Fan Fiction ❯ Tên Mûel ❯ The present ( Chapter 1 )

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

Title: Tên Mûel
Author: Makiko Igami (makikoigami@yahoo.de) & My-chan (My-chan@gmx.de)
Archive: http://www.yaoi.rulestheweb.com
http://www.mediaminer.org/fanfic/src.ph p?auth=58906
http://www.efanfiction.net/authors.php?no=2916
Categor y: 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...
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.
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 exhitionistic 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.
The Sindarin we used (and transformed for ourselves) we got 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 was a brave man. And he was popular among the people of Gondor.

They loved their king Elessar Telcontar who participated in the Fellowship of the One Ring that was destroyed in the fires of mount Doom in which it was made by Sauron at the dawn of time in Middle-Earth, when Humans, Dwarves and Elves had been friends. But then again, Dwarves and Elves had never really been friends; they just had tolerated each other once until the one felt betrayed by the other.

Humans and Elves had been much closer, be it because they were about of the same height or because they both cherished the light. They loved the fresh air in contrast to the Dwarves who lived in caves and tunnels inside of the mountains where they searched for gold, silver and the most beautiful gems.

But this changed when Orcs and the One Ring appeared.

Because it was then, in the last legendary battle in which Dwarves, Elves and Humans fought side by side against the great Orc-Army of Sauron, in which Sauron was defeated that Humans spilled the great secret of the Orcs' origin.

Orcs had been Elves once but they were sold to Sauron by their friends, the nine kings who got their rings from Sauron and were controlled in every movement by him. They were his tools and got immortality for that but lost everything else.

The hurt and betrayed Elves disappeared in the deepest and darkest forests of Middle-Earth, making them even more mysterious and creepy than before. 3,000 years had to pass until Elves made their next big step onto the stage of history in Middle-Earth.

Rivendell had been a haven for those who searched Elves and Elves who wanted to live closer to the Humans, although the latter was rather seldom. Wizards, Humans, even some Hobbits and the one or other Dwarf were seen there in all the time and everybody like the Rivendell Elves, even though they had hardly ever seen one out of the peaceful city.

It was there where Aragorn was raised by his foster father Elrond, educated by him, was trained in the skills of sword-fighting, archery and hand-to-hand-combat by Elladan and Elrohir, his twin brothers and found love in Arwen, Elrond's daughter. She was most beautiful Elf in all Rivendell with her ivory skin, ebony hair, eyes as blue as the sky and lips as red as blood.

Aragorn would have been happy to live in the forest for the rest of his life, having Arwen by his side and forget about the inheritance of the old Kings' bloodline if it hadn't been for the One Ring, which found its way to Rivendell in the hands of a Hobbit named Frodo, with a soul so pure and innocent that the Ring had a hard time seducing him. To Aragorn it was a wonder that none of the four Hobbits seemed to feel the effects the Ring had on everyone, even Elrond.

But he was sent to protect the Ringbearer from all danger that wanted to harm him on his way to Morder, along with Elladan and Elrohir, Faramir of Gondor, Gimli the Dwarf and Gandalf the Grey Wizard. The journey was hard and difficult and they lost both Gandalf and Faramir on their way, Gandalf in the halls of Moria and Faramir in a battle against Uruk-Hai that kidnapped the Hobbits. Faramir died in Aragorn's arms, acknowledging him as the rightful king of Gondor even before he himself did.

It was after Faramir's death that the Fellowship broke apart, the Hobbits Sam and Frodo were taking the One Ring to Mordor and Aragorn led the others to find the missing two Hobbits Merry and Pippin. They also found Gandalf on their hunt, along with allies in Rohan who went with Aragorn and his friends to Minas Tirith where the last battle against Sauron's army was fought.

So in the end the One Ring was destroyed as well as Sauron, Aragorn was Elessar Telcontar, King of Gondor and married happily to his betrothed Arwen.

Arwen was more than happy to come to Gondor. She could now live far away from her father, who she didn't quite understand in his grief over mankind. In her opinion he was still living in the past, didn't go on a day since Isildur died, all those thousands of years ago. Being with Aragorn always brought some life into hers, she had once said to Aragorn in private, all those years ago, when they still shared one bed for other reasons than rejuvenating.

Sometimes he pondered about the reasons for the expiry of the heat between them and wondered briefly if it was his fault. He gave Arwen all the love he could, but recently he started missing something in their relationship, something essential, but he couldn't name it.

