Disclaimer: The Lord of the Rings is property of Tolkien and there are many references throughout to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I only own what you do not recognize. The character Chinky is not meant to cause offence and is named after a real horse whose name has been shortened from a Fiat Cinquecento (Chinky – Chento).
Chapter 12: The Prince I love
The day of Arwen's arrival to Rivendell also happened to be the eve of Legolas's parting from the haven. Aragorn found himself sitting on his bed at a loss of what to do. Should he be happy for his loved one's return or should he be sad at his friends leaving? He decided on the latter and walked into Legolas' room. Inside he was very worried about the elf. He hadn't been nearly as cheerful lately. It had now been a year since Amy's parting and most of the other male elves had gotten over her and were carrying on with their lives. Aragorn smiled to himself as he remembered how many elves she danced with at her leaving feast. She hadn't really had a say in the matter, but it was still funny to think about.
Aragorn found Legolas standing by his bed packing some of his travelling clothes in his saddlebag. Silently he walked and stood next to the elf and folded a shirt and handed it to the prince.
"Come Legolas, you have spent all day packing yet you have hardly packed a thing." Aragorn said placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I am not taking much with me. My fine clothes I am leaving here, I may return for them in the future."
"Oh course you will return. You are as welcome here as anybody. And you know that. Come now, Arwen will be arriving shortly, she wants us to meet her at the gate." Aragorn said purposefully leading Legolas towards the door.
Sighing Legolas followed obediently. They walked in silence to the gates, the same gates that Amy had ridden out of a year ago. A lump caught in the back of Legolas's throat as he thought of her. Soon his elf ears picked up the sound of hoof beats. A few minutes passed before Arwen could be seen. As soon as she got to the gate she threw herself off her mount and into Aragorn's arms. Legolas watched for a few minutes and welcomed Arwen coldly but politely, before running back to his room. The sight of Arwen and Aragorn together had been too much for him.
A few weeks earlier:
Amy walked through the centre of Lorien. She did this more often now, but she was still weary of the other elves. She was well aware of their name for her. Lureae - dark one. She wasn't particularly thrilled with the name, but it kept her identity secret; well at least for the time being.
There weren't many elves out at the moment, as it was near on three in the morning. She had gone out for a walk, because she couldn't sleep. Her light feet tingled as she walked on the soft grass towards her destination. Well she didn't know her destination, she would find out when she got there.
After twenty minutes or so she heard a soft whinny coming from her right. Turning her head slightly she saw Chinky trot towards her.
'Amy, I was hoping to find you. Galadriel is looking for you, and told me to bring you to her; she wants to talk to you.' Chinky said.
'Thank you,' Amy said vaulting onto Chinkys back. 'Have you seen Haldir?'
'Oh yes, he didn't say anything, in fact he ran the other way!'
Amy smiled, knowing full well why Haldir had run from the Mearas. Haldir happened to be slightly big headed and bet his friends he could ride Chinky, not knowing that she would only let people ride her if Amy said. Amy had sat on a balcony looking over the edge at Haldir trying to mount her horse. As it happens Chinky - being the clever animal she is - let Haldir sit on her back. Feeling clever and wanting to show off in front of his friends he had tried to get her to move. She had moved all right. A perfect cat leap over an imaginary jump. Not expecting this Haldir had fallen off. To make matters worse Chinky had put a hoof on his chest while he was on the floor and told him not to ride her again without Amy's permission.
That image had been burned into her mind, and it still made her laugh now. Funnily enough the story had spread quickly and no one had come near the horse since. Well unless Amy said they could.
"Ah Amy, I have been looking for you. I see Chinky found you. Thank you Chinky." Galadriel said patting the horse's nose as Chinky nuzzled her arm.
"Yes, what did you want? I wouldn't have thought you would be up this time of the morning." Amy said.
"As you may know, my granddaughter is returning to stay with her father in Rivendell tomorrow. And whereas I cannot allow you to follow, you may right a letter to a certain royal elf, and no doubt she will deliver it to him." Galadriel said.
A huge grin spread across Amy's face as she turned Chinky and galloped back towards her talon, yelling "Thank you" over her shoulder.
