First Meetings

“Speech”

// Thought//

Chapter 6

  It wasn’t until late the next day that Estel woke up.  As he first came back to awareness, he noticed the pain in his chest.  Although it wasn’t nearly as bad as he remembered, it was still far from comfortable. He slowly opened his eyes and the squinted against the bright sunlight.  After his eyes had adjusted, he glanced around and noticed was that he wasn’t in the forest; in fact, he was at home, in his own bed.  Estel sat bolt upright, wincing as pain flared up all over his torso.  “Taurdil!”

  At the sound of his brother’s voice Elrohir, who had been lightly dozing in a chair in the corner of the room, immediately looked up.  “Estel!  You’re awake.  How do you feel?”

  “I’m fine,” he replied, “where’s Taurdil?”

  “Taurdil?  I don’t know, we only found you and Legolas.  King Thranduil’s message didn’t say that Legolas would be traveling with a companion.”

  “Legolas?  The Elven Prince?  The one you two always got into trouble with?”

  “Yes, we found both of you passed out in the forest, don’t you remember?”

  “No-I mean yes-I mean, I remember the forest but the Elf I was with said his name was Taurdil.  I want to see him.”  Estel began to get out of bed but Elrohir immediately protested.

  “Estel, you are not well, you should be resting.”

  “No, not until I see him.”  Estel resisted his brother’s attempts to get him back into bed and stubbornly made his way to the guestroom.  He burst through the door and Elladan quickly jumped up from where he was sitting. “Estel, what are you doing out of bed?”

  Aragorn ignored the question and instead moved over to where the Elf lay resting.  “How is he?”

  “He should be fine now.  He was suffering from Morgul poisoning but Ada has managed to cure it.  We brought his temperature back down to a normal level, but he has yet to awaken.”

  “Morgul poisoning!?!” exclaimed Estel, sounding surprised.

  “You didn’t know?” asked Elladan, shocked that his brother, a trained healer, didn’t notice the effects of the poisoning.  //But then again, this is Legolas we are talking about, the master of deception.//  He moved over towards the lavishly designed balcony doors that stood open beside the bed where his brothers were standing.

  “No, I knew he was sick, but I did not know about that.”

­­­ “I’m not surprised,” replied Elrohir.  Estel looked confused, so he continued, “Legolas has a habit of hiding his wounds.  It goes back to when he was afraid of healers, the short story is that he saw his mother die and was convinced the healers killed her and were going to kill him too.  That was a long time ago and although he is not afraid anymore, he still tries to cover up any injury.  He has become very good at it, so I’m not at all shocked that you, a person who had just met him, did not have any idea.”

  Instead of looking relieved Estel looked even more troubled.

  “But I should have known,” he cried out.  “Before I found him, I came across dozens of slaughtered orcs and I knew they had fought an Elf, and then shortly after that, I found him.  I knew he was sick as well; I should have put two and two together!”  Estel dropped his eyes to the ground, clearly ashamed of himself.

  Elladan forced his younger brother to look him in the eyes.  “This was not your fault, all right?  As you said, you had just met him; I doubt anyone who met would have known that something that serious was wrong.  You have nothing to be ashamed of, alright?”

  Estel still didn’t feel convinced but he wisely held his tongue.  Elladan took this as a good sign and said, “Alright, now you’ve seen that he is going to be fine, maybe you should get back to bed.”

  Estel was about to protest when Elrohir unexpectedly jumped to his aid.  “Give him a minute, he just found out who Legolas really was, he thought he was Taurdil.”

  “He is not well, he needs to be in bed,” stated Elladan.

  “He will go there in a minute,” Elrohir said, raising his voice slightly.

  “No, now!”

  “In a minute!”

  “Now!”

  “Do you two ever stop arguing?” asked a weak voice from the bed, causing the others to jump in surprise.  “How’s anyone supposed to get some rest with all this racket?”

  “Legolas!” exclaimed Elrohir as he turned away from his brother to look at the injured Elf.

  “Elfling, you’re awake.  How do you feel?” asked Elladan, using their old nickname for Legolas.

  All three brothers surrounded the Elf.  “Remember how you felt after the troll stepped on you, Elladan?  I think I feel something like that.”

