A filler chapter about the years between the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings
Sirideán was a mischievous kid. Only eighteen (looks like human four-year old) and already escaping Thranduil's kingdom. People already got used to someone chasing the wayward elfling around Mirkwood, Dale and sometimes Erebor. His main chasers were, of course, his parents.
Both Legolas and Vesper thought they're gonna get grey hair soon. Well, Vesper got grey hair two times already and Legolas can't get grey hair no matter what. Meanwhile, Sirideán figured out how to turn into phoenix. That was one fun afternoon in the Lonely mountain.
That was time Vesper put her foot down. She took her little family on a long, long trip. Sirideán needed to travel to appease his curious nature. Legolas still sometimes acted like a teenager that was annoyed with everything his title brings him. Not to mention his unresolved issues with his father, they both need time apart to figure it out. Vesper, herself, needs to finally admit it won't go south like it always did, that she won't be left alone without anyone to lean on. They all needed this to grow in some ways.
And that's how the small family of three left the Halls of Thranduil. Legolas sitting on his horse with Sirideán securely seated between his arms and Vesper in her phoenix form on his shoulder.
"There are pouring showers outside." Jack crumbled. Jack is a waiter in his father's inn called The Yellow Chicken in a small town in Rohan.
He returned to filling beer mugs. Even in this weather people come in to drink them dry. A boring routine every day, sometimes rowdy, sometimes less but always here and drinking. The only times anything interesting happens is when merchants and travellers stop by. Although in this weather no one will came.
The door opened and closed. Not expecting any strangers he didn't greet the guests. He watched his father and mother joyously conversing with other patrons.
"Excuse me?"
Jack's head turned to the person so fast it was wonder his neck didn't snapped. A man in a cloak, completely drenched, was standing there. He was tall and slender but his face was obscured by his hood.
"Do you have a room?"
"Yes, we do. A one person bedroom, right?"
"At least two persons room, please." He stepped aside to reveal an equally covered and drenched woman and child.
His surprise deepend. "Two persons room then. Third door upstairs. Would you like a dinner?"
"Yes. That would be very much appreciated."
"Great. I'll have the dinner ready when you come down."
The small family disappeared upstairs and Jack went to clean a table for them and told the kitchen to prepare some food.
Jack's mind wander as he cleaned the table. He thought about what he could ask the strangers. About what could make a family travel the lands of Middle-earth. Who could they be?
He was so engrossed in his thoughts he didn't notice the small family coming back to the bar or the noise slowly dying down. He finished wiping the table and turned to leave but nearly bumped into a child. The child looked at him with his big, discoloured eyes and Jack could only stare at the child.
The boy, Jack hoped it was a boy, looked like an angel that descended from the sky. There was even a glow coming from him. Then he noticed the delicate pointed ears poking out from the river of golden hair and he realised the boy was an elf.
Jack heard about elves, who didn't? But for him they were always figures from fairy tales. Elegant wise beings that are way beyond beautiful and don't leave their lands unless there is a great danger. How come there is an elven child standing before him?
The boy spoke to him in a song like language. Jack couldn't understand it but the boy sounded apologetic.
Then a hand landed on the boy's head. A man, no, an adult elf, stood behind the child. They resembled each other so much anyone could see they were father and son.
The man spoke to the child in the same language, but Jack recognised the voice. He was the guest, who came with his family earlier tonight.
"Excuse my son, please." The elf said to Jack. "He didn't want to get in your way."
It took Jack an embarrassingly long time to respond. "It's alright. Nothing happened."
Wait does that mean the woman is an elf too? Jack looked behind the duo to see the woman better. To his dismay she wasn't an elf, however she was breathtaking just in different way than the elves. She was beautiful, elegant but also wild, like a wolf, a noble predator, subdued but never truly tamed.
She smiled at him. "Can we sit at this table?"
"Yes. Please sit." Jack hurried to move from their way.
The three sat down in a way that the child was seated between his parents. People were staring at them intently but the adults did a good job distracting the boy and ignoring everyone else. They were dressed in normal travelling clothes but still looked like royalty. They talked in the strange song-like language. They looked like they came straight out of a legend of old.
Jack took a deep breath to gather all the courage he possessed. "What brings you here, my lords and lady?"
The child looked at him strangely mouthing the words, while the adults just looked up.
"My wife visited this village many winters ago and wanted to see how it is faring." The elf answered.
Jack's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He never saw this woman before. He would definitely remember someone like her.
"I know you!" An old man exclaimed, pointing at the woman. "You are the medicine maker, who came here fifty years ago. I was a young lad back then, but I could never forget the woman, who saved my life from orcs."
Jack's jaw dropped. Fifty years?! She is older than fifty?
"That can't be possible." Said Jack's father. "This lass can't be much older than my son."
