Chapter Twenty-One
Legolas rode at breakneck speed. It was a ten day ride without making camp and he had to stop and rest his horse a couple of times. Those nights were the only nights he got a full night's rest. He dreamwalked on his horse the rest of the time. He considered stopping at Lothlorien to see if Galadriel had any news but he didn't want to waste time with a detour. Instead he rode as hard and as fast as he could. He tried not to let his mind wander because when it did it went to the worst scenarios. Surely he would know if she were dead? The feeling of dread that had been stalking him had lessened not worsened. That had to be a good sign. Perhaps she simply had healed too much. He didn't know the limits to her powers. Maybe the casualties at Mirkwood really had been just too much for her on her own or perhaps Aragorn was right and she had for some reason gone to Rivendell.
On the tenth day, when he approached Mirkwood forest just before dark his stomach dropped. The smoke had long since cleared but burnt husks of trees littered the main throughway. Villages had been burned to the ground with temporary shelters dotting the forest. He saw his people milling about but they seemed lost and adrift. Legolas rode through with his heart in his throat. This had been a terrible battle. The final stretch to the palace seemed to take days. The burned foliage allowed evening light to filter through. The trees had always been too thick for that. He was furious. The orcs had destroyed his forest. He could feel its pain.
When he reached the palace, he dismounted and ran through the gates as soon as they swung open. He weaved his way through the pathways ignoring the bowing elves he passed and made his was into the throne room. He found his father looking as he always did. His immediate reaction was relief. His father looked too normal for anything to be badly wrong.
"Legolas!" Thranduil said in surprise. "I wondered when you would come home. Galadriel said the ring has been destroyed."
"Yes, some days ago. Where is Manwathiel? An elf from Lothlorien told Aragorn you needed a healer." Legolas asked impatiently. He scanned the room for some sign of her but saw nothing.
Thanduil's face tightened. "She is fine now. She is upstairs resting."
"Now?" Legolas asked, panicked.
"She was injured and missing for some days. She will make a full recovery. She is already much better." Thranduil said purposefully keeping his voice calm and steady in the face of Legolas' panic.
"How did this happen?" Legolas demanded. "I sent her to you for her safety."
"Why don't you go see her now. We can talk about it later." Thranduil said, hoping Legolas would be more at ease once he saw she was fine.
Now that Legolas thought about it he'd much rather see Manwathiel than fight with his father. He turned on his heal and jogged up the stairs to the private quarters. He didn't knock. He just opened the door.
Manwathiel was sitting with a book and looked up in surprise and then delight. Her face lit up.
"You're home!" she cried jumping up.
"Don't get up. Father said you had been injured." Legolas said, taking her into his arms and leading her back to the chair.
"Over a week ago. I'm fine now. Just a little tired." She said grinning at him.
Legolas studied her. She looked fine. A little pale perhaps but otherwise unharmed. "What happened?" he asked sitting opposite her and taking her hands.
"I was healing and some orcs broke through the battle lines. They killed Calen but Ernil and I escaped into the forest. They set fires everywhere. We couldn't get back. Everytime we turned back to the palace we hit another fire." Manwathiel said.
"Wait Ernil was with you? Is he dead? You should not have been injured if you were with him." Legolas interrupted her. He had trained Ernil himself, he would not have let any harm come to Manwathiel if it were in his power.
Manwathiel blushed. "That was my fault. Don't be angry. We had to go south to escape the fires and by the time we left the forest he hadn't slept in days. I put him to sleep. I didn't know if there isn't time to wear of naturally you need a counter enchantment. We were attacked by orcs but I couldn't wake him."
Legolas put his head in his hands. This was worse than he thought. She was much too young and inexperienced to be wandering the battlefields alone. "How did you escape?"
"I almost didn't. Grandmother had seen me in a field so your father sent riders to the perimeter of the forest. They arrived right after I was injured. They brought me home. A healer from Lothlorien healed me." She said.
"What were your injuries?" he asked quietly, looking at her intently.
She sighed. She didn't want to tell him. It would upset him. "I was shot in the arm with an arrow and stabbed in the stomach with a sword." She said. He grimaced and hugged her.
"I'm so sorry I sent you away." He said holding her tight. "I thought I was sending you to safety. If you were going to fight in a battle you might as well have been with me." She would never have been stabbed on his watch. He was sure of that. His father had some explaining to do.
"I'm really ok, Legolas. I promise. I just can't heal anyone for awhile and get tired easily. It's not that bad." She reassured him. He kissed her softly. She hesitated for a moment before kissing him back.
