Fan Fiction ❯ Tên Mûel ❯ The morning after ( Chapter 23 )

[ 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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Aragorn searched frantically everywhere he would go if he didn't know where to go in Minas Tirith. At first he went down into the throne room where Legolas had hid after his escape attempt, where Gimli had found him. But of course he wasn't there.

The next place Aragorn gave a try on were the stables, but there he only met some groom who seemed rather lost between all the animals. But every horse was where it was supposed to be, either chewing on some hay or looking rather bored as they wouldn't be let outside in that weather. The King himself was already wet to his bones, but he didn't notice.

Quickly he ran back through the rain to the castle, getting even wetter - but still he didn't notice - and the next place he went to was the kitchen. It was the warmest place in the castle and Pete Took may be chaotic, but he was one of the most loveable Hobbits Aragorn had ever met. So judging by the instinct for nice beings Legolas had, he guessed that he would find his way towards the kitchen rather easily.

As he sprinted down the halls, he was wondering where the slapping sound came from, but then noticed that it were his shoes that were so soaked that there was a smacking sound whenever he made a step. Just as he arrived at the kitchen, a familiar scent was reaching his nose, but he was worried too much about Legolas to really register it.

He pushed the door wide open, flinching slightly when he heard it bang on the wall on the other side and saw how Pete jumped, but then he finally found what he had been searching for. A rock fell from his heart as he saw Legolas sitting at the table where Aragorn himself liked to sit and talk to Pete whenever he had the time to, munching on something he couldn't quite make out from underneath his hair.

The Elf had been so busy listening to the Hobbit's babbling and understanding all of it while he chewed on a piece of cake that he didn't hear the Human approaching from the outside and winced at the loud sound as the door was slammed open, thus dropping the sweet stuff in his hand.

Pointed ears twitched at the panting and Legolas easily recognized Aragorn from the way he breathed. A wave of guilt washed over him since he had obviously caused a lot of worry to the Human's already heavy mood, but as he now turned his head to face Elessar, the blond man actually had to hold back laughter.

There he stood like a little demon, with his shoulders raised a little over his neck, legs spread for a safe stand, hair hanging in his face and water running over it, looking like a soaked mouse. Finally the giggles managed to break free and the Elf leaned back slightly, letting the laughter fall from his lips, accompanied by the cook's chuckling.

After a handful of moments Legolas calmed down again, remembering that this wasn't half as funny from Aragorn's point of view. "I'm sorry," the Elf said, trying to suppress any other giggles and tried to look sorry as well, but somehow the hint of a grin didn't want to leave his face.

"I didn't want to scare you... But Wiz and I were hungry, and I didn't want to wake you up... you looked so peaceful in your sleep...." The explanation was accompanied by a low sound from the named squirrel on the Elf's shoulders who glared at the Human rather defiantly for making so much noise. Then the brown furred animal turned back to its earlier occupation and continued munching the nut in its tiny paws.

Legolas was close to sweat dropping at his friends' behavior, but instead he glanced at the Hobbit on the other side of the table and as he saw the expression on Pete's face, another giggle escaped him. It must have been this cake... It wasn't only very delicious, but also made all the brooding mood of the last few days forgotten in just a few moments.

Aragorn was absolutely torn between just hugging Legolas that he was still there and glaring a hole through him as he had been scared to death. This whole scene was so far from being funny that he just wanted to scream. Or maybe it was funny and he just didn't see the humor in it, but that was perhaps because he didn't see what he looked like.

He made a step forward, raising his finger and opening his mouth as if he wanted to yell at the two, well, three of them, but there it was again, this funny smacking sound. Looking down he saw that he was standing in a pool of water and was rather surprised at the sight. Since when was the kitchen flooded? But then he noticed how a drop fell from his raised finger. He blinked, noticing how water got caught in his lashes and how his hair was clinging to his face. Judging by the amount of water he saw, he obviously looked like worse than a wet dog.

