Adult-FanFiction.org : Lord of the Rings

Oh, Sorrow	By : narcolinde Category: +Third Age > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 3486 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction based on The Lord of the Rings series written by JRR Tolkien.I do not own Lord of the Rings or any of its characters, settings, or scenes. No money of any kind is earned through this story.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
Bargaining

"I cannot believe this is your opinion. Why would you oppose our hopes for a family, for children to cherish and nurture. Is this not the natural course for mated couples? Why would we not be suitable parents? I am hurt, Adar." Elladan had less than a guess but more than a glimmer as to the topic Elrond would address at this second meeting, but a prohibition against offspring was a subject he would never have imagined plausible.
"You misunderstand me," Elrond placated him. "It is not that you are unsuitable to become parents, but your life as it is does not lend itself to bringing up children." It was the lore-master's hope that the prospect of an unexpected pregnancy would help dissuade Elladan from his dangerous work, the vow that held him to it, and the notion of enlisting Legolas to join him.
"Well, yes, I see your point," Elladan scowled and rose from his chair, paced the room and stopped beside his mate, glancing covertly at Legolas to judge how he would take this. The previous day's revelations left the woodland prince withdrawn and listless; Elladan wasn't sure when or if his new mate would permit intimate relations between them. "We have not even had an opportunity to explore the idea ourselves."
"Utterly out of the question," Legolas stood tall, never having taken the seat Elrond offered him, and held himself in rigid and regal defiance, crossed arms a shield before his heart as he stared in chilly indignation at the Elven Lord. His words dispelled the rancour raised by Elladan's rant against Elrond's cautionary counsel and filled the atmosphere with edgy strain. Legolas favoured his mate with a brief, stony glare before resuming his scrutiny of the healer.
"Legolas, pregnancy need not be ruled out entirely," Elrond said, unhappy that his words had brought on this veneer of icy contempt from his law-son and an explosion of wounded outrage from his eldest child. He'd almost refrained from broaching the subject at all given the heated argument the two had enjoined the night before. While the words traded were not loud enough to be overheard specifically, they were amply loud enough to permit everyone in the house knowledge of the new couple's disagreement. Elrond was fairly certain of the topic, though what had triggered Legolas' outrage, considering his previously forgiving attitude, was a mystery. "It is simply a matter of what is healthy for you and any child you might conceive."
"Beloved, what do you mean?" Elladan demanded, his wrath instantly converted to sadness nearly on the level of despair. "Is this due to the things we discussed earlier?" He hardly dared speak the question and blanched at the expression of irritated disdain Legolas trained on him.
"Nay, Elladan. I decided this long ago. There will be no children, Lord Elrond; you need have no worries over my suitability to nurture a child into life. I have been faithfully taking the herbs you mention since reaching maturity," Legolas snapped, furious to have this personal issue delved by the Noldorin patriarch, finding it a grotesque intrusion upon his privacy and his autonomy.
"You decided?" Elladan sounded bereft and lost and reached a tentative hand toward him. "What of my wishes? Should this not be a decision we discuss together?"
"No, for I am the one who must create this potential child," Legolas growled and ignored the reaching arm, presenting a daunting image of resolute intractability. "I am a warrior and I have much to do, an important quest to fulfil. There is no place in my life for the bearing and raising of young."
"I did not mean to infer you are unsuitable to bear life," Elrond objected, but neither were paying attention to him. Elladan peered at the Wood Elf in woebegone misery. As for Legolas, the august healer didn't care for the look of him now; all the joy had gone out of him leaving only this cold and distant woodland prince.
"What quest? What are you talking about? Do you mean the vow I've sworn?"
"I know nothing of any vow you may have sworn," Legolas rejoined, aggravated. "I speak of my own vow and what must be done to free my Nana's soul from that vile Necromancer. He must be brought down and destroyed. I mean to see it done and that tower toppled to rubble and ruin. My people will not abide this evil in our homeland any longer."
That brought the Noldorin lords to speechless disbelief and they both stared at him, wondering how he could state such impossible feats so casually.
"You cannot be serious," Elrond said.
"This is madness," Elladan added.
"Is it?" Legolas barked, furious. Elladan was meant to support and aid him in this quest. "Why so? It is but a structure of brick and stone and mortar; it was built up and it can be brought down. The creature hiding in it can be challenged and defeated. Elves have never failed to defeat the servants of the Enemy when once they determine what must be done. The problem is not insurmountable if only we band together and lay such a siege to that vile fortress that its owner flees in hopes of escaping his doom. But he must not escape."