"Wait, Sam, Frodo, Aragorn, Gimli, Gandalf?" she said breaking the kiss and grasping his hand.
"All fine. Sam and Frodo will need some time to recover. Everyone else is well. Aragorn is planning the coronation."
Her face fell. "How long can you stay?" she asked.
He looked at her surprised. "Forever. If you want to go to the coronation we can or we can stay here but I'm not going without you."
She grinned and kissed him. "Really?"
"Really. I'm not leaving without you again." He promised. "Although I do need to bathe and change." He got up and started for the door. She pulled him back by his hand.
"Your clothes are in the wardrobe. Your things are all around. I wasn't sure what you wanted where so if you want to move them I understand." She gestured to his nightstand piled high with books and his mother's portrait hanging on the wall.
"You gave me the left side of the bed." He said staring at the nightstand. He looked around the room. All of his things had been moved in while he was gone. He had no need to go back to his old room.
"Well that's the side you sleep on, right?" she asked anxiously. That was the side he slept on in his old room. She had double checked before his things were moved.
"You've always slept on the left side in this room." Legolas said.
Manwathiel shrugged. "I have a feeling change might be a bit easier for me in this instance. I've been sleeping on the right for a few weeks now. It's no problem." She smiled warmly at him. "Go bathe, change. You also made promises to me about as soon as you got home." She said smiling up at him suggestively. She turned back to her book. She had waited weeks for him. She could wait an hour more.
Legolas understood her perfectly and did not want to prolong his absence. He bathed as quickly has he could considering he had been on the road for ten days. He found her where he left her and took the book from her hands and set it on the table. He kissed her deeply. She kissed him back grasping at him back. He led her to the bed.
"We can wait." He said, caressing her face. "I just got home and you are recovering. There is no rush."
She shook her head. "No. I want to be your wife. I don't want to wait."
That was all he needed to hear. He kissed her neck as he unlaced her dress and she pulled his tunic off him.
"I love you." He whispered as he pulled her dress over her head.
"I love you too." She said feeling very vulnerable and exposed as he pulled her onto the bed.
That night he stayed and they both slept on the left side when they slept at all.
The next morning Legolas woke just as the sun was coming up. Manwathiel's hair covered his chest. He allowed himself to just lay for a moment bathed in happiness. He had been waiting for this moment for months. After all those cold and hungry nights, after all the worrying and the battles he was finally home with her in his bed. She was all his. Forever. He thought he might burst. He stroked her hair lovingly and glanced at the clock. It was just after six. He sighed. Carefully he untangled himself, smiling as he remembered the night before, and swung his legs over the side of the bed.
"Where are you going?" Manwathiel murmured half asleep. "Come back to bed we were up all night."
"I have to speak to my father. Go back to sleep." He kissed her. "I'll be back before you wake."
She nodded and shut her eyes. As quietly as possible Legolas got dressed and went down to the dining room.
"Good morning." Thranduil said, looking up from some papers as he ate his eggs.
"Morning." Legolas said, sitting down. An elf put eggs and sausage in front of him and poured him some tea. "So I've spoken to Manwathiel and she told me what happened."
"Well you've been gone all night so I assume you more than talked to her." Thranduil smiled sardonically.
"Father this is serious. Why was she even in the battle to begin with?" he asked. "I sent her to you to avoid that very thing."
Thranduil sighed and put aside his papers. "We were fighting for our very existence. You've seen the forest. I needed every soldier I could get as fast as I could get them."
"If your staff is not up to the task get a new staff. The answer is not to put my wife in danger." Legolas said severely.
"Well I have to get a new staff since Calen is dead. The reality is there is no healer I could get who is better or faster than she is unless Elrond wants to move in. The circumstances were extraordinary. She was originally in the palace." Thranduil said.
"Why wasn't she with you? You seem perfectly well." Legolas said, a hint of accusation in his voice.
"That was a mistake on my part. The healers were set up in the western most corner of the battle lines. I should have had them bring the injured to me and kept her with me." Thranduil said, genuinely remorseful.
"You didn't want to be disturbed." Legolas said. It wasn't a question. He fought enough battles with his father to know exactly what type of commander he was. His father would have wanted a tent undisturbed to work from with generals coming in as needed. He wouldn't have wanted the chaos of healing in his space.
"I was trying to win a battle, Legolas." Thanduil said, his patience wearing thin.
"I don't care if next time you need a healer. I don't want her involved." Legolas said, his voice steely. "If it hadn't been for Galadriel you might not have found her at all."
"I understand." Thranduil said. "But you have to understand that your wife is extraordinarily talented. I am not the only one who will want her services."
