The day was just dawning when they finally returned to Lasselanta's home after Legolas was sure they were not being pursued. He pulled Laureaquen up in front of the outpost and gently released himself from Lasselanta's tight grip. He somehow managed to slide off of Laureaquen's back without letting Lasselanta fall. Then, he pulled her from the horse into his arms and walked inside. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw a magnificent chair he hadn't noticed before, and nothing else. The wall directly opposing the doorway was solid stone, and the walls on either side were wooden with the outdoors behind them. Therefore, the entrance to Lasselanta's home could only be through the stone wall. But how to open it? He gently set her down in the chair and pondered the wall, trying some passwords in Sindarin, looking for a secret stone to push and make the door open, and all around giving himself a headache. After several moments of attempting to pace around the horses (who had followed them inside out of fear), Lasselanta stirred and Legolas was immediately at her side. She groaned and shifted, then opened her eyes, blinked rapidly, and looked straight at him.
She felt like a pile of dung, there was no denying that. Lasselanta's eyes were still closed, but she could smell the fear of the horses and the close familiarity of old wood and wet stone. She decided before even opening her eyes that she was back in her chair in the outpost. As to why she was still there and not inside in her own bed was evident: Legolas did not know how to open the door. She let herself groan from the pain of her stiff limbs and tried to flex them. Finally, she gave up and just opened her eyes. The moonlight was brightly reflecting off of something that glared in her eyes and made her head hurt, so she blinked to adjust, and there he was, blond hair ruffled and collecting moonbeams, staring right at her.
She gave him a small smile, "Pull the center stone out and turn it to the left," she whispered, suddenly noticing that her throat was completely dry. All he did was look at her.
He couldn't believe this elf-maid. First, she had saved Laureaquen in a huge battle, then had run like the wind, leapt onto a moving horse, been jostled unconsciously for miles, and was suddenly lucid enough to give instructions and a solution to a problem she couldn't've known existed? Quite frankly, Legolas was completely amazed.
"Well?" she prompted after clearing her throat. "Are you going to do it so we can get inside and you can get me some water, or not?" Before he could stop himself, training took over and he bowed deeply to that commanding, if hoarse tone and did as he was bidden.
After a moment of fumbling to find the correct stone, Legolas followed her instructions and the entire wall swung open to reveal a flight of stone stairs. He turned to help her again, only to find her attempting to rise, nearly falling in the process. He deftly scooped her up in his arms and proceeded down the stair, only to hear the clopping hooves of Laureaquen and Gimli's pony behind them.
"No!" he turned, saying to his horse. "Absolutely not! This is Lasselanta's home, not a stable!"
"Nonsense!" she croaked. "They're welcome inside after so harrowing a night!"
He cocked an eyebrow and looked down at her mischievous face, "We'll just make Master Elf clean up any mess you make!" He merely sighed, shook his head, and continued down the stairs. The Fëanorian lamps lit themselves as they passed and at the base of the stair, Gimli, who had since wakened, was waiting with Celebrindal. He jumped up as he saw them and roared, "You idiot! What have you done to our hostess!" Then, he saw the horses, "And what are those foul beasts doing inside!"
"I invited them," Lasselanta whispered with a devilish smile. Legolas just stood there, trying to suppress a chuckle at the look of astonishment and a bit of hurt on Gimli's face.
After a moment, Gimli remembered himself and roared, "Well? Get the girl to bed you great Elven oaf!"
"I don't need sleep, Gimli," Lasselanta admonished and weakly struggled in Legolas' arms. "And I'd thank you kindly to put me down, Legolas." He gently obliged, but as soon as he let go, her knees buckled and he scrambled to catch her again. "Maybe a chair," she ventured sheepishly. He immediately picked her up again and set her down in that same chair that had earlier held both Gimli and himself. "I'll need my tea," Lasselanta started as Legolas went for the cupboard. "The tea that is in my apothecary," she finished. When Legolas looked at her questioningly, she answered, "It's at the end of the corridor on the left. The tea should be in a stone jar labeled 'Restorative.'" Celebrindal curled at her weary feet and while Gimli hovered and fretted, Lasselanta just rested her tired and overtaxed body. Legolas returned momentarily and she caught him surreptitiously sniffing the open jar.
"Do you know what is in it?" Lasselanta questioned hoarsely.
"Flax, thistle, thyme, mayweed, and winterbloom?" Legolas guessed.
"Not, bad," she smiled, impressed. "Not bad at all. Now it needs to steep in hot water. Not boiling, mind you, but as hot as you can get it without actually boiling it." He silently obeyed, putting the kettle back on to heat.
