"My duties have taken me from patrolling our borders to becoming my father's messenger," Legolas replied, "I handed a letter to your father.  I know not what it contains, though the matter seemed rather grave, from what I could read of Lord Elrond's face."

      Elladan waved away his worry.  "They will speak of the matter when it needs speaking.  In the meantime, it seems we are all here, and in this great night of all nights!"

      Legolas looked at the three brothers cautiously.  They all had a look about their eyes that seemed so young and excited. 

      And manic…

      "I almost fear to ask why," Legolas said wryly, "I have been told you are almost always home this time of year."

      "It's magical," Estel guaranteed him, "The Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year, and Rivendell yields wondrous surprises with the light of the midnight moon."

      "I could not go too far, mind," Legolas sighed, "I must be prepared to leave at a moment's notice, as soon as Lord Elrond gives me his reply to my father's message.  And the staring gargoyle outside my door would happily tie me to my bed to keep me from mischief."

      "Who said it was mischief?" Estel asked innocently.

      "It never needs any saying," laughed Legolas, "as long as it comes from any of you."

* * *

      ~It's a childhood secret, you see,~ Elrond was saying to their guest over a sumptuous dinner, ~The entire household has decided to stop asking the twins why after a couple thousand years, and only accept with joy that something calls my sons to return here on this very day each year.~

      ~Curious,~ commented Legolas over his food, glancing at Estel with a smile, ~The human seems to have found out, though.~

      Elrond raised an eyebrow at Aragorn, who was chuckling at him, ~Yes.  This son of mine is particularly cunning.  I am not surprised he had successfully outwitted the two.~

      ~I wouldn't say outwit,~ Elrohir corrected quickly, his eyes dancing, ~He is just really very sneaky.~

      ~Did you, by chance, receive an invitation to discover this great secret tonight, Legolas?~ Elrond asked.

      Legolas pursed his lips and lied boldly, shaking his head in regret, ~Unfortunately, no, Lord Elrond, I have not.~

      Elrond's eyes lit in understanding.  ~A shame indeed.  But at least Amadis will sleep restfully tonight.~

      The four elves and sole human turned towards the quiet old soldier, who looked up at them questioningly from his food only for a moment, before busying himself with another helping.

* * *

      ~If you do not stop laughing, he will hear us!~ Aragorn scolded the shaking elf in his lowest voice, even as he himself was failing in suppressing his chuckles miserably.

      ~Back away, back away,~ whispered Legoolas, biting his lip and waving Aragorn off, ~I would run you over if you do not.~

      ~What if you fall?~ retorted Aragorn, ~I would be too far to catch you quickly.~

      ~Elves don't fall,~ Legolas said boldly, steeling himself for the jump from his balcony to Estel's, his only alternative at escape since his loyal guard sat just outside his room.  The gap between the balconies was small for the range of an elf's leap, but the fall to the rocky waters below was also considerable.

      ~No they don't,~ agreed Aragorn, ~But they do not usually laugh at the launch, do they?~

      ~How could I not laugh?~ retorted Legolas, ~I've not had to sneak around in centuries, this is preposterous!~ gritting his teeth, he told Estel, ~Stop looking at me, the laughter in your eyes is contagious.~

      ~I dare not turn away!~ snapped Aragorn, ~What if you fall?~

      ~Quit tarrying!~ whispered Elladan from his own balcony, ~Else we will miss it!~

      As Estel looked towards Elladan, Legolas took his distracted moment to jump to the balcony and land cleanly on his light feet.

      ~Excellent landing,~ he grinned to himself.

      ~Let's hope for another,~ said Aragorn.

      ~Come!~ Elladan called, motioning for Aragorn and Legolas to make the leap to his balcony.

      The night was wonderfully well-lit by the silver of the full moon.  It was larger than it had ever seemed to Legolas' eye, as if it loomed so close to them and hung so low over the skies.  The winds were cool and brought with them the first breaths of winter.  It was a perfect night for childish adventure, one that he had not had since the turning of the world taught him the greater troubles and worries that went with the ages.

      Aragorn, then Legolas, made the easy leap to Elladan's balcony, and then all three took turns towards Elrohir's.

      ~Elrohir never had to jump,~ Elladan sighed melodramatically.