BREAK
Once she arrived at her talon she jumped off Chinkys back and ran up the stairs that circled the huge mallorn tree that was her home. Her talon wasn't huge; it consisted off a large kitchen area with a small dinning table in the centre. She didn't have people round often, if ever, so a larger one wasn't needed. An archway led to her lounge, which consisted of a few comfortable chairs and a few low tables. Her bedroom was separated off from the lounge via a curtain. All she had in her bedroom was a huge bed, a large wardrobe, which filled up one wall, a few draws and her desk. The walls off her home were adorned by countless bookshelves all crammed with books, and large paintings she had done in her spare time. A balcony ran around one side of her tree and she had a few chairs present there. Her home; simple but comfortable.
It was a simple home, unlike most of the other elves, but she loved it. She bathed in a small pool a few minutes walk away from her home, and Chinky had a stable big enough for four horses at the base of the Mallorn tree. Her talon was quite a way away from the centre of Lothlorien, nothing but five minutes walk from Galadriels home. She wanted it that way so that people wouldn't notice the strange lights that filled her house sometimes. Or feel the presence of her power. Though no matter how hard she tried to keep away from other elves they all showed up when she least wanted them to. She often found her home filled with elves when she wanted nothing more than to curl up with a book.
Most elves were nothing but curious of her, I mean what elf has black hair and eyes? Luckily for Amy many were over thousands of years old and consequently the children stories of Onlee were far from their minds.
Sighing happily she pulled a chair in front of her desk and picked up a piece of bright yellow parchment and started to write.
The letter had taken her the best part of three hours to complete to her satisfaction. In that time she had restarted so many times she had lost count, and now many screwed up pieces of parchment lay on the floor next to her.
Finally she re-read the letter and tucked it into an envelope. She was about to seal it when she stopped. She took off her ring and slipped it in the envelope and then sealed it. Looking at it, she didn't know why she had done it. He probably didn't even remember her, or if he did, he had gotten another elf maiden to faun over. A quick thought came into her mind. Aragorn had said his heart was broken, which led her too believe that he may not have found someone so quickly. Smiling she ran all the way to Galadriel and handed her the letter.
"Ah, you have finished! I was wondering whether you were ever going to finish it. I will give it to my granddaughter now. As for you, I suggest that you find Haldir, he wishes a worthy opponent for his sword." Galadriel said taking the thick letter from the younger elf's hands.
BREAK
"Legolas, may I come in?" Arwen said knocking on his door.
"Yes," Legolas said from his bed.
Arwen slowly pushed open the door to see one of her oldest friends lying on his bed staring lifelessly at the ceiling.
"I have a letter for you from Lureae; Galadriel said you know each other. I didn't ask." Arwen said handing the bulging envelope to Legolas.
"I know no Lureae." Legolas said with some spite, he went to hand the letter back saying she had made a mistake when he saw the seal. A dragon coiled around the letter 'A'.
"Tell me," he said sitting up suddenly, "what does this girl look like and why is it she is called Lureae?"
"She has hair as black as night and eyes to match. She is small for an elf, yet she does have pointy ears, though I am sure they are pointier now than when she arrived. Also she is mounted on one of the Mearas. The queen if I am not correct, as this horse talks to us regularly, though she can be quite rude. The horse I mean."
"Ah, the Mearas you speak of is quite a character, Chinky is her name. If you are nice to her master she will be nice to you. Tell me what has caused her to have her name changed to something that does not suit her?" Legolas said.
"I do not know. I think Haldir called her that first, none know her real name save my Grandparents and they will tell me nothing. I think Haldir called her that for her hair and the colour of her skin, a brown I have never seen. Seldom do elves have the dark skin of men, yet she has." She giggled. "Haldir said he was going to tame her like the beast she rides."
Legolas leapt up and rage flickered through his eyes. "He is not to touch her. If he does he will have me to answer to." Legolas said this with such conviction that the room physically darkened and Legolas seemed to grow in the middle of it.
Arwen shied away from the elf in front of her. His golden hair had darkened and his eyes shone, as he appeared to grow and fill up every available space. Arwen shuddered and stood to back from the room. Legolas calmed down seeing the fear on Arwen's face. Sighing he stood up and walked over to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, his heart filling with sorrow as he felt her flinch.
"I am sorry friend, but I know what Haldir does to his lovers and I care too much for her, though I do not agree with this name she has been given." Legolas said.
