Gandalf blew another smoke ring with a ship sailing through and watched as it melted into a plume of gray smoke and drifted upwards. He sat on a root away from Celeborn, as he was well aware the lord hated tobacco smoke. The three weeks he allotted at Caras Galadhon was spent among the tranquil trees revitalized him and he was ready to leave and continue his quest of shaping events.
Celeborn, reclining on another root with a carved chair, had his back against the bole and watched the wizard play his games. The oracle of the Golden Wood waited patiently above her waters. The only sound was living waters burbling along the stream and over strategically placed basins that created small waterfalls. Celeborn didn't spend much time in what he called the bowels of Caras Galadhon, preferring sunlight and gentle breezes among the treetops, but he could look upon his wife's swanlike carriage all day.
"Finally, the Valar are speaking." Galadriel let them know their wait was over. "Our daeriôns are resting on the side of a hill surrounded by green grass and spring flowers. Their horses are grazing nearby so they are on the move. Ahh, I now see the Havens. Why, daeriôns-nín are you going back to see Círdan?"
"What is he doing?" Celeborn asked while Gandalf tapped his pipe against the root and placed it in the bag slung over his shoulder.
"He is looking in the waters of the harbor and pointing to something. A baby whale is swimming in the waters," she explained happily. "I hope it is still there when our daeriôns arrive."
"How do you know that is their direction?" Gandalf asked.
"The next place is their destination. Now I see many dwarves leaving the White Mountains and coming up the west side of the mountains to Caradhras Pass. They will be here by the end of May."
Mithrandir took this new development seriously. "Thráin must have sent them ravens. I cannot be everyplace at once. I wish Thráin consulted me before doing this."
The mirror went dark and Galadriel turned to them. "That is all we are being allowed to see."
Celeborn pondered the meaning. It was he who was her analytical half while she affixed emotion to draw her conclusions. He stood and held his hand to her and waited for them to join with the soft touch of her smooth, manicured fingers. "This will be the summer of the dwarves."
"Does this alter your destination, Mithrandir?" she asked as they walked abreast up the stone steps.
He pondered the unexpected news. "No, my duty is to get the royal family safely to Erebor. I didn't know he was moving the dwarves of the White Mountains so soon. I will leave on the morrow and follow spring north. I hope coming summer is pleasant, as I don't need your mirror to foresee months on the road like last year."
"When I last got a glimpse of Thorin, winter was still landlocked clear to Jötunheim," she informed them.
"Land without oceans does that; bitter cold winters and blistering hot summers. Thorin would do well to stay put and not try and move several thousand dwarves until the ice breaks on the Celduin," Mithrandir grumbled. "The last thing I need is something bad to happen to that group, like a surprise attack by a rogue wizard or flying Nazgûl."
At the top of the steps Rúmil waited. He bowed slightly to Celeborn, "Lord, I delivered your messages. King Fengel had one of his spells and I was forced to remind him he needed us more than the other way around. Also, I was informed his son, Thengel, is courting a Númenórean called Morwen Steelsheen and a letter of their courtship was written for Lord Elrond, due to the couple visiting when I arrived and Thengel wished him to know he was wedding a Númenórean."
Celeborn held his hand out and his March Warden sorted through several letters and placed all for him in the open palm. He looked for the one addressed to Elrond and handed it to Gandalf, where it disappeared inside his leather pouch.
"I sense weariness, Rúmil. You will find what you need in the bathing rooms." She mentally instructed servants to take wine to Rúmil where he would be relaxing to his neck in hot water. "We will be having a farewell dinner for Mithrandir tonight. Please be on time."
With a bow in her direction, he hurried away. It wasn't often he was singled out to journey away from his brothers and he had much to tell them.
The unfolding season ordained by Yavanna's decree was seen all around them in the forms of flowers, succulent grass and budding trees when the twins stopped at the gate to the Havens. The same guard who gave them entrance a few weeks before motioned them through and turned to the same currier, who with a nod followed the twins. This time he tracked them directly to Lord Círdan's palace. Satisfied they were properly attended, he returned to report to his superior.
