“Thranduil!” Aerin cried out, rushing into her husband’s study. “Thranduil! They’re back!”

“All three?” Thranduil asked, rising to his feet.

Aerin looked away. “Two… Morïgrain… The Orcs killed her.”

“No…” Thranduil whispered, sitting down heavily. “Imberod and Legolas… Are they all right?”

Aerin nodded. “Lord Elrond and Master Haldir of Lothlorien saved them. They’ve been staying in the Realm of the Golden Wood.”

Thranduil forgot his grief with the mentioning of one name. “Elrond?” he asked, voice hard. That monster had his children with him for a little more than a week? What possibly had happened? What had been implanted in their minds?

“He is here… Please, Thranduil… Do no let past grievances cloud your judgment. He saved Legolas from death! Imberod as well!”

“He saved one life to repay for my father’s death!” Thranduil snapped, temper flaring and rising.

“Elrond is not responsible for Oropher’s death! Oropher led an attack on the marshes! It’s not Elrond’s fault!”

“Mother? Father?” Legolas asked from the doorway. They both turned and saw their sons standing in the door, Elrond and Haldir behind them.

Thranduil smiled. “Thank the Lady you’re safe! Both of you!” He tried to smile at Elrond. “I thank you for saving my children.”

Elrond nodded, eyes not moving from Thranduil’s face. “It was my pleasure.” He smiled at Legolas. “I apologize for not returning your sons to you sooner, but certain… issues kept us in Lothlorien.”

Legolas grinned up at the Lord. “It was my fault, mostly. I wasn’t well enough to travel.”

“You were ill?” Aerin cried in dismay.

“Merely injured. I am fine now.” He smiled at Elrond and Haldir both, his smile brightening. “I had the most expert of Healers attend to me.”

Aerin caught the look of hidden emotions pass between the Lord of Imladris, the protector of Lothlorien, and her son. With a smile, she stepped forward. “I’m sure you did. Lord Elrond, Master Haldir… Let me show you to your chambers.”

The look of loss and sorrow filled Legolas’ face before he masked it. But, this time, even Thranduil saw the look. Elrond and Haldir followed, glancing softly at Legolas, and then striking up a conversation with the lovely Queen of Greenwood. Imberod moved over to a chair and collapsed into it, smiling encouragingly at his “brother.”

“Thank the Moon and Stars you are both all right! I mourn for Morïgrain in my heart. But tell me, Imberod, Legolas… What passes between my youngest and our guests?” Thranduil asked. The soft tone he used was one that brooked no argument and nothing more than the absolute truth.

Imberod smiled. After being privy to seeing the depth of the three Elves’ love for each other on the way back to Greenwood, Imberod felt he needed to protect them. Bad blood was between Imladris and Greenwood. The blossoming rose bud of love that the three shared would be crushed if not treated carefully. Protection was what the three needed; protection from Thranduil. “I believe the only thing that passes between them is healing.”

“A healing of what?” Thranduil barked out. Legolas flinched.

“A healing of hearts and souls.”

“Legolas?” Thranduil asked. “What have you to say?”

Legolas sighed. Never before had he been able to lie to his father… Why start now? If anything, Legolas wanted his father’s blessing. A blessing he knew would be long in coming, if at all. “What passes is love.”

Thranduil stiffened. “Come again?”

“I love them…” Legolas whispered.

“You know them for a week and you claim—”

“What’s a week in the face of months, years, decades, millennia? What is time in the face of love?” Legolas cried out. “I love them, father! I would rather die by my own blade then be separated from them!”

Thranduil paled. “You are forbidden to see either. They have you spelled! Bewitched!”

“Father! No, please!” Legolas cried out.

“No! You will not see them!” Thranduil roared.

Legolas collapsed to his knees. “Please! Father!”

Thranduil turned away from Legolas. “This is for your own good…” he murmured. “Guards!” he called out. Two of them walked in and stood at attention. “Escort Prince Legolas to his chambers and make sure he stays there until I send for him.”

Legolas’ face was a mask of pain. “Please! Father, please! You don’t understand! Please!”

Thranduil turned his back on Legolas’ pleas as the guards led him out. Imberod joined his father at the window. For a long time, both were silent. Imberod’s heart was aching for his youngest sibling. He hadn’t expected Thranduil to react this way, not at all. Imberod knew he had to choose his words carefully, lest he anger his father more.

“He does love them…”

“He is bewitched.”

“He needs them. Already they have claimed each other.”

“What?” Thranduil roared.

“Bad blood may run between you and Lord Elrond, but it that any reason to make Er-tithen suffer?” Imberod looked at his father. “Never had I seen Er-tithen as happy as he is when he is with his lovers. He radiates love and warmth and joy… None of which I have ever seen any Elf do. He loves them with all his being, father.”

Thranduil looked out the window. “I am trying to protect him. Elrond is cruel, as cruel as Sauron. Haldir is more arrogant than a Man. They would only use him. Use him and hurt him.”

Imberod frowned. “I do not agree with this, or with you, father. You haven’t seen them together.” With a last look at his father, Imberod left to comfort his brother.

~

That night at dinner, Thranduil was severely cold to his guests. Imberod was angrily stabbing at his food and Aerin was glaring at her husband. Elrond and Haldir were exchanging worried glances every now and then, while the rest of Legolas’ female siblings murmured amongst themselves.

“Where is Er-tithen?” Arisi asked, setting down her fork. “We have guests of his and Imberod’s, and yet my brother chooses not to be here?”

Imberod snapped, “He is confined to his rooms.”

Arisi’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“Because he has given his heart,” Imberod snapped, once again. “And Father thinks him bewitched.”

Elrond sighed. “By us, Thranduil?”

“Stay away from him…” Thranduil gripped.

“He came to us, Thranduil,” Haldir snapped.

“You shouldn’t have taken him! He’s still too young! You stole from him his innocence!” Thranduil stood.

“We ‘stole’ nothing!” Elrond snapped, also standing. “It was freely given!”

“If you let go of your supposed hatred of us for Oropher’s death, then you wouldn’t care!” Haldir cried, standing as well, shoulder to shoulder with his lover. He knew Elrond would need his support.

If anything, it is us who should hate you!” Elrond cried out. “Gil-galad trusted you and Oropher, and you failed him! You violated his Highness’ trust! You left, and Oropher got himself slaughtered. That single mistake cost us both the lives of His Majesty and your father! It was your father’s folly, not ours!” Elrond’s tone was that of an adult scolding a small child. His gray eyes blazed as he sat down wearily.

Haldir winced. Since their lover’s death, not once had either of them spoken of Gil-galad. It was too heart wrenching to even hear the name of their beloved and realize that they would never wake up in his arms, never see again him in battle, or even see him with his nose buried deep within books. It was too painful for others to understand the pair’s pain, and it was a pain being unearthed by Elrond himself.

“Oropher always wondered why Vilya and Narya went to Elrond and Cirden, and not to him and you,” Haldir said sadly, and softly. His voice was deafeningly loud in the deafening silence of the room. “It was because of your greed, and of Oropher’s. You robbed yourselves of it. For you would use it only for riches, and not for the saving of our people…” He sat, taking Elrond’s thin, long fingered hand in his own.

Thranduil glared. “Leave my son alone.”

~

When Elrond and Haldir returned to their room, they found Legolas sitting in the middle of their bed. He was clothed in barely more than a silver robe-shirt, his feet and most of his legs bare. He had his knees drawn up to his chest and his chin resting on his arms, which were draped across his knees. His long golden hair spilled over his shoulders, his green eyes intense. Haldir walked over to him and pulled him into a hug. Elrond joined them after lighting the candles.

“Oh, nin-meleth…” Haldir murmured, stroking Legolas’ back. The younger Elf had yet to move from the position they had found him in. Slowly, after a few moments of being rocked in the arms of one who loved him, Legolas began to melt.

“I’m so sorry,” he murmured. “This is all my fault. I should have known better than to tell him. I knew he’d act this way…”

Elrond gave him a soft kiss. “It’s not your fault, Young One… Thranduil dislikes us for your grandfather’s death. We blame him for Gil-galad’s death. We would happily forgive Thranduil, if he only once appeared less than greedy for the most material things.”

Legolas melted into Haldir’s arms, his slight frame shaking with the force of his dry sobs. The two elder Elves felt their hearts fill with pain at the sight of no tears. It seemed Legolas could not cry anymore; something had been sealed within him upon Morïgrain’s death. Hearing a knock on the door, Haldir tightened his arms and Legolas clung to the older blonde Elf, his sobs subsiding. Elrond opened the door to admit Queen Aerin and Prince Imberod. Neither seemed surprised at Legolas’ being there.

“I apologize for my husband’s actions,” Aerin said. “For what it matters, you have my approval and blessing.”

“And mine…” Imberod said. He walked over to Legolas and placed a kiss on the top of the blonde head.

“We shall talk Thranduil around,” Aerin said. “For now, find solace and love with each other.” With that, they left.

