The old ways

Orophin and Rumil watched to approaching man from Gondor with a mild suspicion. Where were Thranduil and the dwarf? They should have returned some time duriing this night but they hadn’t shown up yet.. Haldir’s brothers had been very excited to see them, for they had accomplished a last during the last two days and were eager to show it to them.

The man looked flushed and at the brink of exhaustion as he halted his horse in front of the two elves.

“I bare ill news, my lords.” He panted slightly. “King Thranduil and Gimli the dwarf have been attacked. They were kept prisoners and King Thranduil had been severely tortured when we found them. I do not know of their conditions yet, but Lord Elrond is tending to them.”

Rumil had sucked in his breath sharply. How could that have happened? He looked at his brother. “Shall we ride to Minas Tirith?”
“No, Rumil. I think it’s best if we stay here. If Elrond tends to them, we know that they are in good hands. We might as well continue the work here.”

Rumil didn’t seem quite so convinced but decided it was better to let his brother have his way.
Smiling politely, Rumil stepped up to the guard and invited him over to the group of tents, to eat and rest.

The morning had long passed and all the elves and dwarves had returned to their work a the building site. But today no songs were sung, no jokes were passed among the working and no jests were made among elves and dwarves.
The concern for their kind weight heavily on every single person. Rumil and Orophin tried as best as they good to keep up the mood, but when two more men from Gondor appeared at the edge of the woods, the silence grew deafening.

One of the men had a large bundle tied securely to the saddle behind him and waved enthusiastically at the group.

“We bring new from Minas Tirith!” the other cried out. At once all the elves and dwarves dropped their work and hurried over.

“Tell us!” Orophin was first to reach the men.

“Lord Elrond sends his Greetings and bade us to tell you that King Thranduil is on the mend and Gimli the dwarf recovering. He also send us out to look for something that got lost in the woods. We are to give it to you to. He supposes that you know what to do with it.” With that he reached behind him to carefully free the bundle from the leather straps holding it to the saddle.

Orophin helped him to ease down the heavy package and carefully unfolded the cloth. Inside it he found the wonderfully carved pieces of wood that would make up the two cribs for Legolas’ children. Rumil had knelt down beside his brother and carefully ran his fingers a the the wood. To his amazement it was whole. No broken parts, no splintered edges nothing. Smiling the elves got up from the ground and found that all the workers surrounding them had an equally happy expression of their faces.

After the two Gondorian man had been given something to eat and now sat together with the guard that had arrives last night, everybody returned to work only this time with a lighter heart. It took only several minutes this time, before the first lilting voice filled the air, soon joined by others, forming a song from the heart.


Legolas turned and winced. His back was sore and his legs still felt weak. The memory of last night was till vivid in his mind and he hardly could get the image of his father out of his head. The way he had bled, his feet, the sunken eyes and above all the look of agony on his features.

“Shhh...” Haldir’s soothing voice pulled him back from his thoughts. “Everything is alright, my love. No need to fear for them anymore. I have just been to the house of healing and both are doing fine. Your father is sleeping and Gimli is slowly making his way back to us. He has not yet reached consciousness again, but Elrond assured me that he will be with us again, most likely even today.”

“How, did you know, what I was thinking about?” the blond elf snuggled up to his husband.

“You were whimpering. But very quietly” Haldir quickly assured Legolas after seeing his eyes narrowing. If Legolas hated something, it was his own weakness.
“Come, “ Haldir nudged the pregnant elf gently, “what about some breakfast?”

“I’m not really hungry. Only thirsty.” Legolas smiled at Haldir.

“Listen, you will not start that again. You will have to eat! I want to make a deal with you.” The march warden looked at Legolas sternly “You eat a little bit, fruit if you like and I will give you a very nice treat afterwards.”

“A treat?” the prince looked up at Haldir and furrowed his brow.

“A very nice treat.” Haldir curled his lips suggestively.

