Naeore Laerien (Summerland of the Heart)

Chapter 37:

Lost Days Restored

It was not the tenth day, but sixth from the companions' arrival in Rivendell that saw Legolas ride unheralded through the arched gate of Elrond's home. He went first to the stables in order to see to Arod, and there he encountered Pippin, who was feeding a treat of apples to three ponies.

"Well!" Pippin said at sight of the elf, "Everyone is accounted for now. I do hope that your family business went well, Master Elf."

"Well enough, Master Hobbit," Legolas conjured a small smile and bowed. "Your presence here is a happy surprise. I see three ponies; are Merry and Sam with you?"

"Sam can't be moved from his table at the Green Dragon where he handles the business of being Mayor. Though from what I can tell, the business of being Mayor of Hobbiton consists mostly of gossip, smoking, and the consumption of beer. Merry's come along, though.

We meant to head on to Gondor, but Strider tells us that there is an excellent reason to put off our journey. We will wait until next year so that we can see the young prince or princess! It was a pleasant jaunt to Rivendell, however, and handy that you all happened to be available for a visit!"

Pippin had been rambling away cheerfully, but then he realized he might have offended his friend. Quickly he added, "Of course, the elves here tell us that there was some sort of trouble off in the Mirkwood with your people, Legolas. The others will say very little about it. Was it something awfully bad?"

"It was…awfully bad," Legolas admitted. "But the worst is over. My people will be well." After a pause in which the elf's expression was oddly abstracted, Legolas smiled and gestured for the hobbit to join him, "Come, my friend! Let us find the others and commence visiting."

But Pippin frowned slightly when the elven prince turned toward the exit of the stables. Something was not entirely right with his friend. Pippin could not put his finger on the why of it, but Legolas's eyes seemed distant and strange; his good humor forced. Something awfully bad indeed must have happened.

They made it only so far as the main courtyard of Rivendell before Thranduil found them.

"So, Legolas, you must have ridden at speed to arrive here so quickly. Why do you flee from your woodland home?"

Without removing his eyes from his father's, Legolas said, "Pippin, go on ahead. I will join you anon."

The hobbit paused to look carefully at his elvish companion, but Legolas had adopted the smooth featured, unreadable expression that Pippin had never been able to penetrate. With a courteous and hasty bow, Peregrin Took all but fled.

"I see you have somehow managed to terrorize at least one of the hobbits, Ada. Was that entirely necessary?"

"That one has a lot of cheek, and should learn to moniter his words with more care. If he has determined to be wary of me, that is to his benefit; though 'terrorize' is a bit harsh, Sén nin."

Legolas sighed, but did not comment. After a pause, he asked, "Have you…are you feeling any better, my lord?"

"You mean, have my memories returned? No. No, they have not."

"I…I am sorry," Legolas stammered, crossing his arms over his chest as though against a chill.

Thranduil frowned. Legolas's eyes had dropped. He could not seem to master himself anymore and his father longed to know the cause. Something had shaken his son to his foundations – something to do with him…but what?

"You say that you are sorry, and yet you have it within your power to aid me in recapturing the days which I have lost. You have chosen not to."

Legolas winced, "Even did Lord Elrond agree that it would be to your benefit, Ada, still I would not share my memories with you. It is not choice, but necessity."

"Necessity?" Thranduil repeated, "What foolishness is this? What necessity could compel you to withhold your assistance from me? Am I not your father? Am I not your king?"

"You are my father and my king," Legolas immediately acknowledged with a deep respectful bow.

"As your king, I could command you to comply!" Thranduil insisted. Unreasoning anger flared hot and fast in the woodland king. Why did Legolas remain so stubborn? Why did he refuse? He must not refuse!

"I do command it!" the woodland king grated.

Legolas went white and his breath hitched, "Sire! You would not…if you knew…" Legolas squared his shoulders and finished more firmly, "I refuse. I will not do it, Ada." With that, he turned away.

Thranduil was filled with sudden revulsion for what he perceived as Legolas's weakness. Rage filled him and his vision went red. In two brisk strides he caught up to his son and clamped a hand down on his shoulder, yanking him around to face him. "I will not allow you to refuse me!" Thranduil raged. "If you will not give me what I ask – if you will deny me what is my right, then I must take it from you!"

As his father's words registered, Legolas's eyes widened in horror. But before he could break free of the grip on his shoulder his mind was assaulted with all the formidable power of an elven king.

Thranduil was capable of great subtlety, but he was frustrated – livid! He had no room left in his mind for subtlety. He tore his son's memories away with raw and brutal efficiency.

Legolas cried out as blinding pain drove him to his knees and control of his mind was mercilessly wrenched away. Struggling, he forced out, "Ada, nallon! Imuva úcuio pella hen!" Father, please! I cannot survive this!

But Thranduil was far beyond hearing.

XXX

Pippin found his friends in Elrond's hall where the elven lord was about to share lunch with his sons and their guests.

"There you are, Pip!" Merry said. "We were about to send someone to find you!"

"I've never known you to be out of shouting distance at mealtime, my lad!" Gimli laughed.

"Legolas has arrived!" Pippin announced.

Feia sat forward in her chair, but Elessar asked, "Then where is he?"

"I left him in the courtyard with King Thranduil."

Feia's lips parted but no sound emerged. She looked worriedly at Elessar beside her and the king laid a hand over hers reassuringly. But at that moment Lord Elrond suddenly stood, looking dismayed.

Just then Feia was overwhelmed by pain and grief. It hurt so badly and came as such a shock that she cried out. It took a moment for her to realize that she was not alone.

The king's fingers had tightened around her wrist in an involuntary response to the pain he too was experiencing. Meg had pressed her hands to her mouth while Haldir's face had gone tight. The hobbits were doubled over, leaning against one another for support. Gimli had jumped up reaching for an axe that was not there. Elrond and his sons were sprinting from the hall.

Terrified, Feia stood, gathered her skirts around her knees, and ran after them. The king and the others were following, she knew, but she was focused almost solely on what was going on inside her mind.

She rode Arod in the moonlit darkness, wielding a sword with which she cut a path through a seemingly endless stream of orc. The blade slipped between the breast plate and the shoulder guard of a massive uruk hai, killing it, but just then another orc got hold of her quiver and yanked her off balance. The blade was jammed and she had to let it go. Reaching over her shoulder she unsheathed a knife and used it to cut the strap of her empty quiver so that it fell away.

Then she dismounted and began to fight with knives while Arod fought at her side, rearing and kicking with his lethal hooves. But there were so many orc! Eventually one of them got lucky and came in under her guard, stabbing her in the side.

She was bent over, holding the wound and panting when Elessar appeared beside her, also breathing heavily and clutching his side. "It is not you! It is not real!" he said, "It is Legolas's memory."

"What?!" Feia gasped, "How?"

"Thranduil!" The king said darkly and helped Feia stumble back into a run.

The memories began to come more quickly then, flashing from one to another in rapid succession. She was brutally tied and being carried along inside a small crate. It was suffocating, and every time the box was moved in rocking jolts it sent sharp pains through her skull. Something was wrong with her head – an injury, and her side throbbed and burned.

No, it was Legolas. Legolas's memory. Legolas's suffering.

Thranduil beat him and cursed him with words that flayed his heart even as the whip scored his flesh. "Ai! Naiú elyë, Ada!!!" he cried.

"Ai!" Feia sobbed also. "Oh, Light, Legolas!" She clung to Elessar's supporting arm as they ran together. Behind her Merry asked, "What is happening?" His voice reflected pain and fear.

The beech tree soothed away his pain and sought to know him by learning his song. And then, as though his song had summoned her, there came a memory of the mysterious lady upon a black horse in the sun, and another song, the lady's song, which wove seamlessly into his as though they were one melody. But then there was fire and more pain and delirium. He was burning…burning…

"What has Thranduil done?" That was Meg, and by her voice, she was fighting tears.

Nenuiel bathed and bound his wounds and told him that he must ride for Imladris for he was the last hope of their people. But as Suluin and Galion hoisted him onto Arod's back, he felt the knife wound come open again. The queen entreated him to return with aid. But also, weeping, she bade him end the spell that afflicted their people, even though it cost the life of her lord.

Then in despair he cried, "Náim na e metta na ada nin a cuio esse guruthos?" (Am I to kill my father and survive the grief of it)?

His mother reached up and touched his hand, saying gently, "An edhelothlva." (For our people).

"Nane, imuva hen Imladris mí aur nef lantarnya." (Mother, I shall not see Imladris before I die).

"Hiruvalyë lene," (You will find a way).

Then he was riding while fever and blood-loss stole away his consciousness and will, until both faded into black nothingness.

When awareness returned, his friends were with him, but it was too late for them to do aught but ease his passing. He had failed. Then like a miracle the pain was gone and he woke whole and healed with the lady of his visions in his arms. Feia. Her name was Feia. Somehow, she had saved him.

Feia and her companions reached the courtyard of Rivendell, where Lord Elrond knelt beside Thranduil speaking urgently to him. But the king of the woodland elves sat entranced upon the cobbled yard oblivious to Elrond's presence; focused inward upon his son's memories and shaking his head in silent negation. In stark contrast to the violence with which he despoiled Legolas's mind, he cradled his son almost tenderly in his arms. Legolas did not move; he barely breathed, and his complexion was grey.

The companions all gathered around, but Elrond forestalled them from interfering. "If we try to separate them now, we could destroy both of their minds. This spillover…Thranduil is not being gentle, I fear."

Elessar fell to his knees on the elven king's other side and leaned close to Legolas's ear. "It is not real, Legolas," he said. "It is memory! It is only memory, my friend!"

He continued to speak softly to Legolas while Elrond resumed urging the woodland king, "Thranduil, you will kill him. You must stop this! Thranduil!"

Legolas was scouting the interior of the Limlight glen. He could hear Lady Meghailin singing. Reaching out, he grasped the branch that obscured his view. Wrong! Something is wrong. Someone else is watching! In Thranduil's arms Legolas stirred and moaned. There was a wrenching sensation and pain that seared Feia's mind and then the memory shifted. Legolas listened attentively as Lady Meghailin related the details of her father's Foreseeing.

Feia shook her head to clear it. What had just happened? Legolas had been in the glen amongst the rocks above the falls. Meg was singing. The sound had come from below him. He had been pushing back a branch that hindered his view of the pool below. But, wait! Legolas was above the falls! Had he moved that branch he would have seen…

"Elessar, try harder! Part of him knows this is not real. He is protecting me!"

Elessar looked at Feia sharply, but he did not question her, instead his voice took on new urgency, "Legolas, nás ilye caita, mellon nin!" It is not truth, my friend!

They rode ahead of the approaching storm and orc were on their heels. Why would the lady not go? There was fighting and a wild storm and the companions were separated. When they came together, Feia was missing.

Feia could feel the agony of fear that gripped Legolas at the thought of what might have happened to her. It was so strange experiencing it all again, but through Legolas's eyes.

Sending the others to find shelter, Legolas went out into the storm alone, finding his lady only just in time to keep her from plummeting to her death. Cradling her before him on Arod, he sought shelter for them, holding her as though she were precious while she dozed in frozen exhaustion. When they were safe in a sheltering cave, both wrapped in blankets, he touched her hand and her cheek. She was still so cold!

"My lady, I have to get you warm." Wrong…someone watching… "We must get warm, Feia." Someone watching…Stop! Watching…Not this!

"Daro! Úhen!" Stop! Not this! Legolas's voice shook with strain. "Uvalyë údú iënin edainriel!" Your shadow will not touch my lady!

A white-hot explosion blinded Feia and she groaned. Legolas's body convulsed in his father's grip and Thranduil cried out in pain.

"This should not be possible!" Elrond said, "He has shielded some of his memories…I have never seen…" Then the elven lord frowned. "His strength fails...Thranduil! Thranduil, you must stop!!!"

But the woodland king was still beyond hearing, lost in the unbelievable memories of his son. Thranduil was focused now on the gathering of the elven force that would come to the aid of the Mirkwood elves.

And then, on the journey to Dol Guldur, came the spell.

Something had changed in Legolas's mind. The memories came now as waves, each one crashing into him, washing over him while he clung almost reluctantly to his life; each one eroding what little strength and will remained in him to hold on. His body lay still and quiet again, but as he relived the hideous spell and the visions of his slain kinsmen, tears flowed freely from his eyes.

Thranduil began to shake and his head thrashed back and forth. His hands moved to his son's temples, fingers digging into the flesh there, as though by going deeper he might discover that these memories were false.

Legolas's memories revealed deeds that Thranduil could not accept, but he pressed onward. He had to see. Surely he would discover that some evil force had used his voice and likeness to torture Legolas – to kill those elves. It could not have been him!

Feia was weeping openly. She had known Legolas had been in pain, but not how much. She had known that he grieved, but not how deeply. She had not known how closely death had followed him, nor had she anticipated how closely it courted him, still. And he was weakened because of her – because he was protecting her. Light! He needed all of his strength.

Feia prayed.