Just like a dog he shook his head, sending droplets flying everywhere as he tried to dry his hair just a little. He also shook his hands trying to get as much of the wetness off of him, but he knew he would have to find a better way to dry... and he would have to get new clothes. Sending the Hobbit and the Elf a preventing glare he stalked over to the hot oven, leaving a very wet trail behind him. He also grabbed a towel that was usually for dishes and rubbed it against his dangerously cool skin.

"This is NOT funny," he growled, but you could only see a pout on his face, indicating that it just wasn't funny because it embarrassed him too much to be seen like this.

Legolas tried, he really tried hard, but he couldn't keep himself from laughing. So the best thing he could do was hiding his giggling behind his hand. His whole body shook from the suppressed chuckles and Wiz finally left the unstable spot he'd been sitting on the Elf's shoulders and hopped onto the table.

"You're right... it's not..." the blond man pressed out behind his fingers, before he burst out into laughter once more, just a few moments later. At the sight of the very amused Elf, Pete couldn't hold it much longer and joined in the laughter once more.

"I'm sorry," Legolas managed to get out again between his giggles before he gave up suppressing the need, lowered his hand and laughed freely with his clear voice.

"You will open your wound," Aragorn said icily, just to hide his joy over seeing the Elf laugh so freely. He let the heat of the oven penetrate him, warming and drying him. He peeled the soaked shirt off his body, shuddering because of the that chill hit him. He would probably be sporting a nice cold soon, just because of his worry.

Slowly, Legolas calmed down again, and he glanced at the Human with an apologetic look, now smiling at him warmly. The Elf got up from his seat and walked over to the very soaked King, taking off his own shirt, or rather one of Aragorn's shirts he had put on earlier after he finally got rid of the shredded green top.

"It's already healed," he said softly before he put the warm woolen cloth over Elessar's head, brushing over the moist chest with his fingertips in the process. "Put this on... you're skin is ice-cold..." he murmured before he looked up to meet the Human's gaze.

"I am sorry I caused you even more worry, Elessar... really... And I didn't mean to laugh at you..." With that he leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Aragorn's cheek.

Aragorn snuggled into the shirt, welcoming the rather rough, but warming fabric on his really cold body. It was funny though, from where Legolas had touched him, a fire was spreading through his body and it warmed him unexpectedly well. Maybe it would warm him even more, if he... And thus he threw his arms around Legolas, pulling him closer and inhaled deeply. A scent of woods, herbs and... chocolate was coming to his nose and another breathe later he found that the whole room smelled of his favorite cake.

But it didn't matter. It didn't even matter that Pete was in the room. He was just happy to see Legolas again, so happy that he never again wanted to let him go. He wanted this moment to last forever, with him holding the Elf this close to his body, even if he was soaked and cold. Right now he didn't care whether he was the King or not, right now he just needed somebody to hold and warm him... No, not somebody. He wanted Legolas and he was simply happy that the Elf didn't leave his prison at the first opportunity.

"Next time wake me when you leave... Please...."

Legolas let out a surprised gasp when Aragorn pulled him close to his body out of the blue. Not that he minded though and after the first breeze of shook was gone, the Elf smiled at the shown affection and rested his chin on the Human's shoulder, slowly raising his arms to put them on Elessar's back. Gently returning the hug, the Elf closed his eyes.

"Promise," he whispered softly and tightened his arms around the strong body, spending solace and warmth for the soaked King. He could have forgotten about Pete too and maybe the rest of the world as well, if there hadn't been a little squirrel who chose this particular moment to hop back onto the Elf's shoulder, thus tickling Aragorn's nose with his fluffy tail. Absolutely not on purpose of course.

Aragorn wrinkled his nose, feeling the urge to sneeze from the tickling fur, but just blinked his eyes open, only be face to face with Wiz's tail. He wiggled his nose, took a deep breath and...

"Ahtishoo!!!"

With a loud bellow the man sneezed, scaring Wiz so much that the poor animal jumped up on all fours and then rushed down, hiding behind the Elf's side. Aragorn on the other hand untangled himself reluctantly from Legolas and wiped his nose on the sleeve of his shirt.

"Sorry..." he sniffed, feeling the urge to sneeze again.

