Sleepless in Rivendell
By
Aranna Undomiel
Disclaimer: Not mine, sadly enough. Not even the title is mine. It is a modification of the film title Sleepless in Seattle.
I wrote the middle part of this story when I was suffering a rather sleepless night, and I found it again a few days ago when I was cleaning up my room :). And since then it kept bugging me, so I decided to finally finish it…LOL
A big thank you to my beta, NatalieakaGothVamp, for checking this for me. Welcome back to the job, mellon. :)
The part between #... # is a flashback; a line means a change of time and scenery.
Hope you enjoy the story. :)
Oh how good it felt, to be finally lying in a soft warm bed, after spending a few weeks in the wild.
Legolas pulled the blankets up to his chin and curled himself up into a ball. He sighed contently.
Yes this was definitely very good; it was good to be back in Rivendell.
# Estel and he had arrived unexpectedly this morning, and to every one's surprise they arrived sitting straight on top of their horses, instead of one of them carrying the other in front of him, as happened most of the time.
The crown prince of Mirkwood and Isildur's heir had a tendency of getting involved in dangerous things, and the inhabitants of Rivendell had gotten used to seeing at least one of them enter the valley more dead than alive, bleeding from multiple wounds.
Legolas usually spent the first few days of his stay in the infirmary, under the ever-watchful eye of the Lord Elrond.
And unfortunately for him, this time was no exception…
Lord Elrond refused to believe that they were BOTH unharmed, save for a few scratches; familiar as he was with the habit of his foster son and the Prince to try to deny and hide even the most grievous injuries.
So, despite their pledges that they were really all right this time, Elrond brought them straight to the Infirmary for an elaborated physical check. When he indeed found nothing that proved to be life-threatening, he refused to believe that rare fact and examined them again and again and again… until finally even the Elf lord had to admit they indeed had come home safe and unharmed and he let them go. #
Legolas smiled widely as he remembered the stunned look in the Healer's eyes when he found out his foster son was perfectly healthy and that the Prince only had a fresh, but already healed wound on his back. Thinking he had finally found something Elrond's eyes had lit up, but that sparkle quickly died, when he learned that Legolas had received the wound during a fight with a spider in his homeland a week before he went out to meet Estel three weeks ago.
Like my father would have let me travel with a spider wound, Legolas thought, smiling wickedly, proud of himself for fooling the Elf lord. The "spider wound" had actually been a cut from the blade of an orc as they got ambushed by 6 of those creatures. The pain had fuelled the Elf's anger and soon the orcs were history and they continued their journey towards Rivendell. With the care of Estel and some of the Ranger's potions, the wound had healed quickly enough to fool Elrond.
And off course Estel hadn't come off unharmed on their trip. The cold of early spring mornings brought the Ranger a cold that swiftly turned into sickness when the human choose to ignore it. But a few days of rest, loads of healing tea and a lot of sleep each night beside the warmth of a fire had made sure that Estel had been better at the start of last week. And so they arrived in Rivendell, both looking healthy…
But two weeks without sleep and being ever watchful; straining his ears to pick up the faintest sounds that could be a threat to him and the peacefully sleeping Ranger; had taken a big toll on the Elf. He was extremely tired and he felt like he could sleep a week in a row. After being released from the Infirmary, he had planned to go straight to bed and do so.
But the Elves of Rivendell decided otherwise…
In their joy over the safe homecoming they had decided to organise a party with Estel and Legolas as the guests of honour. He had attended the party, but spent most of the time sitting with drooping eyelids in the furthest corner, as far away from the music as he could.
At around eleven o'clock he had managed to sneak away unnoticed and went to bed. But unfortunately for him, his room happened to be positioned above the hallway to the Great Hall, so the sounds of the party drifted through the floor. And every time he almost fell asleep, the sounds seemed to get louder, startling him awake once again.
