TOLKIEN; imagines

59: The Simple Things - Legolas

PROMPTS: dallyswife: could you please do an imagine with legolas admiring another elf in Mirkwood, and she's like an earthy gardner/healer, and in the end they finally get together.

lillycrown: Reader is a guard for the company and that's how her and legolas meet. Her being a headstrong, stubborn type, and doesn't really see anything past battles and fighting but Legolas brings out a different softer side to her and kinda teaches her to love?

A/N: obviously some of the details aren't going to be the same because I joined prompts so please forgive me for that, but I hope it is enjoyable all the same.

TRANSLATIONS: meluis: lovely one, mellon: friend

WARNINGS: mentions of war/bad past,

WORDS: ~2300

The rain pattered upon the thousands of leaves, a single drop not being able to get through the dense canopy. Rain never reached the ground in Mirkwood. The gardens, however, were the only exception.

The trees that had once stood in place of the garden had been cleared so that a multitude of different varieties of verdant green foliage could prosper in the summer and shrivel and die in the fall. It was a symbolism of the queen's death to the king, but to me, the sobbing elf sitting amongst the greenery as rain fell on her back, it symbolized much more than just one lost life.

I was no stranger to death and to me, the garden symbolized the countless plethora of lives that had ended before my eyes. Bloody memories of the dead and the dying and the suffering haunted me from the Battle of the Five Armies and from the countless orc raids on my home. As one of Mirkwood's best healers, I knew I should be used to it, but the sting of losing all those lives was numbing to the conscience, so much so that, when I failed to save the boy who had run through the Mirkwood door's life only an hour ago, I couldn't help but burst into tears. The death I had seen in my life had left me saddened and heartbroken.

Approaching footsteps caught my attention and when I raised my head in the direction of the disturbance, I saw there was a tall elf, with fair skin and light blonde hair that fell just over his shoulders. He was wearing a dark green tunic, with silver, embroidered leaves and his dark brown pants disappeared into tall, leather boots that ended just below the knee. He was rather handsome, but it was his eyes that really intrigued me. They were a piercing, ice blue, but there was a certain kindness and compassion in them that was hard to come by in anyone else.

"Excuse me, miluis," he said, his smooth voice washing over me in deep, calming waves, "but I couldn't help but notice your saddening sobs. Is everything alright, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Yes," I responded, delicate hands wiping away the tears on my face, as though it would make a difference in the pounding rain, "just a rough day, I suppose."

The elf raised his gaze to the sky, letting the rain batter gently against his face before he turned back to me.

"I'm terribly sorry. However, you're soaking wet," he observed. "I wouldn't want a beautiful lady like you to catch a cold. Would you at least come inside with me?"

He gave me a charming smile and held his hand out for me to take. His kindness was so very rare in the dark, cold kingdom of Mirkwood and so I took his hand and jumped off the garden wall, my feet splashing in the collecting puddles.

"Thank you," I said. "My name is Y/N, by the way."

"I know," the elf responded. "Those I serve with on the guard come to you quite often. They say you're one of the best healers in Arda."