Once again the Elf was close to sweat dropping. At Aragorn's look, but also at the behavior of his little friend, since the little naughty squirrel had interrupted the cozy moment quite intentionally and he was still scared to death from the loud sound.

Legolas chuckled lowly and reached out to fetch Wiz in his hand, raising him up to his face. The Elf whispered something to the little animal and the squirrel seemed to shrink from embarrassment. Another chuckle escaped the blond man before he looked up to meet Aragorn's gaze.

"Wiz is sorry too," he said, "for making you sneeze."

The man looked like he was about to sneeze again any moment, but inside he fought for the hardest to keep it back. Smiling softly, Aragorn waved the apologies away.

"It is not entirely his," he started, but was interrupted by another loud sneeze, "fault. I managed to catch a cold outside." He sniffled again and huddled closer to the fire, rubbing his arms and legs to get some more warmth into his limbs.

Pete eavesdropped what the King said and felt bemused to give some advice. "Oh, milord, then I will make you Aunt Petunia's chicken soup! That's the best cure for a cold like this!" The little Hobbit immediately started to rush around, searching for ingredients and completely ignored what was going on between the two sitting at his oven as long as they didn't come into his way.

The Elf smiled warmly at the freezing figure, but a shade of worry darkened his eyes. Aragorn had to get rid of his soaked and icy clothes, because if he didn't the soup wouldn't be much of a help. But since they were in the kitchen, Aragorn couldn't just take off his trousers and change into dry ones. And like he looked now, he wouldn't be very much into the idea of leaving the place in front of the warming oven.

So Legolas closed his eyes, searching his spirit and whispered: "Sûl... paerch í riang..."

After that was said, a gentle breeze rushed into the room and through the oven before it whirled around the Human, drying his hair and remaining clothes, leaving him comfortably warmed.

Aragorn had never seen a breeze that could warm him up. During his years as a ranger he had encountered various kinds of winds, cold, warm and some even freezing as ice, but this one was warm and almost enveloping like a warm embrace... This must be another of Mirkwood's wonders, just like that floating in the air, or as Legolas called it: "flying".

"Thank you," he murmured, but even though he felt better now, dried and a little warmed up, he preferred to stay in front of the oven, where it was warm and cozy. "Don't use your magic too often," he murmured, looking up into the Elf's eyes.

The words had slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them, but he still recalled how weak Legolas was after his last experiment of using magic on him as he tried to help him relax. Which was one of the purposes why Arwen had given him to her, but it definitely wasn't what she had thought Legolas was capable of. "I mean... it weakened you before..."

Legolas slowly shook his head. "It was not the magic that weakened me. These magic spells don't take strength at all. It was your curiosity that made me speak in the vision I showed you; that exhausted me," the Elf said with a smile. "But I should have known that you wanted to know these things, you're just a curios little child after all." Legolas eyes gleamed as he teased the younger man.

Despite the warm feeling that was spreading in Aragorn's body, he had to sneeze yet again. With the pout that crept onto his features and if that wasn't enough to make him feel childish, he murmured, "Am not." In fact he was used to the fact that Elves of any age called him a child, but why couldn't they just approve of his status? He was the King of Gondor after all!

He felt the urge to warp his arms around his legs, but refrained from it. Instead he sighed and lowered his gaze, simply breathing, smelling the taste of his favorite pastry. And inevitably he felt how his mouth watered.

"I'll stop calling you that when you stop acting like one, Elessar," Legolas continued softly and chuckled, standing up quickly to avoid being confronted with another pout. Then he walked over to the table with his smooth movements that were yet only a poor display of his Elven grace.

There he took a knife and cut two pieces of the delicious chocolate cake. He put them on a plate, grabbed two forks and returned to the Human, sitting down next to him on the bench.

"I believe this is your favorite, isn't it?"

Aragorn nodded and took one of the forks, and got himself a bite of the cake, not really in the mood to talk anymore. He knew he needed to calm down after his feelings had been in such turmoil. He still felt as if his veins were on fire from the search and worry while he was walking outside. He ate one of the pieces on the plate as if it was his last meal on earth, nearly even choked on it.

