Prally shouldn't post things like this at 2am after a night's dancing when I'm knackered and so my grasp on English is hardly at its best. Oh well…
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Ia as the plural of ion? Ia-nin. My sons. What do you think?
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There was the sound of hoof-beats in the courtyard, muffled by the billowing snows, was yet loud enough to alert the cohorts that their judgement was close at hand. The three froze, exchanging panicked glances.
"Go go go!" Legolas urged across the hall as the outer doors began to creak, voices filtering through to them from the blustery outdoors. Riven and Eldarion dashed for the stables, carrying the last of the feed buckets. Realising he was still stood in the middle of the hall with a broom - not the best way to look inconspicuous - Legolas dashed for the hall and propped the broom against the wall before re-entering the hall at a more sedate pace. Just in time to greet the king and his company as they entered, shaking the snow from their coats.
"Legolas!" Aragorn greeted, hurrying inwards and encouraging the others to close the doors against the chill. Legolas bowed with a smile, using the opportunity to scan the large room to make sure they hadn't missed anything. Legolas had braved the storm to put a temporary cover over the hole in the stable roof and the horses were all now back in their rightful places. Only just in time it seemed. The man slapped a hand on the elf's shoulder in greeting. "Welcome back. You'll excuse me if I don't talk now. After so many years I fear I'm softening, a warm bath calls my name."
"Go my friend, we will talk later." Legolas grinned.
"We will." He confirmed. "I am curious what great goings-on in Eryn Lasgalen called for such a hasty return."
"Father!" Legolas winced at the pair's appearance as they hurtled across the hall towards their father. The return of the horses to the stables had been a hurried affair, and both boys looked as though they had been in a hay-fight. Aragorn didn't look too surprised at this, but simply gathered them up in his arms.
"You look almost as road-dirtied as I, and you haven't left the palace!" He laughed. "Perhaps we shall all have baths before we dine." With laughter in his eyes, the King led the two away.
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"Legolas." Aragorn's call cut through the elf's daydream as his pencil traced absent doodles across the page. He grimaced once at the page under his hand before turning his attention to the King who stood in his doorway. "Faramir says I have a visitor waiting in my study and two southern lords in the meeting room calling for my blood, will you keep who ever is in the study busy? I fear the lords call my attention more immediately."
"Of course… what…" But Aragorn was gone before he could complete the question, hurrying off to see to those who he relied on to run the country alongside him. Legolas had quite happily fallen back into place within the Telcontar household upon his return, and had been happy to do everything he could to aid his friend. If that meant entertaining some noble for a short time while Elessar was occupied elsewhere, so be it. It was still more interesting than what he might have been doing around his own home had he not returned. Festering in his own convoluted grief. No, he was much better off here.
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The door to the study appeared beneath his hand and he paused, still lost in thought. Shaking himself out of his daydream, he stepped into the study.
His mind went blank.
His heart faltered.
He span around, facing back into the hallway. Turning his back on the one who he most wanted to see, and yet had hoped never to see again.
He had stiffened, his heart racing in his chest. Aragorn couldn't have known, of course. He'd made sure the man wouldn't find out, unsure of what he might think of them. And after that only because he had no wish to bring attention to his lover, who he had so far protected from Mirkwood's wrath.
He glanced back over his shoulder, if only to assure himself he was not going mad.
Elrohir too, seemed frozen in place. His eyes searched Legolas' - lip gripped in his teeth as though he could keep himself rooted though such a simple gesture. He seemed tired to Legolas, a weariness that showed in his eyes.
"You disappeared." He released his abused lip finally to mutter the soft words, more to himself it seemed than to Legolas.
"I needed time." He responded; trying to swallow past the lump that was forming in his throat. He turned a little further into the room, still tensed to run. He had never expected to be faced with his desertion in this way. He had forced his mind not to focus on his love, for the thoughts could only cause him pain.
"You didn't come back." Elrohir crossed his arms tightly over his chest, pulling back, retreating into himself.
"I… Couldn't." He couldn't help the hesitation in his voice as he answered.
"Never?" A desperate whisper. And that was the question, was it not? Would he ever be able to return to what they had once had? Not yet certainly, but if not now, when? He rubbed at his chest, trying to dislodge the weight that was building there. He was spared further anguish moments later as two bodies came hurtling into the study, one stopping in the doorway upon seeing the other person in the room, the other continuing on to grasp Legolas' hand as if to drag him away. Had he been a little taller, he might have had more success.
"Riven." Eldarion hissed. The younger boy froze, following the line of his brother's gaze across the room until it came to rest upon the stranger.
"Elessaria, this is your uncle." Legolas introduced them, using the hand not restrained by Riven to gesture across the room. He was about to continue when Riven surprised them all by stepping forward.
"My lord Elrohir." He bowed. Eldarion stared, agape. It was rare that Riven spoke at all to anyone who he didn't know, let alone make such an introduction.
"A brave greeting. If I were Elladan I might take offence at such an assumption." Elrohir smiled down at him.
