Disclaimer: I do not own Legolas, Galadriel, Thranduil, Mithrandir, Estel, Boromir, Gimli, Hobbits, Mirkwood, Middle Earth, or Lothlorien.They are all the property of the late and great Tolkien.
He sat alone in a flet watching the moonlight play over the water far below. Long had it been since he had been among his own kind. Their soft melodic voices flowed around him. He leaned back against a tree and closed his eyes. He listened to the wind whispering through the leaves, and the sound comforted him. Despite his deep grief over Mithrandir's passing, he felt happy. It had been many and many a year since he had been in a wood as wholesome and good as this. Mirkwood, his home, had been or was being polluted by the same evil that was corrupting the whole of Middle Earth.
"Legolas Greenleaf, Thranduil's son, you are content here are you not," a golden voice interrupted his thoughts. He opened his eyes and beheld Galadriel, Lady of Light. He stood and made his best bow before her.
"You're pardon My Lady," he said embarrassed, only by shear will was he able to conceal the blush that wanted to rise to his cheeks.
"Yes My Lady, I am content here as I've not been elsewhere for a long march of days."
"Would it lessen your contentment or the yearning of your heart if I told you the evil would enter here as well?"
"No. I would simple enjoy it now, and as for yearning, that is always with me and has been evermore." He sighed longingly
"Legolas, what made you join this quest? Was your first thought of how this could restore the woods or was it something more personal, more tangible," she asked him gently.
Without hesitating he replied, "No. My first thought was that Estel would need me."
"And what of your wishes? Do you really wish to traipse through Middle Earth with 2 Men, 4 Hobbits, and a Dwarf?
'Estel and I have been through much ere this. I am interested in Boromir, as he is the only other man I've had overlong contact with. He is a different from Estel as I am from you. The Hobbbits have more strength and bravery than I'd been led to believe. As for Gimli, if you had said that I would be friendly with a dwarf, I would have laughed at your folly, but now I find myself in that same situation, and it does not seem like folly."
"What if I said to you to lay down your bow and forsake the fellowship, to wander in joy here til they perish or persevere, would you do so?"
"Never my Lady, not if even in doing so I caused the end of all woods." He was silent a moment as his gaze drifted across the trees.
"But I would confess that a part of me would long for that happy chance," he whispered.
"A part of me will always be here now, running through the leaves, communicating with the trees, and being free and joyful as our kind were made to be." He looked back at Galdriel.
"As much as I would be tempted, I will not break the fellowship. I will not be faithless. I swear on this Golden Wood, I will not falter, I will not fail my friends."
"Legolas, all foresight is futile at this point in time, but I believe that if you stand true, if you all stand true, evil will not long last here. You are the greatest hope for Middle earth, as Estel is the greatest hope for Men. Go sleep now, for on the morrow you continue the quest." She kissed him on the forehead, and then he bowed to her again and left to rejoin his friends. She watched his retreating form.
"May the Valar be with you and keep you all safe from harm," she said into the night.