Fan Fiction ❯ Tên Mûel ❯ An evening together ( Chapter 22 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Title: Tên Mûel
Authors: Makiko Igami (makikoigami@yahoo.de) & My-chan (My-chan@gmx.de)
Archive: http://www.yaoi.rulestheweb.com
http://www.fire-angel.net/Seek%20Truth/ main.html
http://lotr.lirimaer.com/
http://www.mediaminer.org/fanfi c/src.php?auth=58906
http://fanfiction.alansworld.com/viewuser.php?uid= 74
http://adultfan.nexcess.net/aff/authors.php?no=2588
Legolas In Chains Archive
ALSlash Archive
Library of Moria, too
Category: AU, RPG
Rating: this chapter... PG? May go up soon... *is getting poked by My-chan: "NC-17!"* *sweatdrops*
Pairings: Aragorn/Legolas, others as well *glances over to Elladan & Elrohir*
Warnings: Slash, OOC (of Arwen mostly), slavery, angst...
Spoilers: A few... not really as I don't remember much of the book, just that Aragorn became King of Gondor in the end and that Arwen was his Queen.
Summary: After seven years of marriage, the excitement of being together has vanished from Aragorn's and Arwen's marriage... maybe a present might change this.
Disclaimer: You know the deal don't you? J.R.R. Tolkien invented them, and if we owned them, we would be related to him, but since neither I nor My-chan are... we just play around with them, toy with their minds and use them for fun only. <insert evil laughter here>
Notes&Comments: This was written by me and My-chan as a rpg and ever since Pretending And Being, a wild mix of German and English, we have this nearly "exhibitionistic" need for feedback from various places. ^^;; So please be gentle.
Now on to the story itself. I know that this may look like a serious Arwen-bashing story, but please be reassured that we don't mean to cause any harm to anybody who likes her. She is just for causes of story-telling such a bitch here. ^^;
The Sindarin we used (and transformed for ourselves) comes from a little program called Dragon Flame (which I always think that it is this game I don't want to play unless I know I am on my own), but since it didn't have all the words we needed, we had to make them up. If you have any questions feel free to send an email to any of us... and hope that we still know what we wanted to say. ^^;;;;
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Inside the King's chambers Legolas was still looking down at the blanket which seemed to hold extremely interesting secrets as he couldn't pry his eyes away from it. Uncomfortable silence was filling the room, but the Elf just didn't know what to say.

Aragorn didn't know what to say either so he remained silent as well and stared down at his hands. He knew they were at some kind of turning point in their relationship - if one could call what they had a relationship - that was crucial for what was going to be. He knew his feelings for Arwen had died down quite some time ago, but she was still his wife and he had vowed to take care of her for the rest of his life... He had never thought there would be another that he would have these protective feelings for.

After a while he felt how Blackspot jumped up and down on his shoulder, as if he was getting nervous from the tension that hung in the air. He looked up, just to meet Legolas looking up as the little bird chirped. To Aragorn it seemed as if he wanted to break the tension.

"I'm sorry..." was all he managed to say though... and even the reason for it was beyond him.

Legolas met steel blue eyes and looked straight into them, now finding the courage to lock gazes.

"What for?" he asked lowly while he still caressed the now sleeping squirrel on his belly. He knew he had been scaring Blackspot as he let the tension between him and Elessar grow to an almost touchable level, but luckily the bird had broken it with voicing his indisposition.

"I... don't know," Aragorn admitted with a small laugh and ran a hand through his hair. Blackspot protested at the sudden movement, but he didn't attack him. The man looked up and started to babble, simply voicing his thoughts.

"I think it's because I've seen what your home looks like and I can only imagine what you have gone through. The beauty of your forest... is overwhelming. It must have been horrible to be torn out of there... right into the caverns of doom... and on top of that you have to endure my laments all the time. I'm sorry," he repeated.

