Days passed and, in a beautiful woodland area on the isle of Eressea, further away from the seashore, Legolas was spending time with Eliniel. They were both sitting on the high branches of an old tree, Legolas having his arms hung from another branch above his head and sitting in a relaxed manner, while Eliniel was completely stretched across the thick branch next to him, looking up towards the sky from under the coronary with a serene smile, her black hair falling down like a curtain of dark silk.
As they talked and then kept silent, taking in the beauty of the place with all of their senses, Legolas' gaze lingered on Eliniel, like he enjoyed observing her. It seemed as though she knew that very well, as her glance would catch his eyes and she would smile.
'Is this forest to your liking?', she asked playfully. 'I used to come here very often with my family. Is it similar to your Greenwood?'
'Not quite. Greenwood was bigger.', Legolas replied, also with a playful smile. 'But it does remind me of home, somehow.'
It was Eliniel's turn to study him.
'Do you miss it?', she asked.
'In some ways, I will always miss it. Elves do not forget anything, as you know. Greenwood will always be a part of me.'
'I suppose your kingdom was truly beautiful.'
Legolas smiled.
'Yes...and no. There was a time when it was a daunting place. Our realm was not safe anymore. That's when the forest started to be known as Mirkwood. There were giant spiders everywhere and enemies all around. Nothing was growing anymore.'
Legolas let his gaze down for a moment as if remembering those dark days.
'But in the end', he continued, 'after Sauron's fall, Lady Galadriel purged it and my people worked to restore its beauty. When I left, the forest was green and beautiful once again.'
'Lady Galadriel...', Eliniel muttered. 'I remember my father telling me about her. She was Feanor's niece. At first, my father wanted to follow them.'
Legolas turned her head again towards her, intrigued.
'But then he turned back. He decided not to follow Feanor after all. I am glad he didn't.'
Legolas smiled.
'I am sure it spared both him and you from a lot of misery.', he said.
Eliniel stood quiet, looking up, a shadow passing across her greenish eyes, as the sun rays were playing upon her face from between the branches.
'Feanor brought a lot of misery to Middle-Earth.'
She sat up, her long, dark hair falling now like a thick curtain of waves upon her shoulders, looking at Legolas.
'I remember when the Sindars started coming here from Middle-Earth after Morgoth was cast into the void. They first looked at us, the Noldors that remained here, with coldness. They lived separately, they did not want to interact with us. With time, this changed. Many Sindars were coming back with physical and emotional scars, heading to Aqualonde. As they passed by this island, whether they chose to stay here or not, I offered them healing for both their bodies and spirits. In return, they told me of the plunging of Doriath and of them fleeing to Sirion to escape the sons of Feanor.'
'There have been tense relations between Sindars and Noldors for a very long time, but not anymore.', Legolas said, standing up also and looking at her with intensity. 'It is not your fault for what some of your kin did. It was all Morgoth's doing, he is the only one to blame for distorting Eru's music. And all the suffering is now in the past. He is in the past.'
He smiled and extended his hand to her. They jumped from the tree, from branch to branch, until they reached the ground, with Eliniel giggling joyfully. They stood by the thick tree trunk, with Legolas taking her by the hands and saying:
'You have no idea how happy I am right now. Happier than I have been in my entire lifetime in Middle-Earth.'
Eliniel looked at him with innocent, curious eyes as he placed a strand of her black hair behind her ear and caressed her cheek. Her green eyes were untainted with honey-gold like Tauriel's - they were clear and pale, with a cold noble surface yet a kind warmth inside them. They could be just as fierce as Tauriel's when they wanted and yet, they were so different.
It was the first time such eyes looked at him as if he was the only one that mattered. The first time he wanted to fully claim that gaze for himself without any doubt inside him or any second thought. With Eliniel he was sure, he had been sure from the start. She was the one. Legolas pulled her close and kissed her passionately, without hesitation. She reciprocated, running her fingers through his soft, blond hair, until her arms were completely thrown around his neck, a pure feeling of love consuming them.
The same golden sun was also pouring its light on a soft plane in the Blessed Land, filled with small flowers. A single elven path was crossing this plane and two riders were together on creamy horse, riding across this path. Thranduil was in front and Tauriel was at his back, her hands around him and her face touching his shoulder at times as if she wanted to take in his scent, holding him from behind while they rode gently, without any hurry.
They finally unmounted next to a wide plane with soft grass. They took out a bottle, a couple of glasses and a basket with food and placed them on a silk cloth onto the grass, laying on the soft green, having a quiet picnic and taking in the sun, the breeze and the soothing sounds.
'Does it remind you a bit of the old days?'
'Yes.', Thranduil said softly, his eyes closed, the sun rays illuminating his platinum hair.
Tauriel smiled and handed him a glass of wine.
'So?', she asked. 'What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?'
Thranduil opened his eyes. He had been expecting to tell her what was on his mind a little later during their picnic, perhaps after a few drinks, but Tauriel was too direct as always.
'I was thinking', he started, while studying the glass in his hand. 'Now that the war is over, now that we are not in danger of fading and we have a new home here... Also, now that Legolas is settled in his own home. I was thinking that... perhaps, you would like to become a mother?'