"Perhaps but you're the only one who can compel her services." Legolas countered. "And that has to stop."
Thanduil nodded. "Very well." He said. They sat in silence for a moment eating until Thranduil cleared his throat.
"There's something else we need to discuss." He said. Legolas looked at him curiously.
"I've spoken with Celeborn and Galadriel at length. With the rings destroyed or powerless, the time of the elves is ending. It is time for us to return to Valinor." Thranduil said. There was dead silence. Legolas was shocked.
"Manwathiel won't want to leave her family." He said, his stomach churning. They had just gotten home. To ask her to move across the world was no small ask.
"Her family will leave her first. There are only so many ships and all the elves are leaving. The Galadhrim are going first, then Rivendell. I've sent a letter to Cirdan. Our people will have to leave in waves over several decades because there are so few ships. I'll leave first in about ten years to get us established and settled. You and Manwathiel will run things here and follow with the last of our people in some decades time." Thranduil said.
"Are you sure?" Legolas asked.
Thranduil nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. I've spoken with many of our people. They wish to stay together. I will find land in Valinor and hopefully all will be settled by the time you arrive."
Legolas sighed. He had just journeyed all over middle earth. He really didn't want to think about a move to Valinor at the moment. "Very well. I will discuss it with Manwathiel." He said and finished the rest of his breakfast in thoughtful silence. He was no longer angry with his father but had a whole new problem to contend with.
He found Manwathiel lounging in bed undressed, hair wild. "Good breakfast?" she asked, pulling him back to bed. Before he could answer her she was kissing him and pulling off his clothes.
"Wait." He said, laughing. "I have to tell you something first."
"More secrets?" she asked, eyebrows raised. "Do we have children I don't know about?"
"No." he laughed. "Definitely not a secret. I just found out and I am telling you immediately." Legolas said holding his hands up. He pulled her onto his lap and took her hands in his. "Not right away but in some decades time we have to move to Valinor." He said seriously, watching her face.
"My family?" she asked instantaneously.
"Will already be there. They are leaving before us. They will be waiting for us. We have to stay and run things here while father gets us established in Valinor." Legolas said.
"I'll get to see my mother!" she said excitedly. Legolas hadn't even considered that. He wished he had led with that. It was obviously the best selling point. "And if we wait some decades then we can just wait for Arwen and her children. Aragorn won't live forever and then we can go over together."
"Well I think Arwen's children will need to be here." Legolas said cautiously. He had not discussed Arwen with his father at all. He only knew about her father and grandparents. He assumed her brothers as well.
"Just her oldest to be King of Gondor. The rest will be half-elven and can come to Valinor." Manwathiel said happily. "Do you know where my father intends to settle? Will it be far from us?"
Legolas was glad she was taking everything so well but was taken aback by all her questions. "I don't even know where my father intends to settle. I have never been to Valinor so even if I did I wouldn't know if it were an easy distance from your father. We will have to wait and see."
"Well there are no orcs there so I suppose it doesn't matter. A long journey will be safe." She said smiling. She just wanted everyone to be together. Valinor or middle earth didn't matter to her and Valinor had the benefit of having her mother. "What will you even do in Valinor? I don't think there's any need for soldiers there." She said playfully.
"I can think of a few things." He said and kissed her deeply. She giggled and pulled him back onto the bed.
Thranduil did not see Manwathiel or Legolas for three days and was in no hurry to interrupt them. On the third day just before dinner, Elrond arrived looking harried and exhausted.
"I would have come sooner but something came up at home. How is she?" Elrond asked after pleasantries had been exchanged.
"I think fully recovered. It was a close call but she pulled through and should be back to her old self." Thranduil said, gesturing for drinks. "She can't heal for a few more months. She was completely depleted."
"You think she's fully recovered?" Elrond asked, eyebrows raised.
"Legolas is home. I haven't seen her in a few days." Thranduil said, trying not to smile as he sipped his drink. The less said the better in this instance. There was awkward silence. Elrond didn't look him in the eye.
"Can I see her?" Elrond asked finally.
Thranduil gestured to Melian, who disappeared up the stairs. A few minutes later they heard running down the steps.
"Father!" Manwathiel called and rushed to him, enveloping him in a hug. "I have missed you so much." Elrond got a good look at her. Not only did she not look sick she looked effervescent. She was glowing with happiness. He'd never seen her happier or more beautiful. He felt profound relief.
He kissed her head. "I have heard tell of all your deeds. I am incredibly proud of you and so grateful you are ok."
