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
14: A long Forgotten Pain
Legolas sat on the top of a
flattened rock. His companions were sleeping peacefully. Not a sound
came from them, save Gimli's snores. Gently he took the chain off his
neck and took the ring in his hand. He sat staring at it, gently
running his fingers over the smooth dragon. Quietly he started
singing in elvish. Unknown to him, his voice had awoken Frodo, who
upon waking, padded silently across their camp and sat next to the
elf.
"That is a fine ring Legolas; may I ask who gave it to you?"
Legolas looked in surprise at the hobbit next to him. He then remembered something about hobbits being able to melt into shadows and walk as softly as elves.
"Yes, it is wrought in ithildin, moon stone. Mithril is the same type of metal, look it reflects moon light." Legolas held the ring out, and a beam of moonlight hit it making it shine and sparkle.
"It is a girls ring surely, it is too small for you hand." Frodo said
"Yes, it was given to me thirty years ago by a girl many believe to be legend. I only knew her for a short time, yet she left an imprint on my life. I gave her my ring, which was wrought of the same metal. Then she left. A year later I received a letter from her and it contained this ring." Legolas said sighing. "I hope some day I will see her again, but I have hoped that for the past thirty years and have not seen hide nor hair of her. Now I have almost entirely lost hope, it was not meant to be."
Frodo looked at the elf beside him. A great sadness filled his eyes as he tied the chain back around his neck. 'They must meet again,' Frodo thought, 'Elves are not meant to be sad, they are not meant to give up hope.'
"Do not worry Legolas, you shall see her again, we might even run into her on our travels. Do not give up hope." Frodo said.
"Thank you master Frodo, I think though you should get some rest now. We have a long day tomorrow, but I will hang onto your words. Thank you."
Aragorn had listened to their conversation from his resting point on the ground. 'So he does still think of her!' Aragorn thought. Once he saw that Frodo had settled himself back down, he got up himself and sat next to the elf.
"Tell me Legolas, who was that girl you saw the day of the council. Your emotions were so strong, even I could perceive them." Aragorn said.
"She was the reason for the breaking of my heart." Legolas said his eyes to the ground. His hand once again went to his lower belly.
"Who is she, and what did she do that hurt you so much. You have never told me the whole truth. Your pain with females has always been strong, yet with Amy I could see your pain lessening. Why, what did she do to you?" Aragorn said placing his hand on his friends shoulder.
"Her name is Lalaith. Before I reached the age of 1000 I had had more lovers than I have arrows. I was young and carefree. I could have all the elves I wanted; yet by my one thousand and second birthday the only elf I wanted was her. Six years later we became lovers. I loved her with all my heart, and she returned the favour. I have never felt love as strong as that, yet I was young and didn't recognise it. They say you don't know love until you've lost it. Well that's true. I loved her. She was the best out of all the other elves I have been with.
"For 100 long years we seduced each other, loving every minute of it. Then she started to get jealous, she got jealous if I danced with another elf, she even got jealous when I talked to another elf. One day I got slightly tipsy and she caught me kissing a friend of hers. I didn't realise this until I met her the next day.
"She accused me, and when I didn't have an alibi she said she was going to leave me. My heart was broken, as you can expect. Then a few years later I thought I had gotten over it, I started dating again. I should have known. She came into my room late one night and confronted me.
"She told me she still loved me and I was hers. I said I would drop everything and go back to her, but she didn't trust me, didn't want me. With tears in her eyes she picked up one of my daggers, and said if she couldn't have me, no one could. Before I knew what she was doing she slit my lower belly and left me to die. Her plan being that if I didn't die no one would want me anyway because I was scarred. I recovered, but my heart was still shattered, I was nearly lost to grief. At times I willed myself to die, but slowly I gathered my senses and told my father who had her banished from Mirkwood. I have fully recovered now, well that was until I saw her in Rivendell. As soon as my eyes locked with hers my stomach felt like it was going to explode, the pain came back to me in waves. If you hadn't dragged me away I would have been on the floor in moments rolling around like an animal."
Aragorn looked with his friend with horror in his eyes. So that is what had happened to him, not only had she broken his heart, she had left him to die.
Legolas continued looking at the ground, taking in all the little patterns in the dirt. Slowly he stood up, not knowing what was driving him he undid his breaches and lifted up his tunic. Slowly he pulled down his breaches so they were resting just below his hips. He turned to face Aragorn and pulled his tunic right up so that his belly was exposed.
Aragorn gasped, the smooth ivory skin of his belly was marred by a long deep scar running round from one hip to the other. It was deep, he could see that. It was very surprising he had lived at all.
Legolas pulled up his breaches and did them up again. Aragorn looked at the elf before him with pride. He had been through a lot, yet he hardly showed it. Taking his friends hand he led him to his sleeping patch, Legolas lay down on Aragorn's cloak. Soft tears leaking from his eyes. The pain of revealing his secret to his friend had taken over.
Aragorn looked at his friend, and sighed. He took Legolas's spot on the rock and continued to check that nothing was going to endanger the fellowship.
BREAK
"Lureae, are you ready?"
"Yes Haldir, I'm coming." Amy shouted though the door.
Haldir had become one of her close friends now, and tonight he was taking her out and making dinner for her. Haldir still loved her, she knew that, yet he didn't know that her heart still lay with the blonde elf she had left behind thirty years ago.