The elf chuckled drawing the attention to himself. "Actually, my wife is older than me."
The woman glared at him half-heartedly. "Still calling me old I see."
"Don't be like that, nin mel." He smirked at her. When she rolled her eyes he returned his attention to the crowd. "Looks can be deceiving, therefore you shouldn't judge a person by it."
He looked back at his wife, raised an eyebrow at him and smirked teasingly. Her tone was playful as she told him something in the strange language making the elf smile sheepishly.
The child was confusedly looking between his parents. All the foreign words are difficult for him, he can understand only a little. Then something tickled his nose and he sneezed.
The people only saw the child sneeze and then a mug of beer teleported to a foot above the elf's head. There was a splash and the majority of female population looked away blushing. The elf's wife burst out laughing seeing her husband completely soaked in beer. The child sat there looking positively guilty.
Our small family stopped for the night in woods of Gondor, far from any civilisation. Vesper choose this place for a reason. This was the best place to observe the meteorite shower that can be seen once every fifty years. She wanted to show this place to her boys ever since they left Mirkwood.
Legolas and she made a camp while Sirideán explored the woods. Suddenly the parents heard him screaming for help. They abandoned everything and ran to him with their weapons. They found Sirideán kneeling next to a dead wolf and her six cubs. They all were bloody and probably dead, but Sirideán was holding a seventh cub, who was still breathing.
"Ada, Nane, please, help!" The child cried.
Legolas and Vesper looked at each other, a silent conversation passed between them. Vesper took the cub and left for their camp followed by Sirideán, while Legolas checked all the other cubs, but to no avail. He dug a hole to bury them in. When he was moving the wolf he got a closer look at the wounds. They were not made by any animal, but by something more vicious. Both the mother and cubs were tortured to death.
His unease drove him to explore the forest and he found traces of orcs. He felt a shift in the forest's magic, which could mean only one thing. Fearing the worse he raced to his camp, to his family. He got there just in time to help Vesper defend the camp from the orcs.
They fought like lions. They didn't backed down. They mustn't back down, because their child was hiding in the tent. Spells and arrows fell on the orcs in waves, never missing and always taking lives. When Legolas run out of arrows he drew his twin daggers and threw himself on the enemies, cutting, stabbing, slicing, never stopping moving. Vesper hold the last line, giving support when needed, sniping the orcs and stabbing the occasional enemy who got too close to her.
The battle was tiring, but victorious. They both had some scratches and bruises and had orc blood everywhere, but they didn't care. They hugged each other tightly, just happy they survived today. In the tent they found Sirideán hugging the wolf cub protectively to his chest, a knife ready in his hand.
Vesper laughed tiredly. "My brave, little searcher." She hugged her son, Legolas joining them almost immediately.
Later they found out that Sirideán accidentally formed a magical bond with the wolf cub. Legolas' reaction could be only described as exasperated 'of course he did' and decided he doesn't have the energy to deal with it. Vesper just shrugged, she saw and met worse in her last life. Sirideán was happy he has a playmate who will live as long as he lives thanks to the bond.
Aragorn pulled the string of him bow. The deer he was hunting sopped by a river to drink. He corrected his aim. Soon the deer will be his, at least he thought so. The deer fell by another's arrow. He waited to see who took his pray. An elf, tall with blond hair and piercing blue eyes stepped out of the bushes and headed towards the dead deer.
Aragorn was taken aback. Elves usually don't leave their land or if they must they don't travel far. It's rare to see an elf so far from any elven settlement. By his clothes he can recognise a woodland elf, but that is all he can deduct.
The elf effortlessly picked up the deer. Then he turned to face him. He looked surprised at first but then he smiled. He motioned for him to come closer. Aragorn was reluctant at first but revealed himself and walked up to the elf.
The elf was tall with lean but muscular figure. His hair were platinum blond and had the brightest blue eyes Aragorn had ever seen.
"Mae govannen, Dúnedain. I'm sorry for taking your prey. I did not notice you until the deed was done," he apologised sincerely .
"Mae govannen. Do not worry about it. I'll find another deer to hunt." Aragorn accepted the apology without any preambles. However, his stomach disagreed with loud rumble. Aragorn's face flushed with embarrassment. The elf smiled kindly.
"Come, my camp is near and my wife was preparing lunch when I left. I'm sure she'll feed you."
Aragorn blinked in surprise. One elf so far from any elven settlement was unusual but it tends to happen, but two, and husband and wife at that, that was unheard of. However, he followed the strange elf.
When they arrived at a clearing he thought the elf got lost but then the elf shimmered and disappeared. Aragorn jumped back drawing his sword. What kind of witchcraft was this?
"Don't stand outside, come in." He heard the elf's friendly voice.