"You should have seen her. She healed half of Rohan by herself." Legolas said, bowing warmly to Elrond. Elrond noticed how happy Legolas looked too. They were both lit from within with happiness. Elrond was satisfied. The choice he had made a hundred years ago had been the right one. He only had to look at them to see it.
Manwathiel laughed. "He's exaggerating." She said. "I made plenty of mistakes and would have been lost without Gandalf, especially at Helm's Deep. I was a complete disaster at first."
"He's not exaggerating by much." Thranduil said with a smile. "You also healed countless of my soldiers and my people. Your father has much to proud of."
Manwathiel blushed deeply. "Have you come just to visit?" she asked, changing the subject, embarrassed by all the attention.
"I came to see that you are ok. I heard you were missing and injured. I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner." Elrond said, putting his arm around her and hugging her tightly.
"Let's move this into the dining room." Thranduil said, glancing at the clock.
"I'm just glad you came." Manwathiel said. She was radiating happiness. She took his arm and led him to the dining room. She grabbed a glass of wine from a server and sat down. "Legolas says you're going to Valinor too." She said.
Elrond looked at Thranduil in surprise. "You're coming too?" he asked. "I'm so glad."
"You're going to beat us there." Manwathiel said sunnily. "We're going to follow in several decades with the last of the wood elves but hopefully we'll be nearby."
"I will see you where ever you are." Elrond promised.
"I thought, since we'll be here for some time, that Legolas and I should just wait until Arwen's ready to leave and then we can all come together." Manwathiel said as a plate of food was put in front of her.
The smile slid of Elrond's face. The old familiar pain returned. His very reason for delaying his trip to Mirkwood. "Arwen is not coming." He said after a long pause.
"Well no, not right away, but even though he is long-lived Aragorn is mortal. Eventually she will leave and her children will be half-elven so they will come too." Manwathiel said.
"No. Arwen and her children will never go to Valinor." Elrond said gently. He took a deep breath. "Arwen has chosen a mortal life. The light of the Eldar has left her. Her children will be human."
Manwathiel looked at him disbelieving for a moment before her face slowly turned to horror. Her good mood was gone completely. She felt sick. "Did you know about this?" she asked Legolas, her tone more strident than she meant it to be.
Legolas shook his head emphatically. "I had no idea. It never even occurred to me. I'm not half-elven. I have never considered a mortal life. It has never been an option for me."
"And Aragorn never said anything?" she asked, her mind working furiously.
"That your sister was thinking of giving up her immortality?" Legolas laughed mirthlessly. "No, it never came up."
"And you're just fine with this?" Manwathiel asked her father.
Elrond sighed and shook his head. "Of course not. I tried to send her to Valinor. She wouldn't go."
"So we just went through everything we went through so that Arwen could kill herself?" Manwathiel asked, suddenly furious with her sister.
"Manwathiel," Legolas said gently. "She doesn't want to live without him."
This gave her pause. "I don't want to go to the wedding or coronation. I will not toast her deathbed." She said quietly but firmly after a moment.
"Maybe we should sleep on it." Legolas said tentatively.
"You will regret it if you do not go." Elrond warned. "You will be here for decades. That is long enough to see her children be born and grown into men. You will get to experience most of their lives. This extra time in middle earth is a gift. You can spend it with your sister."
Manwathiel considered this. It didn't end the pain of her sister's choice but it lessened it somewhat.
"The benefits to mortality. You will not have to miss anything." Legolas added. "We can visit Gondor often. You can see her children born, grow up and bring stories of them to your family."
"You should go to the wedding. You are not toasting her deathbed. You are toasting her choice as I toast yours." Elrond said, though secretly he agreed with Manwathiel. It had been a very hard couple of months for him. Facing the parting from his daughter was too painful to consider and it had been all he had considered for weeks. He had tried everything to stop Arwen. That Manwathiel was coming to Valinor was the best news he had had in ages. As good as the ring being destroyed. He knew his sons were going but he would have Manwathiel too. He could not replace one daughter with the other but one daughter was better than no daughters.
A tear slipped down Manwathiel's face. "You got two thousand years with her. I only got a hundred."
"It is not fair." Elrond agreed. "But it is her choice. My own brother made the same choice. I know how you feel."
Manwathiel had forgotten about her uncle. He had died millennia before she had been born. "Mother will be heartbroken." She said, wiping her eyes.
"We all are but we must try to be happy for Arwen. As I am happy for you." Elrond said taking her hand. She squeezed it and nodded.
"I will go to the coronation and wedding." She said quietly, all signs of a smile long gone. Legolas looked at her sadly.
That night she cried and Legolas held her in the moonlight.