Phew! I finally got this thing posted. I apologise for being away so long, life has been getting in the way again. I can't promise that the next chapter will be posted any sooner, but I will do my best! As always, thank you to my lovely betas Thuriniel and KhazarKhum for their invaluable help. I hope you all enjoy the chapter, please let me know what you think by clicking the little button at the bottom of the page!

Take care,

Emma

A First Encounter

Eldirn quickly settled down into her new routine back in Greenwood the Great. Despite having lived almost half her life in Rivendell, she had always felt like a visitor there and she was glad to return to the way of life of the wood-elves. She felt more comfortable in the surroundings she had grown up in and her fears of forgetting the places of her childhood were soon discovered to be unfounded. After only a few weeks if was like she had never left.

Eldirn spent much of her day with the Healers. When she had first arrived she was given the task of making some of the preparations she had been taught by Lord Elrond that were different from those of the Silvan elves. Thus she spent much of her time going back and forth from the Healers' Garden to one room in part of the building where all the medicine was performed. Here she constantly had pots boiling water on large fires, which made the room almost insufferably hot; tables covered with piles of this herb or that plant; and row upon row of bottles, some empty and some full with labels on the sides.

It was no small task. Eldirn worked from dawn till dusk and sometimes longer during her first few weeks. One day she sought refuge from the heat in the Healer's main room, where they mixed their draughts at one side and saw any elves that wandered in from the wood on the other. Meliel was perched on a high stool, carefully decanting one flask into another to mix a soothing liquid to treat some elflings who had unknowingly rolled into the nettles in the Wood. Eldirn sat quietly next to her, watching her friend work.

"And now I need the witch hazel. Where did I put it?" Meliel frantically looked about her table. She cursed, using a word she could only have picked up from her husband and his fellow guardsmen. Eldirn giggled.

"You sit there and keep stirring. I will go and fetch some from the Garden. I could do with the fresh air: some of those mixtures of Lord Elrond reek!"

Meliel laughed, thanking her.

Eldirn picked up a basket. She sang quietly to herself as she walked about the Garden, taking in the heavily scented air of spring until she found the small yellow flowers of the witch hazel. She gathered as much of the plant as she could carry and was about to return inside when she heard a cry followed by a yelp. It came from over the high wall that surrounded the garden. Eldirn dropped her basket and ran to where she could see a gap in the wall. It was only when she reached the opening that she remembered what exactly which garden ran next to the Healers' one. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. She knew that if someone was hurt it was her duty to help them, regardless of her own personal feelings.

Eldirn peeked around the end of the wall, her body hugged close to the brickwork. What she saw would have made her laugh herself silly except for the ellon involved. Legolas was sprawled on the grass and staring hard at an arrow embedded in the trunk of the tree behind him. He turned to glare at an elf standing with his bow lowered, trying to control his own laughter. Eldirn quickly realised this was a new member of the Royal Family; the family resemblance was clear enough. He did not look as though he was old enough to have come of age and his skill with the bow lacked the experience that came with advanced years. Cushions were scattered all across the lawn, some with arrows sticking out of them, but most of them without: they had been practising shooting at moving objects.

Her gaze was naturally drawn to the elf she had not seen in years. She could only see his profile, but there was little changed in his appearance, only in his stance there was more confidence, more dignity. Then he smiled and laughed at the situation and Eldirn felt her heart race. For a moment it was as if no time had passed at all. Suddenly the situation dawned on Eldirn and she turned away from the scene with a small gasp. The family resemblance, the age of the boy, the fact that it had been kept from her: Legolas had married and his wife had borne him a son. Angry tears welled in her eyes as she stomped back to her basket and then inside the building.

She flung the witch hazel down on the table in front of Meliel, scattering the branches everywhere.

"Eldirn be careful!" Meliel screeched without looking as she felt the force of the basket on the table.

"You could have told me!" Eldirn screamed just as loudly.

Meliel looked up from her work to see her friend red-faced with tears rolling unbidden down her cheeks. Her anger and work were forgotten and concern took over.

"Come," she bade Eldirn, leading her away from the prying eyes of the other healers and back into the small room where Eldirn had been working. She sat Eldirn down on a chair and stood in front of her, arms folded. "Now do you want to tell me exactly what I have done to deserve that little outburst?"