At the tenth gong, Legolas collapsed under the sheltering boughs of Southern Mirkwood and fevered dreams claimed his mind. Death wooed him, but even at the extremity of his life, he resisted its embrace. He would use what strength was left to him in the service of his people.

It was enough! It was too much! Thranduil would seek no further. He could stand no more! Pushing Legolas roughly away from him, the elven king severed the contact of their minds. And then he crawled away a little distance, collapsing with his face buried in his hands.

But when Elessar moved to where Legolas lay shuddering on the cold stones something happened which no one could have guessed. "Ilye…" All… Legolas whispered, his face twisted with agony. Painfully, he hauled himself close enough to Thranduil that he could reach out and clamp his fingers around his father's ankle.

"Uvalyë hens ilye!" You will see it all! The elven prince whispered hoarsely.

"Legolas, mettas lim!" Elrond cried. Legolas, end this now!

"Ilye vas!" All of it! Legolas insisted. Forcing his thoughts into his father's protesting mind he moaned and his eyes fluttered and rolled as the act swept him further into the churning tide of grief.

Legolas's memories of the last three soundings of the gong followed one after another. The eleventh gong brought more pain, toppling him to lie on the cool earth beside the stair beneath the gate at Dol Guldur. At the sound of his father's voice, however, Legolas summoned his last strength. If he failed, he would end to no good purpose. But the arrow he let fly felled his lady, not his father, and then his soul was stripped away.

"A, Ai!!!" Legolas sobbed. Pain and grief, grief and pain – there was nothing else. His knuckles were white where he gripped his father. Thranduil wept bitter tears, struggling weakly.

Now, with the pain and grief, there was also terror. When his soul was destroyed, he would not exist except in the memories of those who knew him. Or would it be as though he never was? In the moment of his end would he be forgotten? Would his lady grieve and wonder why? No! He had killed his lady. She waited for him in the halls, but he would never seek her there.

Then from his despair, from the very boundary of nothingness, Lady Galadriel reached out and called him back, commanding that he live.

His grip on his life was disintegrating, but Legolas forced his father to see through his eyes what had become of Eryn Lasgalen. And in the courtyard outside the rooms that had always been his, how grief had almost taken him.

Grief. Wave after wave of it. His strength was gone. His will was spent. With a sigh almost of relief, Legolas let go of his father – let go of everything…and sank into it.

"Nooo...no...no…" Feia moaned crawling closer to her husband; she grasped his hand and pressed her tearstained cheek into his palm. "Edhel nin, no! Marsí a útar noro onin!" Abide here and do not go from me!

Chapter 38:

Lady of the Gates

Pippin waited outside the room to which they had carried Legolas. If I had not left him, could I have prevented this? He wondered. Likely not. What could a hobbit do against an elven king?

Anxiously Pippin watched from his seat on a wooden bench as Merry paced between him and the railing that overlooked the elven vale. Gimli and Haldir stood a few paces apart staring out at the view blindly, each lost in their own thoughts. Elladan and Elrohir had gone to see to King Thranduil's comfort, though Pippin sensed that they were being sent to guard Legolas's unpredictable father.

Inside the room, Lord Elrond, King Elessar and Lady Meghailin sought to use their skills to aid the stricken elven prince. Lady Feia was within as well, for she would not be moved from her husband's side.

He and Merry had not been given to know a number of things about the lady, Pippin reflected. That she was wed to Legolas was not alone amongst them. Pippin had learned of her skill with a blade moments after Legolas's memories had ceased their hold on his mind and his elven friend had gone still.

In tears, the lady had dragged herself to Legolas's side. There the lady – Legolas's lady, had pressed her face into the elf's palm and entreated him in his own tongue. King Elessar and Lady Meghailin had moved to either side of the pair and the elven healer laid her hand on Legolas's pale brow, but Lord Elrond had cautioned her.

"Lady Meghailin, you do him no service by attempting to rouse him, now." Then he sent his sons to bring a litter to carry the unconscious elf to a room where he could be made comfortable.

At the elven patriarch's words, however, Lady Feia had raised her head, blinking away her tears. Her lips parted as though she meant to speak to Lord Elrond, but then her eyes focused beyond him to where Thranduil had managed to push himself up to sit. In one blur of motion, the lady unsheathed and threw the knife she carried in the red sheath at her belt, it sped through the air – spinning end over end until it struck the King of the Woodland Realm.

While the companions looked on in mute shock, the dagger which Thranduil had been preparing to thrust into his own heart tumbled from his nerveless fingers, for the handle of the lady's knife had connected sharply with the back of his hand. The elven king was left staring bleakly at his daughter-in-law. Finally the lady had said softly, "Would you force him to live with that, as well?"

Thranduil's eyes had widened momentarily, and then he had nodded once, his face twisted with self-loathing. "I trust that should he die you will not interfere again, lady."

"If he dies, I will kill you myself," was the lady's terse, dispassionate response. The elven king had only nodded again, as though that was what he had expected, and the prospect did not particularly trouble him.

Then Elladan and Elrohir appeared, gently lifting Legolas onto the litter that they had brought. Feia did not relinquish her hold on her husband's hand, but continued to cling to it, walking beside him as the sons of Elrond carried him to this room. The other companions had followed in a silent procession that felt uncomfortably like a funeral to Pippin.

They laid Legolas on a soft bed and covered him with warm blankets. Immediately, Lady Feia had crawled onto the mattress beside her lord and laid her head upon his chest. The room, characteristically elven, was open to the outside air, but at Elrond's instructions dark heavy fabric was hung all around, covering every opening – even the door.

When Merry asked why, Meg had responded, "If…When Legolas wakes, he will be particularly sensitive to light and sound."

"Because King Thranduil hurt his mind?"

"Yes, because his father hurt his mind. The mind has natural defenses that moderate the perceptions of the eyes and ears to a level that the mind can tolerate. You can think of them as shields, if you like. Thranduil destroyed Legolas's shields. It will take some time for his mind to rebuild them."

"But he's going to be alright isn't he, Lassie?" Gimli had asked.

"As soon as we know, we will tell you, my lord," the elven lady had said, and she had ducked beneath the blanket over the door where Elessar and Elrond already bent over the pale, still form of the woodland elf.

It seemed they had been waiting for hours, though Pippin supposed that time filled with worry passed more slowly than time spent in more pleasant occupation. Finally, the blanket doorway was lifted away and Lady Meghailin emerged with Lord Elrond and King Elessar following.

Merry halted in his tracks, and Gimli stepped away from the railing displaying signs that he both longed for news and feared what it might be. Haldir moved to put a comforting arm around his lady wife who leaned into him wearily.

Lord Elrond bowed and excused himself, saying, "I must go and see to Thranduil."

"What news? Will Legolas be well?" Pippin asked when the elven lord had gone. He had stood as the three emerged, unconsciously moving closer to Merry. When neither the king nor the lady responded at once he said, "Strider?"

Elessar was tiredly scrubbing his hands over his face. "We have done all that we can, my friends," he said. "Whether he will wake depends upon him alone, now. He has endured a very great deal. Let us pray that he will see sufficient cause to return to us rather than seeking peace the other way."

"The other way," Pippin repeated. "What other way?"

Merry put an arm around his friend, speaking softly, "He means by dying, Pippin."

"Dying…" Pippin was having extreme difficulty grasping the concept. "Legolas is immortal."

"Grief can kill an elf," Meg said as kindly as she could manage.

"No!" Pippin said in denial, "he has too much to live for!"

"More than he knows," Meg muttered.

Elessar glanced at her, but he said to Pippin, "I hope that Legolas comes to that same conclusion, my friend."

XXX

Many hours passed and the companions kept an uneasy vigil outside Legolas's door. Elves came at intervals offering refreshment which none of them had much interest in, even the hobbits. But it was a way to gauge the passing of time.

Whenever food was brought, Lady Meghailin carried a plate into the darkened room and the others could hear not the words, but the timbre of her voice as she implored Feia to eat. Always the plate came out again untouched and Meg's face grew more and more distressed.

When the sun sank beneath the surrounding hills, Gimli asked, "Is it a good or a bad sign, this passage of time without any change?"

"It could be either, or neither, Gimli," Elessar answered. "He still lives, but it could simply mean that he has not yet made up his mind." Elessar sighed, looking out at the night-darkened vale as though only now realizing that it was growing late. "My friends, your presence here will not aid Legolas. I will come and wake you if there is need."

Reluctantly, Gimli and the hobbits went to their beds. No amount of coaxing would make Meghailin go, however and Haldir chose to remain with his wife.

In the early morning hours, Gimli returned, unable to rest. He found Meghailin curled on a bench with her head pillowed in Haldir's lap, asleep. Elessar still stared out at the stars moodily, as though he had not moved all night. Without comment, the dwarf joined his friend at the rail, silently rubbing at the place where The Lady Galadriel's gift was pinned.

XXX

Legolas woke gradually, becoming aware of small things first. He was in a bed and there was a weight across his chest that rose and fell with his breathing. He heard a sigh and the soft inhale which followed it. He could feel the passing of sweet breath as it stirred the hairs on his neck. He could smell the spicy-clean scent of his lady's hair.

Slowly the elf opened his eyes. The room was very dark and closed in, but he could see well enough. Feia lay beside him, tucked to his side for the length of her as though she needed to feel him everywhere. Her arm was draped across his chest and her head rested on his shoulder. She slept, but her lashes were wet and her cheeks damp as if she had just now cried herself to sleep.

He longed to wake her with a kiss and tell her that everything would be all right. He wanted to touch her and lose himself in her comforting softness. He wanted to hear her speak his name in love…in surrender.

But that is what the living would do, and he was dead.

Feia must have sensed his wakefulness, for she stirred and her eyes came open. She watched him silently, waiting.

"You should not cry for me, lady," he said softly. "I have been no sort of husband for you."

"If you are dissatisfied with your treatment of me, my lord, you have eternity in which to do better." Her voice was hushed but she could not disguise her joy at his seeming recovery. Legolas winced inwardly at the injustice of what he had done to her – of what he would do to her, now.

"I cannot be your husband, Feia."

She pushed up on her arm and looked down at him, frowning, "What do you mean?" She could barely make out his features in the dark.

"I am dead. I cannot give you what you deserve." He had to use all of his will to keep from touching her and soothing away the pain he was inflicting.

"You are strangely animated for one who is dead, my lord. Why would you put me aside? What are you afraid of?" Feia's voice was calm, but he could feel her shaking.

"The only fear I have left is that I will hurt you further ere I go." Almost involuntarily, his hand moved to stroke her arm.

"And what do you imagine you are doing, now?" Feia said, jerking away from his touch. "Will you try to tell me next that you do not love me, Legolas? You need not bother, for I have seen your thoughts."

"I love you with the love of an elf, my lady. I love you unendingly and I will carry my love for you into the next world. But I yearn for the peace of death. Your love is an anchor that keeps me from that peace. Your presence here binds me when I would be free. Go to some other world, Lady of the Gates. Go and give your heart to another, for you are a widow. I would that I had never burdened you with the weight of my love."

Feia sat up fully, suddenly angry. "You want my permission to die! I will not give it, my lord! I will not give it, and I will not go."

Legolas pushed himself up to sit, as well, "Then you would sentence us both to a living death. How long could you give your love to one whose heart is dead before your heart died also?"

"Your heart is not dead, Legolas! It is grieving! Grief fades with time. Believe me; I have cause to know it!" Feia brushed his cheek with her fingers. "You have called me Orenya; can you not let me be your heart until yours has healed?"

Legolas captured her fingers and gently removed her hand from his face. "I have caused you nothing but grief, lady. I could wish that you had let me die when first you found me. There will be an end to it! I will return to Southern Mirkwood and use what time I have to clear the wood of yrch."

"You will seek death, then, regardless of what I do." As she said the words, Feia knew them for true and she scooted back away from him.

"I do not have to seek death, my lady. Death rides with me."

"This is wrong, my lord. Someday you will see that, and you will look for me. Were I to go through the Gate and leave Middle Earth you would not find me."

"I will not look for you."

"Ah!" Feia gasped on a sob. She struggled not to cry, but he had put another arrow in her after all, this one through her heart.

Feia stood abruptly, and backed away from the bed until her questing hand found the fabric which covered the door. There was one thing she could say that would keep him here – one thing that would prevent him from sending her away. But he had said she was keeping him from finding his peace. That he could consider her love such a burden made her ache. It would tear out her heart to hear him speak of his children thus!

Even so, the words fought to come out and she struggled with them, trembling, so that when she spoke asking, "When will you go?" she was surprised not to hear her voice say, "Our babies will need their father, Legolas."

"In the morning."

"You are not yet well enough!"

"It does not matter!" Legolas's voice had risen and Feia could hear the pain in it, but then he turned away from her and in his usual deep and even voice he said, "I will not see you again, my lady."

Feia could take no more! She spun and flew from the room.

XXX

Feia ducked through the blanket-covered door only to be brought up short by the expectant faces of Elessar, Meg, Haldir and Gimli. They must have heard her voice and Legolas's there at the end. They would take that as a happy sign, but her face was telling a different story, for she could not hide that her heart was shattering.

