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A liaison in the Great Greenwood	By : Azukiel Category: +Third Age > Het - Male/Female Views: 7956 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own any copyright to the Tolkien/ Middle-Earth fandom, nor to any of his canon characters or languages. I do not make any money from this fanfiction. Original characters however, are my property.

Chapter List
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“The winters grow ever colder…” Legolas began as he stared out of one of the windows of his father’s reception rooms.
   Thranduil’s eyes trailed to where his son’s gazed. “They do…” He agreed, silently.
   “Perhaps due to the darkness that creeps back into this world.” The prince continued. “The same darkness that has perhaps already taken you into its clutches, causing you to taint my wife with its poison.”
   “Do you believe that to be the truth?” Thranduil looked back to his son. Legolas’ eyes were sunken and had lost their usual vibrancy. His skin too was now sallowed for he had not eaten in many days.
   “It is the only explanation I can conceive as to how you, my own father, could have done this to me,” Legolas replied bitterly. “Do you wish to tell me otherwise?”
   Thranduil’s eyes stung painfully as he looked away once more in shame. “It was by my own doing Legolas, nothing more.”
   Though Legolas knew that to be the truth, the words wounded no less. “Through your own lust and greed.” He reiterated hotly.
   “Yes…”
   “So tell me why you did it.” The prince then pushed, fighting back the onslaught of angry tears that threatened to overwhelm him.
   “You deserve to know the truth, Legolas, but I fear it would only bring you more grief.”
   “We are a little beyond caring now, are we not?” The prince’s eyes narrowed on his father.
   “Tell me the truth. I cannot be at peace unless I know why you both deceived me…”

    Covering his mouth briefly with his sleeve, the Elvenking took in a draught of air to clear himself enough to answer. Yet, his voice almost shook as he spoke. “When I was young, younger than you are now, and well before your mother and I was together, I had loved another.”
   Legolas looked at him incredulously but remained silent.
   “I will not delve into details Legolas, but it had been Celebrian, Adlanniel’s naneth, well before even she had known Elrond.”
   Legolas’ eyes narrowed further. “You speak the truth…” And yet he did not wish to believe it. “Why have you never told me this? First, you did not tell me that naneth had been with child when she died, and now this?”
   “Your naneth and I did not deem it relevant enough to tell you. It happened in the past and was over, and we wanted you to only focus on our love and the love we had for you.”
   Legolas bit his tongue to prevent himself from saying more, but Thranduil could see it written on his face.
“I have betrayed that love, I know that. Adlanniel had reminded me so much of the fierce love I had once held for Celebrian. She reminded me of all the mischief that Celebrian and I had gotten into during our youth. She reminded me of how much I missed those days of old; of how much I almost desperately wanted to return to something… anything that resembled then. Your naneth and Celebrian had also been the closest of friends. That is how I had actually become acquainted with your naneth; through Celebrian. Obviously, Celebrian and I were not to be… even though neither of us was to know for quite a while after, her mother, the Lady Galadriel, had seen her death if she had stayed with me. Perhaps it had actually been the death of your naneth… I do not know.” Thranduil sighed deeply as he looked back to the shadows cast on the floor. “And so Galadriel had been adamant to separate us, much to our own grief at the time. Yet, it was through such grief that we became partnered with those we were to eventually marry. Your naneth taught me to love again. I loved her with a ferocity that could have turned the furnaces of Aulë to ash. Being friends with Celebrian, your naneth and she were similar in many ways as well. That is perhaps what sparked the eventual attraction between your naneth and I. Adlanniel, being so similar to her own naneth and also to yours, encompassed everything about them. Including the love I so desperately missed. After you left here, Adlanniel relied on me for friendship as she missed you desperately.”
   Legolas looked away then at those words. They were words that weighed in his stomach like the sharp stones of the ravine.
   “It is the truth, Legolas.” Thranduil pushed gently, seeing his son’s pained expression.
“The truth that led to our wrongdoing, but the truth nonetheless.”
   “And yet I thought that she and Gwendalyn were the best of friends. Why could she not have relied on her for such friendship?” Legolas’ cerulean gaze had become pale and greyed.
   “She did for a great part, Legolas.” His father replied. “She came to me sometimes because she trusted me. I promise you it started innocently. She would ask me to tell her about stories of old, and we would talk about you and her family. It was as we grew closer that all the things I had kept bottled up began to spill out. Just looking upon her set forth all the memories… all the emotions... all the feelings I had thought I had locked away forever. Looking upon her was like a river breaking through a dam…” Thranduil pushed back the sob that threatened to escape him, yet he could not prevent the tears that trickled down his cheeks.

