Disclaimer: If I owned them, I'd be Tolkien. If I were Tolkien, for one I would know how to spell my own name. (To those wondering, I still can't figure out how to spell his name. Is that correct? [points up]) Another thing: if I were him, I'd be dead. And having a ghost posting a slashy story is... disconcerting to say the least.
Off with the rambling, on with the story. ;D
Chapter 6: Revelations"Legolas?" Estel asked, brows furrowed in his effort to recall where he had heard that slightly familiar name. "Who's Legolas?"
He was ignored as the table of Elves rose and gathered around the portrait, chattering excitedly as they examined it carefully.
"Ada, are you sure that this is the portrait that has been missing all these centuries?" Elladan questioned his father, even as he marvelled at the astounding likeness the painting bore to his comatose Mirkwood friend.
"I do not doubt it. Only Danin could have painted this," Elrond replied as he ran his eyes over the proud face on the canvas, feeling very sure that this was the key to saving the young Elf.
"But how is it possible that the Elves have searched for it for so many centuries without finding anything, and suddenly it turns up in Estel's hands?" Glorfindel puzzled.
"It doesn't matter. At least now we have it and there's still time left to return to Mirkwood and reverse the spell," Erestor, always logical, had the answer as usual.
Estel cleared his throat and raised his voice. "Excuse me? What in Arda is going on here?"
Finally, the Elves seemed to remember his presence. Elrond tore his eyes off the portrait and said hurriedly, "I think it would be better if we continued this conversation in the study. I'd like to hear how you came to be in possession of this portrait, Estel. Elladan, Elrohir, could you please carry it, him, into the study. And be careful, who knows how one can affect the other..."
With that, the slightly incoherent Elven Lord whirled and walked out of the dining hall, pushing his very confused Human son before him.
x.X.x.X.x.X.x
When they had settled down in the study, with the portrait of the blonde Elf given the place of honour by the window in full view of everyone, Estel recounted his tale of the discovery of the portrait to everyone in detail.
"Now, can someone please tell me what is going on? I've had just about enough with being woken up rudely in the middle of the night twice by this painting and I at least deserve to know what this is all about."
Elrond folded his hands in his lap and looked piercingly at the Human. "Do you remember the story I told you when you were nine years old? The one of the Elf with the stolen soul?"
Estel thought for a moment, before his memory pulled that event from the haze of the past. "Vaguely. Something about it being imprisoned in a painting..." His eyes lit up in comprehension as they darted between the blonde Elf on the canvas before him and his father. "You mean...?"
"Yes. This is the portrait of Legolas, Prince of Mirkwood, or, as it was known back then, Greenwood."
"The story was real, then," Estel said, shocked. "I thought you were making it up."
"No, I wasn't making it up." Elrond gave a little smile. "I suppose we can take this as a good omen, since part of the Seers' vision has come to pass. Thranduil must be informed of this."
"Wait, Lord Elrond," Glorfindel spoke up. "Much as the painting resembles the Prince, and much as I believe that it is the one we seek, I do not think it wise to inform the King until we have verified that this is the painting that houses his son's soul. It would break his heart if we are wrong."
"But how can we verify it?" Elrohir exclaimed in frustration. "Isn't the mere sight of it enough to confirm that this was done by Elven hands? By Danin's hands?"
"He is right," Elladan interjected. "No offense to Estel, but I don't believe the Humans have the skill required to paint something like this."
"Peace, all of you," Elrond held up his hands as the discussion of the painting threatened to turn into an argument, pitting his advisors against his sons. "There is a way to verify the painting." He turned his attention back to the human. "What's this about being woken up at night by Legolas?"
Estel fidgeted in his chair. "Well, the first night, I saw this pair of eyes staring at me from bedside my bed, but when I turned to look again, they were gone. The second night, I followed a blonde Elf down the corridors and even confronted him, but he just... vanished."
