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Vocabulary
melethron-nîn—my beloved
Chapter 6: The Last One Standing
The rescued Elves had been stolen from Mirkwood, but because they were bruised and weary, Legolas urged them to go first to Lothlórien to recover before attempting the journey across the plain to their homes. They were anxious to rejoin their kinsmen, however, and declared that they wished to return to their homes straightaway.
"I don't see how they shall manage the journey," Aragorn observed. "The adults will have to take turns carrying the little one, and each has scarcely enough strength to support his own weight."
This was true. The flight from their pursuers had left the Elves prostrate.
"We shall have to procure them mounts," declared Legolas. "I will see to it. You, too, are weak and weary."
Legolas stood up and shouldered his pack.
"Legolas, you don't mean to steal horses from the Rohirrim," Aragorn said in alarm.
Legolas shook his head.
"We are near a trade route followed by those who deal in Dorwinion wine. I shall follow it until I find a company of merchants and chaffer for mounts."
Aragorn nodded his head as he thought gloomily of what it was that Legolas was likely to chaffer. Then he turned his thought to preparing a meal for the rescued captives. He settled upon fish, for with his broken arm, which was now in a sling, he could not draw a bow to bring down game. He knew Elves were not excessively fond of fish, but he suspected that in their present state, they wouldn't be picky.
The elfling watched him curiously as he chose a branch to fashion into a fishing pole. The little fellow had been carried throughout the Elves' ordeal and so was in better shape than his kin. The elfling was lucky to be so small, Aragorn thought to himself. Slavers had been known to slay young ones who were too large to be carried but not large enough to keep up with the adults.
"Would you like to fish?" Aragorn asked. "I could make you a pole."
The elfling smiled shyly, and soon the two were perched upon the bank of a branch of the Anduin River. The fish they caught, when combined with the berries and mushrooms that they foraged, made for an adequate and even tasty meal. Afterward Aragorn and the male Elves took turns standing watch. The young human thought it unlikely that the slavers would pursue them any further, but it was wise to take precautions nonetheless.
The next morning Legolas rode into camp on one horse whilst leading two others. They were big draft horses, and docile, and Aragorn had no doubt that they would easily carry the seven Elves to their homes in Mirkwood. Aragorn gave one of the male Elves his sword, and another one his bow, for he could make use of neither weapon. The Elves had the Orc blades, too.
After the Elves had departed, Aragorn and Legolas tidied the camp. When they were finished, only an Elf or a Ranger would have noticed any sign that a band had sheltered there. Then the two friends resumed their trek.
"Legolas," Aragorn asked as they walked, "how many goblets have we left?"
"It is no matter," Legolas said evasively.
"Just tell me this: is it an odd number or an even?"
"Odd."
Aragorn groaned.
"Shall we break one so that the number is even," teased Legolas.
Aragorn shook his head vehemently. "Legolas, I warrant that the number of remaining goblets is so small that we had better husband every one!"
Legolas grinned but said nothing, and Aragorn knew that he had guessed rightly. 'A small number', he said to himself. 'But how many?' he wondered. 'Nine? Seven? Five?'
Legolas, however, was not talking, and Aragorn's curiosity was to remain unsatisfied until they arrived in Lothlórien. His joy was great when they finally neared the outskirts of that land. Partly it was relief in knowing that the suspense was nearly over; partly it was his happiness at knowing that his broken arm would be tended to. Legolas had carefully splinted it before devising a sling for the arm, but even though Legolas was a skilled healer, Aragorn knew that Galadriel was an even better one.
Aragorn's thoughts were interrupted by a chorus of greetings. "Mae govannen," called many voices, and a patrol led by Haldir broke cover.
"Haldir!" shouted Aragorn, and with his one good arm managed to hug the Elf, who, as always, was a bit startled at how demonstrative the young human was but in the end took it in good stride.
"What happened to you, Estel?" asked the Elf after they had embraced. "You didn't fall out of tree, did you? I thought only Rúmil did that!"
"He fell a considerably shorter distance," said Legolas, smirking. "He tumbled from his feet to the ground. Of course," the Elf added, "he was grappling with a Southron at the time, so I suppose he may be forgiven."