Legolas burrowed farther into Haldir’s arms. “Meleth enni…” he whispered. “Take me… Love me…” [ meleth enni means “Love me” ]

Haldir closed his eyes, and pushed Legolas away. “No,” he said, softly but forcefully.

Legolas looked like a wounded angel, sitting there, not understanding why his lovers would refuse him. “Why?” he whispered.

“Because it would be out of sorrow,” Elrond said, holding Legolas’ hands. “It would be out of pain and sheer sorrow and bitterness… It is not for those reasons you love, but for the opposite.”

Haldir kissed Legolas’ white forehead. “Stay with us tonight, meleth. Just because we will not make love doesn’t mean we cannot love in other ways.” He ran his slender fingers through the silk of Legolas’ hair. “Sometimes it is simply feeling the closeness of one you love near you that relaxes you. Sleep, nin-meleth. We will watch over and keep you safe…”

Legolas nodded once, crawling up farther on the bed, and snuggling in the middle of it. Elrond and Haldir exchanged a kiss with each other, and laid down, each holding Legolas’ waist.

“Sleep, love…” Elrond murmured. “We will not leave you.”

“Eja andâ…” he murmured, sleep overtaking him quietly as he laid between the two who loved him the most. [Eja andâ = ever long, or forever ]

~

A few slim hours after dawn, a pounding on the door awoke the three Elves. Without waiting for someone to call out a come in, Thranduil barged in.

“Where is my son?” he roared.

Legolas, waking upon Thranduil’s angry entrance, burrowed farther into Haldir’s arms and blankets. He was murmuring, shaking, and clinging to the elder Elf’s body. “Car-ú nuktâ nér map enni! Car-ú nuktâ nér map enni! Car-ú nuktâ nér map enni!” he cried into Haldir’s skin. “I want to stay with you.” [ “Car-ú nuktâ nér map enni” means roughly, “Don’t Let Him Take Me.” ]

“Vammë,” Haldir murmured softly, holding Legolas in his arms, across his lap. [ “Vammë” means “we won’t” ]

Elrond rose, gathering his robes around him. Slowly, he drew to him the power of his position as the Lord of Imladris. “What is the meaning of this, Thranduil?” he demanded. His gray eyes blazed, fury gathering around him like a cloak.

“I want my son returned to me, now! Remove the spell upon which you have placed upon him, ñgwalaraukô!” Thranduil snapped. “He is missing, and the only place he could be is with you! Your luktiê has him blinded! Release him, ñgwalaraukô!” [ ñgwalaraukô means “demon”; luktiê means “enchantment” ]

“Car-ú nuktâ nér map enni… Car-ú nuktâ nér map enni…” Legolas kept whispering silently into Haldir’s arms. He didn’t want to leave his lovers, for if he did, who knew what his father would do?

Haldir’s hand stroked Legolas’ head as he said, “Your son is not here, Thranduil. Have you checked the woods? He may be there. You know how much he loves the trees.”

Thranduil bristled. How dare this… this Elf imply that he didn’t know his own son! Of course he knew Legolas’ love of the trees. He knew that his son might be there, but given half the chance, would run here. Here to them… The ñgwalaraukô who had him spelled. “They are being searched.”

Legolas clung to Haldir’s waist. He couldn’t bear to let his lovers go through this any longer. As Legolas shifted, moving slowly into a position that would allow him comfort when he sat up, Haldir put a hand on his head, stilling him. “Car-ú, meleth…”

“I have to… I have to make him see reason…” Legolas cried out softly.

“He will see what he wishes to see. His hatred blinds him.”

Behind Thranduil, Imberod walked in. “Father, have you heard nothing we have said?” he demanded.

Behind Imberod, Arisi sighed. She turned a sorrowful look upon Elrond and Haldir. “I apologize. We were talking and he demanded Legolas be brought to him. He would not take our word that he was safe.”

“Where is he?” Thranduil demanded, shaking off Imberod’s restraining hand. “Where is my son?”

Imberod snorted. “He’s not here, Father. If he were, he would not hide. Come, we have to talk.”

Thranduil glared at his eldest son. With a sigh, he turned back to the standing Elrond and the sitting Haldir. “If I find you’ve lied to me, you orku…” His glare was warning enough. Haldir and Elrond both bristled, anger mounting and rising. [ orku means “Orc,” which is a decent enough insult to any Elf. ]

Legolas squirmed in Haldir’s lap and popped out from under the covers. He left the bed and ran to his father. “Please!” he begged, too proud to beg on his knees. He clutched the taller Elf’s hand. “Please, Father! Listen to me!” he cried. “Melánë lindâ!” [ melánë lindâ means “I love them.” ]

Thranduil pulled his hand away from his son. “Come with me, khînâ.” [ khînâ means “child.” ]

Legolas’ face was a mask of torment as Thranduil grabbed his arm and began to pull him out the door. “Car-ú nuktâ nér map enni!” he cried to Elrond and Haldir. His voice was laden with sorrow… And with fear.

Elrond and Haldir both made for the door, only to be stopped by Imberod and Arisi. Arisi smiled at them, touching their faces with her hand. “Don’t… Don’t give him a reason to send you away. He would not hesitate to find an excuse to be rid of you. The only thing that holds his hand from having you killed is that it would cause a war between all the Elves. We have had enough of war that we do not need one between all the Elves.”

Releasing them, they both turned away. “I would not worry, my Lords. Legolas may yet convince Father,” Imberod said softly. “I would advise you to keep serene… Many things may happen, and many things may not. Perhaps there is a way to prove to father that you mean Legolas, or Father, no harm.”

With those final words, Imberod and Arisi left. But, by the door, Arisi stopped and looked at the two Elves with sorrow worn around them like robes. “Believe in each other and in yourselves. That which comes to pass will… We cannot change it, nor can we hurry it.” She smiled, briefly. “This was meant to happen, I think. And in that case, this love was also meant to be tested. Hold true to that love, and to yourselves.”

With that, she disappeared out the door.

~

Thranduil glared at Legolas, who sat in the window seat and stared moodily out into the brilliant twilight. They had been here all day, trying to talk, but not a word could be pried from Legolas’ mouth. His brilliant emerald eyes were dead of all emotion except longing and sadness.

“Legolas, forget about those morquendi. They are deceitful,” Thranduil said, placing a slender hand on his son’s shoulder. Legolas shook the hand off. [ morquendi means “Dark Elves.” Another insult. ]

Aerin sighed. “Thranduil… Try not to insult the ones he loves. Maybe then you’d get a better reaction then just silence.”

Arisi walked over to her brother, her skirts swishing silently. “What are you looking at, Er-tithen?” she asked, using the pet name Legolas had come to earn in his early years.

“Movement,” he said softly. “An un-natural movement…”

A pounding on the door made Legolas jump and squeak. Arisi smiled at her younger brother who was now clinging to her arms and chest. Thranduil gave Legolas a look that could have wilted the mighty trees of Greenwood.

“Who is it?” Thranduil asked, opening the door.

The Captain of the Guards stood there, shaking. “Your Majesty, Orcs! Orcs have over run the gates!”

“What?” Imberod cried, jumping to his feet. “When? How many?”

“More than fifty, my lord Prince,” the Elf panted. “There’ve been sightings all day. From at least—”

“From at least sundown,” Legolas said in his soft voice.

“How did you know, my lord Prince?” the Captain asked, puzzled.

“I could see them…”

Arisi smiled. “His abilities are showing.”

“That’s all well and good,” Thranduil muttered, “but there still is the problem of the Orcs. We must fight them. Drive them back from our lands.”

Legolas frowned, murmuring something to himself. “Something must be done,” he whispered. His eyes glowed with an ethereal sort of light, causing them all to stare at him in shock.

“Thranduil,” the Captain began, “what shall we do?”

“Defend ourselves, of course!” Thranduil snapped. “Arisi, Aerin… Go to my throne room. Stay there. It’s in the middle of the palace, and would be the safest. Imberod, go with the Captain. Legolas, you stay with me. Hey!” Thranduil exclaimed as Legolas suddenly bolted out the door.

“He can look after himself, father…” Imberod said. He stood, “Let’s go, Captain. We have much to prepare. Arisi, Mother… Do you need an escort?”

“No…” Arisi said, smiling. “We will be meeting with our own escort very shortly.”

Imberod laughed. “You and your predictions! You should have been fostered out to Lady Galadriel!”

Aerin took her daughter’s arm as they both left the room at a hurried walk. Thranduil sighed, also leaving to fetch his weapons. Imberod smiled as the Captain fidgeted. “Shall we find Prince Legolas?”

Imberod’s smile widened. “No need. I think someone else has already found him…”

~

“Haldir! Elrond!” Legolas cried, bursting into the small courtyard he knew his lovers would be in.

“What is it?” Elrond asked, rising and going to the fey being before them. His beautiful green eyes were glazed over, seemingly he was still caught in the claws of clairvoyance. It seemed he had sought them out for something not even he knew.