"Stop it, please," Legolas pleaded softly and raised his left arm to gently put his index finger on the Human's lips. "Don't start to talk like this again... If one has to be sorry for anything, then it should be me, for breaking your trust in me.... For letting you fall..."

"See? Another thing I have to be sorry about," Aragorn murmured around the finger that sealed his lips. "With my impact on you I reopened your wound," he stated as he saw how blood soaked the fabric of the bandages.

A frown formed on Legolas' forehead and he glanced down at his side to see that Elessar's words were true. "It'll heal," he just said before he looked up again.

"Do you like accusing yourself and making yourself feel bad? Do you tend to do it that much... that you can't even stop when I ask you to?" The Elf looked at the Human with almost pleading eyes. "Please... I don't want you to feel bad because of me. It was my fault you fell, so it's also my fault that I got hurt," Legolas tried to say sternly, which he didn't really manage.

For the sake of them both of them, Aragorn stayed silent as he slowly removed the now red cloth from the Elf's side, to clean it and inspect the damage from close. His already sad expression mixed with worry as he saw how the red liquid trickled out from the cut. Carefully he peeled the bandage away and went to wash it in a nearby basin.

"I have made so many mistakes in my life, but every time they turned out to be good..." he mused, "but I fear that part of what I have done in the past few years will not prove that my mistakes will lead to the better..."

Legolas also stayed quiet and scooped Wiz in his left hand before he slightly turned around, giving the Human better access to his wound... The Elf really didn't know what to say or do anymore to make Elessar feel better. The way he had tried before, showing him the peace and beauty of a faraway forest, had turned out to be a very bad idea. The king had ended up with only more self-accuses, more worry over Legolas and an even heavier heart than before.

The Elf looked up when the other man returned to him and told about his mistakes and their outcome.

"What do you mean?" he asked quietly.

"Once... I have been in a situation where my decision brought everyone in our company into danger and split it up into dangerously small groups. One of those Nine died... and two Halflings went all on their own into the lands of Mordor and nobody knows what might have happened to them there. But in the end it proved to be the right decision," he sighed and moved to sit down next to the bed again.

"I blamed myself for the decision to split the group back then and to forget the guilt I felt I concentrated on the search for the other two missing Hobbits that were abducted by Orcs... Those history-books you read tell about this chase, but they do not tell how guilt was eating me up inside. If it weren't for my brothers and Gimli, I would have run all the way without a pause in a self-destructing pace."

Aragorn's brows furrowed as he noticed that he had lost his point and went into the wrong direction with his arguments. "I blamed myself for the Death of Faramir, Boromir's brother who tried to defend the younger Halflings but was killed by the arrows of the Uruk-Hai..."

He faded out after that and remained silent as he put the cloth back over the wound, realizing that he still blamed himself for the younger brother's death, even though he knew he had died with honor, especially after he was nearly seduced by the One Ring, something that was written in no history-document since he had told nobody about it as he had promised. When he was finished with the tending of Legolas' cut, he looked up and stared into the Elf's deep blue eyes, searching for the words he needed.

"Now I am King and everybody thought that things would turn out for the better, but as you can see with your own eyes, nothing like that has ever happened. I still make the wrong decisions. That I have been so busy with unimportant paperwork that inhibited I saw what was foul and rotten in the country of Gondor. And now things have grown so big that I cannot stop them as easily as I hoped those problems could be solved."

Legolas had listened to the Human's every word, processing them, trying to understand the truth that lay behind them. Finally his gaze softened and the threat he'd been thinking of to make the king stop his self-accuses left his mind.

"Life is never easy, Elessar," he said calmly. "Unexpected things happen, and we must learn to take them how they are, live with them and handle them, or they will destroy us." He paused for a moment, looking back into steel blue eyes. "Or..." he continued, "We have to change them if we cannot, or are not willing to take them as they are. But then we must fight... be strong..."