Eldirn mumbled something shamefully under her breath. She felt like an errant elfling being told off in this manner.

"Again and louder," Meliel demanded.

Eldirn sighed and then met her friend's eyes firmly.

"Why did you not tell me he was married? Why did you not tell me he had a son?" She asked stonily.

"Who?"

"Legolas."

"Oh," Meliel realised. "Oh," she said again knowingly, now realising exactly what this conversation meant.

"So you do not deny it?" Eldirn spat, standing up as if to challenge Meliel. The elder elf simply put her hands on Eldirn's shoulders and forced her back down. In a kindly voice with a little smirk on her face she said,

"He is not married. He does not have a son. Do you think we would have kept that from you? Do you think that they would not have heard in Rivendell if the Prince of the Greenwood got married?"

A small glimmer of smile flashed across Eldirn's features before she caught it.

"Then who did I see with him?"

"About so tall," Meliel gestured, "hair the colour of corn?" Eldirn nodded. "That is Tavor Woodpecker, son of Thalion and Eiliant."

"An unusual name," was all Eldirn could manage to say in reply.

"Apparently he was a particularly active infant during his poor mother's pregnancy," Meliel tried to say with a straight face. "The poor child."

Eldirn sat quietly thinking on the news. The thought that Legolas could have married someone else had made her want to scream until her throat cracked. Then she had felt something she rarely ever experienced - jealousy. It ran through her at the thought that he could have forgotten her and found happiness with someone else. In that moment she had felt utter despair, but now there was a new hope.

"Eldirn?" Meliel said softly. "Do you…" she broke off.

"Of all the ellyn I met in Rivendell, none came close to him, not even the famed twin sons of Lord Elrond," Eldirn replied quietly, not needing Meliel to finish her question.

"But when you left you were so angry."

"I was angry at him and angry at myself, but now that I have seen him again I do not know how I feel. It was all so long ago. I certainly do not think that I hate him now. The thought of him married to someone else was so abhorrent to me. Surely I would not feel that if I did not like him to some degree? What do you think? Tell me, please!" Eldirn ordered desperately, leaping up and grasping her confidant's hands in earnest.

"I cannot tell you what you feel," Meliel laughed. "You must think on this yourself. Now get back to work and open a window. No wonder you are all over the place, how anyone can think in this stench is beyond me!"

And so Eldirn was left, somewhat cruelly, to stew in her own thoughts.

Of course, Eldirn's failing was that she used logic to fathom her feelings. She tried to reason with what she felt and gauge how Legolas ought to feel. In the end it just made her more miserable and confused. She went over and over what she thought she should feel and what she actually did. And then, thinking back to the last time she had spoken to Legolas, it left her in a state of undeniable panic when she thought that perhaps he hated her and would never admit her into his sight ever again.

Then the inevitable happened - the first meeting of Eldirn Star-Watcher and Legolas Greenleaf since their unfortunate parting almost forty-one years previously.

It was the middle of spring and the forest was alive with animals and their young. It was a favourite time for trips out into the forest, sometimes staying many nights sleeping under the stars or in make-shift telain built just for that purpose. Legolas had been on one of these with a few of his closest friends. They were in high spirits on their return, talking and joking amongst themselves until they strayed too close the den of a nursing fox.

The vixen tore from her hole and bit the leg of Legolas' horse. Startled, it threw its master from its back for the first time. Legolas landed on his ankle, twisting it under him. The Prince ended up riding home behind someone else and flinching with every sudden movement his foot had to make. His own horse trotted some distance behind them in disgrace with a makeshift bandage around its leg.

Legolas was unceremoniously carried up to his talan by his friends, dumped on a couch and left to his own devices. The word "melodramatic" was muttered more than once by members of the party. Once they had left, Legolas propped his leg up with a cushion and settled back to take advantage of his injury and get some rest. They had been out on the hunt for three nights and not much sleep had happened between the sport, the games and the feasting.

Legolas drifted in and out of consciousness until late afternoon when someone burst into the talan and bellowed his name. It was Thranduil.

"Legolas Greenleaf, where on Arda have you been? I know you arrived back this morning from your little jaunt into the Wood, but this is no excuse to missing an important meeting of all the perthirith middle-guards! What sort of an example does that set?"

