Disclaimer: For the zillionth time… I would like to say that if you attempt to take the rights to LotR, which clearly belong to Tolkien, his descendants will come after you with long pointy sticks. LotR ain't mine… (crawls off into a corner to cry)
AN: The long-awaited conclusion! Please don't hurt me for taking so long! I have an allergy to rotten tomatoes, heavy objects and anything remotely pointy. But anyway, the epilogue is here, which is both amazingly awesome and sadd at the same time… You may go read the ending now… I don't want to detain you any longer than necessary… (please don't hurt me…)
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A week after the events that took place deep under the palace, the Imladris elves were preparing to go back to their valley home. Legolas was comfortably perched on the end of Elladan's bed watching the twins pack. All three had been confined to the room by Elrond and Thranduil until every last scrap of clothing and belongings had been squared away.
Legolas was absent-mindedly playing with one of his braids, wrapping the golden strands around his fingers. His hands were still wrapped in bandages, as several of the deep cuts had yet to close.
Nethidal was there as well, still wrapped in bandages and with his arm in a sling. He was watching his friend warily, expecting the golden-haired elf to leap across the room and strangle him at any second. Maybe he wasn't mad anymore, Nethidal thought to himself hopefully.
The twins scurried here and there, occasionally disappearing under the bed to collect a boot or a comb. Nethidal transferred his watchfulness to them for a second, and they paused and looked back with a wicked twinkle mirrored in their eyes. One of them, (Nethidal still had trouble identifying them at a second's glance, but he thought it was Elladan) shot a look toward the elf-prince. Nethidal shrugged slightly.
The twins resumed their bustling about, only this time, they stayed further away from the prince. As time slowly dragged on, Nethidal began to allow himself to relax, thinking that perhaps Legolas's temper had cooled.
"That was not fair!" Legolas cried suddenly, leaping to his feet and pointing accusingly to each of his friends in turn. Each had jumped upon hearing his cry, the first words he had spoken to any of them since the day before.
"What wasn't fair about it?" Elrohir dared to ask.
Legolas focused on this, and stalked over to the now-cowering Noldor. "It is fair if one wishes to team up to pull a prank. It is not fair if three devious minds team up against one! It is also not fair to enlist the help of an elf with access to dye! All preparations should be made by the one who intends to pull the prank! If you could not get the dye yourself, it is not fair for you to use it!"
Elrohir was staring cross-eyed at a long, elegant bandaged finger. The finger poked him viciously in the nose. He yelped and covered his face, which hid him from further pokings, and so Legolas wouldn't be able to see the grin that has plastered itself onto his face. After all, not many could say that they had been poked by a blue wood-elf.
Legolas scowled ferociously, and Elrohir realized that he had not been fast enough to hide his smile from the wood-elf.
"You think it is funny? You think slipping blue dye into my bathwater is funny?" Legolas's face would have turned red, except that the deep sky-blue of the dye counter acted it. He ended up a lovely shade of violet.
It was simply too much for the elves in the room. Each snickered, tried to hide it, and ended up laughing hysterically.
The violet of Legolas's face deepened. He had been contentedly bathing before dinner last night, only to fall asleep in the warm water. He woke up late and dried and dressed himself in such a hurry; he failed to notice his new skin color until he entered the dining hall. At the roar of laughter that went up, he had turned to his father quizzically, only to see his dignified father 'coughing' violently into a napkin. He had looked down at himself, seen nothing wrong (as he was wearing a long-sleeved tunic and his hands were bandaged) and turned to look in a mirror that hung on the wall behind him.
The horrified howl that had burst from his throat served only to further greaten everyone's mirth. He had sent a flurry of threats and minor curses toward the twins and Nethidal and exited in a hurry.
He had not appeared for breakfast, nor lunch the next day. Thranduil had ordered him to go and 'help' the twins pack, and Legolas has obeyed sullenly. He had not spoken a word until his outburst about what was fair, and what was not.
He stood before them now, arms crossed over his chest defiantly, glaring. Several seconds passed before Nethidal stopped his laughter long enough to ask if Legolas would hold the same view if he had pulled the same prank on Nethidal himself.
"Yes, but it didn't happen to you! It happened to me!" A pause, as Legolas realized just how selfish that sounded, and revised his opinion. "All right, it is funny…" He saw them begin to relax and he continued sharply, "But it's still not fair and don't you think you'll get away with no consequences!"