   “Do you love her?”
   Legolas’ question was so sudden that Thranduil felt winded. His eyes became wrought with painful guilt as he looked up to his son, almost pleading. “Legolas…”
   “Tell me!” The table rattled against the marble of the floor as the prince slammed his fist into it. Tears continued to stream down his greyed skin as he stood, his stare fierce. “Do you love her?”
   Thranduil closed his eyes briefly as he took in a breath, for his answer, he knew, would be too painful for even him to bear. “Yes.” The word spilled out of his mouth like the waters breaking through the dam he had spoken of.
   By the time he realised exactly what he had said, Legolas was already halfway to the door. “Wait, Legolas!” He called out as he leaped from the sofa.
   The prince froze but did not turn around to face him.
   “I have no right to ask you of anything, but I beg you not to hate her for my digression.”
   “It takes two to have an affair.” Came his reply as the door closed behind him.

His continence seethed as he made haste through the hallways of his father’s palace. His heart and his head ached, for now, his father’s answer repeated itself in his mind; “Do you love her?”
“Yes… ”
“Yes…”
“Yes…”
   The prince stopped as the cold winter’s air suddenly became too painful for him to breathe. The anger and heartbreak twisted his resolve, and he lashed out at the tapestry of his father’s sigil that hung upon the wall nearby him. The rending of the tearing cloth was no different to the ripping of his heart, so he thought.
  “Cund vuin, are you alright?” Came a familiar voice nearby.
  Legolas looked up quickly, not acknowledging the stinging of his eyes as tears streamed down them again, and the thumping of his heart as it raged in his chest.
  “What are you doing away from your post, Melethril?” The prince glowered.
  “I…” Melethril knew well enough that things were presently awry within the palace, but he had not expected such animosity from the prince.
  “You were off dallying once again with your lady’s handmaiden, were you not? And yet I gave you such a high recommendation to the king to have you placed within his royal guard. Perhaps I should withdraw my words.”
  Melethril’s violet eyes widened in a terrified shock. “Please don’t… ” He begged, for those were the only words he had the courage to muster.
   “Then get back to your post and do not stick your nose where it does not belong.”
   Melethril lowered his eyes and quickly made off without another word. To see the prince tear apart his father’s sigil, an act of treason in most respects, and to see him in tears, was heart-wrenching. It worried him to no end, and he wondered how many others knew of the extent of the prince’s disposition. It was definitely something he would have to confront Gwendalyn with later, for surely she had to know something.

   The surreality of the day still had not abated by the time the prince reached Adlanniel’s chambers. He had not even had to knock for the door opened slowly, revealing the Lady Celebrian standing in its way. A faint light shone behind her, for now, the sun was beginning to wane, and he could feel a warm breeze blow past them as it came in from the hearth.
   “Prince Legolas, I am glad to see you returned.” She said gently, her eyes still yet filled with worry.
   Legolas looked up at her then after having stared past her into the room. “To what end, I wonder… ”
   “I know that you wish to see her,” Celebrian began. “But she is deathly and frail. I ask only one thing of you…” She then noticed the green cloth clenched in the prince’s hand. She recognised what it was well enough, and sighed. Legolas too looked down at his tightly wound fist, where within it hung the scrap from the tapestry.
   “Please be gentle to her, as much as you may believe she does not deserve it.”
Her words struck Legolas painfully then, and he looked up to her almost helplessly. The sadness opened his clenched fist and the torn cloth fell to the floor.
Gently she placed a hand on his. “Please…”
   “May I be alone with her, my lady?” His reply was sad, yet as gentle as her touch upon his hand.
   She nodded. “Of course.” She moved aside and allowed him to enter before she closed the door behind her.

