Elrond stopped, at an apparent loss for words. One piercing eye was opened wide in shock; an eye patch had covered the other since he had lost the eye fighting in the Final Alliance of the Free Folk. Legolas crossed the slight distance and guided Elrond to one of the chairs that he had pushed into a circle earlier.
"Ada," said Arwen, coming up to her father and throwing her arms about him in a tight embrace.
After a moment she felt his arms tighten about her. "Arwen, I was so afraid for you. After the collapse of Mordor, I sent out riders to find you and Faramir to bring you back here. When they came back and reported that they could not find you, I feared the worst. Thank you, Faramir, for keeping my daughter safe."
Faramir nodded in return as they all sat. "We were forced to flee to another shelter a month or so ago. Orcs had come close to discovering our hide out, so we relocated our people elsewhere. The survival of Numenor depended on it."
"Numenor is no longer," Elrond said darkly. "Aragorn is dead and the line of kings is broken. The House of the Stewards is all that is left to rule over and protect Gondor."
Legolas shook his head and glanced over to the small bundle that Faramir held in his arms. The young Captain of Gondor caught the elf prince's glance and shifted the blankets over to Arwen's waiting arms.
"No, my lord, hope for the White City is not yet gone," the prince said softly. "Behold Eldarion, son of Aragorn and heir to the Throne of Gondor."
"What?" Elrond breathed, as though he could not quite believe this unexpected twist of events. "How can this be?"
"Aragorn and I made a promise," Arwen said as she adjusted the blankets that the sleeping prince was wrapped in. "I told him that I would bind myself to him and forsake the immortality of my people. When the Enemy regained the ring and I first was sent into hiding, there were times when Aragorn would come and see me. Then the second battle took place and he was killed…" her voice trailed off.
"The prince already takes after his father, though I knew the king only briefly," Faramir said when it became clear that Arwen would say no more. "He came strongly into this world on the first full day of Middle Earth's freedom. It seemed that he would not wait to come out and greet the peace."
A thoughtful silence came over the room, interrupted only by one of the palace servants, who came in bearing a tray of wine and fine goblets. Legolas supposed that Gimli had requested the refreshments to be brought to the room when he had gone to find Elrond earlier. He nodded this thanks to the servant, just before the man slipped silently back out of the room.
"Legolas?" Gimli asked finally, his low voice seeming loud in the quiet study. "You have yet to tell your tale to us, that is, how it is that you are alive. Then too, how is it that you look so familiar, yet so different?"
He had been gazing at his friend since he had returned to the room. In the soft orange glow of the firelight, he had noticed several things about the prince. The first thing that had struck the dwarf as odd was that there was no evidence of the abuse that Legolas had endured under the cruelty of the orcs. All scars and bruises had vanished from the fair face and the once broken nose looked as if it had been properly healed. Then too, the elf's broken arm was also healed instead of hanging immobile at his side. He wondered if the scars and brandings on the rest of Legolas' body were also gone; he hated to think that after all that he had endured, that Legolas would still have to carry the mark of the Eye upon his body. Gimli nearly shook his head as the thought entered. There was far too much evidence to suggest that Legolas had been completely healed. The whip marks and burns would most certainly be gone from the elf. His clothing was strange to Gimli; a shining silver white robe trimmed in gold and a thin golden circlet about his head, and yet they seemed pale in the powerful glow that seemed to surround him. Still, Legolas once again resembled the same elf that he had befriended as the Fellowship had traveled together. And yet, there was a certain foreign aura about the elf, though at first, Gimli could not quite place what it was exactly. He finally decided that it was the air of wisdom and power that Legolas now seemed to have. Surely the prince had already possessed such qualities, for he was one of the immortal elves; yet never before had Gimli felt so humbled by the elf's presence.
"It is in his eyes," Gimli finally decided, as he searched Legolas' face once more. "They are far deeper, clearer, and more soulful than I have ever known them to be. They are still warm and friendly, 'tis true, yet they seem older and more remote at the same time."
"He bears the look of one that has seen the Valar in all their glory," Elrond said without any question in his voice, bringing Gimli out of his thoughts.
Legolas nodded his head. "Lord Elrond is quite right," he said as he stood and crossed to the table where the wine sat.
He picked up the bottle and uncorked it before silently filling the waiting goblets. Once they were filled, he passed them to his friends, took up his own drink and settled back into his seat. He sat there cradling the goblet in his hand, his eyes seeming distant.
"Well?" asked Gimli, impatient for answers.
Legolas started as though taken off guard by the dwarf's voice. "I am sure that Gimli has told you the tale of those final moments on Mount Doom; how I was forced to use the ring to gain entrance into the mountain and how the Nazgul, drawn to the ring's power, soon discovered where I was," he said, addressing the small circle of his friends. "Inside the chamber I was overtaken, for the ring stole much of my dwindling strength. I was surrounded by the wraiths and mortally wounded, though I had strength enough to cast the foul trinket into the fire. My vision failed and I knew no more until I awoke within the Halls of Mandos. I stood before the Valar, who remained seated on their thrones, awaiting some judgment to be made on me. There seemed to be a long moment before they addressed me and asked me why my heart was troubled so, for I had succeeded in the task I had undertaken. 'My friend, Gimli, was on the mountainside,' I said. 'I fear now for his safety, if indeed the explosion of Mount Doom has not already claimed him.' Then Manwe summoned his eagles to go to Gimli and bear him to Minas Tirith where he would be safe. With my heart lightened, I thanked the Valar for their generosity, just as two elves entered the chamber where I was standing. They beckoned me to go with them, for the Valar had need to debate something among themselves, and once they were ready I would be summoned back to them. My heart was troubled at this, for I feared that I had perhaps committed some grave crime and that they were angry with me. 'Have I done something wrong?' I asked my escorts, but they would say nothing until we reached a small room."