“Orcs have over run the walls,” he murmured, burrowing into Elrond’s arms. “I needed to warn you… They’re coming here… They want to destroy us…” He didn’t need to say that their wish was to destroy him – the note of fear was already on his voice.

“Haldir,” Elrond called. The other Elf was patiently waiting for something to be told to him. “Stay here and protect our little one… Orcs have over run Greenwood’s defenses… I’m going to see if I can help the others.”

“Arisi and Mother,” Legolas said, suddenly pulling out of Elrond’s warm embrace. His eyes were once again clear, something which Elrond chose to ignore at the moment. “They don’t have anyone to protect them…”

Elrond paled. Two unprotected female Elves would be easy prey for foul creatures such as Orcs. “Where were they going, meleth?”

“I don’t remember… Everything’s such a blur!” Legolas moaned, face contorted in pain. “Somewhere father would think safe… The throne room! It has to be! It’s the only place father would think to send them…”

Elrond dipped down and gave Legolas a sweet, but brief, kiss. “I’ll go and protect them. You stay with Haldir, and stay away from the Orcs! We can’t lose you… We wouldn’t be able to stand to lose you…”

Haldir kissed Elrond. “Go. We’ll stay together, and we’ll keep away from the Orcs. Now go… Who knows what danger Arisi and Aerin might be in?”

Elrond nodded and took off at a run.

“Now,” Haldir murmured, drawing Legolas closer to him. “Where’s a good place to hide?”

Legolas was shaking, obviously remembering his past run in with Orcs. Haldir dropped Legolas’ hand only to fetch his bow and quiver from a near-by bench. His Elven hearing picked up the sound of Orcs running through bushes and brush. He almost missed Legolas murmuring something into his chest. “What was that, meleth?” he asked, holding Legolas close to his body with one arm while gripping his dagger in the other hand.

“The trees over the courtyard,” Legolas said, looking up at his Elven lover. “Tis a childhood sanctuary of mine. I have not used them in many years… I had no need of them with Morï—” he cut himself off with a choked sob. He buried his head in Haldir’s chest, clutching at the tunic of the blonde Elf.

“No, nin-meleth… The Orcs are already there,” Haldir whispered, rubbing Legolas’ back. The little one was shaking harder now, making it slightly hard for Haldir to concentrate on using his Elven ability.

Closing his eyes, he whispered a prayer to the Valar… Everything began to slow. Legolas’ shaking was not so present in his mind anymore, the sounds died away, breathing seemed loud in his ears. In his mind’s eye, Haldir saw Elrond running up the stairs to Thranduil’s throne room, and throwing open the doors. Focusing, Haldir went deeper within himself and his power, drawing upon the Light, which all Elves carried inside them. Twas the gift of the Lady, that Light. Opening his eyes, he smiled at Legolas.

“Where else, maelamin?” Haldir asked, lowering his arm from Legolas’ shoulders to his waist. [ maelamin means “beloved” ]

“The ones overlooking the main courtyard. Their taller than the others,” Legolas murmured, holding onto Haldir without shame.

Run… They’re coming… Run! A voice inside Haldir commanded. He saw with his power Orcs running for them, to exactly where they were. Looking at Legolas, Haldir suddenly realized that the Orcs weren’t just running blindly about. No, they were tracking something. They were tracking Legolas’ soul.

With little time left, Haldir pulled Legolas away from him. “Grab your weapons, Er-tithen. The Orcs are getting closer…” Once quivers were on backs and bows were in hand, the two lovers grabbed at each other and ran for Greenwood’s main courtyard. Every time they looked back, Orcs were right behind them.

“Haldir…!” Legolas cried out, feeling an arrow fly past him and nipping his sensitive ear. Blood oozed from the small cut.

“No…” Haldir murmured. “They will not have him…” He turned to his young love, kissing his swiftly and gently. “Take to the trees, meleth. Stay within my sight, but out of those that wish you harm.” Legolas nodded and slung his bow over his shoulder, and then launched himself at a tree, scrambling up to it’s high branches quickly.

Haldir drew an arrow and notched it, aiming at the oncoming Orcs. “I will not allow you to have another…” he said, standing his ground.

~

Elrond burst through the Throne Room’s doors, just in time to see Arisi fall to the ground, silverish blood flowing from two arrow wounds. Orcs flooded through almost every corner of the room. He mad a mad dash, drawing his sword and hacking at the foul creatures to get to Arisi’s side.

“Aerin!” he yelled, slashing at another Orc. “Find something to bind the bleeding! Then put as much pressure on the wounds as possible!” He whirled and stabbed and Orc through the stomach, and beheaded another in the same fluid motion. In the heat of the battle, he called upon a strength he had not needed in close to an Age.

“The bleeding isn’t stopping!” Aerin cried, her hands and dress bloody.

Elrond cursed, carving a path through the Orcs to get to her side. Once there, he looked at her. “Do you know how to use a sword?” he asked, eyeing the Orcs that were advancing.

“Yes… But not very well.”

“Think you could hold them off till I get Arisi stabilized?” Elrond asked gently.

Aerin stuck her chin in the air. “I will do what I must. Give me it. You concentrate on my daughter.”

With a smile, Elrond handed the sword over. “Yes, my Lady.” With a sniff, Aerin turned her back on him and began slashing and hacking at the offending creatures. Elrond turned back to Thranduil’s eldest daughter, grimacing. The arrows weren’t poisoned, thank the Lady, but they had gone in deep enough to sprout right through her body. Breaking of the fletching on both arrows, Elrond braced Arisi and pushed them both through.

Arisi screamed in agony, face contorted in pain. It was obvious that the wounds would pain her for a very long time, if they ever really healed at all. Elrond took off his elaborate robe – glad he had a shirt and breeches on underneath – and ripped it into shreds to use as bandages for Arisi’s wounds. He called upon his Light, his power, and poured his magic into Legolas’ eldest sister. He watched as the blood stopped, and slowly began to clot.

She was safe, but she needed more than just a field healing. She needed expert healings, not just his hasty, maybe even messy, healing. The wound was stable, for the moment. If they waited much longer, she would falter.

“Aerin!” Elrond called. The Queen tossed Elrond the sword and dove behind him to her daughter. With a grim smile, he twirled the sword almost lazily in his hand. “Now… Shall we dance?”

~

Thranduil visited the Healers the next morning. He sighed, as the morning had been spent with him vainly trying to keep the name of Greenwood, and having it changed to Mirkwood. No longer were the woods green, but murky with hate, violence, and as they had recently found out, Orcs.

It was so bad that his eldest daughter had been almost killed by two arrows, and his youngest son had also almost been shot full of arrows. It puzzled Thranduil why Elrond had quickly field bandaged Arisi as best as he could, and then went back to protecting Thranduil’s wife and child. Then there was the fact Haldir had taken the two poisoned arrows meant for Legolas. It didn’t add up to what Thranduil knew of the other two Elves.

Arriving at the sick room where Haldir was staying, Thranduil steeled himself. Did he really want the answers to his questions? Could he actually be acknowledging the fact that these two, who in the past were nothing but trouble, had just saved three of the most dearest beings to him? What’s more, could he be actually thinking that Elrond and Haldir spoke the truth of their love of his youngest son?

With a sigh, Thranduil pushed the door open. Haldir lay on a bed, glaring at his arm and picking at the sling which it had been placed in. Elrond, who also sported bandaged from the few lucky slices the Orcs had been so kind to grace him with, was sitting next to his lover. The two Elves looked up, startled.

“I want to thank you for what you’ve done,” Thranduil spoke, after a few minutes of tense silence. “You could have left, but you stayed, and you saved my family.”

Haldir shook his head. “We could not leave. Only one with no morals and no honor would have left. We, fortunately, have both… Though at times, I believe it is stupidity that rules us,” he said ruefully. “It oft leads us to jump into the middle of a heated exchange without a care.”

Thranduil nodded. “I thank you all the same… But I have a question to ask of you.”

“Then by all means,” Elrond said, raising an eyebrow. “Ask your question.”

“Why do you love my son?” Thranduil asked, tone serious.

Haldir looked out the window for a moment then turned back to look Thranduil in the face. “Can you truly say why you love someone? One being’s reason for love could be inane compared to one who does not know love…”

“You may love someone for their beauty, or for their fortune…” Elrond said, a few moments later. “Or it could be for their grace, their courage… It could be anything about that being, or it could be nothing at all. How do you even know the exact moment you’ve fallen in love? Is it when you realize you would give your life for that being?”

Thranduil glowered. A simple question had launched the two Elves into a twisting path of riddles. “Do not speak to me in rhyme!” he snapped. “Why do you love Legolas?”

“We love him for everything he is. Courageous, graceful, lovely… But even with all these things, he is entirely selfless. He would rather give than receive,” Elrond spoke, softly.

“Almost everything he is, almost everything he does… He does not take, but only gives. He is loath to spare a life, even an Orc’s. His beauty is not skin deep, for it is his soul, his Light, that is so beautiful.” Haldir cast his eyes back to the window. “How could someone not love him?”