The Elf slowly turned on his back and raised his right arm to tenderly touch the cheek of the other man. "You have a strong will, Elessar. You have the power to change things, and I am not talking about your power as the king of Gondor, but as a person with a strong and gentle heart. Don't give up hope on yourself... It's the worst thing you could do..." Legolas whispered, absently caressing the skin under his fingers.

Aragorn sighed, slowly relaxing into the soft caress. "Seven years are a long time, even for me who has seen more of the world than an average Human and it is not easy to keep up strength for that amount of time." He smiled sadly as he put a hand upon the Elf's temple, wiping away a stray strand. "I had almost given up hope, succumbing to those mindless activities, but as you were presented to me..." he flinched slightly at this choice of words, "it boiled up enough anger to give me the much needed energy to remedy those nuisances."

Legolas decided to ignore the last sentence, since it wouldn't do any good to deepen that topic yet again. Instead his expression changed and an amused sparkle appeared in his eyes, causing them to gleam childishly.

"That amount of time...? Just a handful of years.... Would you want to challenge someone with 'real' experience of time, little Human?" he asked teasingly, a light mocking in his voice.

Aragorn smirked. "I know 7 years is nothing to you, Elf. But even my brothers said that it is a long time if you are parted from the ones you... well, something like that." He added with a sheepish twinkle in his eyes. "You know what I mean."

The blond Elf smiled warmly as Aragorn stopped in mid-sentence. "You missed your brothers a lot, didn't you? Even thought they can be quite... devilish..." Legolas grimaced.

"'Missed'... is the wrong word. I kind of... waited for them to get to me... as they always do," he explained, his smirk firmly in place. "They are too much a nuisance to miss them. Don't get me wrong, I like them, but sometimes... they like me too much."

Legolas chuckled lowly. "I think I know what you mean. But still... you should be grateful to have them. Even though their main activity seems to unnerve you, they care about you a lot. And they are... more at ease with others than most Elves." The blond man paused for a moment, before he smiled wryly. "I wish my brothers were more like yours. They are too.... stiff for my taste."

"Are they? I didn't know you had brothers," Aragorn said. "And don't tell me that's because I didn't ask. You seemed very secretive about your family at first so I thought it would be painful for you to talk about it. What are they like? Are they as... beautiful as you are?"

There, he said it. He said that he thought Legolas was beautiful, right into his face. He felt how his cheeks heated up, but luckily the beard hid most of his blush and he tried to ignore it the best he could.

"It is...painful... but not as painful as I thought it would be..." Legolas murmured lowering his gaze to the blanket as the Human called him beautiful, his cheeks aflame. "I would not refer to myself as... beautiful... so I cannot tell if they are... compared to me..." His voice faded out. The Elf was way too ashamed right now to find the right words. "But I believe you could call them that..."

"I would love to meet them," Aragorn smiled softly at him, putting into his expression that even then Legolas would be the one to catch his eye.

On his shoulder Blackspot started to chirp loudly and hopped nervously to the other side and then took off to fly onto the nearby table. He hopped around and picked up a few crumbs that lay there from a previous meal. The man watched him curiously, but was stopped in any uprising thought by the low grumbling of his stomach. He seemed to be hungry and was a bit miffed that the servants hadn't yet brought something to eat.

As if on clue, the door opened and two young maidens walked in, carrying enough food for three men, a bottle of wine and some milk. Aragorn smiled at them, ignoring that they blushed under his gaze and as they had placed everything on the table, they bowed rather low and then disappeared again.

The man shook his head and then looked back at Legolas again. "Are you hungry? Well, I am."

Legolas watched the little bird and felt his own stomach pinch. But before he could voice his hunger, Wiz stirred and finally moved upwards over the Elf's arm to sit on his shoulder. Blackspot's chirping had woken up the little squirrel and he was now blinking its droopy black eyes.

"Yes, very hungry," Legolas admitted while he tried not to let the pain from his stomach show. "And it seems we're not the only ones..."