Automatically Legolas stood up to defend himself against his father's charge, but his ankle crumpled under him. He cried out at the renewal of the throbbing pain, which had abated slightly during the afternoon. Legolas fell back onto the cushions and clasped his ankle.

Immediately Thranduil was at his son's side. "What have you done, Legolas? I will send for a healer at once."

"It is only a slight sprain Adar, nothing more. If I rest it I will be well in a few days, do not trouble the Healers."

"It is their job to be bothered," Thranduil replied firmly. He left Legolas briefly to call to anyone to fetch a healer.

The duty fell on one of the King's bodyguards, a rather young and haughty ellon. He dashed into the Adab Nestad House of Healing and called for the Chief Healer, nicknamed Gollor Magician for the seemingly miraculous recovery of his patients. The old ellon looked up from the pot he was stirring and said,

"I am he."

"The Prince has hurt his ankle and the King is anxious that someone should attend to it immediately."

"I am sure the Prince has had far worse injuries than this, but if that is what the King wants…" Gallor trailed off. He raised his voice again to say, "I cannot go. I cannot leave this draught now." He looked around the room and his eyes settled on Meliel and Eldirn working side by side down the other end of the room. Their attention was less on their tasks and more on the sudden intrusion into the usual calm of the Adab Nestad. He called to them and they came running. "The Prince has sprained his ankle. One of you will have to see to it."

Meliel jumped in before Eldirn even had a chance to think.

"Send Eldirn," she said with a sly look on her face. "She has such gentle hands and she is far politer than I am."

"This is true," Gallor mused mainly to himself. "Eldirn it will be."

Eldirn had little time to think as she ran for a bag and gathered what she would need. Then as she followed the guard to where she could find the Prince all Eldirn could think was, "Please let it be Thalion. Please let it be him."

When the guard stopped at the bottom of a tree that was not the one Thalion, Eiliant and Tavor lived in, Eldirn's heart stopped and her stomach flipped. The walk up the stairs seemed endless as they wound around and around the tree. Each turn brought a new emotion to her - nervousness, fear, anxiety, excitement, nausea, anger… The feelings welled up inside her until she was dizzy.

Then she reached the top and her curiosity found its way to the forefront. She had never seen Legolas' talan and she wondered what it would be like. Holding on to this feeling the best she could, as she felt it was one that she could maintain to comfortably deal with the situation, she followed the guard and entered Legolas' domain.

Eldirn passed through the doorway and into the small hallway inside the flet. The doors led off to the different parts of the large talan and Eldirn was intrigued as to what lay behind each, but it was the central one that she was ushered through by the guard. She took a couple of steps inside and stopped dead. She realised then that of all the emotions she had experienced the one she had not felt was that she was ready for the meeting. Her eyes were drawn to the figure lying supine on a couch with his feet hanging off the end and to the face she had not looked closely upon for so long.

Legolas had heard the noise of someone entering the room, but did not look to see who had come. However when they stopped after only a few paces inside he opened his eyes and turned his face to see what had happened. It was then that he saw the one person he had never expected to see. His eyes met hers and Legolas felt a sudden unlocking of memories, thoughts and feelings that he had long ago buried in the dark recesses of his consciousness. Any pain that resurfaced was soon overwhelmed by surprise and joy at seeing her beautiful face again.

Both Eldirn and Legolas were brought back to the situation in hand by a sudden loud cough from Thranduil. It took Eldirn only a moment to take her bag from her shoulder and walk to where Legolas was lying.

"You will be in safe hands with Eldirn I am sure Legolas," Thranduil said, though he knew neither of them was listening. "I will be back later." And he left.

"Sit up please," Eldirn said gently, trying to disguise the nervousness in her tone.

Legolas shuffled his body into a seated position and Eldirn sat on the end of the couch with his lower legs across her lap. She rolled up his leggings to midway up his calves and then gently took the socks off each foot. It was easy for her to see which ankle was injured - it was red and swollen to about twice the size of the other. She tutted quietly to herself.

"I need some cold water in a bowl big enough for your foot," she said matter-of-factly concentrating on Legolas' ankle so she would not have to look at his face.