“Oh,” Legolas smiled “fine, maybe I will succumb to you and have some apple and berries. Maybe even some bread and honey. How does that sound?”

“Perfect.” Haldir pushed himself up, kissed Legolas’ swollen belly and left the room with a smile on his face.


Elrond watched Gimli’s struggle to consciousness closely, wanting to be alert if he needed to help the dwarf. After what seemed hours Gimli’s eyelids fluttered and he opened his eyes, slightly squinting against the light in the room.

Letting the breath go, Elrond had been unconsciously been holding, the Elf lord moved over to the awakening dwarf and rested a comforting hand on the bare shoulder. He could feel the powerful muscles move beneath the slightly hairy skin and murmured soothingly to the dwarf.

“Thranduil?” Gimli mumbled quietly. Not quite yet being able to comprehend the situation.

“All is well, son of Gloin. The King is sleeping.” Elrond assured him, never taking his hand away from the shoulder.

“Legolas!” Gimli suddenly tried to push himself up. “He was there. How could he. The child....”

“Gimli! Calm yourself. Everybody is just fine. Legolas is resting, like you should. And believe me, no harm was done to him. I promise you will see him later on. Now, lay back down and give your body the rest it needs.” The Elf lord managed to keep the dwarf on his bed.

It took Gimli another few minutes to relax again. First he struggled to turn his head in the direction where Thranduil’s bed was standing and only when he was satisfied that the King was sleeping peacefully, the dwarf lowered his head back onto the pillow and closed his weary eyes.


When Haldir returned to the room he shared with Legolas, he found his husband sitting up against his headboard, legs stretched out in front of him, stroking his bulging belly with tender hands, singing softly.

With a smile that shone with all the love Haldir held for Legolas, the marchwarden carried the tray he had taken from the kitchen to the bed and set it down.

“Now, what do the little ones tell you?” the silver haired elf laughed and bent down to nuzzle the warm and soft skin of his husband’s stomach.

“That their Ada is indeed slightly hungry and that they are fed up with the little space they have.” Legolas grumbled, as he felt another cramp approaching. He had gotten used to it by now. Some times the muscles of his womb would cramp down for some minutes and then relax again. Now that Elrond had explained to him the why and how, it didn’t bother him that much anymore. Only the fact that is was slightly painful. On the other hand the prince was glad, for it was a sure sign that it wouldn’t be too long now anymore until the babies were going to be born. And that meant he would have his old lighter figure back soon.

Haldir kissed Legolas on the cheek and picked up some bread with honey from the tray, carefully feeding the blond elf, never listening to his annoyed muttering. Haldir new very well that Legolas was able to eat himself, but he loved to pamper him and new that this time would be over soon, so he wanted to take all the chances he still had.

They ate in silence, enjoying the nearness of the other and the warming rays of the winter sun shining through their window.

Legolas was still nibbling delicately at an apple when Haldir got up and moved towards the large cupboard. Cocking his head slightly Legolas watched Haldir with growing interest.

Haldir retrieved some items from the cupboard, keeping them hidden from Legolas’ view and placed them on a little side table, quickly covering them up with a piece of cloth. With a smile Haldir moved to the door of the room and vanished in the hallway.

Legolas sat on the bed, wondering what Haldir was up to. His curiosity grew with every minute, but the thought of getting up and waddling over to the table was not what the prince was feeling up to. So he let out a sigh of resignation and decided to simply wait.

After a few minutes Haldir reappeared carrying a bowl of steaming water and a few drying clothes draped over his arm.

“Do you think me too heavy and lame to walk to the bath on my own feet by now, that you bring the bath to me?” Legolas looked at Haldir expectantly.

It seemed that for a second Haldir was confused by his husband’s questions, but quickly a smile spread on his face as he shook his head. “No my love. By all means. I have something else in mind.” With that, Haldir placed the bowl of water on the small side table, right beside the cloth, that he had draped so carefully over some other things before and pushed it gently nearer to the large bed. When he was satisfied, Haldir placed one of the large drying cloths at the foot of the bed and smiled at Legolas.

