The Silvan (Lord of the Rings-Legolas)[Wattys2016]

Chapter 43: Noldorin Squirrels

Elladan could not remember the last time his stomach fluttered in excitement, could not remember his mind racing forward like this, enumerating the things he would do, how he would do them. This enthusiasm had taken a firm hold of him and now he could not stop. Indeed his father had been looking at him from the corner of his eye for the entire time during dinner, as had Elrohir, and even now, in the Hall of Fire, as bards strummed their lyres and flutists sang out their sweet melodies, the shrewd grey eyes watched.

Glorfindel, as observant as ever, broke the comfortable silence with a comment he knew would draw them all in, even Elrond, who now looked expectantly at the Commander, and as he did so, Elladan could feel the almost tangible weight lift from his chest and he blew out a subtle breath in relief.

"Melven came to me today, Legolas," began Glorfindel, sipping on his wine and giving the Silvan a sideways glance before continuing.

Sure enough, Legolas was sitting forward. "Oh?," he said somewhat lamely, and Elladan snorted in mirth.

"Legolas, you are a terrible fibber. You must learn to hide that," he gestured to his face - "even I can tell you already knew!"

Legolas smiled lopsidedly and Glorfindel gave a somewhat sinister grin.

"Well, not exactly," began Legolas ruefully. "He just - just mentioned that he might - try to change your mind..." said Legolas, flapping his arms around himself somewhat chaotically.

"Change his mind about what?" asked Elladan with a quizzical scowl.

There was an awkward silence, in which both Elladan and Elrond stared at Legolas for an answer.

"Well, you see there was an incident, during the skirmish the other day," began Legolas. "It seems that Melven had sighted an orc that was singling me out. He did not fire..."

"What?" asked Elrond blankly.

"Indeed. It was Lindohtar that reported it to Glorfindel directly, and Glorfindel had resigned to strike him off the warrior list for good. I - I intervened."

Elladan scowled darkly and then leaned forward. "Why?" he asked, a hint of anger in his words. That elf is nothing but a fool.

Legolas looked to Glorfindel for a moment, but the commander only asked him another question.

"Well, tell them, Legolas. Tell them why you would do such a thing," he said drolly as he sat back and stared at his pupil.

There was a challenge in his voice, and Legolas had a moment of insecurity, but it passed quick enough. It was a test, one Glorfindel placed before him to teach him, perhaps.

"There is a good warrior in there somewhere, lying under layers of bitterness and loneliness, under centuries of wilting pride and waning confidence. He has no friends, no family, no one to tell him he can be good, no one to give him a gentle push and tell him they believe in him, that he can achieve his goal. He wants to be a warrior - more than anything - but he cannot get past his own inability for self-criticism. This is not the trait of a bad warrior, it is the trait of one who defends himself, for to him, he has already failed, and he cannot abide anyone telling him it is so, telling him what he already knows - it is a circle of destruction he knows not how to break."