"Indeed!" exclaimed Rúmil. "Come. We shall go to our camp, where you may bathe and rest. Then tomorrow you shall be escorted to the Lady, who will tend to your remaining hurts."
The two travelers agreed with alacrity, although for different reasons. Aragorn liked the idea of resting; to Legolas, the thought of a bath was appealing.
Early the next morning they set out for Caras Galadhon with a small escort of Elves. Aragorn was concerned at their having lost so many of the goblets intended for the Lord and Lady, but as they walked his happiness began to outweigh his anxiety. Lothlórien had been the place where he had first met Arwen, and as such would always have a special place in his heart, a fact that was more than a match for his fear that they would be mortified when Celeborn and Galadriel realized that the gift they proffered was only a poor reflection of the gift intended.
At last the two friends stood at the base of the tree in which the Lord and Lady dwelt in their talan. Their escort bade them a genial farewell, and Legolas and Aragorn commenced their climb. Soon they stood before Celeborn and Galadriel.
"You are very welcome here," Celeborn said, inclining his head. Beside him, Galadriel smiled her usual enigmatic smile that hinted at much known but little said.
Beside Aragorn, Legolas took a deep breath. Then he made known their errand. "My Lord, my Lady, we bear a gift from the Lord Elrond," he declaimed. With a flourish he drew from his pack an object swathed in leather and unwrapped it to reveal—a goblet.
Aragorn blanched. One was an odd number, but could it really be that—
Aragorn's fears lessened a little when Legolas drew from his pack a second object, and the young human outright exhaled in relief when Legolas pulled out yet another. Both were revealed to be goblets. Better and better. Then—nothing. Legolas rolled up his pack and set it aside. Aragorn caught Legolas' eye, and the Elf shook his head slightly. So that was it: three and only three glass goblets had survived. Aragorn and Legolas looked nervously at their hosts. Galadriel smiled graciously.
"How kind of Elrond to send us these three drinking vessels."
Celeborn shook his head disapproving. "Elrond sent one too many. Two would have sufficed. One has only one mouth; thus one needs only one drinking vessel."
"That is true in the main, melethron-nîn," replied Galadriel, "but it was very thoughtful of Elrond to send an odd number of goblets in case one should be broken. These are glass goblets, after all, and therefore more fragile than ones of metal would be. Indeed," she added, smiling slyly at Legolas and Aragorn, "it is a prodigious feat that you have brought three goblets such a distance unbroken."
Legolas and Aragorn bowed, careful to keep grave expressions upon their faces.
"I will not gainsay you, my Lady," Legolas said smoothly. "It is indeed remarkable that we have brought these three goblets safely to Lothlórien."
"Indeed, that is true," smiled Galadriel, "and I think it only fitting that the first to drink from these goblets should be those who bore them a great distance through many perils." She poured wine into one glass goblet and handed it to Legolas and filled a second one for Aragorn, who had to clutch it with his left hand. For her husband and herself she filled two goblets of silver.
"Let us toast these young wayfarers," she said when all were furnished with goblets. She clinked her glass against her husband's and then nodded at Aragorn and Legolas. Grinning, the two brought their glasses together—and then stood aghast as the delicate vessels shattered.
"M-m-my Lady," stammered Aragorn. "I am so sorry. It is my fault. I cannot govern my left hand as well as my right."
"No, I am at fault," insisted Legolas. "Aragorn is injured; I am not. Therefore I should have known to take greater care in the handling of my own vessel."
Galadriel smiled. "Neither of you is at fault. It is merely that Elrond was overly optimistic in thinking that such fragile objects would arrive intact—and remain so! Nevertheless, it is plain that your courage and honor survived the journey, and such are not only more durable but more valuable than any vessel of glass. We will accept those as your gifts to us in lieu of the goblets. This one goblet we will keep in token of those gifts, but I do not think we will drink from it!"
Smiling with relief, the young Elf and young human remained in the talan while Galadriel tended to Aragorn's arm. Then they took their leave of the Lord and Lady and went in search of Rúmil and Orophin, whom Haldir had said would be in from patrol. Once they had found their Lórien friends, they whiled away the hours in singing and drinking—from metal goblets!—until a messenger from Celeborn and Galadriel arrived to politely remind them that the Elves in the surrounding flets were desirous of rest.
