Gwaedh [Legolas Love Story] - COMPLETED

XX.

The party ends in the late night, people head to their homes and the guests to their rooms. Legolas and Thranduil do not feel the need to rest, so they make each other company, sitting at the table in the balcony of Thranduil's room, talking and watching the landscape turn from night to dawn. 

The humans will be asleep for many more hours, as parties always exhaust them, so father and son enjoy the time to update on each other's lives. Thranduil finally hears, first hand, the perrils the Fellowship passed, and the quest Legolas was an essential part of. He smiles proudly of his son, representant of all elves. 

Thranduil, in turn, tells how things have been at their home. Elves leaving, either for Valinor or Ithilien. They speak in their tongue. 

"Father," Legolas asks serenely "Did you come here because you intend to sail too?"

Thranduil looks at him "I am old, Legolas, I am possibly the oldest elf alive in these lands. Though I do not wish to abandon my people, nor the woods until they are returned to their old splendor. Nor until I take home the one to rule them."

Legolas looks forward "I betrayed my people. I defied you and was willing to lose them over... over..." Legolas doesn't have the courage to finish, or perhaps he tries to find the correct word to address her. Even he is not sure.

"Legolas, it has been too long."

"Not nearly enough, father. I'm sure they all still whisper about it."

They still do, Thranduil thinks, but of course they do, royal drama has always entretained everyone. Thranduil keeps looking at his son. There is something he doesn't understand, his heart seems to have healed. It was the thing he was most afraid of, his son fading away and Thranduil losing him. Hearing he would join a terrible quest gave him some comfort, meant he was not dead yet. He speaks cautiously "Tauriel still lives in Mirkwood."

Legolas seems impressed "She did not fade nor left for the Undying Lands?"

"She wishes to, but insists she won't leave while we need a Captain of the Guard. I believe she still has something to resolve before she leaves. Maybe something with you."

Legolas looks forward, serious, stoic, stone cold, impassive. Sometimes it still impresses Thranduil how much he can look like himself, how angry Legolas can get. And just hours before he looked so free and pleased dancing with the woman. Reminded himself of him and his late wife. 

Legolas thinks as the sun rises. He figured Tauriel's name didn't mean anything to him since some decades ago, and his father pronouncing it changed nothing inside. Did he ever love her? Was it just fantasy, or perhaps the thought of giving his elves a future queen? They were good friends for centuries, and she was the captain of his guard, and he cared for her, worried about her. His heart had hurt and his pride even more, but he didn't break. How would he know what love feels like when he had never received it? How would he recognize it? Elarinya passes by his mind, her in his arms in her pretty dress that night. He imagines her wearing a crown and a silver gown. He shakes the thought away, no, she couldn't. 

The seagulls and the sea grow louder and he rubs his forehead, tired and tormented, sick of that never ending wish. Thranduil seems to notice and worry fills his face "Legolas, what is happening?" 

Legolas keeps his eyes closed until the sea is lower "There is something I should tell you," he says, not looking at his father "Lady Galadriel warned that my heart wouldn't find rest in the forest once I saw the sea. It happened. I've been longing to leave for almost a decade."

Thranduil is very quiet, looking closely at his son, studying his pain. He is young compared to him, but the War has aged him, changed him. His voice is the most serene, contains all the love he feels for his only child "We could sail together one day if you wish, Legolas."

"I will stay here as long as my friends live," he states. It's a promise stronger than any sea call, he will hold to it with his entire strength. He adds, to pacify his father, finally looking at him "It's not always calling and loud, sometimes it is just a mere whisper. I'm still happy here."

Thranduil knows, he saw how happy he was before. Would it be too mean to test his son? He wouldn't lose anything in trying "The woman seems to be a good distraction from the sea. You did seem happy."

Legolas knows his father too well, he knows when he is trying to twist some information out of someone. He won't fall into his words "My friends keep my mind away from the sea, they are most dear to me."

Thranduil smiles, his son is too clever. He teases "You leave me for decades and when we meet again you have the most strange friends." 

Legolas smiles "It is what happens when you spend millenia with the same people. You are responsible for this too, as you were the one who told me to find Aragorn."

"I didn't tell you to become friends with a dwarf, hobbits and other humans. Gimli's father was in our caves, wasn't he?"

"Gloin, yes," Legolas smiles "Can you believe we had the Ring in our palace? Bilbo Baggins carried it." 

"Hobbits. The strangest creatures in our lands, of that I'm sure."

Both smile and enjoy the landscape as the sun slowly rises, already over the horizon. Down, the city seems to wake up and business is being prepared on the streets. Legolas speaks calmly "Elarinya believes the darkness of Mirkwood is related to evil in Middle Earth. Once this threat is handled, the woods must return to their splendor again."

Thranduil eyes him "It could be. She seems very intelligent."

"She is."

"Humans grow very fast. I first saw her less than two decades ago, she was just a child. She was alone in the Forest Gate, placing flowers on your mother's statue," Legolas looks at him "And a second time after the Battle of Dol Guldur. She was searching for her father but he and his men were dead along with our elves. She begged for help but his time had gone. There is so much strength in humans, she carried him to his horse and rode away. If the elves must leave and put these lands in the hands of men, I believe people like her and Aragorn and your other friends could give it a good future."

Legolas smiles "Yes, I'm sure of it too."

There is a sudden change in his tone, Thranduil is worried "I do not want you charging alone into Gundabad, Legolas. I cannot allow it. We will find some other plan with time, but promise me, my son, nothing unsafe."

"Father," he lays his hand over Thranduil's forearm "I promise. I will not leave you."

Thranduil sighs. Legolas is happy, it is always when the two of them are alone that he realizes how much his father loves him and how much he loves him back. And he missed him terribly. 

They stay quiet, enjoying each other's presence and the city below. They have breakfast and prepare for the ride, as in that afternoon they will leave to visit Ithilien. 

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