Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or Lord of the Rings.

A/N: Wow, thanks everyone for reviewing! It means a lot to me! This is like a day late. If you don't want the excuse, just skip the rest of this. I went on a three day school trip, and almost got killed by a giant wave (we went to Manuel Antonio, which has beaches). I also went white water rafting. Overall, it was pretty awesome, but when I got back yesterday, I fell asleep at like 7:00 here after dinner. So, I'm updating a day late. Anyway, enjoy the chapter and review again please!

Chapter 7

Elladan laughed merrily as Elrohir playfully swiped at him. Glorfindel shook his head, exchanging an amused look with Erestor.

Arwen, rolling her eyes slightly, sat down on one of the couches in the main living area and asked, "Uncle Glorfindel, later tonight, will you tell us a story?"

Glorfindel's deep blue eyes sparkled, "Of course."

Elrohir grinned, exchanging a meaningful look with his older twin as Elrond inputted, "Nothing too violent, mellon nin."

"All right," Glorfindel agreed, but a mischievous shine was coming into his eyes.

Elladan grinned knowingly; then turned to Legolas, "So, tell about Mirkwood. We've never been there ourselves, only Glorfindel."

Legolas launched into an account of his homeland, mainly the geographic figures. He spoke of the trees that whispered to him to his father's underground halls. Elrond and the others were nodding and asking small, quick questions throughout the account. Then Arwen politely asked what his life had been like there. The question first fazed Legolas, and he honestly didn't want to answer it. But they had all been kind and understanding thus far, so hesitantly, he complied. He didn't go into much detail, but told them how busy his father often was and how little he saw the king. He told them how he spent many hours at the archery fields, and how many of the warriors knew him quite well. He also told them of the Orcs and Spiders that plagued his home and how they had learned to deal with them. This part was met with more confused glances from the twins and Arwen, and slight frowns from the older.

When he finished, Arwen burst out, "You mean you don't see your Ada all day sometimes!"

Legolas somehow managed to answer easily, "It's not a rare happening; I'm lucky if I do see him. When I do, he's often preoccupied, his mind is nearly always elsewhere now. It's been that way since my Naneth's (mother's) death."

"Your Nana died?" Arwen's voice was full of utter sympathy.

"Ours passed over the sea." Elladan explained quickly, a bit of the pain still audible in his voice.

Arwen moved closer to Legolas, understanding shimmering in her eyes. It shocked Legolas, because not many had suffered anything like what he had gone through. But it seemed the children of Elrond had gone through quite the same.

"She went to the Halls of Mandos?" Elrohir finally voiced the question hanging over all three.

Legolas forced a nod, "S-She was killed by Orcs."

Arwen turned and threw her arms around him, "You must miss her so much."

"I-I do." Legolas admitted, slowly returning her embrace.

A slight smile slipped over Glorfindel's face as he remembered how hard Legolas had first taken his mother's death. But now the prince of Mirkwood seemed much more healed, and content to have Arwen hugging him.

Elladan touched Legolas's shoulder, "I'm sorry, mellon nin."

Legolas nodded to show he heard; visibly relaxing as Elladan called him a friend. Arwen released him, but stayed relatively close. Elrond too took a deep breath and sat down on Legolas's other side.

Glorfindel was first to speak; he knew they all needed a lift of heart, "Would now be a good time for that story?"

Legolas nodded, trying to fully get a handle on himself again, "Yes, please."

Glorfindel immediately launched into an account about the Last Alliance. Legolas had heard of the battle prior to then, but enjoyed it greatly the way the golden-haired warrior told it. Toward the end, knowing well how this particular story would end with Gil-Galad's death at the gates of Mordor, Legolas's dowsed off.

The next thing he knew, someone was carrying him carefully. His eyes gained sight enough to find Elrond the one holding him. The Lord didn't notice Legolas's waking and opened a door, gently laying him down on the bed.

"You've been blesses with a wonderful family." Legolas whispered then, letting Elrond know he was indeed awake.

"I have," Elrond agreed, sitting down on the edge of the bed, "Including Glorfindel and Erestor."

Legolas nodded, "I noticed. You are very fortunate to have such a family; I wish I did."

Sighing sadly for Legolas's loss, Elrond looked toward the younger elf, "You can, maybe not with your father, but…" Elrond trailed off.

Legolas's eyes shot up, "M-Milord, what exactly are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I believe half of us already look on you as family and that until the circumstances change, or if they ever do, we can be your family."

A smile crossed Legolas's face, "I would like that; I would like that very much."

Elrond smiled; put an arm around Legolas, who instinctively leaned into Elrond. The Elf-lord's calm presence fought away the strange feeling that he had just betrayed his father.

"If you ever need something, don't hesitate to come talk to me." Elrond whispered, "I can make up for any amount of time you need, I mean it."