But now everything had quieted down; the party was over and the last of the Elves had gone to bed. A peaceful calm had settled over Rivendell. That's was why he loved being here. At home, in Mirkwood, the beds and rooms were just as comfortable, but the feeling that lingered there was one of anticipation, of awareness and expectation, not of peace…
Legolas sighed and slowly let his eyes glaze over. But not much later, he was awake again. His ears had picked up an unknown sound and his other senses, still on highest alert from the many nights of watch, swiftly kicked in. He shot straight up in his bed and strained his ears to hear if the sound would return. And yes, sure enough there it was again: Drip…Drip…drip. The Elf slowly relaxed, it was just water dripping, probably from the can on his desk. He ungracefully let himself fall backwards and tried to sleep again, but the sound kept annoying him, so he grumbled and stood up. He walked to the can, saw the small crack in it through which the water dripped, emptied the can in a bowl and nodded satisfied when the dripping stopped. He placed the can back on the desk and went back to bed. He laid himself down on his right side, but the full moon that shone through his open window, shone straight into his eyes. Annoyed he turned around, but now that he had noticed the moonlight, his whole room seemed to radiate it, preventing him from falling asleep.
He threw the blankets aside and stalked towards the window. He pulled the drapes closed and was pleased to see that his room went instantly dark.
He almost jumped back into bed and tossed and turned until he lay comfortably enough for his liking. His eyes glazed over and he was back asleep the very next second…
3 hours later, around 4 AM…
The soft spring breeze had turned into one of those howling night winds, roaming through the trees and swirling around the Last Homely House, entering it through the many open windows. Most inhabitants slept on peacefully but some were woken by it, including a certain guest from Mirkwood.
The wind flew through his open window, pulling and pushing against the curtains behind it. Off course, the flapping sound reached Legolas' ears and woke him up again.
And once again, he went out of bed, with a curse mumbled under his breath. He closed the window and the curtains and went back to bed again, yawning widely. He pulled the blankets up over his ears and eyes, so that all that could be seen of him was the top of his golden head. He yawned another time and slowly fell back asleep…
The sun had risen half an hour ago and the birds whistled their greetings to the sun. It was one of those beautiful spring days. The sky was clear blue, the sun shone brightly, giving the day a feeling of summer, and the wind had settled down again. The inhabitants of Rivendell woke up and started with a new day, except for one…
Bedroom doors opened, except for one…
Two doors that did open however were those of the very awake twins. They looked at the closed door, then looked at each other and nodded simultaneously as a wicked grin spread over both faces. They slowly and softly pushed down the handle, and opened the door and sneaked inside. Their gaze fell upon the bowl filled with water and after another nod; one went to the desk and carefully picked up the bowl. The other walked towards the bed, waiting for his brother. A third nod and the blankets were pulled back and the content of the bowl landed on the sleeping Prince's face, who shot straight up with such speed that even the twins were surprised and stood still in shock. But that didn't last for long though. The soaked strands that framed Legolas' shocked expression on his dripping face was too much and the twins soon cried with laughter.
"Breakfast is ready, oh lazy one", Elrohir managed to get out, bowing mockingly. "Lazy!" Legolas yelled, shooting an angry glare at them. The twins quickly bolted for the door and slammed it shut behind them, which was just in time, judging by the dull thud of two pillows against that same door. The brothers looked at each other and laughed even harder; the sound slowly fading as they made their way towards the dining room…
Legolas sighed, giving up hope of getting back to sleep now. He dried his hair, got dressed and went down for breakfast too, stifling a yawn.
Later that morning…
Estel and Legolas walked through the silent gardens of Rivendell, nearing the borders. Just as he had during breakfast, Estel tried to hide his smile as he noticed the many yawns Legolas tried to stifle, not all that successful. He knew the Elf didn't want anyone to find out how tired he really was and now he tried not to show Estel, for not making him feel guilty for not having taken watches while they were out. But off course, the human already felt guilty, though he knew he had to sleep, otherwise he would be spending a few days in the Healing Wing.
When they reached a more or less secluded spot, bathing in sunlight, and surrounded by large oak trees that shielded it from the wind, Estel plopped down and stretched himself out on his back, knowing that Legolas would follow his example sooner or later. And he was right; it didn't take that long for the tired Elf to take the given opportunity to lie down. Estel made sure to keep the peaceful silence between them existing, no matter how difficult it was for the talkative human.
The warmth of the sun on his face, the happy singing of the birds and the comforting rustle of the leaves of the trees swiftly proved too much even for the strong-willed Elf. His eyes glazed over and he soon was lost in the realm of dreams and sleep.
Estel smiled at the sight of his sleeping friend and quietly walked towards one of the trees, pulling out his book from behind a bush, where he had put it a little while before.
He walked back to his friend and settled himself down a little away from him, facing the entrance, making sure no one was to disturb Legolas.
Now he would take watch while the other slept…
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