Disclaimer : I don´t own anything , no matter how much I wish I did.
Chapter 1
Thranduil´s son
Thranduil, the new king of Greenwood , looked out from the window where he stood looking out with a thoughtful and somewhat worried expression on his face. His coronation had been yesterday with all of his court, his children and most of the remaining woodelves gathered around him. It all went well, as planned, but he hadn`t really expected to become king so soon after he had returned from the cave with his babyson. It was only ten years ago, and for an elf that is not much more than a blink of an eye. Well, a lot of things had happened of course, the war and the loss of his father, Oropher, which still felt unreal and caused a sting of pain inside him. They hardly have had the time to get to know each other again, because of the war that had raged during all those ten years.
They had won the war, the alliance had won, so the death of his father and two-thirds of the woodelves wasn´t entirely meaningless, but this was no great comfort for the king at this particular moment.
Outside, in the palace garden everything was luminous and beautiful. Birds were singing in the air and in the trees and he heard the elves play on their instruments and sing as well all around. He heard the laughter of his three older sons while they were discussing something in the garden.He still thought about them as children , but , they were more than 500 years old, both them and their sister . Thranduil looked up at the sky where three red doves passed peacefully. Here the world almost seemed like a beautiful place with no evil in it at all, but Thranduil had a feeling, a sense of foreboding that the shadow would rise again someday in the future....( She had taught him a lot, she really had...)
He shrugged and tried to cast the gloomy thoughts aside. Today his noble guests would come, to acknowledge the new king of Greenwood – and to see his youngest son, whom they only had heard rumors about . Elrond and his children, Elladan, Elrohir and Arwen and also Galadriel and Celeborn – to mention a few of them. They had never been here before, but his kingdom was young and the elves didn´t gather very often these days, though they often sent messengers to each other. Anyway, it was nice that the high elves were coming to him. He felt flattered about this fact , but also knew how crucial it was for all kind of elves to keep together.
He was interrupted in his musings by his counselor calling for
him.
*****************************************************************
**********
(Later the same day)
-Silmarien, where´s Legolas ? He ´s supposed to be back by now,
Thranduil whispered to his
daughter.
-I don´t know father, but he´s still outside training archery. Well, you know, he doesn´t really listen to any of us, she continued and then, almost to herself – he doesn't listen to anybody if he doesn´t want to.
Thranduil was standing in the great reception hall of the Mirkwood palace with his daughter and his three older sons where the guests had newly arrived .Now he couldn´t help but smile at his only daughter´s words.
-So, you mean I have spoilt him , then? There was amusement in his voice, but his eyes showed a brief glimpse of concern.
-Not exactly, Legolas is beyond that in some way.
Thranduil sighed inwards, he knew all to well what Silmarien meant. Then he turned to his guests to begin with the formalities again.
-I´m sorry for the inconvenience , that all my children haven´t shown up yet. I really want to bid all of you welcome to my kingdom and my castle.
-It´s good to be here and see that you are well , even though we all mourn for the loss of Orodeth and so much of your people Celeborn said.
-And the loss of Gil-Galad , our highest .....Thranduil began, but was interrupted by the sound of light feet running to the reception hall. Then the doors burst open, and a voice cried out, cheerfully:
-Father, I did hit all my targets today, even when I put them three hundred feet away.
All went quiet in the room when Legolas , youngest prince of Greenwood , entered.
-All of them ! he continued, seemingly unaware of the effect he was having on the guests, or , perhaps he was so used to this reaction that he didn´t dwell on it. He had his bow and his quiver with him.
-Legolas ! You should have been home a long time ago, to get ready for our guests that now has arrived. Go to stand with your siblings.
Legolas turned for a moment to look at the arrived party and then he meant to do what he was told, but was stopped by Galadriel who came forward and kneeled before him, taking the astonished elfling´s hand. He flinched at her touch, but didn´t shy away, instead he looked into her face with a quizzical look on his face.