Legolas nodded, "Thank you."

"Always," Elrond promised.

Legolas smiled sleepily. He leaned heavier on Elrond, allowing his mind to calm down. After a few minutes, his breathing dipped and he fell into sleep.

Thalion stood before the Elvenking, sorry to be the one telling him this. But it had to be told, and Thalion had been in charge of the search parties.

"My King," he began, "Your son isn't in Lothlorien, Gondor, or Rohan as far as the leaders know. We have no idea where he fled to if he knew nothing of Lord Elrond."

Thranduil's hope-filled eyes clouded with darkness, the pain reality caused as it crashed in visible in the king's holding of himself. He dropped, none too graciously, onto his throne, closing his eyes as the grief washed over him. He wanted to move on; he knew his people needed him, but whatever he did, he couldn't forget his son, or forgive himself for causing it. The Elvenking was barely aware of Faeron's dismissal of Thalion or that his friend had walked over. Thus, the sudden touch and comforting rub of hands against his tensed shoulders surprised him, but only for a mere moment.

"Thranduil," Faeron's soft voice came next, his tone letting the king know he was there and willing to listen.

"He's gone. He's really gone." Thranduil whimpered, leaning more and more into Faeron's massaging fingers.

"Can you tell if he's alive?"

Thranduil instantly knew what Faeron was asking. He and Legolas had been very close when the child was younger; his mother still alive. Close enough that they had known often what the other was feeling. Many a day had Legolas crept down the hall, determined to make his father smile when the king was frustrated, or vice versa. Closing his eyes, Thranduil began to seek out that old bond.

"I-I think he is." Thranduil answered at last.

"Then at least there's that. We'll find him someday; he won't stay this way forever. It's not his way of doing things, he runs only when he can't face someone or something at that moment. Just wait, he'll show up, sooner or later."

"I can only pray he does." Thranduil whispered, "I hate that, I want to be looking for him myself."

"I know." Faeron said understandingly, "Perhaps you can, if we tackle that pile of paper work early."

"Somehow, I figured that would find its way into our conversation." Thranduil sighed, but his eyes sparkled slightly.

Elladan sighed, rubbing his eyes as Erestor drowned on about something-or-other. Elrohir had fallen asleep, his eyes slightly glazed over, about fifteen minutes ago. Whether Legolas was still awake, Elladan didn't know. The prince of Mirkwood was looking Erestor's way, his head leaning on his hand.

Erestor paused, looking at Elrohir for a long moment. Elladan immediately knew Erestor was now aware of the fact his brother was fast asleep. But instead of stopping and yelling at Elrohir as he would've usually done, Erestor gave a heavy sigh, which was followed by a long silence.

After a moment, Legolas broke the eerie soundlessness, "Won't you continue, My Lord?"

Erestor glanced to Legolas before continuing with the history lesson. Elladan, curious now that he knew Legolas was interested, found that Erestor was talking about the Last Allience, the same battle Glorfindel had told of the night before, but in more detail. He was getting to the part where Oropher decided to charge the gate of Mordor without any other aid.

Legolas's voice interrupted carefully, "Milord, why did Oropher decide to do so?"

Erestor was momentarily shocked, not expecting a question, but recovered enough to say, "Well, and I'm not sure on this, but I do believe it was due to the fact he wanted to show he didn't need to depend on anyone."

Legolas nodded, "Pride,"

"It is the downfall of many great warriors." Erestor pointed out.

"Indeed." Legolas agreed, "If he had not rushed the gate alone, would he and Gil-Galad still be alive?"

"There's no way to tell for sure." Erestor said, "But there's a possibility that they would've made it through."

Legolas inclined his head, "I guess so."

Erestor nodded, and then continued with his lesson. Once more was he interrupted by Legolas, who asked about the strategy used and if a strategy like the one the woodland elves, which was many consisted of using as much cover as was possible, would've worked better. This launched into a discussion between the two about how the different strategies worked and how it might have worked in the scenario of the battles of the Last Alliance.

By the time they had finished their discussion on strategies; their daily study time was nearly over. Elladan sharply nudged his brother, waking the younger twin. Erestor swiftly closed the lesson and dismissed them, looking curiously after Legolas, especially after the son of Thranduil thanked him before leaving.

"How in Arda did you manage that?" Elladan asked, incredulous.

"Manage what, exactly?" Legolas inquired back, looking at the elder twin with confusion in his blue-silver eyes.

"To get Erestor so off-topic,"

"All I did was ask a question." Legolas pointed out, "History is one of the few things I like. Unlike math which I'm horrible at, I'm rather good at history; I get it."

Elladan nodded, "I guess so,"

Legolas smiled and ran ahead to catch up with Elrohir, who was already half-way to the dining hall.

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