"Really Legolas! What have you gotten yourself into this time!?"
Legolas winced lightly at Aragorn's loud voice.
"I told you didn't I? I told you to take a guard with you. I knew it would end in trouble." The king ranted making short back and forth paces around the cell. Aragorn wasn't sure why he was admonishing his friend. He wasn't frustrated or angry with Legolas. The elf has set out with the purist and noblest of intentions and, had it not been for his concern, Aragorn would have encouraged his friends ambassadorship.
But he had known hadn't he? Known that his race had not shaken the age old prejudices that they clung to like cloaks in a blizzard. Sauron might have been vanquished from the lands but the evil that lay in the hearts of Men could not be eradicated by throwing a ring into fire. In truth Aragorn was frustrated with himself. Why hadn't he insisted Legolas go with someone. Why hadn't he protected his friend. A familiar voice cut through his nonsensical rant and brooding thoughts.
"I'm sorry Estel. I really am, but please calm down. You're pacing is giving me a headache." Legolas asked holding his golden head with his good hand. Aragorn immediately froze and dropped onto his knees leveling his face with Legolas's.
"No, I'm sorry mellon-nin. You have nothing to apologize for. I was just so worried." He cupped the elf's cheeks between his palms leaning forward to let his forehead rest against Legolas's. Even in the dusty stone cell the elf still smelled like the great pines of the north. The man let the familiar scent and presence melt away his anxiety. There would be time for him to contemplate his own raging feelings later. Legolas did not move or speak simply allowing them both to soak and relax in each other's company.
"I am sorry though." Legolas began. Aragorn was about to object but the elf silenced him. "Not for being arrested or creating this mess, I'm afraid neither of us can claim credit for that. But I am sorry I didn't heed your warnings and made you worry."
"I will always gladly worry for you Legolas. As I know you do for me." The elf smiled at that, knowing it to be true. Aragorn leaned back assessing his friend with a healer's eye. He did not like what he saw one bit. The broken arm needed to be reset immediately to prevent the bones from knitting together the wrong way and the elf's various cutes needed to be treated and bandaged less they risk dangerous infections to otherwise superficial wounds.
He was also obviously dehydrated. Aragorn doubted any villagers had bothered providing their prisoner with food or water for fear of being turned into rabbits. Aragorn's jaw clenched as he thought of the injustices brought upon his dearest friend because of nothing more than revolting enmity for elves that turned normal farmers to blind aggressors. Sensing the change in his friend Legolas looked at Estel with concern. Aragron hefted a smile back onto his face.
"At any rate let's get you out of this dismal place and get you some proper care." Aragorn said. He slipped an arm under Legolas's right arm and held his slim waist supportively. Legolas scowled.
"I can walk perfectly well on my own you know." He said. Aragorn rolled his eyes but a genuine smile pulled at his lips. The stubbornness radiating from his proud friend was just as comforting as it was exasperating.
"Yes I am sure you can, and I am also equally sure you would trip and fall on your face. Or perhaps you are actually trying to further injure that very broken arm of yours." Legolas glared at his friend who did not relinquish his grip on the elf's waist.
"Fine. But just know I can walk back to Minas Tirith right now if I so wished." Aragorn ignored this absurd statement and helped Legolas maneuver out of the cell and to the jail doors. The guard's eyes widened when he saw his king walk out with the convict shuffling right alongside him like they were comrades in arms.
"I will be taking him somewhere where he can rest and receive proper medical care for his injuries." It was an absolute statement, as unmovable as the Misty Mountains.
"But sir I…"
"I will vouch for this elf and as soon as his wounds are seen to I will come back in person to sort this out. Do you not trust the word of your king?" He asked. The guard shook his head with enough vigor that Aragorn was surprised it didn't fall off.
"Of course not your Highness." He bowed opening the door for Aragorn as he flipped his ranger's hood on once more and walked swiftly to the nearest inn while avoiding running into any townsfolk. The Inn Aragorn had chosen turned out to be an excellent strategic location. It was run down and shabby with a sign reading 'The Singing Pea Inn' that was barely hanging on by one hook.
The Inn was shabby enough that there were no other customers other than the disguised king. The man quickly paid for a night's accommodations and snuck Legolas upstairs to their room. He helped the elf lay down on the lumpy straw bed while he extracted his healer's pouch from the leather belt around his waist.
Legolas groaned as he settled his abused body onto the bed closing his eyes as he allowed his muscles to relax. Aragorn had quickly begun boiling water and adding various herbs to his concoction while spreading a green salve onto the multitude of cuts on the prince's body. Legolas let the cooling touch of the salve wash away the sting of the wounds as Estel wound white linen bandages around the slender body.
"Don't get too comfortable mellon-nin. I have to set that arm and as its been sitting in that broken state for two days now it will not be pleasant." Legolas's face scrunched up in displeasure.
"I know. Just get it over with." He said with gritted teeth. Aragorn nodded.
"Drink this first it will numb the pain a little and help fight infection." Legolas examined the proffered liquid suspiciously.
"It won't put me to sleep right." He asked. Aragorn had to resist sighing.
"No it will not you stubborn Eldar. Now drink it less I shove it down your throat." Legolas swallowed the brew in one gulp. The only trace of the potion being the grimace of disgust on the patient's face.
"Why must everything you healers make have to taste so foul?" He asked.
"Perhaps because we are discouraging patients from charging recklessly into harm's way." Aragorn replied mildly as he shifted his position so he was sitting next to his friend's left side with access to the broken arm.
"That's the pot calling the kettle black isn't it?" Aragorn gave a noncommittal hum as his answer focusing instead on ghosting his fingers over the damaged arm to feel the break. Legolas bit down hard on his tongue when Aragorn brushed the site of the break.
