AN: Funny story, kind of. My grandmother decided to clean one of the rooms of the house this week as a favor to my mom. She moved the box I keep all my notebooks in so I spent a while trying to find them on my own. When I didn't readily find them- Since I keep them in the case I keep my laptop in. - I asked her where she'd put the case. She said she didn't know and she'd never seen the case before. I've just now found said case. She, apparently, decided to use it as a convenient rest for some of my millions of Beanie Babies. The whole thing was effectively buried under a pile of stuffed little Beanie guys! Anywho, other than that everything is going pretty well here. I'm helping in the planning of like four trips for my Girl Scout Troop, which is always fun. Many thanks for all the reviews! You all are the best and please, feel free to keep reviewing. It always amazes me that people are bothering to read this stuff.
LJP: The look would be rather…amusing…to say the least. He's just about as shocked as anyone might be considering his position. Then again, he still hasn't realized what news he still has to give her but that's coming soon as well.
LalaithoftheBruinen: Sorry about the cliffhangers, I'm rather fond of them. Actually writing one last semester in creative writing got me into a bit of trouble but that's neither here nor there. Here's my update, as soon as I could get it typed and posted up from the innards of my computer.
Elven Script: New England's nice. I was up in Boston, Massachusetts last summer to see a Lord of the Rings related exhibit at a science museum up there. Never been to New Hampshire, though, but I heard it's quite nice there too. Anywho, I'm glad you liked the chapter and I hope you like this one just as much!
Shay: Hiya there! It's ok about being late, I haven't been getting these chapters up in a timely fashion myself, no matter how much I'd like to really. You are very much right about how you've ordered all the people together. Many kudos to you! I'm glad you liked the song; it's a rather cool one.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except for a handful of made up characters. Tolkien thought up the concept and, as such, it belongs to him. I'm just playing in his world. I'm broke and in college. All I own are Pointe Shoes.
To be alive again. To be able to feel the wind in one's hair and the sun on one's skin. To be able to feel anything at all, really. Even the clothing against her skin and the feel of the horse's mane in her hands as she rode towards her destination were things she was relishing. The simple, tactile things gave her great joy at the moment. It was like seeing the world for the first time. She now knew how a baby felt as they experienced things for the first time.
After being trapped so long in a world where one felt nothing this was one of the best feelings in all of Middle Earth to the returning queen at the moment. To be a substantial being with full use of their senses was something that she had, once, only dreamed of recapturing again. This was a dream come true, the realization of many long years of sadness and self torment. Of worrying about what was happening to the home she once lived in and those she had once cared for. Truly, this was the best feeling in the whole of the world.
Maybe not the best feeling, really. Perhaps there was something greater, something more, something better and more powerful than the sheer exhilaration of being able to feel once again.
The fact her son- Her little boy.- was standing in front of her a fine, grown elven male was the best feeling in the world. There was a certain amount of pride that coursed through her as she looked at him. He was a prince now, no longer the little elven child who had bore the title and little else. He was no longer riding through the woods in grass stained clothing, looking for trouble in defiance of his father's rules. Now, he had ridden out from the home she once lived in with a purpose.
That being, to find her. Not her, per see, but the surprise that Niphredil- The strange combination of elven child and mortal human she was. - had written him about. It just so happened that this surprise was one thing he would never expect.
"Hence, the surprise factor," she mused, pausing for all of a moment as she tried to collect herself.
There was so much she wanted to tell her boy, so much she wanted to know from him. No words came, though, as she opened her mouth to talk with him. As stunned as he was, his mother was equally stunned as well.
Stunned by how much he'd grown. By the sheer fact he had not forgotten her. The latter being something she feared as she tried to race back to the eaves under which she had grown.
Young elfling or not, she threw her arms around her son, pulling him into a very tight embrace. To be able to do this, to feel him return the embrace as he had many long years ago, was another feeling she realized that she had missed. He was nearly her height now, but that mattered not. To her, he was still her little boy.
Much to her surprise- Well, she assumed it was to her surprise anyway. - the queen felt tears streaming down her face. The little trails of moisture that the tears created down her face was something she'd forgotten about. When was the last time she cried in this world? The last fight she'd had with the king, her husband, she guessed.
Though she loved the king with all her heart, there had been a certain tension between them in the years before her passing. Something was going on in his heart, something she couldn't understand or chose not to understand. He'd never expressed any unhappiness with her but, after speaking with certain people, his attitude had changed. He'd become cold and hard, immobile as stone and about as forgiving.
"But how?" Legolas asked, again, pulling away from his mother and looking at her with glad eyes.
It upset him that she was crying but he assumed those were tears of joy or of some other positive emotion. She wasn't crying because she was hurt or displeased at his appearance. The tightness of the familiar embrace was enough to attest to that fact.
She held her son at arm's length, getting a good look at him again, for a moment before speaking.
"There was a young lady- She called herself Niphredil, like the flowers in Lothlorien. Though it was an odd name because she was not as white as those blooms. Rather, she was dark of hair and eye. - who came to find me in the Halls of Mandos. She was from the land of the living which struck me as odd since the dead do not suffer the living to pass among them but she was disguised as a bright figure," the queen, her name being Algernil, stated.
She paused her story, gathering her thoughts. They seemed to be a bit muddled at the moment, as if her mind was still in disbelief as to what had taken place. That was partially true, of course, as Algernil could not believe she was among the living again.
