dorina16able- Thank you friend! I'm glad you like it!
kara- oh god, is it really? It sort of suggests it in his LOTR wiki article? Maybe? Ish? I probably misinterpreted it, but as I've got nothing else to really work with I'm just going to stick with that.
Gimli tilled his cup all the way up, trying to get every last drop of mead out of the goblet. He placed the cup on the table with a thunk and waved over a servant to refill the cup, making it his 3rd within the ten minutes he'd been at dinner. Aragorn sat to his left, drinking his water in a much more civilized fashion. Merry and Pippin sat across Aragorn and Gimli, munching on finger foods and chatting with each other.
"Already?" Aragorn asked the dwarf, raising an eyebrow as he cut up his venison.
"I'm only on my 3rd!" Gimli responded, attempting to justify his drinking. Aragorn simply shook his head and returned to his meat.
"I saw somethin' odd on my way down here." Gimli said gruffly once a few minutes had past, remembering the sight he saw while walking to the dining hall. "Legolas was walking with this woman, but she- she looked just like him! I've never seen quite a pair of twins like those two!"
Merry and Pippin stopped talking and looked with interest to Gimli, waiting for details. Aragorn simply said "Legolas has no twin".
"He does too! I saw it with my own eyes!" Gimli protested.
"You probably saw him with one of his kinfolk; they look all about the same."
"You didn't see this one. She looked just like him! Hair, eyes, skin, everything!"
Aragorn calmly tried a different route. "Then perhaps it was his sister, Gimli, because I can assure you Legolas has no twin." Gimli probably would have continued arguing with him, despite the fact Aragorn knew more about Legolas than he, but the elf himself entered the informal dining hall and joined them at the table.
"Legolas!" Gimli said as soon as he sat down and calmly choose a red apple from the fruit bowl in the center of the table."That she-elf you were with, she's yer twin right?"
Legolas shook his head, much to Gimli's dismay. "That was Lasca. She is not my twin, but my sister. I am 600 years older." He explained.
Aragorn raised his eyebrows at Gimli in an 'I-told-you-so' gesture. "So the princess of Mirkwood is here. Where is she now? I would love the honor of finally meeting her.'
"She is sleeping. She's been traveling for almost 5 days with barely any rest." His gaze did not move once from his apple, staring at it as if it knew the secrets of the universe and he had to interrogate them out of it. "She unfortunately came to deliver bad news, and to bring me home."
Gimli considered making a remark about how Legolas needed his sister to take him home, but held it back at the mention of bad news.
"Well don't keep us guessing!" Pippin declared impatiently from across the table. "What's happened?"
Merry punched him in the arm and Aragorn shot him a nasty glare.
"My father, King Thranduil, has been poisoned." Legolas explained carefully, finally looking up and meeting their gazes. "He is dying."
The table went absolutely silent, as well as some of the other tables around them.
"Poisoned?" Merry squeaked. Legolas nodded his answer.
The hobbits muttered an apology, which was followed by a heartfelt "I'm sorry, friend" from Gimli.
"Are you done eating Legolas?" Aragorn asked, knowing he wasn't planning on eating the apple on his plate. "Would you join me for a walk outside?"
Legolas pushed away from the table and shook his head. "I should check on my sister." He said before adding, "I will be leaving with her tomorrow." He looked them each of them in the eye. Even Gimli could see the hints of sorrow and fear in his eyes. Few had ever seen Legolas this open with his emotions.
He picked up the apple and left the room.
"I am going for a walk." Aragorn declared, before leaving the table as well. The hobbits said something about Frodo and left too, leaving Gimli alone at the table.
Gimli then downed his 3rd goblet of mead, now that the table was empty and he had a sorrow set in his heart. "Servant!" He called. "Bring me a bottle of yer strongest liquor!"
The servant did as he had requested, bringing him a tall, dark bottle. With a 'to hell with cups' the dwarf pressed the bottle to his lips and began chugging the burning liquid.
Lasca shot up from her sleep. Her eyes darted across the room, searching the room for anyone and trying to remember where she was. A nightmare had awaken her only mere seconds before and she was drenched in sweat.
She swung her feet off the side of the bed and wiped some of the sweat off her cheek with the back of her hand, breathing heavily. The room was so hot to her, she felt as if she were going to burn up any second. Lasca pulled herself out of bed and went outside onto the balcony, still wearing the same riding pants and brown tunic she'd fallen asleep in and had been wearing for the last 5 days.
