Epilogue: Healing

Legolas crept through the underbrush, stepping over or around twigs and branches that would snap or snag his clothes and announce his presence. The musky scent of a deer lingered in the still air. He had not yet spotted it, but he could hear it--just ahead of him, it breathed heavily as it nosed a bush, tearing branches and munching noisily. Thranduil and Tulus were right on Legolas's heels. They almost certainly did not understand why he was tarrying. Legoalas could just barely see his cousin Galithil, followed by Colloth and Dolgailon, slipping through the heavy growth of dewberry bushes a dozen paces in front of him and to his left. As he walked, Galithil was reaching for an arrow from his quiver. He must have the deer in his sights. Legolas stopped and watched him.

"What?" Thranduil breathed in his ear, scanning the forest ahead of them.

Legolas shook his head. "Nothing," he whispered back. "Let Galithil have it," he said, signaling for Tulus to stay where he was.

Thranduil raised his eyebrows. "This is a magnificent animal, Legolas," he replied, gesturing to the tracks they had followed. They were indeed huge.

Legolas shrugged. "As long as one of us gets him, that is all that matters," he said. "Let it be Galithil. It is his turn to get a deer."

His father smiled in response and turned his attention to the glimpses of dark green tunic that were visible ahead of them through the undergrowth. Legolas looked in the same direction. A head and antlers popped up from behind a bush, eyes darting in all directions. Legolas sunk closer to the ground and stared at the deer. His father was right. It was a beautiful buck. Galithil's bow tilted slowly into position, but he did not draw. He did not yet have a shot and this buck had not achieved his age and size without learning what the creaking of a bow meant.

"What are you doing? It is right there!" Berior whispered, coming up behind Legolas along with Celonhael. He pointed at the now clearly visible buck.

"Galithil has it," Legolas answered.

Berior's brows drew together and he looked between the buck and Galithil. "But we have the shot. Galithil does not," he replied, reaching for an arrow.

"We are hunting until all of us shoot a deer, Berior," Legolas said, reaching to stay his younger cousin's hand. "This one is Galithil's."

Berior folded his arms across his chest, but his expression was resigned. "It is bigger than the one you shot," he finally retorted. "Galithil will say his buck is better than yours, even if you got yours first."

Celonhael snorted quietly. It was enough noise to make the deer raise its head again and skitter around to look straight at them. "If you argue in that manner," he said, "you and Galithil will sound just like Oropher and Amglaur in their youth. And I doubt very much Amglaur will like being reminded of those contests."

The sound of a bow being drawn prevented Legolas from inquiring what his uncle had meant by that reference. The buck gathered itself for flight, but he did not move fast enough. An arrow flew from the dewberries and struck him squarely. The buck took less than half a dozen panicked leaps before he collapsed on the forest floor. The crashing noises he made were completely drowned by Galithil's triumphant whoop as he chased after his first kill, his older brother close behind him.

Legolas grinned widely. "I do not mind if Galithil boasts that his deer is better than mine was," he said. Then, he stood up fully from his crouched position and walked over to congratulate his cousin.

*~*~*

"It is far, far bigger than the deer you killed Legolas," Galithil exclaimed, holding his hand high off the ground and then both hands far apart to show how big the buck had been. His eyes were gleaming. "It takes skill to track a deer that old and wise."

Dolgailon pulled his cloak more tightly around himself and watched their fire sputter as his little brother and cousin argued the relative merits of getting the first deer versus getting the bigger one. He was very pleased to see Galithil's high spirits were not all dampened by the light summer rain. He could almost convince himself that his brother had gone the entire day since spotting the buck's tracks without thinking of their father. That was a good thing.

He nodded to Thranduil when he settled next him, taking advantage of the thick, heavily leaved bough of the beech to shelter them somewhat from the elements. "This hunting trip was a most excellent idea, Uncle. It has served its purpose well," he said, gesturing with his jerk of his chin to Legolas and Galithil's playful argument.

Thranduil smiled. "Your adar and I promised them this trip," he replied. "And it is good for all of us to spend some time in the forest."