Elrond nodded thoughtfully, "I believe that our answer lies there. Recollect that it has been said that the painting comes to life at night, so if we stay up and wait for it to come to life, all our questions will be answered."
x.X.x.X.x.X.x
When the Moon rose that night, she saw a sight that must have amused her greatly. A group of three Elves and a Human gathered around a painting, staring at it so intently that they looked like they were worshipping it.
It had taken much persuasion before Elrond managed to convince his advisors that it would be better for them not to stay up as well. After all, he reasoned, it would be better for the young Elf not to have to confront so many strangers at the same time, given that the last time he had seen most of them was more than a thousand years ago. Elrond would have sent his Human son off to bed as well, if said Human had not countered his reasoning with the argument that he was no stranger to the Elf since the Elf had taken the liberty to explore his room and watch him while he slept.
And so here they were, gathered in Estel's room, waiting for the painting to come to life.
Time seemed to drag, and Estel was half-asleep when he heard his father comment, "It should be soon now."
Immediately, he shook of his fatigue and sat up, eyes alert and fastened on the painting. He wanted to see exactly how it 'came to life', as his father put it. And exactly how it, no, he, had managed to exit the frame without waking the Human.
Suddenly, a chilly gust of wind swept through the room, ruffling the robes of the Elves and the curtains. A ray of moonlight filtered in and struck the face of the portrait, making the blue eyes glow with a haunting light.
Everyone watched the painting with bated breaths. They fancied that they saw the eyes move slightly from side to side, then return to their original position. And, was it just them, but did the neutral expression change to one that was slightly... apprehensive?
They waited... and waited. There was nothing. Finally, Elrohir's patience ran out and he sighed. "I don't think he's coming out, Ada."
"No... let's wait. A little while more. I can feel his presence now. He's just afraid of us." The Elven Lord moved forward such that was standing right in front of the portrait. Then he began speaking in the gentle, coaxing tones he had used on Estel as a child when he refused to go to bed.
"Come now, young one, there is nothing to be afraid of. We are all friends... Don't you remember us, Legolas?"
The blue eyes in the portrait narrowed slightly and focused on the figure of the Elf standing in front of it. There was something... familiar... he knew this Elf.
"Come out and talk to us, Legolas, before we run out of time. We want to help you, young one."
The surface of the portrait rippled slightly. Elrond stepped back, pleased. Perhaps this would work after all.
The ripples grew larger, blurring the portrait, but they could see that the shape of the Elf behind it had changed.
Suddenly, a hand pressed against the canvas from the inside, looking as though it was pressed against a window. The hand pushed outward, soon joined by the other as they clawed their way out of the jelly-like membrane that separated the Elf in the painting from the outside world.
Finally, the membrane broke soundlessly and a blonde Elf dropped out of the painting with a gasp. Immediately, the membrane swung back in on itself, encasing the forest in the background. He remained in a crouch on the floor for a moment, regaining his breath from the exertion of escaping his prison, then stood to his feet in a proud and fluid motion, looking at the Elven Lord with brilliant blue eyes that barely contained their joy.
"You know my name."
"Aye, and I watched you grow up as well," Elrond replied gently as he beheld the sight of the Elf many had thought of as dead.
Legolas choked back a sob as he flung his arms around the startled Elven Lord's neck. "I never thought I'd get to see another Elf again, much less hear someone call my name."
Elrond quickly gathered his wits and patted the Elf's back soothingly, "I'm very glad to see you again, young one. Welcome back, Legolas."
x.X.x.X.x.X.x
TBC
Author's notes:
[waves streamers] YAY! Another chapter up at last. XD stupid though, I only just realised that it happily got rid of all my pointy-bracket-things... [waves vaguely] argh, those thingies that I put my random actions in... like that 'waves vaguely' part. Gr. And now i can't even use colons as breaks. Double gr......