This silenced both Nethidal and the twins as they thought of the horrors that would soon be coming their way.
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Elrond walked the corridors of Mirkwood, hoping against hope that his sons hadn't gotten into trouble in the past three hours. He was just coming around a corner when he nearly collided with Legolas, going the opposite way. The elven lord straightened his robes and eyed the very-blue princeling with well-concealed amusement. "I trust that my sons have finished their packing?"
"Yes," Legolas replied distantly. Elrond saw the wily look in the prince's eye, but his sudden feeling of dismay was briefly over-whelmed by the realization that the blue skin matched Legolas's eyes perfectly. "They are ready to go whenever you wish to depart."
Elrond, distractedly wondering how on Arda the Mirkwood elves had managed to create such a brilliant color of dye, replied, "I should think we will leave in an hour. We would like to clear the forest before nightfall."
"Perfect," Legolas said to himself. Aloud, he said, "You will have to hurry then, 'tis an awfully long way. If you would excuse me, I have something to look into."
Elrond watched the retreating back of the prince and wondered if he could convince Thranduil to make him a robe with a color like that.
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Nearly an hour later, the two royal families met at the gates for the last time. The Noldor family was waiting for their horses to be brought from the stables. Elladan and Elrohir were very jumpy, much to the amusement of Legolas. He was casually chatting with them, making plans to visit them sometime in the next year.
Thranduil and Elrond watched out of the corners of their eyes as they discussed measurements for Elrond's new robe. Elrond was delighted at Thranduil's consent, he did love that color! It had been Elros's favorite color as well, and Elrond knew that his brother would have loved the idea of a piece of clothing in that color.
His only concern was that it would be Legolas who would bring the robe when he came to visit the next year. He knew that Legolas would take all precautions… but he was still Legolas, and Elrond knew the princeling well enough by now to know that things would undoubtedly go wrong. And then the young prince and his sons would have the run of Rivendell.
Elrond could barely repress the groan that rose in his throat at the thought of all the broken pieces of crockery and splatters of dye that would adorn his lovely home soon after the arrival of Legolas.
Thranduil caught the look of dismay that crossed his friend's face and smiled. The king couldn't really blame Elrond for being so apprehensive: he knew well the destructive force that was his son. Combine that with the twins' sneaky ways, and one would have the recipe for one quickly-destroyed home. Although they would be quick enough to offer to clean up, sooner or later, something irreplaceable would be broken. And that was when the elflings responsible would be sent to the stables for mucking out the stalls.
"Nethidal is furious that he couldn't come to see you off," Legolas remarked off-handedly. "The healers wouldn't let him out of his room again. They—"
"Have no idea that I've gone," said Nethidal, coming up behind them. He smiled, and in that moment, Elladan and Elrohir realized that the older wood-elf had probably taught Legolas quite a few things about mischief.
Legolas returned the smile and clasped Nethidal's forearm. "Very nice, mellon-nin. You will have to tell me how you get away from old Hawk-eye."
Nethidal laughed, green eyes sparkling. "One of these days Hauki is going to learn about your little nickname for him. I pity you when he does."
"I did not come up with that!" Legolas protested merrily. "Twas my Ada!"
A rather shocked silence followed this statement before all four burst into laughter. When Thranduil looked over to see what all the fuss was about, their mirth only intensified.
"Oh look," Elrohir said as he caught sight of a struggling elf. "There's our horses. And some poor soul has decided to bring Mordax along as well. Oh dear."
The black stallion's neighing cut through all conversations and head turned inquisitively. Quesya was desperately trying to control the big horse, grasping frantically at the reins as if his life depended on it. It didn't do the stable-worker much good. The stallion reared, and the poor elf was lifted straight off the ground.
"Oh no…" Legolas murmured. He headed off to help Quesya, but he was too late. One toss of Mordax's muscled neck sent the elf flying. He landed hard, but rolled to his feet almost instantly. Elves began to surround the stallion, hoping to calm the horse, but their close proximity only served to further agitate the stallion.
Legolas edged through the crowd and approached the stallion, murmuring unintelligibly. Mordax turned to face him, eyes rolling, and for an instant, it seemed as if the horse was about to charge the young prince. Everyone held their breath and waited, and Thranduil even took a couple of steps forward, ready to fly forward and knock his son out of harms way if necessary.