  The twins laughed as they recalled the incident.  “How could you remember that?  The troll had knocked you out five minutes into the fight.  If I remember correctly, you had a pretty severe head wound from that club.”

  “Maybe, but I was still healed before you.”

  “No you weren’t!  You just climbed out of bed and left the next day before Ada could catch you.”

  Legolas laughed which he immediately regretted as it hurt his head.  His body was still sore but he no longer felt hot and the extreme pain in his head had faded into a dull roar.  He slowly began to pull himself into a sitting position and then became serious again.  “Speaking of your ada, is he angry?  I remember last time he said that he didn’t ever want to see us come back injured again or he would permanently ban us from Imladris.  He was so upset; I hate to see him that irate again.”

  “Is that why you’ve been away all these years?” came a voice from the doorway.

  The four younger beings turned around to see the Elf Lord standing there.  Legolas dropped his head.  “I’m so sorry for coming back hurt again, my Lord.  I didn’t intend it and I swear, this time I didn’t go searching for trouble, it was—”

  “Legolas,” interrupted Lord Elrond, “I know you did not intend for this to happen.”  He went over and sat on the edge of the bed where he forcibly raised the young Elf’s chin so that they were looking each other in the eyes.  “I would never actually banish you from here; you should know that.  I was just extremely agitated.  For months you three had been coming back bloody and bruised and I was tired of it, not to mention it scared me half to death.  You should know that I think of you as one of my own sons and if anything were to happen to you, any one of you, I do not know if I could bear it.”

  Legolas was so happy to hear these words that he couldn’t help but break into a huge smile.  For years he had believed that the Elf Lord had hated him and now, to learn he was thought of as one of his sons; it was almost too much emotion for the recovering Elf to bear.  “So...I didn’t overstay my welcome?”

  Lord Elrond smiled, “Legolas, you could never overstay your welcome, because I consider this your home as well, and nobody could possibly overstay their welcome at their own house.”

  Legolas flung his arms around the Elf Lord.  “Thank you, Lord Elrond.”

  After everything was settled Lord Elrond turned to his sons.  “I need to examine my patient now.  Estel, back to bed, Elladan, Elrohir, go make yourselves useful somewhere else.”

  “Estel?” exclaimed Legolas.  He had noticed the human standing there but had gotten so used to his presence that he had thought nothing of it.  “You mean Strider is Estel, your foster son?”  Legolas had heard the Lord Elrond had taken in a human, but he had not been back to Imladris since it had happened.

  “Yes,” said Lord Elrond, “Estel sometimes goes by that alias.  I trust you know who Estel really is?”  Legolas nodded.  “And you know that that information is to be kept secret?”

  “Yes my Lord.”

  With that said, the three brothers left the room and Elrond turned back to Legolas.  “Let’s see those wounds.”  He was pleased to note that the infection was clearing up and all the cuts were healing nicely.  “Everything looks good.  After a few more days’ bed rest you should be perfectly fine.  Now, get some sleep Dian Las,” he said as he stood up and walked to the door.  He had just about left when he added, “and please, no more sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night.”

  Legolas just smiled.  Once his door was closed he pulled the covers tightly around him and was about to drift off to sleep when the door opened once more and the human slipped back in.

  “You shouldn’t be out of bed if you’re not well,” said Legolas.

  Aragorn smiled.  “From the stories I’ve head, you shouldn’t be the one saying that.  Anyway, I just came in here because I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.”  He took a step towards the bed. “I am Aragorn, although around here I am known as Estel.”

  Legolas smiled.  “Hello Estel, I am Legolas.”

  “Well Legolas, if you are tired I shall let you sleep, but, if you’re feeling up to it, I believe my brothers are planning on playing a prank on Glorfindel. Would you like to go watch?”

  The Elf immediately flung the covers off himself and stood up. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  ...And that was the beginning of what could arguably be the strongest friendship in Middle Earth—that is, until a certain Dwarf enters the picture...

  THE END

  Elvish Translations

  Ada = Dad or daddy

  Dian Las = Little Leaf

  Sadly, yes this is the end.  Thanks everyone who reviewed and even thanks to those silent lurkers out there.  I will be back eventually with more Aragorn and Legolas stories, hope you all return =)