Anyway, relatively unexciting chapter this time... but Leggy finally meets up with Estel! Face-to-face!! Well, not really.... Soul-to-face would be more like it... XD I'm rambling here. As usual. My mind is still on the rhythmic gymnasts from the Olympics... their flexibility is scary... Imagine being able to hook your foot under your chin from the back. And do a pivot at the same time. [faints]
Writing is still at the same place... Haven't been able to get anything out lately, just don't have the time. What with typing exam papers and, err, getting hooked onto 'Bejewelled' and 'Hexic' on MSN... and not to mention, my latest craze of downloading anime to feed my addictions. I actually managed to finish downloading a 127 episode series in 3 weeks... my computer was doing OT the whole weekend. XD But it's the school holidays next week, means I'll be totally free to write. Bliss, don't need to see the brats who call themselves students when they are just pains in the... never mind. I. Want. To. Go. Back. To. Studying.!!!!
Ahem. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next one will be up in 2 weeks time, and hopefully by then I will have finished writing this story! [determined look]
Review replies time! Wow. This chapter was a real record breaker, so many reviews!!! [bounces happily] incidentally, I was bored one day and decided to do some calculations... The total number of reviews for this story has exceeded the sum of all the reviews for all my stories!! [streamers and balloons] haha... Erm, I think now everyone knows exactly how I spend my time doing... nothing?
The-Serious-Padfoot: Thank you! Here's the next chapter, and since only about 30% of the story has been posted so far, there's much more on the way! XD
Sielge: Hehe, thanks! It's really nice knowing that there are people out there who are keeping track of what I'm writing... and a very nice ego boost too. XD I think my ego's starting to become too big for my chair... [chair creaks and protests]
Marbienl: [rofl] I really look forward to your reviews, they're so entertaining and long... and it's fun to see how much you managed to guess correctly too. Hmm, Estel burning Legolas... I suppose if he got irritated enough he might do it... but it would be freaky if the portrait screamed into his ear right? [wink] Significance of the 1000 years is that at the end of that period, Legolas-the-body will die and Legolas-the-soul will... heheh, not telling! That part's in a later chapter! XD Leggy won't be going to Rivendell, partly 'cos I had more ideas on writing the journey to Mirkwood (and I had a very fun time writing that, you'll see why in about 2-3 chapters time. [snicker]), and partly 'cos certain events will be revolving around the Mirkwood area. I think I'm driving you nuts with my rather cryptic answers, right? XD Lastly, my OFC. When she appears I think it'll be quite obvious. I changed her role in the story, so she's still a push-factor but she's not the star anymore. The initial concept I had was actually vaguely like PotC, so that's a good guess there. If I remember when I post that chapter (which isn't happening for a long time more), I'll write a detailed explanation on how I had wanted the story to turn out before she started writing herself. Yup yup, I hope I answered most of your questions (but not very satisfactorily I think. XD). Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Empath89: Ta da! Update! XD They get to meet and everything gets cleared up, sort of, in the next chapter. All the chapters leading up to maybe about chapter 10 are just the preludes. The action only starts in Mirkwood. So stay tuned for that, and thanks for the review!
Lady Laswen: [rofl] Now, why didn't I think of that??? Hahaha, my mum for one would be happy if I cleared my room. And Ikea's got cute boxes too... ARGH! You're tempting me!! Lazy me doth not like to travel to the other end of the island I live on just to buy cute boxes!!! But... I can go touch the stuffed toys in the kids section... and go bounce on the beds... XD Ok. I sound vaguely like Gollum now. Not good. Thanks for reviewing and inspiring me to pack my room! XD
Azla: Hehehe, Well, I've always thought of Estel as kinda blur... so I think even if he got hit on the head by the portrait, he wouldn't notice who it really was. Evil me. Thanks for the review!
Lillybeth1: Thanks thanks! And nope I wouldn't want anyone to die on me. I'd be eternally guilty and... ok. I should cut the soap opera act. Anyway, I won't drag it to 3 weeks unless I haven't written anything at all by the time I hit, say, 2 chapters before my unfinished parts. But probability of that happening is pretty low, so I guess you're safe there. =P
Blade6: Oooh... bubble pet, sounds interesting... will he pop if you poke him? XD evil me. Thanks for the review and the chocolate cake... how did you know I was feeling deprived of sugar? [tears of gratitude] Oh wait, I just realised I brought my chocolate and placed it right beside me since 2 hours ago... Such wonderful powers of observation. Sigh. =D
Tmelange: Thanks and here's the next chapter! [bounces ]
Padfoot n' Moony: Thank you! Btw, your name's cute... makes me think of hamsters somehow. Hehehz.
