"I'm so bored!"
"You and me both, my pointy-eared friend. Mind you, I'd never think that an Elf would get bored of being in the raw forests of the world."
Legolas hung from the tree upside-down so that he was face-to-face with Gimli.
"Normally, no, we elves wouldn't get bored. Frankly, we fail to see how anyone could get bored with the beauty of the natural world. However, I am an exception to that Elvish rule." He flipped himself down from the tree with graceful dexterity.
"And why is that? How come you're an exception?"
"Because," he began, "I'm Legolas Greenleaf who's sixteen years old in a world of fast paces and urgency. That kind of shortens my attention span a little, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, it does," agreed Gimli, "but we've all thought that you had a short attention span for an Elf from the beginning!"
"Ah! Well, at least it's never been as short as yours, my dwarvish friend. Aragorn and I thought that you were distracted by our absolute beauty; that's why you kept lagging behind," he joked.
"If you truly think that," he sputtered, "you've really got something wrong with you!"
"I'm joking! I'm joking!"
It was the second night of the ongoing Entmoot and some of them were getting restless. Aragorn practiced with Frodo to burn up some energy while Gandalf conversed animatedly with the Hobbits. Legolas and Gimli were hanging around the edge of the clearing by the tall trees.
"Looks like Gandalf picked up the habit of smoking the pipe again," Gimli commented.
"Better to smoke a pipe than smoke a cigarette," Legolas sighed. "I am really, really bored now and I don't feel like sparring." He looked through the forest with his Elven eyes and listened to the wind sighing in synch with the clouds passing over the moon. "You want to take a walk? Stretch out our legs a bit?"
"Yeah, might as well," replied the Dwarf. He followed Legolas across the grove and called out to the others that they were going for a walk.
Inside the forest, it was silent except for the quiet wind in the branches. Thin beams of moonlight shot through the trees and created silver patches on the forest floor in a pattern that only nature could provide. As the clouds passed by overhead, the patches of light faded and danced across the ground, giving the implication that the forest was much more alive and active at night than anyone could have possibly dreamed of.
The whispers from nobody surrounded them as they walked through the trees. They tickled their ears, asking them what they were doing in there. The whispers followed their footsteps wherever they went, bodiless as the wind and just as mysterious.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to go through here?" Gimli asked nervously. "I think I'm hearing voices, you know."
"I hear them too," Legolas said casually. He looked adoringly around him, taking in the splendor of nature during the night. "The trees are talking to each other. They're wondering why two beings with such strange auras surrounding them are wandering so freely in their forest." He chuckled. "I guess they forgot about the Elves."
"Let's hope they didn't," Gimli muttered darkly. "I don't particularly want to end up skewered at the wrong end of a birch branch."
With a grin, Legolas started to call out to the trees in Sindarin. The whispers changed tone after he said a few words. After a few sentences from him, there was total and complete silence. He and Gimli stood still in the midst of the trees, wondering what had happened.
"What the hell did you say to them?" Gimli asked skeptically. "I really don't like this silence."
"All I said was, 'how are the trees of the Old Realm?' I don't think there's any offense to be taken from that," Legolas answered quietly. "I hope."
Something in the distance ahead of them rustled. The moonlight shifted and a bush was seen shaking violently. Both of them looked at the bush and watched it shake for a while before Gimli summoned up the courage to approach the quivering bush. He hesitantly pushed the branches apart to look into the shrub.
"Is anything in there?" called Legolas.
"Yeah," he called back, "it's a squirrel. We got worked up over a little, tiny squirrel."
It glared up at Gimli and dashed out of the bush and through his legs towards Legolas. Upon seeing the Elf, it changed its course and ran deeper into the forest with him following closely. Gimli tore after them as well as he could.
Legolas' platinum hair flashed silver as he ran through the beams of moonlight that were scattered throughout the forest floor. He jumped over small shrubs that the squirrel ran through, over fallen trees that it ran under, and weaved between the trees just to follow the little animal. He could hear Gimli crashing through the underbrush in an attempt to catch up. "Come, Gimli! You've got to run faster!"
"I'd be willing to try to catch up if you'd just tell me why we're running after a bloody squirrel!" he yelled back at him.
In response, Legolas just laughed and continued his chase. After a moment of running, he managed to chase the animal up a tree. He was looking up at the squirrel with his laughing blue eyes when Gimli finally came up next to him out of breath and with several scratches on his face.