-Legolas ,Galadriel said softly still holding his hand, youngest archer of Greenwood, lovely one, I can see the light of Valinor in your face, in your eyes, in your hair and in your entire being... a light seldom seen in Middle Earth these days... a tear spilled down her cheek.
Legolas dropped his bow, which he until now had been holding in his other hand , gently traced the tear down her cheek with one of his fingers wiping it away. The whole time he didn´t let go of her hand.
-Does this make you sad , my lady ? he asked.
-Not sad , lovely one ,but touched. Now I know the treasure which the forest of Greenwood has been hiding. She let go of his hand, rised and turned to Thranduil.
-A treasure ? ? ! Why didn´t anyone tell me about a treasure ? Can we go and look for it now? Legolas said to his sister whom he had gone to.
Silmarien couldn´t help but smile , he was simply irresistible.
-I think she meant you , little brother she said.
At that Legolas didn´t answer , he merely began an almost feverish examination of his bow.
-Your children are all beautiful ,Thranduil, and now I think we should leave the youngest one in peace for a while. Elrond said , but he had a grim look on his face when he looked at the king.
All the guests were looking at the five royal children , well , there was only one of them who really was an elfling. They were blond all of them but in different colourings , the two oldest ones (Orolen and Thingolen) in a shiny , golden way , the other two brothers (Thranduilen and Denolen) in a more silver like way . The only daughter , Silmarien , had a more reddish tone in hers which resembled her mothers. Although , when it came down to the small archer standing in front of them , you didn't think about gold and silver anymore because his hair was rather the colour of the sun with its shining lustre where it surrounded an incredibly beautiful face . His eyes were not emerald green like his siblings, instead they were a radiating blue like sapphires . His small , slender form proved that one day he would be taller than the other wood elves. To all spectators it seemed like there was a luminescent glow , almost like a halo around him.
-He ´s almost too lovely that young one , I can´t wait until he´s grown up- Elladan , one of Elronds sons, said to Elrohir, his twin brother with a mischievous grin on his face – then he will be completely irresistible.
***************************************************************************
( In the morning the next day )
Thranduil , Galadriel and Elrond were up early that morning
since they had decided that they
needed to talk privately. In front of them was Legolas running
and singing while he was chasing birds.
He had insisted on joining them because he had became infatuated
with Galadriel and didn´t
wish to leave her side.
-Thranduil Galadriel said ,won´t you tell us a bit more about the origins of your son ? We know about your sudden return , right in the middle of raging war ,after more than 400 years of absence, carrying an infant in your arms. And , she continued , Legolas ´fairness isn´t solely a part of MiddleEarth, he clearly carries the features of the vanyarim in his whole appearance. -It is so. His mother was a vanyarelf the king answered.
-How is this possible? Elrond asked. The vanyar never left Valinor except in the end of the First Age when Morgoth was defeated and by then you were barely more than an elfling. When the war was over all of them returned.
-Well, I suppose they did, but one of them were left. She was a female warrior who was chased into a cave by a balrog , in there she finally managed to kill it, how she managed that she never told me. After that she couldn´t find her way out, so she remained trapped in there until I found her more than 2000 years later.
-How could she survive in a cave for so long ? the lord of Imlandris said.
-As you understand this wasn't an usual cave . It led to an enchanted forest where there were lots of vegetation , flowers as well as a small pond that was surrounded by fruit trees. It was a beautiful place, though the only living beings there were insects. I came upon this put when I was being pursued by orcs and tried to hide in there. I lost the sense of direction and she found me confusedly wandering around among the trees looking for a way out. I was the first living being she had seen since she got there. In the beginning she was afraid, but as time got by we became friends and....he hesitated for a moment............then lovers. Thranduils voice now betrayed an incessant sadness.
-I was grief-stricken when I got there after the loss of my beloved but she made me feel whole again. All though we ceaselessly continued to search for a way to get out none of us realized how quickly time passed on the outside.
- You were in a timecrypt , a place where time passes differently. Rare are these things and strange and powerful are the forces that work there. Your lady must have had strong powers finding such a cave Galadriel said.