Thranduil nodded, and turned to leave.

“You do not have to worry,” Elrond’s tired voice said. Thranduil turned back and, surprised, noted how tried and alone both Haldir and Elrond looked.

“We will be leaving as soon as the Healers allow me to travel,” Haldir said. “We do not wish for rifts to form between you and Legolas. If we must break it off, then we will…”

Thranduil stared, shocked. These two would give up Legolas, because Thranduil wished it. Noting the surprise in Thranduil’s face, Elrond tried to smile. “If you love something, let it fly… He is too young to chose…”

With a curt nod, Thranduil left. The two had given him much to think on.

~

“Do you have to leave?” Legolas asked, eyes full of pain. He was too proud to beg, and they knew that. But if he had to beg to keep the ones who loved, he would. He could not allow Haldir and Elrond to walk right out of his life, no matter what anyone else said. The two were the only things that had kept him from falling into a grief-stricken state of helplessness and, as it happened with all Elves who grieved, eventual death. They had kept him alive… But had they done that to only abandon him?

“We must, meleth…” Haldir said, sighing. He patted his horse’s withers, then stooping to make sure the saddle was tightly secured.

“Why?” Legolas asked, softly. “Did you save me from Orcs only to have me die of grief?”

Haldir turned away, his features etched in pain. Elrond bit his lip and held his young lover to his chest. Legolas pressed further into the embrace, placing his ear against Elrond’s heat and hearing it’s beat. Elrond sighed, releasing Legolas. “Legolas, we must leave. We leave for you. You do not understand what you say when you speak of binding, nor of love. You have been sheltered in Greenwood… You are too young to know of what you so vehemently speak.”

Legolas twisted out of Elrond’s grip. His face was contorted with pain, eyes glazing with tears that would never be shed. “No! It is you who don’t understand! I would have died along with Morï…” His voice caught, and he swallowed, “I would have died that day along with Morïgrain, and nothing would have stopped me. When Imberod found me, I was already begging the Valar and Lady to let me die! I could not see the beauty or the life in anything anymore. All I could see was pain and death and darkness!” He was heaving dry sobs now. “And then you two found me… I had loved you from the moment I had awaken to see you both standing above me! A-a-and I couldn’t stop to think when you two came to comfort me… I k-k-know you d-d-didn’t plan to take me to your bed t-t-that night, but I could not let you go!”

He turned away from them both, not noticing the extreme pain on both Elves faces. All he could see was that one beautiful, perfect night. The night where he had found love, and a reason to still exist on Middle Earth. Haldir stretched out his arm and took a step forward, but then dropped his arm and looked away.

“Do not make us hurt you, my lord Prince,” Haldir said, using Legolas’ title to drive his point home. Legolas tried to choke back his sobs, but was rapidly failing. “We must leave. It is for the good of Greenwood, and for yourself. Do not trouble yourself with us.” He swung up in the saddle of his horse, wincing as his right arm screamed at him in pain.

Elrond nodded. “Prince Legolas, you must understand. What happened, happened. We cannot undo that, nor would we want to.” He walked over to his once-young lover. No longer would Elrond or Haldir ever call Legolas “meleth,” or “lover.” Never again could they. Elrond touched Legolas’ cheek gently. “This is for the best, Young One. Let what we once had stay in our hearts, and in our minds.” He stood again. “But let it also been known that it can never happen again.” With a stiff bow, Elrond mounted his horse.

Legolas watched in utter agony as the two rode off, quickly disappearing within the gloom that had begun to settle within the forests of Greenwood. “No…” he moaned softly, feeling as if every nerve, muscle, and tendon in his body were being pulled from him. “No!” he cried out, collapsing on the courtyard’s floor in sorrow and in pain. His cry echoed after Elrond and Haldir, causing tears to stream from Haldir’s eyes and for Elrond to try and suppress his sobs of agony. Their kicked their horses into a gallop, leaving Greenwood as fast as they could.

It was then, almost an hour later, that Thranduil found his youngest son, making a mantra of his pain filled denial. “Come, Legolas… You must rest,” he told his son, trying to get the young Prince to stand.

Arisi and Imberod came to assist their father, their hearts breaking upon the sight of Legolas’ pain stricken face. “What happened, Er-tithen?” Arisi asked as Imberod picked him up. She brushed a few strands of golden hair from her brother’s eyes.

“They left…” he whispered, emerald eyes a torrent of emotions that no one could deny. “They left…”

~

1500 years later…

~

Haldir smiled, watching as Elladan and Elrohir teased their fair sister. It was a rare occasion when all of Elrond’s children were all gathered in Imladris. The twins were back from their lengthy, almost daily, Orc hunts, and Arwen Evenstar was back from Lothlorien for some time with her family. It was Haldir himself who had escorted the fair Evenstar back to Rivendell.

Alas, there is one that should be here, but is not… Haldir mused sadly. The pain of Legolas’ last cry still haunted his dreams. Not a day had gone by in the past fifteen hundred years when he had not regretted what had passed between him, Elrond, and the youngest Prince of Mirkwood.

For Mirkwood it was now called. No longer was it as lush as it had formally been, but it was now covered in a dank air. It was hazardous to anyone but an Elf or Man of Mirkwood. Should anyone else pass the boarders, they were most likely shot down by the protectors – or by the Orcs who now lived in the thick forest.

“My lords, my lady… There is a messenger here to see Lord Elrond,” a guard said politely.

“Does this messenger have a name?” Elrond asked, smiling.

“Of course I do. I prefer to introduce myself without the worries of titles or politics, or even the burden of dredging up old memories,” a lyrical voice spoke.

Haldir and Elrond froze. They knew that voice! Turning as one, their eyes widened. In the doorway stood a young, gorgeous, Elf stood. Not just any Elf, the Youngest Prince of Mirkwood – Legolas Greenleaf himself. But it wasn’t the Legolas the two lovers remembered, and secretly coveted. No, this Elf was adult.

With the passing of time, Legolas had grown even more beautiful. His blonde hair had turned from an almost rich golden color to a pure, almost white golden color. His beautiful emerald eyes once sparkled with youth, but now they sparkled with wisdom and with many masked emotions. He had been tall before, but now he had grown out of the lankiness of youth. His body had trimmed down, shedding what weight was not needed and adding on muscle. His clothing rode low on his slender hips and waist. Everything about him had been honed and perfected, like an expert sword or bow. He was more perfect than anything either Elf had ever seen.

Legolas gave a jerky bow. “I see you remember me,” he said, voice haughty. The two froze as those emerald eyes fixed them to their seats as surely as if he had shot them with his arrows. “It is good that you do,” he murmured, voice cleverly masked. As if in a gust of wind, his manner changed automatically. “My father, King Thranduil, requests help from you. Our boarders are being overrun by the Orcs that live near us. Lately they have begun to think that our land is theirs. It has caused the deaths of many of our finest guards. We beseech you to help us. Beseech and plead.”

Haldir winced, remembering the cruel words that had been exchanged between the three Elven kingdoms. Pain had been brought unyieldingly to Elrond and Haldir’s hearts with mere words at the hand of the King of Mirkwood. Could they even think of helping him who had torn apart the two who had loved his son so selflessly?

And how could they not provide help when this fey creature asked for it with hidden secrets carefully veiled in those emerald depths?

“You need only ask us, Prince Legolas,” Haldir said, standing to bow.

“Is that true in all cases?” he murmured huskily, eyes dropping while he looked at his old lover from beneath ebony lashes.

Haldir almost strangled upon his gasp of shock. This was not the shy Legolas he had known! This creature dripped sex and begged to be ravaged. Not only with his perfectly honed archer’s body, but with his lustful attitude.

Elrond stood, glancing at his family and friend Glorifindel, and smiled. “If you will excuse us? I believe we need more details from the Prince… Will it be all right if we finish this revel later on?”

The twins grinned. “Count us in on that Orc hunt!” Elladan smirked.

“There won’t be an Orc left in Mirkwood if we have anything to say about it!” Elrohir spoke happily. Glorifindel smiled and followed Lady Arwen and the twins from the room.

Once Elrond knew they had left, he turned to this beautiful God and gaped. “You cannot be Legolas!”

Cheerful laughter rang from the mouth that would cause an angel to break vows of chastity. “Oh, but I am…” he said. His voice dropped to a husky whisper, “I am, for I remember everything of which happened in Lothlorien all those many years ago… Do you not remember them also with fondness?” He looked up, a sultry smile on those perfectly shaped lips. “Do you not also lust for those times?” he asked, voice sending shivers down the spines of both Elves.

Haldir shifted his weight, trying to hide the fact he was getting heavily aroused by the mere sound of Legolas’ voice. “Do not try and seduce us, Legolas,” he lectured.

