The door to the throne room opened with a loud thud. Elessar and his advisors looked up to see Guard Captain Malrel ushering an obviously frightened young woman in. They were closely followed by a guardsman carrying someone wrapped in cloaks. The king spied a stray strand of filthy blond hair escaping from the cloak and shot to his feet. He quickly made his way down from the dais on which the throne stood to the burdened guardsman.
Carefully, he peeled back the concealing cloth to reveal Legolas’ still face. The elf was thinner than Elessar had ever seen him in their long friendship, completely filthy, and rank from his captivity. His eyes were closed, giving the king a bit of a start, but upon closer examination, Elessar could see that he was breathing.
He lifted the elf from the guardsman’s arms, shouting for his seneschal to fetch Elladan and Elrohir, and for someone to inform the queen that she was needed in Lord Legolas’ rooms. As he shifted Legolas into a comfortable carrying position, he felt the elf shudder. He began softly reassuring his friend in Sindarin as he hurried through the halls to Legolas’ rooms.
He laid the elf on the rug in front of the hearth in his bedchamber and moved quickly to the windows, knowing that Legolas would fare better if they were open. Elladan and Elrohir entered a few moments later.
“Eru, look at him! They must have starved him to keep him under control,” Elladan exclaimed, running a healer’s eye over his long time friend. Elrohir merely spat a particularly vile curse in Sindarin and began to cut Legolas’ clothing from him.
“It is fit for nothing but the midden now,” he replied to Elessar’s look of inquiry, “and we need to assess the extent of his injuries.” None of them voiced what they all feared and a bit later all three sighed with relief.
“Well, at least he was spared that,” Elladan stated, brushing the prince’s filthy locks from his equally filthy face.
“Aye, thank Iluvatar,” Elessar breathed. “It looks as if the rope burns on his wrists and ankles are the worst actual injuries. The main problems starvation and dehydration.” The three looked up as the door opened and immediately covered Legolas’ lower body.
“Oh, spare me,” Arwen remarked caustically. “May I remind you that I changed his baby clouts? I assure you, regardless of what you may think, those parts change very little in the interim.”
“Ouch! Whyever did you wed her, Estel? She has the tongue of an adder,” Elrohir commented, laying a hand on his chest to cover an imaginary wound. Elessar merely shot the younger twin an exasperated look.
“Now, that really is a subject that I would rather not discuss with my wife’s brothers,” the king quipped, eliciting a sardonic grin from said brothers.
“How is he faring?” Arwen asked, kneeling by the prince’s head.
“Better than I had expected,” Elessar replied. “Considering that it seems they gave him neither food nor water for the whole of his captivity. The lack of water is the most pressing thing. Elrohir, if you will spoon water into his mouth slowly, Elladan and I will clean him and dress his wounds.” He glanced up at his wife. “Arwen, will you see to it that we are not interrupted? I do not think it wise that either Thranduil or Gimli see him until we have seen to him and tucked him into his bed.”
“I would agree with that,” she replied softly. “He looks like Mordor, and Thranduil and Gimli have been through enough already during his absence.” She rose gracefully to her feet. “I will post a guard and then search out Thranduil. The way he has taken to isolating himself, it is likely that he has not heard yet.”
“Arwen,” the king called, catching her just before she exited. She turned, arching an eyebrow at him in inquiry. “One of the guard captains brought Legolas in. He had with him a young woman that I assume is involved somehow. Would you please see to it that they are given a comfortable and secure place in which to wait for me?”
“Of course, Estel. I shall ask Faramir and Eowyn to look after them here in the outer room. That should be comfortable, secure, and certainly close enough.” At his nod of approval, she smiled and left the bedchamber.
Thranduil stared out across the rooftops of Minas Tirith to the green fields beyond the city walls. He had sought the solitude of this wing of the library, mainly because he had discovered that it was seldom used. He did not wish to show the grief in his heart to everyone in the Citadel, and it was becoming more and more difficult to mask it as the days passed.
He was painfully aware that every hour lessened their chances of recovering Legolas alive. The possibility of it now was remote at best. In a day or two, there would be no hope left to him, nothing but ashes and grief to mark his last days. Already, he could feel the ice encasing his heart. He would not last long, but with luck it would be long enough to see the ones responsible receive justice for their actions. He was so very tired. Perhaps it was best for him to rejoin the family he had lost in Mandos Halls.
A soft step roused him from his dark musings and he carefully schooled his features to hide the path his thoughts had taken. Arwen stepped into his line of vision and her expression caused all thought of fading to fly from his mind. She smiled radiantly at him. Thank Iluvatar, he thought, relief flooding his entire body.
“Where is he?”
“In his rooms. Estel and my brothers are caring for him. He is not well, Thranduil, but he will recover.” She gripped his arm tightly to forestall his headlong rush to his son’s side. “You will be able to see him as soon as he has been tucked into his bed, I promise you that.”
“What did they do to him,” the Elvenking ground out, a new fear gripping his heart.
“Starved him and kept him bound, but other than that they seem to have left him alone. There is no evidence that he was physically harmed beyond the neglect.” She met his eyes as she spoke and he relaxed fractionally. “Come, we will go and wait in the outer chamber until Estel is finished caring for Legolas.” He nodded, unable momentarily to speak, and allowed her to lead him towards his son’s rooms.
