"Letting go. Everyone talks about it like it's the easiest thing. Unfurl your fingers one by one until your hand is open. But my hand has been clenched into a fist for three years now; it's frozen shut." ― Gayle Forman
~~~
Clenching the stone balcony with numb fingers, Legolas draws a ragged breath of chilly Gondor air and slowly lets it out. As the cloud of condensation billows in front of his face, the mist gently fades into the deep blue behind the scattered stars. A trail of floating lanterns drifts farther from the city, and ever closer to the heavens.
From below, a collective yell of surprise sounds out in the streets after an unexpectedly loud bang. His attention drifting from the constellations, Legolas looks on tiredly as yet another show of fire crackers fizzle and pop red-yellow sparks in front of a delighted audience. The elf sighs.
Suddenly, the thick wooden door behind him is flung open. The door slams against the stone wall with a loud bang that echoed into the empty balcony, and Legolas sucks in a sharp breath of surprise.
Incoherently yelling at someone in the party, a red-bearded dwarf guffaws loudly and shakes his fist before marching through. As Gimli staggers out of the doorway, he trips on his worn leather shoe when he spots the lone woodland elf at the balcony.
"Why, Legolas!" he slurs loudly, blinking blearily at his new surroundings with a frown. Legolas sighs in relief at the brief distraction of his drunken friend.
"It is such a fine night of-" Gimli interrupts his own sentence with a loud burp.
"It's such a fine night of the feast" he says in a clearer voice, "to spend moping alone in the chill."
Crashes, clapping, and cheering resound into the empty balcony from the Great Hall.
Legolas slowly assesses the hiccuping dwarf who is currently wiping his nose with his sleeve slightly too vigorously. Gimli had a rather unfocused look to his eyes.
Raising his eyebrows at his friends drunken condition, Legolas smirks slightly and glances over his shoulder at the Feast. From inside, flashes of party goers' brightly colored dresses swing by the wide open door. The hobbits can be heard leading a drinking contest over the excited chant of "Pippin! Pippin! Pippin!"
"You are right, my friend," Legolas finally answers, looking away from the party and back up at the sky. "Tis a fine night indeed."
Gimli wanders over to Legolas's side and tries to imitate the elf's position on the human sized stone railing. Squinting upwards, the dwarf scrutinizes the stars as if to squeeze some secret from their light. For a while, the two warriors stand in silent awe beneath the vastness of the heavens. In a lower voice, Gimli asks with a hint of a smile, "What do your elf eyes see?"
Chuckling slightly at his comrade's familiar phrase, Legolas slowly answers without looking away from the sky, "The return of the King and fall of the Eye has restored the song of stars."
Satisfied with the answer, Gimli hums to himself after nodding solemnly. As expected of his country men, the dwarf quickly shifts his attention back to the Earth as he fumbles with a small leather pouch on his belt.
Back at the hall, the feast attenders had begun howling along to the popular folk song "The Red Elf of Woodlands and her Dwarf lover" Legolas felt a dull stab of bitterness within his chest. Of all the songs to sing... "The beautiful, beautiful elf saved the great, great dwarf in the nest of Darza's trail!"
She fought, she ran, she rode to save her only love-" The door only creaked open wider.
Legolas's angular features darken as he recalls the past.
Sighing with exasperation, Legolas stares at the Great Hall wishing with all his heart for the song to cease. Instead, more musicians began to take up the popular song on their bag pipes and lyres making the music progress even faster and livelier.
After rubbing his hands together to warm them, the dwarf drew out a long pipe and sucked in a drag after lighting it with the fire from a nearby torch. "What troubles you my friend?" he asked, blowing a smoke ring into the air.
Legolas's irritated gaze flickers to the dwarf and move back to the sky. Searching the stars.
"Memories," he finally replies.
"Memories of-" he paused, then pronounced that unfamiliar word, "home."
In a most untimely moment, Gimli violently chokes on the smoke of his pipe weed. Struggling for breath, the dwarf wheezes and pounds on his chest like an amateur. As the dwarf's coughing died down, Legolas quirks a half-smile.
Turning nearly as bright as his beard, the dwarf stares determinedly forward at the city, and refuses to meet Legolas's amused gaze. However, Gimli quickly forgets his embarrassment, and he sings quietly as he stuffs more weed into his pipe.
"hair the color of the autumn leaves-" Unbidden images wash through Legolas' mind.
"-and those eyes were the color of the sea..."
Gondor fades into the backround of his mind as he remembers the past.
In his mind were the bright red leaves, the sounds of rushing water, and the picture of
her .
They were suddenly running together, ripping blindly through the Forest of Smien and hardly caring for the world.
☾
special thanks to @youngsouls for the beautiful cover :)
xx