"'There is a bath awaiting you inside so that you might take some rest and comfort,' said the female elf, as she opened the door. Beyond the threshold was a round pool of steaming water that was constantly replenished by a waterfall that stood on the far side. I shed my tattered clothing and entered the pool, where I positioned myself under the coursing sheet of water. That was when a strange sensation stole over me; an intense feeling as though I was walking through the hearts of a thousand fires all at once, yet I felt no discomfort of any kind. Emerging from the pool once more, I found that fresh garments had been laid out for me and yet I saw none enter the room. Near to the bench where my clothes lay waiting, was a mirror, and it was there that I first discovered that the hurts of my body had been healed, perhaps in the moments that I stood under the waterfall. As soon as I was dressed, I was summoned back to the chamber where the Valar sat awaiting me."
He stopped for a moment and took a sip of his wine. He seemed to savor the taste before continuing on. "I knelt upon entering the room, but Mandos bid me stand and be not afraid. Then Manwe spoke. 'Legolas, son of Thranduil,' he said, 'do you know why you have been summoned here?' I said that I did not, though I could only guess that I had done some wrong to incur their wrath. 'No,' he said, with a sound that perhaps was amused laughter. 'It is just the opposite. The Valar could not be happier with you. You made a great sacrifice, giving up your life to save Middle Earth. The Valar wish to reward you for your deeds.' Here he stopped for a moment and yet my heart no longer felt uneasy, for surely Manwe's words could only mean one thing. I would be rewarded with a comfortable stay in the Halls and be reunited with loved ones who had gone before me. But that was not to be so. 'Prince of Mirkwood,' said Mandos, who stood next to Manwe, 'it was never intended for your task to be that of the ringbearer. You chose that fate yourself, and although we find no fault in your judgment, your true task was never accomplished. Because of that, the Valar have decided to prohibit your entrance into the Halls past what has already been granted. The line of kingdom of Numenor stands at a critical juncture. As you know, the last living king was Aragorn.' I lowered my head against the memory of Aragorn's death as it came back to me, but Mandos smiled at me. 'Your task was to have seen Numenor restored.' I said that I did not understand what he meant. Surely with Aragorn's death, the fate of Numenor was sealed. 'What you do not know is that his spirit and legacy lives on, for even now the Lady Arwen labors to bring his son into the world. The Valar have therefore decreed that you shall be sent back into the world until your task is complete and there is a king in Gondor once more. When that time does arrive, if you live still, you will be granted access into the Undying Lands. This is the will of the Valar. Go now and may Arda prosper from your return.' There was a flash of light before me, so bright that I had to close my eyes against the intensity. When I reopened them, I was before the entrance to Arwen and Faramir's refuge. After Eldarion's birth and once Arwen was fit for travel, we secured three horses that ran free in the nearby fields. Two were bred in Edoras, judging from the brands that could still be seen on their flanks. The other was their lord, Shadowfax himself, who befriended me and allowed me his back as we traveled to Minas Tirith. Only just this evening did we arrive at the city gate."
He took a long sip of his wine and said no more, for his tale was now complete. A silence blanketed the room, broken only by the snapping and crackling of the kindling in the fireplace as it burned into ash. Eyes shifted questioningly from one occupant to another as each one wondered who would be first to break the quiet peace. It was Eldarion who eventually broke the silence, making a small fussing sound as Arwen shifted his sleeping form in her arms.
Legolas nodded his head in thought and when he spoke next, it was a low whisper and half fearful. "Lord Elrond, in my haste to explain my tale, I neglected one burning question. Have you any word on whether my father still lives?"
A strange look crossed Elrond's face for a second as he silently rebuked his own thoughtlessness. He nodded his head. "He lives indeed. Only yesterday morning did he leave with such Mirkwood elves as he could find to return to your homeland to see if his kingdom could be reestablished there. It seemed more a formality than anything else, for I suspect that his grief of losing you will cause him to depart from these shores soon."
"Then I must go to him at once," Legolas said, draining the last of his wine. He stood and placed the goblet on the tray once more. "If Shadowfax will bear me, I can reach him in less than a day. My heart fears that Mirkwood may have been destroyed or worse while the Enemy still had his power. I must depart immediately, I fear, so that I may return just as quickly to watch over Eldarion."
Elrond smiled warmly at the child as he took him from his mother's arms. "I shall help raise this child as I did his father," he said finally, still gazing at the peaceful face snuggled within the worn blankets. "As long as I reside still in this land, I will lend my services to you, Legolas. The time is not yet come for me to pass over the sea. Far too many hurts have been rendered that I must at least try to help heal, both on the land itself and the people who live still in Middle Earth. Go to your father and put his torn and broken heart to rest. We here shall look after things in your absence."
"Hannon lle," Legolas replied, saluting in elf fashion, before turning on his heel and exiting the study.
Ada – father, Hannon lle – Thank You.
The End.