AN: So I am not going to say much until the end of this chapter because it would be too easy to give something away. I just want to say thank you for the messages, writing this is worth it if it brightens even one person's morning :)
Tauriel POV
The Captain had been placed upon her and Legolas' bed whilst Serilla moved around, arranging blankets and bringing the kit she had previously prepared and left in their chambers some days ago. The wooden crate mostly contained clean linens and towels, along with bowls and a variety of herbs, many uses of which, Tauriel did not know. Glancing at Serilla's precise ministrations, the honey-haired healer appeared entirely in her element, much to the Captain's peace of mind.
Tauriel moaned into Legolas as another terrible clenching threatened to rip out her insides.
Serilla handed Legolas a cloth doused in cool scented water. He wordlessly dabbed around Tauriel's face whilst stroking her hair back out of the way. Admittedly, the herbs helped cool her down and made her thoughts clearer and more composed.
Serilla started probing around Tauriel's lower half, her gentle fingers pushing into her abdomen in rather uncomfortable places.
Tauriel resisted the urge to kick her in the face.
Instead she chose to crush Legolas' hand in her own. Worthy of his character, Legolas said nothing about the probable loss of his fingers and instead forced Tauriel to look at him to distract her from the pain. He dutifully kept her cool and grounded whilst making Tauriel breathe in and out in time with him, as Serilla had taught him to do.
After a time of Tauriel almost wishing to take another morgul arrow instead of what she currently faced, Serilla looked up from her position and said in a calm, authoritative voice. 'It is time Tauriel, when your body asks it of you, you must push!'
Tauriel turned her head and bit back a sob as she felt her body prepare itself but Legolas gently guided her chin to his face.
'Look at me meleth nîn, only me. I will be here with you.'
Tauriel looked into those sea blue eyes and cried as her body convulsed in one great move.
'Well done, Tauriel! That is it! He is here, he is here!' Serilla cried.
Tauriel fell back into Legolas' arms. She could barely lift her head as her whole body felt ripped asunder.
He?
Legolas started crying as he looked at something. In her dazed state, Tauriel did not fully comprehend what he was looking at until Serilla placed a tiny bundle of limbs onto her chest.
Tauriel stopped breathing and instinctively moved her arms to encircle the tiny elf that made a little noise at her every now and then. She no longer cared about the pain or the fact that Serilla was taking care of her body.
Tauriel held her son. Legolas held them both. The Prince and Princess of Eryn Lasgalen cried silently in joy together.
Tauriel's entire world shifted and she could not stop staring at her beautiful child.
Tauriel heard a sound of rustling fabric. 'Use this to keep him warm. You may thank Éowyn later.' Serilla smiled and gently handed Legolas a blanket of deepest green, made of the softest cotton.
Legolas unfolded the blanket to better tuck it around their child and made a small appreciative sound. Tauriel looked up and felt her heart warm in gratitude at the kindness of Éowyn.
An embroidered border of woven green leaves surrounded the blanket's edge. In the lower left hand corner, the rising moon crest of Ithilien had been stitched alongside a rearing white horse of Rohan. To the lower right, the White Tree of Gondor shone in mithril thread. Most grandly in the centre, Éowyn had embroidered the crest of Eryn Lasgalen; a circle of pointed green leaves that met in the centre, surrounded by four gleaming silver stars.
Serilla seemed to be attending to something next to Legolas and when the Captain looked up she realised with an embarrassed blush that she was silently binding Legolas' hand.
Tauriel bit her lip. 'Goheno nin, Legolas, hannon le, Serilla.'
'It is nothing, Tauriel.' Legolas kissed her cheek.
Finished, Serilla gave a smile that reached her dove grey eyes and kissed Tauriel on the head.
Satisfied that her and the babe were healthy and well and now just needed rest, Serilla took her leave. Once she was outside the door, Tauriel could hear her talking quietly, yet excitedly to Ranadir who had obviously disobeyed Aragorn and had been waiting outside the door.
Tauriel did not mind. She was entranced by what she held in her arms. He was perfect.
Tauriel gazed down into her own green eyes looking back at her and she could tell that he was going to have her high cheekbones. She smiled up at Legolas who did not seem to be breathing as he tenderly touched their son's tiny hands with his own long fingers.
'He has the silver locks of a sindarin, just like his Father.' Tauriel whispered.
Legolas breathed a grin and carefully caressed the few wisps of silver hair adorning the elfling's head.
Legolas reached down and cupped Tauriel's cheek, kissing her reverently.
'Hannon le, meleth nîn.' His eyes were sincere and full of tears.
Tauriel felt her own eyes well in response. 'I could not have done it without you Legolas.' They both chuckled.
They shared a look, knowing that the earlier conversation that they had had now came into play. 'I am proud of the name that we have chosen. It fits him perfectly.' Legolas kissed her hair.
'Me too. It will make both of them so happy.' Tauriel replied with a smile.
Legolas POV
A careful knocking on the door announced the arrival of whom else but King Thranduil.