"Brace yourself." He warned positioning his hands correctly. Legolas clenched his teeth tightly in preparation but still could not hold back the scream that broke through his lips when a horrible crunch signaled the realigning of bone. He sat up as he curled in on himself resisting the urge to clutch the injured arm to his chest. Aragorn rubbed soothing circles on his friends back as the elf panted trying to steady his breaths.
"I still hate setting a break every time." Legolas said weakly.
"I don't enjoy it much myself, so let's do both of ourselves a favor and try to avoid them as much as possible from now on." Aragorn responded with a small smile.
After a few minutes Legolas relaxed back onto his back his breaths slow and even once more. The king finished bracing the arm and bandaging it to hang from a sling around the elf's neck. Aragorn settled himself onto a wooden three-legged stool leaning his elbow on the wobbly desk provided in the room. "If you feel up to it I am very curious as to how you ended up in this debacle." Legolas opened one blue eye.
"It's all the pig's fault." He said bitterly. Aragorn couldn't help himself as his eyebrows tried to escape his face.
Legolas explained all that had transpired since he left the safety of Minas Tirith. Towards the end Aragorn was struggling to hold back laughter.
"Stop laughing. It's not funny." Legolas said although a grin was already spreading across his own face.
"You…You were actually arrested for…for stealing a pig!" The king choked out between breaths of laughter. "That is the most absurd thing I've ever heard. Even with all the nonsense about elves being able to turn men into cats with a single glance." Legolas raised an eyebrow at this new bit of information on elven sorcery.
"If that were true you would be a cat ten times over by now."
"I don't' suppose you bothered telling the men here that you're the Elven Prince of Eryn Lasgalen and could buy this entire town if you wished never mind a single pig." Aragorn asked wiping the remnants of tears from his face.
"No. I did not." Legolas said seriously. "That is not the point Estel. I don't want to escape this because I'm royalty or because the King of Gondor is my friend." Aragorn sobered looking at the elf who had propped himself back up on the bed's headboard to look his friend in the eye.
"But you are and I am." Legolas leveled a soft glare.
"You know what I mean Estel."
"But there is nothing to get out of here. You've done nothing wrong. These are my people. Their ill-conceived notions have resulted in this. In a way it is my responsibility, not yours, to fix this." The king's voice had gone from cheerful to acrimonious.
"Then help me Aragorn. I want to show them, I want to show them that there is nothing to fear from elves. We are more alike than we are different. I will not force them, it is pointless, but I will do things their way and convince them that I am innocent and that they are wrong in their beliefs." The blue eyes, ageless and pure were adamant. It struck Aragorn again, as it had many times in his life with the elves, how despite living for millennia many elves still displayed endearing naivetés.
"You can't honestly let this go to a trial. You know it will not be fair." Aragorn implored.
"I know any trial they hold will be farce, nothing more than formality to justify them sentencing me however they please."
"Then you know I cannot let this continue any further. You have suffered enough because of this idiocrasy. It ends here." Aragorn's own determination had steeled his voice.
"No." Legolas said firmly.
"Legolas!" Aragorn cried in exasperation.
"If you release me here based on my or your titles it will resolves nothing. The next elf or perhaps even dwarf that has the misfortune to pass through here will face the same persecution. You're right mellon-nin, this fear, this hate, it needs to end here." Seeing the absolute sincerity and conviction in those eyes Aragorn closed his eyes in denial.
"What am I to do with you. Not only to you find trouble wherever you go you always manage to convince me to dive down the rabbit hole with you." A wide grin spread across the elf's handsome features.
"You'll help me then?"
"Yes I'll help with madness, though Valar knows why." He confirmed. Part of Aragorn was afraid. Afraid that the friend he held dearest to him would be harmed even further. Yet the gnawing dread, and perhaps even a little shame, that had been burning his insides ever since Legolas left also solidified his determination. Legolas was right, something needed to be done. Things could not stand as they were, they needed to change. He didn't know if they would succeed but at least they would try. No matter what the conclusion was Aragorn knew one thing. He was not going to let these people hurt his brother any more than they already had.
"Do you have a plan?" He asked the blond resting on the bed.
"I do indeed have a plan. But I'll need your help as it is inconvenient for a suspected criminal to be walking around town." Aragorn nodded.
"Let's get started then."
Night had descended by the time Aragorn returned with both the sheriff Runen and the guard Melbryn. While the sheriff had been absolutely non plussed at finding his charge missing from his cell he had also not dared to argue with the King of Gondor.
"By my orders you are not to reveal my presence here to anyone else in this town." Aragorn said firmly standing outside the door of the room he had gotten at the Singing Pea. Is that understood?" King Elessar locked his stormy eyes on both Runen and Melbryn's ensuring they both understood and obeyed his order. "The prisoner is also to be allowed to stay here under my watch. You have my guarantee that he will not try to escape." He could see a muscle tick in Runen's face as he clenched his jaw in resentment but nodded stiffly none the less. "Lastly the elf wishes to speak to you before his trial tomorrow." Aragorn said opening the door and waving a hand towards the prince.
"What is the meaning of this?" Runen demanded upon seeing Legolas sitting serenely on the Inn bed holding his seething gaze evenly. He spoke in an even firm voice that rang clear as bells through the small dusty room.
"I demand trial by combat."
Rita Orca - That you so much for your kind words, it really makes my day to see you enjoyed my story. The villagers definitely haven't dealt with the infamous Aragorn/Legolas duo before and I'm sure our favorite ranger will sort this mess out ;) Thanks for the review.
Violet - Thanks for taking the time to review, and yes I think it would have been fun to play off Aragorn's anonymity. I've seen some amazing fics of disguised Aragorn having some fun and surprising people. I hope the story isn't too predictable for your liking and you can continue enjoy it. Thanks for catching my mistake and the review :)