Chapter 158: Legolas' homecoming

Galion and Illiendal returned home to the palace later in the evening without Thranduil.

"Thank you for trying, Galion." Illiendal hugged the cherished butler.

"Your father will show up, I'm sure of it." Galion said, escorting the princess to her chambers.

"I hoped we would find him before you slept, I do not want your dreams troubled. But still, I wish you a good sleep." Galion bowed as the princess entered her quarters. Galion left the princess to sleep and went to see Tonus, who was almost asleep on his father's throne.

"Go to sleep, my lord, Mirkwood will be fine during your rest. You need it, you are not familiar with being king and having your father's duties." Galion said as Tonus smiled in thanks. Galion was expecting Tonus to get up, but instead Tonus slowly drifted off to sleep in his chair. Galion smiled at the prince who slept sitting up, he recalled Tonus falling asleep in that position on his father's lap when he was much littler a long time ago. Galion was only a butler and had not the strength to carry the big, muscular prince, so left him to rest on the throne, which was actually quite comfortable.

Night went by fast and as soon as the sun rose Legolas was up, since the sun was bright and in his face. Haldir still slept for Haldir was used to sleeping outside and having the sun up. Legolas prodded Haldir a few times. Haldir stirred but stayed asleep.

"Bink… Bink… BINK! Bink…" Legolas murmured. That did not work.

"HALDIR THERE'S A WOLF!" Legolas screamed. Haldir shot up and grabbed his knife.

"Where?" Haldir looked around and saw no wolf. Legolas giggled. "No wolf. But you're awake now. That's good. Bink." Legolas grinned. Haldir frowned and grabbed the elfling by his tunic, holding the child up in there.

"I ought to beat-

Legolas noticed the anger in Haldir's voice so tried to protect him from any blow. Haldir sighed and gave the elfling a hug.

"I ought to give you a hug and tell you not to trick me like that again or I will leave you here in the middle of nowhere." Haldir said, squeezing the elfling.

"Sorry, Halbink."

"HalBink?"

"That's your new name, Halbink." Legolas said. "I'm hungry, Halbink." Legolas added. Haldir smiled and got out some food.

"Now Binkolas, we don't have all kinds of food and we cant eat all our food at once since we are traveling, so you are going to have to eat what I give you whether you like it or not, and it's going to be porridge." Haldir said. Legolas gave him a strange look.

"Binkolas? That's a sillier name than Haldir is!"

"Haldir is NOT a silly name." Haldir protested as he made the porridge.

"Yes it is, that's why I call you Halbink instead of Haldir." Legolas was given porridge and began to eat it very slowly.

Haldir and Legolas left soon, Haldir wanted to get to Mirkwood with the child as soon as possible, he had a feeling Legolas was being missed greatly by Thranduil.

Haldir wanted to make the journey shorted then it should usually be, but because he had Legolas with him he did not want to rush more than he should, else Legolas would tire. But Haldir was very glad; the two arrived in Mirkwood in three weeks time.

But when they arrived, things where not good. Yes, Elladan's leg had healed, but the twins remained in Mirkwood. The royal family was falling apart. Thranduil had not been found and people where doubting that Legolas even lived. The twins tried their best to keep all the members of the family content, but even their friendliness could not help, Tonus worked hard now as king and did naught much else but his father's duties, and Cield was back to his depressive self and was thinking of his baby all the time, or at least, where he would send his baby when it was born. Without his father's help, Cield knew the baby would not survive in his care.

Haldir walked through the courtyard with Legolas and all eyes fell on Legolas. Legolas became very uneasy at this as all the guards and servants looked at him with such an amazed look, so Legolas grabbed Haldir's hand and continued walking up the steps. The guard allowed them in and as soon as Haldir entered the throne room with Legolas, Tonus jumped out of his father's throne and ran to Legolas.

"Legolas! Your fine! Your perfectly fine!" Tonus grabbed his little brother and kissed him all over his face.

"Where's ada?" Legolas looked around. He saw right away that Tonus had his father's crown on.

"Haldir, how…?" Tonus did not want to answer his brother's question, not yet.

"He followed me back to Lorien, I did not even notice it! We seem to have a good little tracker here; my brothers saw he was following me only when I entered Lorien's borders. I would have came sooner-

"I understand. But Haldir… My father left, about a month ago, to find Legolas and… he never returned." Tonus said very softly. Haldir gasped, and Legolas had heard everything so sat on the floor and began to cry.

"Oh, Legolas…" Haldir scooped the elfling up. "Come on Legolas, I will bring you into the forest and we will find ada together." Haldir said, turning around to leave but becoming face to face with Cield. It looked like Cield had been crying, but when he saw Legolas his face lit up.

"Brat, your home!" Cield grabbed Legolas and gave him a tight hug.

"We're gonna go find ada now, cant hug." Legolas slid out of his brother's grasp and followed Haldir out the palace doors…

To be continued…

Oh, the story is going to be over soon! How sad is that? I'll be taking a break before I post the sequel though, but I've already started to write the sequel. There is 3 – 10 chapters left to this story…