The Boon

Title: The Boon
Author: TICS
Rated: NC17
Genre: Romance, AU, Slash
Pairings: Elrond/Legolas, Elladan/Elrohir in this chapter
Summary: Legolas is sent by his father to Elrond of Imladris as part of an agreement to cement relationships between the two realms.
Disclaimer: I own nothing that anyone might consider to be of any value.


A/N: Requested by MDarkdreamer, who threw the bunny at my feet. The bunny was covered in super glue...it wasn't my fault.

A/N: I had been requested to add an epilogue to this story touching on the events that transpired during the War of the Ring and after...thanks to everyone who asked for it, and for wanting the story not to end... :D

Note: //____// indicates a flashback. *____* indicates italics.

The Boon, Epilogue


The Elf sat on the shore of what was once known as the Grey Havens, now a simple inlet of the Great Sea, all but abandoned. The docks sat in disrepair, its builders and keepers long sailed West.

He sat on the sand, hands clasped around his bent knees and chin resting on his kneecaps, unmindful of the wind that blew his platinum tresses into a wild, twisting maelstrom about his head. His eyes stared out onto the horizon but his mind was turned inward, witnessing events that had happened so long ago and yet seemed to have barely passed into memory. Nearby a small craft bobbed silently in the dark, cold water, crafted by his own hand. It did not begin to approach the splendor of the ships of old that had borne thousands across the Straight Road, but that was not its purpose. Its purpose was merely to transport two beings westward, and to that end it would prove perfectly serviceable.

The Dwarf was off foraging in the wilds of the wood that met the sands of the beach, leaving the Elf to his thoughts for the time being. They drifted backward, as they so often did, to the gleaming white House that had been set in the sheltering valley in the foothills of the Misty Mountains in the realm of Imladris.


// "Strangers from distant lands, friends of old..."

Elrond's voice echoed clearly in his memory, as if the Elf Lord were speaking into his ear that very moment. The Council had been called all too soon after Legolas had finally arrived home from MIrkwood, and he sat stoically, surrounded by his father's guards, his presence not as the mate of the Elf Lord, but merely as one of several representatives of the free peoples of Middle Earth. His eyes were trained on one figure alone, his husband, as Elrond addressed the assemblage. The dark-haired Peredhil Lord's visage was stern as he recounted for them the task that needed doing.

Legolas' being filled with outrage at the Man from Gondor's spiteful words, and he had leapt to the defense of Elrond and Estel, but the Ranger had gentled him. Legolas' heart had filled with pride at the man Estel had become and the Elf heeded him, although he had no love for the Gondorian Steward's arrogant son, and much less for the Dwarf who blustered and bellowed.

The Hobbit trembled despite his brave words, and Legolas' heart felt pity for the small creature whose burden seemed too great for the gentle-hearted Halfling to bear. Again Estel proved himself to be kingly of heart regardless that no crown rested on his brow, as he offered himself in service to the Hobbit on his quest. Legolas had flicked his eyes toward his husband, knowing that Elrond would be displeased but also understanding of the fact it was the Wood Elf's duty to take the path he now chose as Legolas offered his bow along with Aragorn's sword in the service of the Hobbit.

The Council had dispersed with Elrond's proclamation that the day had seen formed a Fellowship of the RIng. Legolas had lingered, until only he and his husband had remained on the small courtyard. He had approached his husband slowly, knowing he had managed to score another painful wound in the Elf Lord's heart. Once again, someone whom Elrond loved would leave him.

"I am sorry, my love," Legolas had said, reaching with gentle fingers to his husband's cheek. Tears threatened then overflowed, glistening on the Wood Elf's fair face. Too often it seemed, tears coated their conversations of late. He quickly found himself in the tight embrace of his husband's arms as Elrond clung to him, burying his face in the Wood Elf's golden hair.

"I would not go if you bid me stay," Legolas whispered, his hands clutching at Elrond's robes.

"The path you take has been foreseen, Legolas...I knew it the moment you arrived here so many years ago and greeted me," Elrond murmured, his arms tightening involuntarily around his husband. "It is your destiny and one cannot ignore the path set before you by fate. Still, my heart weeps and my soul shatters that you must once again leave my side so soon after finally having returned to me."

"I will see it done and return to you, my love...then no force on earth will tear me from your side again," Legolas cried, looking up into his husband's dark gray eyes. He was frightened by the melancholy look that crept into those glistening gray orbs as they blinked away tears.