"If you go back out into the hallway, the door on your far right is my wash room. There is a small basin and there should be some water left in a large jug. It was warm earlier, but it should be cold by now," Legolas replied distantly. He was trying to concentrate on the pain in his ankle rather than the fact that Eldirn's soft and gentle fingers were gingerly touching him.

Eldirn carefully lifted his legs from her body and stood up. She followed his instructions and found that the water was indeed quite cold. She also carried back with her two towels that she found waiting for Legolas' use. She put the bowl on the floor temporarily and pulled a low table close to the couch, spreading one towel across it to catch any spillage from the basin, which she placed on top. Legolas turned without asking, put his foot into the cool water and let out an appreciative sigh.

"How did this happen?" She asked him.

"A fox bit my horse's leg and he threw me off," Legolas said sheepishly.

"Did you hurt yourself anywhere else when you fell?"

"I do not know," Legolas said, feeling a bit silly. "I think my arm stung a little bit afterwards."

"Roll your sleeve up please," she said mechanically.

Legolas rolled up his sleeve and Eldirn was not surprised to see a large scrape and a bright purple bruise forming there. She rummaged in her bag for a cloth and dipped it in the bowl of water, carefully cleaning all the dirt around the cut. She was concentrating so hard that she almost jumped when Legolas said,

"You are very good at that."

"I had a very good teacher," was all Eldirn could find to say in reply.

"It was worth it then, Rivendell?" Legolas asked.

"Yes," she stated quietly.

"You were happy there?" He asked again.

"As much as I could be without my family and friends."

There was silence as Legolas wondered if he was included in that list and Eldirn wondered if he knew he was.

"And now you return to an even larger family. Gaeron Great Sea is it not?"

"He is very well, thank you," she said politely, her mind guessing as to how he knew her brother's name.

"And your parents?"

"They are both very well also."

"Oh good," Legolas said absently.

Eldirn felt it was only polite to say, "And I trust your family is well too. I hear that Prince Thalion and Lady Eiliant have a son."

"Yes," Legolas said, his face breaking into a wonderful smile. "Tavor is an amazing child, he always has been and he looks just like his father. Oh, you should see Thalion and Eiliant, they make such perfect parents. It is a completely different side of my brother that I had never really seen until Tavor was born. And Eiliant is a natural mother."

Eldirn smiled at his enthusiastic love for his nephew, it was lovely to see. She could not fail to miss the wistful note in his voice though.

To save thinking about this any further, she took the cloth away from his arm and searched in her bag for a salve for the wound and some arnica for the bruise. Then, still not thinking about Legolas as the father of any children, especially not her own, she removed his injured ankle from the cold water and brought it to rest in her lap on the second towel. Carefully she dried it and then she gently began to examine it.

Legolas did not quite know what to think. It was exactly like the first time they had been alone together all those years ago when he had banged his head and she had felt for the wound in the dark of the forest. As they had then, the feel of her slight fingers on his skin sent his heart pumping and the blood racing through his veins. Very slowly their position shifted as she tested the muscles in his ankle, drawing out a muffled curse from his lips. He apologised immediately afterwards and then smiled wryly as Eldirn turned to meet his gaze and said,

"I have heard far worse from you Legolas Greenleaf."

"True," he conceded happily.

For a moment neither of them spoke. Eldirn blushed under his questioning stare. She did not think she was ready to answer what it asked her. Her attention went back to his foot and she began again her manipulation of his ankle. After another few moments she pronounced her diagnosis.

"It is nothing more than a mild sprain. Stay off it for a couple of days and keep it elevated and I mean that - no walking whatsoever. You will have to stay inside for a few days and have someone help you if you want to move from your bed. If it is still painful after that then send for me again. This might help too," she said, handing him a jar of salve. "If it gets too painful and hot then this will help cool the skin and reduce the swelling."

"I cannot stay inside for two days, Eldirn, I have things to take care of. I already missed an important meeting with the King this afternoon," Legolas said stubbornly.

"I am sure that whatever it is that is so important can manage without you for two days."

"I am supposed to be dining with my family tonight in my parents' talan."

"I am sure they would rather they would rather you were well and absent than in pain and present," Eldirn said, raising her voice. Legolas was testing her patience, but that did not stop her being very careful as she moved his injured leg and rested it back down on a soft cushion.

"Quite right too," said a powerful voice behind her.