      ~It's just logistics,~ Elrohir said in a lowered voice, ~Anytime you feel you cannot do it, brother, we can change rooms, of course…~

      ~Who said I could not?~ Elladan snapped, ~I was merely making an observation.~

      The three elves and the human stepped into Elrohir's bedroom suite and stopped before his closet doors.  Reaching forward, Elrohir turned the intricate knob and parted his robes to reveal a secret passageway.

      ~Rivendell is riddled by a multitude of such secret passages,~ Aragorn told Legolas, ~There are so many that it is hard to keep track, they lead to all sorts of places.  Some are byways for the servants, others lead towards shelters in case of invasion, others are passageways offering escape, out of the House, deeper into the mountains…~

      ~Imladris is highly fortified,~ added Elladan, ~But father never allows for situations that would leave him backed against a wall.  Our own rooms each have their own passages, but this is the one we are most familiar with.~

      ~We could not find each other the last time we tried separate ways,~ said Elrohir, motioning them all forward, ~Come along.~

      The way was narrow and dark, lined by stone.  Its tight enclosure allowed for no torches that would hamper the already stagnant air, so the four adventurers kept close against each other in the darkness with Elrohir at point, trailed by Aragorn, then Legolas, and lastly Elladan at the tail.

      ~Where does this go?~ Legolas whispered.

      ~You will see,~ Aragorn replied, and the four traveled through the dark winding paths quietly and timelessly.  For awhile they seemed to descend, then turn, then rise, then stand still because Elrohir forgot the way and would not admit it.  And then at last, they stopped before what looked to be a hard wall, Legolas thinking perhaps that Elrohir never really remembered the way as he said he had…

      But there seemed a collective sigh of relief between his companions, and Legolas heard the subtle click of a turning lock.  Then Elrohir pushed at the wall timidly, checking to see if anyone was on the other side.  The dim candlelight from the room they had entered seemed warm and glowingly bright, compared to the stagnant, empty darkness of the passage.

      They had stepped into Rivendell's expansive library, Legolas noted, and it was blessedly empty.

      ~The library,~ he said flatly, wondering what all the necessity of sneaking about and keeping secrets had been if only just to go to such a sedate place, even steeped as it was in its noble, priceless history.

      The brothers said nothing, and quietly made their way to a far corner of the room, stopping in front of an ancient mirror.  Its surface was old and slightly stained, but still glowingly true.  It was about the full-length and width of a burly man, bordered by tarnished copper that was spun in intricate threads.

      Legolas looked at his reflection curiously.  The mirror worked fine, in his eye, there was really nothing spectacular about it.  Opening his mouth to inquire as to what in all of Arda they were doing there, he noticed that the mirror reflected a shadow that suddenly appeared and seemed to walk behind him.

      Turning around to see who was there, he found the library behind him empty, and his acute senses found no sound, no scent, to indicate that anyone had ever been behind him at all.  He turned back towards the mirror, brows furrowed.  The shadow, in the silhouette of a woman, was still there, pacing back and forth from one end of the mirror to the other, humming a haunting tune.

      His three companions stood silent, watching the mirror with their breaths held.

      Suddenly, she stopped.  Turned.  And moved towards the center of the mirror, seemed to move towards them, still humming her wordless song, the volume rising and rising as she moved ever nearer, though it was periodically broken by her breath, as if it were labored or perhaps she was crying.

      Legolas' feet were firmly planted on the ground, awed by this vision, the hairs on the back of his neck standing, even as he told himself that he was never really one to fear ghosts, or fear… anything! But that song… the song seemed to shatter the silence of the night, and touch his heart in great loss and longing and most strangely, and frighteningly, familiarity…

      The reflection on the mirror seemed to tilt as she came closer, and smoke, and swirl in colors that moved and settled, until what was being reflected was no longer the four of them, or the room that they were in. 

      The mirror was reflecting a memory. 

      It showed a sparse bedroom, with a balcony that overlooked the silver of the full moon, much like the moon Legolas had seen tonight.  It showed a woman who, stepping forth from the shadows, had hallowed, sunken holes for eyes, and shattered, moving lips that uttered no intelligible words, only that haunting melody…

      Legolas' breath caught, but his eyes would not flee her disfigured face. 

      The song suddenly ceased, and she began to wail in a way that seemed to come from the very core of her being.  Her mouth opened, showing that her tongue had been cut.  She ran her wiry, spindly, scarred hands over her face, before she screamed in great anguish and ran from the mirror, towards her balcony, towards the moon, and though they could see no more of her, as the sound of her scream faded, undoubtedly she must have run towards her fall and ultimate doom.

