It was near a year before Legolas could return, having been called home by the affairs ofEryn Lasgalenand having never intended to stay in Gondor so long as he had. With such a long journey between the two cities, he needed a good amount of free time before he could even consider travelling from one to the other with intent to spend any time at his destination.
He was startled, as he arrived, at the change in the appearance of Eldarion as he was met at the front gates. Now turning ten the young boy sat tall in the saddle of a bay mare, looking every bit the Crown Prince. He greeted Legolas with enthusiasm, asking as many questions as he could find breath for about his travels. When eventually the elf had fielded as many questions as the young man could think of, he asked one of his own.
"Where is your brother this morn?" The frown that crossed Eldarions brow propagated one of his own. "Is he well?"
"He gets head-pains, he has done since he was very little. This one started this morning and he is confined to bed until it passes."
"Does it happen often?" Legolas asked, panic flaring in his chest.
"No, I can barely remember the last one... I think it may have been before your last visit. But it is scary." Legolas noted he did not say whom it was scary for. "It is worst when it begins and as it ends - oft he cannot even speak the pain is so great." Eldarion's eyes were wide in the memory. "And between his vision is clouded and bright light pains him." Eldarion shrugged off the worry in his eyes. "They always pass within a day, and afterwards he is terribly grouchy. We have to look after him while he is unwell, for it is not nice for him." Legolas accepted the childish frankness with a smile, now more eager than ever to see Riven.
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The door opened and shut lightly and cool fingers were lifting the cloth from his brow - warmed by his fever - and seeping it in the lavender scented water at his bedside.
"Papa?"
"No, it is Legolas. Your father has gone for medicines to help you sleep." Legolas wiped the cloth across the clammy brow and laid the cool towel over his forehead again.
"It is so dark, Legolas. So much darker than before."
"This will pass, it has done before."
"I know, but still I fear..."
"Hush." Sliding into the bed behind him, Legolas lifted Riven's head into his lap and reached across to soak the towel again. The young boy sighed softly as the cool towel was laid upon his brow.
"You are very much like an Uncle to me, Legolas." He said after a moment's silence. "Would you like to be my Uncle?" Legolas smiled at the innocent suggestion.
"Very much."
"Then you shall be Uncle Legolas. Have you met my Uncles? Father says they are twins, so similar you can hardly tell one from the other and cause much trouble in their realm with their prankster's habits. He thinks that is where Eldarion gets it from, from mother. I have never met them, though. I should like to very much."
"I have met them, and been subject to one or two of their pranks. But I can always tell them apart. They've never been able to trick me that way, though they have tried once or twice."
"How do you tell them apart?"
'Only one can make my heart sing.' Legolas thought, before crushing his rising sadness down and seeking a more appropriate answer.
"They are not identical twins, more mirror images. Elrohir has the smallest blemish on his right cheek from an old battle, Elladan has one on his left, though he will not tell the tale of how he received it. Elladan's voice is deeper, but Elrohir has a more wicked laugh. Elladan's comes from deep in his chest, as if his whole body were laughing."
"And the reason you were going to give? The one that gave you reason to pause?"
"You are much to perceptive for a boy of your years." Legolas grumbled. "But it is nothing that would aid you in telling them apart should you meet them."
"But I should like to know what would cause such a strain in my Uncle's voice." Legolas went to retort and pulled himself up short when he saw the brightness of Riven's eyes and the smile on his lips. Whether or not at his own expense, he was distracting the young boy from his pains.
"If I should tell you this, it must be upon an oath never to reveal it to another soul."
"It is that interesting then? Please tell, I swear the oath." Legolas hesitated. How to put his thoughts into words... and to the only one who should never be told the truth...
"Elrohir is the only one for whom I feel as it a hand has reached out and grasped my heart with great strength." His heart answered before he could finish thinking.
"You love him." Riven sounded awed.
"Once we loved each other, but it is no more, and can never be again."
"That is very sad, can you not tell me why?"
"No, for it is much to painful a tale to put into words. Rest now, your father returns."
Even as he spoke, the door slid open to reveal the King of Gondor - a steaming mug in his hands and Arwen right behind him. Even as he greeted the elf the smile on the King's face changed to a frown and he rushed forwards, near throwing the mug aside in his haste.
Confused, Legolas looked back down at Riven to find him curled in on himself, his head in his hands and his mouth open as though he were screaming silently. Arwen had him in her arms on the bed and was rocking him before Legolas had collected himself enough to even think about acting. Aragorn sat on the other side of the bed, murmuring quiet nonsense to the pained child and stroking his back until his pain seemed to ease and his body relaxed into his mother's arms. As Arwen lay the now-sleeping Riven down in his bed and carefully wrapped the thick blanket back around his shoulders, Aragorn drew a pale Legolas outside.