"Pen neth, you have to know that many have already tried to drive out this entity from your woods," Elrond began calmly, trying hard to refrain from panic, for here was the source of the ill-fate wrapped up in Legolas' bond with Elladan.
"Who has tried, Hiren?" Legolas demanded and moved closer to face the legendary elder directly. "And I prefer to be called by my given name, if you please."
Elrond blinked, eyes growing round as his brows rose high, gazing upon this youth who would take on Dol Guldur and drag Elladan along to partake in the catastrophe. "Of course, Legolas, your pardon," he dipped his head to acknowledge the ellon's right to be treated as an adult, then shook it the next. "Your father tried along with Celeborn and Amroth of Lothlorien, but the siege could not be advanced for the Wraiths exist within the boundary between life and death, possessing neither state fully, and cannot be defeated by violence."
"They command too many Orcs," Elladan appended. "Their numbers cannot be overcome."
"You are wrong," Legolas smiled bitterly, "both of you, all of you. There is a way and I have proved it."
"What way?" demanded Elrond sharply, alarmed.
"What have you done, Legolas?" Elladan was chilled to the soul hearing the darkness in his mate's voice. Clear blue eyes devoid of any feeling regarded him, remorseless, aloof, and so disengaged that he was cast back upon that awful day and the deranged madness that had consumed the stricken child. Then the strange expression vanished, replaced by a smirky grin that was perhaps more unnerving.
"I destroyed a Wraith," he replied with smug and gloating pride as though announcing he had caught a buck on the hunt. Another silence followed his claim and he could tell they did not believe him; so it had been at home. "It is the truth and here is the proof."
He unwrapped his arms and felt in the pocket of his tunic, withdrawing a small glittering object which he presented on his open palm. It was an ornate golden ring set with a large, black stone, an onyx, and in its very centre a second gem glinted: a small blood red ruby. Legolas smiled in triumph at the gasps of surprise that accompanied his revelation, enjoying the involuntary way the great and noble Peredhil stepped back from him.
"Valar," Elladan whispered, shuddering. "You should not be carrying that vile thing on your person, Legolas. Get rid of it."
"At once, pen neth," advised Elrond, features pale and drawn. "Here, give it to me now and I will have it melted down in the forge. That object is altogether evil; who can say what affect it may have upon you?"
"Aye, so I deem it, too," Legolas agreed even as he disobeyed, "but I knew none would accept my claims without this proof, and so I kept it. Adar refused to believe even after holding the evidence in his own hands and called me a liar to my face, before the full Council of Elders. I merely found it, he said. This is just some bauble such as the dwarven folk made of old. Some trinket dropped from a trade caravan or lost when its owner was felled in battle. So he says, but he knows what it really is, as do the folk of our kingdom. They fear me as though I myself am a Wraith, or about to become one, but it has no power over elf-kind. It was designed for men and for men alone is it enthralling. Indeed, it was made to bind the soul of a King of men, and only such a person will it claim." To demonstrate, Legolas slipped it on his thumb, for the ring was made for larger hands than his, and laughed when both the Lord and his son cried out and again stood back.
"No," Elladan breathed, heart pounding an erratic staccato of sickened dread. He had yet to even think of procuring a bonding band for Legolas, and to see this unclean ornament on his finger was an abomination, as if he had become the mate of one of the Nazgûl. He flushed in anger, grew white with rage. "Take that off at once," he commanded. "You should not have it, much less wear it." He could not endure the image of Legolas enveloped in darkness and snatched at the offended hand. To his dismay, Legolas was too quick and hid the ring behind him.
"Do not fret; it has no power over me," insisted Legolas, no longer finding their distress amusing. "What do you fear?" he asked sharply, the words couched in tones of command that brooked no dissembling.
"I do not …" Elladan's lie faltered on his lips, suddenly compelled to respond immediately and honestly against his better judgement. Beside him he heard his father exhale a startled sound, had an impression of him moving closer, but Legolas held his eyes captive. He swallowed, attempting to hold back the words, but they broke free easily and he heard himself speaking. "That you will be lost to Shadow as once you nearly were. I saved you then, but if you take it on willingly, I do not know how to combat that."