Dolgailon could not deny that. Being in the fresh, green forest east of the stronghold was greatly preferable to being surrounded by the gloom in the south. Especially given his state of mind. He still believed that he was right to go south and speak to his officers, but he was glad to be home and he did not intend to return to the south any time soon. The southern forest was oppressive under the best of circumstances. Like his little brother, he was still grieving. Better to remain in the capital for the time being. And the southern villages seemed to be in good hands. At least as far as the patrols were concerned. He was not as certain about the new leadership in his father's village.

"Did I mention to you that Adar's village has a new leader?" Dolgailon asked Thranduil quietly.

Thranduil's eyebrows went up. "I thought Tatharil managed your Adar's village when he was absent from it. It has been Tatharil that has been dealing with me since Galithil was born, at any rate."

Dolgailon wince slightly when his uncle said Galithil's name in a clear voice, fearing his little brother would hear him and come to join the conversation. He did not want to spoil Galithil's day by discussing the new leader of their father's village in his presence, But Galithil and Legolas continued their argument. "Tatharil was injured in the battle and did not survive," Dolgailon explained. "Apparently the elves in the village felt we had enough to handle when we were trying to arrange our journey back to the stronghold with Adar and Naneth's bodies without hearing that, so they did not want to burden us further. But, naturally I stayed there when I was visiting with the officers in the south and I met the new village leader. She seems very capable," he finished, trying to speak fairly about her strengths before mentioning his concerns.

"She?" Thranduil repeated.

Dolgailon nodded. "Sindar, I think, though I did not recognize her. But she is clearly not SIlvan. She is very organized and forceful. She seems to be a natural leader. They have already managed to reconstruct most of the cottages in the village, as well as the oven for baking."

Thranduil's mouth turned down on both sides and he nodded once, clearly impressed. "That is a feat indeed, to achieve so much in only a few weeks. Do I know her? What is her name?"

"Moralfien," Dolgailon replied.

"I do not remember anyone by that name traveling with us from Beleriand. She must have been born in the forest," Thranduil said.

Dolgailon shook his head. "I would guess that she is much older than I. Certainly old enough to have traveled here with you and Daeradar. But she said she had not lived for long in Eryn Galen, so perhaps that is why you do not know her. I assumed that she must have come here from Lothlorien recently. She had a male relative with her. A brother or uncle, it seems, because she was a maiden. I got the impression she had come to live with him, but I was not introduced to him, so I do not know his name. He kept very much to himself. They both largely avoided me, truth be told," he concluded.

Thranduil shrugged. "People were often nervous around your adar, given his position in this realm. Now you will experience the same thing. She probably was not certain if she should continue to lead the village since you were staying there. She seems to be a good leader, if she has managed to accomplish so much in so little time. As long as you trust her, I imagine we should be thankful for her."

Dolgailon drew a deep breath. "She made me quite uncomfortable, to be honest, though I could not say precisely why. But I do not intend to make my home in Adar's village. Arthiel prefers the capital, not to mention the fact that Crithad would have very strong words with me if I wanted to take his daughter south. And I think it is best that I remain indefinitely in the capital where I can benefit from your advice as I learn about my new position. If I am to do that, I suppose it is best to allow this elleth to manage Adar's village. Best to be thankful for her skill, as you said."

Thranduil merely nodded, but the slight smile on his face betrayed how pleased he was with that decision. Dolgailon was not surprised.

"Well, Thranduil said, "we will keep an eye on how the village fairs under her. It is the largest village in that area. We will hear quickly enough if anything goes amiss. And in the meantime, we will be grateful that someone stepped forward to finish managing the village's move. That was no small undertaking and we had no one to spare to help them."

Dolgailon said nothing to that. There was no arguing that they had no one to spare to govern that village. And it was certainly true that they would hear, either from villagers, nearby village leaders, or the patrols if anything went wrong there. He had probably only been caught off guard by seeing someone other than his father or Tatharil leading the village, Dolgailon thought. That was probably why this Moralfien had struck him so oddly. Dolgailon pulled his legs a little tighter against his chest and arranged his cloak so they were as sheltered as possible from the rain. He had enough to worry about himself, as Troop Commander. He did not have time to think about governing villages that were three days travel away. He would be grateful for the elleth as Uncle Thranduil had said and try not to waste anymore thought on it.