Legolas watched the Human at his side rather closely so he could react quickly enough if he really chocked on the piece of cake in his mouth, which was a little too big by the way and made him look like a chipmunk. The Elf smiled and started eating his own piece, savoring the sweet taste on his tongue. Pete had been right, this cake was really delicious and Legolas had a pretty good idea why it was Aragorn's favorite. And the little changes in the recipe which the blond man had suggested to the cook had made it even better.

But he could tell that the King didn't want to talk and even though Legolas didn't want him to fall back into this brooding mood, he decided to leave him alone. It was then when the door to the kitchen was suddenly pushed open rather powerless and a tall figure stepped in.

The new-arrival walked slowly, as if he had just woken up and was not really awake yet, the mass of brown hair in quite a mess. A little surprised by the sweet scent, Elladan blinked his eyes and turned around to the table where it came from. There he also spotted Pete and a tired smile made his lips curl up.

"Good morning, Pete," he greeted the Hobbit, not really aware of his brother and the other Elf, because they were out of his view. But almost automatically he pulled the edges of his loose shirt closer together to hide his battered body underneath. "This really smells delicious. Can I get something for me and my brother? Oh and... you don't happen to have something to ease a sore throat, do you?" he added quickly as he remembered Elrohir's croaked murmur this morning.

Pete smiled at the dark-haired Elf. To Hobbits Elves have always been extraordinary and although he knew that Humans thought they were lower beings, they had always seemed ethereal to the little people. They saw the pure beauty and superiority compared to the other races of Middle-Earth, but they had little to put against the much larger men.

Pete whirled around already gathering a few rolls and fruits for the Elf-twins. "Of course you can! I have this beautiful melon and - oh - look at this!" He held up a few little green berries. "Gooseberries! I got them from my uncle... and you know these herbs, they are the best cure if you lost your voice, it's from an old recipe from my dear beloved grandmother - may she rest in peace - She was such a nice lady... Elladan? What happened to your cheek?!"

The Hobbit almost dropped the mug in his hands as he finally looked up into the Elves' normally flawless face that now showed a rather nasty bruise on his right cheek. His shrieking voice was a signal for Aragorn to look up and regard his foster brother and this was when he saw how the Elf obviously tried to hide marks on his body. His first thought was that Elrohir had been a little rough with him and that the sore throat came from more horizontal activities, but something in the way the green-eyed twin was fidgeting where he stood told him that his behavior had rather unpleasant reasons.

He finished his cake and stood up, moving silently over to where the dark-haired Elf and the Hobbit stood, but remained silent to see and hear how Elladan would explain what had happened to him to the Halfling.

Elladan's smile widened when he saw Pete starting to whirl through the kitchen in the second he finished talking. He murmured a "thank you" and just wanted to fetch himself an apple when the Hobbit's waterfall of words ended abruptly and he looked at him quite shocked.

"My cheek?" he repeated, letting go of the fruit and bringing his right hand up to feel his face, while the other one held the shirt in place and winced when he brushed over the bruise on his cheek. "Oh... Er...." Inwardly Elladan was cursing. He should have known that his face also carried a mark from this guy.

"Well I... bumped against... the headboard of our bed," he lied and grinned sheepishly. "Nothing to worry about."

Legolas on the other hand watched the scene from his place in front of the oven and choose not to interfere. He could tell the Elf was lying, his voice was unstable and he was obviously trying to hide something, for whatever reason he had. Elladan was Elessar's brother and the Human had obviously already noticed that something was wrong.

"Elrohir went a little rough on you?" the Human supplied as he finally approached his foster brother from behind and took a closer look at the bruising on his cheek. He felt Elladan jump at his sudden approach and noticed with a certain amount of satisfaction that he had come so close to him unnoticed.

Pete was already blushing. Of course he knew that the Elf-twins were more than just brothers, but he didn't want to have mental images of their activities supplied to him by such a simple statement when he was indeed worried about the younger one of the two.

"I didn't know you were into masochism..." Aragorn murmured and put one hand on the older one's cheek, lifting it a little higher so he could take a closer look at it. He frowned as his ranger-abilities told him that this bruise didn't come from somebody being pushed too hard against a headboard.