Steeling himself he took a step forward then another. He walked through something that felt like a light waterfall, but he wasn't wet and it was warm not cold.
Now he was looking at a camp, although the tent seemed too small for two people. The elf was already preparing to drain the blood of the deer and had his back turned to him. There was a woman in front of the tent with a frying pan on a fire near her, however she definitely wasn't an elf.
She looked like a human. Her hair were a right mess of braids and lose hair that somehow suited her. She was dressed in light linen travelling dress and leather waistcoat despite the cold weather. She held a knife, which was dripping with some orange substance, and a mushroom that didn't look edible.
A child's laughter drew his attention to a young boy, who looked like a younger version of the elf, but with strange eyes, and who was roughhousing with a wolf cub of all creatures.
Aragorn felt eyes on himself and turned to the woman, who was scrutinising him. He felt naked under her gaze, like she could see everything. His soul, his past and future.
"Nin mel," the elf sat down next to his wife and kissed her cheek. "I met this Dúnedain on the hunt. I accidentally took his prey."
Suddenly the scrutinising gaze turned friendly, like these lines flipped her switch the woman instantly smiled welcomingly.
"Mae govannen, Dúnedain. Welcome to our camp. Come sit and eat." She gestured to the other pelt lying on the other side of the fire.
Aragorn sat down obediently. He accepted a bowl of meat and vegetable dish he was given by the wife. She give another bowl to her husband.
"Sirideán, come eat!" She called to the elfling.
The elfling and the cub stopped playing and scrambled towards them. The elfling, Sirideán, sat on the elf's other side and took the third bowl from the woman. The cub sat down next to Sirideán and obediently waited for his food. The woman stood up and put a bowl of raw meat in front of the cub, then she disappeared in the tent. She emerged a minute after with another bowl and served a meal for herself.
She looked at them all with a raised eyebrow. "What are you waiting for? Eat."
Without anymore prompting they started to eat. After lunch they enjoyed a cup of hot tea and the conversation didn't take long to start.
"Tell me, Dúnedain, how should we call you?" The elf started. "I am called Legolas. This is my wife, Vesper, and our son, Sirideán, and his familiar Conan."
"I am Elessar," Aragorn introduced himself.
"Ah, Elrond and Celebrían's adopted son," Vesper nodded.
"What? You know my parents."
Vesper laughed. "Of course I know them. I saved Celebrían from orgs many years ago."
Aragorn nearly jumped up. "You! You are Vesper the Witch?"
"The one and only. Drink, the chamomile tea is good for you."
Aragorn nodded and drank. He never expected to meet the Witch nor spending the whole winter with her and her family. He didn't know what was more surprising finding out the elves are from a royal family or that the child is also a phoenix. Actually, he nearly got a heart attack when Sirideán suddenly burst into flames and another one when neither of his parents did anything about it. He jumped at any use of magic or strange occurrences. He silently cursed out Sirideán's pranks and the too intelligent wolf cub. He was tempted, many times, to just leave, and leave the madness that comes with the two magical beings, one of which is a child, but something was telling him to stay.
At first he thought the madness only extended to the mother-son duo, but that was only before he discovered Legolas was reborn and still has memories of his past life. Lets just say Aragorn gave up on making sense of this chaotic family. Embracing the chaos and madness was actually easier than he thought. He started to enjoy the strange stories the couple told, the pranks Sirideán pulled, the fact Conan understood human speech, the casual use of magic in the camp; everything
He had learned a lot of things from both Vesper and Legolas. Patience, understanding, open-mind, prudence, were only a few of the many things he needed to exercise and understand.
When he left them in the spring, he felt like he was step closer to being a man and little farther from a hotheaded youngster he was.
The small family ended up in Lothlórien despite Vesper's protesters. They were chased by a preticaly large and stubborn group of orgs and ended up hiding in Lothlórien.
Vesper was pissed when they were discovered by march-wardens and even more when Galadriel tried to prod in her mind. The Lady of the Light was viciously pushed out, which made her fall of off her throne. Too bad Vesper wasn't there to witness it.
They were allowed to enter the city non the less. It became clear the elves wanted to meet Sirideán for a long time, because elflings are so rare. Legolas also had a lot of friends and acquaintances in Lórien. Therefore, Vesper was left alone to fend off Galadriel and her curiosity alone. It didn't end well for her.
It was a night of the eight day of their stay when Galadriel cornered her.
"How come you have such strong mental defenses?" she asked.
Vesper flinched. An unpleasant memory of a cell surfest, which she promptly squished. "There were people like you in my old world. Anyone could learn to enter someone else's mind, but some could do it naturally."
Galadriel hummed. "Interesting, but it doesn't answer my question."