Elladan knocked on the door and almost before he withdrew his hand it opened to an elleth, who smiled and ushered them inside. They walked through the atrium with its many fruit producing trees and up a set of stairs to Círdan's private rooms. The elleth knocked and Taíban opened and immediately stepped aside with his thanks to the elleth.
Círdan looked up from what he was reading and gave the twins a broad smile. "I trust you got ponies to Thorin's Hall?"
They gave duel nods and Elladan answered, "I'm sure you know all about it because the man stated he was coming directly here to exchange the gold for usable currency." By Círdan's smile, he knew the exchange already took place.
Elrohir took a glass of wine Taíban pressed into his hands and sat in a chair across from the large desk made of Mallorn he had imported from Lothlórien centuries before the twins were born.
"I assumed I wouldn't be seeing you again," Círdan opened the conversation.
"We were planning on scouting ahead of the dwarves. A conversation yesterday with Fili, nephew of Thorin, exposed the need of the dwarves. They are trying, but don't have enough food or animals to pull wagons. They plan on dragging this repatriating for five years. Elladan and I have a plan if we can count on the Havens, to move them all at once." Elrohir stopped talking and hoped he covered the main points adequately. After all this time, he still felt like an elfling called to explain a misdeed when in front of Lord Círdan.
Círdan remained calm, not one facial hair moved and his grey eyes drilled them. "What do they need?"
The twins internally breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. If Círdan felt their fëas lighten, he didn't allow them to see and embarrass them.
"All El listed and much more. How would you like to see the wonders of Erebor?" Elladan replied with a smile that made him look like a younger version of his father; albeit with a lower hairline on his brow.
They got their desired results when the lord's eyebrows disappeared into his diadem and as quickly returned to where they normally resided. "Why not." It was his turn to look amused when the spawn of Elrond looked at each other in surprise.
"You mean it?" Elladan almost squeaked; his tone an octave higher than usual and he knew he would pay for it later from his brother in the form of mocking.
Círdan looked to a chair by the side of his desk that Taíban usually occupied so they weren't floating endless paperwork the breadth of the large desktop. "Didn't I say the other day, if Elrond didn't come to see me, I would make the trip to Imladris?"
Taíban nodded, "Those were your exact words."
"I just may go on to Lothlórien for the winter. Galdor is more than capable of running the Havens and seeing to those who sail. He did so flawlessly during the War of the Alliance and we are not at war thanks to the Battle of Five Armies. Gather the lords for a meeting and tell them to bring all their reports on supplies from grain to goats. We'll meet first thing in the morning and I want a plan by evening."
Taíban left to do Círdan's bidding and he focused on the still sitting twins. "After you bathe, I have something to show you."
Thus dismissed, they bowed and hurried to the bathing chambers. At the door they noticed their bags were set on a table near the door and grabbed them without pausing stride. Their horses were missing, so they didn't have to tend them before bathing.
Círdan pointed to the water and suddenly they saw it.
"A whale?" Elrohir asked in awe.
"A calf was separated from its mother and we are still looking for her. For now we are feeding him."
"What do you use for milk?" Elladan inquired, eyes never leaving the eight foot baby who was slowly swimming along the edge of the stone quay.
"We were able to gain its trust and it lifts its head and we have a large skin in the shape of a nipple and it sucks down a hundred pounds of goat milk every three hours. In fact, they are getting ready for its next feeding." Círdan pointed to a spot where milk cans were being unloaded from a wagon. They walked beside the baby who swam to them with trust and lifted its white bulbous head from the water.
"What kind is it?" Elrohir asked.
"We have always referred to them as great whites."
The twins stood back while two elves fed the baby. One positioned the nipple into the mouth and the other poured. Everyone could see the baby greedily sucking its food down. When done, it swam a little ways into the harbor and floated with its back showing.
"Like any baby, it is now napping," Círdan exclaimed.
"Do you have drawings or painting?" Elrohir asked, his mind already putting the whale to paper.
"Several of our sculptors have already formed perfect copies and painters are here daily."
