The Seven Seeing Stones

Author's Note:
I apologize greatly for this taking so long to get up, but when it rains it pours and I had a bucket load of assignments and CATs to get through before I could get any writing done. I should have the next chapter out much faster though. Thank you to all who have reviewed so far, your encouragement and words of advice keep me going.
Please enjoy and review.

Three
Pain

"I wont……" Legolas tossed restlessly in his sleep.

He had not woken for five days now. Sometimes he slept still and deeply, at other times Celeborn would watch him shift and occasionally cry out in his sleep. It was distressing to watch on so helplessly while the Elven Prince was evidently in so much pain. Celeborn did all he could though, dressing the wounds and changing bandages.

Legolas' face glistened with sweat in the torchlight as he tossed about beneath thin sheets. The right side of his face, which wasn't swathed in bandages, was a picture of tortured agony as he whimpered in his dreaming state.

Celeborn sat down on the chair he had set up beside Legolas' bed several days ago and placed a gentle hand on the other Elf's exposed arm. They had stripped him down so he was wearing nothing beneath the thin sheet but still his entire body broke out into a sweat as he fought desperately to live and heal.

"Poor Legolas. What did they do to you?" He rubbed a caring hand up and down the other Elf's arm before he stood to begin the daily process of changing Legolas' bandages.

The bandages wrapped about his middle came away and Celeborn was most pleased to see the progress the welts on his chest were making, another week or two and they would be nothing more than puckered scars. But they had been coming along nicely since he had begun treatment on them it was Legolas' facial wounds that continued to worry him.

After he had peeled away the bandages covering the left side of the Elf's face Celeborn knew it would be months before these wounds healed. They were horrific and he was surprised Legolas had lived through such an ordeal. Treating the wounds was always hard and best done while Legolas was sleeping restfully and not pitching from side to side.

Once he had completed the task of cleaning and applying fresh bandages to Legolas' wounds he placed his medicines off to one side and settled down to watch the Prince for any signs that he may wake soon.

Celeborn had no idea for how long he'd been asleep but when Legolas cried out and sat bolt upright in his bed Celeborn almost fell out of his chair he was snapped from sleep so quickly.

Legolas' good eye darted about the room, it's pupil wide as it tried to see in the dim light. Pale hands gripped the sheets beneath him in panic before that one blue eye fell upon Celeborn's form. The Elf visibly relaxed but still sat stiffly upright as he wearily watched Celeborn gather his wits together and sit back upright in his chair.

"Where have you taken me Celeborn?"

"Be calm my friend, we are in Aglarond in Gimli's halls. I needed to take you somewhere safe to treat your wounds. I assumed you didn't want to go to Minas Tirith or you would have gone there first instead of coming to me."

Legolas turned his face away and stared at the wall.

"I thought so."

"Why can't I see out of my left eye?" Legolas asked in a dramatic change of topic, still refusing to meet Celeborn's gaze.

"It is covered by bandages. The left side of your face has been very badly burnt. Do you not remember?" Celeborn tried to sound as caring as possible but Legolas' attitude was quickly wearing him thin.

"Of course I remember." He spat viciously. "Being tortured like that is not something you forget easily."

Celeborn felt bad for the slightly harsh tone he'd used on the Elf as angry pain filled eyes look over at him from the bed.

"I'm sorry Legolas."

Celeborn wasn't entirely sure why he had apologised and the room fell silent as he contemplated the thought and Legolas shifted restlessly beneath the crisp white sheets. The silence hung thick in the air for some time before Legolas' weak voice broke through it.

"It's his fault. I hate him for it, for what he's done to me."

Celeborn, who had by now sunk back down into his chair, looked up abruptly to meet the dark blue furious eyes that stared back at him. And for the first time since he had begun treating the Mirkwood Elf Celeborn noticed that the once bright blue sparkling eyes had dimmed so that their once brilliant blue was barely discernable.

"Who?"

"Eldarion. He left me there to be tortured, to die, all for his own purposes. Were it not for my friendship with his father I would have been made his slave long ago."

"You cannot know that Legolas."

"You cannot possibly be so ignorant Celeborn. He has turned our people into a race of slaves for the pleasure of his people!"

"You know very well it was not him Legolas. You know the Elven slave trade appeared towards the end of Aragorn's reign but he would never allow it to be legalised, too many of his friends were Elven and he frowned upon the whole thing."

"I know this Celeborn but it still existed as a black market trade."

"Yes but Aragorn kept even that in check. I was only when Eldarion took over rule that his advisors, whom the young King had to place so much trust in as his father was not there to guide him, slowly manipulated and pressured him into accepting the Elven slave trade. It is not a fault of his. His mother was Elvish."

"He blames his mother." Legolas sounded distant but Celeborn's interest was immediately peeked, this was something new to him.

"How do you mean?"

"He told me once when……" Legolas paused for a moment deep in thought, his brow furrowed in what seemed to be frustrated anger. Shaking whatever thought had been bothering him from his head he continued. "He told me he hated his mother for leaving him, for choosing mortality, for choosing to die rather than stay with him."

"What?"

"He hadn't ever told anyone apparently. Why he told me I'll never know."

'Or more likely you'll never tell anyone' Celeborn thought to himself.

"You think he allowed something like cause him to harbour a sudden resentment to the Elven race?"

"I don't know Celeborn. Go ask him yourself! I'm sure he'd tell you, for a price."

Celeborn sighed, he was getting nowhere with this conversation but he suddenly had more than the pressure of misguided advisors to account for the young King of Gondor supporting the Elven slave trade. He still couldn't fully understand it but he was closer to a justified conclusion than he had ever been.

