, my lord," said the Rohirrim soldier attending the horses. "We feared that you three had perished when they came back running wild and without riders. They followed us here all the way from Dunharrow."

"They are faithful steeds, to be sure," commented Legolas fondly as he stroked Arod's nose.

"Faithful?" snorted the young soldier. "Never before has a horse of Rohan has ever abandoned their rider, even when a battle turned fierce and hopeless. These two –"

"Your heart would have quailed long before theirs did," interrupted Aragorn indignantly. "Were you not afraid under the shadow of the mountain? These poor horses approached the entrance and only ran when the time came to enter it. That was no place for a horse, not even two as brave as these."

"See to it that they'll be ready to ride again as soon as they can be," Legolas told the young man. "Then get some rest while you can. This was but one battle; the war is not over yet."

"Yes, my lords," said the Rohirrim, scurrying to obey orders as the couple entered the tent.

"Alone at last," breathed Aragorn when they were safely inside. "Now what should we do to occupy ourselves?"

"Perhaps you should just get some sleep," suggested Legolas half-jokingly as he ran a hand through Aragorn's hair.

"A worthy suggestion," Aragorn said, taking him into his arms. "But I could also do this." He gently kissed the tip of Legolas' pointed ear before tracing it with his tongue. Legolas gasped and clutched him closer. "And if I did that," he continued seductively, "that I very well can't neglect the other one."

Legolas' breath came in shallow gasps as Aragorn first delicately sucked the tip of the other ear, then used his tongue to caress it. "I – ah! – just can't stand here – oh yes! – while you, you do that," moaned Legolas as he pressed his entire body up as much as he could against the Man's. Aragorn groaned in pleasure as Legolas bent his head to kiss the juncture of his neck and shoulder. The elf's mouth then slid up to Aragorn's neck, to sucking, licking, and kissing it in all the right places.

Aragorn enjoyed the sensations that Legolas' lips and tongue were giving him before gently placing a hand on his cheek and guiding his head up. He kissed Legolas thoroughly, plunging his tongue into the elf's mouth and tasting all over. "Perhaps," murmured Aragorn as he let his hand slide down the elf's body to touch him through his leggings, "we could recreate that night in Lothlorien."

The only answer he got was a cry of desire that escaped from Legolas that broke their kiss. The cries became more fevered as Aragorn did wonderful things with his hands. Aragorn felt Legolas' hands slide down his back, rubbing, touching, and exploring. Sensation and emotion was overwhelming everything else. He was getting dizzy...

"Aragorn!" Legolas tightened his arms around him as the Man's knees buckled. "I think my first suggestion was the correct one," he said, guiding Aragorn to the nearest cot.

"Are you sure I didn't just swoon over you?" Aragorn smiled sleepily as he lay down, resting his head on Legolas' lap.

Legolas lovingly stroked Aragorn's hair. "The night will come when I can really make you swoon," he murmured. "Sleep now and dream of that."

"That is a dream I've been having for many years," responded Aragorn. "I hope it comes."

"What wouldn't it?" whispered Legolas, keeping his voice soothing and even to lull him to sleep.

"I might be able to save Minas Tirith," said Aragorn, "but then what happens? How will I be able to renew the splendor of the ancient realm? Even in this city the population is dwindling, many homes are deserted, and the walls and many structures are falling apart. The White Tree of the kings is dead. Your father said long ago that he would only give his permission for us to be together while you're still underage if I were to renew Gondor and Arnor."

"I doubt my father will forbid our union now," Legolas assured him gently. "I think he knows that my destiny lies with the world of Men no matter what else happens in these dark days."

"I don't want for you to have to settle in the ruins of a dying land," replied Aragorn. "The Minas Tirith that we make our home should be alive, full of beauty and strength."

"And we will make sure that happens," murmured Legolas, moving his fingers through Aragorn's hair. "Though I don't care where we live as long as you are with me."

The gentle touch was finally lulling the tired Man to sleep. As Aragorn drifted off, he heard the words that inspired his dreams that night and for many nights after: "I will always love you and have always believed in you. The day will come when we stand together in the courtyard of the city, watching the White Tree as it blossoms anew."

To be continued...