Trees & Memories

6

Thranduil's cheeks immediately flooded with color. "Umm. Ahem. I, uh..." Elrond gave him a confused look. "Oh fine! I was spying on Lainor and Estel. They were laughing and flirting in the stables." Thranduil spoke very quickly and then waited for Elrond to respond.

Elrond busted out laughing.

"Don't laugh at me!" Thranduil protested before he succumbed to laughter himself.
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Estel made his way to the kitchens to find Lumorniel. When he asked her for more of the same provisions as the day before, she smiled and responded "I figured you'd want to wander the woods some more. Legolas grabbed your stuff when he came and grabbed his."

His eyes went big and he thought *so he wants me to come back*.

She hugged him and left to finish her work. Estel walked out of the palace with a large grin on his face.

Legolas had thought he was taking quite the risk grabbing Estel's supplies. Really, who would want to come back to him? He didn't even wake Estel up when he left in the night. Though, he did stay in the tree and make sure that his sleep was undisturbed.

While he was lost in his thoughts, Estel dropped down into Legolas' secret room, causing him to jump. "Now it seems I am the one to apologize for startling you." Estel laughed.

Legolas simply responded in kind "I'm glad you decided to join me."

"Of course" Estel smiled at him. "What are you doing?" He asked.

Legolas was sitting on the floor of the room tearing pages out of books and gathering them. "I don't want to keep these anymore. Why keep records of my tormented sleep? What was I hoping to accomplish?"

Estel dropped to his knees in front of Legolas. "I agree that we should burn these books, but I also think that you should try, just try to let me in. Just a little bit. Give me just one chance to prove to you that you are better than anything he ever did to you."

Legolas looked up at Estel's face. There was no sign of betrayal or cruelty there, just hope and kindness. "Your name suits you, you know. You have known me for less time that anyone in my kingdom, yet you have managed to give me hope." Legolas smiled and continued to rip out the pages of the books.

After all of the dream diaries had been ripped from their binding, Legolas and Estel gathered up the pieces of parchment and took them above ground.

Estel quickly set to building a pit of stone so they could burn the pages.

"Estel." Legolas called.

"Yes, mellon nin?" He answered.

After staring at him for a few short moments, Legolas spoke the words "thank you" and started filling the pit with the parchment and book remnants.

Estel simply smiled and opened one of their packs for food. After Legolas had started a small fire, they both sat back to watch the fire burn while sharing a meal. There were a lot of pages, so it took them a few hours to feed them into the fire.

"It sounds stupid, but somehow I feel a bit lighter." Legolas quietly spoke.

Estel put his arm around his mellon. "It's not stupid. Not at all."

Legolas found himself becoming quite comfortable with Estel's touch. He felt safe. No longer vulnerable. "You read at least part of that last book." Legolas spoke without looking at Estel.

Estel sighed "Yes, I did. A few others, as well. I know that they aren't just nightmares, Legolas. I'm not going to run away from you. You are better than and more than anything that evil elf did to you. Everything he said was a lie, Legolas."