Knowing that she only had a few words to spare before she was beyond speaking, Feia seized Haldir's arm with one hand and Gimli's shoulder with the other and said, "He goes in search of death! You must not let him find it."

Haldir bowed wordlessly and Gimli only stared at her with his mouth agape.

To Elessar she curtsied, not meeting his eyes and said, "It may be some time before I can fulfill my oath to you, my liege. Forgive me." Then without waiting for a response she fled, shoulders shaking as the tears came.

Meg caught up with her, placing an arm around her shoulders and speaking softly to her. By the time the ladies disappeared around a bend in the corridor the tiny elven lady was all but carrying her sister and the sound of Feia's sorrow drifted back to her friends tearing at their hearts.

Chapter 39:

In Search of Death

By dawn, all the arguments had been made and discarded. Legolas would not be deterred from the path that he had chosen, though all of his friends and Lord Elrond had tried. Even Elessar's last effort had not moved him.

"Legolas, at least remain here until you have properly healed." They were walking together from Legolas's room toward the stables. Legolas was dressed for travel and he carried his pack and all of his weapons. But even in the pale predawn light, his eyes were squinted as though against a glare.

"Some wounds cannot heal, Elessar. You know that! I…" The elf's words had trailed away as they strode past the small semi-enclosed garden where the Gate had stood. It was not there. The marble plinth upon which the Gate Cube had rested was empty. "She is gone."

Legolas's voice was flat and hopeless. Elessar's heart ached for him. "How many times have you sent her away? She was tired of fighting you, Legolas."

"It is for the best. She will find someone who can give her what she deserves. She will be happy. I have given her only sorrow."

"She is your wife."

"She is free of me! I will speak no more of it!"

At the stables Legolas found Haldir, Meg, Gimli, Elladan and Elrohir awaiting him. All were prepared to travel, their mounts loaded with their gear.

"It was my intention to go alone," the elven prince said shortly.

"Not likely, laddie," was Gimli's response. There was no argument that would deter his dwarven friend when he had that look upon his face. Legolas sighed and forbore trying.

Elladan said, "You tread on our territory, Prince Legolas. Yrch killing is our business. Elrohir and I were ready to return to it, in any event. We may as well ride along with you."

Legolas nodded, acknowledging the right of Elladan and Elrohir to join him in his quest, and then he turned his attention to Haldir. "What reason have you to accompany me, friend Haldir?"

"I gave my oath to a lady that I would, friend Legolas."

Legolas looked at Meg who quirked her brow and said, "Not I, my lord!"

The elven prince appeared shaken and his lips parted as though there was something of import he wanted to say. Instead he frowned slightly and said instead, "And what of you, my lady? Surely you are not interested in yrch killing, and I have my doubts that you would offer your oath on my behalf."

"I ride with my husband, Prince Legolas, for we would not be parted," Meg answered coolly. "By enlisting Haldir, my sister ensured that you would have a healer with you. If you must seek out ways to endanger the people who care for you, I shall be on hand to heal them."

Legolas bowed to her, hand to heart without speaking, for there was nothing that he could say. He was about to help Gimli mount Arod when Lord Elrond appeared.

The elven patriarch had told Legolas in no uncertain terms what he thought of this venture and had made his farewells when his opinion fell on deaf ears. He had also breakfasted early with his sons in parting, so the companions were surprised to see him.

They were even more surprised when he walked straight up to Gimli and bowed to him deeply. "My Lord Gimli, there is something I have kept from you which I must now share."

"What is it, my Lord Elrond?" Gimli asked, mystified.

"I have known what magic was used to ensorcel King Thranduil since we were at Dol Calenlor, but I have said nothing, for it troubled me deeply. Our Enemy set an object in the tower of the keep to ensnare the woodland king. Perhaps he hoped the item would be found during his bid for power. Had it been, there might have been elves in the armies of Mordor."

"What are you saying, my lord?" Legolas asked.

"I am saying that the Enemy targeted your father's weakness. He created a magic item that Thranduil could not fail to covet. I do not think your father yet realizes what the three gems in the torque truly were, but I will tell you that they were bait for a trap set for Thranduil alone bound up with spells which played upon his fears, twisted his will, and stole away the will of those who serve him. Your arrow released them from the binding which held them, Legolas."

Elrond held out his hand and upon his palm were three rings set with large gems. Three of the seven rings of power that had been gifted to the Dwarven lords.

"I fear what may happen by reintroducing these rings at this time, but the choice of their fate is not mine to make. I apologize, Gimli Lockbearer. I should have given them into your keeping long since. Will you carry them to King Dain at Erebor?"

"Destroy them," Gimli said simply.

"I beg your pardon?" Elrond asked.

"Are you capable of destroying them by your arts, Lord Elrond?"

"I am."

"Then do it." The dwarf said. "Dain would not thank me for carrying them to Erebor. Sauron tried to gain our allegiance by offering them back to us. Ironfoot made his wishes known then. If a dwarf comes into possession of any of the lost rings, he is to destroy it. No good ever came of them, my lord."

Elrond could not conceal his relief; bowing again to Gimli, "I bow to the wisdom of the king under the mountain," he said. "The rings will be destroyed."

Just then the hobbits appeared to make their farewells to the departing companions. Any thoughts they might have had of accompanying Legolas had been thoroughly squashed earlier when Elessar visited their room and had flatly forbidden it.

The hobbits could not fail to notice the distance that Legolas kept between himself and all of his friends, but they knew the elven prince as well as anyone could, and they recognized the depth of grief his coolness was meant to disguise. Had they not felt for themselves the pain that the elf had endured?

Merry only clasped Legolas's hand, gazing up at him with a worried frown, but Pippin could not refrain from advising, "Sam's Old Gaffer used to say, 'the day of the funeral is no time to sell the hole.' I think I know what he meant by that, now. If you let grief guide your choices, you could find yourself homeless." The hobbit ducked his head, embarrassed, "Or so I interpret it, anyhow."

Then Elessar said, "A person could do worse than Hamfast Gamgee as a role model." He held Legolas's eye as long as the elf would maintain the contact, but soon enough the prince looked away, his expression closed.

As the sun crested the rim of the vale, Legolas and his companions rode out of the gates of Rivendell.

XXX

Meghailin Celduinsén McKiernan, Second of Alderaan, Healer, agent of The Powers That Be, and erstwhile adventurer had become a cook and a maid for four elves and a dwarf. While three or four at a time, her companions ventured forth in order to slay yrch, it fell largely upon her to feed them, tidy up after them, and heal their injuries – though fortunately those had been minor and few.

It could be worse, Meg thought. If one must spend months in a camp, the Limlight Glen camp was more comfortable than most. It took a couple of days to reach the Mirkwood from the sheltered glen, but all were in agreement that the benefits far outweighed the disadvantages. And she was never alone. Haldir, Gimli, and the sons of Elrond took it in turn to keep her company. Haldir's turn came most frequently. Legolas she rarely saw, for the elven prince drove himself hard.

At intervals, rangers would appear bringing news and supplies. Meg came to look forward to these visits, for the rangers were good folk who spent the greater portion of their time alone. They were usually somewhat laconic to begin, but winsome Meg put them at their ease and one and all they proved to enjoy the opportunity to visit. The Rangers were fond of stories, often very old stories, and Meg made an appreciative audience.

It came as no surprise to Meg that the rangers all seemed privy to their presence in the glen as well as knowing the nature of their mission there. The rangers were wholly Elessar's, by bonds of kinship and custom as well as the loyalty that respect engenders. She would also have been unsurprised to learn that reports of these meetings were relayed swiftly to Gondor, for the king was anxious for news of his friends.

Once, a group of enterprising dwarves located the camp and stayed for three nights. There were stories and music and a never ending supply of beer and food, causing Meg to suspect that these dwarves possessed some magic.

While the dwarves visited, Haldir managed to slip away with one of them for a private conversation. A few weeks later, a trio of dwarves headed toward Meduseld made a delivery. Haldir had commissioned two matching emerald beads for his lady's queues connate signifying their marriage. His lady was very pleased!

Meg missed her sister dreadfully and worried that she was not there to monitor Feia's growing babies. She worried for Legolas who never stayed at the camp longer than absolutely necessary. Weeks would go by and she would not see him. When she did, he never smiled and he spoke very little.

For the most part, however, as the weeks and months passed, Meg was reasonably satisfied with her lot.

XXX

For Legolas's part, he was alive. Time passed and he still lived. And he discovered that his lady had been correct, grief did fade with time; some grief did. But even though he was not as susceptible as he once was to bouts of debilitating sorrow, still he was walled off from all emotion. He felt separated from his friends and he could not seem to bridge the chasm he had created between them. Everything he did felt the same. He killed yrch as dispassionately as he ate, or rode, or hunted, or rested. It was all just things that needed doing.

The companions had great success killing yrch. There were few bands left numbering more than five in the Mirkwood, and the companions had to range farther and farther to find them. Legolas knew that the people of the brown lands and those who dwelled within the forest were safer because of what they had done, but even that thought did not lighten his heart.

They had been at it for well over seven months. The winter had been hard, but Legolas scarcely noticed. It was full spring now, and the world had awakened from her slumber. The trees wore the new green of young leaves and even Legolas occasionally felt his blood stirring tentatively, yearning toward something which he had thought was beyond him; yearning toward life.

At one such time, Legolas ranged on foot through the Mirkwood. Elladan was within hailing distance ahead and to his left while Haldir was a flicker of motion in the trees behind him and to his right. A tree captured the elven prince's attention; a beech tree much like the one that had sacrificed her life for him what seemed now an age past. Approaching, he respectfully laid his palms flat against the smooth bark and allowed a part of his mind to drift.

The tree welcomed the touch of his mind. The beech was sturdy and vital, its sap flowing strongly and its canopy of leaves healthy and new. It whispered its secrets to the elf, gleaned through its roots from the earth and through its branches from the wind. Legolas heard music again, as in his mind he began to see visions of people from near and far. He heard Haldir's song and Elladin's; his mind touched the melodies of Gimli, Elrohir and Meg at the camp. The King of Gondor was holding his son and their melody's intertwined in love and joy. The young prince looked very like his mother.

Then unexpectedly there was terrible pain and fear and Legolas heard his name cried in a need so profound that he called out. With that, his contact with the tree was severed.

"Legolas?" Haldir said softly behind him. Legolas was leaning most of his weight against the tree and gasping for air. "What is it?" the Lórien elf asked. It had been some time since Legolas had been susceptible to spells like this. If they were recurring, it was cause for alarm.

"Naught," Legolas said, shaking his head to clear it. "My imagination got the better of me and I heard what is impossible." The woodland elf met his friend's anxious gaze, "Náim mae, Haldir." I am well. "I was speaking to the tree. In my inexperience I must have amplified my own fears somehow."

"What did you hear?"

"My lady was in need of me. She was in pain and she called for me," Legolas said in a bleak voice. "But it could not be so! The wind could not carry her voice to me from another world."

Haldir tilted his head consideringly. He had found it very difficult to believe that Lady Feia would leave Middle Earth despite the absence of the Gate – and despite what Legolas thought. Haldir wondered if the lady might indeed have touched the same breeze that now stirred the branches above them.

XXX

It was three days later when tragedy nearly struck the companions.

Legolas and Gimli rode the perimeter of Mirkwood seeking signs of yrch. It was almost nightfall and Legolas was also scouting a likely place for them to camp. He dismounted and left Gimli to follow a game trail a little way into the wood. When he heard the yrch it was only just in time to free his bow and fire at the approaching creatures. Soon he was engaged at close quarters with several yrch, and more were coming.

It had been so long since they had encountered a band of any size; perhaps they had become complacent. Or perhaps they simply ran afoul of the odds; it was probable, given what they were doing, that one of them would get hurt eventually.

Gimli came crashing into the fray swinging his axes and felling yrch with every blow. The dwarf and the elf fought back to back as they so often had, each trusting the other implicitly, each anticipating the other's every move.

Legolas heard the crossbow bolt when it was fired, and turned to knock it from its flight with his sword, but one of the creatures was blocking him and the cruel point hit Gimli full in the chest. The dwarf stared numbly at the thumb thick shaft protruding from his leather jerkin as though he was trying to understand what it meant, and then he thumped to his knees without uttering a sound.

Legolas exclaimed as though it was he who had been struck and he fought like ten elves, for the yrch were now standing between him and his friend's life. It took precious minutes to defeat them all, and then he dropped to the earth beside the wounded dwarf, assessing the wound anxiously. Gimli held on to consciousness, but his brow was beaded with sweat and his breath came hard.

"Take the bloody thing out, laddie!" he huffed after a moment. "It feels like a dirty great tree!"

"Nay! I may not, my friend," Legolas answered. "I fear it has pierced your lung. The arrow is keeping you alive." The elf whistled for Arod and in a moment the horse was there. "You need Lady Meghailin, Gimli."

"The lady is two days away!"