Lasca sat on the bench swing, pulled her legs to her chest, wrapped her arms around them, and placed her chin on top. The bitterly cold breeze easily invaded her thin shirt, and swung the bench some. She shivered in the cold, but was glad to have something distract her from her terrible nightmare.
The cold didn't distract her for long though, and she was soon fighting off her mind from resurfacing the dream. But it soon came back to her.
Queen Kartra raced through the thick woods, panic painted clearly on her face. She stole a glance at whatever was chasing her, and urged her horse to go faster. She began praying in Elvish 'Let me get to Mirkwood, please Valar, let me get to Mirkwood.' The queen repeated the phrase over and over, tears welling up in her eyes.
'Please, please!'
3 arrows shot out of the dark behind her, piercing each of the horse's back legs and its neck. The animal fell and tumbled, Kartra's leg was crushed in the process.
She tried to stand and began limping towards the direction she had been riding in, desperation written on her face. 6 hooded men on horseback emerged from the darkness and surrounded her. The tallest dismounted and pulled a knife from his belt.
'Please!' The mother begged. "I'll give you anything you want, please don't!'
The man ignored her pleas and raised the knife.
The last thing Lasca saw was her mother's face, twisted in sheer pain and agony. Her mother's scream echoed through her mind.
"Lasca?" Legolas' voice freed her from her thoughts. He had entered the room while she was re-dreaming and now stood in the doorway, an uneaten apple clutched in his hand. "What are you doing out here?" Lasca raised her gaze to her brother, before turning it to the sleeping city stretching out below.
"I wanted some fresh air."
Legolas raised an eyebrow and sat next to her. It was obvious he didn't believe she was telling the entire truth. Lasca made the mistake of making eye contact. Legolas read her like a book.
"Something is troubling you. It's not just father, is it?" Lasca remained silent. She could feel her brother staring at her with concern, but she did not look his way. He moved closer and placed a hand on her shoulder. "What is it Lasca?"
His soothing voice almost made her shutter, but it did help to relax her some. She unwound from her curled up position. She confessed the dream and Legolas listen intently until she finished speaking. He removed the hand from her shoulder and took one of her's in his.
"Do you think my abilities are back?" Lasca spoke in Elvish, her voice barely a whisper.
"No," Legolas responded almost immediately. "They fixed that. You were just having a nightmare."
"That was over 300 years ago. What if it came back? What if-"
"Stop it!" He said firmly; Lasca shrank back and pulled her hand from his. He sighed, lowered his voice and continued. "You're trying to scare yourself. Mother and father made sure you couldn't do that anymore. Mother is fine and is going to be fine."
Lasca just nodded, knowing that if she said anything about it else Legolas would just shoot it down.
Legolas realized what he'd done and immediately felt guilt nagging at the back of his mind. She opened up to you and you shut her up.
He looked down at his hand and realized that he was still holding the apple, and remembered that he'd brought it up for her.
"You must be hungry." He said, offering out the apple with a small attempted smile. Lasca glanced at the red fruit and merely shook her head. Legolas' smile faded and he lowered his apple-holding hand. It was a rarity for Lasca to turn down food. Is she thinner than she usually is? Of course, it was quite possible that she had gotten thinner since the last time they meet, as it was ten years ago, and she had always been naturally small around the waist. It might have just been a figment of Legolas' buzzing mind, but she looked too thin under her loose shirt.
"When was the last time you ate?" He asked, his eyes alert and his voice filled with worry. When she answered with only a shrug he said, with an aggravated tone, "Lasca."
She thought for a moment. "Last week at the feast." She answered, completely shocking her brother.
"Last week?" Her brother repeated with wide eyes. "How've you not managed to eat since then?"
"After father was poisoned, I lost any appetite. And I left so suddenly when I learned he was dying that, even if I was craving food, I didn't pack anything. Along the way I didn't stop anywhere for more than ten minutes."
"Come on." Legolas instructed, helping her to stand. "Let's get you something to eat."
In an instant Lasca's stomach caught up with her mind, and her mind caught up with her. She realized just how tired, weak, and hungry she was. In all the stress, fear, and shock, she'd pushed it to the back of her mind and left there. She let Legolas lead her through the small chambers and she felt a most painful stomach growl.
Legolas led her out into the hall and hoped that one of the cooks was still awake and in the kitchen. And if no one was, then he would go and make something himself.