- She found it by coincidence , but she had extraordinary skills indeed.There was an immense sadness in his voice when he thought about her. He closed his eyes so he could see her before his innermost sight – her radiating appearance, her golden hair , her sapphire eyes , her noble features and her gracious body .The passion he had felt for her still overwhelmed him. He truly had loved the mother of his four oldest children , but in a very different way.
-Father, do not be sad thinking of her. Think of happier things – you must think of this said Legolas who, all of a sudden had stopped what he had been doing and run over to his father. Now he laid his fingers on his father's temples and gently pushed , whispered something in quenya and removed his fingers. Inside his mind the king saw images of gardens during springtime , of a sky clad with bright shining stars and a pale moon.
-Well, that´s better the prince said and headed off to his bird chasing again. Thranduil smiled tenderly.
- He´s so like her he said.
-In fact he resembles you quite a lot Elrond said – even more than your other children does , but he apparently has inharited some extraordinary talents from his mother. The power of dreamhealing belongs to the vanyarim alone and is therefore not encountered these days. -Nor is it an ability meant for Middle – Earth Galadriel said with a serious expression on her face. Thranduil , you must listen to this : I sense a warning in the air – you ought to make your son a warrior. If he uses his power of dreamhealing too much it will eventually be his doom. He is already a fine archer and as a such he will be important to this world.
A warrior ? Well that suits him fine I guess ; since I am aware of the dangers in the other skill of his. It is no less important that he learns how to defend himself because of his beauty. The king of the woodelves sighed and continued:
-Sometimes it is a hard task raising somebody whose origin is so unique nowadays ; to me the vanyarelves is not much more than a legend that suddenly came alive when I met his mother.
Galadriel smiled :
- Iwill help you in any way that I can and when the time comes he can also get some training in Lorien but at this moment it is best for him to remain here with you ,just remember this : don´t make any efforts to overprotect him ,that is something you never will succed in anyway. At these words Thranduil smiled tenderly at his son who now had climbed up a tree and begun to sing a song he had composed himself – a song about how wonderful life was.
-I can see that .I think I already knew.
Chapter 1
Thranduil´s son
Thranduil, the new king of Greenwood , looked out from the window where he stood looking out with a thoughtful and somewhat worried expression on his face. His coronation had been yesterday with all of his court, his children and most of the remaining woodelves gathered around him. It all went well, as planned, but he hadn`t really expected to become king so soon after he had returned from the cave with his babyson. It was only ten years ago, and for an elf that is not much more than a blink of an eye. Well, a lot of things had happened of course, the war and the loss of his father, Oropher, which still felt unreal and caused a sting of pain inside him. They hardly have had the time to get to know each other again, because of the war that had raged during all those ten years.
They had won the war, the alliance had won, so the death of his father and two-thirds of the woodelves wasn´t entirely meaningless, but this was no great comfort for the king at this particular moment.
Outside, in the palace garden everything was luminous and beautiful. Birds were singing in the air and in the trees and he heard the elves play on their instruments and sing as well all around. He heard the laughter of his three older sons while they were discussing something in the garden.He still thought about them as children , but , they were more than 500 years old, both them and their sister . Thranduil looked up at the sky where three red doves passed peacefully. Here the world almost seemed like a beautiful place with no evil in it at all, but Thranduil had a feeling, a sense of foreboding that the shadow would rise again someday in the future....( She had taught him a lot, she really had...)
He shrugged and tried to cast the gloomy thoughts aside. Today his noble guests would come, to acknowledge the new king of Greenwood – and to see his youngest son, whom they only had heard rumors about . Elrond and his children, Elladan, Elrohir and Arwen and also Galadriel and Celeborn – to mention a few of them. They had never been here before, but his kingdom was young and the elves didn´t gather very often these days, though they often sent messengers to each other. Anyway, it was nice that the high elves were coming to him. He felt flattered about this fact , but also knew how crucial it was for all kind of elves to keep together.
He was interrupted in his musings by his counselor calling for
him.
