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The Trials of the Elves
The Councils were concluded, and trade agreements were reached, and finally, the Trials began.
Legolas warmed up on the field, and yards away, the other competitors did so, too. Legolas had allowed his father to braid his hair, for the familiar task was calming to them both, and the Braids of the Greenwood was, after all, a matter of national pride. Thranduil had been quiet while he enjoyed the familiar task, and Legolas had allowed his father to hug him, in the privacy of the King's guest room, as he prepared his son for this first task of true adulthood.
Rumil and Orophin, it turned out, were brothers, and only their mother had made the trip to Imladris. Orophin, being the youngest brother, had been prepared for the Trials by his mother, and Lord Celeborn had kindly offered to prepare Rumil, who had been thoroughly impressed by the honour.
The rest of the Trainees had parents here, who prepared them much like Thranduil had done for Legolas, with gentle conversation, advice, and a braid declaring their country to those who knew where to look.
A horn call sounded from the assembly field. Legolas stood, and moved with the other Trainees towards his future. "I wish you the best of luck, Legolas," Thranduil said, and Legolas smiled in thanks before ducking out the door.
Lady Galadriel stood at the front of a great crowd, all assembled on tiered rows. She drew attention, in her sparkling white dress and mithril tiara, and her golden hair flowed down her back like a waterfall. Lord Celeborn stood next to her, resplendent in silver and gray robes, his silver hair gleaming in the sunlight, which also caught on a mithril circlet.
Legolas' attention, however, was drawn to his parents. King Thranduil wore bright Woodland Green, and a late summer crown graced his golden hair, with flowers fairly dripping down his back. He wore no mithril band, unlike the other Elf-Lords, preferring the way of the wood-elves whom he lived with. Queen Aldariel was beautiful in a knee-length wood-elf's dress, bright green and gold, and she wore a daisy chain about one bare ankle. In her dark hair were dozens of tiny flowers, caught in her braids. A delicate mithril tiara was set amongst her braids, reminding the people that she was a great Queen.
Lord Elrond stepped forward, his blue and silver robes glittering like the night sky. His customary mithril circlet glinted in the sun, but Legolas watched his smiling father, who showed his pride in his son without reserve.
"Welcome to the Trials of the Eldar," Lord Elrond announced, looking over the assembled Trainees.
"Today you make the leap from adolescence to adulthood, from student to healer, and from novice to warrior. Today, you take up the mantles of your fathers, and your positions within the realms. Today, some of you will be recognised with titles." Legolas stood proudly, knowing that the Lord referred to his own hereditary position as Prince of Eryn Galen, for before the Trials all young Elves were considered equal, without rank or position. Indeed, Legolas had only ever been introduced as Legolas of the Woodland Realm, in the same manner as any other untried young Elf.
Lord Elrond took a breath. "Today, you will be presented to the people as adults, and you will be held responsible by our laws for your actions. Today, you will take the Trials, and if you pass, will be considered warriors of the Eldar."
Legolas and the other Trainees bowed reverently, showing official recognition and acceptance of the occasion. If an Elf did not pass his or her Trial, they would still be considered adults, but they would not be allowed to join the defence of their homes as warriors without taking and passing a subsequent Trial within their own Realm.
"From Imladris," Lord Elrond announced, "Ithilran and Lindir." In keeping with tradition, no titles, families or ranks were mentioned as each young Elf was presented in advance of the Trials.
"From Lothlorien," Lord Celeborn continued, "Alassë, Orophin and Rumil."
"From Eryn Galen," Thranduil finished the announcements, "Aldanna, Brethildíl, Brethilríl, Legolas and Tathar."
As each young Elf was named, he or she stepped forward. The crowd cheered for each, but this was just the announcement before the Trial. The real presentation would be later, when they were officially presented as adults.
Soon, the first Trial was announced. It was a contest of archery, where stationary targets, and later, moving targets, were provided for the Elves to shoot. A third stage involved a race through the trees. Each Trainee had two opportunities to shoot each stationary target, and the second shot would override the first, regardless of which was the higher score. The outer ring was worth nothing, the bullseye was one point, and the tiny black dot in the centre, the size of an arrowhead, was ten points. All trainees intended to hit that tiny dot, but in previous Trials only a few managed it, for it was the first part of the first Trial of the day, and nerves often stole performance from the hopeful young Elves.
