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Greenleaf & Imladris 13 - The Choices We Must Make	By : MPB Category: -Multi-Age > General Views: 5824 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Lord of the Rings (and associated) book series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Part 1
- 2-Part 2
- 3-Part 3
- 4-Part 4
- 5-Part 5
- 6-Part 6
- 7-Part 7
- 6
- 7
Part VII

It was little more than the second hour after the break of dawn and, already, Elrohir was dressed for the journey home. His things had been removed by the brethren’s retainers and all that was left for him to do was lace his leather bracers, gird his sword and draw on his cloak. When he came out of his chamber, he found Elladan waiting patiently for him in the open corridor outside.

“Ready?” the older twin asked. His brother nodded. They began to walk down the hallway.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Legolas?” Elrohir asked.

“We can meet him in the clearing,” Elladan said. “There is something I wish to ask you regarding him.”

Elrohir glanced at him warily then shrugged. They descended the stairs to the ground floor of the pavilion. The light wooden steps spiraled around a towering oak of indiscernible age. Enclosed in naught but sturdy interwoven vines now shorn of its lush pre-autumn foliage, the staircase seemed rather whimsical in design.

“Ask then,” Elrohir replied.

“What you said yesterday, about his discomfort regarding your intimacy,” Elladan said. “It seems odd considering that ‘twas he who offered it the last time you lay together. And twice at that. Why should that discompose him now?”

Elrohir was silent for a moment. Then he sighed. “True, he offered to lie with me. But ‘twas to give me solace and not out of love or desire.”

Elladan shook his head. “That makes no sense to me. If he feels nothing, not even lust, he could not have possibly found pleasure in all the times that you came together. And you have admitted to me that he does find pleasure. Each time without fail.”

“I did not say he feels nothing,” Elrohir demurred. “Indeed, ‘tis because he does enjoy my touch, because he finds pleasure with me that he is disconcerted. But he sets aside all considerations when he seeks to succor me. After, when he has time to think about what he has done, ‘tis then that he begins to question himself. That is what discomposes him most, Elladan. I am his friend; he believes he should not feel as he does when he couples with me.” He glanced at his brother pensively. “What use is there speaking of this? He has shut his heart to the love I bear him. I am but friend and brother to him, no more.”

“No more yet he lies with you and knows rapture at your touch,” Elladan said. “I warrant were he to open his heart, he would grieve should he not find you there.”

Elrohir smiled sadly. “Wishful thinking, gwaniaur”—older twin—he murmured. “Do not offer me false hope. ‘Twill only hinder me in enduring this.”

They were now halfway down the tree-lined path leading back to the delved palace. Before Elladan could reply, a lithe figure suddenly stepped in front of them. Startled, they came to a stop and faced an obviously irate prince.

“And were you about to depart without so much as a farewell?” Legolas asked a little acidly.

“Nay, Calenlass,” Elrohir said. “We would never leave you thusly.”

“I only sought a private word with Elrohir,” Elladan explained. “We would have awaited you in the clearing.”

When Legolas still scowled, Elrohir took him by the arm and gently pulled him along. “Since when have we taken leave of you so inconsiderately?” he softly asked. “You know we are always loath to dispense with your company.”

The gentle, affectionate tone of the younger twin softened the prince almost at once. The scowl faded away to be replaced by a rueful smile as he relented.

“That was uncalled for,” he agreed. “Forgive me for even thinking you capable of such a deed, gwedeir.”—sworn brothers.

The twins smiled back at him. As they walked, speaking of random matters, he absently slipped his hand over Elrohir’s and clasped it tightly. Elladan noted the unthinking gesture and glanced at the prince. Legolas seemed oblivious of the tenderness of his action. The older twin shook his head with some exasperation.

One of the keenest-eyed warriors in all Elfdom and yet so blind when it comes to his own feelings, he mused. Or mayhap he is just too stubborn to admit them. Elladan thought back to his twin’s words. Stubborn? Or afraid?

They passed through the spacious terrace and sauntered along the main cavern corridor until at last they came to the great stone doors of the royal halls. The wide panels stood open and just outside Thrandruil waited with his other sons and Nimeithel.

Goodbyes to the twins were made in each Elf’s fashion. Thranduil with fatherly regard, Melthoron still with some reserve (but was that a grateful gleam in his eyes when he spoke to Elladan?) and Brethildor, warm and bluff as ever.

Nimeithel’s farewell to Elrohir was as affectionate as any Arwen would have given him. The look they shared might have been mistaken for something other than friendly were it not for the sure knowledge that theirs was a purely platonic relationship. The goodbye to Elladan was more awkward. She strove to look him in the eye though a blush stained her cheeks as she recalled just how well he knew her now. The kiss he pressed to her temple seemed brotherly enough to others but to the Elven princess, it was almost heartbreaking. She wondered if anything would come of what they had shared. Or if she was doomed to languish for love of someone who did not seem to return it.

The brethren moved to their steeds with Legolas. At the last moment, Elladan glanced at his brother. Elrohir was seen to nod in a seemingly encouraging manner.