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The shaking elf was lowered into a chair and he looked about himself, startled, to find that Aragorn had led him into a spare room without his noticing. Aragorn knelt in front of Legolas and grasped both his hands in his own, trying to still the shakes that held him.
"Calm, my friend. It's over now." He soothed.
"What... I mean... why did... what was..." He trailed off, his words to uncertain to continue.
"You shouldn't have had to see that. I'm sorry. We were expecting another hour before it broke."
"That was... You were expecting that!"
"It had been how the breaking of his migraine has always presented itself."
"Will he be okay?" The wide-eyed question almost brought a smile to Aragorn's voice, so young did the elf sound for his many years.
"He will be fine when he wakes in the morning. The migraines have never lasted longer than a day, and this one was over quicker than most."
"What a way to start a visit." Legolas sighed, biting his lip as he found tears flooding to his eyes unbidden. "I'm sorry." He whispered, apologising for nothing much and for everything through the thickness of tears.
"Never fear, my friend. It's a shock to see him in such pain, but it's passed now."
"No, it never goes. The pain... it doesn't pass." Neither of them truly knew who he was talking about.
-
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He had been in Minas Tirith for two months, and it was suffocating him. He sat alone in the guest room allotted him. In the silence. The silence was suffocating. His future swam before him, blank and empty. Filled with hopelessness. Its emptiness was a void into which he could not help but fall, dragged ever onwards. Ever down.
He forced a smile onto his face as two hands rapped a pre-determined rhythm on his door.
"Come in." He replied, standing from where he had been laid prone on the bed and straightening his clothes. His quiver was on his back and buckled - more through force of habit than any sense of danger - before either boy entered the room.
"Uncle, we want to go riding, will you come with us?"
"Of course." And he knew that there was no other answer. Until his days ended and the grief took his tattered soul away, he would follow that boy anywhere. He cursed Aragorn for his stubbornness. And himself for the weakness that would not allow him to leave.
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LadyJanelly, grumpy : Thanks for the reviews!
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Sesshyangel : You have to bear in mind this was a long time before political correctness, but I think I'd like a go at him too. I'd always seen Eldarion as a great big-brother kind of figure, even before Riven came along. It's nice to see that brought out in him. I'd like to say that I knew whether or not Legolas had seen him before... but I don't know! This story is writing itself completely without conscious thought on my part.
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Non-christian : Painfully beautiful... what a fantastic oxymoron. Regarding in and out holes - what would he have shown Aragorn otherwise? Hehe... sorry, immature thoughts. You have to assume something went wrong with the pregnancy, as was predicted with his being a male father and all, and the procedure was necessary.
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Nevermind : Sorry I'm not up to your standard... but I'm not a big buff, I just like the characters.
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Regarding Languages : my reasoning is as follows - Sindarin, though Arwen's and potentially Aragorn's first language, would likely not be the language they would talk with in Gondor (could you imaging the unrest of the people if their King spoke in a tongue unknown to them?). That said, I have already stated that the boys have knowledge of the tongue. Gondors nearest neighbours and closest allies (in theory) are the men of Rohan. Whether or not these men know Westron, it would be a great advantage to any prince to know their first tongue - Rohirric, which Aragorn knows. As for Quenya, I debated this one. The most obvious reason is that the elves are leaving middle earth and there were few that still used the old language around anyway. It's a lot like Latin in modern day society. The only use would be in the reading of old manuscripts etc. which were left behind by the elves, and they are only kids - not scholars! Adûnaic IS Númenórien is it not? The language was almost completely taken over by Westron. Again, only a language for reading mouldy old scrolls.
Why Silvan? Coz it's Legolas, duh... ahem... no, the main reasoning was that there seemed to be a huge number of Silvan elves left behind after the huge departure of elves that happened around the War of the Ring. Thranduil and most of his kingdom did not seem to leave at all, they actually seemed to be settling back down in the newly renamed 'Eryn Lasgalen' with many of Lórien's elves (also a community the bulk of which were Silvan elves, unless I'm mistaken - which is very possible). For future relations given that Aragorn is trying to reunite ALL of middle earth under one banner, I could be useful. It also gives Aragorn an excuse to have Legolas where he can see him, and make sure he's ok. Though nothing was written about it, I think it likely he will have given them a bit of a scare disappearing so suddenly in the state he was in (mental and physical) from Rivendell.
Of course, this is all moot, because on further research I think it very likely Silvan was replaced with Sindarin long ago, and only the accent or dialect remains. Still... artistic license? I've been claiming that one a few too many times recently.