When his name was called, Legolas raised his bow, easily sighting the first target. This was a middle distance target, and Legolas competently placed his arrow in the small black dot within the bullseye, earning ten points. He had no need for a second try.
The distant target Legolas also flawlessly shot, earning ten more points, to cheers from the crowd.
The moving targets were painted clay discs, coloured red, black and green. The green ones, 'friendly targets' were not meant to be shot, and would incur a penalty of two points. Red targets were 'enemy targets' and would score one point with each hit. The black discs were smaller, and metal was embedded deep within the disc. When an arrow struck them squarely, they would sound a clear note, and the Trainee would earn five points. However, the arrow would be ruined, and unusable in the next stage. If he struck the black at all, it would earn two points. There were four black targets in each Trainee's Trial, and ten red targets. Then the competitor would be blindfolded, and targets with bells would be thrown, each worth five points. Fifty points were up for grabs in this section, and Legolas intended to take them all, for he knew that his main strength was in archery.
Legolas was in the lead, on twenty points, neck and neck with Aldanna, and Brethilríl, who both had managed the black dot shots in the stationary round. Ithilran, Rumil, Tathar and Brethildíl followed with eleven points, while the others all had two. No-one had missed the bullseyes, though not all had managed the tiny black dots.
When it was Legolas' turn for the moving targets, his awareness of all else faded. The first clay disc swung into the air as soon as Legolas had his arrow on the string. It was green.
The next was red, and a moment later, another red popped up. Both fell, a green-fletched arrow embedded in their centres. Another green disc, and then a red entered the field. Further away, another red was launched. Again, both reds fell with arrows. The next was black. Legolas hit it, but it did not ring. Gritting his teeth, and moving fast as lightning, Legolas sent another missile into the air. This time, he was rewarded with a clear ring. Then all thought stopped as Legolas methodically knocked, drew, aimed and shot at black and red targets.
Four times, the clear note rang.
When Legolas returned to a normal state of awareness, and his tunnel vision faded, he realised that the crowd was chanting and cheering. A blindfold was passed to him, and he obligingly bound his eyes. Utter silence descended, as the gathered crowd watched with baited breath for the legendary skills of the Greenwood to be displayed, for their training in the Wood put a lot more emphasis on shooting by sound than the other realms.
A bright tinkling rang out. Legolas easily located it, and sent an arrow in the direction he perceived it to be. He took another arrow, nocked it, and listened again. There it was – the light tinkling. Legolas whipped around to face it and heard another noise of a bell in the air. Realising that two targets were airborn, he shot first one and then the other, reaching for the second arrow fast enough that the crowd gasped in admiration. Silence descended, and Legolas began to worry that he had missed hearing the fourth target earlier, when he heard the distinctive jingling once more. He shot without hesitation, and the crowd cheered loudly.
"Fifty points," Lord Elrond announced, and Legolas grinned widely. He'd known he had done well, but to hear that he'd done it perfectly was something special, especially with those difficult blind shots.
Legolas joined the other Trainees, waiting out of sight, while the rest of the moving-target Trials were completed. Soon, they were led before the assembly, and Lord Elrond proclaimed the current positions of the Trainees. Unsurprisingly, Legolas was in the lead, on seventy points. Few had managed such a feat before, and Legolas thought he was entitled to some pride. What was surprising was that Aldanna was only eight points behind, having missed a clean shot on a black target.
"Legolas: seventy," Elrond announced the cumulative scores before beginning the next section. "Aldanna: Sixty-two. Brethilríl: Forty-eight. Tathar: Thirty-nine. Brethildíl: Thirty-four. Rumil: Twenty-nine. Ithilran: Twenty-nine. Orophin: Twenty. Alassë: Eighteen. Lindir: Twelve."