The older twin turned on his heel and, to everyone’s surprise, strode back to the royal family. A moment later, unmindful of her father or brothers, he swept a stunned Nimeithel into his arms and held her close to his heart. The princess instinctively slipped her arms around him, breathing somewhat unevenly against his shoulder.

“I could not leave without telling you the truth,” he murmured that she alone would hear. “If I avoided you all those weeks ‘tis because you evoked in me a wanting I have not known in all my years and I did not wish to despoil you.”

“I-I suspected as much after – after you told me you desired me,” Nimeithel whispered.

“But I do not merely desire you,” he softly declared. “I love you, my princess. I did not take you out of lust but out of my heart’s yearning.”

She stared up at him in shocked disbelief. But on the heels of it followed swiftly mounting joy.

“I thought – when you did not—” She faltered, tears stinging at her eyes.

“I told you of our choice,” he said. “I did not wish to hold you to any promises to me. And I still will not.” When she would have protested, he forestalled her. “I would not have you bound to one who may not be at your side for the eternity of your life. Until I know my path, this is all I can offer. But this I would ask. Will you wait for me, Nimeithel?”

Nimeithel looked keenly into his stormy eyes. There was naught but love and devotion in their depths. “I will wait,” she said with a smile.

Elladan raised a hand to tenderly stroke her cheek. He bit his lip, of a sudden looking uncertain.

“We will be parted more oft than not,” he said. “I would not begrudge you...companionship. If you should seek it. The Valar know I am in no position to demand anything from you.”

There was the faintest hint of distress in his voice though he kept it calm and steady. Nimeithel had to chuckle affectionately.

“And will you seek other company when we are apart?” she asked, her eyes alight with love.

“Nay, you know I will not,” he said. “I belong to you alone. No longer will I share myself with others.”

“Then why do you think I would?” she gently chided. “You are my first melethron”—lover—“my last, my only one. Did I not say so in the gardens the other day? There is no other, Elladan.”

At her utterance, he caught her tightly to him and kissed her with as much ardor as she could possibly wish for. Right there in front of every Elf in the clearing. A part of her now thoroughly disordered mind thought that there were certain consequences to being loved by a Peredhil twin. Such as dispensing with decorum on many an occasion.

When he released her, she was as rosy as a bud in first bloom. She could not help casting apologetic glances at her staring father and brothers. Even Legolas, for all his long acquaintance with the twins and their ways, was gaping in amazement. Only a nudge from Elrohir snapped him out of his dazed stance.

Elladan grinned wickedly. “You will have to get used to this,” he warned mischievously. “I cannot change at this late date.”

Nimeithel had to laugh at his rakish assertion. “Nor do I wish you to,” she said. “You had best send me word of your whereabouts now and then, Eledhîren”—my Elvenlord—“else I assure you I will not hesitate to give you a piece of my mind!’

“A fearsome occurrence I am sure if you are anything like Arwen!” His eyes gentled. “I will come back soonest, meleth.”—love.

“I will be here,” she smiled. “Always.”

After one last lingering kiss, he walked back to Elrohir and Legolas. She watched them as they made their farewells, noted how Legolas embraced Elrohir with much warmth and even more regret that the Elf-knight was leaving. Ai, you are so mule-headed, brother, she thought, mentally shaking her head.

The brethren mounted their steeds and turned them towards the hidden path. Legolas came over to stand by his father and sister. Thranduil, after a moment placed a hand on Nimeithel’s shoulder, drawing her attention for an instant from the older twin.

“You do know what to expect?” he murmured. “He is a Peredhel after all. His fate may not be as yours.”

Nimeithel glanced hesitantly at Melthoron, wondering what her eldest brother would make of the situation. But the crown prince merely looked at her curiously indicating that his previous encounter with Elladan had simply provided enlightenment. A catalyst in his life so to speak.

She nodded. “I am very aware of the consequences of my choice, Ada,”—Papa—she replied, her eyes going back to Elladan’s figure.

“And you are willing to take this chance?” Legolas inquired somewhat incredulously. “What of heartbreak, muinthel?”—sister?

“What of it?” she replied. “‘Tis a risk we take each time we love. I would not forego the chance of happiness as I have found with him for the lonesome safety of a craven heart.” She said this pointedly to Legolas eliciting a confused frown from her brother. “Eternity is a terribly long time for one’s heart to remain untouched, unknowing and unoffered to another.”

The brethren had reached the mouth of the tunnel. Before they entered, they turned to wave to the royal family. Elladan’s eyes met Nimeithel’s across the clearing and the emotions they shared were as tangible as the crisp breeze that swept across the open space. And then the Imladrin party was gone, swallowed up by the shadows of the path.

Thranduil placed his arm around his daughter’s shoulders. The Elvenking’s eyes glistened with the sweet memory of his own heart given. “Well said, daughter,” he smiled gently. “I would say you have chosen well.”

With a grateful smile, she leaned against her father and let him lead her back to the delved halls, Melthoron and Brethildor behind them. For a while, Legolas lingered outside, astonished by his sister’s unlooked for remonstration. And then, with a bemused shake of his fair head, he followed the others inside.

The End
- 6
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Greenleaf & Imladris 13 - The Choices We Must Make