"So," Legolas nodded sadly; this was as he had suspected all along in his heart of hearts. "Even my mate turns from me in revulsion for the sake of the tortures I have known, none of which were of my choosing to endure."
"No, that is not so." Elladan insisted, reaching for his mate, but Legolas dodged his grasp.
He turned his back on them both and removed the ring, dropping it back in his pocket as he strode through the open arch onto the terrace. He paused beside the stonework banister and gazed upon the fair land, the landscape coloured in shades of cynical apathy. "What is this place?" he asked, bitter and baffled. "It is a dream, this Imladris, and while I have awakened to a grim reality of violence and death and fates worse than death, I see you still adrift within its seductive and deceiving vistas, illusions of tranquility and peace." He shrugged, an immensely affected gesture incapable of hiding the hurt it was meant to conceal. "Adar said you would reject me; I am displeased that he was correct."
"I am not rejecting you," Elladan insisted, joining him but fearful of touching him, apprehensive of his strange mood.
"Yet you will, for I must do this with or without you, even if I have to proceed alone," Legolas mourned low and despairing.
"You must not attempt this," Elrond broke in before Elladan could answer. "Legolas, Elladan will not abandon you; I implore you to consider the consequences of this fact. I am gifted with foresight, as you may have heard tales told," he went on against his better judgement, for it was a bad idea to give so dismal a vision validity by sharing it.
"So it is said," Legolas gazed at him with interest, observing the reluctance in the harried grey eyes watching him. "You have seen something of my future then," he nodded and sighed in resignation, "and it must be that which caused you to want me gone from here last night."
"Aye, Legolas; forgive me, pen neth, but you must turn from this path upon which you have travelled so far already," Elrond implored him and held forth his hand. "Ruin awaits you; turn away now. Give me that ring."
"What is he talking about?" Elladan took Legolas at the arm and squeezed, yanking hard to make him face him. "Adar tried to make you leave me?"
"I did," the distraught father admitted. "Understand, the vision had me in its grip and I was overwhelmed with the sorrow it showed me. Indeed, I was experiencing that sorrow as though it was already happening. Now I see it was not so far fetched a notion. The ring, Legolas, let me destroy it."
"It does not matter now," Legolas tugged loose of Elladan's grip and walked past Elrond onto the porch, fingered the trailing end of a green vine. "I would never go from you unless you asked it of me, or … but nay; I will never go from you," he faltered, uncomfortably revisited by his first perception of Elrohir, aloof and disdainful and hungry, and shivered.
"No more would I permit you to go," Elladan spoke fervently, "and so you shall put aside this insane quest and stay at my side here in Imladris."
"Is that so?" Legolas grinned, the expression equal parts protest and possessive pride. He crossed his arms before him again and studied the ellon he had taken for his mate, still smiling but gently now, feeling glad to be loved so well as this. Then he leaned near and kissed Elladan softly and was captured by strong arms and pressed close against the masterful physique; he could hear the rapid pounding of Elladan's troubled heart. "Nay, do not fear for me, Beloved," he whispered, nuzzling his mate's cheek tenderly. "You saved me that I might avenge her; it was the will of Eru that brought you to me. We cannot defy this destiny; no more do I wish to. I cannot continue living knowing that despicable thing has grown fat and strong on my mother's light."
"Legolas, you cannot rejuvenate your naneth's spirit even if you could defeat the Necromancer and destroy the Tower," Elrond stated.
"How can you possibly know this?" Legolas snapped and pushed Elladan out of the way to confront the mighty Lord. "You don't; admit it! We call him the Necromancer for that is the naming the humans have given the creature, but we do not know what it is. You, who have never even been to our woods, can know less than we of its nature, whether it is human or some other thing. No more do you comprehend the essence that is an elvish fëa, for such is immutable. It must be so! Are we but starlight clothed in flesh, unfeeling, incoherent energy to be recycled into any vessel that makes bold to capture us? I do not accept that; neither do you. You seek to protect your son, nothing more."
"Legolas, do not be arrogant," Elladan admonished. "Adar has much knowledge of the Shadow and its devises."
"Really?" Legolas spun to face him, his smile mocking and satiric. "I do not see that extensive intelligence being put to use to rid the world of its gravest enemy. Surely he would do so, he and his White Council, if they believed it a worthwhile venture. Nay, they are all satisfied to have the Shadow remain to trouble the Wood Elves alone, sparing those of more genteel lineage from predation too horrible for them to contemplate."