The next stage was a race, of sorts. Each competitor had a bow and arrows, reclaimed from the previous task. This meant that Legolas was four arrows short of a full quiver, and Aldanna was three short, while the other competitors had more than enough arrows. Each would have to be careful in this next stage, for every target along the way had to be shot by each Trainee, for misses would count as penalties. Legolas had exactly the number of arrows in his quiver as there were targets on the course.
The Trainees were lined up according to their ranking, highest first, so Legolas started at the front of the pack. As Elrond explained the course, Legolas concentrated on his plan. First, there would be a straight run, with twelve coloured targets, matching the fletching of the contestants' arrows. Legolas, therefore, had to aim for the green and gold targets. He did not bother to note which colours his friends used, though he idly wondered if it might be easier to aim at the bright red ones, for they contrasted the most against the white background. Each target in the rest of the course had twelve smaller targets upon it, the size of a normal bullseye, matching the colours of the competitors' fletching. Legolas' green and gold targets would always be in the top left hand corner of the target, knowledge which would take a moment out of searching for the correct target.
The rest of the course, interspersed with these targets, was a dash through the woodlands. The course was marked out by a dirt path, and the targets were far removed from it so as not to risk shooting each other. The end of the race would involve a great jump across a relatively narrow gorge, where a target stood - it could only be shot from the gorge itself, and the jump would require a run-up. Furthermore, the time required to climb back out of the river and up the cliff-face would surely lose anyone the race, if they happened to miss the jump.
The final positions were marked by the last arrows, which would be shot from the top to the bottom, in whatever order the racers finished in. As each target was shot, the wood would fall, and so the competitors only had to aim for the topmost target. The final score would combine the positions and the results of the archery scores, with first place being ten points, second scoring nine points, and so on. There were twenty targets in all, all worth one point, and any missed targets would set one back a point.
Legolas prepared, beside Aldanna, with the others close behind. Someone smacked a wooden drum, and the race began.
Legolas easily placed his first arrow in the green target, as he ran past. Then, the path ducked under the trees. Legolas was in the lead, though just barely. He easily shot the first four targets, but then was overtaken by the lithe Aldanna. He held his own in the race until the fifteenth target, which came up out of nowhere, and Legolas had to pause to shoot it, losing another two places in the running. Grumbling in the Silvan dialect, Legolas pushed forward, trying to overtake Aldanna, or at least Orophin and Brethilríl, but they were devilishly fast.
The path twisted and twined through the forest, and Legolas managed to overtake Orophin when he, cursing in Quenya, had to attempt a shot a second time. As the eighteenth target approached, Legolas let loose his eighteenth arrow, and didn't wait to see if it struck true, knowing that he could not afford a second shot with only two arrows - and two targets - left.
Suddenly, the ground disappeared under Legolas' feet, and he twisted to the right, shooting an arrow at the fleetingly-glimpsed target as he sailed through the air. With a jarring crash, Legolas fell to the other side of the narrow gorge, rolling sideways with the residual momentum. Without a second thought, Legolas picked himself up and ran forward, whipping his last arrow out. The moment he came into view of the last target, the placement line, he shot at the topmost target, and then dropped his bow as he tripped, falling gracelessly to the ground in a tangle of limbs, fighting his way free of someone else.
Legolas freed himself from the tussle, to see Aldanna panting on the ground, having run straight into Legolas after jumping the gorge and shooting the placement target. He offered her a hand up, and the pair jumped out of the way as Tathar bolted through the space, wheeling his arms to stop before crashing into Brethilríl, who somehow had managed to stop earlier than his peers.
The final positions were Legolas, Aldanna, Brethilríl, Tathar, Brethildíl, Rumil, Orophin, Alassë, Ithilran and finally Lindir.
No-one missed the clear fact that the Greenwood Elves had so easily outrun and out-shot their peers. While the competitors began discussing their experiences in the race, Thranduil explained to the gathered crowd that warrior training in his realm placed much more emphasis on archery and quick travel through woods than the other realms, for those were the very skills which often meant life or death for the warriors. Celeborn was the only one who did not seem surprised, for he had long ago noticed that with each successive series of Trials, the novices from the Woodland were consistently outperforming their peers' previous efforts in the first part of the Trials.