"Are you going to tell me what happened, or not?" Gimli demanded of Legolas, who sighed wearily.
"The orcs were after the horses and they had Laureaquen surrounded, so Lasselanta put on quite a show," he smiled at her, "and pretty much destroyed them while I rescued Laureaquen and then somehow she managed to catch up with us with Laureaquen going at full gallop. She obviously collapsed of exhaustion. We found your hill pony on the way back."
"I don't care about the damn pony!" roared Gimli. "What I want to know is why you risked our Lasselanta's life and limb to rescue that foolish animal of yours!"
Lasselanta glanced at him sharply and replied quietly, "I was the one who went after Laureaquen, Gimli. He's a good horse." Laureaquen, as if he could understand, bowed his head in shame at the way he had treated her earlier. Good, she thought, Maybe now he'll learn some manners.
Gimli just hemmed and hawed while Legolas took the steaming water off of the tile stove. He fetched a soapstone cup from the cupboard and was about to add the water to it, when Lasselanta stopped him.
"First put two pinches of the tea in the cup, then pour the water over it, so it steeps properly," she instructed. He did as he was told, then brought the cup over to her, but she shook her head, "Let it steep for a few moments more," then she leaned back her head and closed her eyes, resting.
Legolas set the cup on the table, where it silently steamed, and leaned against the wall. Gimli had situated himself on the floor and was sulkily petting Celebrindal, who was only slightly distracted from his concern over his mistress.
Lasselanta's thoughts were whirling inside her weary head. Exhaustion had made them rather random; she wondered what she was doing letting the elf and the dwarf stay with her when the obviously should be on their way, she wondered what in Middle Earth the orcs were up to, but most of all, she wondered if all these years she'd spent out in the middle of nowhere had really been worth it. Was she actually right about Thranduil? If he was anything like his son, perhaps she had misjudged him. Perhaps she had overreacted to the snide remarks of the other elves? Then, a long-forgotten memory dredged itself up and she remembered:
"Good!" Haldamaite encouraged, twirling to block Lasselanta's lunge. "Very good!" They spun and swirled together in a dance as Lasselanta sparred with her teacher, left-handed. Haldamaite disarmed her in one deft stroke and Lasselanta watched sorrowfully as her lovely new sword went spinning across the salle. "Excellent work, Lasselanta," Haldamaite praised, and Lasselanta glowed. "You're progressing more quickly than I thought! Learning to fight with your left hand was a good idea and will be very useful if you ever find yourself in combat."
"Thank you, Mistress," Lasselanta replied, with a small bow.
"Now go and get cleaned up and ready for lunch," Haldamaite ordered. "Your mother'd have my head if I sent you to a meal with His Majesty in your sopping leathers." Lasselanta just flashed her swordswork teacher a big smile and ran off to the bath house, careful to stop at her room and properly care for her sword first, of course. She grabbed a pale green dress (she knew if she attempted to wear anything else the other elves would have fits) and trotted off to the gorgeous bath house to get rid of her accumulated sweat and grime.
Once inside, she saw with dismay that some other elf maidens already occupied the main bath, so she headed for the more secluded, private baths off to the side.
"Lasselanta!" trilled one of them. Lasselanta stopped and slowly turned to face the girls lounging in the water. "Would you like to join us?"
Lasselanta just stared in surprise, then composed herself and replied, "Oh, no thank you. I'm in a bit of a hurry. Besides, I wouldn't want to bother you."
The maiden smiled maliciously and said, "Good, because we wouldn't want your dirty human-spawned corpse in our lovely bath anyway, would we, ladies?" The other three burst out into lovely, tinkling laughter, and Lasselanta turned away, her face burning. She rushed to the bath, scrubbed quickly with icy water to take away the heat of her anger, then braided her wet and unruly hair before throwing on the green dress and a pair of matching soft shoes. Once outside, she looked up to sky she saw that she was going to be late.
She breezed into the palace room where they would be having lunch slightly out of breath. One of the royal retainers sent a disdainful glance her way, so Lasselanta looked down at her clothes to see if anything was wrong, then realized that her clothing was perfectly fine, and it was her human-like appearance that the retainer so scorned. Face aflame for the second time that day, Lasselanta meekly took her place at her mother's side.
"Aralama," the King addressed her mother. "My eldest is to be betrothed this coming autumn, and I am at a loss for a suitable betrothal gift for his fiancée. I need you to create a silver and emerald necklace for him to present to his future wife."