'Come in, hîr vuin.' Tauriel called softly, from where she could not take her eyes off of their elfling. Legolas struggled to look up to his Father for long for he was mesmerised by the little bundle before him with his tiny, perfectly pointed ears.
Thranduil entered in a swirl of magnificent blue robes and glided silently to where they were snuggled in bed. Legolas watched proudly as Thranduil peered down from his great height to look at their child, only for the great elven-King to give one of his rare and handsome smiles.
I wish Ada smiled more often.
'Ada, this is our son, Thranadir.' Legolas beamed at his Father.
My ionneg. My Thranadir.
'Thran..adir.' His Father seemed to be testing the name on his tongue. 'It is a kingly name, ionneg. You should both be very proud.' Thranduil said with an incline of his crowned head that glinted in the light of the elven lamps. 'Welcome to the house of Oropher, little Prince.'
'We chose that name, for he will be both kingly and loyal, in honour of both you and Ranadir, hîr vuin.' Tauriel's voice was soft with emotion she looked upon her King.
Legolas was deeply moved as he saw a range of emotions flicker across the King's face as he stared at Tauriel. Legolas thought that Tauriel had melted the glacier in Thranduil's eyes for the briefest of moments before it froze back into place.
The Captain herself also seemed frozen but for the small smile across her rosy lips. Legolas watched Thranduil lean down from his great height and kiss her tenderly on the crown of her hair.
'Hannon le.' He whispered and a single tear fell down Tauriel's cheek.
Legolas' thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a flutter of wings and they all looked over curiously to one of the tall open windows in the room where a beautiful blackbird now perched, illuminated in the starlight. Almost as if realising that it now had the three elves' attention, the blackbird began to sing its sweet and melodic song.
Odd, blackbirds normally sing only by daylight, not starlight.
Thranadir made a happy noise at the end of the song and his and Tauriel's attention was immediately brought back to their elfling.
Out of the corner of his eye, Legolas watched as his Father moved over to where the blackbird had once sat on the ledge on the outer side of their window. His attention was abruptly brought back to Thranadir making another small noise in Tauriel's arms, causing her to sigh in happiness.
Then for a time, nothing else existed apart from the sight of, and the feel of, holding his beloved and their combined joy safely in his arms.
Thranduil POV
Looking up from where his son had found his heart's desire, Thranduil tilted his elegant head at something on the far side of the chamber that had not been there before. A faint glimmer only noticeable from his standing height had caught the elven-King's attention once the blackbird had flown away into the night. He glided over to the window where the blackbird had sung her sweet song, almost as if it were in greeting to them.
A proud white aerangis bloom, still healthy and attached to its stem, lay on the outer ledge of the window. With his back to the others, Thranduil stopped breathing in utter disbelief as he ever so gently picked the bloom up in his long fingers.
Aerangis is not native to Ithilien. It is a plant of Greenwood the Great. A falling star bloom…The flower of the forest star…the symbol of my…
He could not finish the thought. Tauriel and Legolas did not notice him take his leave of their chambers with the bloom carefully concealed in the safety of his lustrous robes.
He did not mention to Legolas that the blackbird had carried his Mother's bloom to them. One day he would tell him but for now his heart was busy breaking in memory all over again and he did not wish to disturb his son's happiness.
Thranduil marched directly to his own wing and once safe and enclosed in his chambers, he allowed himself to breathe normally again.
He removed the flower from his robes and looked at the perfect beauty of the white petals, caressing their purity with the lightest of touches. Moving to his sheltered yet spacious balcony, Thranduil found a stone elven pot and planted his cutting, making sure that it received water and nutrients and the blessing of the eldar to encourage its growth.
For some reason, he could not bear the thought of letting the tiny plant wither and die, although it was currently little more than a stem desperately holding onto its bloom.
Looking down at the luminescent star flower, he could almost hear her laughter, see her radiant smile. His brow furrowed and his lips pressed together into a grim line as he clasped his hands behind his back to stop them from trembling with the suppressed grief of memories that threatened to rise to the surface.
Could it be? A symbol from her? Is that even possible when Mandos has her? Can I even allow myself such a hope? If I dare let my shattered heart believe that it is so, surely this is meant to represent the joy of Thranadir entering the world. I know that she would have loved him instantly…more than life.
Standing on his balcony overlooking Ithilien, the great King of the wood elves gazed in silent solitude at the rising moon, with only his fallen star for company.
AN: Thranadir is here! A very lovely family if I do say so myself.
Poor Thranduil, elves love much more deeply than do mortals. They share a spiritual bond with their mates that can never be broken, not even through death; for one day across the sea and at the end of the first song, they will be reunited again…
…Yet will Thranduil's heart be comforted before then…?
Jessie Rae Baby, great guess ;) Sending a big virtual hug back as YOU made MY day by reading this fiction and taking the time to leave a review.
Thanks to all other reviewers, let me know what your thoughts are with this chapter :)
emlaba x