Orophin had attempted the shot from the gorge twice before making the leap, losing him a few more places in the tally. Ithilran, it seemed, had stopped to shoot the nineteenth target from the edge of the gorge, then attempted the jump without running up to it. He'd then spend the rest of the race climbing the gorge. Lindir, on the other hand, had missed a few targets, and had stopped to aim at them twice. That nineteenth target had been his undoing, too, though that was because he had jumped the gorge, twisted to aim, and stepped on a rock which had been loosened by the others jumping before him. The poor dear had fallen into the river, then, right past Ithilran, and had to climb back up, and shoot, and make his way to the finish.
Aldanna had attempted the jump shot, and much like Legolas had charged ahead without checking the result. Tathar had jumped and then shot, like Lindir had intended, but the time it took to aim was longer than he'd have liked, for the angle was rather difficult.
Legolas sheepishly told the others of his own experience with that particular target. "You shot without even finding the target first?" Lindir asked him incredulously. Legolas merely shrugged.
"It caught me by surprise. I was halfway through the jump before I knew there even was a gorge there, and I glimpsed the target, so I shot. I don't actually know if any of my arrows landed," he confided, but his friends were too distracted by his trick shot, especially as not one but two novices had attempted it.
The Trainees were allowed to break for lunch, and they separated to eat with their parents.
Legolas was animatedly recounting every moment of the race to his parents, who were gasping and laughing at all the right moments.
"I'm proud of you, Legolas," Thranduil told him soberly, after hearing about Ithilran and Lindir's unfortunate encounters with the gorge. "In all the long-years the Trials have fallen to Imladris, that gorge has been part of the race. Only a few have ever tried, and succeeded, shooting during the leap."
"Who?" Legolas asked eagerly.
Thranduil chuckled. "Not I, certainly. Bragolaglor, long before he became Master Archer, was the first recorded success at the gorge shot. There have been a few others, though I do not remember exactly who." Bragolaglor was Legolas' brother-in-law, and Legolas did not doubt that the valiant Elf had managed the jump shot.
"What were your Trials like?" Legolas suddenly asked. Thranduil smiled wistfully, while Aldariel chuckled, having heard the tale before.
"It was before Greenwood was settled by the Sindar. I grew up in Doriath, and indeed I was in one of the last groups to pass the Trials at Menegroth. The Trials were much like yours. They have not significantly changed in millennia. There was a race, and there was a leap shot, though few attempted it. I did, and my aim was awry, for as I let the arrow loose, I beheld the rushing water below me, and I stumbled when I landed. I turned, two arrows left, for as with Imladris, the jump shot was at the end of the course, and I took the shot again from the cliff. I came in second, for while I took my second shot, I was overtaken by one other, who attempted the trick shot, but missed, as I had done. She continued to run, but later lost points for missing the shot, and I was back in the lead." Thranduil chuckled. "Ah, she was a feisty one. Never let me live it down. Then she joined my father and I in Greenwood."
"Who was she?" Legolas asked curiously.
"Cûldol, the Healer," his father answered. Legolas knew her, indeed - she was one of a pair of sisters who ran the Healing House in Greenwood. Cûldol and her sister, Caranfínríl, were Elves of a rare kind, and were indeed named for their bright red tresses. The redness of their hair was like a beacon of hope to injured warriors of Eryn Galen, for it was said that they had never lost a patient.
Legolas asked his mother about her Trials, and she laughed, telling him that she had taken them much later than was custom, at a great series of Trials with many other Wood-Elves, when the Sindar migrants had also been required to take the Wood-Elves' rite of passage.
Legolas fondly remembered his own rite of passage, on the date of his first coming of age at eighteen years, when an Elvish child was considered ready to begin training as a warrior. He had been required to spend a week in the woods with naught but a bone handled knife and the clothes on his back. He had returned from the week feeling like he truly was a Silvan Elf, at one with the woods around him, and had all but forgotten that he was actually half a Sindar. The time in the woods had taught him patience, and he had thoroughly enjoyed exploring his homeland without any parental restrictions.