Continuing, she spoke, "She offered me words from the Lady Galadriel that seemed to confuse her. They made sense to me, though, an almost perfect sort of sense. She also presented me with the offer walk, once again, with the living. It is that offer I took and here you see me now, returned to you and your father."
An odd look crossed over Legolas' face as his father was brought up. He had not forgotten about the meeting he was supposed to have with the ruler of Mirkwood. He'd gotten…distracted…by the return of his mother. If he knew Thranduil- and Legolas thought he had his father pretty much figured out- the older elven male had gone out hunting and left one of his many reagents in charge of the kingdom.
Still, he knew he was in for an earful later on, if their paths crossed within the walls of Mirkwood. That could be easily avoided, given his current charge.
"What words did the Lady Galadriel have for you, nana?" he asked.
Algernil looked at her son once again and gave him a soft smile. She was pleased to see that Thranduil hadn't turned her boy into a cold, hard, creature like he, himself, had turned into. He was still questioning things in that strange child-like way children asked questions, instead of demanding answers like his father had done- Probably still did- on several occasions.
"She reminded me of something that I had nearly forgotten about in my dreary years in the Halls of Mandos. The past had come to the present and all the words she had once spoken to me had come to pass," Algernil answered.
A new sort of smile- One that was nearly wistful and wanting- danced across her face and settled in her eyes as she added, "And that the child I was long denied has come but requires my aid."
For what seemed like the millionth time today, a confused look crossed Legolas' face. He wasn't quite sure what his mother was speaking of. She was barely even making sense to him. Unless this was some strange effect from the crossing into this world, he could not find any reason to ascribe her strange speech to some kind of madness. As a matter of reference, she seemed as sane as she had ever seemed to him.
"Where is your wonderful father, anyway?" Algernil asked, eyes roving around the area she and Legolas were standing in.
She had half expected to see him here with her son. There was also the fact that he might have passed as she had. That did not seem likely, though, considering the fact she had not seen him walking among the dead. True the number was vast but those that were together in life often found their way together in death as well. That had not been the case.
Besides that, if Thranduil had passed and Legolas crowned ruler of Mirkwood, he would not have gone to answer Niphredil's summons alone. More correctly, he would not be allowed to. There were royal guards who were responsible for keeping the royal family safe from attack.
Guards that were not there when she'd needed them most and appeared not to protecting her son. Then again, Legolas had always shown a great aptitude for taking care of himself. Even before she passed, he had started to show great skill with the bow.
"Out hunting I suppose," Legolas answered, "I was supposed to speak with him before his departure but Niphredil's note provided a much needed distraction."
Something in her son's tone puzzled Algernil. It hadn't been there while he was speaking to her about how she had come to Middle Earth once again and, most certainly, not there when he had questioned her about Galadriel's words. It almost seemed like Legolas wanted to get away from Thranduil that he was looking for any excuse to get away from the king.
If Thranduil had done something to hurt her son, there was no standing royal guard that could save him from her wrath. As it was, she had reason enough to be angry with her spouse.
Perhaps that was a small part of the reason why she'd been brought back, to find the truth about certain things.
"Why do you want to get away from your father, Legolas?" she asked, trying to puzzle out the reason behind his sudden change in tone.
Legolas wanted to tell her exactly why, to give her the truth behind his strained relationship with his father but found he could not. Algernil deserved the truth but he was unsure of how to tell her it.
How could he tell her that his father- Her husband- had been unfaithful to her memory after her death? That a single even had swelled their family by one and that the one individual was not only his little sister but princess as well.
He hadn't the heart to tell her about Emma. Legolas was sure he did not even know where to start. Still, he knew it was better the words come from him and not from his father. He could be far more careful with that sensitive piece of information. Tell her what happened and allow her to decide for herself.
Still, in his heart of hearts, Legolas fervently hoped that his mother would be a little more accepting of his sister than his father was. He wasn't sure if he could deal with two parties that were totally hostile towards Emma. He didn't know if even Shannon's strong spirit- A combination of the fierce warrior she had once been and the viciously protective mother she was now. - could protect Emma from that kind of anger.
"May I be allowed to tell you later, nana? I would rather tell you while we are safely within the confines of our home," Legolas broached, his answer unexpected by his mother in every way, shape, or form.
Still, Algernil allowed him to demure from answering the question…for now. She was not sure how safe the woods of Mirkwood anymore despite the fact Niphredil had assured her that the shadows that had once covered Middle Earth were slowly retreating. They receded the slowest in Mirkwood, though, according to the girl for the forest was vast and dark.
Algernil wasn't entirely sure what shadows Niphredil had spoken of but she allowed the girl to continue speaking. That seemed to help her along in the strange situation she was recovering from.
"I look forward to seeing Mirkwood once again, my son," she said with a smile, "It has been many years since I looked upon my home."
"Then I will allow you to see your home once more," Legolas called in reply as he climbed on his horse.
Tugging her hood over her head again, not wanting to reveal her presence to the others in Mirkwood just yet, Algernil mounted her own horse. Behind her son she rode, with her head nearly pressed against the neck of her horse in an effort to appear as just a weary traveler-Maybe even a Ranger who had gotten himself lost within the labyrinthine confines of Mirkwood. Her eyes, however, did catch the long look he cast as they passed one of the practice fields that seemed to be teeming with busily working elven children.