"Well then, come and sit with me at the table," Aragorn invited. He stood up himself and walked over to Blackspot who had jumped onto a loaf of bread and was picking out a few crumbs. The little bird tilted his head as he heard the King approach, but paid him no heed and simply continued filling his little bird-stomach.

The man turned around and raised an eyebrow as he looked at the Elf. "Or do you prefer to eat in the bed?"

The Elf didn't really want to eat in the bed, first because he didn't want to dirty the sheets and secondly because his pride told him to get up and walk over to the table. The cut almost forgotten, Legolas threw back the blanket and shifted his legs to stand up.

One moment later though, he was reminded of the wound as he felt a stinging pain in his side and winced, clutching the blanket tightly. Wiz let out a protesting sound at the sudden and rough movement that almost threw him off the Elf's shoulder and clung to the slender body, looking not too happy.

"Nícaer Wiz," Legolas murmured lowly, still now moving back to rest against the headboard, since he knew he couldn't without hurting himself again. And he could do without even more pain.

"Maybe... eating in the bed... is a good idea..." the Elf said as he slowly looked up to meet Aragorn's gaze.

Aragorn was slightly worried, but he simply nodded as he grabbed a few bowls with fruits and carried them over to the bed, where he helped Legolas to sit back on the bed again. After that he went to get two goblets for the milk, leaving the bottle of wine untouched. For himself he also got some bread, while he snatched some Lembas for Legolas, that Elladan had given him earlier.

After Blackspot had stilled his hunger he flew back to sit on the man's shoulder. This way he was carried back to the bed as Aragorn sat down on the edge. He poured milk into the goblets and handed one of them to the Elf.

"That you'll get better soon," he toasted as he raised his chalice.

Legolas took the chalice from the Human and smiled warmly.

"That your heart will get lighter soon," he said softly and raised his chalice to his lips, taking a deep sip from the white liquid to silence his growling stomach before it could get any louder. When he lowered the chalice again, he noticed that Wiz leaned forward on his shoulder and sniffled curiously.

"You're hungry too, aren't you Wiz?" the Elf asked and moved his hand closer to the squirrel, chuckling softly as Wiz tiny head disappeared in the chalice and a low lapping sound was heard a moment later.

The man watched the scene after he had taken a sip from his own chalice and had to stifle a laugh as he watched the little squirrel. He shook his head softly and then went to get a little dish on which he poured some milk and held it next to Wiz.

"Here my little friend... this is just for you."

Legolas snickered silently as Wiz' head suddenly shot up when Elessar called him and the little animal wiggled his now white nose. To call the scene anything else but cute would have been a lie, and the Elf encouraged his little friend with a low whisper as Wiz hesitated to leave the shoulder and hop down to the offered dish.

But after Blackspot also encouraged his friend, the squirrel left Legolas and climbed down his arm until he finally sat in front of the white liquid that was only for him. He still hesitated though and looked at the Human with wide eyes, as if he wondered why he was so nice.

Again Legolas whispered something, and nodded as Wiz turned towards him and looked rather quizzically. Finally he turned back to the milk and started lapping away the sweet stuff.

"I think he starts to trust you now, Elessar," Legolas said with a happy smile. Happy that his little friends liked the man at his side, this man whom he held so many feelings for that he didn't know which ones he should allow himself to have or show.

But before Aragorn could reply something, the Elf had spotted the Lembas in a little bowl next to the Human and his expression brightened even more.

"This is... Lembas... isn't it?" he asked while he grabbed a piece of the Elven bread. It looked a little lighter then the Lembas his people ate, but it was definitely the same. Even though their tribes seemed to be rather different, the recipe for the bread was very old and thus all of them knew it.

The Elf took a small bite from the piece in his hand and chewed carefully.

Aragorn nodded and smiled back at the beaming Elf. "Elladan gave it to me after he noticed that you despised the bread... well, I told him about it. He thought that you would like to eat something that would meet your taste a little more than this. I hope you like it."