So once again he sat over endless papers that demanded his attention when he would rather be outside and practice archery and sword-fighting or have a nice pint of ale. Being King was a demanding occupation and it wasn't seldom that Aragorn wanted to flee from his kingdom and pass it to somebody else. He could endure it as long as he was sure of Arwen's love and comfort but she had gotten cold. Or maybe it was him. After all those years they spent together he had practically searched every bit of skin of her beautiful body and knew every crevice by heart and she was just the same.

He groaned and buried his head into the papers on his desk. "Why me..."

"Estel?"

Aragorn blinked and looked up with a contract on his cheek from Rohan about giving Boromir, son of the former ruler of Gondor and brother of Faramir to the Lady Eowyn, one of the many stupid requests that needed his approval. Nobody but Arwen called him by his Elven name anymore.

"Arwen," he said and smiled, picking the paper absentmindedly from his cheek as he stood up and walked over to her. "My beautiful wife."

She was as young as ever had not aged one day since he had first seen her. She was an eternal beauty and he was getting older each day, each hour and minute; he could feel it in his bones.

She replied him with one of her business smiles and parchments on his desk. "Boring matters again?"

"Don't ask," he said and looked for a moment as sheepish as the boy she had once found wading through her robes, not even a handful of winters old. "Have you come to lighten up my gray duty?"

She shook her head, waves of ebony hair floating over her back. "Well, yes, but... do you remember which day is today?"

He looked deep in thought. "I hardly remember which day of the week it is today, but since you ask, it must be something important... Don't tell... I forgot your birthday again!"

She laughed, a full mezzo-soprano. "No, Estel, and even if you did, I don't want to be reminded that I will be 3,000 soon. No, my dear husband, it's our wedding day."

"Oh," Aragorn said and thought. 'I wonder if I get another horse... A nice chestnut haired mare for the dark stallion I got last year...' He tried to smile and somehow missed the cheekiness on his wife's face.

"Don't worry about your present for me, I already got a beautiful necklace from Gimli and gave him a great reward from the treasure room. You know how much he loves gold, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Aragorn said with a smirk. "So now that you got my present for you without me knowing what it was... what do I get? You know I am happy the way it is."

"I know you are, as am I, but I found something on the market some days ago that I couldn't pass by..."

He saw her motioning to her maidens and they brought in a struggling something with a bright red ribbon around the chest. Aragorn blinked than gasped and wasn't sure what to say to his wife. "A..."

"Isn't he beautiful? He's a Woodelf! I've never seen anyone of his kind before! I mean, Adar told me that there were other types of Elves with blond hair, but I never thought that they really existed!" She walked a full circle around the blindfolded Elf and then put one of her petite hands on his stomach, drawing little circles. "I've bought him only for you."

The king of Gondor stared openly at his wife and her "gift". He would have never believed that she would support slavery as he didn't but Elves were rare these days and those who were lucky enough to catch an Elf sold them for a good price to those who wanted to pay it. "Sell one Elf and you will never have to work again" was a pretty popular slogan in the pubs of Gondor and the rest of Middle-Earth.

And this particular one was even able to compete even with Arwen's beauty although he was a male. Shoulder-length blond hair, skin as ivory as Arwen's, now hidden underneath a silken tunic that was just thrown over his shoulders, rather muscular as Aragorn surveyed them closer, like if he was used to archery, held together with a silver belt around his waist. A black scarf was bound around his eyes, another around his wrists and then there was this offending red ribbon around his chest.

"Arwen..." he started, wanting to tell her to set him free immediately but she just smiled at him, like a cat that had caught a bird and put it before its master. "No Estel, he's yours and he will help you relax."

She waved to her maidens and they set off for the King's chambers. "I've ordered to put a ring into your chambers where you can tie him onto... He will be in your chambers for your custody alone." She floated over the floor over to him until she stood right in front of him. "Happy Wedding Day, Estel."

For a few moments, the Elf remained still when the gentle fingers drew circles over his stomach, and he shivered slightly. He was afraid, yes. But he swore to himself, never to show any of these strange and brutal creatures. He still had some of his pride left, the men who captured him didn't manage to break all of it, and he would never show any of them that he was afraid.

As the Woodelf felt the cold hand grab him again, to drag him out of the room, he started struggling again, trying to get free. He earned another punch in the stomach, which left him rather weak in the arms of his superiors.

Without any farther resistance, he let himself be dragged down a hallway into another room. After he was set to the ground, the Elf could feel some tugging on his necklace, and he heard a sound which seemed to be some kind of steel rings... Chains! They had chained him to the wall!