"Then you had better save your strength." It took some doing to get Gimli onto the horse's back, and when he was mounted, he was barely conscious.

Legolas mounted behind him and spoke to Arod. The horse cleared the trees and stretched into a cantor. They could not keep up that pace forever, but Arod was a stouthearted animal and Legolas knew the horse's limits.

It was fourteen hours later, at that very limit, that they reached the hidden glen. Gimli was delirious from fever and weak coughs had bloodied the dwarf's lips. Meg called out in alarm at the sight of them. Haldir sprinted to Arod's side and helped Legolas ease the dwarf to the ground. Elladan took charge of the exhausted horse.

Meghailin began issuing orders like a battle commander and soon the dwarf was laid out beside the fire, which had been built up. Water was heating in a pot over the flames. Haldir and Legolas cut away the jerkin that had behaved better than a bandage, holding the arrow as still as possible and slowing the flow of blood from the wound.

"I am going to put you into a deep sleep, Gimli," Meg announced, though whether the dwarf understood her words was open to debate. Laying a hand that glowed faintly blue upon his brow, the healer placed her patient into a dreamless slumber.

Fixing her gaze on Legolas, the elven lady said, "Timing will be crucial when the bolt is removed. If you are too weary my lord, Haldir or Elrohir should do it."

But she had guessed rightly, for Legolas would not cede the responsibility to anyone else. "I will remove it, my lady," he said.

Meg only nodded. Laying a hand near to the wound, she closed her eyes and concentrated. "Take hold of the shaft, Prince Legolas. It has turned. You will need to turn it back again so it is oriented in the same way as the wound." She indicated the direction the elf would need to rotate the shaft. "I will tell you when to stop."

"Very well," Legolas agreed, and the lady said, "Go!"

Firmly and smoothly, Legolas turned the shaft stopping when the lady hissed, "Now! Pull it out quickly, Legolas!"

The arrow came free, slick with his friend's life, and the wound pumped red. Even in his sleep, Gimli began to choke and a stream of blood spilled from his mouth. "My, lady!" Legolas exclaimed.

But Meg was deep in healing trance, her hands already pressed over the awful wound. It was several minutes before she raised her head. "The wound is healed, but we will have to clear his lungs of all that blood, else he may grow ill from the congestion. He will not be completely out of danger for several days. I expect you all to aid me in keeping our friend in check, for I fear he shall grow cross with me in a day or two."

Legolas made an odd sound and Meg turned to stare at him. He had been holding the air in his lungs and his first full breath had stuttered. His eyes were very wide in long postponed shock. Very long postponed, Meg suspected. Quite suddenly he surged to his feet and strode off toward the pool.

Haldir smiled and kissed Meg's cheek. "I believe we shall soon be leaving here, my lady," he said cryptically. Then he rose and followed Legolas into the trees.

Chapter 40:

Amongst the Living

Haldir found the elven prince seated beside the pool with his legs drawn up before him. His mood was intense and when he looked up, in his eyes the Lórien elf could see profound confusion as well as regret. Whether Legolas was aware that his eyes had been dead for the past months and that these were the first expressions of emotion that he had exhibited in all of that time, Haldir could only guess.

"Haldir, what am I doing?" he asked. "What have I done?"

"Ah, Im hen elyë, Legolas," Ah, there you are, Legolas, Haldir said pointedly. "Imtar anann anlyë túlo di e demorna, mellon nin." It has been long since I have seen you, my friend.

Legolas's eyes now registered chagrin. Then he answered his own question. "I have been seeking death. My lady was right. She was right about a great many things, but I did not heed her! And now I have nearly killed Gimli! I have endangered all of you."

"You are not responsible for us. We are here of our own choice, for our own reasons." Then Haldir smiled, "And Gimli just may consider it worth a bolt in the chest to see you back amongst the living."

Legolas frowned, "I have no business amongst the living, Haldir, and yet I am alive." Glancing at his friend he decided that he would speak candidly, "I thought that I could allow the grief to take me, but something in me will not go! I long for an end to this life; or I did. I do not even know anymore what I want. I only know that I drove my lady away and now I must face the prospect of eternity without her. I am either weak, or I am a fool."

"You are not weak, Legolas; quite the opposite! You are strong to the point of obstinacy."

"I note you are willing to allow that I am a fool."

"You are only a fool for so long as you continue to behave foolishly after you have learnt better."

Legolas was silent for several moments while he considered this. Then he declared, "As soon as Gimli has recovered enough that he may travel, I think I shall suggest that we go to Gondor and visit the new prince. The babe will surely stir what is left of hope in me.

I cannot undo what I have done, Haldir. I cannot undo Gimli's injury and I cannot call my lady back to me from afar."

"I do not believe your lady is beyond your call, my friend."

"You are wrong, then," the elven prince insisted, "for she told me, 'Were I to go through the Gate and leave Middle Earth you would not find me.' And I surely will not."

"It is interesting the way that she phrased that, if those were her words. Do you not think so?"

"I do not understand."

"If the lady planned to leave Middle Earth, would she not have said instead, 'When I go through the Gate,' rather than, 'Were I to go through the Gate?'"

"Are you suggesting that she did not leave? The Gate is gone, Haldir. I saw that it was missing with my own eyes!"

"It would not be the first Gate the lady had closed from this side, Legolas."

Legolas stood abruptly and spun to look at Haldir squarely. "If she did not take the Gate, then where would she go?"

"I do not know, my friend. I do not know for certain that she did not take the Gate, but I would be surprised to discover that she had." Then Haldir folded his arms and smiled, "And from what I know of the bond between your lady and mine, I would be astonished if she had, for my wife would never have allowed her to go."

Legolas's heart first surged with hope and then sank in despair so rapidly that he had to shake his head to keep up with it. "She would not have me back again after all that I have put her through."

"I would say that is a decision for the lady to make. If you truly want her to have you back, would it not be worth the risk of asking her?"

Legolas turned and stared out over the pool. His heart was hammering in his chest; the same heart that he had thought dead. After a moment he turned again toward Haldir, "An e fimwain lastoren Imuva anna andave o harma." For the smallest chance I would give any treasure. "Yanen uva utúvien iënin edainriel?" But how will I find her?"

"You might begin by asking me where she is, my lord," Meg said. She strode from the trees, striking a pose with her arms crossed under her breasts. Her expression somehow managed to be both hesitant and pleased.

XXX

Meg guided her weeping sister toward her room; the room Feia had shared with Legolas when last they had stayed in Rivendell. The elven healer was sure that, until this day, her sister had happily anticipated her husband's return when they would share that room again.

Meg felt a tremendous amount of compassion for Legolas. His father had tortured first his body and heart, then his soul, and now his mind. In her heart, she knew that Legolas was doing the best that he could under a dreadful weight of grief. That did not stop the elven lady from wanting to scream at him – naming him a knave and every variety of fool.

He had not heeded the warning of her father's Foreseeing and had let go of his faith. Now he was sending his greatest strength – his love, away from him when he most needed it.

Feia looked terrible. After hours of stress and no food, her own grief had sapped what was left of her strength. Meg worried for her and for her children. The children whom Feia had clearly resolved to keep secret from Legolas!

As Meg murmured comfortingly to her friend, her thoughts churned. Now what? Where now will we go? Meg could not leave Haldir!

Just then, they passed the little garden where the Gate stood glimmering in the predawn darkness. Feia paused and her inconsolable weeping suddenly ceased. Meg watched in amazement as her sister's features arranged themselves in an expression of firm resolve. Then stepping purposefully from the comforting circle of her elven friend's arms, Feia approached the Gate.

"Sister!" Meg said sternly, "Do nothing in haste that cannot be undone!"

Feia looked at Meg and smiled a grim smile that looked all the more forbidding on her tearstained cheeks. "Not even this?" she asked, and seizing the Gate cube from its marble resting-place, she flung it with all her strength through the open Gate. The light flared more brilliantly for a moment and then it disappeared leaving Meg blinking.

"I will not lose my faith, Meggie. And I will be on Middle Earth when Legolas finds his!" Feia linked her arm with Meg's and, though she was still trembling, she turned them deliberately back toward her room. "I must leave at once. He cannot find me in Rivendell when morning comes. I could not bear to go through this again!"

"But Feia! You have committed my husband to Legolas's harsh quest. How can I choose between you?"

"You will not!" Feia responded. "You will stay with your husband where you belong! Legolas will not separate you two as well!"

"And Legolas will have a healer in his party to help see that he does not succeed in ending his life!" Meg said, realizing she had been maneuvered and not at all happy about it. "I should be with you and your babies, and so should Legolas. This is madness!" Meg broke away from her sister, turning around abruptly, "I will tell him that he is to be a father as you should have done. Surely that will keep him here!"

"Nay, Meg!" Feia laid a restraining hand on her friend's shoulder. "I will not have our children be two more anchors denying him the freedom to seek peace in death!"

"Is that what he told you? He would name your marriage an encumbrance?" Meg was furious, "Let me go! I do not care what he has been through; he mustn't be allowed to speak to you thus!"

"He is not to blame in this Meghailin!" Feia said giving her sister a slight shake. "When he begins to heal, his own conscience will torment him enough without your adding to his pain."

"You have great faith in him," Meg's voice indicated she was unsure that faith was well placed.

"I do," and in Feia's voice there was no doubt.

Meg sighed resignedly, "Where will you go?"

"Soon the hobbits will return to their home. I will await them along the road. In The Shire I will abide until my husband heals and my babies come. Do not tell Legolas where I shelter until he asks you, for he will not ask until he is ready to know."

"And if he does not ask before the babes are born?"

Feia shook her head, "Hold my secret, Meggie. I will not keep his children from him. If I am delivered of them before he has decided in favor of life, I shall send for him when I am ready. It will be a hard thing, accepting that he would not come for me alone, but will surely come for his son and daughter."

"I understand," Meg said by way of a promise.

In less than an hour, just before the dawn, Feia rode out of the gates of Rivendell. Yáviëlosse was burdened with her mistress and with the little that the woman possessed plus a generous pouch of food from the elven larder. Her own pack already strapped to Linnêl's back in readiness for her return to Mirkwood with Legolas, Meghailin hugged her sister and waved her away, her brow creased in concern.

XXX

When a party on horseback crested a low rise less than a mile from where she rode, Nenuiel ducked beneath the cover of the trees in order to observe them. Her eyes had no trouble identifying her son amongst the travelers with his dwarven friend mounted behind him upon Arod. Also, she identified Haldir of Lórien, the elven healer whom he had wed, and the sons of Elrond. Where were they going? Where was Legolas's lady?

Nenuiel swallowed the dread that she could not help feeling whenever she thought of her son and all that he had endured. He could be as unyieldingly stubborn as his father. If he persisted in his pattern of pushing his grief away until it grew so great and so powerful that it swallowed him whole, her son would die. If only he would allow himself to feel his grief, to experience it fully, and to share it, then he might yet heal.

But that was not Legolas's way. It was not Thranduil's way. It was not the elven way, for elves dwelt upon old grief lamenting the past. They did not allow the experiences of the present to intrude upon their age-old sorrow. And so Nenuiel vacillated between hope and doubt, carrying her fear like a snarling beast with its claws dug deeply into her heart so that she could neither release it nor defeat it.

The elven queen had not gone to Eryn Lasgalen; instead she had left Galion in charge of the reclamation of their home. Nenuiel knew where she was most needed and where she needed most to be. Thranduil was her husband. Together, Thranduil and Legolas were her heart. She could not abandon either.

When she reached the ford of the Bruinin however, she did not cross, for the woodland queen's inner knowing guided her beyond that place. She was drawn nearly two miles eastward along the path that had long ago been a road between Rivendell and the great watchtower of Amon Súl. In a clearing on a knoll, which afforded a view of that path, she found Lady Serafé's camp.

The lady did not see Nenuiel approach, for she slept. Feia was beside her fire, huddled in her cloak, her face haggard and streaked with the tracks of many tears. Sensing that her daughter-in-law and the babes she carried were greatly in need of the rest, Nenuiel did not disturb her. Instead she laid a blanket over the sleeping woman and silently prepared a nourishing, thick soup from the stores she had brought and those that she found in the camp. Allowing it to simmer over the fire, the queen sat down to wait.

XXX

The rich aroma of hot food was the first thing Feia became aware of. The second thing was hunger, for she felt she could eat again for the first time in a full day. It took some time for her to remember where she was and why.

It was difficult coping with the fresh sorrow, but Feia had cried enough. Only when she had reached the decision that she would wallow no longer in her pain did she recall that the smell of food should be surprising. Opening her eyes, Feia pushed herself up to sit. As she did, she saw that a bowl of soup, a hunk of toasted bread with cheese and a cup of tea awaited her upon a blanket spread on the ground. Across the blanket from her sat Legolas's mother for all the world as though she had been there for hours. Perhaps she had been, for Feia certainly had not prepared this excellent lunch in her sleep.

Feia made as though to rise, exclaiming, "Your majesty!" But Nenuiel waved her back down.