Eldirn spun around and found herself once more in the presence of Thranduil. How long he had been there she did not know. She curtseyed to him and hurriedly began to gather her things. She fumbled with the ties on her bag and threw in the wet cloth and her bottles of salve as soon as she had got it open.

"I should be leaving," she muttered.

"First, tell me of his prognosis Eldirn. Will he live?" Thranduil said with a serious voice, but a twinkle in his eye.

"Adar, please!" Legolas cried from the couch.

Eldirn looked from Thranduil to Legolas and tried to hide her smile.

"He will be perfectly well, your Highness, as long as he completely rests his ankle for the next couple of days," she said firmly.

"I see," said the King slowly. "And do you plan to follow your Healer's advice or must I put guards on your door?" He asked his son.

"If I must," Legolas grumbled quietly to himself.

"Excellent," said Thranduil. "Thank you, Eldirn."

She knew this was her dismissal and she curtseyed once more before making her way to the door. She was halfway there when she heard her name called and she stopped and turned around.

"Eldirn if you are going to imprison me like this then the least you can do is make it less unbearable for me. Will you dine with me here tonight?" Legolas' voice was unsure and his face made Eldirn suspect that he had even surprised himself by asking the question.

Father and son trained their gazes on her and Eldirn blushed. There was little she could do but blurt out the answer that had formed in her throat the moment he had spoken.

"Yes," she said suddenly and more loudly than she intended. Her cheeks reddened even more and she turned and fled, her steps clattering down the steps of the talan.

When their noise had disappeared, Thranduil turned to his son and raised his arm signalling that Legolas did not need to speak.

"Yes I will send over some of the food from our meal tonight. Yes I will send someone to help you. It is Emlin's rest day is it not?"

Legolas nodded but his interest was fixed on the door that Eldirn had just left through.

"Very well then." Thranduil rose and smiled mysteriously at his son. "Enjoy your meal."

Eldirn wandered back to the Adab Nestad in a daze. It was as if her mind had totally left her body leaving behind the words "Legolas", "dinner" and "tonight". She repeated those over and over to herself until the words mixed and their order switched. More than once on her short walk back she had to stop and turn around because she had missed the path she was supposed to take. Finally she sat back down next to Meliel in the seat she had vacated little over an hour ago. Eldirn stared blankly in front of her at a patch on the far wall.

"Well what happened?" Meliel asked.

Eldirn turned her wide eyes on Meliel and said incredulously,

"I am dining with Legolas in his talan tonight."

"Oh nothing unexpected then," Meliel teased.

Eldirn's eyes narrowed and she tried to look angry.

"Do not think I have forgiven you for sending me there in the first place. That was a cheap and underhand trick."

"Well I had to do something. I could not let an opportunity to help you pass by like that."

"Help? Is that what you call it?"

"Do not be so quick to refuse my help," Meliel warned lightly, "you might need it later when you need to dress for tonight."

"Dress," Eldirn echoed weakly. She gave a sigh of resignation and put her head in her hands.

Legolas had been resting his ankle as instructed and thinking over his evening ahead. He wanted to make this a special evening for Eldirn and one where she would feel comfortable. There had been several moments in the afternoon where she had looked ready to bolt for the door and run screaming back to the Adab Nestad, but there had also been times when she had almost seemed like her old self and when she had looked in his eyes and smiled… The realisation that she was still unmarried and maybe there was still hope brought such joy to his heart that he had not felt in years.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening and elves entering his talan. The door of his sitting room banged open and Thalion stood in the doorway.

"Fear not little brother, for we are here to aid you in your time of need!"

Legolas sank back into the cushions of the couch and muttered, "Of all the elves he had to send…"

"What is that I hear? Ingratitude?" Thalion said mockingly. "Well Eiliant, Tavor, I do not think we need waste our time here. I am sure Legolas is perfectly happy to see Eldirn in a dirty tunic and leggings that he has ridden in and rolled around on the ground in whilst he lounges on the couch with nowhere close by for her to sit. Such as it is I would say that is no way to treat a lady like Eldirn. Why when I saw her not more than half a dozen weeks ago…" He was cut off.

"When you saw her?" Legolas retorted rudely. Thalion grinned and then looked suitably penitent.

