Chapter Six

It took only a moment for Thrandruil to gather himself enough after the shock of seeing his old friend. He quickly cleared his throat and stood, beckoning his children to do the same. Idrial stood, a bright smile dashing across her face and a knowing look passing between her and Elrond. Thrandruil missed the look, for his eyes were gazing over the party. Along with Elrond came Celebrian, the elf lord Glorfindel, and two elves who Thrandruil could only assume were Elrond's twin sons, Elladan and Elrohir, though he knew from first glance that he would never be able to tell the two apart.

"Mae govannen, Lord Elrond," Thrandruil replied back. "Welcome to Mirkwood, though I must say your appearance here is a surprise to us all."

Elrond smiled at the comment. "Forgive us the intrusion," Elrond stated, though his voice was friendly. "I suppose we were so quick in our haste to find a place to spend some quiet time that we forgot to send a messenger ahead." It was a poor excuse, and Elrond could read it on Thrandruil's face that the elven king didn't believe it, but Thrandruil said nothing.

Thrandruil stepped down from where he sat at the head of the table and walked over to his friend. They grasped each other's forearms and Elrond smiled. "We seem to have come at an inopportune time," Elrond noticed, seeing how none of the royal children had gone back to their meals. Kelderas had walked over to them, his hands behind his back in noble stature. Luthin was still standing, smiling knowingly at Elrond. Idrial was holding Legolas' hand in comfort. Elrond could only guess how long it had been since the youngest Thrandrullion had seen strangers.

Thrandruil turned to the side and held out his hand to Kelderas. "My Lord Elrond, this is my eldest son, Prince Kelderas." Kelderas bowed respectively and Thrandruil went on to introduce the rest of his children, pausing when it came to Legolas. "And this," Thrandruil said, holding out his arm, motioning for Legolas to come to his side. The young elf hesitated, but with a small push from Idrial, he came forward. "This is my youngest, Legolas." Thrandruil looked Elrond hard in the eyes, trying to keep himself together in front of the elven lord.

But Elrond ignored Thrandruil for the moment and bent down a bit to become more level with the elfling. "Mae govannen, Legolas."

At first the youngling said nothing. But Thrandruil gave a gentle shove to his back and he came forward and bowed as Kelderas had done. "Mae govannen, Lord Elrond." He whispered quietly, his eyes leaving the elf lord in front of him and exploring the faces that were behind him.

Elrond straightened and introduced his wife, Celebrian. He turned to his sons and paused when he saw Legolas' eyes go wide. Legolas grabbed onto his father's leggings and Thrandruil bent down, frowning at his son's sudden fear. Elladan and Elrohir looked towards each other a glint of amusement passing between them, for they knew what had caused Legolas' sudden shyness.

"What is it, Legolas?" Thrandruil asked quietly, worrying suddenly for his son.

"They are the same elf," Legolas whispered in a hushed voice to his father.

Thrandruil smiled suddenly and stood up again. "They are twins, Legolas," he whispered.

Elrond broke of Legolas before he could say anything more. "These are my sons, Elladan and Elrohir."

"Twins?" Legolas asked as both of the identical elves nodded towards him. But the youngling had no further time to contemplate the notion as Elrond turned to the blonde elf next to him.

"And this, is Lord Glorfindel," Elrond stated, purposely changing his voice to a mocking tone. Glorfindel quirked his lips at the voice, but said nothing as he bowed to Legolas as well. To Glorfindel, the resemblance the elfling held to his mother was striking. He worked hard to keep the shock out of his face, but in the end, he had managed to keep any sign of sorrow from his eyes. Elrond had warned him of such things.

Legolas' eyes grew wide, and so did, to Elrond's amusement, the eyes of Luthin and Idrial. Kelderas remained still, but he seemed to size Glorfindel up, wondering if it truly was the former balrog slayer standing in front of him. Glorfindel, however, ignored the older prince, for his eyes were on Legolas.

"Did you really slay a balrog?" Legolas asked suddenly.

"Legolas!" Thrandruil admonished, his eyes going wide, knowing how tender the subject was to the elf lord.

Glorfindel shook his head slightly before smiling. "That's what they tell me," he replied coolly. Though Elrond picked up on a hint of sadness in Glorfindel's voice, he knew that none of the Mirkwood elves could perceive it. Elrond knew that Glorfindel's past troubled the blonde warrior to no end. Though he could remember naught of the experience, he would sometimes catch visions of the terrible fight. Visions of fire, blood, and death. The nightmares were the worse and often Elrond found Glorfindel afraid to let himself pass into the haziness of elvish dreams, for his were always plagued.

Idrial came forward suddenly and put a hand on Legolas' shoulder. "I will lead you to your rooms, if you would like." She said, smiling at Elrond.

"We would not want to disturb your meal," Elrond answered.

"Nonsense," Idrial waved her hand in the air. "We would have you join us after a small rest, if you would like."

Thrandruil turned to his daughter, marveling in her diplomacy at the moment. She reminded him so much of Narsine at the moment that Thrandruil had to turn away. Elrond caught the movement and smiled. "We would be glad to."

Idrial nodded. "Let me show you to your rooms," she said and turned to leave. Thrandruil clasped arms with Elrond once more before he turned to return to his seat. Legolas turned to do the same, but then paused and looked at his father.

"May I go with them, Ada?" He asked.

Thrandruil quirked an eyebrow but then nodded his consent and Legolas ran off after the group.