"Eat girl," the elven queen said peremptorily. "You look a fright and you have the children to think of."

"Yes, my lady," Feia said, adding, "Thank you for preparing the meal. I meant to eat as soon as I found a good campsite, but I was suddenly so tired!" With that she dug into the soup with more enthusiasm than she would have believed herself capable.

Nenuiel allowed the woman to eat until she had finished her soup and was sipping at her tea, then the elf said, "My son has sent you away from him."

"Yes."

With a few pointed questions, Nenuiel had the whole story from Feia. Standing, the queen paced to the other side of the camp, looking out over the path below.

Rising, Feia joined her. "Have you come to aid Thranduil in his recovery, my lady?" she asked.

"A wife should be with her husband."

"I know."

Nenuiel turned to her daughter-in-law. The woman sounded miserable. "You could hardly have followed along after him unasked and unwanted. You have some pride in you! That is all to the good, to my way of thinking!

As for me, I love Thranduil. He has never been perfect and I have certainly not always agreed with him, but I cannot resist him. Whatever spell came over him so that he brought harm to our people and to our son; that was not my husband. I will show him by my presence that I believe that, and pray that he shall heal the quicker for it.

Now, I think you have been awaiting a pair of hobbits. I can hear them approaching. We will part, my daughter." With that Nenuiel embraced Feia, whistled for her mount and was soon riding away toward Rivendell.

XXX

Merry and Pippin were pleased to make good their invitation to the lady and show her the hospitality of the Shire. They were solicitous of Feia, treating her as though she was as fragile as a flower. Feia did not mind as she usually might. Perhaps she did not because, for the moment, fragile was how she felt.

When they reached the Shire, the hobbits put her up comfortably at Crickhollow where Frodo had briefly sheltered before the War of the Ring. The house had originally belonged to the Brandybucks and Frodo had ceded it back to Merry after their return from their legendary adventure. Merry kept the place up as a guesthouse and he kept it up well. Feia found a full larder, soft clean linens and every comfort she could wish for.

The hobbits and the lady tramped together in the outskirts of the Old Forest, through Buckland and Tookland, and for miles along the Brandywine. Merry and Pippin introduced Feia to their friend Fredegar Bolger and they all supped together at the table of Farmer Maggot and his wife. Feia felt she had truly entered into the stories that had entranced her in her youth.

As the weeks passed, however, Feia began to show obvious signs of her condition. Her hosts politely said nothing, but they began to restrict their trampings closer and closer to Crickhollow.

At last Feia said, "My friends, I am with child; I am not ill! The exercise is good for me and my babies."

At which the hobbits felt free to express their excitement that Legolas would be a father. They exclaimed over the fact that there would be two. Then they offered to go to Mirkwood and find her husband for her.

Feia hugged them both; they had become so dear to her! But she said, "If Legolas does not arrive before the babes do, then I will ask you to carry a letter – but only so far as Bree! You can give it into the keeping of a ranger. Surely the Dunedain will be able to find him if there is need!"

Then she said, "I would like to meet Sam and Rosie and their children before I am too far along to travel. Perhaps there is somewhere in Hobbiton that I may stay, for I will want to be close to a midwife when my time comes."

And that is how Feia became known to all the hobbits for miles in every direction as, "The lady what lives on The Hill with the Gamgees up in Hobbiton."

Chapter 41:

Bag End

Gimli was adamant, "I won't have you waiting on me, laddie! What if the rumor passed to you by that tree was a true thing?! If the lassie has need of you, I couldn't live with myself keeping you from her!"

The dwarf could not conceal his joy at the sight of his elven friend so anxious to be away to his lady's side. The months since Legolas had ridden out from Minas Tirith had been a torment; watching the lad suffer so terribly and then shut himself off from all who cared for him. Had he known an orcish arrow sticking out of him was all that it would take to bring the elf back to life, he would have jumped in front of one long since!

"I cannot go yet in any event," Legolas said. "Arod ran his heart out for us, Gimli! It will be a few days before he is ready to bear the burden of a rider again."

Legolas and Haldir crouched beside the hot spring where Gimli was soaking up to his bearded chin in warm water. After keeping him in a deep sleep, propped up on a blanket-covered pack until this morning, Lady Meghailin had scattered aromatic herbs onto the steaming pool and ordered him in. The herbs were meant to help the dwarf clear his lungs.

"Take Hithui, Legolas," the Lórien elf offered. "We will follow you to the Shire when both Gimli and Arod are ready to travel."

The elven prince looked undecided, but Gimli said, "By all that's good and true, laddie, the lass has waited for you long enough!"

With that Legolas stood, grinned, and ran.

XXX

Taking the Southern route and bypassing Rivendell and Bree, Legolas traveled swiftly on the wings of his fragile hope. With only a brief stop when he happened upon a dwarven merchant upon the road, Legolas found himself crossing the Baranduin at Stonebows in no time.

As Hithui clip-clopped over the Brandywine Bridge, a hobbit rose from his seat outside the little guard shack to meet him. The sight of an elf greatly interested but did not overly concern the border guard, and so he did not bother to put aside his pipe, but carried it with him to the foot of the bridge. Elves might be rare visitors to the Shire even in these times, but they had never brought trouble with them.

"Welcome to the Shire, Master Elf. I be Hugo Boffin," the hobbit said politely. "Might I be askin' yer name and yer business?"

"I am Legolas of the Mirkwood, Master Boffin," Legolas responded. "I am here to visit with my friends, Meriodoc Brandybuck, Peregrin Took, and Samwise Gamgee."

Hugo bowed in acknowledgement, for not a hobbit remained in all of the Shire who had not heard the tales which Merry, Pippin, and Sam had brought back with them after the war; not that Hugo could say he rightly believed all of them. The elven prince, Legolas, figured in them prominently.

"I fear Master Merry and Master Pippin haven't yet returned from Bree, Prince Legolas," the little guard said. "They went on an errand for the lady what's living up on The Hill with the Gamgees off in Hobbiton, so they said."

The lady living with the Gamgees! "Thank you Master Boffin. I will go on to Hobbiton, then. If Merry and Pippin return this way, please tell them that they will find me there."

"I will, Sir! A pleasant day to you!" Hugo bowed again as Legolas spoke to Hithui, heading off at a brisk trot toward Hobbiton.

XXX

It was midafternoon of the next day when Legolas led Hithui into the stable at the Green Dragon. Ned Cotton pointed out a stall for the animal, and when Legolas approached it, a little mare whickered in greeting and poked her nose out over the door of the stall beside it.

"Mae govannen, Yáviëlosse!" Well met, Yáviëlosse! Legolas said stroking the animal's nose gently. "Im eglerio na hen o le vardanya a estelpant rohrya." I rejoice at the sight of thee, excellent and faithful horse.

"She's a pretty one, she is," Ned commented. "She misses her mistress, though, what with the lady's indisposition and all. I take her out and let her run around the paddock a bit each day, but it ain't the same."

"The lady is ill?" Legolas felt his chest tighten.

With the grim eagerness with which the other races liked to share hard news, Ned leaned in close to the elf. "Nearly died, she did. My sister didna hardly sleep for close on six full days carin' for her! But our Rosie, she knows a thing or two about… Where ya goin'?"

But Legolas was running full-out toward Bag End.

XXX

As fascinating as she found it, Feia simply could not focus on the book she was reading. Yawning and stretching stiffly, she rearranged herself on her blanket beneath the sheltering boughs of the Mallorn.

This wonderful tree with its leafy branches reaching high and also trailing to the ground; and with its accommodating roots; was the very tree planted by Sam on the site where the Party Tree had once stood. This was Galadriel's gift to Sam and he had shared it with all the Shire. And now the New Party Tree was Feia's haven when Rosie chased her outside for some fresh air each day while the little ones were napping.

An inner-glowing warmth filled her heart at the thought of her precious babies. But her joy in them led inevitably to her loneliness for Legolas. Soon. He would come soon, for by now the hobbits had surely passed her letter to a ranger.

Feia knew that he lived. Did he not, Meg would have come to her long since. And somehow, had he fallen, she was sure something important within her would have ceased in the moment of his passing and she would know it. No! It had been many months; surely by now he must be healing.

Refocusing her attention on the book with a weary sigh, Feia drew up her legs with the volume open upon them and leaned into the inviting curve of the tree's roots. This was The Red Book of Westmarch, although she supposed it was not yet known by that epithet. Inside the red leather binding was the story she had loved for nearly all of her life written in Bilbo and Frodo's own hands. If only she would recover enough so that she did not feel so tired! She wanted to give this treasure the attention that it deserved.

But despite her best intentions, her eyes drifted shut and the dream came again. It was always the same, and it felt so real that it often made waking very difficult. This time it was so real that she could still feel the breeze upon her cheek and smell the springtime smells of the Shire.

Legolas came striding through the branches of the Mallorn tree with the dappled sunlight dancing upon his beautiful face. He looked at her with such intensity that her stomach fluttered despite the fact that this was only a dream. It was as though he were cataloguing every part of her and expecting to find something missing.

Finally satisfied, the elf moved closer and dropped to his knees beside her. He took the book from her loosened grasp and set it aside upon the blanket, and then he took her hand in his two. His fingers were warm and just a little rough.

"I do not deserve your forgiveness, lady," he said looking not at her but at their joined hands, then lifting his eyes he added, "but I need it!"

He had spoken! He had never spoken in the dream before! He had always simply drawn her with him to the soft grass and claimed her again as his.

"Nályë úlôr na ilye!" You are not a dream at all!

"Úna ilye, edainriel," Nay, lady.

XXX

Legolas's feet carried him toward his goal while his mind ranged ahead, dreading what he might find. But his inner sense must still be working for as he came near to the open area centered by the Mallorn tree, he automatically changed direction long before he consciously sensed his lady's presence there.

And she was there; tucked against the tree's great roots as though they had grown up around her while she slept. Her eyes were closed and her lashes lay dark and heavy on her pale cheeks. She was dressed in hobbit fashion, he noted, with a white blouse, a black vest embroidered with red roses and green leaves, and a dark-orange skirt banded with black and more red roses at the hem. A scarf of red pulled back her hair.

She was too pale, but she seemed whole, and her breathing was peaceful and even. When her eyes came open she stared at him with her gaze still vague from sleep. When he approached her, she made no move, and did not speak. It was as though she were not at all surprised to see him.

But when he asked her the question that burned in him, her eyes flew open wide and fully alert. And when she spoke he realized that she had believed herself to be dreaming him here! His heart leapt with hope.

Stroking her fingers with his thumb, he asked again, "I have hurt you very badly. Will you forgive me, my lady?"

Feia tilted her head, blinking at him, "I cannot forgive you, Legolas."

"Ah!" Legolas sat back from her slightly, letting his hands slide slowly away from hers. He had been right. She would not have him.

"I cannot forgive you because I never blamed you."

It was Legolas's turn now to blink at the lady, for he could hardly credit what he was hearing. At sight of his bewildered expression, Feia smiled a gentle smile. "You came here for forgiveness. Now that you know you do not need it, what will you do? Will you be my husband, Edhel nin, or will you tell me again why you cannot be?"

Legolas found that he was quite unable to speak. Was she truly offering to allow him back into her life? She was watching him, waiting for his response, but he did not trust his voice. Instead, reaching into his belt pouch, he retrieved two beads made from a pale green stone that was flecked with silver and azure. The dwarf he had purchased them from had been kind enough to unpack his tools and make beads of the polished stones - beads for a lady to wear in her hair.

Still mute, he reached out and gently unfolded her fingers, placing the beads upon her open palm.

Feia touched them tentatively with her fingertips as though unsure she should trust her eyes. Then she threw her arms about his neck, clinging to him while happy tears streamed down her cheeks. Legolas wrapped his arms around her, rocking gently and reveling in the miracle of her as he soothed, "Dîn, Orenya, dîn. Náim sí. Imuva únoro o enlyë." Hush, my heart, hush. I am here. I will not leave you again.

His words only made her cry the harder, but at length she collected herself and leaned away from him smiling and wiping at her eyes. "Come, my lord, there are those at Bag End who are anxious to meet you!"

Legolas looked at her questioningly, "My lady! I am well acquainted with Sam and Rosie and their children."

Feia actually giggled as though he had made a joke, but when he persisted in his questioning stare, she frowned, "You did not receive my letter!"

"You sent for me, lady!?"

"Yes," a slow smile spread across her face, dimpling her cheeks. "Yes I did, but you came for me!" Feia leaned forward and kissed his cheek, and then his eyes, whispering, "Nalyë túlan nin!" You came for me!

"Of course," he brushed his fingers over her tear-dampened cheek. "I came for you just as you knew I would!" Legolas had just realized the truth of that. His lady had never lost faith in him.

Feia was still very busy pressing her sweet mouth to his face and his neck until he captured those roaming lips for a soft slow kiss. Legolas only ended the kiss because he needed to look at her. When he did, he saw again how pale her cheeks were, how exhausted her eyes looked, and he remembered the words of the hobbit in the stable.