"I want to get a carving for Estel's collection," Elladan stated and Círdan steered them in the direction of the shop they were being sold.
Thorin stood in the cold and watched the sun set in blazing oranges and pinks. In the week he had been here, winter was yielding her death grip to spring. The temperatures were warming rapidly as the sun returned giving longer days. He hadn't experienced a spring east of the Misty Mountains since Smaug and had forgotten how swiftly changes occurred. The ocean side of the mountains tempered the weather and changes came gradually, but not here. He sensed more than saw that he wasn't alone. He turned; hand on the hilt of Orchrist.
"I didn't mean to startle you, my lord," Lióni apologized. She was returning to the mountain where she was sitting on the hill watching the sun set when she came upon the king, alone and looking to the northwest. She briefly wondered what he was thinking and decided it wouldn't be wise to disturb the king and his important thoughts. She was almost around him when her boot broke a twig.
"It is rare for a lass to leave the mountain and hardly alone," he commented.
She shrugged, "I like to be alone and outside where I can see the stars and sun."
He motioned for her to join him and waited until she was at his side before speaking. "I spent a lot of time under the stars. In the chambers I live at Erebor there is a private rampart and I used to spend much time there as a dwarfling. So when we were forced outside the safety of the mountain, it wasn't so bad on me. Some of the dwarves had hardly ever set foot outside the halls and they suffered exposure sickness."
She was surprised he opened up to her. Her parents warned her to never again be so forward with the king and wait for him to address her. It had been three days since he purchased the book and she hadn't seen him since. The mountain was in an uproar and every detail was examined and rechecked, so all were busy.
He noticed she didn't speak and continued, "I would think this last night in the only home you've ever known, you would be saying farewell to your friends."
"I have acquaintances, not friends," she replied coldly.
"You seem young to be so jaded." In the twilight, he saw her face flash between anger and loneliness.
"Probably from being called a mongrel all my life from the pure Blacklock lasses. It doesn't bother Tóvad, but nobody treats him as less for it. And if that isn't enough, I get the added bonus of being the ranking lord's daughter and have to endure the snickers and unconcealed whispers that a mutt is not quality and inferior to even the lowliest Blacklock and they would have respected me more if I were all Longbeard."
Thorin chuckled and she peered at his handsome face in the growing darkness, not sure to take offense at his laughing at her plight. "I am very familiar with that term. It is bandied about every time a lass from another clan is forced to marry a Durin. I carry blood from many clans in my makeup. Durin I married a Firebeard and his grandson a Broadbeam. Then Borin I married a Stiffbeard and was grandfather to Durin VI, and more recently another clan was added when my great, great grandfather, Náin II wed a Stonefoot. Nobody dared call the Durin's names or impugn our right to rule because we weren't pure Longbeards. The rest of my makeup is Longbeard or Durin's Folk as we like to call ourselves."
"You said forced to marry a Durin. Don't the lasses wish to marry one such as you?" She was fast forgetting her promise not to bother or be familiar with the king.
"A lass barely of age is uprooted from her home and taken to be presented to the king. He talks to the family and if they meet with his approval, he gives permission for a courtship to take place. If the courting couple finds an attraction that is strong enough to melt the dwarrow's heart of stone, a wedding is set and invitations sent to the neighboring realms. Word of a marriage of a Durin is sent to all the dwarven clans and elven communities nearby. Elves spread word almost as fast as our ravens can."
She found herself interested in his description and marrying a Durin didn't sound as bad as her fertile imagination pictured.
"Have courtships ever failed?" The romantic side of her, she kept hidden under a warrior attitude and armor, wanted a story of love. What was it about him that kept turning her thoughts to romance, which she considered foolish before he came.
Again his deep chuckle caused a stir in her heart. "Not failed so much as the Durin she came to marry was being punished. Our history has a few such tales, but this one is close to me." He turned to go back into the mountain so they could shut the main gate, while she pondered his last words. Did he have a marriage that didn't take? With the king outside they kept the large doors open and in the distance his guards stood watch, just outside. "Tomorrow we leave before the morning sun makes an appearance."