Legolas looked flustered, upset and angry all at once and Celeborn decided he must have finally been coming to terms with the severity of his injuries. Sure enough Legolas raised a hand up to scratch at the bandages on the left side of his face.

"It itches." He complained loudly as he tried to work his fingers in under the bandages.

"It's supposed to itch." Celeborn said, catching Legolas' wrist firmly in his hand and drawing it away from the Elf's face. "That means it's healing."

Legolas growled low in his throat and yanked his hand back from Celeborn.

"Scratching at it won't help though." Celeborn continued, ignoring Legolas' growl. "It's healing quite well and will continue to do so if you allow it the opportunity." The first part was a lie, it wasn't healing all that well, but one never told one's patient so.

Legolas scoffed and turned away from Celeborn to contemplate the wall on the opposite side of the room. The Elven Lord sighed quietly and settled back down in his chair, picking up a book he had taken to reading from the floor his eyes picked up his reading where he had last left off.

The room settled into silence again, Celeborn focusing on his reading while Legolas shifted restlessly beneath his crisp white sheets. Celeborn allowed an eye to stray above the line of his book to observe the other Elf's restless behaviour. Just as he was about to put his book down and ask if there was anything he could get for the Elf to make him more comfortable Legolas suddenly looked straight at Celeborn and spoke out.

"I want to see it."

"You want to see what Legolas?"

"I want to see my face Celeborn."

"Legolas I'm not sure that's such a good idea…"

"Bring me a looking glass Celeborn or I'll get up and fetch on myself!" Legolas furiously cut the other Elf off.

Celeborn still thought that seeing his face when it was yet to fully heal was a bad idea but the last thing he needed was the Elf chasing about the Dwarf Kingdom in search of a mirror in his condition, likely to collapse after only a few steps.

"Alright, if you promise to wait here patiently Legolas I will fetch you a looking glass."

The younger Elf nodded stiffly and waved Celeborn off towards the door. The Elven Lord rose stiffly from the seat and slowly made his way off in search of a mirror. Why he felt he had to pander to the younger Elf's every wish and whim he did no know, he supposed he pitied him in some way for what had happened to him. He couldn't imagine how he would feel loosing half of his face. That was also why he was so unsure about providing Legolas with a mirror with which to look upon his deformity, he was not sure how the Elf would take it and he truly feared the worst for his now obviously fragile spirit.

By the time Celeborn returned, a handheld mirror clutched in his grip, Legolas was fidgeting restlessly as he sat beneath the sheets, his back propped up by several pillows.

His eyes immediately flicked to Celeborn's as the older Elf Lord entered the room. Blue eyes strayed to the dusty mirror clutched in his hand and he held out his own for it, glaring as he noted a slight hesitation in the Elf's steps.

"Do not try and deter me now Celeborn, just give me the looking glass and you may be seated again."

Celeborn almost cried out in objection to the Elf speaking down at him in such a way but he heaved a sigh and decided Legolas was in for enough when he finally saw his face as it was.

So Celeborn tentatively handed Legolas the mirror and watched as the blond Elf wiped a hand across the mirror's dusty surface to clear it. He then slowly held it up before his eyes to catch his reflection in it.

He narrowed his eyes, as a face that resembled his own but was half swathed in bandages stared back at him. He lifted a tentative hand to touch at the white bandages, but only for a second, before he dropped the hand back to the bed sheets at his side. Dull blue eyes flicked from the mirrors surface to meet Celeborn's concerned gaze.

"Take them off for me."

Celeborn knew what he spoke of but he did not leap from his chair to comply with the request.

"I'm not so sure Legolas. Is it not enough that you have seen the extent to which your face is bandaged?"

"I can feel that damn it!" The younger Elf hissed through clenched teeth. "I want to know what I look like underneath them. Take them off Celeborn or so help me I will rip them off myself!"

Celeborn certainly could not have Legolas doing such a thing. It would undo a lot of the hard work and time he had spent healing the Prince's terrible wounds. But he doubted he would be able to talk the Elf out of it so he rose up from his chair and slowly made his way to the bedside.

Leaning carefully over Legolas he untucked the free edge of the white bandages and began to slowly unravel them. The going was easy for most of the way, Legolas shifting his head from side to side and back and forth to make the bandages easier to pull free.

It was only when Celeborn tugged ever so gently at the first part of the bandages that were touching his shin that the Elf roared in pain and jerked his head away. Unfortunately Celeborn could not release the end of the bandage he was holding in time and it was pulled roughly from Legolas' face, causing the pain to be far worse for him.

"Shhh." Celeborn tried to sooth him but Legolas only turned his head back to face the other Elf and gritted his teeth.

"Do it. Finish what you've started. I can take it." He nodded sharply as he spoke and Celeborn carefully resumed his task.

The rest of the bandages came away with only a few small hisses of pain issued from between Legolas' tightly pressed lips. Celeborn was still not happy with the level of healing witnessed in the Elf's wounds and would have liked to wait a while more before allowing Legolas to see his reflection but here they were now, bandages removed and a mirror clutched in Legolas' hand.

With the pile of bandages draped over his arms Celeborn took several weary steps back from the bed's edge as Legolas slowly lifted the mirror up to his eyes.

The mirror paused before Legolas' face for a few seconds before Celeborn had to duck out of its way as it was hurled across the room and crashed into the wall, shattering upon impact before each piece clattered to the floor.

The cry that fell from Legolas' lips was like the wail of a tortured animal. Though Celeborn supposed he should not be too surprised by such a thing, the poor Elf was indeed a tortured creature.

He turned his eyes from the pained site before him and as he heard deep sobs rack the Elf's frame he slipped quietly from the room, leaving Legolas to grieve alone as he would no doubt want. The heavy door closing behind him to muffle the Elf's agonised wails.