Vesper's eyes glazed over, her memories threatened to imprison her. She felt like she was back in the dark cell at Nurmengard. She felt pain as someone tore viciously through her mental shields and pulled up her worst memories. She shook where she was standing feeling the hits, knives and whip, all over again. Ten days of imprisonment, ten days of torture before other hedge witches managed to get in and helped her escape. No one else dared to help her. She couldn't blame them, but, oh boy, she wanted to.
She raised her head, then frowned. She wasn't in the Lórien, s hee was in Nurmengard.
She tried to stand up but her arms and legs were chained to a chair. Her body was exhausted from the torture. She was only glad they didn't break the bones in her legs yet.
Suddenly the door opened and Grindelwald entered followed by a pretty blond woman, who looked terrified.
"See Queenie, this woman is one of them. One of the vixenkind, who stands against our beliefs. She was sent here to destroy what we have built, destroy this safe heaven," he whispered in her ear.
"But, do we have to be so cruel?" she asked.
"It's sometimes necessary for our cause to be cruel. To be the devils who will build a better world," Grindelwald's tone was sad but Vesper saw none in his eyes, however Queenie's back was turned to him and her eyes were fixed on Vesper , so she didn't see it.
Queenie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again she entered Vesper's mind.
Vesper flinched back expecting a painful entry and more torture, but it didn't come. Queenie was different from those she faced so far. Queenie was natural Legilimens, which made her entrance smooth and painless. It only served to make Vesper more terrified.
She did her best to push Queenie out but nothing worked. Queenie imprisoned her mental self in a cage and made her watch helplessly as she went through her memories.
The first memory was the one of dark wizards capturing her after her mission failed. Next was of a RAF soldier knocking on her door to tell her her fiancé is dead. Next, she and her beloved dancing to a jazz music in a bar. Next, her stepmother trying to kill her for the umpteenth time. Her first Quidditch game where the opposing team tried to knock her of off her broom and make her quid as the Ravenclaw chaser, the first girl to play Quidditch for a house team in Hogwarts. Her being tortured in the cell. Her hunting down and killing a rogue werewolf. Her finding the cold body of her birth mother laying under the stairs. And more.
Queenie saw a lot in Vesper's mind. However nothing added up with what Grindelwald was telling her.
"Did you find anything?" he asked.
She shok he head. "Nothing important."
When they left Vesper slumped forward not carrying how the chains pulled on her arms painfully.
"What is this?" a shaky voice asked her.
Vesper looked up. Galadriel stood in the cell, pale as the sheath. Vesper scowled, realising this was her doing.
"Let me out?" she shouted.
When Vesper returned to the reality she was curled up in a ball, holding her head. Legolas was beside her, gently coxing her and pleading for her to wake up. Galadriel stood a little ways away, supported by her husband. They both were shaking. There were also gathered elves that must have heard the commotion.
Vesper swallowed noticing her dry and hurting throat. She must've screamed a lot to attract attention.
"Your people tortured you." Galadriel said. "Why?"
Vesper growled. "Give a man power and watch as he spins into the endless greed for more. You have seen it before, haven't you?"
Galadriel tightened her hold on her husband. "Your memories. Your family tried to kill you, many times."
Vesper laughed bitterly. "They wouldn't be Blacks if they didn't try at least once. They all are insane, power-hungry, dark wizards." The hatred for the family was all too obvious.
Galadriel looked down. "I'm sorry. I didn't thought you could have such traumatic experiences with mind readers."
The bitter smile on Vesper's face widen. "They were more like mind rapers. I was lucky to keep the little bit of sanity I have left. But I don't blame you for your curiosity and protectiveness. Just, please, don't enter my mind without permission again."
Galadriel agreed solemnly. "I won't. Is there something I can do to apologise for my action."
Vesper, who was steady enough to stand up shook her head. "I don't want anything. Your apology is enough for me."
Legolas helped her to get beck to the rooms they are staying in. Sirideán, who heared his mother scream in pain for the first time, was frightened by both the scene and the implication of his mother's painful past. He stayed close to her for the rest of their stay in Lothlórien.
Once they left the elven kingdom Vesper relaxed. She vowed to not cross paths with Galadriel, if she can help it.
Their return to the Mirkwood was met with a lot of joy from everyone. They have spent 37 years travelling around Arda after all. Legolas took on his duties and slowly worked on mending the relationship with his father. Sirideán started to learn how to be an elven prince much to Conan's chagrin. And Vesper, took on the duties of the princess and medicine maker.
The new life was not as free but it wasn't bad by any means, just different.
They enjoyed many peaceful years in the Mirkwood, which started recover and more and more it started to look like the Greenwood it once was. However, the peace was interrupted by the news of the One Ring reappearing. Lord Elrond had called for representatives from each kingdom to come to a secret meeting to discuss the One Ring.