"I'm afraid that will be impossible, Your Majesty," Aralama replied. Lasselanta looked at her in shock; never had her mother so outright refused the King.
"I beg your pardon?" queried Thranduil, even more shocked than Lasselanta.
"Until you repay our dear friends," she referred to the dwarves she and Tulcamedo had befriended more than a decade ago, "I cannot in good conscience acquiesce to Your Majesty's request."
"It is not a request," Thranduil replied icily. "It is a royal order."
"Then I fear I must disobey Your Majesty's orders," Aralama answered calmly.
"I could easily have you banished, Aralama," Thranduil threatened darkly.
"You would then lose all three of us, Your Majesty," Tulcamedo interjected.
"Three?" Thranduil questioned, slightly confused, then his gaze rested for the first time on Lasselanta. "Oh yes, I suppose you'd take the peredhil with you, wouldn't you?" He made the word peredhil sound dirty, as if the word itself left a vile taste in his mouth. Lasselanta looked down at her lap, lower lip trembling until she bit it to still the motion. Her mother gently took her hand and squeezed it comfortingly.
"No," Thranduil said, smiling quite nastily. "You'll stay. In fact," he was warming to his subject, now. "You won't leave Mirkwood at all, unless ordered on a mission, and you're to have absolutely no contact with those greedy dwarves you call your friends." He smiled again, making sure to look at each of them in turn. Lasselanta averted her gaze when his eyes fell on her. "You're dismissed." Tulcamedo and Aralama rose gracefully and calmly, he bowed and she curtsied while Lasselanta hastily rose and did the same, and the three exited together, leaving the sumptuous lunch untouched behind them.
Lasselanta awoke from her reverie to the slightly pungent smell of her tea. She felt Legolas' eyes on her and met his worried gaze. "I'll take that tea now," she said hoarsely and smiled at him. He smiled worriedly back and held the cup to her mouth. "I can drink by myself" she protested, but when she tried to take the cup, her hand shook so badly that she spilled some of the hot tea on her lap. Legolas just gave her a reproving look and compromised by helping her drink.
As soon as the soothing warmth hit her throat, Lasselanta felt better. She hurriedly drained the cup, since it tasted vile, then leaned her head back and closed her eyes, ready for sleep.
Lasselanta was already asleep when Legolas looked up from setting the cup down. He chuckled gently, You don't need sleep, hmm? he thought, and Gimli looked up at him.
"What's so funny?" Gimli asked, puzzled and thoroughly done sulking.
"Nothing," Legolas replied, looking fondly at Lasselanta's sleeping form.
Gimli suspiciously scrutinized his elven friend. "I think you have feelings for our lovely hostess!"
"Of course I do," replied Legolas, slightly mocking, "feelings of friendship. Don't you have them as well?"
"You do have feelings for her!" Gimli exclaimed. Legolas hastily shushed him and pointed wordlessly at the sleeping Lasselanta. "Ah, yes, I know," Gimli replied dismissively, but he was already quieter. "Shouldn't you put her somewhere more comfortable?"
Legolas could've kicked himself for not thinking of that earlier. So he scooped her up once again and let Celebrindal lead the way toward her room. Gimli stayed put, helpfully washing Lasselanta's cup.
Just as Legolas was wondering how on earth he was going to open the door with his arms full of Lasselanta, Celebrindal nosed the latch to and butted the door open. "Well aren't you just a useful fellow," Legolas retorted, and carefully swung Lasselanta inside. Luckily, the alcove doors were still wide open from last night, so he merely deposited her in bed. Then he realized that she was still in her dusty, muddy clothes she'd fought in. He hesitated, saw her black robe from last night in a fluid pile on the floor, picked it up, and decided that she'd probably rather risk her modesty than spend another night in those clothes. He undressed her as quickly as he could without waking her (though she was in a very deep sleep) and kept his eyes closed as often as possible. Legolas was no prude, but he didn't want to affront her privacy. Finally, she was secure in the robe, and he tucked her deep into bed, closing the alcove doors behind him.
He returned to the great room and found Gimli cleaning and honing his weapons as they had been too exhausted the previous day to even take care of the horses, much less their weapons. He first tended to the pony's wound, salving the large cut with the same stuff Lasselanta had used on him, then he hunkered down beside his travel companion to care for his own things, but his mind was elsewhere. He still could not figure out this elfmaid who was so wise and yet so naïve. Why had she left Mirkwood? Was it really because of his father? Why did she choose to stay here, in the foothills of the Misties? Why did she not go to Rivendell or Lothlorien? Had she no other kin? Finally, his mind quieted, and he settled down to the task at hand.