But the prince seemed completely unconcerned as he held his hand up toward Mordax's flaring nostrils. As he recognized Legolas's scent, he nickered and his ears pricked forward. He stepped forward and nuzzled Legolas's hand gently, then nipped at the bandages as if to say, "What's this, and where's my carrot?"
Everyone watched in amazement as the stallion willingly let Legolas leap onto his broad back. "How does he do that?" Elladan asked the air. He received only disbelieving stares from everyone else. Thranduil buried his face in his hands, shoulders heaving as he laughed helplessly.
"I am never going to get used to him and that dratted horse!"
Legolas grinned impishly down at his father. "You never should have let me raise him then!"
"Get out of here you!" Thranduil cried. "Escort the Peredhel's at least as far as the stream, if you would." He shook hands with each of the Noldor's as they mounted their horses.
Nethidal reached up with his unbandaged arm and shook hands with the twins. "I'll send something along with Legolas next year, along with a note on how to use it." He winked at them, already imagining the choking squeaky-voiced Legolas when he realized that someone had slipped narvosalv into his drink.
With final words of farewell, the Peredhel's nudged their horses into a trot, and Legolas followed close behind.
As the gates to the palace faded into the distance, Legolas discovered that Mordax held other horses in the same category of contempt and abhorrence as he did for other elves. He snapped at the flank of Elladan's horse, which shied and nearly decapitated Elladan as it stepped off the trail and under a tree. Legolas's shouting apologies followed, along with Elladan's choked assurances that no harm had been done.
They resumed their travels, this time with Legolas leading the way, and Mordax flicking his tail impudently in front of Elrond's mount's snout.
"So, I will see you next you next year then," Legolas said after several rather awkward minutes, as the first stream edged into view.
This time, Elrond couldn't quite contain the groan that issued from his lips. He saw Legolas turn, and on the blue face was stamped an expression of genuine hurt. "Oh, no, Legolas, I didn't mean… I was… not…"
Legolas held up a bandaged hand and scrutinized Elrond's face closely. "Ah. I see. It's all right."
Elrond settled back, vaguely unnerved at how well the wood-elves (Legolas and Thranduil in particular) seemed to be able to read him.
The prince tapped on Mordax's neck and the stallion stopped before crossing the bridge. As each of the other horses passed, Legolas shook hands with the rider (each of whom were very careful not to squeeze hard). As Elrohir made it to the other side, Legolas brought Mordax back onto the trail and turned to face the twins and their father.
"Well, so as to keep my Ada happy…" Legolas carefully stood on Mordax's back and performed a bow. "It has been a wonderful past two weeks, and I sincerely apologize for all the trouble you have been through. I eagerly await the next time we meet."
Elrohir eyed the prince as Legolas sat back down. "You are entirely too good at that."
"Yes well, I have had plenty of experience. But in my own words, it was really pretty fun wasn't it? Even with all that happened!" He gave the twins a cunning smile. "And next time I see you two, you had better be better at tree walking!"
"Why you--!"
Elrohir swung his horse around, intent on galloping back and giving Legolas a good whack on the arm. Unfortunately, his mare's left rear hoof tripped a wire… and buckets of green and brown dye spilled down upon the twin's heads.
At the same time, back in the palace, Nethidal was receiving the same treatment as he opened the door to his room.
Howls of dismay echoed through the forest, along with Legolas's bell-like laughter. "I'll see you next year!" he called, and swung Mordax back toward the palace.
This time, Elrond's groan increased ten-fold.
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AN: And there it is. Wow! Omigosh! Gasp! (I'll refrain from going on… but only because I love ya!) I can't believe both of my long stories are over!
A huge thanks go out to all who reviewed last chapter: theo darkstar, rivendellelve, Alenor Peredhel, Haldir's Heart and Soul, Tathren Lalaith, sehellys, womp lover, and Aurehen.
I suppose the only thing left to do is start another long story! I've been pondering doing one with the entire Fellowship, but what I'd really like to do is write another Legolas story. I've promised to write a two parter that features Thranduil angst as well as some Legolas, but other than that, I'm wide open. Also, I'm co-authoring two stories with two people (see my profile for more details). I plan on going back and editing everything I've written so far, searching out any mistakes I may have made. (Actually, I KNOW I've made mistakes…)
Thank you so much for reading this fic all the way through! You have no idea how much it means to me! (It would make me feel even better if you dropped a review and told me if you liked the ending… lol!)
I'm gone for now… THANK YOU!
Cheers,
Rebell