"But you are not, and so you might think perhaps I had not assumed, but known."
"That is true." Elrohir smiled and laughed lightly. "Greetings Riven, Son of Gondor." He looked across the room to where Eldarion was recovering himself and stepping forward. "And Eldarion, Crown Prince of Gondor." He bowed.
"My Lord." Eldarion replied, casting his brother a questioning glance that he missed, still taking in the details of his new Uncle.
"Elrohir!" Aragorn, appearing in the doorway, greeted the twin with a back-slapping hug and stepped back to look him over. "It's been almost ten years, I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about us."
"Time passes so differently for us, Aragorn. You know this. I am sorry that I have not visited sooner. It seems the little ones aren't so little anymore."
"Where is Elladan? I haven't seen you travel separately since… well… ever."
"I do not know where Elladan is." Elrohir answered, with a tired sadness as though he had been asked the question too many times.
"Is he missing? Where have you looked? Give me a moment and I will prepare a horse…"
"No, Aragorn. Nothing like that. He is with the Dúnedain in the north. I'm sure he's fine, we would have had word if he were not. We are simply riding separately for a while. There was a time when it was not so unusal." Elrohir met Legolas' gaze, and he looked away immediately, overwhelmed with memories.
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Legolas escaped as quickly as was polite, leaving the reunited friends talking of changes taking place in Imladris and Lothlórien now that their warders were gone. The young ones followed him out, bored of the talk of adults. Elrohir watched Legolas go mournfully, trying to muffle the pain at his departure. They needed to talk, and soon. This could not go on. Meanwhile, Riven was bursting with excitement as he turned to Legolas as soon as they were out of earshot of the room they had just left.
"Your hands were shaking, that was how I identified him." He explained conspiratorially. "When he confronted me I thought perhaps I had been mistaken, but I was not." Riven smiled up at Legolas, proud of his achievement, but took in the drawn look of his face and hesitated. "Are you alright, Uncle?"
"Yes, I am well. Only…" He sighed. "Our reunion wasn't quite what I had expected." And it was the truth, for the white-hot anger that he had clung to for so many years had dissipated almost immediately, leaving him feeling only the loss of the love he had treasured for centuries. So many memories had clamoured for attention and they had all obscured the one that he had focused on for so long - sad eyes telling him that it would be for the best… It was the only way… It was better in the long-run…
Packaging away the maudlin thoughts, Legolas led the boys back up to their rooms.
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From the balcony of their rooms, the boys could overlook the gardens of the palace and beyond, the mountains to the west. Sitting together now, wrapped up against the chill, they watched as a blond figure wove a path through the white flurries beneath the bare branches of sleeping cherry trees.
"Isn't it so desperately sad." Riven murmured, almost to himself, as he watched Legolas walk through the desolation of winter.
"What's sad?" Eldarion asked from under a pile of blankets beside Riven. The older brother seemed to suffer a great deal more from the cold than the younger, who could quite happily sit in the snow with little more than his usual clothes without being overly affected by it.
"Look. Can't you see how sad he is? He must miss him desperately."
"Miss who?" Eldarion asked, peeking out of the covers only long enough to see Legolas wandering the gardens.
"Elrohir."
"Why would he miss Uncle Elrohir? He's here." Riven seemed to realise he'd said too much and fell silent, simply watching once more. Seeing that his younger brother was seriously concerned, Eldarion pushed a little.
"Tell me, Riven. We can't do anything if you keep things from me." Riven looked up and met his eyes.
"We can do something about it?"
"Of course. There's always something we can do. But not if I don't know what's going on." Riven considered this for a moment before acquiescing.
"I don't completely understand it. All I know is that they were in love and now they can't be together, even though they still love each other."
"That doesn't make any sense." Eldarion frowned.
"I know. But that's what he said to me, and he wouldn't say any more."
"Do you think it's because they live so far apart?"
"But why would that stop them now, when they are together."
"Maybe it's because of their fathers. Do you remember the tales Gimli used to tell of the Elven-king - that is Legolas' father!"
"Maybe. I was always scared of him in those stories, and I should hate to meet him." This confirmed, they grasped the idea fully.
"It must be terrible to be told what to do by your father." Eldarion said softly, temporarily forgiving his own father for anything that he might have been strict about. Love was the one thing that no one could control, even as a young man he knew this.
"So what can we do?"
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LadyJanelly : You're beginning to pick up on the pattern then. Hehe. Glad you're still with me.
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nevermind : Glad I could entertain somebody. :D Sorry about the general all-round cause for pessimism… but I can't promise you that it'll get better any time soon. Hope this update is fast enough to make it up to you. ;)
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Haldir's Heart and Soul : Not much chance of that. Even not knowing that it's his own son, Elrohir will care for the boy as a nephew.
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Grumpy : that was one of those scenes that came out of nowhere… or out of coordination chemistry lectures anyway (have to wonder how I'm ever going to revise for exams when half my lecture notes consist mostly of half-written fanfic). It wasn't planned at all, just a brief comic interlude. Or at least that's what I hoped it would be.