“Who said I was trying?” the prince asked innocently. With a gulp, Haldir moved away almost unconsciously. With a speed that not one Elf would have credited to another, Legolas darted forward and pressed his lips to Haldir’s, swallowing the gasp of shock that the other blonde let out. Within moments that gasp turned to a moan as the Sweet Prince plundered the Lorien archer’s mouth with lips and tongue. Just watching them, Elrond could feel himself becoming extremely aroused. Slowly, Legolas pulled away from a heated kiss of passion. Placing a shorter, gentler kiss upon the blonde’s mouth, Legolas backed away slowly, eyes glimmering.

“Who ever, dear ones, said I was trying?”

With that, he dashed out the door with a seductive laugh.

“I think we’re in trouble, love…” Elrond murmured.

Haldir stood there, eyes wide. “Trouble? I think we’ve been plunged into Mount Doom…”

~

Legolas smirked. This would be fun. He’d been both seduced and the seducer… But nothing could be sweeter than seducing his old lovers. For fifteen hundred years he had learned, grown and plotted. For one thousand years he had waited for Elrond and Haldir to come back to Mirkwood and claim him. He had waited, and then lost his hope. Two years after he had reached his maturity, he began to plot. He had noticed the male Elves fawning over him, and he had shamelessly played up to their affections and even let them bed him. On one condition – that they teach him all they knew so that he would have a better chance of snaring his old lovers back. Slowly over the next five hundred years, he had learned enough to be confident that for the past two hundred years he had refused all lovers.

The pain was still there, still raw. It still gripped his heart with icy fingers that refused to release him. At night, when he allowed his mind to wander from his iron control, he would always remember seeing Elrond mount up, turning his back on Legolas, and riding away with Haldir. It was at these times he felt tears drip from the corners of his eyes and onto his pillow. Only one or two, never anymore.

Legolas sat on the grassy knoll overlooking a clear blue stream. It bubbled a happy greeting as the trees sang silent greetings of their own to this newcomer. But the Elf did not notice. He was too caught up in a past where he had devoted himself to making sure he would gain back what he had lost – his heart, his love, and his soul. All had been given all those long years ago, without a care in the world. Only now did he realized that it was so painful to love and lose.

He remembered a few weeks after Elrond and Haldir had left, his father had sought him out. He had admitted the most shocking words Legolas had ever heard. “They love you, Legolas,” Thranduil had said with difficulty. “They left because they love you.”

Legolas had turned away angrily. “It doesn’t change the fact they left!” he snapped. His eyes had closed and pain had over washed his heart and face. “It hurts so much to know they love me… But to know that they are not here and that they left… All that they left me with is a churning, aching, painful void…” He had spun on his heel to catch a look of sorrow on his father’s face. “Tell me,” he had demanded. “Tell me, father. Does it always hurt like this?”

Thranduil bowed his head. “Only true love hurts that much…”

The movement of someone sitting next to him jerked him away from his errant thoughts. With a grip of iron, he grabbed his thoughts and threw them into order and semblance. He looked at the Elven maiden beside him and vaguely remembered seeing her when he had arrived. For a few moments, neither spoke, only watched the water. During this time, Legolas had watched the she-Elf and approved.

She was lovely. Her face had the strong structure of her father, along with his beautiful ebony hair. Legolas could sense Elrond’s stubbornness and loyalty in this young maiden. But a beauty was in her blue eyes that puzzled Legolas. A beauty and wisdom… He had known that this maiden had been fostered out of Rivendell with Lady Galadriel, who was the girl’s grandmother, but he had not expected this perfect creature.

Arisi and Arwen would have had large battles over beauty, Legolas mused sadly. Not long before he had left Mirkwood, Arisi had died. An errant Orc arrow had pierced her through the heart, her last sight was one of Legolas’ fear filled eyes and his scream of denial. She had died in his arms, after giving him a last kiss and prophecy. “They will come to you, Er-tithen… But not until you go to them. Beware… Great… Darkness…”

“You seem to know my father…” Arwen said, breaking the silence.

The prince looked at her. “Very well.”

“And Haldir?”

“Also well.” He glanced at her. “How old are you, my lady?”

Arwen smiled. “Only eighteen hundred… Yourself?”

Legolas smiled sadly, “Two thousand. A curse, if you ask me…”

“Why?” Arwen asked, curious.

Legolas stretched out on the grassy hill. “Fifteen hundred is the Elvish age for maturity, no?” Arwen nodded. “According to my father’s pompous ministers, not to mention they are also incompetent, I should be married.” His tone was acidic and mocking. Undercurrents of bitterness ran deep.

“That’s awful!” Arwen exclaimed.

Legolas smiled. “I know, Lady Arwen. My father has had enough of sulking over the past century.”

“Why?”

“For my heart, soul, and life all ready belong to someone else…”

Arwen smiled softly, gently placing her hand of the prince’s arm. “Haldir and my father?”

Legolas smiled, his face lighting with the joy of youth and love. “Yes.”

“Then why do you wish to leave them to ‘squirm?’”

Legolas sighed, his joy vanishing as quickly as it has come. In his mind he saw Haldir and Elrond leaving, riding away without a single look back. He remembered the extreme feelings of loss, abandonment, and of utter sadness and grief. He remembered having his father help him to his feet only to have Imberod carry him to his rooms. Softly, he replied, “They left… Not a single look back… They left and never looked back. I waited for a thousand years in hopes they might come back. For a thousand years I lost a little more of my heart each day…”

“It still doesn’t answer the question, my lord Prince.”

Legolas shook his head. “My name is not ‘Prince.’ It’s Legolas Greenleaf… I would prefer it if you call me Legolas.”

“All right, Legolas. That still doesn’t answer my question. Why do you wish them to squirm?”

“I don’t,” he stated flatly. “All I want is to be held by them… They are the only ones who have ever loved me in all ways, and just because of one facet of me.”

“You wear a façade,” Arwen observed. “Have you ever let it fall?”

Legolas stood, looking across at the stream. “Not since they left… It pained my family too much to see me in such pain. It would bring my mother to tears and my sister Arisi to hold me and sing to me. Imberod, my eldest brother, would try and comfort me, but my family has never been good at showing emotion. He does not know comfort.”

“And you’re father?”

Legolas’ green eyes narrowed. “Over the long years I have come to love and resent what he did. He did what he thought was best – to give me time to understand what love was. I resent the fact he drove away my lovers…”

Arwen smiled. “I’ll make a deal with you.”

Legolas eyes her suspiciously. “What sort of deal?”

“I’ll help you seduce my father and Haldir… And when the time comes, I wish you to teach me to recognize love.”

“Do you not already know of love?”

“Of it, of course. I have never truly experienced it. When I do, I want you to teach me what to do,” said Arwen calmly, tucking a few strand of her dark hair behind one pointed ear.

Legolas turned away, and for the first time in over fifteen hundred years, drank in the beauty of the trees and the fields. He closed his eyes, feeling the sun warm his face. For the first time in ages, he felt like singing. Turning to Arwen once more, he reached down and helped her to her feet. “When that time comes, I will most assuredly help you, Arwen.”

~

Elrond smiled at his lover as Haldir sketched a few images onto a sheet of parchment using charcoal. He wasn’t surprised to see the sketch be Legolas’ body. In the past week that Legolas had been in Rivendell, Haldir had gone through book after book of sketches of Legolas. Nothing seemed to be able to get the beautiful Prince off either of their minds.

Elrond turned back to his own book, attempting to read it for the third time… And belatedly realized it was about Mirkwood. With a groan, he closed the book and slouched in his chair. “Meleth… This isn’t working,” Elrond said.

Haldir looked up from his current sketch. “Oh? How so?”

“We cannot get him out of our minds… It’s frustrating!” A knock sounded at the door. “Enter!” Elrond called.

Arwen peeked in. “I was wondering… Would you like to come on a walk with me? You both used to before I was in Lothlorien. I miss our walks.”

The two smiled. Finally! An excuse to get away from their memories and longings! Haldir stood and bowed. “We’d be delighted. Upon which course would you like?”

Arwen smiled. Her and Legolas’ plan was going exactly the way they wanted. “How about to the stream? It’s been a while since I’ve heard it’s laughter.”

The two lovers agreed and they set forth for the stream. As they got closer, they saw that it was a trap. Legolas sat on the top of the hill, smiling at them. He stood and walked over to them as Arwen disappeared with a knowing smile.

“You avoid me so…” Legolas said, his face tilted to the side. “Why?”

Both remained silent.

Legolas sighed, turning away and holding himself. “So I was wrong… You don’t care at all, do you?”

The other two jerked at Legolas’ words. “What?” they both exclaimed.

“Oh, Legolas, no!” Haldir said, stepping forward, making as if to embrace the lovely prince, but stopping.

Legolas’ eyes closed, pain etched all over his face. “I waited…” he murmured. He turned to them. “Why do you restrain yourselves from me? Do you think I cannot offer you anything?” he tried to understand what was happening. “I have offered and given all I can! My heart, my soul, my life… You have them, and yet that is not enough. I beg you! Tell me what is!”