* * *

      The mirror melded back to how it had been when Legolas first sighted it, and he exhaled in relief.  He glanced at his companions, who were looking at him knowingly and excitedly.

      ~I heard you,~ chuckled Elrohir, ~You were scared.~

      Legolas' cold hand grasped at his friend's forearm, noting that his own hairs stood, ~And I obviously am not the only one!~

      ~Incredible, isn't it?~ Aragorn told him.

      ~Who was she?~ Legolas asked.

      ~We never found out,~ Elladan replied, ~Elrohir and I first saw her thousands of years ago.  We found the passage in our room that led here, and incidentally, it was midnight of the winter solstice, and we witnessed the mirror replay her death.  She returns with that very scene every year.~

      ~What brings you back each time?~ asked Legolas, ~To see it once is more than enough for me,~ he said, stepping prudently away from the range of the mirror and averting his gaze from it.

      ~You know how it is in youth,~ said Elladan, ~You make promises.  And we feared her so greatly at first sight, that we promised we would discover who she was and how to help her, if she would keep from harming us.  She didn't heed us at all, but we had released our oaths.  We return each year, to see if we have missed anything.  Since then, a greater part of the fear turned to pity, then sympathy.  And undoubtedly, we greatly value the words we make.  A promise must be kept.~

      ~You've asked your father?~ Legolas inquired, ~Surely he must know of her.~

      ~We weren't even supposed to be venturing into the passages all alone, much less in the dead of the night and so we feared his wrath,~ Elrohir answered, ~That's how it began as a secret.  Then I suppose it just continued that way.  Throughout the years we inquired subtly about the ghosts of Imladris, and she fits but one description.~

      ~They found a blind, muted elf-girl in a hunt years and years ago,~ said Elladan, ~Back when even we were young.  She was walking the forests aimlessly.  They tended her as best they could, but her body and mind have long suffered, and she could not be helped.  She ended her life in a winter solstice midnight scores of years ago, with no one ever knowing who she was and however she had come to be in her situation.~

      ~The room there in the mirror,~ Legolas said, ~It looks nothing like this.~

      ~It must have been how the library used to look,~ replied Elrohir, ~Perhaps it used to be a bedroom.  I do not blame them for wanting to change it, after her death.~

      ~It looks more like a room from the House of Healing,~ Legolas commented, ~Sparse.  Utilitarian, not so intricate.  With a similar view.~

      ~What do you think, Elrohir?~ asked Elladan, ~Does it look like that to you?~

      ~It seems logical for her to be in such a place,~ said Elrohir, ~I suppose we could take a look.  I do not pay as much attention to those rooms as I should.  We are often brought to our own rooms when we are injured, and we stay in the House of Healing only if our wounds are grievous, and hence do not really notice much.  It would be wise to look, indeed.~

      ~I was there just this morning,~ Legolas informed them, ~A room in the House of Healing looks just like that.~

      ~You were there this morning?~ Aragorn inquired, raising an eyebrow at the elf's slip.

      ~For trivial purposes, I assure you,~ Legolas said quickly, ~An old injury from days and days ago.  I went not of need or discomfort, but only upon Lord Elrond's insistence.~

      Estel's looked at him knowingly, but said naught else of the matter.  ~Well,~ he said, turning to his brothers, ~We've not had a breakthrough like this in years, don't you think?~

      ~Indeed,~ agreed Elrohir with a smile, ~Did you see anything else that we have not seen before, Elladan?~

      Elladan shook his head.  ~Nay, I did not.  I am beginning to fear we may have already redeemed our word as much as we are able, and it is hardly enough.~

      ~Well there is always next year,~ sighed Elrohir, ~Does anyone want tea?~

* * *

      Elladan, Elrohir, Aragorn and Legolas gamely decided to take the conventional way back to their rooms after tea, the Prince of Mirkwood wanting to keep the valiant and aloof Amadis on his toes.

      ~It's a question of who has control, you see,~ he said, grinning, ~It's a matter of leverage, and pride.~

      Sure enough, they found the elf guard out of his post outside Legolas' door and inside the suite, looking dispassionately into the secret passage inside the cabinets, before he turned his scowl upon the new arrivals.

