PROLOGUE
"Give me my child!" a voice said. "Give me my son!"
"Not yet, my lady," a quiet voice answered. "There is still more work for you."
The exhausted Elf laying on the bed did not understand at first, so preoccupied was she of the tiny life that had been born out of her very body. Only when the pains began anew did she realise what was going on. Not one but two lives had been nurtured in her womb. It was an event rare enough in the Elven community to startle her, and her last coherent thought was to wonder how such a wondrous thing could have happened.
And the birthing pains began again.
After some time, thought, that difficult labor was over, and she was able to hold her two precious wrapped bundles in her arms, happy with a joy beyond bounds to be blessed with two beautiful lives, not forgetting to thank Iluvatar, the Father Of All, for the marvelous gift He had given her.
A mere moments later, her husband entered the room, eager to meet his heirs. Thranduil King of Greenwood looked at her, and fell into enraptured silence as he took in the picture his sweet wife formed with not one but two very healthy babies.
A few minutes passed, neither wanting to talk, both feeling the magic of the moment and not wanting to disturb it.
But she had to speak, and, with a smile, said, "What shall we name them?"
Thranduil sat next to her, admiring his two precious children. He did not dare wake them up, but quite suddenly, they opened their eyes, and he was startled by their peculiar colouring. The boy had eyes as green as the leaves in the first days of spring, and the girl had eyes as shiny as the midday sun.
So it was decided that the boy would be named Legolas, which in Elvish meant Green-Leaf, and the girl was named Laurethiel, which meant Maiden-Of-Golden-Light.
In time, Legolas's eyes turned a deep aquamarine blue, and his hair kept the pale hue of his father's kin. Laurethiel's eyes turned a deep moss green, and her hair darkened to a fiery pale chestnut, almost as dark as her mother's. And both grew up, unaware of the decisive nature of their destinies.
With the rise of Sauron in the East, Greenwood became Mirkwood, and their mother was killed during an Orc raid. As time went by and hope waned, a Council was summoned by Lord Elrond of Imladris. Thranduil sent his son to Elrond to give him what help Mirkwood could, and his daughter so that she could be safe within the Last Homely House's halls.