Elrond sighed, stepping forward and allowing himself the first bit of contact he had had with his lover in fifteen hundred years. He brushed hesitant fingers along Legolas’ jaw line. “Nothing, meleth…” he murmured.

Haldir looked at Elrond’s step of faith and took one of his own. Closing the gap between them, he pulled Legolas into his arms and rained kissed upon Legolas’ golden hair. “Oh, nin-meleth! A’maelamin… Nin…” he could no longer form words. [ nin-meleth = my love; a’maelamin = my beloved ]

Legolas clutched at Haldir for a few moments and then withdrew from his arms. With a sultry smile, he pulled away slightly. Tilting his head to the side, he sized up Haldir in a way that made him want to moan. Within moments, Legolas’ mouth was firmly attached to Haldir’s while moans erupted from the two as their hands slid up and down, gripping each other’s back, trying to merge with each other’s skin. They slid down to the ground, kissing violently, plundering each other’s mouths hotly. Tongues collided, dueled, tasted, and sucked. When they pulled away, it was only for a few short moments until their mouth met again, crushing their bodies as close as they could possibly get.

Hips ground together as Elrond knelt behind Legolas and kissed the smooth white pillar of his neck. Legolas let out a throaty moan into Haldir’s mouth as the two elder Elves pressed Legolas between them. It was easy to tell that all three were straining with their erections, burning with need and desire.

Legolas pulled away from Haldir’s mouth and gasped for air. Haldir responded by latching onto the smooth, slightly defined Adam’s apple of Legolas’ throat and sucking on it. Pale, slender hands found their way into both Elrond’s and Haldir’s hair, pushing them to Legolas.

“This isn’t… The most… Appropriate – UNGH!” Legolas broke off with a loud moan as Elrond’s hand moved down to cup Legolas through his leggings. Haldir’s hands splayed over Legolas’ lower abdomen and began to unfasten the black breeches the prince wore. Gasping, Legolas tried to stall them. “If someone should find us…”

Haldir pulled away form Legolas’ neck, licking his lips. Haldir’s blue eyes were glazed over with lust. “Elrond… He has a point, though I am loath to move…”

Legolas smiled, tracing the line of Haldir’s strong chin. “Shall we carry you?” he teased gently.

Elrond smirked and swept Legolas into his arms. “No need, for it is us who shall carry you.”

~

As soon as they entered the sanctity of Elrond and Haldir’s chamber, Legolas slipped from Elrond’s arms and pushed him up against the door. “Now, let’s see how much we’ve all changed,” Legolas purred, kissing Elrond with all the passion that had built up over the past fifteen thousand years. Tongues dueled with each other for control as Haldir pressed against Legolas’ back, hands moving to Legolas’ thin waist to unbutton his breeches.

Once Legolas was rid of his breeches, Haldir ‘s hand slid in and began to stroke Legolas. With a moan, Legolas pressed into Haldir and brought Elrond with him. With a lust-filled moan, he ground his hips into Haldir’s, making the other blonde Elf moan in pleasure and in shock.

Elrond broke away from the kiss to begin undressing Legolas, but the Elf pulled away, smiling. “Nuh-unh…” he said with smile and seductive swish of his hips. He had come perilously close of losing control of the situation, he couldn’t afford that. He had to prove to them he wasn’t a child.

It was the reason they had left in the first place…

“Legolas…” Haldir moaned, terribly erect with wanting and need. “No more games!”

Legolas only feigned disinterest, watching out of the corners of his eyes to gauge their reactions. Elrond had his eyes closed, and it was obvious he was trying to calm himself and his raging emotions. Haldir, though, did not make any pretense about his arousal or his obvious anger at Legolas’ attitude. Wait for them to come to you…Legolas told himself.

Haldir walked over to Legolas, only to be shoved up against the wall and kissed. Hands splayed over his body, then begun to tug impatiently at shirt and breeches. Elrond was staring in shock. Only a few moments before it seemed as if Legolas was bored of them, and then this. This utter release of emotions too long pent up and a depth of desire they hadn’t even begun to understand.

This was not something either Elrond or Haldir had expect, but the sounds of helpless ecstasy that filled the room. Where Elrond and Haldir had “seduced” Legolas all those years ago, here was their own lover, seducing them. For they just realized something – the hunters had become the hunted.

Legolas pulled away, divesting himself of his clothes, while Haldir stood against the wall, trying hard to recapture his breath. Once bare, he turned to Elrond and smiled sweetly. Even though Elrond knew what was going to happen to him, he ached with the need to feel Legolas in his arms, on his lips… He was everything to him. Slowly, Elrond undressed as well, and walked over to his young lover.

Legolas’ eyes betrayed how much hurt he had gone through, but at that moment, a sweet joy entered them. A sweet joy that turned into a carefully veiled mixture of emotions. Elrond took Legolas in his arms, his lips grazing the prince’s forehead, his eyelids, his nose, and finally his mouth. They kissed as if there were no tomorrow, holding fast to each other lest they ever be separated once more.

Before Elrond could move his hands lower than Legolas’ waist, the younger Elf twisted away. Haldir, by this time, had shed his clothes and was standing behind Elrond. Legolas smiled brazenly up at them. He spread his arms wide, as if he were offering himself up to the power of his lovers. Without wasting a moment, Haldir swept Legolas off his feet and deposited him in the large, soft bed.

With a smirk, Haldir began to kiss Legolas’ well-toned chest, paying extra attention to the twin nubs of dusty colored flesh. Elrond watched as Haldir began sucking on Legolas’ left nipple, drawing the sweetest sounds from the Prince of Mirkwood. With a smirk, Elrond knelt in front of Legolas, and took him in his mouth. With a delicious cry, Legolas squirmed on the bed, hands clutching the fabric on the bed.

Haldir lifted his head from Legolas’ chest, leaving a small raised patch of skin, and set to work on Legolas’ throat. Legolas moaned sharply as Haldir nipped his way along the white pillar of his neck. The sheer power of arousal from both Haldir and Elrond was overwhelming him so much he didn’t care about control anymore. He had them on him, holding him, loving him, and that was all he wanted.

With a strangled cry, he came in Elrond’s mouth as his lover sucked him dry. Haldir relinquished his place and Legolas’ neck and helped the prince to sit up. “Now,” Haldir said gruffly. “We have waited far too long to even consider being gentle,” he warned.

Legolas smirked. “Who ever, meleth, said that I wanted to be cosseted? Make it as rough as you want, all I want are you two inside me. Love me, and I don’t care. I don’t want gentle, I want you. You’re all I want, you’re all I need… Love me…” he begged.

Elrond’s mind flashed with a similar scene between a different lover…

Dark ebony hair was released from it’s tie and it flew down Gil-galad’s back. Haldir embraced him while Elrond helped him get his clothes off. Gil-galad’s smile was soft. “Meleth enni, nin-meleths…” he kissed Haldir’s nose and Elrond’s forehead. “Don’t bother being gentle… Just love me. Your all I want, and all I’ll ever need…”

Tears managed to escape his control and slid down his face as he began kissing every part of Legolas his lips could find. Haldir was already preparing the sweet prince for entrance. Legolas’ hand stroked Elrond’s head, bringing his head up to his own. Legolas’ own green eyes had unshed tears in them, his gaze on of joy… and one almost of sadness.

“Take me…” he moaned softly. Elrond smiled, and kissed him sweetly. Haldir’s Arms wrapped around him, and draw him up so that he lay on his back on top of Haldir. Slowly, Haldir guided himself into Legolas. With a moan, Legolas pushed backwards, impaling himself on Haldir as the two Elves cried out at the same time; one from shock, one from ultimate pleasure. As the two rocked back and forth, Elrond took Legolas in his mouth, sucking and pleasuring.

By the time they all gave up to the sheer power of erotic blessings, each one was more than ready to pass out. Sliding out of Legolas, Haldir moaned, wanting only to be back within Legolas’ tight warmth. Elrond Moved over and wrapped his arms around Legolas’ slender waist. As Haldir curled around him, Elrond murmured to Legolas, “We really need to get you to fatten up a bit. You’re all skin and bones…” With a yawn, they all succumbed to sleep…

~

“He’s gone!” Haldir cried the next morning. Elrond was sitting in a chair, head in his hands while his lover ranted. “He seduces us, and then he leaves!” Haldir snapped. “Not a note, nothing!” A timid knock on the door broke Haldir’s angry triad.

“Father?” Arwen asked, knocking again.

“Come in, Arwen…” Elrond said tiredly.

The young maiden entered the room, carrying a small note in her lovely white hand. “A little leaf told me to give this to you. He said you’d understand the game.”

Haldir froze at the word “little leaf” and began to get increasingly angry when he heard the word “game.” “Is that all we are to him? A game?” he ranted.

Elrond took the letter from his daughter as she left the room, hiding a smile. When he read the note he almost shouted in anger – and in amusement.