Idrial finished showing them to their rooms and now Glorfindel stood alone in his room, taking in the scenery. He had never really felt at home in Mirkwood. The space was too enclosed for him to ever take a deep liking to, but he didn't hate it either. Even he could not help but admit that the mastery of the wood elves' home was astonishing. The walls were carved beautifully, with statues and paintings lighting up the rooms nicely.

Glorfindel laid his bow and arrow on the bed and unstrapped his sword. He left a knife around his waist and one also in his boot, for he never truly let his guard down, not even under the protection of the entire Mirkwood army. Just as he was about to start unpacking his pack, he paused and listened to the small noise he had heard outside his door. He smiled to himself and continued what he was doing.

"You can come in if you'd like," he said, not looking towards the door. In a few seconds, the door creaked open and a small blonde head peeked inside. Glorfindel looked over at him. "Prince Legolas," he acknowledged without saying anything more.

Legolas stepped inside and struggled to find a standing position that seemed worthy of the elven lord. In his mind, Legolas was standing in the presence of the greatest elf that had ever lived. He had always loved hearing the stories of Glorfindel, the balrog slayer. They had been his favorite tales to hear before…the incident.

"My…" Legolas began but paused, wondering if he should wait for permission to speak.

Glorfindel raised his eyebrow at the young elf and saw what he was waiting for. "Yes?" He asked coolly, silently flinging annoyance at the Mirkwood royal customs. There was too much formality.

"My room…it's just next door," Legolas said, his feet nervously rubbing the ground. "I just…if you were…if you needed anything…you could…you could come and ask me and I'll make sure that you get whatever it is that you needed." Legolas ranted, afterwards biting his lip.

Glorfindel smirked. "Thank you Legolas, that is very kind of you," he said. He watched as the young elfling nodded and made as to leave, but paused when his eyes fell across the bow on the bed. "Do you like archery?" Glorfindel asked, putting down his pack and picking up his bow.

"Ada…"Legolas cleared his throat. "The king," he corrected himself. "He says I'm too little for a bow and arrow. But I do like watching the warriors train with them."

"Then perhaps one day during our visit, you would like to watch me?" Glorfindel said, walking over to the elfling and standing in front of him. He saw Legolas admiring him as he moved closer. He couldn't help but smile. That was the normal reaction he got from elflings when they first met him. He was used to it.

"I wouldn't want to be a bother…"

"A bother?" Glorfindel asked, his eyes lighting up in mock surprise. "Why Legolas, if you were worried about that, don't you think I would have sent you away so I could pack?"

Legolas' eyes went wide, horror filling them. "I'm so sorry!" He cried out and turned to leave. Glorfindel rested a hand on his shoulder and the young elfling went tense. Glorfindel scolded himself for sounding so frightening. He wasn't used to handling young elflings like Legolas.

"What I meant," Glorfindel said, turning the elfling gently around. "Is that you shouldn't worry about being a bother. Trust me, you will know when I am bothered. The twins have both been there…many times." Glorfindel chuckled, but it still didn't raise a smile from the elfling.

"I should still let you pack…" Legolas began.

Glorfindel shook his head and stood, turning to look at his pack. "I am done," he announced. "Let us find the others so you can return to your meal, shall we?"

Legolas looked up at Glorfindel, his eyes still wide in admiration. "What was it like to slay a balrog?" he asked suddenly. Glorfindel had to hide the small cringe that came with the question and he paused, looking down at the elfling that stood in front of him. There was an air of innocence around him and the question wasn't intended to be harsh, but none of them ever were.

"Honestly, I don't remember," Glorfindel said quietly. "I have no memory of it."

"None?" Legolas asked sincerely.

"None," Glorfindel responded, a bit harsher than he had meant. He sighed suddenly and smiled. "Why don't we return to the dining hall." It was more of a command than a suggestion and Legolas nodded, though his eyes had glazed a bit with unshed tears. Glorfindel closed his eyes and cursed himself for his lack of patience. He had known that the elfling would be curious. He had tried to prepare himself for the questions, but he could never truly prepare himself to recall what had happened. In all honesty, the visions he suffered from were utterly terrifying. To know that he had once lived through those visions made his stomach churn.

"You have a very nice home, Prince Legolas," Glorfindel said, trying to get the elfling to look at him again, but Legolas did not look up at him and Glorfindel felt a twinge of pain in his heart. He had scared the elfling, snapped at him. That was the last thing he had ever wanted to do and Glorfindel knew now that getting through to this elfling would be twice as hard.

"Yeah," the elfling whispered, walking in front of the elf lord.

The twins suddenly emerged from a room on their right. They were bickering with each other, though both had smiles on their faces. When they saw Glorfindel and Legolas, they grinned and Elladan looked down at Legolas. "Is your room somewhere around here?" he asked.

Legolas looked up and nodded. "Just down there," he pointed to his room.

"Next to Glorfindel's?" Elrohir asked, but didn't wait for a response. "That's perfect." He said, rubbing his hands together. Legolas frowned but said nothing.

Glorfindel sighed. "And why is that perfect?" He asked, knowing already that the twins were planning something.

"No reason," Elrohir said, looking down to Legolas and grinning. "Tell me Legolas, do you have a garden here?"

"Yes," Legolas answered, now curious. "I can show you it after we eat."

"That's wonderful news," Elladan added. "Thank you Legolas." The twins both laughed and then walked off towards the dinning hall again. Legolas followed closely, with Glorfindel trailing behind, wondering how he was going to make things right with the elfling.