"Now," he began, "I must ask you again: why the hell were we just chasing after a little squirrel deeper into the woods where nobody knows where the hell we are?"
Legolas pointed to the squirrel, who was sitting on a branch serenely. "He told me to."
With a very exasperated and angry expression on the Dwarf's face directed at him, the Elf wandered down to a small clearing next to a solid rock cliff. Gimli followed him, grumbling darkly under his breath. Legolas decided to take a small break by the cliff and watch the clouds go by before heading back to the others.
A cloud shifted and they were bathed with the light of the moon. From where Legolas was standing, the forest appeared to have been showered with liquid silver for it to shine as it did.
"It's ithildin!" cried Gimli. He pointed to the rock wall Legolas was leaning on.
"What?" He leapt off the wall and looked at it. Glowing lines were beginning to show. "I don't believe it. It's actually ithildin!"
The lines on the wall appeared in front of them like pure mercury was being painted on the rock by an invisible hand. The lines glowed a piercing white in the darkness around them. The flowing lines stopped moving, showing a picture that occupied the whole rock face.
Inside the perfect rectangle were rippling, curved lines that stretched across the whole picture or to large blobs that shimmered just like the lines. Among the lines were small icons of forests and jagged patterns of mountains. A small circle at the foot of some mountains was labeled with Elvish script. A small, dotted line leading away from the circle and to a tiny "x" in the middle of a field sparkled exceptionally in the moonlight. More Elvish script labeled the path and the "x".
"Legolas, what does it say?"
"Well," he pointed to the lettering by the circle, "this literally says, 'you are here'. The script by the x says, 'herein lies the last guide for the hopeless, the last star to counter a moonless night, the last for the last.'"
"Wow," Gimli said breathlessly. "What does the stuff say near the line?"
"'Good luck on your journey.'"
"Oh, we'll need it." He turned to leave to tell the others of their find but Legolas stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. He looked at the Elf and saw a lingering look of curiosity.
"Hold on. There's something else above it." He pointed to some script that was barely visible even in the sharp contrast. "I think that says,
'Like the leaves that fall from the trees before the snow, time flows evermore, unstoppable and relentless. It changes mountains to fields, ponds to lakes, seeds to giant trees. Relentless as it may be, it will never change the beacon of light that pierces the darkness. Find the road, friend, and you will find what you seek though time has masked the path.'
"I see it now!" he exclaimed. "It's a map of the Old World. The path leads to something to guide the hopeless, according to this text." He paused in reflection. "'The last star to counter a moonless night,'" he muttered. "The Light of Earendil, do you think?"
"That's what it sounds like it's talking about. Shall we go and ask the squirrel for directions on how to get back now?"
Legolas backed away from the wall, taking the map into his memory and etching it into his mind. Before he turned away, he was quick to notice something about the map but thought no more about it as they tore through the forest after the squirrel again.
"Whoa, what the hell were you guys doing in there?" Merry eyed their scratches and the leaves and buds caught in their clothes and hair.
"Nothing explicit, I can assure you," Legolas said as he shook out the leaves from his hair. Aragorn's disbelieving expression caught his eye. "I swear! We were chasing a squirrel!"
"You guys were chasing a squirrel?" Frodo asked incredulously.
"Fine, I was chasing a squirrel and Gimli was just following me. But it was a very good idea for me to follow it."
"Why? Did he lead you to his nuts?" Pippin interjected.
Before anything could stop them, they all let out a nice, long laugh that was contained for far too long. It seemed surreal yet relieving to laugh as a group especially at a time like that.
"You know what?" Legolas said. "If you're going to mock me like that, I'm not going to tell you what we found in there."
"That's all right," Merry said, laughter lingering in his eyes, "we'll just ask Gimli. What's in there, Gimli?"
Legolas scowled. Sensing danger, Aragorn took him aside, further from Merry. Clearly, he was offended by Merry's remark. Gimli had some fun by telling the others about their little adventure while Aragorn talk to the Elf privately.
"Calm down, mellon nin," he said in a calming tone. "You'll have to forgive him; the Hobbits were desperate to have a relaxing time today."
"They must've been really desperate if they're taking a few hits at me," he growled. He sensed Aragorn's look beside him. "I'm calming down. I'm calming down."
