When a rare gale blew into Ithilien from the West, Legolas could be found perched high in a tree swaying with the gale, his eyes closed in pleasure as the branches around him creaked and the leaves rustled. On quiet nights in Minas Tirith, he was known to sit in the echoing throne room, all alone, listening to the sound of his breathing magnified in the dark, rushing in, rushing out with a calm hiss. At times Arwen would accidentally intrude upon his meditation and a sad, knowing smile would cross her lips before she would leave, Legolas never noticing that she had been there.
His behavior often perplexed Gimli, but he dismissed it as some strange form of Elvish foolishness until he and Legolas sailed to the Undying Lands. He then realized how deeply the sea-longing had taken hold in his friend, though he had not seen it. When Legolas sat in the wind-blown trees, he had been hearing the creak of a ship in his mind, and when he had been in the throne room, the echoes of his breath had transformed and came to his ears as the rush of the waves beating upon the white shores.