Here is second chapter people! I know the language is not the best and maybe a bit modern, that's one of the reason why I never really wrote any LOTR fanfictions. So this will be just one of few. I have spellchecked it though, but appearently that did not help enough. I hope you enjoy it though seen away from the mistakes. (I am not from an english speaking country).
2.
The next day came and Legolas left Rivendell and his friends. Estel sat on his room alone listning to the soft sounds around Rivendell. He thought back at the conversation he and Legolas had the night before. He just couldn't figure out why Legolas wanted him to take care of the tree so much. He would, of course. With that, Estel stood up and walked right outside his room and sat down on a step and looked at the completely green miniature tree. It was really pretty and still tiny.
"Well hello Estel. What are you doing?" Elledan and Elrohir approached him and sat down on each side of him.
"I am taking care of a tree for my friend while he is out in a war" Estel mumbled and hid his face in his hands.
"Well that's not bad is it? Estel, do you think that an elven prince would want you to take care of a normal tree that is not in need of care?" Elrohir winked to the kid.
"Then what does it do?" Estel asked as he stroke a finger along a soft leaf.
"I never learned the name of the tree, but I have heard that it will show you if it is good times or bad times for the people you love. Probably some kind of elven magic I never heard of. It never dies actually so… now that you mention it why take care of something that's not really dies?" Elrohir raised an eyebrow and looked at his brother. Estel just looked between the two brothers and shook his head.
"You two…" the human laughed and pulled at one of their ears before he ran off, followed by the two much older elves.
Months passed without news from Mirkwood and Estel was not sure if he should think of that as a good thing or a bad thing. Either it was going well and no need to bring news or it had gone so bad that there was no one to send… It wasn't before a year later the first news came from the woodlands. It was not that bad news. There were some losses for the wood elves, but the other side was taking the worse of it. Estel was now 18 and felt restless and ready to leave Rivendell. To explore the world.
Mirkwood laid on the other side of the Misty Mountains and it was a lot to do. It was foul creatures like orcs that had entered Mirkwood and although it was killed numberous of orc groups daily, it never seem to stop coming new. The huge spiders in the forest was not friend with any of the races and made it even harder for both parts to fight.
One night Legolas sat quietly like a statue on a bench outside of his father's palace. His father, King Thranduil was one of the major reasons why the fight was still going on and the woodelves still kept going although it seemed to never end. Mirkwood was huge and it was not rare that orcs got lost from their groups. They could not follow the small roads the elves had build, but walk around in the underforest, crawling through tick bushes just to end up in the enchanted river was not much better either. But although being on the road was safer for friends of the elven folks, if you were not known to the place, the endlessness of trees to both sides and the tick air could draw out every bit of hope in you.
Legolas sat so quietly that one could have actually not even notice him sitting there. The silence of the forest was not really comforting to him. It was too silent and you would never guess it was hundereds of unwanted visitors in there with him. Some of the other elf warriors in his group stood near him, just like their prince, not really enjoying the silence. There were eight groups of elves out in different parts of the forest and it was Legolas' group who had their time by the castle to defend their King. Legolas himself had been lucky enough all since the start of the unbidden invations when it came to injuries. The worse injury he had gotten was when he had gotten stabbed in his arm, long away from the castle. He had kept fighting till the whole group of orcs was defeated wich had lead to that Legolas had lost so much blood that he lost conciousness. But he had healed fast and was soon out in fight again. Sadly they had lost three exellent warriors since the start, but the worse was that they didn't have time for a real funeral then. That had to wait. Luckily not everyday contained fights. It depended on where your group and the enemies was. While sitting there, in the dark on the wodden bench Legolas came to think of Estel. Or Aragorn. He wondered when the man was going to find out his real identity and if he was ever going to live to see him again. If he was going to forget him. And by the looks of it, this war in Mirkwood would not be over in a while.
New years passed and news from Mirkwood came to Rivendell with six months between each other. The hope in Estel's heart was never really as strong through the years. At times he felt like he would never hear from his friend again, yet other times the hope was back where it belonged. Elrohir had been right about the little, green tree Legolas gave him. It was still tiny and still as much alive as it had been when he got it. The leaves on it would turn mild red at times and Estel took that for bad news. Bad times. Reaching the age of 21 years, Estel was finally told his real identity by Lord Elrond and his mother.
"So my real name is… Aragorn?" the black haired man rested his elbows on his hips and ran his fingers through his hair and looked down at his dirty boots. Gilraen nodded and laid a hand on his son's knee.
"Why have you not told me?" Estel wondered.
"Who others knows my real name?" there was many questions and he would get the answer by time.
"It was for your own best, Estel. Your name is not safe in this world and you must be very careful with who you tell these kind of news" Lord Elrond informed and drew a deep breath. Estel got to know that all these years Elronds' sons and daughter knew of Aragorn. Even Legolas. He felt numb, but not angry. He knew his mother would only hold this secret for his own best.
"Thank you for telling me. I will be careful with who I speak with about this" Estel finally said and Gilraen and Elrond smiled.