Serai looked around her fearfully. The guard captain had not left her side, and she had been given a mug of tea and some food, which she had gratefully consumed, but she was terrified. She had never been in the presence of highborn folk before, besides her elves and that was only for a short time. The prince of Ithilien and his wife had been very kind to her, but she felt shabby, dirty and out of place.
The outer door opened again, and she started at the sound. Two more elves entered, one of whom Serai recognized as the queen. The other caused her mouth to go dry with fright. He looked a good bit like the hurt one, but his expression was hard and fierce and Serai shivered.
The queen drifted over to speak with the guard captain, and the human girl tried to make herself as small as possible. Suddenly, she became aware that the queen was speaking to her and she flushed, stammering an apology. The queen merely smiled her beautiful smile and repeated her question.
“Why are you afraid, child? You have returned our dear friend to us and we will forever be grateful to you for that. There is no need to be afraid, I promise you.” She smiled again, and Serai felt herself responding to that smile just as she had to the elves she had met before. The queen reached out and lightly brushed the human girl’s cheek. “Be at ease, child. None shall harm you, we shall see to that.” She turned to the door as it opened again to admit a dwarf who leaned heavily on a crutch. The dwarf scowled darkly at the queen, shocking Serai beyond measure.
“Not a word, lass. I’ll not return to my bed until I’ve seen that that crazy elf is on the mend.” His expression dared her to object. She merely arched an eyebrow in a manner uncannily like her father.
“I would not dream of suggesting it, Gimli. I would not wish to force you to do something ungentlemanly.” The lilt in her voice suggested that she was teasing him and to Serai’s further surprise, the dwarf flushed.
“My apologies, Arwen. Lying abed makes my temper short.” He bowed awkwardly and she inclined her head, smiling sweetly at him.
“No apology is necessary, my friend. We have all been worried for Legolas and it is only natural that we wish to see him as soon as we may.” She bent and kissed his cheek, making his cheeks redden even further, as she made her way to the other side of the sitting room. She stopped and spoke softly with Prince Faramir for a moment and then moved to the side of the fierce looking elf. Serai could just hear the words they exchanged, but as they were in the language of the elves, she could not understand them. The fierce one looked directly at her at one point in the conversation, and Serai quickly looked away and shivered again.
“It was a brave thing she did, going to the guard for someone she did not even know,” Arwen commented quietly to Thranduil.
“Indeed it was,” he agreed. “She has the look of someone who has been ill-used, unless I am very much mistaken.” He ran a critical eye over the child, dismayed when she looked away and shuddered. “And she is afraid of me,” he stated with a frown.
“I would tend to agree with you, on both counts. If that is the case, then it is not surprising that she fears you. First of all, you are male and secondly, you can be quite intimidating even when you are not trying to be,” she replied, giving him a slight smile. He shook his head irritably.
“A child like that has no need to fear me. Especially not the one to whom I owe my son’s life.” His eyes flicked to the door of the bedchamber.
“Peace, Thranduil. Estel will be finished soon and then you can see Legolas.” She laid her hand on his arm in a comforting manner.
“I know,” he replied softly. His eyes swept the room, lighting on one being in particular. “Not only me, I think. Legolas will have been worried for Gimli. It will comfort him to have his friend at his side.”
“That is a kind thought,” Arwen said, her tone carefully neutral. Things between Thranduil and Gimli had never been more than civil at best. For him to make such a statement was remarkable. He looked back at her.
“I have had a great deal of time to think about certain issues lately,” he replied with a small, but wry grin.
Just then the door opened and the twins stepped into the sitting room. The human girl goggled at them before flushing and dropping her eyes to the floor. Elladan and Elrohir exchanged a look with each other and then turned identically questioning looks to their sister.
“This is Serai. She is the one who found Legolas,” Arwen explained, smiling at the girl.
“Life is strange, is it not, brother?” Elrohir commented, a bright smile gracing his face. “Our horse knocks her down in the marketplace and she saves our gwador.” Serai’s head snapped up.
“You remember that?” she exclaimed, then flushed as she remembered herself.
“Your horse knocked her down? Brothers mine, you are slipping if you cannot control one horse,” Arwen teased, an edge of reproach in her tone.
“’Twas not our horse, dearest sister. ‘Twas Éomer’s. We simply had the loan of him after Elladan’s mount went lame. And we made amends to the lady at the time, did we not?” Elrohir’s eyes sparkled with mischief. Serai nodded, gulping and screwing up her courage.
“Aye, my lord, you did. Da and I ate for nearly a week on the food you bought to replace what got ruined,” the girl stated, smiling shyly at the twins. “And I wasn’t hurt, truly I wasn’t.”
“Now that that is settled,” Elladan said, turning back to his sister and Thranduil, “we can return to the subject at hand. Legolas is responding well and will be fine in time. He needs rest and feeding, but he will recover. Estel is just finishing up with him and then you can see him, King Thranduil.” The Elvenking merely nodded, his eyes fixed on the door the twins had passed through. It opened again, and Gondor’s king stepped through. His eyes found Thranduil.
“Come see your son,” Elessar said, holding the door open for the Elvenking. Thranduil stepped quickly to the door, but paused when he reached it.
“Gimli,” he called, causing the dwarf’s head to snap up. “Come, Legolas will want you at his side.” Thranduil gave the stunned dwarf a brief smile and entered his son’s bedchamber. Gimli quickly hobbled after him, not willing to look askance at the unexpected request.