   He approached her bedside quietly and sat beside the stool that held the bowl of water and the cloth. “Oh my love… what have I done?” His eyes stung once more as he looked down at her deathly countenance, her breath so shallow it was barely noticeable. Her skin was sallow and appeared clammy, and no longer retained the youthful elasticity it once had. The pallor of death hung about her. Her raven hair too was now limp and lifeless and fell about her sleeping face like tangled vines. Pushing her hair behind her ears, he reached for the cloth and wrung it with water, gently dabbing the sweat from her brow. His lips brushed with hers and he could taste her demise coming to claim her. He almost felt nauseous at the sudden despair that consumed him, and he began to bawl at her side.

   “L… Legolas?” Came her raspy voice. He looked up quickly and almost jolted away from her.
   “Adlanniel!”
   “You have… returned…” She tried to raise herself up, her eyes seeming to brighten slightly at his presence, but gently he pushed her back down.
   “You must keep your energy.” He replied, placing the cloth back beside the bowl. Dragging a nearby seat to him, he sat near her, looking down at the floor, her sullen eyes trying to meet his.
   “Are you back to stay?” Her voice was weak.
   “I have questions.” He replied, simply. “But they can wait until you have gained your strength.”
  Reaching out then, she touched his hand, and the gentleness was like that of her mother’s touch… something his father had admitted had attracted him to her. Yet, he did not recoil, but stiffened slightly, biting back the words that suddenly threatened to escape him.
“Please, Legolas… I feel my time is short. Say what you need to say, ask what you want the answers to.”
   Legolas looked away from her then and frowned suddenly, as the anger began to slowly raise its ugly head once more. As his eyes trailed once more upwards, he noticed how swollen her stomach was now. He had not even comprehended that already half a year had passed since he had left the palace for battle. “Is it true?” He began, staring at her bump.
“That one is mine?”
   Adlanniel gripped his hand tighter. “I swear to you, I do not lie about this. One is yours.”
His eyes widened, and his gaze became wondrous as he understood he was to be a father. He had no reason to disbelieve her now. Alas, the cruel realisation that the other child was not his came to his mind, and his gaze then steeled.

   “Did you enjoy it? Breaking my heart?” The words spilled out before he had the chance to retract them.
   Adlanniel’s eyes then seemed to fade yet another hue. Her voice cracked at the shock of such a question. “Of course not, Legolas. It was never meant to happen in the first place.”
   “Then why did you do it?” He pulled his hand away from her then, and the hurt in her eyes made him hate himself for how bitter he was now suddenly being, deserved or otherwise.
   She downturned her eyes and could not answer, for alas she did not have one to give. Even she could not comprehend why it had all happened. It was now simply a web she was entangled in due to her own design.
“Then perhaps you can answer me this,” The prince continued. “Do you love him?”
She looked up at him then, her eyes almost terrified from such a blunt question. She felt the air she breathed sting at her lungs as it was almost knocked out of her.
   “I need some fresh air…” Her voice shook as she struggled to get out of her bed, Legolas moved out of her way, and yet did not assist her.
She threw open the balcony doors, and the sudden wind from outside caused her fur coat to fall from her body. As she stumbled along the balcony, her thin night garments slid down, revealing her bare shoulders and protruding collar bones. She fell against the column of the parapet as she gasped for breath, and clung to the icy marble as she stared down into the partially frozen river below.
   “Adlanniel, come back inside. It is far too cold out.”
   Yet she did not respond, and so he stepped out into the snow-blanketed balcony and retrieved her coat. She continued to stare into the river, her mind whirring like the eddying waters below, fishing her mind for the answer. Yet she knew it already.
   “Yes...” She replied. “I love him Legolas.”
   The prince froze where he stood. He knew as much. He placed her coat on a nearby stone bench. “That is all I needed to hear…” And with that, he turned around and began to walk back to the room.
   “But I love you more than anyone Legolas! I always have!” She cried, still clutching the dried winter vines that wove around the column. “Believe me, please!” She begged.
   “It does not matter…” And he continued away from her without looking back then.

The weight of her chest upon her weakened heart felt like it would crush her. Tears froze on her sallow cheeks as she watched him walk away once more. The despair within her began to rise like the tides of the Gray Havens during a full moon. She felt suddenly nauseous and her mind began to swim, her eyes began to darken as she watched his golden hair flicker from the numbing wind as he once more entered the room.

   All she could remember was that icy wind rushing through her ears, and the frigid water and ice shattering against her back.
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A liaison in the Great Greenwood