Toby7: Hmm... I never heard of doing that, but then again, they are slightly psychotic, so I wouldn't be surprised... Thanks for the tip! I'll still be doing the replies anyway, 'cos I figure it's the easiest way to thank everyone... and 'cos some people leave anonymous reviews so I can't e-mail them. And should really decide to take down all the stories that have review replies at the end, they're really going to have a hell of a time... lots of stories out there have replies, so there'll be a huge racket if they do that. But I backed up all my reviews after reading what you said, so if my story is removed, I'll still have stuff left to boost my ego with. XD Thanks again!
Jadesaber: Thank you! And nope, Erestor didn't know who it was. When Estel brought the painting back, it was covered up, so he didn't manage to see it. He was acting weirdly 'cos he didn't want Estel to probe why Elrond, the twins and Glorfindel (whom I've always seen as the stay-at-home-warrior type) would have left for Mirkwood without informing Estel.
Smiley: Yup yup! Case of the mystery painting solved, and they got to meet him too! [bounces] Next chapter they'll be finding out more about 'Life As A Painting'. Hahah, that sounds like one of those 'inspirational' books... err... no comment.
Grumpy: Hahaha... the way you say it is as though Estel's really gone nuts.... Not that he isn't, but what he doesn't know can't hurt him right? As to how they're going to get Leggy back into his body, well, that's actually more or less what this story is about, so the whole process will be rather stretched out. The actual 'getting back into the body' thingy will take place in the last few chapters. Kinda anti-climatic I think. =D
Snuffles2: [rofl] Goodness! Maybe the review thingy objected to you using a different name? Hehehe. Glad to know that there's another idiot out there... [wobbly-eyed look] I'm not alone in the world!!!! [rofl] And yeah, we could go for the meetings and steal the punch... and maybe they'll have cake too. [drools] Sugar... Anyway, thanks for the praise and candy, now my ego has been inflated and my sugar craving stemmed. For the moment. XD [bounces off to look for more sugar]
The: The whole concept was inspired by 'The Portrait of Dorian Gray', and the whole works on how his soul was in the portrait while his body never aged. Legolas will be meeting his body soon (that sounds morbid) and Aragorn's role in the whole thing? Well, you'll just have to wait! XD Thanks for reviewing!
Losing Grip: Tee hee... sorry about that name mix-up. Thanks for the review and here's the update!
Silvertoekee: [rofl] Glad I'm not the only one who has the whole Agent-Smith-is-Elrond view... I was driving my friend nuts during the movies, 'cos every time Elrond appeared on screen, I'd ask her if she wanted the red pill or the blue pill while my friend on her other side would drawl "Misssterrr Annderrrsonnnn'. XD Thranduil will be a little OOC in this story, but it's hard writing him from the start anyway, since whatever info I have on him comes from the hobbit. And I think that's biased. XP Anyway, Estel's sure got himself into a situation this time, but I think he'll like the outcome very much. [wink]
HighQueenTashi: Hehehe... Internet Nazi... I like that phrase... I bet if it were in my house, it would refer to me. [whistles] Anyway, I get my reviews through e-mail as well, and I usually don't sort them by chapter, so it really doesn't matter which chapter you reviewed at. But it's nice to know that you're enjoying yourself so far... and wow, thanks for the compliment. [blushes] My ego has just about reached level max. XD
RMC: [rofl] Well, you were lucky, you just happened to review on the day before I was scheduled to update, so you won't have to wait that long after all! But it also means that you'll have to wait another 2 weeks for the next chapter. XD I am evil... and loving it. Mwahahahaha. Ahem. Thanks for reviewing, and hope you like this chapter!
Phew! That's all the replies for the previous chapter folks! Wow, took me 1 hour to reply all... See you guys in 2 weeks! [waves and disappears]