Tauriel looked at him with a smile and a frown, both amused and intrigued by his unusual question.
'You're asking me if I want to be a mother?', she asked with amusement.
'Well... yes. I am sorry, I have never been good at talking about such things.', Thranduil continued. 'But I know that you would probably want to be a mother. Am I wrong, Tauriel? I could sense that in you. You have a nurturing side and you would be a great one, I have no doubt about that.'
'What is it that you want to say exactly, Thranduil?', she asked with an eyebrow raised, fully knowing what his words meant, but enjoying challenging him to express his wish clearly.
'I suppose I am asking you... if you would like to conceive?'
She parted her lips in a smile that showed she had been expecting him to ask this for some time.
'Do you want to have another child?', she asked him plainly.
'Yes. I do. I have been having this thought for some time now. I wanted to find the right moment to express it to you.'
She studied him for a few moments, with her lips slightly parted in surprise, then smiled and said:
'Me too. I have been also having this thought for some time. Like a desire that has been growing within me in the past months, to conceive with you. If before it was like a fleeting idea, now it felt like an urge.'
'You should have told me about it.'
'I suppose I was only starting to make sense of my own feelings. And I didn't know if you felt the same.'
'Yes.', he said with a decisive tone, while looking at her with intensity. 'I also feel this calling, to have a child with you. I feel strongly this is the right time.'
She looked at him again with a smile upon her lips, then came next to him and took his cup away from his hand, placing it next to him. She embraced him and they both leaned upon the soft grass, kissing. When their lips parted, they stood quiet only for a few moments, then Tauriel looked into his eyes and spoke softly:
'Today. Once we get home...'
Thranduil smirked.
'You are so impatient.'
He then kissed her forehead lovingly as a confirmation. She rested her head upon his chest.
'Will you show me how it's done?', she asked. 'I only heard of it but you know already.'
'I will, my love.'
Elven conception was a ritual in itself. Their bedroom was lit by candles and the smell of incense was filling the air, reminding them of the scent of the woodland after the rain. They did a prayer to Elbereth and thought of their child while saying the words together. Here, in the Blessed Realm, it felt like their voices were heard much more clearly by the Valar and the energy of their prayers was purer.
Thranduil and Tauriel looked into each other's eyes and smiled. It was a precious moment when both of them felt ready to conceive and start a new chapter in their relationship. Thranduil's piercing blue eyes drowned deeply into her green ones, then they took each other by the hand and went to the massive bed they shared.
They started kissing and touching each other's bodies and every movement was deliberate, as if they were connected to each other's minds and hearts, and their desire and intention were the same. His fea was connected to hers as their bodies also started to connect, melting into each other more and more with each kiss.
With each thrust, each moan, each needy grip, their energies were blending more with each other. Thranduil felt her fea open up and allow his own to enter it as if they were not two separate energies anymore but they were one single fea, one soul and one body. They felt like in a trance, losing track of time or even space, as if they were two ethereal beings trapped in an ecstasy that would last forever.
He felt like his light was pouring into hers to create something new as his seed finally spilled inside her and they both came at the same time, loudly, for long moments, eyes transfixed into one another as if they were seeing into each other's soul. He felt that he had poured inside her everything he had, everything he was and everything that was good within him.
Her fea was still radiating bright; Thranduil had never seen Tauriel's eyes so lit save maybe for the few times when she had performed powerful healing and magic. He stared into her eyes that were like two shining stars and she stared back at him as if she was seeing him for the first time and as if he was the most wonderful thing she had ever seen. Then, he lowered himself against her and pressed his lips onto hers. If it had been magic then it was one of the most powerful kinds of magic he had ever lived to see and it was now done.
He pulled out of her and they stood still next to each other, her hand in his, both silent in the aftermath. Thranduil tried to remember how it had been when he had conceived Legolas. He remembered that it had been an equally transcendental experience but it had felt different perhaps because of the person he had conceived with back then. Every fea was different and the experience had been different with Ellerian's energy than with Tauriel's. Not better or worse, just different.
This time, perhaps because the experience was so fresh and perhaps because he had changed over the course of many centuries and had matured, the sensations, both physical and spiritual, were felt strongly within him. He had felt Tauriel's bright energy so clearly as if he touched her soul and now he was feeling the bond between their feas stronger than ever since their union first started.
'I can feel it', she whispered as she lay facing up, turning her head to the side to look at him. 'The new life. Our child...'
Thranduil touched her abdomen, resting his hand upon it. His child was now inside her.
He could feel himself come back to normal, to a more grounded state but their breaths were still long and deep. Her hand came next to his, where he rested it on her belly, and their fingers locked.
'I can feel it too.', Thranduil whispered. 'The new fea we have created.'
They stood still, facing each other quietly for a few long moments. Then, without any more words, Tauriel came next to him and kissed him slowly and passionately, clenching her fingers into his hair. They kissed for long, as if she wanted to claim his soul and his entirety, and he kissed her back with the same intensity. It felt like their love was reaching new peaks.