Oropher was about three hours early in his arrival, but he had seemed literally unable to keep himself away. He did not go towards the house he knew to be Elrond's, where he supposed Legolas currently was.
His grandson.
And so for lack of a better activity, he wandered towards the cluster of workshops, all filled with all sorts of different elves and crafts. On random he entered into the forge, it was always interesting to watch the amazing work the elven smiths could create. Especially if Celebrimbor was at work.
In hindsight, his mistake was rather obvious.
"You are not striking it with enough force! It is metal! It will not break!" In response, there was a more forceful banging.
"The dwarf is right, Legolas." A few more strikes, "A little more to the left."
He should walk away. He should.
His eyes found where they were working, and his feet did not move an inch.
The dwarf stood on a stool at Legolas' side, using him as a sort of puppet now that his mortal bones were not strong enough to wield the force anymore. Celebrimbor worked next to them with the other hammer.
"Yes, good!" The dwarf praised.
He should walk away before Legolas saw him. He should wait for Elrond to introduce them. He should.
But he couldn't quite make himself do that, either.
Celebrimbor removed whatever they were trying to make and cooled it, Legolas leaned against the table and wiped sweat from his head, "Well at least I'm getting better."
"It's about time." The dwarf replied.
Somehow, Legolas laughed at the somewhat scalding tone, "A little appreciation would be nice."
"I already appreciate you, a little bit."
"Only a little bit?"
"Get better at smithing and then maybe I will appreciate you more."
And then Legolas noticed him. And then he remembered Oropher from last night and every relaxed air around him vanished, and the dwarf turned to see what had startled him so much.
Even Celebrimbor seemed to take notice.
"Are you lost?" There was no friendliness in his voice, he stepped in front of the dwarf.
Oropher hoped Elrond had already told him he was coming. "I apologize, I did not expect you to be here."
Celebrimbor glanced between the two of them looking a bit confused, "Were the two of you not discussing earlier that your grandfather was coming here today?"
To Legolas' credit he gave almost no reaction to this news. The dwarf, however, did, "Aren't you one of the one's Legolas beat in about thirty seconds last night?"
"Actually, you beat two people who I happen to know who happened to be around me at the time." He addressed Legolas and not the dwarf.
"I was the one that asked you the question, not the lad, thank you."
Oropher ignored him, "Oropher, former King of Greenwood. It is an honor to finally meet you, Legolas Thranduillion, I have heard much from many who do not know you well."
"Oh," Celebrimbor said to nobody in particular, "I did not realize you had never met." And then he returned to his work, no longer interested in the conversation.
Legolas didn't even blink; the dwarf seemed to forget he was there entirely. He hopped off his stool and came to stand before Legolas, taking one of his hands. "Come on back now, lad."
Outside, Oropher sensed the trees trying to convince him away, their collective will pulled at him like a weak magnet.
He had anticipated many things upon their meeting, but this had never been one of them.
The trees, angered at being ignored, sent a wave of emotion to him. But it was not the emotion of the tree's, they felt things much differently than mortal things; this was distinctly borrowed from another elf.
Panic gripped his heart like a vice, demanding to beat faster but seemingly unable to beat at all. A deep crushing weight seemed to sink everything else in his body to his feet, leaving a giant gaping hole where something, anything, should be.
He was frozen with it.
On the other side of the forge a door opened, he didn't look to see who it was until Glorfindel was ushering him away, "We told you to wait!"
The trees removed the spell.
Celebrian stood like a shining star in the dim room, right next to Gimli.
He didn't understand.
0o0p0o0p0p0o0
Glorfindel waited with him until Elrond got there, far away from the forge and wherever else they had whisked his grandson.
He had tried to pry answers from Glorfindel, but he neglected to answer any of them claiming Elrond would be far better to explain.
In reality, he probably waited only ten minutes. But it felt like days.
When Elrond arrived he didn't say anything until he had seated himself comfortably in the grass, looking at Oropher expectantly to do the same.
Oropher sat.
"I am going to speak; and I ask that you do not interrupt until I am done. Can you agree to that?"
Idly, Oropher wondered if Elrond had come up with this strategy of conversation to deal with Thranduil.
He had never managed to get him to stop interrupting people. "Yes, I agree."
"Good. What do you know of sea longing?"
Oropher contemplated pointing out that he agreed not to speak but thought better of it, "Nothing."
"In short, it is a pull from the Valar to return here. To Valinor. There are many of us who have seen the sea many times, and so it's song seems apart of us. Like the song of the trees or springs."
"But for many Silvan elves they have never seen the ocean, and neither have any of the recent ancestors. Their hearts have never heard the song, and when they do, it can cause havoc trying to find a place to call home within them. They were literally not made to feel it. Most never do, but those who do us it often as they are departing the mortal lands and so it troubles them not."
Oropher knew well that there were many of his people who would never sail west, and would wait until Mandos was sent to collect them.
"The longer the song is within them, ignored, the more aware of it they become. The more it grows, the more it damages. And so, resisting it can have a devastating effect on one's mind, and soul."
