Disclaimers: I do not own Tolkien's wonderful wonderful universe…merely borrowing this fine piece of literature. I've borrowed The Silmarillion and RotK Appendices for this.

Movie Spoilers: Probably some from RotK, but it's mostly from the LotR Appendices and Silmarillion, so not much I guess.

AN: Umm…feedback greatly appreciated! I just love this book since I first read it when I was a kid. A bit of research was done for this story…especially on the different houses of the elves and their languages *wipes sweat* Oh, and this is the book version, not the one where Arwen swoops down and saves Frodo. (I hate movie Arwen, but I like her in the book!)

Warning! contains SLASH! (male x male relationships) this is your chance to back out. Remember, you're NOT being forced to read this!

Pairing: Legolas/Glorfindel (elven-slash!); others…depends, if the story allows.

Rating: G as of now, but ratings will climb on later parts.


EldaQuenta
(Account of the Eldar)
by Valacirca


Prologue: Gaer-lómin (Echo of the Sea)


Legolas Greenleaf long under tree
In joy thou hast lived. Beware of the Sea!
If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore,
Thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more.[i]


"Have you ever dreamed of going somewhere and staying there until the end of your days?"

The soft whispers of a song halted and a pair of elven-eyes questioned the other.

"Pippin and I, we are getting old Legolas," continued the hobbit. "I feel like Old Bilbo when he disappeared on his eleventy-oneth birthday. I want to see the Ents! again and the horses of the Mark! I miss the Company," came the faint whispers of the last statement.

"Eomer is dying you know," he started quietly, the voice barely above a whisper but the elf could hear him nonetheless. "He wanted me to come visit him before he dies. And I miss Gondor. I miss Aragorn."

"You still have time my friend. Go and follow the bidding of your heart," replied the elf.

The two old friends were sitting on a garden porch overlooking the Smials, the vast dwelling of the Tooks headed by The Thain, Peregrin Took.

It was the Spring of 1484 SR[ii], 63 years after the Ring Bearer passed over the Sea, when a messenger from Rohan came for Merry Brandybuck. King Eomer of the Mark wishes to see Master Holdwine again before he passed away.

After the War, Aragorn son of Arathorn was crowned King Elessar of both Gondor and the North. During this time, the Elves started to fade and Men now held control over the lands. The Fourth Age of the world has come.

The Shire however, was under the protection of the Northern Crown and no man can set foot within its borders without leave.

Merry and Pippin would occasionally ride through The Shire bearing the armors of Gondor and Riddermark, singing songs of battle and glorious deeds from foreign lands. And due to some magic with the draught from the streams of the Ents, both grew taller than most hobbits that it would look like a wonder seeing them riding though Hobbitton, among the little people, in their bright shields and brilliant armors. Merry became the Master of Buckland and Pippin the Lord of Smials in their later years.

Legolas and Gimli were able to fulfill their bargain. Both journeyed through Fangorn Forest and were able to meet the Ents, much to Gimli's discomfort. In turn, Legolas accompanied his friend through the Glittering Caves where the dwarf showed him the many wonders of the said cavern. The dwarf then, along with some of his kin labored in those caves and made it one of the wonders of Middle-Earth. No other can be found more enchanting than the Glittering Caves save Khazad-dûm during Durin's age.

Although The Company continues to visit each other, never again was the Fellowship united since the last parting in Fangorn Forest, nor wholly complete since the fall of Gandalf on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm.

Suddenly, an elderly hobbit and a dwarf came ambling up to them.

"Hullo Legolas! You should have come with us and see the Smials," said the hobbit proud to show off his vast home. "What have you been doing out here rotting anyway?"

"I've had as good a time here among the beeches as Master Dwarf had with you in your holes," Legolas said good-naturedly.

"Holes!" the Took cried out indignantly. The Smials is the biggest hobbit dwelling that can be found in The Shire. He turned to the dwarf for aid. "He called the Smials holes Gimli!"

But the dwarf could only laugh.

"Well then Legolas, since it's a very rare occasion that you come visit us (the last being a decade ago! And Gimli always had to drag you away from either woods or the Sea before that!) come, tell us an elven-tale. It's been a while when I last heard one since the elves moved out of Rivendell," said Pippin.

"It must have been fun being an elf and never dying except when in war or grief," said Merry, still not snapping out of his grief.

"Nay, Master Meriadoc. The grief of an elf lies buried deep in ages forgotten, but there are also memories worth remembering," Legolas replied trying to lift the older hobbit's gloom. "I still remember when Gloin, father of Gimli, came tumbling down my father's dungeons, and into the river, inside wine barrels! Along with dear Bilbo of course."[iii]

"Oi!" cried the dwarf. "Do not stir old grudges with your jests Legolas."

"Old grudges of our sires are not for us to meddle in, friend Gimli," replied the elf.

This seemed to snap Merry from his depression and smiled a little.

"Come now, a tale! Legolas," Pippin reminded the elf.

"Unquenchable hobbit, as Gandalf used to say," said Legolas. "And what tale would you wish to hear Master Took?"

"What is it that you're singing a moment ago, Legoas?" asked Merry.

"A moment ago?" the elf tilted his head a fraction to the side. "Ah, it's but a fragment of the Lay of Eärendil on the Fall of Gondolin. It runs thus in the common tongue:

And more is told
in lays and in legend and lore of others
of that weary way of the wandering folk;
how the waifs of Gondolin outwitted Melko,
vanished o'er the vale and vanquished the hills,
how Glorfindel the Golden in the gap of the Eagles
battled with the Balrog and both were slain:
one like flash of fire from fanged rock,
one like bolted thunder black was smitten
to the dreadful deep digged by Thornsir.[iv]

"Glorfindel?" asked Pippin. "Isn't Glorfindel the name of the elf who rescued Frodo from the Riders after the attack on weathertop?"

"Yes, the same Glorfindel," said Legolas quietly. "Though he did not die like the tales tell. We all thought he did."

"Do you know him Legolas? What of his tale?"

"I've known Glorfindel since my people first saw the stars of Elbereth in Cuiviénen," a shadow of grief lay hidden on the old and weary eyes of the elf. "But telling you his tale would mean telling you the first two ages of this world!"

"But we have lots of time," replied the Took. "And besides, we would dearly like to know the story of Middle-Earth before we die you know."

"Very well then…"

TBC...
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[i] LotR, The Two Towers. Galadriel's message to Legolas.
[ii] Shire Reckoning. The system of calendar in the Shire.
[iii] The Hobbit.
[iv] Lay of Beleriand. Lay of Eärendil, P172