"Did you send for me because you are unwell, my lady? Ned Cotton claims that you nearly died!" Legolas squeezed his eyes shut at the thought. Grasping her upper arms in a firm grip he insisted, "Tell me you will be alright, Orenya!"

"I will be well, Legolas! Ned exaggerates! It is nothing time cannot heal; and I assume Meg will be along. She will speed my recovery. Now come! It is time for me to return to Bag End. I do not want Rosie to have to send Elanor after me."

Legolas stood and helped his lady to rise. She leaned on his strength alarmingly, but she would be well! She had never lied to him. Stooping, he gathered her blanket and her book, and then with a supporting arm around his wife, he guided her slow steps to the door of Bag End.

XXX

When they reached the round green door of the hole where so many adventures had begun and ended, Feia opened it without knocking.

From the direction of the kitchen, Rosie's voice floated to them, "Is that you, Feia? I was just going to send Elanor to fetch you. Estellyë is beginning to wake and you know what…"

The pretty hobbit flounced into the entry drying her hands on a small towel as she finished the thought. "…that means." Then her hands, still holding the towel flew to her mouth and she exclaimed, "Bless me! At last!"

Legolas was wondering when Rosie had learned elvish, for she had said, "'Your faith' is beginning to wake." Did she mean his lady's faith?

Rosie turned then, and shouted back toward the kitchen, "Elanor! Help me gather your brothers and sister, we are going out." Then, smiling happily, she left them.

Feia was smiling also. She smiled in warmth and amusement at Rosie's retreating back, and then she smiled at Legolas almost shyly. Taking his hand, she led him through the tunneled hallways of Bag End until she came to a diminutive door through which even she had to duck. Inside was a small bedroom.

His lady released his hand and moved to the other side of the room where two mismatched but sturdy cribs waited. There were soft sweet sounds coming from one of them and Feia reached in speaking soothingly.

"Hello, my darling girl. Have you not yet managed to wake your brother? I know you have been trying. Tulsí, lisse nin," Come here my sweet, and she lifted a tiny babe in her arms and carried her to a dressing table.

Feia was still speaking, switching easily between Westron and Elvish, while she changed the little one's wet diaper, "This is a very special day Estellyë. E Ada leië ná túlmar sí na met," Your father has come home to us.

But Legolas only heard her with a part of his mind, for there was a rushing sound in his ears. His vision had tunneled so that all he could see were his lady's deft hands and the child – the perfect little child with her tiny elvish ears.

Feia was so nervous that she could barely disguise her trembling. All she could do was keep talking to her baby and go about the business of mothering her. When she had completed her task however, and Legolas had still said nothing, she ventured to look at him.

Legolas was frozen in the act of ducking through the hobbit-sized doorway, bent over in what must be an uncomfortable posture while his mouth worked soundlessly. His eyes were riveted on Estellyë as though he had never seen a baby before and he wondered what manner of creature it was.

"My lord?" Feia asked tentatively.

"Esserya ná Estellyë," Legolas managed. Her name is Your Faith.

Feia blushed, looking down, "I could not bear to leave them nameless, my lord. I hope you do not mind too much that you had no hand in the naming of them."

Legolas realized several things at once. First was the awareness that he was crouched awkwardly in the doorway. Stepping into the room, he straightened so that his head brushed the ceiling. Second was the realization that Feia was feeling unsure of his reaction to this child. His child! That was the third realization; he was a father. His lady had given him a daughter.

"My daughter," he said unnecessarily.

"Yes, my lord," Feia was frowning slightly, trying to read his expression. She picked up the baby again. "Do you want to hold her, Legolas?"

He reached out uncertainly and Feia said, "Do not forget to support her neck."

"Her neck?"

"Yes, she is too small to support the weight of her head with any reliability."

Legolas just looked at her blankly and Feia smiled at him, "See, like this." She showed him the way that she was holding Estellyë and then she placed the babe in his arms, arranging his hand for him beneath the child's head and neck. "Elves need to have more babies," she murmured.

He stared at the tiny bundle in his arms for some time while the shock slowly began to dissipate, then he looked up and met his wife's eyes, "My lady…" he began in an awed voice, but was interrupted by a demanding little cry from the other crib. At the sound he turned and stared, though still carefully cradling his daughter.

Rolling her eyes, Feia said with a smile, "Yes, ernil nin, my prince I hear you." The child continued to wail pitifully until she picked him up, and even then he continued to cry plaintively. "Yes, I know, your mother mistreats you dreadfully. Could it be nearly three whole hours has passed since your belly was last filled?"

Twins. Legolas's head was reeling. She had been talking about two all along, but he had not been able to concentrate on her words in the state that his mind was in. A girl and a boy…his children – his lady had borne him twins.

Again, Feia kept up a running commentary while she changed their son, "You are not the only prince in the house, little one. Hen ná e aur ya tir'lme an." This is the day for which we have waited.

Lifting the baby, she turned, displaying him. "Laerien," she said; her cheeks touched with blush, "Leië sén, iënin tûr." Your son, my lord.

"Land of Summer," Legolas said, nodding. And then it happened. Through the fog of his astonished confusion a ray of light shown directly into his heart, melting away the last of his reluctance to embrace this life and filling him with a joy so deep and so profound that he was nearly overcome. Legolas knew from whence that light originated. "Together, you three are all the Summerland I will ever need, Orenya."

The smile with which his lady responded was like the sun on a bright day. If he stared too long at it, he was sure he would be blinded to all else.

Laerien's crying had abated, but now he let out a wail that was not to be ignored. Feia laughed, "I have to nurse him, Legolas." While she settled herself on the bed with the child she said, "Estellyë has already learned that if she is fed first, she is subjected to her brother's constant complaints and receives an upset stomach for her trouble. If she is patient, however, and lets the greedy one go before her, she is able then to take her time and eat in peace. I honestly think she may be brilliant, my lord."

"Nás sí na hen," Clearly, Legolas agreed. He had seated himself in a straight-backed chair by a small round window. Estellyë was kicking her legs and waving her arms, and otherwise making sure that her father could not fail to recognize how lovely she was. He was utterly entranced. When the tiny lips bowed into what could only be a smile, he said, "My lady, she is smiling at me!" and he glanced up at his wife where she lounged upon the bed.

Legolas had lived for a very long time and he had seen many things that he had named beautiful, but until this moment, the elf decided, he had known nothing of the nature of beauty. His lady was propped upon the pillows, resting on one hip with her knees drawn up toward him. She had unlaced her vest and pulled aside her blouse baring one pale breast. His son nursed there, held in the curve of her body and her arms. Upon his lady's face was an expression of blissful contentment as she bent to nuzzle the top of her baby's head, inhaling deeply.

Sensing his gaze, Feia looked up at him and that glowing delight transferred itself to Legolas with her soft smile, including him in the intimacy of the moment. "I love the way they smell," she said by way of explanation. "I do not know why it is, but I cannot get enough of it."

Legolas stood. Carrying his daughter to where her mother waited, he lay the baby down upon the covers. Then he walked around the bed and wordlessly lowered himself to lie behind his wife, fitting his body around hers and encircling them all with his arms. I should have been here with you, he said into her mind.

"You could not be, or you would have been," Feia said aloud. Then she sent silently, Nályë sí sí, Edhel nin. (You are here now, my elf.)

And while Feia nursed their children, Legolas buried his face in her hair and quietly wept.

Chapter 42:

The New Party Tree

Hugo Boffin had not seen anything of particular interest happen in the Shire since the last of the meddling big folk had been chased out after the Battle of Bywater, and so he had gotten a fair amount of wear out of the tale of Prince Legolas's arrival on his latest visit to the Shire.

After a few tellings, the story had grown in length such that, if everything that Hugo reported had actually been said between them, it would have taken the elf two hours to cross the Brandywine Bridge.

But it was a harmless tale and nobody really believed it, anyway. That was all right with Hugo, since he didn't rightly expect them to. But when word came from Young Tom Cotton, who had it from his brother Ned, that Prince Legolas was now staying at Bag End up in Hobbiton, and that the Lady who had been living there was his wife, Hugo was suddenly treated almost as a hero. Had it not been Hugo Boffin that told the elven prince where his lady waited?

If Hugo said a thing here or there that made it seem as though he had known it all along, but had been keeping it as a confidence between himself and the elven prince, well, what was one more little fabrication in the telling of a good tale?

And so Hugo had gained a modicum of fame from his stint as border guard. No one thought it odd then, when he volunteered to "sacrifice more of his valuable time in order to fulfill his civic duty," taking more shifts at the little guard shack on the Brandywine. He was beginning to regret it, however, when nothing more interesting than a group of dwarven merchants who were just passing through made the crossing in two full weeks. Dwarven merchants were always passing through – that was what dwarven merchants did.

He had even missed the opportunity to tell Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took the news upon their return. The pair had made the crossing at Buckleberry Ferry only a day or two after Prince Legolas arrived, or so Hugo had heard. And now they were all off in Hobbiton having a visit while Hugo Boffin had nothing better to do than smoke his way through a cask of Ole Toby. But then, there were worse ways to spend your day.

He was just considering what his wife might have packed in that basket she had sent along with him that would be good for a second breakfast, when his sharp hobbitish ears picked up the sound of approaching horses.

There were two horses, bearing elves – and one of them a lady! Behind the other rode a dwarf. Hugo could not recall ever having seen a dwarf on a horse before.

The group crossed the bridge, and giving their names and business, they rode off toward Hobbiton leaving the hobbit quite frustrated by the need to share news and nobody there to share it with. Hugo Boffin was already rehearsing this new story before the party was well out of sight.

XXX

Arriving in Hobbiton late in the morning of the second day after crossing the Baranduin, the companions gave over charge of the horses to Ned Cotton at the Green Dragon. Then Meg, Haldir and Gimli went directly to Bag End, anxious to see their friends.

They found Legolas seated on a hobbit-sized bench in the little dooryard, his long legs stretched far out in front of him. Merry and Sam sat together on the stoop beside him. The three talked together in low voices, for Legolas cradled his sleeping son on his shoulder.

As they approached, Legolas beamed at them, "Mae govannen, friends," he said and nodding toward the drowsing babe he announced, "My son!" There was no disguising his delight in sharing this happy news, nor could he disguise that he had at last found respite from the hurts of his heart.

"Your son!" Gimli repeated in astonishment coming closer to peer at the child. "What an amazing thing. What a splendid, amazing thing!" The dwarf's gruff voice woke Laerien, who blinked up in wonder at the profusion of whiskers confronting him. Reaching out a little hand, the baby took a fistful of the wiry red hair and gave it a tug.

"Úen fang, Laerien," Not the beard, Legolas said with a smile. "Never the beard!"

"That's alright Laerien, my little lad," Gimli said with a laugh reaching out for the child. Legolas handed him over without concern, but somewhat reluctantly, for he could never get enough of his children.

"It's only natural you'd be fascinated by a beard as fine as this one," Gimli continued, expertly handling the babe. "An elven laddie such as yourself can never hope to achieve such a magnificent display of facial hair."

"Laerien is half-elven, Gimli," Merry reminded the dwarf. "He could grow to be a bearded elf."

Tilting his head, Legolas squinted at his son as though trying to picture this, and Meg laughed. "Unlikely, Master Brandybuck," she said. "Elven traits tend to dominate. My maternal grandfather was a man with a prodigious beard that even Lord Gimli would admire, but my brother has never needed to so much as touch a razor in order to keep his cheeks smooth."

Then, unable to restrain herself a moment longer, Meg placed a hand on the little one's head. Her hand glowed blue as she delved the child with her healing touch. When she allowed the hand to drop, Legolas looked the question at her. "He is perfect, my lord," she said.

Legolas smiled.

It was an uncomplicated, blissful smile that did more to lighten Meg's heart than anything had in a long, long while. If either Feia or his little girl were not also well, Legolas could not smile, thus. "Now, where are my sister and your daughter, Prince Legolas?"

"Daughter?!" Gimli repeated, absently untangling baby fingers from his whiskers.

"The lady has not been idle in the months since last we saw her, I deem," Haldir said with a laugh. "This is a joyous reunion, my friends!"

"My lady is within with Estellyë, Lady Meghailin," Legolas said.

Then Sam, who had been hopping from foot to foot awaiting his opportunity to play host, introduced himself to Meg with a respectful bow and ushered everyone inside.

Pippin, seated on the floor playing a game with Frodo-lad, Rosie-lass, and Merry-lad, frowned comically at the new arrivals. "Well that's nice!" he said regretfully. "I've gone and missed the surprise!"

In moments, between them, Sam and Rosie had covered the table with a bounty of food though it was not the time for any specific meal.

Then Feia came out from the bedroom where she had been nursing her daughter and gave a happy cry. She immediately passed the tiny girl to Meg, hugging her sister with the baby between them. After a moment the elven healer pronounced, "Also perfect! They are both perfect, sister! But do not think I shall be giving her back to you right away!" With that, Meg took her armful of baby and found a seat where she could monopolize Estellyë comfortably.