      ~Lord Elrond would do well to have these doors shut for ever,~ he said darkly, thinking Legolas made his exit from there, ~And I would do well to start sleeping on the same bed with you, Sire, so Eru help me.  Dare you make it necessary for me to do so?~

      Legolas pursed his lips to keep from laughing, ~That will not be necessary, sir.  Your devotion to your duty is truly admirable, though.~

      Amadis' eyes narrowed, knowing he was very much being teased and tested by his impulsive charge, ~Not nearly as admirable as my resolve, I guarantee you.  Do we have an understanding?~

      ~An uncannily clear one,~ Legolas replied lightly, turning to his friends, ~I will see you in the morning.~

      The three brothers shuffled out of the room, ushered out by Amadis, who resumed his post by the door.

      ~You know what they say,~ Elladan chuckled to his companions, ~It only takes for one to be treated like a child for one start acting like one.~

* * *

      Her wordless song seemed to soar over the lands and seas, dancing with the winds as if it belonged all around and all at once always heading elsewhere.  There were promises there, and a calling that was unavoidably entrancing.  It was warm and unfolding, breezy and infinite, hypnotically rhythmic, like the crashing of the waves of the Sea, shifting away from the defiantly setting sun in the horizon.

      The Sea…

      Must you go so far from the Sea…

      Must you go so far from me…?

      Legolas jerked awake, catching his breath.  Had it been a dream? Had it been a memory?

      Rubbing his hands over his eyes, he glanced warily and with distrust at a glacial mirror that hung on one side of the suite wall. 

      Chuckling at himself nervously, he tried to relax against the pillows of his bed, berating himself for fearing ghosts, even as his heart hammered in remembrance of what he had seen this night.

      Such horrors he was not a stranger to, without a doubt.  But what truly gripped him was what he had heard. 

      I know her song, he realized, looking at the mirror upon his wall nervously, as if she would spring from there and take him…

      He shuddered at the thought, and pulled the covers closer to his body.  How embarrassing, he thought miserably, feeling genuinely afraid.  He knows her song, there is little doubt about that now.  He knew its melody the moment he heard it, and from the deepest recesses of his memory, his dreams now reminded him of the words.  He knew not why he would know it.  Either way, his knowledge made him feel distinctly vulnerable.

      Was she calling to him? But he did not know her, he could not.  He would remember if he did…

      Who are you?, he wondered, And what do you have to do with me?

      Shaking his head in dismay, he tried to wrest his mind from his troubles and towards sleep.  But each time he drifted, he seemed to return to that mirror in the library, the sight of her hollow eyes, the vision of her scarred, spindly hands, the sound of her song of longing cut by her agonizing scream as she jumped to her death.

      Over and over did it play around in his mind, tormenting him, until he accepted that he would get no sleep at all this night, and decided that if he was not getting any sleep, the cause for his restlessness should not get any either.

      Throwing his covers aside and slipping on a coat over his sleeping clothes, he strode towards his balcony.  Taking a deep breath and glancing at his suite door to guarantee that Amadis was undisturbed, Legolas jumped to Estel's balcony.

      He strode into the suite quietly, to find the human already awakened by his almost imperceptibly light steps and looking at him with curiosity.  Aragorn was lying on his side, blinking at the elf.

      "You could not sleep," Aragorn deduced.

      "We never need much," Legolas said quickly, loathe to admit that his mind was reeling and his heart was hammering in anxiety.

      "You were bothered by her," Aragorn commented, reading between the lines as skillfully as he always had, "I was just as captured the first time, I very much still am.  She still gives me some fear.  You needn't be ashamed about it.  I will tell no one."

      Legolas opened his mouth to deny it, a breath before he decided not to, since the human admitted to his own fears.  He sat on a weathered chair next to Estel's bed, inhaling deeply.

      "'Tis not the fact that she is a ghost that bothers me," Legolas said softly, "At least not as much as the fact that I seem to know her song."

      Aragorn raised himself up to his elbows, "You know her song."

      "I knew the tune the moment I heard it," Legolas confessed, "I said nothing, thinking I may have been mistaken.  But I do not think so anymore.  I know the tune, I know the words, and it is a duet in structure, but more than anything, a calling for a distant love, and a promise to be fulfilled.  Though I know it, I am certain she couldn't be calling to me, I've… um…," he struggled to phrase himself properly, "I've not really made such promises to any body yet… But I know her song, and this troubles me.  What does all this mean?"

      "I don't know what it means, mellon," said Aragorn, "But it seems Elladan and Elrohir have yet another break, and possibly the great one that they have long been looking for."

To be continued…