Current mood:

shocked

Two Instead of One
I had been walking for two days, my body weak and weary from pain and exhaustion, a feeling that, as an elf, I almost never felt. My face was scarred from my walks through Fangorn, my hands bruised, my eyes dark, my hair disheveled. As I walked along the Field of Celebrant, I dimly saw an elven woman on a horse approaching me, her hair blowing in the evening’s breeze. I could not recognize who she was, but she rode with better skill than I had ever seen in anyone before. However, my mind was less on her skill than to the woman that I saw seated limp in front of her. The passenger was tattered and ragged, her face cut and dirty, arms in her tattered gown bruised in various grotesque patterns.

The dress was a wedding gown…

The woman was my wife…

As I walked to them, the regal horse stopped to my side. His cold nose nudged me, as if reassuring me. I smiled to myself, my eyes staring in disbelief at the rider’s beaten passenger.

“I told her that I would not let her come to harm…” the rider said to me, her eyes twinkling in the dimming light.

I was completely stunned. What could she mean? Who was she?

“Your wife is safe, Legolas. Your offspring is safe…”

I looked to her. “Who are you…?” She gazed into my saddened eyes and began to sing a familiar song to me, one that I heard only one person sing before.

Lady Luthien…

For a moment I couldn’t move, but eventually, my body shaking from shock, I bowed low to her then took Vorladien’s hand. The weak, slender fingers, slowly wrapped around my hand and I felt some strength return to her body.

“mela…min…” she squeaked, her hand clutching mine. Immediately, I reached up and, as if her instincts told her what to do, she fell into my arms, off the horse, her face buried in my chest as she slowly started to cry, tears staining my shirt. I held her close to me as if it were for the first time, my arms lightly comforting her.

“Thank you, Luthien…Thank you so much…”

She nodded, her face shining happily. “She needs her rest, Legolas. I shall ride ahead and meet with Glorfindel and Haldir. I suggest you do the same.”

I looked around. I had long since dispatched my horse and had no way of getting there quickly. Knowing that, Luthien looked to the wind, the sound of her whistle echoing through the night. Soon a horse with no rein or saddle came riding forth, black as night, with a silver diamond on his head.

It was one of the mearas…

“She should be able to get you there where you need to go quickly enough. I know you will take care for her. Thus is the way of a husband so true of heart…” With that, she turned and rode off into the night, leaving an injured, ragged Vorladien in my arms.

~*~

Vorladien was quick to embrace me when we were alone. Her arms gripped me tightly, as if hanging on for dear life and she kissed me repeatedly on my face and neck, lips gaining more strength by the minute. Eventually, much to my dismay, I had to force her to lay down and rest while I set up camp. The entire time, I could hear her whimpering and pouting like a young child, her pleading voice calling out to me. The fire was lit, and a blanket was laid out underneath her and, heading off, I went to go gather some food.

When I returned, there she was, naked, wrapped in the blanket I set out. The wedding gown I fashioned for her sat crumpled, forgotten, next to her. I could see the bruises on her shoulders more clearly now, unobstructed by her wedding gown. They were not as dark and ominous as it could have been, but it was still unbearable to look at.

“I brought you some food. I figured you would be hungry…” I whispered as I sat down next to her, calmly skinning the animals that I caught. She smiled gently and shifted closer to me, her head resting on my shoulder as I began to cook the food for her. Things remained in silence for the time. Words were not needed…

We were just happy to be together again.

When I finished cooking, I got up, leaving the food near her to eat. I walked over to my pack that had been nothing but a burden since I left and pulled out a plain wrapped package. As I returned, her eyes followed me, her attention set on the package in my hand.

“My Lord, what is in that?”

I shook my head and gestured for her to keep eating. She did so without question and, as she did, I occupied myself by tending to her wounds. The bruises were quickly fading, but some cuts still lingered on her fair body. Pulling bandage after bandage from my pack, I wrapped her wounds, kissing her cheek and the nape of her neck whenever I heard a whimper or a hiss of pain. She finished eating, I finished tending to her and soon, once more like a young child, she turned to me, her eyes sparkling with innocent curiosity.

“Tell me, what is in the package, Legolas!”

I smiled and started to unwrap it. Inside were a brand new hunting dress for her, and a new belt. As I pulled it out, her mouth gaped, eyes beginning to tear with happiness.

“Oh, Legolas, it’s beautiful!” she whispered, her naked, bandaged arms reaching around my neck to hug me. I released her after a bit and gestured to the package again.

There was more there than she let me show her.

She looked down into the ripped parchment and saw two simple crowns, one female one male, both polished and cleaned.

They were the crowns that we had worn at our wedding…

Once again things turned silent and, as I helped her into her new dress, she kept proceeding to kiss and caress my body, yearning fingers trailing over my body. The dress was eventually put on her when we finished, I looked her over. She was as beautiful as always, despite the cuts and scars. There was something oddly appealing about the way she was bruised, the patterns of scars and the shapes of the blemishes made her body stronger somehow, more enticing…if that was possible… As I stared at her, she nudged me, her eyes looking down at the package.

“What of my crown, Love?” she giggled, her hand continuing to nudge me out of my trance.

I obliged and picked them both up. She took mine from my hand, leaving hers in my own. Raising our arms over each other’s heads, our arms crossed like an arch, we each set the other’s crown on our heads, in sync with each other. For a while we just looked at each other, happy again, overjoyed then, as if it were the first time, we kissed each other, lips pressed together feverishly as we held each other in a way that quickly led to more.

~*~

“Do you feel anything different in my womb, Legolas….”

“I think our child is more active than usual. It seems to be moving twice as much… His heart is beating twice as fast…. Why, is there something wrong?”

“No…. Legolas?”

“Yes, Vorladien?”

“We are not having just one baby…..we…we are having twins”

“…..what…..how….how do you know….”

“I can feel it and so can you, melamin….”

I feel faint, my body becoming limp as I stare into the morning’s dim light. TWINS???

“Are you angry, My Lord….?”

I shake my head, still stunned on the ground.

“Angry…no…..I can not be angry about something like this…. I am happy, overwhelmingly so….yet….shocked….”

Vorladien puts her head on my chest, gently, her eyes closed shut contently. My arm wraps around her gentle waist, making sure to mind the blemishes on her.

“I am so happy, My Lord. You will be a wonderful father to both of them….”

I smile, my eyes set on hers.

“Vorladien?”

“Yes, My Lord?”

“We need to think of a name….or two….”