"You don't know what you're saying," Elladan contradicted him. "The White Council does not leave this burden for Mirkwood to shoulder. Such a thought is unworthy and you must retract it at once."
"Must I? I suppose you will wait long to hear that apology, Elladan, even as my people wait for aid from their kin in other realms."
"Legolas, the White Council has not abandoned the folk of the woods," Elrond broke in to the acrimonious rant. "We have determined that our strength is not sufficient and our knowledge too limited. More information is needed before an attack on Dol Guldur can be executed. We need more time."
"More time! For what, Hiren? Explain to me how allowing my enemy to become entrenched, to gather more followers among the humans, to breed legions of our foes is a wise course of action? All the while, the Wood Elves are at war, pressed to defend our lands and lives, every group that ventures from the stronghold armed and prepared for strife even if the goal is but to hunt for food to feed our families."
"Time to learn what this creature is, why it chose Greenwood, what its weaknesses are," Elrond rejoined and knew his words lacked the strength of conviction, for he had disagreed with the decision of the Council and would overthrow the tower. "If we come unprepared to defeat it, we may all be lost."
"Those are not your beliefs or your thoughts," Legolas said quietly and was relieved to see this was true. He breathed a deeper breath and exhaled some of his anger into the balmy air. "My father does not know this, thinking you spurn the woodland folk because of our defeat at the Last Alliance. You must communicate with him, Hiren."
"I have tried," Elrond sighed. "Alas, I don't even know if he read any of the letters sent, for no reply has ever been returned."
"So," Legolas paced away down the porch, fists clenched tight at his sides, anger lighting up his aura anew with vivid sparks of bloody red. "We have a traitor in Greenwood. Such I have guessed, but this is like unto proof for me. Whatever his failings, Thranduil would not ignore a missive from you, even if his answer was hostile and rude. These posts have been intercepted." He strode quickly back to face Elrond. "You must go to Greenwood and take audience with the Wood Elves' King, Hîr Elrond."
"Nay, henen, that I cannot do," Elrond mourned and set a consoling hand on the young warrior's shoulder, watched as the fiery light of hope died away in the sapphire eyes. "I have a burden that must not be removed from this place, lest Shadow learn of it and obtain it. This would be a great defeat for our people, for the Darkness has no mastery over us now, but with that single object would have means to sway us into evil and ruin. I cannot risk it. I dare not."
"Who told you these lies, I wonder," Legolas mused softly and shook his head. "How easily the wise may be fooled!"
"Legolas!" Elladan yelled, mortified and incensed, and snatched at his arm anew. "You will not mock my Adar before my very face!"
"I do not mean to do that, Elladan. Unhand me! Who gives you authority to treat with me thus? Am I some lesser being you may abuse because my opinions annoy you? Is this the reality of our union, that I have become your possession and not your equal?" Legolas countered and shoved Elladan away so hard it raised a surprised little grunt and caused him to stagger to regain balance. His mate's objections thusly condemned, Legolas turned back to Elrond, features animated with eager excitement. If he could convince the mighty Lord, others would follow. "Hiren, that article you do not name went forth into battle with GiIgalad; Sauron himself certainly knew of it and coveted it greatly. For such did he come forth from his impenetrable lair to engage us in open combat, and therefore was defeated. If this can be done to one of the Ainur, so much easier to destroy a mere Wraith attempting to elevate his place among the damned."
"Legolas," Elrond began his rebuttal but found he had no words to counter this logic, for he and Celeborn thought the same. He closed his parted lips and frowned. "Come inside; we should not be speaking so out in the open, even here in fair Imladris."
So saying he took Legolas by the forearm and drew him back into the study, leading him over to the comfortable chairs gathered before the hearth, Elladan trailing behind, so confused and downcast he had the look of a child under the rebuke of his parents. It was enough to make Elrond wonder how the conversation had turned so completely from his initial goal of counsel for the newly-bound pair. He eyed Legolas with new respect; here was a worthy rhetorician not to be discounted due to lack of years. "Your understanding of these events is admirable and, I admit it with no small shame, surprising. You deem this Necromancer one of the Nazgûl? This is the very idea Celeborn and I have traded with MIthrandir. How came you to such a thought?"
