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Even though no one reviewed on the last chapter yet, im posting the second. So yeah, pleaz pleaz read and review and enjoy!

"That necklace," Thranduil said quietly, distracting his son from the horrors that lay around them, from the blood that splattered the cave walls, while he worked with the wound. "It is so familiar."

Legolas tightened a bandage, "It was my mother's."
"Nimphel." Thranduil said, reaching up and grasping the golden figure within his hands. "She wore it around your neck the day you were born and...and...the day she died. Every day she ever lived..."

Legolas placed his hand over his father's fist around the jewel and tucked the necklace into his tunic so that it would no longer be visible. "I rarely remove it. It is always with me in battle. I have never fallen."

"She would not let you fall," Thranduil answered, breathing heavily once more, feeling the binding pain coming from his wounded midriff.

"No," replied the elf prince gently. "She would not." He crushed an herb into a small bowl he found rolling on the ground from the table. "She promised me she would not let me fall." He then stood to his feet to retrieve rain water for the remedy.

It was a long moment before Legolas returned, the two in silence, until finally Thranduil smiled and said, grasping a golden lock of Legolas's hair, a tear slipping down his face. "My son."

Legolas's lip quivered as he placed a hand over his father's heart, "My Adar."

"I have taught you well, mellon nin." Thranduil replied, his breathing becoming sharp from pain, "You are a healer, a warrior and a very good prince." He smiled, but with deemed effort.

"You have indeed taught me well Adar," Legolas replied, "But I am afraid I am not a good prince." Taking a rag he had found laying beside a dead healer, he drenched it and ripped Thranduil's tunic where the wound was located, along his stomach, a rather large wound, just missing an internal organ. Legolas bit back angry tears at the site and said, "Hold my hand Adar." Thranduil did so as Legolas took the drenched cloth and rubbed the fluid he had made into the wound.

Thranduil's grip on his hand had increased to the point of causing Legolas a sharp pain, but he knew it was nothing to what Thranduil felt, a stinging sensation that covered his entire body, a pain so terrible that many pass out from it. Thranduil however much he winced, did not pass out nor complain but merely said, "My son."
"My Adar," Legolas replied, his mind only on saving his father's life. The wound was clearing up, even though it was not fatal, he was losing blood. The wound was clearing up...The wound was clearing...

Thranduil let go of Legolas's hand and said surely, "The pain has passed."

"And you are healed," replied Legolas. "But not fully. Time and rest will be your partner this route." Legolas went on another search, finding clothes to lay under his father's head as a pillow and finding blankets to keep him and his wound as warm as possible.

"We cannot stay here for much longer," Thranduil answered. "We must move on."

"Adar," Legolas addressed, "You are in no condition to travel at this time. We have a few moments to spare, I can assure you. Now sleep. Regain your strength."

Very few moments later, Thranduil had closed his eyes and drifted off into a deep rest. He dreamed nothing, knew nothing, felt nothing through this time of relief. He was sleeping in the mind as if it were unconscious.

Legolas watched his father closely, knowing that he himself did not need rest as much as he needed to guard. The cave was to be searched by orcs at a later time, he was sure of. The fire flickered onto his father's elegant face and Legolas knew from his pale color that they must remain for as long as possible, nor could he put out the flame that provided such a signal to anything that could be watching them from shadows. It would indeed burn out in time and all would go dark. He still refused to leave his father's side for fuel. He would rather lie in darkness and cold than leave him there alone.

Legolas occupied his mind with other matters as best as he could. He thought of home and how when they arrived there once more, there would be dancing, feasts and all sorts of celebration. They would be well cared for and glad as they once were, as they always had been.

His thoughts drifted to Faerfain, a fair elven maiden, with long golden locks and sparkling blue eyes. Wherever he went, he could smell her, feel the warmth of her breath in the darkness, know the touch of his lips on her own. It kept him alive, during many a battle, the thought of her sweet caresses, of holding her in his arms once more.