Left with their arms childless, a rarity, Legolas and Feia came together almost unconsciously. The lady looped her arm around her husband's waist and tucked herself under his arm. The elf pressed his lips to her hair, content.

"How did you know, my lady?" Sam asked Meg. "That there were two, I mean; how did you know?"

"My sister is Alderaani, Mister Gamgee, there are always two," she responded. "Also, an intuitive healer can sense the babes long before the mother is showing; sometimes even before the mother knows she is expecting."

"Are you saying that you knew my lady was with child before we left Rivendell, Lady Meghailin?" Legolas asked.

Feia had gone still beneath his arm. Meg glanced at her briefly. "Yes, I knew," she responded carefully.

"Why then did you not tell her?"

"Meg did not need to tell me, my lord," Feia said gently, "Your mother already had."

"My mother?" Legolas said vaguely, his eyebrows coming together over his nose. "You knew at Dol Guldur and you did not tell me, my lady? Even at Rivendell when you could have stopped me from sending you away – stopped me from leaving with a word! Would you have kept my children from me?" He had dropped his arm and stepped away from her, his expression clouded and deeply hurt.

"You know better than that," Feia said quietly. But she was not truly surprised when Legolas shook his head in confusion and strode out of the house. He was healing, but his wounds were still raw. Feia sighed.

"Don't you fret about it, lassie!" Gimli said gruffly. "He'll figure it out in a bit and all will be well again."

Meg silently passed Estellyë to Sam and stood. "Come, Feia, I have checked the babes, it is time I looked after their mother." With that she led her sister unresisting toward her bedroom.

But as they left the companions, Meg turned and sent a meaningful glance toward her husband, so that when the bedroom door had closed softly behind the ladies, Haldir was already outside and following after his brother elf.

XXX

Haldir did not have to guess where Legolas would go. His friend was an elf. He had gone to the tree.

Legolas was squatting on a low branch up in the Mallorn with the late morning light filtering through the leaves and painting him in a camouflage of light and shadow. As still as he was, only another elf could have seen him there.

"She has gifted you with her faith again and again, Legolas," Haldir said without preamble, "Yasse ná e estel leië marren?" Where is your faith?

"She could have stopped me from going off to Mirkwood. She could have stopped me from endangering our friends. Why would she not tell me?"

"Would it have stopped you? Her love alone did not."

Reaching into the front of his tunic, the Lórien elf retrieved a folded parchment. "We chanced upon a ranger on the road. He recognized our party and approached seeking word of you. He had this from a pair of hobbits. I assured him I would deliver it." Haldir handed the parchment up to his friend and then left him alone.

When Haldir had gone, Legolas unsealed and unfolded the parchment curiously. It was written in elvish script. He had not known that knowledge of the writing of his language had also passed to his lady. But the runic symbols had been written in a shaking hand.

His lady's hand was not known to him, but he imagined that it was as deft and as graceful as every other thing that she did. She must have been in a bad way to handle a pen so poorly.

Legolas, my Concinnate, my elf, it began.

I pray this has reached you swiftly and that you are well. I pray that you are well every day, though I trust that I would know it had my faith proved false and you had succeeded in your terrible quest. Surely my heart could not continue to beat in a world where you were not.

There is that which I have kept from you, my husband. I do not know if you will forgive me when you learn of it, but I know you will not fail to come to me here. Your heart, if it has begun to heal at last, will have room in it for the children you have given me. I am delivered of your children, my elf; a girl and a boy you have given me, and they and you together are my whole heart.

Your daughter I have called Your Faith, for she is my reward for faith. Had I faltered in it, I think she might never have been conceived. Your son I have called Land of Summer, for he is my hope for the future.

I could wish that I had sent for you sooner, my lord. I could wish for many things, but my chief wish has been that you would ask for me; that you would come for me, my elf, and I would know then that you had chosen life. But now I have watched our children for these three days and I can see the changes in them already. They will be small for so short a time, and you are missing it! For every day that you are deprived of one another, I die a little in my heart.

Come to us in the Shire, Legolas. Come quickly. If our need of you could draw you here, you would not have to run or ride, for you would be here now. But we have not this magic; there are no more Gates to bring us together from afar.

Your dear Sam and his Rosie have opened their home to us and have cared for us with all the love that you could wish, but it is not enough to fill the empty place that is yours alone to fill.

Be swift, my elf!

I am yours forever,

Feia

XXX

The bedroom door slammed when Meg left her. Hard.

Feia calmly followed her, opening and closing the door with deliberate care. She understood her friend's frustration. Had their places been exchanged, Feia would be equally upset. The delivery of her babes had been hard; her sister's care would have been …helpful.

Still, she did not regret that Meg had been with Legolas and his companions far away from Feia when her time came. If the healer had not been precisely where she was, Gimli would likely be dead.

It felt good to be totally well again. She was still tired, but that would pass. Meg had wanted her to sleep, but there were far more important matters for her to attend to, first.

Returning to where her friends waited, she found that Meg was listening intently to Rosie. She must have demanded the story of Feia's labor from the hobbit, for Feia had refused to tell her any more than what the condition of her body reported to the healer.

Gathering a sleepy child in each arm: her daughter from Gimli and her son from Pippin, Feia returned to the bedroom to put them down for a nap. Estellyë was fussy, and so she held her for a while, singing softly.

When at last they both slept, Feia carefully combed her hair, pausing to finger one of the beads that signified her marriage thoughtfully. Then she straightened her clothing, took a deep breath and walked out of the room.

Meg was gone, and Rosie was bouncing her youngest child, Little Pippin on her hip, while participating in the bantering conversation of her guests. When Feia emerged, however, Rosie approached her and said quietly, "Your sister is rightly concerned about what you went through, Feia. It was a near thing!"

"You took good care of me, Rosie. Am I not well? Are the babies not healthy?"

"It was a near thing," Rosie repeated shaking her head. "The labor was long and you were already near exhaustion when the trouble happened. If you had not been having a fever-dream, I do not think you would have found the strength to deliver them."

"What do you mean, 'fever-dream'?"

"Why, you were staring, Feia! And you reached out your hand as though someone were standing right there beside you. Then you said Legolas's name as though he could truly hear you. After that, you discovered strength enough to do what you had to do."

"I do not remember," Feia said softly. "I am going to find my husband, Rosie. I must find him. The little ones are sleeping, would you listen against their need?"

"Of course I will. Don't you worry about them," Rosie assured her.

XXX

When Meg finished her interrogation of Rosie, she felt no calmer. It took an effort not to slam the front door of Bag End when she went out to get some air and walk off her frustration.

And when she walked into Legolas, who was returning from his most recent bout of stubbornness, the elven lady was granted a target for her ire, and her aim was true.

"You!" she cried, "I was not here with her because of you and she could have died!"

Legolas could only stare at her numbly, his eyes asking what his voice could not.

"Laerien was turned the wrong way!" Meg all but spat. "Feia was already weary from her long labor when Rosie had to turn your son. Do you have any idea how difficult that is? How painful?" Meg did not wait for a response but plowed on, "If her strength had failed, she would be dead!"

From the door of Bag End, Feia had seen the expression on Meg's face when she confronted Legolas – and so she ran, reaching them in time for that last pronouncement; in time for her husband's face to go pale and still the way it could when his pain was the deepest.

"I am not dead," she said firmly. "The babes and I are well. I wanted you both with me, but Rosie is an excellent midwife and we did what we had to do. All of us did."

Feia turned to her sister, "Meghailin, it is not like you to be cruel. There was no reason for this!"

Meg gave a start, first looking determined to argue, but then suddenly she seemed to deflate. "You are right, Feia. It was a shock learning that I might have lost you, but I should not have vented my anger upon Prince Legolas. I apologize, my lord," she said to Legolas. "It is not your fault that my sister had a difficult labor." Meg bowed briefly to Legolas who stood still mute, his jaw clenched. Then the elven healer, subdued now, returned to Bag End.

Feia took Legolas's hand and wordlessly led him the other way; back toward the New Party Tree.

XXX

When they had reached the sheltering boughs of the Mallorn, Feia said, "Meg has healed the last of my hurts. Have you healed yours, my lord?"

Legolas circled her with his arms. "Nay lady, you have," he breathed into her hair. "I understand now, Feia. Had you told me of our children and I had remained for them when I would not remain for you alone, how then could you trust in my love? And had I gone away, how could you not believe I had rejected them? You could not tell me. I know it…

But lady! I was not at your side during the delivery of them. My absence kept your sister from you when you most needed her. You seem able to forgive me, but how am I to forgive myself? How can I…"

"Daro! Henná e metta!" Stop! Enough! Feia interrupted him, laying her fingers over his lips. "Enough of guilt! Enough of grief! Enough! Can this day not be a new beginning for us?"

"I would welcome a new beginning for us lady, for I would that I could start from the beginning and give you all the faith that you have given to me," Legolas pulled her back into his arms. "I have amends to make!"

"I will give you a thousand years to make them, then," Feia said nuzzling the skin of his neck. "And after that I will give you a thousand more. Beyond that we shall have to see!"

Legolas laughed; a pure, clean sound unsullied by the baggage of grief.

Feia backed away, smiling into his eyes, until she had reached a particularly sheltered spot between the tree's roots, then she lowered herself to sit and raised her hand, beckoning. "In my dreams it was always here," she said.

Legolas knelt down before her, reaching out a hand to brush back her hair over the rounded shell of her ear. "What was here, my lady?"

Feia leaned into his hand so that her cheek was cupped in his palm, and then she sent, in my dreams, you came to me here and claimed me again as your lady.

You have always been my lady, have you not? Legolas asked in her mind even as he bent closer so that their breath mingled. Even though I sent you from me, you remained true in your heart. Aloud he whispered, "You humble me, Orenya." And then he kissed her.

Chapter 43:

Shire Reckoning

Accommodations were found for the Gamgee's many guests. There were only two rooms at the Green Dragon, which were seldom let, but the innkeeper had good custom for the four months that the companions remained in Hobbiton. Gimli had claimed one of the rooms and the other was shared by Merry and Pippin. The two hobbits had been staying at number 3 New Row, vacant since the Gaffer's death last spring, up until the rest of the companions had arrived. After that, they had graciously ceded the little hole to Haldir and Meg.

Legolas and Feia and their children remained at Bag End in the little room that had been Feia's for so many months. The room was small, but it suited Feia and Legolas to remain close to one another and to their babes.

It was a happy time. The companions enjoyed the hominess of the sounds of children, the smells of wholesome cooking, and the unhurried pace of Shire life after their months of living out.

As the weeks passed, Legolas and Feia's babes grew. Soon they were sleeping through the night and even eating their first foods. Estellyë grew a cap of downy blond while Laerien's hair came in dark like his mother's.

The Green Dragon was full of curious local hobbits and as many hobbits from abroad in the Shire as could think of a plausible reason to be there all during that time. Patrons were rewarded by the sight of the Shire's unusual temporary residents and occasionally by tales and strange sounding music from distant lands. Sometimes one or both of the ladies would make an appearance, and they would tell stories and sing songs that were strange indeed! Those who were present on those occasions were the envy of their friends, for the ladies were a novelty in the Shire like no other.

Rosie was kept busy with company most all the time, for if the ladies were a coveted sight, a glimpse of the half-elven little ones up at Bag End was a feather in the cap of any hobbit creative enough to come up with an excuse to drop by. Hobbits could be very creative when motivated.

But as summer drew to a close, the companions prepared to depart the Shire and travel to Gondor. Feia made some sketches and enlisted the aid of a woodworker and a leathercrafter who produced two comfortable and lightweight baby carriers that could be worn by their parents even when on horseback, thus solving the problem of how to travel with the children, for Feia did not like the notion of riding in a cart.

When all was in readiness, they took their leave of Rosie, who was herself well along with her sixth child. Feia knelt and embraced her friend warmly, tears in her eyes, and Legolas gravely thanked the lady of Bag End once again for her care of his family. Sam would ride with them as far as the Brandywine Bridge bringing Elenor and Frodo-lad along. Elenor rode on the famous pony, Bill, before her father, while Little Frodo rode clinging to Pippin's belt.

It was a strange sight, at first, to see Estellyë in place of Legolas's quiver and bow, (which were close at hand, strapped atop his other gear). The companions had all grown accustomed to seeing the elf behaving domestically with his children at Bag End, but it was another matter to see him dressed for travel upon the back of a battle steed bearing his daughter upon his back.

It even felt strangely incongruous to Feia, who had become used to Hobbitish apparel, to be in her travel gear again with Laerien's carrier buckled across her shoulders. But after a full, though leisurely day of travel, with many stops to care for and swap the babies, they all became comfortable with the notion that travel would not be the same as it once had been for some time to come.

XXX

It took several days to reach the crossing of the Baranduin at Stonebows where Hugo Boffin was once more doing his civic duty. Here, as they approached the Brandywine Bridge, Legolas quite suddenly reined in Arod.

"We may not yet leave the Shire," he said.

Haldir with Gimli behind him, rode Hithui close. "Why, Legolas?" he asked.

