A/N: Yay! An actual update! Thanks for all the support that you've given me! I thought I was lost... but nope! I was indeed still in my study chair, just waiting for your reviews. Well, here's the chapter!
DISCLAIMER: Stuff is mine. Stuff isn't mine... you do the discernment as to which is which.
NK25: Home Again
All too soon it was time for the Fellowship to depart Lórien. Elves, including Orophin and Rúmil, were stocking sleek elvish boats with goods and particularly a lot of lembas bread. The night before departure Legolas and Fanya were cuddling at the foot of a tree, when Legolas addressed the subject of his departure.
"Fanya, I do not want you to come," was his conclusion to a rather long list of reasons.
"No! I want to come!"
"I cannot allow myself to put you into such danger. I love you too much for that!"
Fanya sat up and looked directly into his eyes. "I can fight! I would be a help, not a hindrance!"
"I know you can fight," Legolas punctuated this, "but there are more dangers than just the orcs. There are Urúk-hai, more fierce than orcs. They will take you away from me, rape you, and then kill you if you are captured. I could not bear to have that happen to you. It would be the end!" Legolas argued.
"But how could you leave me behind?" Fanya exclaimed. "After telling me that you would never have me leave your sight again?"
It was true that Legolas had said this. "But Meleth nín, it is not only to another country I travel with this Fellowship, it is into danger and into battle. This world has yet to see a war. There is no safe place, Fanya. Nowhere is safe," he said.
"So you will have me stay, alone, without you in Lórien?" she asked hotly.
"No, you are not staying here," Legolas said. "You will go to Mirkwood to deliver my father a message."
"Am I your messenger now?" she snapped, fervently.
"You were for your father, and you are for me. I am the Prince and you will do as I say!" Legolas exploded.
"Now you bring your title into it? How cowardly is that! You surely know better that that will not work on me! I thought we were supposed to be partners! And now you treat me as your servant!"
"Enlighten me, Fanya. What will work on you?" Legolas countered. Fanya, finding nothing to say to that stood up and stalked off. Both of their faces were flushed. With nowhere else to go, Fanya stormed to Orophin's talan and threw herself inside. Rúmil and Orophin were cooking what looked like a late supper.
"Fanya? What's wrong?" Orophin asked, putting down a spoon.
Still in a towering rage Fanya near shouted, "That blasted elf of a Prince is what's wrong!"
Rúmil hurried over to the doorframe to bring Fanya inside and calm her down. He tried to sit her down on the couch but was unsuccessful. "Fanya, calm yourself... what about Legolas is irritating now?"
"That elf won't allow me to leave with the Fellowship in the morning! I want to go!" she huffed.
"Fanya, be sensible!" Orophin said, now rushing over to her and forcing her to sit down. "There is too much danger out there! Especially now!"
"Too much danger for a she-elf to be able to face, obviously," Fanya sulked, sinking back into the couch.
"It is for your own good, mellon nín," Rúmil comforted.
"But I want to be out of here! The fellowship is no longer a nine, I would be no intrusion!" Fanya said. "Legolas also said that he was going to have me deliver a message to the King for him..." and she then she muttered, "That haughty Prince brought up his title... why?" she asked herself.
"It is with all nobles, Fanya. They sense they are losing a battle and they bring what really is not important in. Haldir does it all the time," Orophin said. Fanya sighed and closed her eyes for a long time.
"But why does it have to be the one I love that tells me so?" she asked nobody in particular.
"Nobody can answer that, now, can they?" Rúmil said. "Only you can."
oOo
Fanya was nowhere to be seen the next morning, and Legolas knew why. She was angry with him, and although he did not like her absence, he accepted it. Rúmil and Orophin were there, standing next to Haldir, though, so he approached them with a scroll tied with strips of his shirt that he had left home wearing. His father would understand the ancient symbolism: that he was alive and faring well; or as well as could be expected.
"Can you... will you..." Legolas stumbled over the words to use.
Orophin took the scroll from him with an understanding smile. "I will," he assured. Legolas embraced him, and Rúmil, and then turned to rejoin the group. After receiving gifts from Galadriel, the fellowship settled themselves in the boats and set off down the river.
Hidden in a tree, Fanya watched them go, feeling as if she were being ripped in two. Legolas glanced back, and she swore that they locked eyes once, but then he turned around, his head bowed in disappointment.
'He didn't see me...' she thought sadly. 'He didn't even say goodbye.' But that was her fault. She had been the one in a towering mood last night. She climbed higher in the tree and settled herself against the trunk, thinking and wondering and trying to ignore the fact that Legolas had left her.
"You're so much more moody when you're not around that elf. You should stick with him... you'd be doing the rest of the world a favor!" said Orophin while sitting down on the same branch as Fanya.
"How do you always manage to find me?" she asked, not meeting his glance but staring up through the trees.
"You aren't very subtle about your comings and goings," he shrugged. "Anyway, official message from His Royal Highness, for the other, more supreme Royal Highness," Orophin handed her the scroll. She took it, studying the outside of it.