*****************************************************************
**********
(Later the same day)
-Silmarien, where´s Legolas ? He ´s supposed to be back by now,
Thranduil whispered to his
daughter.
-I don´t know father, but he´s still outside training archery. Well, you know, he doesn´t really listen to any of us, she continued and then, almost to herself – he doesn't listen to anybody if he doesn´t want to.
Thranduil was standing in the great reception hall of the Mirkwood palace with his daughter and his three older sons where the guests had newly arrived .Now he couldn´t help but smile at his only daughter´s words.
-So, you mean I have spoilt him , then? There was amusement in his voice, but his eyes showed a brief glimpse of concern.
-Not exactly, Legolas is beyond that in some way.
Thranduil sighed inwards, he knew all to well what Silmarien meant. Then he turned to his guests to begin with the formalities again.
-I´m sorry for the inconvenience , that all my children haven´t shown up yet. I really want to bid all of you welcome to my kingdom and my castle.
-It´s good to be here and see that you are well , even though we all mourn for the loss of Orodeth and so much of your people Celeborn said.
-And the loss of Gil-Galad , our highest .....Thranduil began, but was interrupted by the sound of light feet running to the reception hall. Then the doors burst open, and a voice cried out, cheerfully:
-Father, I did hit all my targets today, even when I put them three hundred feet away.
All went quiet in the room when Legolas , youngest prince of Greenwood , entered.
-All of them ! he continued, seemingly unaware of the effect he was having on the guests, or , perhaps he was so used to this reaction that he didn´t dwell on it. He had his bow and his quiver with him.
-Legolas ! You should have been home a long time ago, to get ready for our guests that now has arrived. Go to stand with your siblings.
Legolas turned for a moment to look at the arrived party and then he meant to do what he was told, but was stopped by Galadriel who came forward and kneeled before him, taking the astonished elfling´s hand. He flinched at her touch, but didn´t shy away, instead he looked into her face with a quizzical look on his face.
-Legolas ,Galadriel said softly still holding his hand, youngest archer of Greenwood, lovely one, I can see the light of Valinor in your face, in your eyes, in your hair and in your entire being... a light seldom seen in Middle Earth these days... a tear spilled down her cheek.
Legolas dropped his bow, which he until now had been holding in his other hand , gently traced the tear down her cheek with one of his fingers wiping it away. The whole time he didn´t let go of her hand.
-Does this make you sad , my lady ? he asked.
-Not sad , lovely one ,but touched. Now I know the treasure which the forest of Greenwood has been hiding. She let go of his hand, rised and turned to Thranduil.
-A treasure ? ? ! Why didn´t anyone tell me about a treasure ? Can we go and look for it now? Legolas said to his sister whom he had gone to.
Silmarien couldn´t help but smile , he was simply irresistible.
-I think she meant you , little brother she said.
At that Legolas didn´t answer , he merely began an almost feverish examination of his bow.
-Your children are all beautiful ,Thranduil, and now I think we should leave the youngest one in peace for a while. Elrond said , but he had a grim look on his face when he looked at the king.
All the guests were looking at the five royal children , well , there was only one of them who really was an elfling. They were blond all of them but in different colourings , the two oldest ones (Orolen and Thingolen) in a shiny , golden way , the other two brothers (Thranduilen and Denolen) in a more silver like way . The only daughter , Silmarien , had a more reddish tone in hers which resembled her mothers. Although , when it came down to the small archer standing in front of them , you didn't think about gold and silver anymore because his hair was rather the colour of the sun with its shining lustre where it surrounded an incredibly beautiful face . His eyes were not emerald green like his siblings, instead they were a radiating blue like sapphires . His small , slender form proved that one day he would be taller than the other wood elves. To all spectators it seemed like there was a luminescent glow , almost like a halo around him.
-He ´s almost too lovely that young one , I can´t wait until he´s grown up- Elladan , one of Elronds sons, said to Elrohir, his twin brother with a mischievous grin on his face – then he will be completely irresistible.
***************************************************************************
( In the morning the next day )
Thranduil , Galadriel and Elrond were up early that morning
since they had decided that they
needed to talk privately. In front of them was Legolas running
and singing while he was chasing birds.