In the middle of the clearing, the Hobbits were now begging Gimli to tell them what they had found. Gandalf sat near them, staff and sword beside him, and smoking his pipe while listening interestedly.
"Come on, Gimli! Be a good sport and tell us!" Pippin said.
"Will you stop pestering me if I do?" he said impatiently. "You guys will be the reason why I will never have children."
"Of course," Merry said simply.
"Fine! After that confounded squirrel led us into the middle of nowhere, we came face-to-face with something that has been unheard of for Ages. An ithildin map etched on a wall of stone."
"A map?" Gandalf said, now fully interested in what he had found. "What was it for? Something that may help us in our quest?"
"It spoke only in riddles that only one learned in Elvish poetry and literature could solve, I think. But our pointy-eared friend thinks that it is indeed a map showing the location of the elusive hiding place of the Light of Earendil."
"Tell me you have it locked in your mind, Gimli!" he exclaimed anxiously. "Tell me that you know where it is and exactly what the riddles mean."
"Er..." Gimli stalled. All he could remember of the map was that the dotted line that led from the tiny circle was angled upwards to the northwest. "I think it's better if you ask Legolas about the map."
The five of them looked in the direction of where they thought he was standing but saw nothing but trees. All around them were nothing but tall trees glittering in the light of the moon.
"Legolas? Aragorn!" the wizard called out. Silence met his ears with no response on the wind. "Where have those two reckless boys go?"
"If they're reckless, what're you?" Frodo asked Merry and Pippin, who just shrugged.
Pippin looked around the trees again and spotted something winking in the light on a knot of a tree. He quickly got up and picked it up to examine it. "Oh, no."
"Peregrin, what is it?" Gandalf said. "Give it to me."
"It's a key," replied Pippin mildly. He gave it to Gandalf. "It's for Aragorn's car." He picked up the note that he had just noticed was under his foot and also gave it to the wizard, who opened it and read it aloud.
"'Take my car and get back to the warehouse safely,'" he read. "'Legolas is with me and we're taking his bike. Hope to see you again. Signed, Aragorn.' Reckless boys..."
"But," Pippin said, slightly confused, "where did they go if not back to the warehouse?"
"To find the Light of Earendil," Gimli answered gruffly, "without us, so it seems. I suppose they didn't want to put us in risk of danger. Well, too bad, guys! We're still going with you." He held out his hand to Gandalf. "I'm driving. If we leave now, we can still catch up."
Gandalf looked at him reproachfully but smiled. "Dwarves are such stubborn creatures. So stubborn, in fact, that when their dearest friends show the least bit of compassion to them, like trying to keep them out of harm's way, they do whatever they can to join their friends in danger and go against their wishes at the same time."
Gimli sighed and reluctantly lowered his hand.
"Aragorn and Legolas will be fine, don't worry." Gandalf went and picked up his staff and sword. "They can manage for themselves. After all, their bond of friendship has strengthened over time and has become absolutely unbreakable through the misfortunes, pain and memories that they now share with each other. Indeed, they've become so close that they transcend the bonds of brotherhood. They will undoubtedly be able to protect one another."
"Still," grumbled Gimli, "why did they have to go without me?"
Before anyone could reply, an enormous thud trembled the earth. Treebeard looked down upon them right behind the Hobbits. They scrambled away in fear from the giant tree leg when it dropped within inches of them.
"Treebeard!" Gandalf called up to him cheerfully. "What says the Ents about our situation?"
"We have decided," inhaled Treebeard, "that we fail to see how the Ents can be involved hostilely in this new war. We will not join you in this battle."
"What?" Frodo jumped to his feet. "You helped us defeat the Darkness before! How can this be your decision? Why will you not help us fight this new evil?"
Gandalf raised his staff and lightly struck Frodo for his sudden outburst.
"Hrrmmm," rumbled the tree-shepherd. "We will not fight with you in this war because your enemy has done nothing to anger us. But we do remember the War of the Ring and the injustice of Saruman and we thank you for showing his evilness to us."
"So there's no chance of changing your mind about helping us?" Frodo asked sadly.
"Hrm, what's this? Who said anything about the Ents not helping their friends of old?"
Frodo stood there, very confused about the situation. He looked back at his fellow Hobbits, who in turn, looked at Gandalf the wizard.
"Can you not see what Treebeard is saying?" Gandalf asked them with an amused smile. "The Ents refuse to fight but they are more than willing to give us something of aid."