He escorted her inside and she was conscious of many stares, some disapproving thrown directly at her and she wondered what she did wrong now. Her father hurried to her side, gaze casting over her body and then looked at Thorin, uncertainty in his eyes on how to address his daughter being escorted alone by the king. "I hope my daughter isn't bugging ye, King Thorin," he finally stated.
"Not at all. We were coming back in at the same time. I couldn't very well leave her in the cold."
Not able to repudiate the words of a king, Dóvad turned on her. "Ye were warned not ta bug our guests."
"You taught me manners," she stood up for herself. "How rude do you wish me to be to the king and our guests?"
"Ye are supposed ta be with the dams an not flirting with every dwarrow who cast an eye at ye. Now get ah move on."
Her cheeks flamed and she didn't dare look at Thorin lest he be found laughing at her dressing down and embarrassment. She hurried to their chambers and tried to slip to her room unnoticed. Her mother was packing the last few items for the wagon allotted to them.
"Lióni, did you see all your friends?" she called out cheerfully.
"I'm done," Lióni replied truthfully without answering directly. "I need to make sure I didn't miss anything." She hurried from her mother's sight before she noticed the redness in her cheeks and had to explain.
Legolas paced the length of Celeborn's Great Hall and back to his starting place.
Emoth watched and wondered what the young prince was gathering the nerve to ask his lord. He had little time to contemplate when Celeborn glided down the steps from his private wing and into the hall. 'I believe Prince Legolas is wishing a word, my lord.'
Celeborn turned his unreadable gaze on Emoth for a second and stopped at the bottom of the steps, eyes shifting to the end of his hall where the object of his silent message was making another turn. He watched as Legolas paused and then with determination that would make his father proud, marched evenly to Celeborn.
"A word in private, if you are available?" Legolas stated without preamble.
Celeborn motioned for him to follow and turned back up his personal stairs. He didn't stop until they were in his private study. He poured two glasses of the fine wine from Erebor and handed one to the youth. Taking a sip, he waited.
"I cannot court Arwen. Lady Galadriel said we would not wed, but I had yet to speak with you."
"Is it because she looks like her father?" Celeborn said with a straight face when all he wanted to do was howl with laughter at the look of shock that crossed Legolas' face.
"Uh, no…no, she is beautiful. I actually never thought Lord Elrond capable of fathering such beauty and when I was in her company all those centuries ago, she was veiled the entire time to hide her anguish."
"Those veils are designed to help dampen raging fëas. It is a special weave. My daughter used one when I returned her to Imladris for the year she was in residence so the household could function without her screams of pain and torment. That one soothed her tortured fëa."
"My fëa doesn't yearn for hers, Lord Celeborn. I don't know what to do. I know my adar and Lord Elrond are placing great expectations in me and I failed them. Am I doing something wrong?"
Celeborn had mercy on seeing remorse in the younger elf's eyes. "You have no control over who your fëa yearns for. Many is the time I've cursed the Valar for pairing me with the witch of the Golden Wood."
"I could have sworn my fëa was turning to Tauriel's and her me," Legolas spat in disgust at memories of his father forbidding a union.
"No." Celeborn's cool one short word had him refocusing. "If her fëa was remotely reaching for you, she would not have allowed herself to love a dwarf, or anyone. I have experience in that matter."
"Really?" Legolas had never heard one rumor of the great lord and another elleth. He briefly wondered if Lady Galadriel knew.
"I was convinced I could choose my mate and the Valar be hanged. Your rebellion is more against your adar than true love. I also disdained the advice Melian was trying to impart to me and fled to the Havens of the Falas. Unlike you, I had my mate waiting for when I recovered my senses. You will not find yours this side of the sea."
"You or Lady Galadriel?" Legolas asked. At the lord's questioning stare, he clarified, "Is that wisdom from you or the lady's mirror?"
"Both. She has seen someone else for Arwen."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Legolas was starting to transfer some of his pent up anger to this lord, who in many ways acted exactly like his father.