*~*~*

Legolas awoke when a hand shook his shoulder. His eyes came into focus to see his father crouching over him and he struggled for a moment to take in his surroundings before remembering that they were camping in the forest. Hunting! It must be time to get ready for another day's tracking. Today, Berior would get his deer, Legolas was sure of it.

His father gestured for him to be quiet and to follow him. Legolas frowned. It was still quite dark he realized. The rain had cleared--stars glittered above him--and the forest smelled clean and fresh. Legolas rose from his bedroll and followed his father. The only other person stirring in the camp was Conuion, who had taken the last watch of the night. He nodded to Thranduil and Legolas as they passed him. Thranduil led them a few paces into the forest, away from the camp, before leaping up to catch the lowest branch of a great tree.
 
Legolas hurried after his father, but he was forced to climb into a smaller tree until he could make his way into the branches of the one his father was climbing.

The tree was tall. One of the tallest, perhaps the tallest, that Legolas had ever seen. Certainly taller than any tree near the stronghold. It had sung contentedly from the moment they had made camp under its boughs the night before. It stirred particularly when Thranduil passed near it. Now that his father had climbed into it, the tree simply hummed with pleasure. Legolas could not help but notice that his father seemed joyful as well. This was certainly not the first tree Legolas had ever seen his father climb. They had sat together in the arms of nearly every tree within sight of the stronghold at some point, he imagined. But his father seemed to know this tree. His hands reached for and found welcoming branches as he climbed seemingly without thought. And he was climbing very high, into the most slender branches of the tree, yet he did not slow his pace.

Legolas did. The tree seemed quite interested in him, singing a gentle, new melody in response to him. It was welcoming. Delighted and surprised. But they had climbed above the tops of most of the trees surrounding them and his father was still climbing. Climbing into branches that must surely be too slender to support his weight. Legolas found himself carefully inspecting each branch before he trusted it, but the tree continued to sing to him, urging him upward.

Finally, Thranduil settled in a cluster of small branches near the top of the tree. The trunk swayed gently as he leaned into them. The motion was enough to make Legolas tighten his grip on the branches where he had stopped to watch his father climb. Thranduil simply sat there, facing east, his eyes closed, apparently completely lost in the forest's song. Legolas hesitated to disturb him. But still the tree's song urged him upwards, even more insistently now that he was considering climbing back down.

"Come join me," Thranduil said, without opening his eyes. "The branches here are new, but they are strong and they will not let you fall. I believe this old tree is beginning to grasp who you are. It has been Ages of this world since its own offspring were saplings, but enough eagles have fledged nestlings in its branches that it still remembers such things."

Legolas refrained from responding to being likened to a sapling and a nestling. Instead, he accepted without any further hesitation his father's assessment of the tree's ability to support both their weights and climbed around the trunk so that he too could fit in the cluster of small branches that held his father. They sat shoulder to shoulder when Legolas settled next to him.

"Woah!" Legolas whispered when he finally took his focus off the branches supporting him and allowed himself to look out over the forest. They were very high. From this vantage point, the forest stretched out in front of Legolas for as far as he could see. In front of him, in the very first light of morning in the east, Legolas could see mist rising off the Celduin. Looking over his shoulder, far in the distance, he was certain he could see the outlines of the Misty Mountains stabbing into the clouds. And to his right, the forest marched seemingly forever southward. Starlight sparkled in the drops of water that still clung to the trees after last night's gentle rain. "It is enormous," Legolas finally managed.

Thranduil only nodded, still not opening his eyes.

Legolas could not imagine why he would not. Why climb this high, within reach of this incredible view and not not look at it. Legolas had drawn a hundred maps of the forest for various lessons. He had travelled as far east as the raft elves' village and as far south as Selwon's village. Both were over a day's travel from the stronghold. But neither drawing maps nor his limited travels had given him any real sense of the size of the forest. Not in the way this view of it did.