The Elf clenched his fists. This was humiliating. But he didn't struggle, he was too afraid to try to escape again. He remembered very well, what had happened the last time he tried. He shivered again and leaned back, to rest his body against the wall.

He was tired and exhausted, but wouldn't allow himself to sleep. Also he didn't think that he possibly could, with all the adrenalin rushing through his body. The Woodelf listened carefully, if anyone entered the room and concentrated carefully on his surroundings. And despite his fear, he soon fell asleep, still resting against the wall, blindfolded and tied up.

Aragorn and his wife had talked a bit more but she had left his office soon, saying that she had to take care of a few things. Sighing, he had concentrated back on his royal duties: Paperwork. It took him more than just a few hours to finish them and it was pitch-black night when he finally strolled back to his room. The request from Rohan was now on Boromir's desk as it was concerning only him.

He had almost forgotten Arwen's present until he walked into his room and found the Elf sitting in a corner, tied to the wall with a big leather and metal collar around his neck, which was chained to the ring Arwen had mentioned. He was lying in a tight ball on the floor, arms wrapped tightly around muscular-looking legs, the silken tunic had moved everywhere but where it belonged and his formerly neatly combed hair was now in a mess. Despite himself, Aragorn smiled.

It was the last thing he wanted to call the Elf, but "cute" was the only description that came to his mind right now. He went over to kneel in front of the sleeping prisoner, to remove the blindfold with ginger fingers as he didn't want to wake him.

Under closer inspection Aragorn could see quite a few bruises all over the ivory skin, especially where the disheveled tunic revealed it. The man felt strange as he let the tips his fingers ghost over them.

"What have they done to you?" he whispered silently, his face turning into a mask of pity. But he could help but admire the beauty of the sleeping Elf... even if it was a male one.

His oversensitive senses snapped in when somebody came closer to the room, and sent alarming shivers through the Elf's body, causing him to wake up. He could hear somebody opening the door, and step in, but he remained unmoving, still hoping the person would just turn around and go away.

But his inward prayers died unheard as the steps came closer and stopped in front of the captured Elf.

'Go away!' he screamed in his mind, still pretending to be asleep, as the creature apparently kneeled down next to him. Hardly able to suppress another shiver when his blindfold was carefully removed, the Elf's thoughts raced. The adrenalin in his blood seemed to have doubled its intensity, and all he felt like doing was jerk up, and run away. But he knew he couldn't. He was tied up and chained.

From the corner of his eyes, the slave caught sight of the stranger. This creature seemed to inspect him, since he could almost feel his eyes on his body. And the Elf used the chance to do the same.

The skin of this person was more tanned than his, and his ears where smaller and round, like those of the men who had caught him. Those devils… monsters… Humans.

The Elf almost screamed out loud when suddenly gentle fingers moved over his bruised skin. He wanted to fly from the touch, but he was too frightened to move. And the man in front of him was radiating so much power, authority and strengths that it was even hard to breath for the captured Woodelf.

But then, the Human started to speak, in this strange and sharp manner. For a few more seconds the Elf managed to regain himself, before he shot up and backed away as far as possible from the Human, as far as the chain would let him. Crawling backwards he bowed his head down, staring on his still tied up hands. He remained still only when he felt the necklace starting to choke him.

The men had never talked much to him, but when they did, they only yelled at him, hurt him and "taught" him. The Elf didn't want to be yelled at any more, for those sharp words hurt his ears as well. And he especially didn't want this man to get loud, since he had a strong voice. He could tell from the few whispered words.

So the slave bowed farther down, quickly licked his dry lips and croaked out a clumsy "master". One of the few Human words he had had to learn, among many other things.

Aragorn's eyes widened both in surprise and shock. Surprise as the Elf jumped up with a start and huddled up in the corner farthest away from him and shock as he saw how submissive he moved and when that one word slipped out of his mouth. His heart sank and he felt the sudden need to strangle somebody, namely the one who sold this Woodelf or Arwen for buying him, but quickly regained his self-control. The Elf was probably trained to react that way to whomever it was that was talking to him. Probably by the same people who were responsible for those bruises as well.

'Great, just what I need now after countless hours of paperwork... negotiating with a scared Elf...'

Rubbing his temples, Aragorn's mind raced to find the best ways of gaining somebody's trust... even if they thought you were Sauron himself. Which he wasn't, so he just had to made that clear.