The elven prince glanced at his friends, frowning in puzzlement. "I do not know. I only sense that we must wait."

"Then we will wait," Feia said, trustingly.

Hugo Boffin was surprised and pleased when the diverse group of travelers made a camp within sight of the bridge. He was overjoyed when they invited him to join their fire that evening. There were stories and singing until the little ones dropped off and then there was quiet talk of many things late into the night.

The companions stayed in their camp all through the next day and night, also. Although he could not say the reason, Legolas was sure that they must wait. The next afternoon they learned why.

Lunch had been eaten and cleared away. The babies were sleeping and Feia busied herself braiding Elanor's hair. Merry, Pippin and Gimli were tossing a ball with Frodo-lad while Sam stood behind his son, coaching. Meg and Haldir had gone a little apart and were talking softly together. But Legolas was drawn to the foot of the bridge where he stood watch with Hugo Boffin sitting on his stool beside the little shack and observing him curiously.

After awhile, Haldir and Meg raised their heads and looked to the bridge expectantly. A few moments later, everyone could hear the jingle of tiny bells and the sound of many horses and a carriage approaching on the road.

Soon, through the trees a party appeared. The elven brothers Elladan and Elrohir led them – the latter raised a hand in greeting. Behind them rode Lord Elrond, their father. Following the elven patriarch was the high elf Lord Glorfindel and with him the king of the Woodland Realm. Thranduil rode close to Glorfindel with the hood of his robe pulled up and far forward shading his features, but there was no mistaking him.

Behind the elves was an open carriage in which rode the Queen of Gondor with a babe in her arms and the Queen of Eryn Lasgalen to keep her company. Beside the carriage on one side, Elessar guarded the two who he loved best and their royal companion from great Roheryn's broad back. On the other side paced a mighty steed of Rohan with King Eomer proud in its saddle. At the rear of the party smiling roguishly, rode Rúmil of Lórien.

"Hail, Legolas of Mirkwood!" Elladan called as the party clattered across the wooden bridge.

"Hail, Elladan of Rivendell! The Shire has seldom seen so auspicious a gathering of elves and men!" Legolas responded.

"It appears you are prepared to travel!" Elrohir said. "That is well, for we have an appointment to keep at the Havens."

His brows coming together in a slight frown, Legolas stepped back, allowing the newcomers to cross over onto the river's bank.

Legolas glanced at his father, but the woodland king was not able to meet his son's eyes, placing the bulk of the arriving party between himself and his estranged son. Nenuiel had leapt gracefully down from the carriage and was reaching up to receive the little prince of Gondor so that Arwen could also disembark; and so his mother also did not see Legolas's questioning frown.

Finally he said to Elladan "Ya náim an namárië?" Who must I farewell? "Imuva nainië e cirith annûn o ilye sí." I am unprepared for the passage west of any here.

"Glad am I to hear you ask it, Legolas," Elladan responded, "for I wondered if it might not be you who would embark thence despite that you had healed much."

"E cairdan ná edan o úhen sí ya náui an remmen nin mí annanren an e aear." The shipwright builds no craft that can lure me away from the life I have now.

Elrohir came to stand beside his brother and grinning said, "Well indeed, Legolas! I see your lady yonder." There was little inflection in the elf's voice, but having said the words he conveyed much in the way of relief and joy for his friend's recovery.

Elladan added, "She greets our sister as one who loves her well." His expression was smooth - and his words also, but in subtle ways it was clear he was surprised.

Legolas watched as Queen Arwen pulled smiling from the embrace she had shared with Feia, and then still smiling retrieved her son from Queen Nenuiel and passed him to her new friend.

But even as she accepted the beautiful child, Eldarion into her arms, Feia's eyes went to those of her mother-in-law and she nodded toward the shaded place a few paces away where Laerien and Estellyë rested under Elanor's watchful guardianship. Legolas's lips curved in a small smile as his mother drifted in that direction without a backward glance.

Returning his gaze to his wife he saw her exchange a knowing and feminine smile with Arwen, then both ladies turned their attention to the sweet babe in Feia's arms, heads close together as they slowly followed after the Mirkwood Queen.

"They openly embrace that which they both sense will be between them," he said in answer to Elrohir's curiosity, and the other elf nodded in understanding.

When Haldir and Meg approached the newcomers, Meg curtsied in a general welcome and hurried to greet the two queens who now sat upon the grass with Feia and the babies and little Elanor.

Greetings were exchanged amongst those that remained, and Legolas was not unaware of the surprising lack of fuss and formality in them. He did not have to hear his friends say it to realize that the casualness was for his benefit...his and his father's.

Thranduil hovered at the edge of the group without participating beyond what was necessary. His wide hood shadowed his face, but he stood tall and looked at ease. He did not return Legolas's gaze, though he did not appear to be avoiding it either. A feeling came over Legolas strongly then, a desire to walk into his father's arms and feel again the love that once was there in even their smallest interactions. But on the heels of that desire came the memory of betrayal and murder and grief. A tiny shudder passed through his body as part of him yearned toward Thranduil and another cringed away.

It was Merry, ever observant, who noticed his distress. The hobbit said brightly, "it seems we shan't have to travel to Gondor in order to meet the young prince!" Focus shifted to the children and the ladies at once. "But we will be forced to pry him away from the ladies!" Merry continued.

"How does it happen that no matter what, ladies will congregate if there are little ones to admire," mused Rumil.

"The same way it happens that lords congregate if there is war to plan," King Eomer responded.

"And do we speak of strategy?" asked Gimli. "For I note we are here gathered with ne'er a lady present."

"Did we speak of such things, my wife at least would be here amongst us, babes or no," Legolas said with a small sigh.

Elessar laughed softly, "Indeed, there would be no separation of this group at all if there were such dire tidings to consider. Let the ladies have their time with the little ones. I will dare to speak for my gender! It is a dance of sorts to approach ones children. Eldarion is so small! I oft fear I shall break him. But in a little while I think, there will not be a man, elf, hobbit or dwarf among us who has not cradled, cooed and coddled all three infants yonder." The king paused and smiled warmly at Legolas, his eyes saying all that his words did not of his relief at seeing his friend so well at last, and so happy. Well did he know the bliss of fatherhood, particularly considering the rarity of elven children.

"It has been long since I have held an elven child, but I have not forgotten how to do so without breaking them," Glorfindel put in, his face grim with a hint of affront.

But the king had been much in the high elf's presence and knew when he was being treated to his particular brand of humor. Bowing in mock humility, Elessar smiled and responded, "I stand corrected. Elven memories are long."

"Not so long that I do not find myself surprised to see the last such child I have held, holding a child of her own," Elrond spoke with a hint of wonder.

"The very idea of Elanor with her own littles fairly sets my head to spinnin'!" moaned Sam.

"You have some time, Master Samwise," The elven lord smiled down at the hobbit. "Enjoy it! I have heard you and your fine wife have a house full of children. Four is it?"

"Oh, I do...I shall! And it's five, with a sixth coming!" beamed Sam.

"The fellowship grows rapidly of late!" Elessar commented.

"I guess I'll have to hurry along my plans, if I intend to keep up!" Pippin said with a secretive grin.

"Plans?" Merry frowned at his friend. "What plans?"

"Do you propose to wed, Master Holbytla?" Eomer asked, and Pippin only shrugged eloquently.

"Rapscallion!" Gimli exclaimed. "And when were you going to mention that!? We have been here for four months! Who is your lass?"

"Diamond!" Merry shrewdly guessed, and Pippin's face immediately went scarlet confirming it.

Merry's voice became almost accusatory. "You will marry your long-cousin, Diamond Took! She and her mother have been set on it since she was a little lass, but I never believed you'd be caught!"

Pippin remained silent with his cheeks flaming, but Legolas said, "Being caught is no bad thing, Merry." His eyes drifted toward Feia who discreetly nursed Estellyë in the dappled shade and his lips curved into a gentle smile. "It is no bad thing."

Chapter 44:

Beyond the White Towers

Together, the gathering of folk shared a pleasant afternoon and camped that night beside the river Baranduin. Amongst high elven lords and kings and queens, Hugo Boffin sat silent and amazed. No embellishment would be needed for this tale, and yet it would surely not be believed. The simple hobbit could not quite find it in himself to feel concern for what the morrow would bring, however, when Glorfindel and Arwen together filled the night with their fair singing, and King Elessar wove an ancient tale of a people long gone from Middle Earth, and Elrond then called upon Sam to recite a bit of poetry. Hugo could not even stir himself to light the pipe clamped tight between his teeth when King Eomer of the Mark chanted a tale in Rohirric that stirred the blood and called to some hitherto unremembered urge in him to stand and fight for that which he loved. And when the Lady Meghailin strummed her gitar and sang sweetly of a home lost and a home found, he drifted off to sleep.

When he awoke, he was alone beside a dying fire, tucked in a blanket edged in tiny silver bells. It may be, if you meet Hugo Boffin one day, he will carefully unwrap this treasure and display it proudly for you to admire, for the work of elves on Middle Earth has not faded as was foretold, but grown strong again and the weaving holds its color and strength and the tiny bells chime clear and true. All in the Shire now know that sound as an echo of elven children singing for it is not any longer an uncommon sound.

XXX

As the company traveled at a sedate and steady pace toward the Gray Havens and passed beyond the white towers, Legolas was silent and Thranduil was also. Nenuiel split her time near equally between them, but did not coax them as Feia thought she might toward reconciliation. Instead she spoke of the children and of news from Eryn Lasgelan where Galion and the Mirkwood elves made swift work returning their home to a state of grace.

Thranduil only had eyes for his grandchildren, though he watched them discreetly and did not come near to them.

Frodo-lad had taken so strongly to elf-watching, having lost any fear of them in his four months living with three, that he began almost to show an elvishness himself - very like his namesake. Sam was not the only one to notice, for Pippin sighed and said, "I almost feel as we travel this road again that we should find Frodo at the end of it!"

And Elrond said, "Where this road ends is many surprising things, I deem, but I do not think the ringbearer is one of them. Frodo has much healing to do and has had little time in which to do it."

"Still and all," Sam said quietly, "he is there as much as anywhere."

"Indeed," Elessar responded, acknowledging the wisdom of his friend's words.

XXX

On a fair morning two days later, (for the weather had held fair and perfect for travel as though enchanted) Feia sat beside her husband with Laerien upon her knees. The camp was a quiet bustle of activity as the companions unhurriedly, but efficiently gathered their things to begin the day's journey. Only she and Legolas caring for their babes, and Thranduil sitting dourly across the camp were not moving about.

Feia could sense from across the breakfast fire the familiar gaze of her father-in-law as he silently watched his grandson with a nearly unblinking stare. But the elven king did blink when Feia did what she was most famous for amongst those who knew and loved her best. He blinked several times in confusion as his daughter-in-law followed her heart. Rising without a word, Legolas peering after her curiously, she circled the fire and deposited her son gently into Thranduil's lap. She turned then and left them there without a backward glance, her husband holding their daughter and Thranduil cradling his grandson.

After a moment of stunned inactivity, Thranduil rose gracefully. He cradled Laerien as though, as Elessar had claimed, he feared he would break him. And that care for his son in this unguarded moment melted Legolas's heart just far enough. He rose also and father and son came together at the camp's center. No words passed between them, but they allowed the little ones to do the communicating for them.

It was a beginning.

XXX

The ship came with the dawn, sailing into the morning light that filtered into the gray havens through the mist. The prow was shining white, the sails as drifting clouds and the figures on board were indistinct and confusing, for it seemed that the cloud-like sails were entwined with a living forest which moved as no forest should, over the sea.

The sight of an elven ship headed east into the harbor where the companions waited was strange enough, but even elf eyes could find no meaning in this vision, saving perhaps Lord Elrond, who made no sign that anything unexpected was occurring.

It was Merry who broke the silence of the still and shrouded quay with a jubilant laugh. "Entwives!" he exclaimed! Pippin laughed as well and linking arms the two hobbits swung around in a dance of pure gladness.

When the ship ghosted to the dock, Eomer and Haldir moved to catch the lines and tie it fast, and Elessar received the gangplank as it was extended, lowering it gently. Then Lord Celeborn appeared and offering a hand, guided Galadriel to the shore where the entire company bowed to her and to her lord.

Lady Galadriel reached out a hand to her son-in-law and when Lord Elrond approached her with another bow she directed his attention back to the ship where had appeared an elven lady of great beauty and grace. The reunion of Elrond and Celebrian was tender beyond words. Arwen cried helpless tears moved by her joy for her parents beyond her ability to contain them. With her brothers she shared in the poignancy of the moment feeling not at all slighted that they must patiently wait for their moment to welcome their mother home.

A few other elves also disembarked and then with great dignity came the entwives. There were five of them and they were like and unlike the ents and very much different each from the other.

Galadriel noted Sam straining to see into the boat seeking stragglers while attempting to hide the fact and she said gently, "Dear Samwise, your Frodo is not yet ready to return, but you will stand here again one day and welcome him home!"

And with that, Sam burst into tears.