You left once, now I have.
The games have begun…
If you want me, come and claim me! (if you can…)

~
Legolas

~

“You must understand, my lord Prince!” Kantar, head of the King’s Council, pleaded with Legolas.

Legolas fumed, “Forget it!” he shouted. He swiped his hand in an outward position in front of him, “I will not marry!”

“You must understand,” Tolcua began, “it is for the good of the realm. Mirkwood is in need of this alliance!”

“Have Imberod marry her then! I will not marry!” he shouted.

“I have already claimed to stay single, brother,” Imberod said, smiling. “I did not realize these ministers would come to you instead.”

Kantar glared. “He is our only hope for this alliance!”

Legolas snarled, eyes blazing, “I. Will. Not. Marry!” With that, he strode away, tension clearly set in his slim build.

“My lord Prince… Please… Convince him!” Tolcua begged of Imberod.

The Heir smiled. “No.”

“And if the might of Mirkwood falls?” Kantar snarled.

“Then it was meant to fall. One marriage with a mortal woman will not help that. You hope to bring Gondor and Mirkwood together… If you remember, it is because of Men that the One Ring survives somewhere in Middle Earth! A marriage with the Race of Men will lead to death!” With a last glare, Imberod walked calmly out the other door.

“What now?” Tolcua asked.

Kantar sighed. “Thranduil… He will convince his sons of their folly. This alliance must be made.”

~

Elrond and Haldir rode into the main courtyard of Mirkwood, twin expressions of impatience and ire on their fair faces. As they dismounted, a guard came up to them. “May I help you?”

“Where is Prince Legolas?” Elrond demanded, ire growing.

“He was in a council this afternoon,” the Guard said, and then snapped to attention. “Prince Imberod!”

Imberod smiled upon seeing Elrond and Haldir. “It is good to see you two again. I trust you are in fine health?”

“Yes, thank you,” Elrond said politely. “We wish to see Legolas, if that is not too much of a problem.”

Imberod winced. “If you do not mind seeing Legolas irate and very irritable, then I’ll show you.”

“Why is he so irate?” Haldir asked, anger and curiosity causing his voice to sound clipped and terse.

“The council of Ministers has betrothed him to a daughter of Gondor,” Imberod said, frowning. “They say that Mirkwood will fall if it is not strengthened by this alliance.”

“And what is Legolas’ reaction?” Elrond asked calmly.

Imberod hide a smile, eyes dancing. “He threw a fit, to say the least. If he were younger and he could have gotten away with it, I think he would have thrown things at them.”

Haldir and Elrond blinked. It was not like their lover to act like that. But then again, it was not in his nature to seduce and then leave, either. Remembering their previous anger with Legolas, Haldir spoke up.

“Where is he, Imberod?”

“Ranting in the gardens, I presume. It has been his only escape since you both left.”

“Do not guilt us!” Haldir snapped.

Imberod raised an eyebrow, “I do not attempt to guilt. You did what you thought was right, no matter what was shattered in the process. If you think that everything will go back to the way it once was, you are wrong. I only hope you do not once again pass up what he offers.”

~

A bird lit onto the tree branch next to him, singing softly. Legolas offered a finger and the bird hopped onto it. A sweet lark, singing sweeter than honey and as softly as silk. The notes fell upon the listener’s ears as if born from a silver well of joyful water. The bird sang softly, Legolas joining in softly.

“Sweeter than sweet,
A torture more than fair,
The heart steadily beats,
More than aware…

“Love is joyful,
So sings the lark,
As love is also a jewel…
So says the skylark…

“Sweeter than sweet,
A torture more than fair,
The heart steadily beats,
More than aware…”

The bird flew off after a few more bars of the refrain, singing the same song throughout Mirkwood’s dank forests. With a soft laugh, Legolas sighed and settled back into the tree’s shady branches.

“Legolas!” Haldir called from below. “Come down here!”

With a laugh of joy, he flipped down from the branch and landed in front of his lover. It was nearly Haldir and Elrond’s undoing, for Legolas was barely dressed. Black breeches clung to his body and hips, leaving little to the imagination while his shirt and tunic were missing. His feet were bare, flexing in the soft grass beneath them.

“I almost thought you wouldn’t come,” he said, happily.

“We almost didn’t,” Elrond said, voice and face stern.

Legolas’ smile faltered and faded. “But you did,” he said, smile resurfacing, only much more shy.

“To teach you a lesson,” Haldir snapped. Legolas’ smiled vanished, as did the levity in his face and eyes.

“You, Prince Legolas, should not assume something, and then take,” Elrond snapped as well. “You seduced us, knowing full well that you could do so, and then played a cute trick. The heart does not work that way, young one.”

“If you thought to gain us back, you have only widened the rift between us!” Haldir barked out, biting off each one of the words to get his point across.

And it seemed the point was more driven than Haldir or Elrond wanted. Legolas turned from them, blonde hair swishing to the side of his face, covering the expression of utter anguish and pain. “So what are you saying?” he asked so softly they weren’t sure they heard him. “Are you saying what happened fifteen thousand years ago was a trick? Was I just a passing fancy?” To his utter shock and amazement, silver tears fell down his cheeks. He hadn’t cried; hadn’t been able to in so long! What was this then? But, as soon as they came, they dried.

Haldir’s face hardened. “You tricked us, Legolas. We would have graciously accepted you back, had you asked.”

Legolas’ cry was torn from his throat. “You left!” he shouted. “Left! You left me, lying on the ground, my soul and heart shattered!” He didn’t care who heard him at this point. He dropped his barriers and let his anger and hurt and confusion pour out. “You deserted me! Had you waited but an hour my father would have found you! He was going to let you stay and court me!” Legolas’ beautiful angelic face was contorted in a mask of pain. “You left and never came back! For over a thousand years I have suffered, waiting for you to come back and claim me as your own! I waited! And I almost threw myself to Mordor’s door when you did not come at the reach of my maturity…”

He turned away. “I should have,” he said, voice strangely quiet after all his yelling. “I should have thrown myself down before Mordor and begged to be destroyed. I should have…” He closed his eyes. “For three hundred years I took who ever would have me to their bed, begging them to teach me what I did not know, hoping against hope that maybe if I changed… Maybe if I pleased you better in bed, you would take me back… For another two hundred years I planned. I tried to plan so perfectly…” He turned back to them, face etched with sorrow. “But when I saw you again in Imladris, I could not think…” he turned away again.

“You ignored me at every turn, at every passage… I begged for you… Oh, by the Lady did I beg… I begged any chance I got that for one few short moments you would freely hold me… Not because I ‘seduced’ you, for it was mutual seduction, but because you wanted me…”

Elrond snarled, “We do not want you.”

“How can we trust someone who tricks us and then leaves once he has we he wants?” Haldir added, sneering.

“You are no better than what your father called us. No better than a ñgwalaraukô!” Elrond snapped. [ ñgwalaraukô means “demon” ]

Legolas choked on his cry, and dashed from gardens. He didn’t care where he ran, just so long as he could escape the ugly words that Haldir and Elrond had thrown at him. Ugly words that were said so truthfully that Legolas wanted to weep. Ugly words he could not block out… “We do not want you.”

How could he have not seen it? They hadn’t come for him, and they hadn’t minded leaving him behind all those long years ago. He ran pass the guards, who had tried to hold onto him, but he was too fast. His senses were heightened by grief, and by utter despair.

He did not notice when he ran directly into a band of Orcs, until one grabbed him by the hair, yanking him to the ground, causing his head to snap back. Legolas did not do anything more than utter a small cry. He looked at them and closed his eyes.

“Do your worst. I wish not to live!” he cried. “Destroy me! Do anything to me, just don’t let me live!” he pleaded.

The Orcs drew back, shocked. Here was one who wanted to be destroyed, killed, maimed. This was a desperate Elf, to beg to be turned into something that they had been raised to loathe and destroy.

“Do not bother with this one,” the leader said. “Let him suffer on his own. We would only offer his a release.” With grunts, the band of Orcs moved on, leaving a weeping Legolas in the middle of the forest. He cried no tears, he cried only the bitterness of hurt and betrayal.

He cried out of someone to love him, for no one would…

He cried out for his soul.

~

“Lord Elrond! Master Haldir!” Imberod cried, running over to them. It was two days later, and no sign had been seen of the fair Prince. Everyone was worried, but none more so than Haldir and Elrond. Their words haunted them, and their fears grew. If something had happened to Legolas, it was their fault.

“You called, Imberod?” Haldir asked, softly.

“You haven’t seen Legolas, have you?” Imberod asked urgently, his face a mask of worry.

“Not since he disappeared,” Elrond responded.

Imberod cursed, eyes frantically searching the woods. “He is in pain… Lost and hoping to be found… We have to find him… You don’t understand how much he means to us…”

“He’s your youngest brother, it makes sense,” Haldir said, slipping into his arrogant persona of the Second Age once again.

Imberod sighed. “He is not my true brother.”

“What do you mean?” Haldir asked, perplexed.