He shed a tear. How he wished she were with him right then, to comfort him in such hours of darkness! How he loved her more than anything he had ever known! How he loved her...

The fire lay as merely embers, burning red and hot into the earth. Thranduil's face clouded in shadow and Legolas could not see him, but only knew he still rested by his side from the sound of his breath harshly leaving his lips. Soon the embers had burned down to a nothingness and the two elves were swallowed by the shadows.

Oh, the day they had parted! Legolas pursed his lips. Faerfain had begged him not to leave on such a wretched journey. It was folly and only a wrong in the first place! Nothing good could come of it! Legolas had said as he embraced her and held her softly to his chest, "I know, but it is my father's orders. I must go." He cursed himself. How Faerfain was right!

Legolas felt deeply disheartened from the darkness of the cave. Everything seemed hopeless. He leaned forward to kiss his father upon the forehead when the heirloom fell from the chain on his neck and onto the floor. He then remembered the light that had shown through it, the warmth he felt when he held it. It glowed blue, like an ember, upon the dirt. As his fingers clasped it, he held it within his hand tightly. "Mother," he whispered. "My mother..." Warmth was spreading through him, a new strength of some sort. He closed his eyes and held it in this fashion for a long time, memories sweeping through him...

"Do not be afraid my child," Nimphel whispered softly into the elfling's ear. "The night will not hurt you."

Legolas moved forward, four hundred years of age, clinging to Nimphel's leg.

"The night is kind and generous," she cooed softly, "Like the cool wind on the hottest of days, or the warmth in the dead of winter. Do not be afraid my son, for I am right beside you. I am always right beside you."

Legolas moved forward and immediately stumbled, only to be grasped just in time by his mother. She said softly to him, "I will not let you fall."...

Legolas felt another tear roll down his cheek. The other whom he had loved so much was gone from his life. He fastened the necklace upon him once more and tried not to think of it. When he let go of it, however, dimmer, more tragic memories were instilled once more inside of him. He could remember the palace draped in black, the color of funeral, the color of mourners. He could remember nothing of that time when he was a thousand years of age. He could remember no faces, no features of the funeral at all. Everything was cloudy he had been so tear blinded. The only thing that shone through the blur of the afternoon was the color black.

It was morning when Legolas opened his eyes. He could hear the pounding of the ceaseless rain upon the rock and the smell of the earth rising up with the mists. He had not meant to have slept, but somewhere in his thoughts he had strayed out of duty and into a deep rest, a rest that had slightly comforted him in his time of grief.

He glanced over at his father, who was still in a sound sleep, his chest steadily rising up and down and his breath still rattling inside of him from his wounds. He seemed slightly less distressed himself. Legolas knew, however, that they had already overstayed their time within the cave. The orcs would be there anytime. He needed to rouse Thranduil.

He nudged his father slightly and waited patiently for him to open his weary eyes. "Adar?" he asked quietly.

Thranduil opened his eyes and said quietly, "Yes my son? Must we move on at this time?"

"I am afraid so Adar. Prepare to leave momentarily. I am going to see into our path." At this, Legolas stood to his feet and walked to the mouth of the cave. He closed his eyes and strained them.

He could see miles and miles of hills and fields laid out before them, a vast expanse of wilderness that they would have to trek through before they were to reach Mirkwood. He could see no orcs in their path, just miles and miles of muddy ditches and fresh green grasses, just turning golden from the summer, undulating with one another in patterns and spraying the dew off themselves onto another blade beside them.

Legolas returned to his father, who by that time had managed to sit up. He had taken a piece of lembas bread from the floor of the cave and had started delicately eating it. He looked up softly, his bright elven eyes glowing. "Here my son. There is little here, but it is enough for a day's worth of meals." He paused. "Legolas, why are you crying?"
Legolas turned away. The site of the king of the Mirkwood realm sitting on the ground eating lembas bread he had scavenged and being surrounded by dead bodies of a lost battle, had brought him to tears. Much had been lost, many a great counselor and guardsman had been slaughtered in the night.