"I'll leave with it tomorrow," she said, her voice suddenly determined. Orophin looked flabbergasted.
"I told you that you had more mood swings when you're not around that blasted Elf. Why this one?" he asked.
"My lover has given me a task. It's a task I don't really want to fulfill, but something to do all the same," she said. "Besides, I have spent much time away from home. It is time I return." She brought her eyes up to meet his. Orophin understood.
"We'll ready your things," he agreed.
oOo
Morion, it turned out, had gotten sick. Fanya pined at the fact that she didn't have her favorite horse with her anymore. In the most recent weeks, Fanya had forgotten about her horse, spending so much time with Legolas instead. Morion was old and tired; her natural gusto still there, but most of it gone with age. Fanya left her in the hands of Rúmil and Orophin, trusting them to take care of her horse until she passed. Orophin had offered her his horse in return.
The horse Fanya now rode was a beautiful young chestnut male, called Erebel. Fanya did not push Erebel, stopping at night and letting the horse rest when it was tired. She did not want to tire her new horse. Erebel had already become quite attached to Fanya, but he was not wholly reliable. It had a fiery spirit and disobeyed every so often. And when Fanya would get mad, it almost seemed as if he was laughing at her irritation.
The whole journey did not last long, only a couple of days, but the whole time, Fanya was thinking about what the message said. Of course, reading it would be a complete invasion of privacy, and however much she wanted to cross that line she resisted.
When she came to the entrance of Mirkwood, she was let through by wary guards after showing them the scroll she carried.
"First order of business," she told herself quietly, "Is to see Father." She traveled the same route to her fathers talan, riding the well-known path without thought. When she arrived, she looked up and saw that her father's house had not changed. She tied up Erebel, (she was not about to lose her new horse), and climbed up the rope ladder. The door was open to let a breeze roam through the house, and she crept through the familiar house to find her father. She heard him working in the kitchen and found him kneading bread dough. His hands were floury, and he had flour all over his face.
"Fanya?" he said once he glanced up. She rushed forward to give him a tight hug.
"Hello Ada," she said fondly, kissing his cheek.
"You're finally back! You've been gone so long! Why didn't you come back? Where did you go? What did you do? What's that?" he said, looking at the formal scroll she had not put back into her bag after showing it to the guards.
"It's a message for Thranduil," she said offhandedly.
"King Thranduil? But how?" Her father had abandoned the bread and sat down at the kitchen table.
"Legolas gave it to me to deliver it to him, seeing as I was leaving anyway." She purposefully left out the fact that she and Legolas were lovers, as it was still an unstable relationship at the time.
"Legolas! Wow..." her father muttered. "Tell me all about your trip. Tell me what delayed you for so long!" he said excitedly. And so Fanya told him everything from being molested by the drunkard in the pub until Morion getting sick and having to stay in Lothlórien.
"...And Legolas pulled me aside a few nights ago and asked me to take this message to his father," she said, "Morion is old and sick, so Orophin let me have his horse," she concluded.
"I'm sorry to hear about Morion. I know how you loved that horse," her father said somberly. "Come and help me fix dinner, and I will tell you about what has happened here," he said. Fanya helped him cook and they ate together, talking of news and of what Linque had been up to in the past months.
Utterly exhausted, Fanya rode to her talan in the dead of night, climbed sleepily up the ladder, and tumbled into her bed, glad for warm blanket and a bed after so long.
oOo
The next morning, Fanya unpacked her bag and went to the market to buy supplies for her pantry, which was currently hosting many spider homes. She came back with a basket full of jams, bread, and a bit of meat for that evening. She shook out her traveling bag out on her bed, and to her surprise something fell out of one of the pockets. A ring. A beautiful ring, broad and embossed with many intricate patterns. It looked oddly familiar...
She almost dropped it when she realized who she'd seen that ring on. Legolas. He had dropped his ring in her bag, accidentally or on purpose, and had left without it. Had he left it on purpose so it would not be damaged? Or had he left it for her to find... She slipped it on a chain and hung it around her neck. She tucked it into her dress and set off to the palace, bearing the scroll in her hand and riding Erebel.
"Hold it, maiden," a guard chuckled at the gate when she got there. "Why should we let you in?" he challenged her. She held up the scroll.
"I am delivering a message to the king," she said determinately.
"Just like the other guy who tried to kill King Thranduil by saying he had a message for him?" the guard replied cheekily. "I'm afraid I can't let you in without proof of who you are."
"I am Fanya Helyan, of Mirkwood. My father is Linque. One of my best friends is Lenwe, who I believe trains some of your guards here," she replied staring the guard down.
"That won't do," he said. "Physical proof."
She was about to turn around and actually started to think about getting physical proof, when she felt the ring hanging from her chain.
"How does this help?" she asked, thoroughly disliking the guard. She thrust the chain with Legolas' ring on his finger into the guard's face, who recognized it immediately.