He held out his hands to show that he had no weapons, and indicated that he didn't want to cause harm to his present, and talked as calmly as possible.

"Don't be afraid... I don't mean to cause you any harm."

The Elf's pointed ears twitched slightly when the Human started talking again. But it wasn't the usual tone. Not the sharp, rough manner he was used to. Even though this strange language seemed rather harsh, the Woodelf could hear that this man's voice was unusually soft.

But still. He didn't understand the words, and maybe he was just testing him, if he would behave, and if he didn't…

Not wanting to annoy his master, the Elf remained in his position, and kept staring on his tied hands.

"Do you understand me?" Aragorn asked, slightly taken aback that he received no answer from the Elf and had to see how he maybe just curled up into a tighter ball, staring at his bound hands in submissiveness that made the man feel sick in his stomach. Not one of his words seemed to seep through to the understanding of his ... he didn't want to call him slave, although that was what he was...

Trying out another tactic he repeated what he had said in the language of the Elves that he had learned from his foster father. He tried to keep his voice calm and friendly and hoped that he was getting through somehow now.

The Elf's head shot up when he heard the same voice, which had only spoken strange, Human language, forming words in a manner that sounded so much like his own kind, that he thought he had woken up from a dream.

But when the blond man looked up, his blue-violet eyes met steel blue ones, and he looked into the face of a creature which seemed so unfamiliar like anything else he'd seen lately. His eyes widened slightly and he stared at the man, not able to believe that this kinds of sounds could ever leave the mouth of a Human.

Still he didn't really understand what he had said, but his fear was almost forgotten. This one was actually trying to talk to him, instead of talking at him.

Aragorn smiled when the Elf finally reacted to his attempts of talking to him. So when his head shot up, he took the opportunity and studied the eyes that looked up at him with a glimmer of hope and surprise sweeping through them. But they were gone soon enough to tell Aragorn, that the Woodelf had recognized the language he was talking to him, but didn't understand the words he said. It confirmed what he had heard... Elves had drifted so far from each other that they didn't really understand each other anymore.

But since his gift seemed to feel much more confident when he didn't speak in the tongue of the Humans, Aragorn talked on in the Elvish he learned.

"Im... Aragorn," he said and put his hand on his chest. Then he pointed to the Elf. "Ho...?"

The slave listened carefully, trying to understand what the Human said. Which wasn't really hard, since his gesture towards his own body was unmistakable.

"Em... Legolas", he peeped quietly, in his own language, pointing to his own chest with his tied up hands.

"Legolas Greenleaf."

"Legolas..." Aragorn repeated mumbling, tasting the name on his tongue like he would do with a new brand of wine and found that it left a pleasant feeling in his mouth.

"Legolas, I'm sorry for what happened," he explained, still a bit stunned by the brazenness of his wife to buy one of her own kind and give it to her like a present... like some lifeless item. "But my wife has given you to me, and there is now way I can set you free now. It would hurt her and drive her further away from me than we already are." He sighed, letting out all the frustration that had build up during the past months, almost years. "I'm pretty sure you don't understand much of what I say to you." He smiled wearily. "I'm sorry."

"Laine", Legolas whispered, after he turned his head away again. At least there was one word he was absolutely sure of what it meant. Even though he could tell that the Human had said something about not setting him free. And there was one other word that sounded familiar, but it wasn't possibly true. Why would the Human apologize to him? He was his slave after all.

Staring down at his hands again, the Elf swallowed the lump in his throat. His master sounded rather frustrated… Most likely because of him. And it was his duty to make him feel better.

"Em… em tên… mûel", he whispered, hoping the words would ease his master's heavy thoughts.

Aragorn rather guessed than knew what Legolas said to him, because the words sounded strangely familiar, but then again quite different, as if it was from the same of origin as his Elvish, but had developed into another direction. It was quite interesting from an etymological point of view, but Aragorn had far more important problems at hand.

"Yeah... unfortunately," he sighed and let his gaze wander over the Elf's body again. "Even if I did set you free... they'd catch you again... in your state of health..." He was rather talking to himself than Legolas, almost mumbling than talking out loud. The train of words was stopped though as his eyes were glued to the offending bright red ribbon, that was still wrapped around the Elf's chest and the - as he had to admit - rather short tunic. He made a face and then crouched slowly towards the being in the corner, who still seemed to be frightened of him.

He held up his hands, still indicating that he didn't want to cause Legolas any harm and motioned towards the ribbon. "Let me remove this..."

To be continued...
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As I said... please be gentle. ^^;;;;