The next morning Legolas arose before Aragorn and wandered about, renewing his acquaintance with several trees that were old friends. At length he strayed near Galadriel's Glade, and he saw the Lady standing by the stairway that led down to the Mirror. She beckoned to him, and he followed her down the steps.
'Am I to be vouchsafed a vision?' Legolas wondered, but that was not Galadriel's purpose. She merely wished to speak with him in private.
"You encountered Orcs twice on this journey, is that not so?"
"Yes, my Lady. We were ambushed in Dunland. Then we happened upon a band of Men and Orcs in Fangorn Forest."
"The slavers?"
"Yes, my Lady. The Men were Southrons."
"Whence came the Orcs?"
"The Orcs were a smallish breed, like those accustomed to hiding in the crevasses upon the slopes of the Misty Mountains. But I think they had lately been dwelling in the environs where we encountered them. They were not shod like those accustomed to traveling long distances. Rather than hobnailed boots, they wore soft-soiled footgear—if they wore shoes at all, for several were barefoot."
"A fact which you turned to good account," said Galadriel, a smile flitting across her face. Then she turned serious again.
"These Orcs and Southrons were in a portion of Fangorn Forest nigh unto Isengard," she stated somberly.
Legolas remained silent. Galadriel looked meaningfully at him. "You do not find it surprising that Orcs and Southrons would have crept so close to Isengard," she observed.
"I do not, my Lady," Legolas said firmly.
"Good. On this journey you preserved Estel from the cold after you were cast into the icy waters of the Bruinen, and you rescued him from the clutches of the Southron who would have enslaved him. But as important as both of these feats was your discouraging him in his desire to visit Isengard. Like a glass goblet, Hope is both precious and rare and must be protected. Many are the perils by which Hope may be lost and destroyed, and I deem that one such peril may be found within the stone circle of Isengard. Keep Estel far from thence! Do not let Saruman's eye fall upon him, no, no more than you would let the Eye of Sauron do so!
"My Lady, I swear that I shall do as you bid."
Galadriel smiled upon him. "I trust you with Estel as Elrond trusted you with the goblets—but this time see that no harm comes to your charge!"
"I vow to you that I shall do everything in my power to keep Estel safe."
"You will keep that vow. You are loyal to those you love—and to those you will come to love in the future, no matter how unlikely they may seem as objects of your affection."
Galadriel's latter statement was puzzling, but she gave Legolas no time to ponder it.
"Now go, Legolas. Estel has awoken and, as usual, is hungry. Your first task, then, is to protect him from starvation—or his notion of starvation, anyway. Unlike you, he is still growing and will continue to do so for several more years. This fact accounts for the appalling voracity that he displays upon occasion. In some ways he is a boy still, although he would deny it."
"He does have a beard coming on, my Lady."
"Will he trim it, do you think," Galadriel said archly.
Legolas laughed and shook his head. Was there anything, he wondered, that the Lady did not know? He bowed respectfully and as Galadriel had commanded he returned to his friend, who was indeed awake and complaining of hunger.
Epilogue
Elrond was beaming as he read the missive that Aragorn and Legolas had carried back with them from Lothlórien.
"Galadriel writes that she and Celeborn are well pleased with the gifts that Estel and Legolas carried with them to Lothlórien."
"Gifts?" said Mithrandir, who had returned from the Shire the previous evening. "Why gifts? I thought you sent a gift of goblets. It was one gift, albeit consisting of many objects."
"You are being as exacting as Erestor," scolded Elrond. "No doubt Galadriel is thinking of goblets in the plural, hence 'gifts'."
Gandalf shook his head. "That is not the correct idiom. One sends a gift of goblets, not gifts of goblets."
Gandalf looked suspiciously at the two young wayfarers who stood before them with innocent expressions upon their faces. "There's more to this than meets the eye," the wizard muttered, shaking his head. "Howsomeever, if Galadriel does not now see fit to enlighten us as to her meaning, we shall just have to wait until such time as she does—if ever!"
And so Estel and Legolas, still bearing their 'gifts', were given leave to depart Elrond's study and to do with their time as they would—until the next adventure.