"So… I am Aragorn" Aragorn would now walk around saying the name to himself to get used to it. He even wanted his family to use that name to him. Yes family. He had grown up here in Rivendell now, so Lord Elrond had become more like his father and Elledan and Elrohir like his borthers. And Arwen. The beautiful elven daughter of Imladris' lord. He had never really known that that kind of love was before he first laid eyes upon her. But that is another story.
New, slow months passed and there was a time in Mirkwood when everything looked so much more bright. Aragorn's green tree had never looked more beautiful as it was now. Mirkwood had finally recived some help from the outside world from the wise wizard Mithrandir. Later also known as Gandalf. Well this wizard had many names and there is no use in mention them all. Before the bright times came, there was another five elven warriors who lost their life for their home and King. But since Mirkwood was rid of most of the orcs now they finally could have one last respectful goodbye to the fallen warriors.
On the other side of the Misty Mountains, Aragorn had for long since begun travelling Middle Earth. By now he had been travelling in lands of the smallfolks, The Shire, Old Forest and the lands of men, Gondor and Rohan. He had now made himself most known as Strider in the other lands now, wich fitted him just perfectly, so his real name was not exposed. All these years he wanted to go to Mirkwood, find his friend and aid him in need, but Elrond forbid him to go there. Not yet. When Aragorn arrived back to Rivendell after a 5 month long travel, there had been a long time without news from Mirkwood. Aragorn went to his tree and to his horror he could see how it had slowly begun to drape the red colour again. Dark times was coming back.
Reaching the age of 23, Aragorn finally sat out on a journey to Mirkwood with Elledan and Elrohir. They rode for hours and hours without break, but in the end they really had to rest. Elrohir had found a pretty little spot between some trees on the other side of the Misty Mountains, by the roots of it.
"Aragorn. Ever thought of the fact that the sight we meet in Mirkwood will not nececarry be a pretty sight?" Elledan asked as he sat down beside the young ranger who patted on his pipe.
"I think of it all the time, but I don't think I can ready myself for that. What if Legolas is not even there?" Aragorn suddenly felt himself gjetting sick and Elrohir came over and rubbed his back.
"He's the King's son. If something happened to him I am sure we would have known by now" Elrohir reasured his friend.
The journey continued for days without much happening. One day they had come over a small group of orcs who probably were on their way to Mirkwood, but they never got there. The two elves and the human slaughtered them within a minute.
Legolas stormed out of his home as soon as the enchanted stonedoors was opened. He was quick and light on foot and stopped all of a sudden when he came to a wooden bridge. The elf could see one of his friends coming towards him on a horse in a hurry.
"Legolas! There has broken out a bigger fight on the other end of the forest. We need more warriors there!" the other elf warrior jumped off his horse and some others had already run inside to bring the news to the King. It was soon clear that they would send more warriors to the battlefield. Legolas found his own horse and jumped up on the horse, not needing any saddle or briddle.
When Aragorn, Elledan and Elrohir finally came to a spot where they could see the entrance to the main road through Mirkwood, their eyes cought what they feared. Hundreds of elves and orcs battled against each other at the open field infront of the forest. That was the first time Aragorn spotted a wizard fighting on a horse too. He had never seen a wizard before in his life, but it was easy to guess out of the persons' appearence. The crocked hat was one thing, but also the long staff he fought with beside his sword was another.
"That is Mithrandil. Gandalf" Elrohir told Aragorn just as he got his horse to move and they galopped towards the battle. Gandalf soon saw the three newcomers in the battle and smiled when he reconiced two of them. At the same time as Aragorns' horse pushed through orcs, Legolas came out of the forest with a new group of elves. But neither of them noticed each other. Aragorn grabbed his sword and swung it first one one side of the horse, parting two orc heads from their bodies, before he attacked the enemy on the other side. His horse pranced angrily and reared while whinning, but Aragorn managed to hold on without much trouble. The horse hoofs smashed into a couple of orcs heads. On the other side of the battle was Legolas fighting orcs on his own horse with his fellow elves all around him. It was no doubt that they were winning the fight for the number of orcs were quickly being cut less. All of a sudden he felt his horse lose it's footing and fell to the ground with a thud, dragging two orcs under it. Legolas rolled off and cut the heads of the two orcs trapped under the horse before he jumped out of the way as the horse got up again and ran off. Now he had to fight on ground.
Aragorn had jumped off his horse and was fighting himself through the enemies, slashing them down with Elrohir by his side. Everything was going so quickly that Aragorn hardly saw his enemies before he hit them. There was hardly any orcs left now and he could see more woodelves around there. Suddenly a foul sound came from behind him and he spun around and cut the head of the orc before he stuck out his blade to the creature following it. To his horror he soon found out that he had now stuck anything but an orc. A gasp escaped the elf's lips as Aragorns' sword stabbed into his abdomen before it was pulled quickly out again. The elf moved his gaze from where the sword had stabbed him to look at the man infront of him.