"Did I not say? Oh how forgetful of me. My troop and I escorted her all the way back from the western border a few weeks ago. She looked remarkably well and had a guard of three soldiers from Rivendell. Eldirn was exceptionally polite as always, but those guards! They would never get away with that sort of rudeness with me."

Thalion stopped, inspected the fingernails on his right hand and then looked at his brother. Behind Thalion, Eiliant was trying very hard not to giggle and Tavor was looking more than a little confused.

"Who is Lady Eldirn?" Tavor ventured to ask quietly.

"An old friend of your uncle's," Thalion said without turning around. His attention was still fixed on the angry face of his brother.

"Then how have I never met her?" Tavor asked again.

"The year before you were born she left to go to Rivendell to learn the healing arts from Lord Elrond," Eiliant explained to her son.

"And I gather Legolas here experience those skills first hand this afternoon," Thalion said smoothly. He walked to the couch and none too gently lifted Legolas' legs and dropped them into his lap as he flopped down on the cushions. "Any good?" He asked cheekily patting Legolas' sore foot.

"Ouch, yes you orc. And your concern for my health is very touching, really it is."

"Enough!" Cried Eiliant holding her hands up and wiping away the tears of laughter from her eyes. "We are not getting anything done like this. Now Legolas what I thought we could do is move your small table in here with a couple of chairs and then after you have eaten it will not be too difficult for Eldirn to help you to the couch. We can move an armchair over here as well if you like or Eldirn could sit down with you…"

"And stroke you ankle better," Thalion offered gently rubbing his brother's foot. Legolas used his good leg to kick his brother hard in the thigh. "That was highly unnecessary Tithintôr," he scolded. "Should I go and ask Eldirn to take a look at it for me?"

"You leave Eldirn out of this Thalion," Legolas shouted. "She is my…" He stopped speaking abruptly.

"Your what Legolas?" Thalion asked seriously. Their teasing was forgotten. "Do you not think you should ask her what she would like to be first?"

Eiliant quickly ushered Tavor from the room to leave the brothers in peace to talk.

"I think that if she had not left in the way she did then I would have hoped that she would be something very important," Legolas admitted softly.

"Then we must do all we can to make this night special and get things back to the way they were," Thalion said whole-hearted. "Sorry about the ankle, Legolas," he added.

"I will live I expect. Thank you, Thalion."

"Anytime," he replied and gently rose to his feet to help move furniture.

It did not take long for Thalion and Tavor to transform the room for Legolas and Eldirn. Then, once Legolas had finished directing the reorganisation from his position on the couch, he was helped into his dressing room where Eiliant supervised the choosing of his clothing for the evening. It took them quite some time to decide what to do about the size of Legolas' ankle and the fact that it would not fit comfortably into any of his boots. In the end they settled for wearing a boot on the good foot and a sock of a similar colour on the injured one.

Outside their home less than a league away Haedron and his young son, Gaeron, had sought refuge on the grass under the trees, watching the shadows lengthen and avoiding the feminine panic that ensued inside the house. The noise level periodically rose and fell as things were discussed, decisions made, and quiet acceptance set in. Haedron's attention was drawn from his son's scribbling in the soil as the shouting reached new heights. Suddenly there was silence, the front door opened and Rodwen and Meliel were forced out onto the front step. Eldirn then slammed the door as the other two blinked in surprise at the wood before them which barred their way. Haedron turned away and smirked at his little son.

"Do you think your sister finally had enough of her interfering old mother?" He asked loudly enough for Rodwen to hear. Gaeron giggled and let the dry earth run through his fingers. Haedron laughed too as he saw his wife scowl.

"We only tried to help," she explained. "Let her go out in rags, unfit to be seen by anyone, let alone a prince. And not just any prince, but Legolas," she added as an afterthought.

"She is your daughter Rodwen, how could she ever look unfit?" Haedron said, trying to pacify the situation. After centuries of practise he could do it well. Rodwen blushed at the compliment from her husband and gracefully lowered herself onto the grass beside the rest of her family.

"Meliel, will you not stay until she leaves?" Rodwen asked.

She did not even have to wait for an answer because the door was suddenly opened and Eldirn left the house. They did not even have time to comment on her appearance because Eldirn was quickly gone and on the path through the forest with a call of "Goodnight, Adar," ringing through the air.