“Father found him on the outskirts of Mirkwood, on his way back from the Last Alliance. We do no know who he truly is – only that he wanted to be called ‘green leaf.’”

Elrond froze. A shooting pain split through Elrond’s head as he tried to piece together all the strange occurrences that began when he had met Legolas. The dream that had called him to Lothlorien to see Haldir, whom he had not seen since the Last Alliance, and had ended up saving the beautiful Elf. The strange memories that he had long ago buried. It didn’t make sense, until now. But as the pain snaked through his mind, he tried to hold onto what his heart was telling him. Gil-galad…

“Elrond!” Haldir cried, shaking the Elven lord out of his pain, and away from his control to keep what he knew was true. With triumph, the suspicions were wiped away from Elrond’s mind.

“I’m all right, Haldir… Just confused.” Elrond looked at Imberod. “Does Legolas know this?”

“No.”

“Then why tell us?”

“Because he is at home when he is with you. Lost when he is away from you… You must see that by now. He loves you more than his own life…” Imberod drew in a deep breath. “If he agrees to this betrothal, he will die. No Elf can survive when he ignores his heart.” Leaving them to mull that over, Imberod left, once again searching for the one he called a brother.

~

By nightfall Legolas had wandered back into Mirkwood’s borders. His clothes were torn and bloody, arms full of scratches and two cuts on his face. He bumped into Haldir, sending them both crashing to the floor.

Haldir stood, about to yell at the servant, when he saw it was Legolas. “Legolas!” he cried. “Oh, thank the Lady you’re safe!”

Legolas looked up at him, his emerald eyes darker than black with turmoil. Without a word, and picked himself up and left a shocked Haldir rooted to the spot. Those eyes haunted Haldir, for it showed the loss of everything that an Elf had to live for in Middle Earth… Had left to live for anywhere.

Haldir ran to find Elrond. They had to amend these wrongs!

~

“So, you agree?” Kantar crowed cheerfully. Imberod’s hands gripped the arms of his chair tightly.

Legolas nodded. “I will marry the girl from Gondor.”

Imberod’s eyes shut tightly, trying to keep back the tears that threatened to spill over. Thranduil looked about ready to kill Kantar.

“I refuse this alliance,” Thranduil snapped angrily. “How dare you go behind my back and try to convince my youngest son to marry someone from the Race of Man!”

Legolas turned to his father as Haldir and Elrond burst into the room. Legolas glanced at them, pain twisting his features and he turned away. “They did not convince me, father. I will marry this girl.”

“I’d throw you to Mordor myself!” Thranduil roared.

Legolas looked aside, eyes downcast. “The alliance would—”

“You dare and you will throw away everything that makes you yourself!” Elrond snapped, shocked at Legolas’ stupidity.

Contempt blazed across Legolas’ fair features. “I have already lost what I am. What more is it to lose myself a little more?”

“You’ll kill yourself to turn from your heart,” Imberod begged his brother. “Please, don’t do this Legolas!”

“The alliance must occur!” Tolcua shouted. “If it does not, must agony will occur! Mirkwood will fall!”

“Let it fall!” Thranduil shouted, surprising all the Elves in the room, but no more than Elrond and Haldir. “I would rather die myself than see Legolas throw away everything in his heart…” He looked at Haldir and Elrond, “I can do nothing to take back what words have happened between us. Had you stayed a while longer, you would have had my permission to court my son.”

“It is too late for that,” Legolas murmured. “They have told me their answer.”

Haldir sighed. “We spoke in anger, Legolas.”

“Anger speaks the truest words!” Legolas yelled at them.

“It speaks words that are not true!” Haldir shouted back. He sighed, “We have been through so much, Legolas. Our hearts cannot take to see another lover come and then leave through some fell act, or of their own.”

Elrond watched Legolas’ stern face as it turned away from them. “Much wrong has passed between us, meleth –”

“Do not call me that!” Legolas cried. “You mean it not!” His once shining emerald eyes were darker than the nights of the new moon without the stars to guide oneself.

“Meleth, we do mean it… We mean it more than anything we have ever said anything before!”

“Do not lie,” Legolas said bitterly.

Haldir looked desperate, sensing that he was slipping farther away from them. “Tell us, meleth! Tell us what we can do to prove that we tell no lies!”

Legolas looked at his old lovers. “You can do nothing…” he said, voice soft and heavy with despair. “You have done enough already!” he cried bitterly and left the room, brushing past them all.

“Legolas, wait!” Imberod said, getting up and going after his brother.

Thranduil turned questing eyes upon a shattered Haldir and a sorrowful Elrond. “I trust you will explain, my lords?”

~

Legolas looked down from his branch, dry sobs wracking his lithe frame. He clung to the tree, trying to keep himself on his branch. Down below him, Elrond was comforting Haldir.

“Haldir… meleth…” Elrond begged as Haldir sobbed brokenheartedly. Tears cascaded like a river down his beautiful face. “Please, nin-meleth…”

“I don’t understand it, Elrond,” Haldir murmured, trying to wipe away his tears. “Legolas never acted this way before…” his voice caught.

“Before we left,” Elrond whispered. “We have committed great wrongs in our lives, but this was the worst of all. We have wronged each other, not seeing a slip of each other for five hundred years, until Legolas reunited us. And then we abandon him, and stay together… We cannot right this wrong.”

Legolas listened closely, trying to stop his dry sobbing.

Haldir cried, “We must! Elrond, we cannot lose him… It would be like losing …” he tried to swallow. “It would be as if I watched Gil-galad die once more, simply helpless to save him… It was my fault he died, I will not have Legolas leave because of me as well!”

“It was not your fault!” Elrond cried. “No… meleth… We were both too far away. And if Legolas leaves, it is because of both of us… We said so much out of anger and fear that we never stopped to think what we said. We said to hurt, to drive away…” He gave a short bark of laughter. “And it worked.”

Haldir nodded mutely.

Legolas swung down from his branch and slid gracefully through the air to land in front of them. He tilted his head to the side, and they noticed his eyes had lost the darkness, but were far from the clear, deep green they had once been.

Legolas stood slightly in front of them, but just out of reaching distance. For a few moments he stood that way, looking at them. Studying Haldir’s tear streaked face and Elrond’s pain wracked frame. He bit his lip and hesitantly stepped forward, half expecting to be slapped back with words.

Haldir slid from Elrond’s arms, standing up. He took a step closer to Legolas, slowly. The Prince stood his ground, wary of what his lover would do. When Legolas did not budge, Haldir stepped forward again, closing the distance between them, and pulled Legolas into his arms, raining kisses upon the crown of Legolas’ head.

“Meleth!” he cried softly, his tears falling on the gold strands of hair, mixing with the kisses Haldir rained down upon him. Legolas’ arms hesitantly encircled Haldir’s waist, pulling them closer together. Haldir kept whispering endearments, kissing any part of Legolas he could reach. Only when he felt a slight resistance did he let go.

Legolas stood in front of both Haldir and Elrond. He closed his eyes; pain and hesitance clear on his perfect features. “Enni meleth…?” he whispered, close to begging. [ Enni meleth = love me ]

“Eja andâ… Eja andâ…” Elrond said, pulling Legolas into his arms and lap as he sat on the bench. Haldir sat across them and took Legolas’ face in his hands, kissing him softly, then urgently.

Elrond brushed Legolas’ hair away from his neck and softly began to worship it. Legolas kissed back with a passion that Haldir could not deny. And the passion seemed to echo from all three, for they were finally home… Home within each others’ arms.

~

Thranduil smiled. “Of course you have my permission, Legolas!”

Legolas ducked his head, blonde hair spilling over his shoulders. “Thank you, father.”

“I expect you’ll come home every now and then?”

Legolas burst into a brilliant smile, his green eyes blazing joy and happiness. “Just because I am going to stay in Imladris does not mean I am staying away from home forever. I will come to visit.”

Imberod smiled affectionately at Elrond and Haldir. “Whatever you did, I thank you. He seems happier than I have ever seen him!” He smirked, “And he had a fine time bashing the ministers’ ideals back into their fat mouths!”

“I wondered what he did to make them so well behaved,” Elrond murmured, slightly amused.

“Told them that they needed to find someone willing to fuck them,” Imberod cackled. Haldir and Elrond choked on their laughter. Imberod smirked. “That’s my baby brother…”

“So, all is well?” Aerin asked, embracing her youngest son.

“It should be,” Legolas said. He smiled at Elrond and Haldir. “I’m going home, after all.”

~

Elvish

Er-tithen = Little One
Ñgwalaraukô = demon
Luktiê = enchantment
Meleth enni/enni meleth = love me
Nin-meleth = my love
Eja andâ = ever long/forever
Car-ú nuktâ nér map enni = roughly, Don't let him take me
Vammë = we wont
Car-ú = don't
Orku = Orc
Melánë lindâ = i love them
Khînâ = child
Morquendi = dark elf
Maelamin = beloved
A'maelamin = my beloved