"You must search some things for yourself. If you never came and met Arwen as a potential mate; you would always wonder. Now that question is answered and you can move on."
"Your lady told me as much. She said I wouldn't wed Arwen and her heart will be taken by another." He saw the lord's countenance darken and hoped he didn't speak ill of Arwen and anger his host.
"I'm aware you won't marry my daeriell and learned when I returned here with you that she will wed another. I truly hoped it was you, but it isn't to be." Celeborn was remorseful and conveyed it in his tone. "Is that all you wished to speak with me about?"
Legolas shook his head. "I am getting bored and either need something to do or move on. I don't wish to return home just yet."
"Did you enjoy the hunt we went on?" They only returned the day before and the story was still being circulated.
"Yes. Do you want me to patrol your livestock?"
"I can just imagine what your adar would do to me if I used you as a shepherd. No, your talents are better put to use as my emissary. Are you interested?"
Legolas gave it careful thought. "Adar only used me to issue orders to those entering our lands and that was usually to leave. My comportment might not be what you are looking for. Besides, your lady told me I was to train a young Dúnedain in a few years. Maybe I should ride to them and learn their ways."
"I sense you are undecided. What do you see for yourself?" Celeborn refilled their glasses while Legolas pondered what he wanted.
"I've always had someone direct me. This newfound freedom is unusual for me. I always expected to be my adar's right hand. I don't see that as my future now. It is murky and I'm afraid."
"If ever you need a haven, my trees are open to you."
"Thank you," Legolas murmured. "Do I have to say anything to Arwen?"
"Maybe." Celeborn's sly humor was returning and his eyes twinkled at the terrified look in Legolas' face."
"What do I tell Arwen?" Legolas wished to be anyplace except at Lothlórien right now. "Lady Galadriel said it won't be me who weds her and I hope I didn't lead Arwen on with anything I may have done, said or implied."
"Have you done something you owe her an explanation or would force a wedding?" Celeborn closely watched the younger elf for signs of chagrin, an admission of guilt. He was almost disappointed when an innocent face looked back.
"We have talked, sparred and hunted together and she's been a wonderful guide. I hope she didn't read anything into my attentions."
'Stop toying with him, Celeborn.'
He knew the tone and replied, 'He is asking what he should do.'
'Give him of your wisdom, meleth-nín.'
"I think you need to ride north for now. Go home, Legolas. The dwarves are on the move and will descend on your adar in numbers that will overwhelm his forces. He needs every elf he can muster. I may send some of mine north to assist in time."
"No," Legolas replied firmly. "I'll not return or Adar will take it as a sign he was right and I'll be his vassal again. If I return it will be as a visitor only. Besides, I don't care if the dwarves live or die or make it home to their stupid mountain."
Hearing determination, Celeborn quickly thought of an alternative. "You could go with Mithrandir in the morning to Imladris. The child you seek is there."
"No, if you don't have a place for me here, I will travel these lands and see their wonders first."
"I told you my offer. Anything else would be a waste of your talents. There will be wars in the land leading up to a final battle against Sauron. Your bow and sword will always be needed. I see in you a teacher. Take your skills and prepare men, for this is their battle. For now, I could use you as my ambassador to Rohan and Gondor. I will need someone to insure the supplies I've ordered are delivered this far. I'll not ask you to go beyond here or deal with dwarves. I won't ask of you what I'm not willing to do myself."
Legolas let the wise words Celeborn was famed for penetrate. "I will go to Rohan and Gondor for you until I am needed north. How old is this child of the Dúnedain I must instruct, and why me?"
"He is now eleven and his childhood is winding down. In four years he will need you. At age eighteen he enters the world of men and will become a Dúnedain warrior. He must be the best of them and you are a natural teacher. He will thrive under your attentions. The twins play with him and don't wish to do his final training for fear of hurting him. They really do love him as a little brother. And Legolas, do not become bitter against your adar. He trained you to survive in these wild lands out of love."
Legolas nodded.
"This nagging voice in my head is telling me to join her in the Hall for a pre-dinner drink." To his relief, Legolas smiled and they left join the others.