"When I left Middle Earth, the longest known case of a Silvan Elf resisting the call was twenty years. At the time of Legolas' sailing, he set the record at nearly two hundred."
"It takes time, and patience to recover from something like that, especially when the centuries beforehand were almost nothing but pain. It takes a very strong elf to even want to recover from something like that. And so I am asking you to be patient with him."
Oropher waited for him to continue, and when Elrond didn't he asked, "Did you even tell him I was coming?"
Because he didn't know what to say. There really was nothing else he could say. Expressing his grief over the matter would accomplish nothing, and there were no other questions to ask for verification as Elrond had been as quick and concise as usual.
"Yes, Celebrian and I talked with him last night about it. However, we were leaving it until today to tell him he has technically already met you, when I could he sure all of the wine in his system was gone."
"I see. Now what?"
"Come back in three hours. Give Gimli and Legolas some time to talk, I know he will still want to meet you."
Oropher nodded, once, "Three hours then."
Elrond stood and began making his way back towards his house, Glorfindel made to follow but added, "And we mean three hours, Oropher. No less."
He saw no point in responding.
0o0o0o0o0o0o
Exactly three hours later Oropher walked down what he swore was the longest road he had ever walked.
Legolas stood at the end of it, alone.
Oropher stopped several feet away, to be safe, surprised that Elrond, Glorfindel or the Dwarf were not lurking nearby to monitor the situation.
If he had no idea what to expect from this meeting after last night, he certainly didn't have any clue now.
He looked so much like Thranduil it was surprising, Legolas smiled at him, "It is a pleasure to meet you."
Oropher found it easy to return it, "And you."
He could feel eyes on him and knew that even if he could not see them, Elrond and Glorfindel and probably the dwarf were watching from somewhere.
He felt the need to apologize, "About what happened last night, I -"
But Legolas just shook his head, "There is no need for explanation. Elrond beat you to it."
"Perhaps that is for the best, I have been told that I am not very good at explaining things fully."
At this, Legolas laughed. And it was such a happy sound, not at all what he expected from the encounters he'd had so far. Innocent somehow, genuine in a way that was hard to find. "I'm used to Ada, sometimes I'm lucky to get a full sentence some times. I'm good at reading between in the lines. Or, in Ada's case finding the line."
"So he hasn't changed, then." That was comforting somehow.
"Probably not, no. About this morning-"
This time it was Oropher who interrupted, "There is no need for an explanation. Unless you want to talk about it, in which case, you can, but-"
"Elrond beat me to it?"
"Yes."
"Perhaps that's for the best, I'm not good at explaining things."
They both laughed, "I sense a pattern."
"Would you like to go for a walk?" Legolas gestured toward a forest path, one Oropher assumed he walked often.
He eyed the trees, "Do they like me again?"
"Yes." Legolas answered confidently, but still turned back to the trees, "Yes?" There was a flood of goodwill and welcome, Legolas turned back to him, "Yes."
"Then I would love too."
Legolas waited for him to reach him and then fell into step next to him, he hadn't grown taller than Thranduil which was nice. He hated having to look up at people when they talked. "Sorry about them, but I suppose you know how a forest can be."
"Oh, I know. The Greenwood always liked Thranduil better than I, and whenever we would argue they would drop acorns of berries on my head."
Legolas laughed again, he was surprised but not unhappy with how regular of an occurrence that seemed to be, "They still do things like that, they are also fond of tripping people now; they did it to me for weeks after I finally returned from the Ring War. Clearly, the Wood adapts to change as well as their King."
"Clearly."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Elrond's family plus Glorfindel and Gimli were waiting at the front of the house for when they returned. Eight hours later and well after dark.
Oropher departed down the word without coming to the house to say formal goodbyes, not that Elrond was particularly surprised.
He came and sat between Celebrian and Gimli's chair, resting his head against the side of her knee.
She combed her finger through his hair out of instinct, "How did it go, little one?"
"Good," Legolas answered easily, "He asked me to return with him when he leaves tomorrow."
To her credit, Celebrian's fingers did not still. Elrond knew his would have.
He would never, ever, willfully keep Legolas from his family. But at the same time his concern for Legolas had hardly lessened since he had arrived on these shores and the thought of him travelling so far away, with those who did not know him well, was alarming to say the least.
"And what was your answer," Celebrian asked mildly.
"Thank you, but no. I am happy living with my family here. I did ask him to write, though."
Celebrian, Elrond and Glorfindel shared a look of relief, and Celebrain leaned down to give her all but adopted third son a hug, and rested her head atop his. "We are always happy to have you."
"He said they have their own festival on that side of the island, something to do with crabs, and invited me to come next time it happens. Glorfindel, would you come?"
The response was instant, "Yes. Of course."
Gimli was too old to be traveling such distances, plus, bringing a dwarf around Elves from Doriath was not the best idea either.
"We'll come too!" The twins chimed in, together.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
I'll see you next chapter! The last one!
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