Legolas nodded before he swallowed the bite in his mouth and licked the crumbs from his lips. "I do, it's very delicious." With that he took another bite, chewing more eagerly now and soon swallowed it as well, followed by a few sips from the milk.

The Elf smiled then. "Thank him for me when you meet him the next time, will you?" he asked before he took another, bigger bite.

"I will," the man smiled and started to eat his own bread. As much as Aragorn liked Lembas, he also liked the bread he was getting there and thus he ate the dark wheat-loaf. Also, they didn't have much Lembas left and he wanted Legolas to eat as much of it as he could, so that he would heal and recover soon. Of course he could ask one of the Elves around - Elladan, Elrohir or even Arwen, if he chose to talk with her again - to make some Lembas, but first he didn't know if they had the ingredients for it at Minas Tirith and secondly he doubted that any of those three would be able to match the arts of the cooks in Rivendell.

They sat there for a few moments and ate in silence, until Legolas finally lowered the Lembas and put it back into the bowl. Contrary to what Aragorn was used to from his brothers, the blond Elf had eaten five or six bites from the Elven bread, more than trice as much as a normal Elf needed to be satiated.

Legolas sighed contentedly and comfortably leaned back against the headboard. "One more crumb... and I am going to explode," he murmured and patted a little invisible bulge on his belly.

Wiz also had finished his milk and returned to his place on Legolas' shoulder.

Aragorn swallowed the last piece of bread and drank another sip of milk before he smiled at the Elf and the animals and moved to a stand, collecting the now empty bowls and carried them back to the table. Then he returned to the scene on his bed, seeing Legolas hiding his mouth behind a hand while Wiz wasn't so subtle about his tiredness. The little squirrel yawned, his mouth hanging wide-open before it curled up around the Elf's neck.

"Are you tired," the man asked unnecessarily as if he couldn't see the obvious signs on the faces of the other two.

Legolas squirmed slightly as Wiz's fur tickled his neck and raised his hand to caress his little friend. He nodded to the question and smiled at Blackspot who also chirped rather tiredly before he took off and flew out of the window.

"Sleep well, Blackspot," the Elf murmured and then the little fellow was out of sight. Wiz on the other hand made no move to leave his place on the Elf's shoulders. And even though it was only late afternoon and the sun was just setting, Legolas wanted nothing more than to sleep now. He was satiated and could feel the tiredness take the upper hand of his body.

"Do you mind Wiz staying with us tonight?" he finally asked Aragorn, also wondering if he planned on leaving again to take care of some business, or if he was going to stay, or even go to sleep as well.

Shaking his head, Aragorn answered, "I would be damned if I separated you from your little pets. He can sleep in the bed with you."

He stood up and started to disrobe, taking off only the heaviest clothes. "I'll stay here, but I am not tired yet, so I will be reading something..." He paused in his movements and looked at the bed with a questioning look. "If you don't mind me sitting on the bed while you sleep..."

The Elf shook his head. "No, of course not. I'd prefer if you stayed..." he said lowly, smiling warmly at the Human in front of him as he resumed caressing Wiz. Even with the little squirrel to keep him company, Legolas was sure that he would feel lonely if Aragorn left him now, just like so many times before.

"What are you reading?" he asked curiously and eyed the parchments on the ground next to the chair in front of the mantelpiece.

Aragorn kneeled down to rummage through the papers on the floor. After a few moments he finally found something that caught his eye and he grinned as he made his way back to the bed.

"I think I found something that might interest me."

Legolas tilted his head when the Human turned the parchment so he could see what it was about, but as he caught sight of the title, the Elf's blood ran cold.

"It's about Thranduil and his children. I started reading it earlier, but I didn't finish it yet," Aragorn explained and sat down on the other side of the bed, leaning his back against the headboard, putting one pillow at the small of his back for support.

"Oh..." was Legolas only reply as he kept staring on the papers in Elessar's hands. Then he tore his gaze away and slightly turned his upper body away from him, lying down on the bed on his right side, even though he knew it wouldn't be that much of a good idea. But the Elf wanted to hide his face from the other man, and thus he didn't really care if the movement hurt him or not.