"This looks more like a slap..." He didn't add that it seemed to him like a pretty hard slap, that he didn't think Elrohir would do something like that.

Elladan actually jumped in surprise because he didn't notice his foster brother at all. He didn't even think that he was in the kitchen with him. It seemed like his senses were rather numb this morning, his ears still deaf from the noise the night before. The Elf glanced over his shoulder from the corner of his eyes and saw the blond Elf sitting on the bench in front of the oven. 'Great...' he thought and swallowed tightly before his eyes returned to Estel's chest. He didn't dare to meet his gaze because if he did, all lies would crumble down in an instant.

"There is a lot you don't know, Estel," he finally murmured and turned his head away, hoping his foster brother would leave it be, but knew it was rather unrealistic.

Aragorn's eyes narrowed as he noticed that Elladan wasn't able to look him in the eyes. And what he said sounded rather cryptic to him, too. Of course there were a lot of things he didn't know, there were even things that he didn't want to know about either, but if it came so close to him as that his foster brother was hurt by it - and he could tell that Elrohir didn't do this - it was worth for him to investigate.

"Who did that?" he demanded, his voice cold and regal, but inside one could tell that a fire of rage had just started burning.

The by millennia older man fought hard to keep his ground and not to shrink under the authority of his foster brother. He would have preferred to be very small right now though and to hide somewhere out of reach for the King.

"I already told you, Estel," came the low reply, the Elf's voice getting more and more unstable, now even for a Human easy to hear. "I bumped against the headboard of the bed... pretty hard..."

"It must have been a strange bed... none of those that I or Arwen bought for this castle... I don't even remember any of the old beds here having carvings that look like fingers..." Aragorn voiced his thoughts. His voice became gentler now. "Elladan... don't lie to me... This has to be investigated," he said and cupped both cheeks of the Elf now, softly forcing him to look into his face. "Brother... A lot of foul things happen under my roof and I would like to find out who the guilty ones are... so I can do something against these things."

Slowly the Elf raised his eyes to meet the gaze. And even though Aragorn's eyes on him were soft, the steel blue pools made him shudder. Still he didn't know what to tell his brother. He couldn't just blurt out that one of his men tried to rape him.... but that was exactly what had happened. Yet he felt uncomfortable, mostly because he could clearly make out that Pete was worried about him and Elladan didn't want to increase that worry by telling horror stories. Even if they were true, it wasn't something everybody needed to know about.

"I'll tell you, later," he whispered in Elvish, for his foster brother's ears alone and glanced at Pete before he flashed another smile. "Really, nothing to worry about," he said out loud and then turned back to the Hobbit, looking at him expectantly.

Aragorn frowned, but released his gentle hold on Elladan. "Alright... why don't you two come to my chambers later... and I don't want to hear lies then," he answered back in Elvish and this time it was too much for Pete to understand. The Hobbit sensed that there was something he better didn't want to know and rushed around to find the last items for a nice Elven breakfast. He put everything on a tray that he then handed it over to Elladan.

"Oh! I almost forgot! Here's the tea for you," he said as he whirled around once more to the stove where the kettle started to whistle painfully loud. He quickly brewed a tea for the tall Elf-Lord and put two mugs on the tray as well. "I hope you will enjoy your breakfast," he said as he bowed lowly before the much taller man, missing Aragorn's smile at this behavior.

This was how Elves deserved to be treated, that was something the little people could see better than anyone else. He should have more Hobbits working for him, he thought as he guessed that Elladan's bruises had something to do with the Humans around Minas Tirith.

Elladan quickly stuffed his shirt into his loose pants so that the edges didn't move apart and revealed his battered body and extended his arms to grab the tray from Pete. He moved quite carefully though, since his arms were still sore from the night before. The Elf smiled as the little Hobbit made himself even smaller in front of him as he bowed down.

"Oh Pete," he said with a little shake of his head, "Don't... don't bow before me... we're friends, aren't we? No need to get so formal all of a sudden.... And as for that," he added playfully, "You're small enough from my point of view when you're standing straight." A small chuckle fell from Elladan's lips before he turned around. He then nodded to Aragorn and flashed a little smile to Legolas before he slowly left the kitchen.