“Love, could you please take of your night shirt and scoot down a bit, so that your feet are here at the end of the bed.” Haldir beckoned the blond elf to him.

“What are you up to?” Legolas asked hesitantly as he rid himself of the long flowing shirt he was wearing.

“Oh, you will like it. Believe me.” Haldir grinned and patted the bed in front of him.

Reluctantly Legolas moved his heavy body further down the bed until his feet reached the edge. Haldir gently pushed him back until Legolas was lying flat on his back and gently pushed a pillow underneath the golden head. Kissing the pregnant elf on the nose Haldir moved back down and pushed Legolas legs apart.

“Oh, if that was what you wanted you could have just suggested it to me.” Legolas grinned sheepishly.

“No, my dearest husband, that it not the reason why I am pushing your legs apart. Just you lie back and relax for me.” Haldir shook his head.

“For you I am always relaxed.” Legolas muttered but did as he was told.

Haldir grinned and moved in between Legolas’ spread legs and sat cross legged between them on the bed. Sure it was a tempting sight, but he had to restrain himself and maybe later take advantage of it.
Carefully Haldir pulled the little table nearer to him and pulled the cloth away.

On the table were lying some things he had obtained in the city some days ago. Some scented soap, fragranced oil and a weird looking small knife. This had been the most difficult part, since elves never had to shave Haldir had not really known what he would need. And even worse, he had to explain the area he wanted to shave to the barber. It all ended in a rather embarrassing situation until the barber’s wife had shop anp and had laughed at her husband and Haldir. Shaking her head she had explained that she knew perfectly well why and where Haldir wanted to shave his husband and had quickly disappeared into the back room of the barber shop, muttering about her sister and a similar situation, getting the needed object. It was a shaving knife, smaller than the ones you would use to shave a man’s beard, slightly curved and extremely sharp.

Now that Haldir was sitting between his husbands legs about to use it, it felt his hand tremble a little. What if he would injure Legolas? In that most delicate area. But calling Elrond to do it was out of the question. Taking a deep breath, Haldir dipped his left hand into the warm water and scooped some of it in the hollow of his palm. Laying his right reassuringly on Legolas left thigh, he dribbled the water from his left onto the pubic area of his love.

Legolas drew in the air sharply at the feeling of warm water running over his skin and down beside his genitals, but decided instantly that it was a nice feeling and didn’t move.

After Haldir had sprinkled a little more water over the body before him, he took up the soap, also a suggestion from the lovely barber’s wife and worked up some lather between his hands. With caressing movements Haldir worked the lather into Legolas pubic hair and smiled at the prince’s questioning sounds.

“Hey, what are you doing down there. Do I smell bad to you in any way? Are you getting funny with me?” By now, Legolas really wanted to know why Haldir thought it necessary to wash him like this.

“No, I don’t. Now shhh…., don’t break my concentration.” Haldir ordered and could well imagine the small pout now forming on Legolas beautiful lips.

He took the small knife and gently placed his right hand over Legolas penis, gently pressing it down. With the left he moved the knife against the growth of the pubic hair, carefully shaving it off. It was easier than anticipated, but the most difficult parts were yet to come.

Legolas eyes grew round at the feeling of something colder than Haldir’s hand against his body and the faint scraping sound together with the feeling of colder that usual air against his sensitive skin in that region, made it clear to him what Haldir was doing. But instead of saying anything against, as he would have thought he would immediately do in a situation like this, Legolas found it strangely arousing and he felt his member growing immediately.

Haldir, who had nearly finished with the area above Legolas penis, felt the stirring of flesh beneath his fingers and ha his his movements, looking up in surprise at his husband. Legolas smiled apologetically and shrugged his shoulders a little.


t.b.c