He had insisted on joining them because he had became infatuated
with Galadriel and didn´t
wish to leave her side.
-Thranduil Galadriel said ,won´t you tell us a bit more about the origins of your son ? We know about your sudden return , right in the middle of raging war ,after more than 400 years of absence, carrying an infant in your arms. And , she continued , Legolas ´fairness isn´t solely a part of MiddleEarth, he clearly carries the features of the vanyarim in his whole appearance. -It is so. His mother was a vanyarelf the king answered.
-How is this possible? Elrond asked. The vanyar never left Valinor except in the end of the First Age when Morgoth was defeated and by then you were barely more than an elfling. When the war was over all of them returned.
-Well, I suppose they did, but one of them were left. She was a female warrior who was chased into a cave by a balrog , in there she finally managed to kill it, how she managed that she never told me. After that she couldn´t find her way out, so she remained trapped in there until I found her more than 2000 years later.
-How could she survive in a cave for so long ? the lord of Imlandris said.
-As you understand this wasn't an usual cave . It led to an enchanted forest where there were lots of vegetation , flowers as well as a small pond that was surrounded by fruit trees. It was a beautiful place, though the only living beings there were insects. I came upon this put when I was being pursued by orcs and tried to hide in there. I lost the sense of direction and she found me confusedly wandering around among the trees looking for a way out. I was the first living being she had seen since she got there. In the beginning she was afraid, but as time got by we became friends and....he hesitated for a moment............then lovers. Thranduils voice now betrayed an incessant sadness.
-I was grief-stricken when I got there after the loss of my beloved but she made me feel whole again. All though we ceaselessly continued to search for a way to get out none of us realized how quickly time passed on the outside.
- You were in a timecrypt , a place where time passes differently. Rare are these things and strange and powerful are the forces that work there. Your lady must have had strong powers finding such a cave Galadriel said.
- She found it by coincidence , but she had extraordinary skills indeed.There was an immense sadness in his voice when he thought about her. He closed his eyes so he could see her before his innermost sight – her radiating appearance, her golden hair , her sapphire eyes , her noble features and her gracious body .The passion he had felt for her still overwhelmed him. He truly had loved the mother of his four oldest children , but in a very different way.
-Father, do not be sad thinking of her. Think of happier things – you must think of this said Legolas who, all of a sudden had stopped what he had been doing and run over to his father. Now he laid his fingers on his father's temples and gently pushed , whispered something in quenya and removed his fingers. Inside his mind the king saw images of gardens during springtime , of a sky clad with bright shining stars and a pale moon.
-Well, that´s better the prince said and headed off to his bird chasing again. Thranduil smiled tenderly.
- He´s so like her he said.
-In fact he resembles you quite a lot Elrond said – even more than your other children does , but he apparently has inharited some extraordinary talents from his mother. The power of dreamhealing belongs to the vanyarim alone and is therefore not encountered these days. -Nor is it an ability meant for Middle – Earth Galadriel said with a serious expression on her face. Thranduil , you must listen to this : I sense a warning in the air – you ought to make your son a warrior. If he uses his power of dreamhealing too much it will eventually be his doom. He is already a fine archer and as a such he will be important to this world.
A warrior ? Well that suits him fine I guess ; since I am aware of the dangers in the other skill of his. It is no less important that he learns how to defend himself because of his beauty. The king of the woodelves sighed and continued:
-Sometimes it is a hard task raising somebody whose origin is so unique nowadays ; to me the vanyarelves is not much more than a legend that suddenly came alive when I met his mother.
Galadriel smiled :
- Iwill help you in any way that I can and when the time comes he can also get some training in Lorien but at this moment it is best for him to remain here with you ,just remember this : don´t make any efforts to overprotect him ,that is something you never will succed in anyway. At these words Thranduil smiled tenderly at his son who now had climbed up a tree and begun to sing a song he had composed himself – a song about how wonderful life was.
-I can see that .I think I already knew.