"She is only called that because we don't know her. She sits away in her home all day. Sometimes we see strange lights coming from her talon, but ever time we try and get close that horse gallops at us. Even when we do get past the Mearas all you can feel is power, sometimes the air seems so thick that you can't walk. It is strange. I will leave you to your letter now." And with that Arwen walked out the door somewhat hurriedly.
"Arwen, her name is Amy, Amy daughter of Onlee, she deserves more than the name given to her," Legolas said to Arwen's retreating figure.
Arwen stopped and turned round in shock, Legolas simply nodded, she needed to know the truth.
"You are in love with her aren't you?" She asked carefully.
"Yes, I think I am. I do not care about what she is destined to do, she is good and will never succumb to evil, this I know. Have trust in the one you call Lureae, she needs friends, she never had any before she came here." Legolas said softly.
Arwen nodded before turning around again and walking down the hall leaving the prince to his letter.
Smiling the prince lay on his bed on his belly completely oblivious to the clothes he had just folded, and carefully opened the letter. He was surprised when a very thick piece of parchment fell out; it had obviously been folded many a time.
Dear Legolas.
It has been a year since our parting and it still lays heavy in my heart. I think in Chinky's to! Anyway, how are you? Well that was a silly question there is no way of me finding out! I hope you are well; it would grieve me to see you moping! How are Elrond and Aragorn faring? Tell them I say 'hi' and I'm fine. Give them a hug from me if you want.
I'm fine. The journey over here was very uneventful, not one orc. I suppose I should be thankful for that, but I never got to try my new bow in combat! I know you said Lothlorien was beautiful but nothing compares with that first glimpse of it you seen over the hills. My breath caught in my throat as I looked over it. Is Mirkwood the same? I would like to see it sometime.
Galadriel has given me my own home. Yes I have my own talon! It is amazing. Ok it's very simple but it's lovely. Plus it's set away from the centre of Lothlorien so I can read in piece! I really wish you could see it sometime. Maybe if you ever pass through here. No that's silly, forget that.
The elves here are friendly enough; I try and keep away from them though. Know one knows my real name save Galadriel, Celeborn and Haldir, but that's alright because Celeborn told Haldir that if he told anyone my real name he would snap his bow and take him off the guard!
Though of all the names they could have chosen, Lureae. Dark One. Charming isn't it? I mean what about Lalaith? That's a pretty name.
No I don't think Lalaith would have suited me. I don't really laugh a lot, so Laughter would have been a pretty stupid name. I don't really mind Lureae, even if they do think I'm 'dark'. I think Haldir gave me that name, and it's just stuck like one of those annoying nicknames you get as a kid.
Haldir, now that's a tale and a half. I think he likes me. Yuck! Not that he isn't good looking but he's . . .
Legolas looked hard at the scribbled out words and finally read out 'not you', a smile lit his elven face at the thought of her still liking him.
. . . Slightly big headed. He tried to ride Chinky a while back. I think he may still have the hoof print on his chest where she placed her hoof after throwing him off. Ahh the memories!
My powers are coming on great. I think that's another reason for my name, (ignoring the black hair and eyes) I often walk around late at night and one time I was caught making a ball of light hover in front of me. The elf ran off to tell Galadriel, who somehow managed to cover for me, but the story still got out. I prefer the shadows as well, Chinky and I blend in perfectly, well except that dammed white stripe on her mane and rump. I think I might dye it. Don't think she would like that!
Legolas laughed out loud at the thought of Amy chasing the large horse around Lorien with black dye.
Now don't tell me how I know this, but something big will happen in a few years time, I don't know how many exactly, except it will not be in this decade. You must follow the Halflings. Go with them, do not question them, their hearts will be true, promise me that. Please.
I have no other way of contacting you now but don't worry our paths will cross again. I still have your ring and I want you to take mine. I placed it in the envelope. I don't know why, you are probably already with some beautiful elf maiden. If you are, take it as a token of friendship. If not, take it anyway.
Please continue being the prince I love.
Amy xxxx
Legolas picked up the envelope he had discarded in a race to read the letter and he indeed found a small ring. It bore the same symbol as the seal. Smiling he lifted it up. It was wrought of the same metal as his; he gently placed it in his hand then held it in his palm tight. Standing up he walked to the door in search of Aragorn and Elrond, still gripping the letter in one hand and the ring in the other.