"Ah, my ignorance was assumed, I see; an attribute perennially applied to all of my people," Legolas scoffed, but with better humour and he gracefully accepted the goblet of wine Elrond offered, raising it in quick salute before he sipped. "Wood Elves: less wise, more dangerous." He laughed aloud at the chagrined expression that crossed the mighty lord's face. "Aye, we know all about it, Hiren, so do not be too dismayed. It is true in many ways. We do not have fine homes or great libraries or places of advanced study, nor do we count many among us who devote their lives to the arts. Yet this is not because we do not appreciate these things or find such pursuits unworthy. It is because we are in a constant state of war which only now has escalated to the point that others take note of it.
"For all the Ages of time since the Awakening, the Wood Elves have defied the marring wrought by Melkor and battled his monstrous creations. We learned early that these things do not have the Spark Imperishable by nature, but must steal it from others that do, from us and from men. Ever have the forces of the Fallen Vala preyed upon our people and ever have we repulsed them, at heavy cost. Every loss is recalled with vivid clarity and unending sorrow and ever deepening rage. We fight; we always have and we always will. We are born into it and die whilst engaged in combat; thus has it always been under the eaves of the trees where none but the Wood Elves venture to dwell.
"I know what others say: that we should leave, that we should never have stayed back on the Great Journey, that Oropher was a fool to ever travel to such a place, to mingle Sindarin blood with such a backward people, and since we remained, stubborn in our defiance, our fate is of our own choosing and thus deserved." He saw them drop their heads to avoid his eyes and counted this promising, for if they could regret such ideas perhaps they could also shed them. "Yet where would we go? Here? There is little enough room for those here now. To Lothlorien? The Golden Wood likewise is too small to accommodate even our reduced numbers.
"Shall we invade upon the lands of men and make for ourselves new foes, new enemies among the Second Born? Have they not the right to their own lands as much as we? Must we petition, then, for refuge in Mithlond? It is said my people cannot endure the sound of the sea and must sail upon hearing it. So then, to Aman? Why must we abandon the home made for us by Eru's will and concede defeat to so corrupt a being that his own kind have banished him into the void? Greenwood is ours and we will fight for Tawar until the last of us perishes, but we will never relinquish our homes and lives of our own free will. Such would truly be defeat, for we understand to what obscene use the light of our fëar is put. Do not the wise know this, too? Darkness grows stronger with every elven soul that perishes."
"We suspect something very like," Elrond shifted uncomfortably in his chair and glanced at Elladan. His son was staring at Legolas, entranced but utterly dumbfounded, heart daunted with bewildered sorrow. Clearly, this was not the personality he had expected to wed to his for all time. Not a submissive sort, our Legolas.
"Aye, but do nothing about it, for your people live under the protection of the Elven Rings. Aye, we know where they are and who wields them. Aye, we say wields instead of bears, for we know to what use that power is put, and for such cause your realm, the Golden Wood, and the fair shores of Mithlond remain free of harassment from evil."
"Legolas, we did not choose the distribution of the Elven Rings," Elrond began.
"Who did so, Hiren?" the Wood Elf interrupted. "Iluvatar? The Valar in their protected lands beyond the Sundering Sea? Celebrimbor their maker?" Legolas waved his glass, scowling, to forestall the expected rejoinder and continued. "It does not matter! We have never needed such an article to defend our own and would not have it if offered. Yet aid we do need, now, for we are too few to combat the rising tide of defilement and destruction that engulfs our forest. And this is due not to a lessening of purpose or of courage, but to our diminishment at that ill-fated siege upon the Black Gates and the tower of Barad Dur.
"We gave up too much; thinking our bold action would inspire others to join us. Sadly, we were left to the only fate such a small and ill-armed force could receive from Sauron: merciless and pitiless annihilation. Our population is now so reduced that we can no longer defend the central and southern reaches of Greenwood. We have been driven back into a small holding behind the Dwarven Road. There are all our people gathered now, the few that remain battling desperately for life itself, for us and for Tawar. It is a lost cause."
So deep was the sorrow in his voice, speaking this, that Elrond and Elladan felt keenly the lancing pain that assailed his heart and dropped gracelessly into their seats, eyes round and faces ashen.
"Lost, unless we can clear that vile demon from our home," Legolas continued, imbuing his speech with unflinching determination and temerity. "It must be done, Hiren, and yet we cannot do it alone." He scooted forward in the chair so to peer deep into the lore-master's troubled grey eyes. "You must come forth from the Hidden Vale and take council with Thranduil, and Celeborn the wise will join us, too. Mayhap Mithrandir will see fit to add his wisdom and I know Aiwendil can be called on at need, for he is our ally. Help is owed to us in remission for our losses before the Black Gates; losses that emboldened Sauron to show himself at last and made possible his defeat. What say you?"