"I cannot question anyone who bears that ring," he said, lowering his face to stare at the ground. "You may pass."
'Why do I always encounter the annoying guards?' she asked herself as she dismounted from her horse and entered the massive courtyard.
oOo
Fanya had to stop many passing elves in the hallways to ask where to find the King. Anyone who challenged her, she showed the ring to. She learned quickly that nobody would question the one who bore the ring.
Eventually, she did find it. She knocked three times on the door. The guard-elf on the left seemed to be asleep and the guard-elf on the right was staring at her.
"Enter," a booming voice called. She entered.
Thranduil looked like Legolas so much that she almost thought that it was him behind the desk; the same high cheekbones, the same platinum hair, the same eye shape and color. She bowed as she entered, and walked quickly across the room, a sort of library and study combination, and bowed again as she handed him the scroll.
"A message from your son, Your Majesty," she muttered. Thranduil's eyes lightened.
"And who are you?" he asked.
"Fanya Helyan, Your Majesty," she replied.
"How do you know my son?" he questioned.
"We traveled together for a time, My Lord. He requested that I come back to my homeland and deliver this to you."
"And why did you agree to take it?" Thranduil asked. This caught her. Why had she agreed to take it? She loved him... but Thranduil probably shouldn't know that now...
"I do it as a favor. He saved my life from a giant spider on our travels," she remembered it. This answer seemed to satisfy the king.
"Very well. Thank you for your favor. You are dismissed," the King said. Fanya bowed again and exited. She found her way outside, mounted Erebel, and went home, where she cooked herself a dinner and settled herself down in a chair with a good book.
oOo
The next day was uneventful for her. Unless you counted the fact that around noon somebody came knocking at her door. She opened it, expecting to see her father or an old friend, but was very surprised to see two members of the Royal guard.
"Good afternoon," she said kindly, her eyes wide. She hadn't done anything... what was in that letter?
"Good afternoon to you too, m'lady," one inclined his head to her. "The Elvenking requests your presence at the palace as soon as you can be ready."
"Me? Why?" she asked, flabbergasted.
"I'm under orders, ma'am. I do not know anything besides what I am told to do."
"I'm ready now, I guess," she said. She followed them down the ladder and mounted her own horse, closely following their twin white horses. They led her the whole way, nobody speaking a word. Villagers stared at them as they passed, many women putting their heads together to whisper to another.
She soon found herself back in that dark study, sitting, facing the Elvenking, who waited for the guards to disappear, dismissing anyone else in the room as well. Fanya was very nervous, and thoughts wouldn't stop racing through her head.
Thranduil smiled.
This was the last thing she expected him to do.
"I expect you have no idea why you are here," Thranduil said casually, sounding much more informal and relaxed than yesterday. Fanya shook her head. "You are here because of your letter you delivered yesterday. You did not read its contents?" he asked. Fanya shook her head again. "Well I have read them. And I will read them to you now:
Father,
I am as well as I could be right now. I have joined a quest to destroy Sauron's ring of Power. We left from Rivendell about three moons ago. We traveled through Moria; I did not like that. It was too dark in there. I do not recommend it to you. When we entered Lothlórien after Gandalf the Gray fell into shadow, I came across my dear friend Fanya.
Fanya is my messenger. You may wonder why I chose her over someone like Haldir. She was traveling to Gondor and I to Rivendell for the Council that Elrond took. I agreed to escort her there, and we got as far as the forest about 20 miles north when she took off without me. So I turned around and traveled to Rivendell. From then on we traveled as I mentioned above. As I said before, I reunited with Fanya and spent many hours with her. She has helped me realize things about myself that nobody else could have done.
I have fallen in love with her.
Please welcome her into our family as I intend to marry her when I get back. I have not told her, but when I know you will read this to her, please say these words for me.
Fanya, I love you with all my heart, although I cannot show you now. And I know that this is a very unconventional way to propose, but I wish to let you know of my intentions, in case I die. Our fight ripped me apart tonight. I will rely on the hope that you love me still and that you agree to my proposal. The ring I dropped in your bag is my physical promise. Wear it and think of me always.
I love you,
(And I love you too, Father)
-Legolas
Fanya gasped. A marriage proposal? She was glad that she had not cracked and read it herself, otherwise she would have gone galloping in the other direction and smacked him silly... but now that she learned it here... what was her answer?
"My son has always had a way of knowing when to do the right thing," he said conversationally. "You look so shocked right now that I'm sure you hadn't even considered wedding my son. Maybe he knows what to do. Heavens, he's waited long enough," Thranduil chuckled. "So tell me about yourself."
oOo
A/N: First, thanks to all you who reviewed! I can't remember, but you know who you are! I'll do review responses in the next chapter (which is halfway done, by the way!) Second, thanks to Shivvers. Without you this chapter isn't complete... start thinking of days that we can meet up again, girl! Third, thank you to my beautiful laptop for not deleting this file, like it did the last chapter of CAAE. :)
The Hobbit Ivy 5/29/05 4:06PM