Pete practically beamed as bright as the sun, if there weren't those few dark clouds of worry that could be seen clearly in his face. And no, he wasn't being formal; he was just showing his honor to be friends with Elves in the usual behavior of Hobbits when they admired somebody or respected a person highly. But to tell the Elf about that would have been impolite so he simply smiled at his back, rocking back and forth on his feet. But then he noticed that something was starting to burn and with a shriek he turned and ran to the oven, pulling a rather dark cake out of it.

"Oh, no..." he made and waved away some smoke and poked the black brick before him carefully.

Aragorn watched this scene with a little amount of worry on his face as well, but he knew that Pete would be the best person to handle a situation like this and went back to retake his seat at the oven next to Legolas, but not without snatching up another piece of the not so black cake.

"What do you think happened?" Aragorn asked Legolas quietly, just wanting to confirm his worst affirmations.

The blond Elf stayed silent for a few moments while he still stared at the spot where Elladan had disappeared behind the door frame. Then he slowly turned towards the Human and blue-violet eyes met steel blue ones, both equally filled with dark shades of worry and understanding.

"I don't know," Legolas whispered back. "But the headboard of a bed is far from being the cause of this bruise...." He looked at Aragorn with a serious expression. He didn't want to voice his actual thoughts, since he didn't want to accuse anyone with assumptions, but he had a pretty good idea what had happened to Elladan. He could tell from the look in his eyes.

"Elessar... I think... You should meet your brothers in their chambers. It's a matter just between the three of you, and I don't believe they would appreciate my presence when solving it..."

"It is definitely not a bruise of the headboard," Aragorn said grimly, stuffing another piece of dark cake into his mouth. As he continued, a few crumbs were flying from his mouth onto the table as he was much too upset to care about his manners.

"I am not sure if I know where it came from, but I can make assumptions. And my instincts fail me only seldom when I read tracks..." His already worried features hardened even more. "I just want to know who did that to him... That one will have to suffer... badly."

"And after you met your brothers, you should definitely go and vent some anger," the Elf added, not the least intimidated by the Human's behavior. "But don't let it out on someone you like..."

With that he stuffed another piece of cake in his mouth, offering something to Wiz too.

"Mhm..." the man made and finished his cake. "I'd love to have someone to spar with me though... but scaring the hell out of a dumb criminal might be okay, too," he murmured, careful that Pete didn't hear him, although this was not really necessary as the Hobbit was more concerned about his creation, still mourning over the burned outside of his cake. Another shrill shriek came to the taller two's ears as Pete remembered that he wanted to make some chicken soup for his King and all that was seen of the Halfling was nothing more than a whirlwind that was juggling with ingredients.

As soon as Aragorn's trousers were completely dried - which was rather soon, too because of the proximity of the heat from the oven - he stood up. He wanted to take Legolas' advice and go over to talk to Elladan and Elrohir alone in their chambers, but something wanted him to take the blond Elf with him, so that he was present... why, he didn't really know. Maybe to give Elladan some advice on how to react towards what they both thought had perhaps happened... but what should he say? And it would probably just raise some unwanted memories.

"I hope they are in the mood to talk," he murmured as he took the first step towards the exit of the kitchen. "And I ask you to not go anywhere alone..."

Legolas frowned at the Human's plea that he should stay where he was. His lips curled up slightly before he pointed at the not burned cake on the table.

"As long as that is right over there, I won't make a single step out of this room," he exclaimed seriously but couldn't really hold back a grin. "I'll wait here for you." He ensured then. "Go and talk to them, they need your attention more than I do."

Aragorn was relieved that Legolas wouldn't be in the danger of being harmed any further, but yet he had to find out who had harmed his brother. So as he walked through the vast halls of the castle, looking rather un-kingly with his soaked looking clothes and his hair in complete disarray he still kept a rather respectful aura as he held his head high, a rather fierce look on his face.

This day hadn't even started yet and there was so much to do already.

To be continued...
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