"What are your brothers called?" Aragorn asked as he focused on reading the parchment. He read that Thranduil was the father of two sons - Firith and Firnnole - and that they took part with him in the great war against Sauron over 3,000 years ago. Thus he guessed that they were his only sons as they had been even then about a few centuries of age. And as far as he knew, Elves only bred during a rather short interval in their life.

Legolas tensed up as he heard this question, the one he had feared most. If he told him the names of his brothers now, Aragorn would know who he was, and that was probably not so wise. But the Elf didn't want to lie either, he once had sworn to always tell the truth. Lies were ugly... more Human-like...

But then his face lightened up again, as he remembered what their little sister used to call them when she was very little and could only talk a few words.

"Fi... Filli and Finoe..." he finally answered, hoping the names weren't too similar. But then again, the way the Humans pronounced the Elven names were most likely different from the way Elves did. Legolas squeezed his eyes shut and hoped it would work.

Aragorn chuckled into what he was reading. It sounded a little like what a little child would made out of those names he just read about, just like Arwen called Elladan and Elrohir Ellani and Elloni.

"So you have any other siblings?" he asked and then realized that Legolas had wanted to sleep. "I'm sorry, I'm keeping you awake. You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

Inwardly the Elf sighed with relieve. On one hand he didn't know if he could answer any other question without giving away too much, and on the other hand did he just realize how much it hurt him to think about his brothers and sisters.

So Legolas snuggled up to his pillow, caressing Wiz under the blanket to where the squirrel had retreated and sighed softly before he closed his eyes more relaxed than the last time.

"Thank you," he murmured lowly and soon drifted off into a peaceful and dreamless sleep.

Aragorn was a little disappointed that Legolas didn't answer his last question, but he didn't bother the Elf anymore. In fact he would rather see him sleep peacefully than ask him any other question about his life or family. In silence he finished his parchment and knew every thing he needed to know about Thranduil and his realm in Mirkwood... at least from a viewpoint that was 3,000 years old.

When he looked up again, it was dark outside and the candle was burning, but he barely remembered how he had lit it. Next to him Legolas and Wiz were still sleeping peacefully and as he pulled off his shirt and pants and crawled under the blanket with them, a soft smile was gracing his features as he fell asleep. And even though he didn't intend to do so, his arm fell loosely onto the Elf's shoulders, holding him softly as he drifted off to sleep as well.

A few hours of recreating sleep later Aragorn woke up from the cold that was surrounding him. First of all, he heard rain falling outside like cats and dogs, but secondly and more importantly, he was lying all alone in his bed, without the warmth of Legolas surrounding and penetrating him.

All of a sudden he was wide awake, scanning the dark room with his eyes, but found it empty as well, just the breakfast on the table indicating that somebody had been there while he had been asleep. He sat up with a start, jumped out of bed and threw on some clothes as he sprinted to the bathroom, almost ripping the door out as he opened it. But even that room was empty.

Where was Legolas? Did he try to escape? Or... Aragorn didn't even want to think about other possibilities as pictures sprung unasked into his mind, supplying him with images of the Elf under the ministrations of somebody worse than the head servant, that Arwen had found somebody who dared to kidnap his slave, just because she was miffed at him.

His eyes narrowed as he came to the conclusion that Legolas was indeed nowhere in his chambers, even though he had thought he had told him to stay there when he released the chain. He knew that the Elf might have gotten rather far if he had managed to talk a horse into accompanying him, but what good would that be for him? He was hurt and maybe in an even worse condition than he was when he was captured for the first time, so he would be an easy prey for any other slavers.

No, Legolas wasn't that foolish... But where was he then?

To be continued...
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And now the million dollar question: Where is Legolas? Suggestions are sent to either Aragorn or my-chan@gmx.de or makikogami@yahoo.de. ^^;