"My son, do not cry." Thranduil stood to his feet and embraced him. "The world will come back to itself as it always used to. We will be home soon. The trees do not stop their swaying after tragedy."

Legolas closed his eyes and shuddered, reminding himself of this. The trees do not stop swaying...The grass will not stop growing...The flowers will not stop blooming... His mother used to say that to him, whisper it in his ear softly in the night when he felt so afraid...

"Although we've lost quite a bit of treasure, not all of it, in fact not half of it," Thranduil flashed him a grim smile, "-we have Mirkwood to come home too."

Legolas touched the necklace and closed his eyes, caressing it gently. It was still there, safely hanging around his neck, warming his heart in such a cold hour. "Do you remember her song?" he asked quietly.

"Whose song?" Thranduil questioned, although by the downtrodden expression on his face, it could be said that he knew exactly whose song.

"The rain falls from gray clouds, the moonlight dries them up, the sands of the river rise...it falls...it always rises up again..." Legolas began. He then shook his head. "Adar, we are dwelling. We must travel, as it would be safest to find another resting place before sundown. Are you well enough to walk such a distance?"

"Yes." Thranduil replied. "I am well enough."

Legolas gathered what supplies he needed, gathered them in a pack upon his back and said, "We must leave now." He bowed his head in reverence to those that lay dead for their sake, debated with himself whether he could bury them or not, and left the cave, Thranduil by his side.

They were silent as they walked, their minds in separate worlds from the earth they walked upon. Their feet made no noise as they traveled, but if they had been human, they would have been sloshing and sinking into the mud filled depths of puddles and ditches. When an elf is of age, they do not stumble. Any other creature would have given up unless they carried this feature.

Legolas could hear a river sloshing somewhere off to his left and immediately said, "Adar, we must follow the river! It will lead us to the Mirkwood wine cellars. If we stay close, we cannot veer directions. Now that we have found this river, we must go to it."

They followed the sound as quickly as they could until a great rushing body of water was set up before them. Mists rose up from it like steam in a warm bathe and breathe from creatures that burrowed themselves deep inside the river. They began to follow it upward for a while.

Legolas's thoughts drifted far off. He thought he could see Faerfain's sparkling eyes guiding them back home through the swirling mists. It had been a long time since he had seen her and he missed her dearly...

"Why are you out here all alone, vanim? The night air is warm, but you mustn't linger in darkness." Legolas approached her.

"Legolas," she replied softly. "I love the night. It is indeed warm, and yet so beautiful."

Legolas stepped casually closer toward her. She looked so radiant under the moonlight, her hair like silk and her eyes like the fireflies that flickered through the air. How beautiful she looked that night! Legolas knew as he watched her hum to herself and braid her hair as she swayed there, that he wanted to be with her forever. This was not the first time he had realized this, but the feeling was new each time it came to him. "The night is beautiful on this evening. Every star is out and the path is lit with the moonlight. Come walk with me."

Faerfain took his arm and they strolled together, slowly, but meaningfully. "I've been meaning to ask you Legolas. Why have you chosen to be with me? I am a mere servant girl. I have no wealth, no gain for this kingdom. Why me?"

"Because I love you." Legolas replied simply. "If that answer is not enough for you than I do not know what else I can say to ease your mind." He took her hands within his own. They were petite and delicate. "I love you Faerfain. I love you more and more each day. I love you more than anything else in my life. I want to be with you forever." He brushed his lips against hers and the world stilled itself around them. His hand ran gently through her hair as he kissed her. He could feel the warmth of her breath upon his skin, the feeling of her fingertips running down his spine.

"Legolas!" a voice called.

The two broke away from each other and looked up...

Legolas in took his breath as he and his father walked along the river. He could still hear Faerfain's heartbeat in the darkness of that beautiful night. The river reminded him of other memories, far away memories, but he was lost again, the sound of the river carrying him back to reality.

Ok well that was the second chapter, and I have the third one written, but im gonna see if I get reviews before I post it...so yeah, please review...

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! Third chapter coming soon!!!