It was quiet for a long time after this impassioned speech, for Elrond would give the matter serious thought before answering, and Elladan would not speak before hearing his father's judgement, though his heart bade him agree to undertake this struggle on his mate's behalf. He alternately watched Elrond and Legolas, the two remaining focused solely on one another, eyes locked in some silent and grim communion of souls, a battle of wills that Elladan little doubted would end in victory for his father. Few could contest against Elrond and prevail. Even so, it was an intense duel and even he could perceive the effort required for Elrond to counter the strong words and compelling tale. At last he moved, sitting back and drawing air into his lungs deeply as he blinked his eyes and then rubbed them, shaking his head as he did so.
"I cannot, much as I would wish it," he said, wondering over the manner in which his will had been so neatly challenged and very nearly overthrown by this young prince of the woods. He looked into the fair face again, troubled in his heart. "Legolas, you have known great hardship and sorrow and I respect the motives that move you so deeply, but this thing you would do is not a thing to be done on a whim. It needs careful thought and planning, and without the sanction of the White Council such an endeavour must fail."
"Yet there has been success already without your help and it was a Wood Elf who succeeded in defeating one of those Shades," he held aloft the ring again, "not the great Lord Elrond. I know more of this than any save my Adar. For all of my life I have fought this spectre and I will have it gone from our world if I am to live on in Middle-earth. We cannot abide here together, the Necromancer and I, for my mother's light sustains it and this I cannot accept."
"Much that you say owns truth," Elrond soothed, for it was easy to see Legolas had inherited that streak of headstrong insubordination common to the kin of Oropher. Only death triumphed in the face of such foolhardy courage as this. "The Necromancer is indeed beyond my complete understanding. He conceals his true nature and even the wise among the wise have failed to perceive him clearly. The more so must you be wary of falling into the trap he sets for you."
"Elbereth!" Elladan exclaimed in horror. "He knows all about you!" Somehow, it had seemed that while Wood Elves in general were the prey of this demon, Legolas was anonymous among this number.
"Of course he does," Legolas gave him a pained look. "Have I not harried him and his minions these many years since first I took up my bow? Have I not felled one of his Wraiths? Aye, he knows about me and fears me, for I shall be there when he is overthrown."
"This is the lie he uses to lure you near enough to destroy you," Elrond warned. "You must not challenge him, Legolas."
"This I have already done," Legolas revealed and Elladan shouted an ugly curse, leaping to his feet.
"I forbid it!" he yelled. "You will remain here in Imladris at my side. You are my mate, Legolas, and I will have you beside me."
"That goes both ways," Legolas reminded him. "You are my mate also, and I would have you beside me to see this done. Will you abandon our bond, so newly forged?"
"I do not abandon it," Elladan stammered, flustered over this ultimatum, "but no more will I let you go forth to certain death."
"Precisely; there is too much at stake here, Legolas, to reduce this to unrealistic demands," Elrond sought to intercede without effect.
"So little faith you have in me, even after I show proof of my skill and daring."
"If you would prove it then come with me into Eriador; together we can fulfil the vow I swore when Nana departed."
"Nay!" Elrond cried, for this way also led to tragedy, but Legolas quickly struck his bargain.
"I will go hunting with you for this lesser prey, Elladan, and keep your vow as my own. For ten seasons of summer we will hunt together in the wild lands of men and lesser mortals, but after that I will go back to Greenwood and fulfil my own vow and free my people from the oppression of Dol Guldur. Will you go with me then?"
"I will go," Elladan promised and took Legolas' hand, kissed it solemnly.
"So be it," Legolas smiled as he took the blighted token from his pocket and tossed it lightly up, caught it with a victorious flourish, and slipped it back inside its silken prison. "Now we may move on to less gruesome matters. When will I be presented to your people, Beloved, and what manner of ring would you like? I brought many, antiques forged in the Elder Days long ago and hidden away in my Adar's vaults. From among these priceless relics you may choose." He laughed at the nonplussed expression adorning Elladan's face and leaned forward to hug him playfully.
Elrond groaned in misery and downed the contents of his goblet in a single draught.
TBC
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Oh, Sorrow