The first glimmers of sunlight began to dance over the horizon, warming Legolas's face.

Thranduil opened his eyes. "Watch this," he whispered.

Legolas's eyes widened and his gaze snapped over to his father. That sounded like something Galithil would say and there were not many things anyone could do at this height that would be smart. But Thranduil only continued to look east, so Legolas turned his attention in that direction.

The horizon began to glow. The clouds, which had been over the forest yesterday, were now far off in the east. They turned first a silvery pink before slowly blooming into a fiery reddish-orange. It was indeed a beautiful sunrise, and Legolas could understand why his father had climbed this tree to watch it. As Anor rose further into the sky, the glow of the clouds began to fade, but his father did not stop watching. Legolas imagined he could see the arms of Anor embracing the lands and reaching closer to the forest. When the light reached the mist rising from the Celduin and floating amongst the tree tops, Legolas's breath caught in his throat. Rather than turning red, as the clouds had done, the mist absorbed Anor's light. Slowly, a golden glow lit the fresh green leaves. Then, the rain drops on the leaves came to life and glittered like silver jewels. Legolas had seen this sight before!

He glanced at his father. "This is the mural in your office. The forest bathed in gold and silver light," he whispered.

"Almost," Thranduil replied, still watching the glimmering light in the trees. "The painting in my office is a memory of this sight, but as seen from a different place and in a different time. This gold and silver light was the sight that greeted me the first time I ever laid eyes on this forest, from the heights of the Misty Mountains. Exhausted from our journey and from all that had happened to precipitate it, it was this sight that gave me hope. Hope for the first time in hundreds of years. This forest saved my life, so I painted it in my office, and I remember that hope when times are difficult."

As his father spoke, the sunlight glinted off his silver ring. The ring Oropher had made as a symbol of his rule over the forest. Legolas looked back over the forest. The smoke of hearth fires rose in several dozen distinct areas of the forest that he could make out, catching the sunlight as the mist had done and glowing warmly. Villages. People that his father was responsible for. Suddenly the vastness of the forest took on a new meaning.

"When your uncles and I hunt for the festivals," Thranduil continued, not noticing the direction of Legolas's gaze, "we always come by this tree. It is the tallest that I have been able to find in this part of the forest. I always climb it and enjoy the sunrise while we are here. The sunrise is a beautiful thing, of course. But this sight--this mingling of gold and silver amongst the trees--it is not so common as a beautiful sunrise. We were lucky this morning to see it. I had truly hoped we might after last night's rain." Thranduil looked over his shoulder towards the mountains. "If her journey has gone smoothly, Nana should be in the mountains this morning. I hope that she is looking at the forest now so that she has one last chance to see this sight. It meant as much to her when she first saw it as it did to me, I remember."

Legolas bowed his head to hide his reaction to that statement. Something about the idea of Daernana looking at the forest as he was now, but from such an unreachable distance, brought tears to his eyes. After a moment, when his father had returned to enjoying the forest's song, Legolas dared to glance back at the mountains, a vague, imposing shape in the far distant West. Daernana was lost, like so many others. She would never again enjoy the fresh scent of the forest in the summer or taste its fruits or weave soft cloth from the flax that grew on its borders.

Below them, voices began to stir in the camp. Galithil and Berior were begging to be allowed to make the fire and help with breakfast. His cousins and remaining aunt and uncles would never be lost, Legolas determined. Never. Nor would any more of the forest fall to the Evil One. He would do anything he had to do to ensure their safety.

*~*~*

Adar/ada -- Father/dad
Naneth/nana -- Mother/mum
Daeradar/daernaneth -- Gradfather/grandmother
Elleth -- Female elf

AN: Thanks to Bodkin for translating the name Moralfien to Sindarin for me; it seems like ages ago since we had that conversation. And thanks to French Pony for coining the term that led to the name in the first place.

This is the end of Journeys out of Grief. I hope you enjoyed.