"Come," Elrond had said, his failure to comment on Legolas' heartfelt oath sending a ripple of foreboding down the Wood Elf's spine, "Let us retire to our chambers. We have but this one night, and I wish to spend it in your arms."//

That night had been one of the sweetest Legolas could remember, as he and his husband had made love slowly. Each kiss, every tender touch had been burned into his memory, etched onto his heart, until at last, near the end they had moved as one, their writhing, undulating bodies joined both physically and spiritually. Release was not the word Legolas would have chosen to describe the culmination of their act that night, for "release" indicated a separation, not the joining of their souls that their climaxes wrought. He had felt as one with his husband more than ever before...of one mind, one body, one heart.

It had made the parting of their ways the next morn even more difficult to bear, although neither would shame the other by showing the slightest sorrow in front of those deemed part of the Fellowship as they bid their farewells at the Gate.

He wiped away a tear that slid down his cheek, and brought his finger before his eyes, staring at the glistening drop of moisture that clung to its tip. Even after all this time, all these years, still the memory of that night brought tears. Sighing, he looked again to the horizon, losing himself in his mind's eye.

//" Now come the days of the king. May they be blessed."

Mithrandir's voice belied his great age as he placed the crown of Gondor on the head of the Man grown to be King. Legolas wept openly, seeing Estel as he once knew him...a frail, sweet child, a tenderhearted, eager youngster, a determined and fearless Man, now a proud and capable King. That Arwen had waited for him was both a joy and a sorrow to the Wood Elf, for he knew what fate awaited their beloved Evenstar. Still, he rejoiced with them in their love for one another, and in the peace hard-won by all.

He had traveled back to Imladris with his husband, content that never again would he be tempted from Elrond's side. For nearly three years they had lived together under the roof of Elrond's House, taking great happiness in one another. It seemed almost as if naught had happened...as if it were still the dawn of their relationship and Legolas was newly arrived in the Last Homely House. But for the absence of Estel and Arwen, and the departure of many of the Elves of Imladris to the West, it might have been so.

But as always with life, the truth makes itself known. One can never truly go back to things the way they were...always the present and future will hold dominion over the past. One night, after Legolas and Elrond had loved one another as had become their habit since their return from Minas Tirith, Elrond had held his husband close and whispered words that tore Legolas' heart into shreds.

"I must leave these shores, Legolas. My time here is at an end. Celebrian calls to me from the shores of Aman, beseeching me to go to her. The Valar have issued their summons and I cannot help but answer."

Legolas had gasped, and clutched tighter to his husband. "Then I will sail with you, my love...my place is at your side."

"Nay, my heart, 'tis not yet your time to sail," Elrond had whispered, his voice cracking as his tears flowed. "You have yet to hear the call of Ulmo. There is work here still for you."

"NO!" Legolas had cried, pushing himself away from Elrond's arms. The pain of Elrond's words was far greater than any the Elf had ever suffered before. "Never would I part from you again...this is what I vowed! Would you so easily leave me behind? Is the lure of your wife's embrace more potent than mine?" The bitterness in his voice shamed him, but he could not help himself as, in his agony, he lashed out at the one who loved him most. "That you would return to her I have always known, Elrond...but that you would cast me aside with little thought to our love I did not! You led me to believe that I would always have a place with you...that I would always have your love, but now it seems clear that it was a sham...a farce! Did you simply use me to comfort your loneliness here?" Legolas pushed himself away from the thunderstruck Elf Lord and stood at the side of the bed, his fair face contorted with rage and betrayal. "Lies! All lies...you never loved me as I do you...to you, I was simply a means to link the realms! I was nothing more than a body to warm your sheets, one that you intended to cast aside when the time came for you to return to her!"

Elrond's face froze at the viciousness of Legolas' verbal attack. "Think you this? After all that we have shared, think you that anything you have just said could possibly be true?"

"What else could I think? What reason could there possibly be that would be compelling enough for you to consider leaving these shores without me?" Legolas moaned, collapsing to the floor as his grief overcame him. "How can I go on without you? I cannot...not again..."

Elrond left the bed and circled it, falling to his knees beside his sobbing spouse. His strong arms encircled the sobbing Wood Elf, drawing him close. "Listen to me, my little Greenleaf...my heart is yours. Ever has it been since that first night when I claimed your innocence and bound you to me. Never has it faltered, instead growing stronger with each passing day since." He waited until Legolas' sobs subsided into whimpers, and then further until the Wood Elf grew quiet in his arms. "I must sail, but it is not with joy. I will be happy to hold my wife again - in this I will not lie - but never will my happiness be complete until I can hold you both."

"No...Elrond, please...no..." Legolas cried softly, tears still streaming down his face. "Do not leave me!"

"Legolas, my love, my heart, listen to me. My daughter remains here, her immortality forfeited as I had always feared it to be. It would have been my wish to remain here, with you, until the day finally came when she tasted the bitterness of mortality and existed no more. Only then would I have been content to sail West to give comfort to my wife who will grieve our daughter's death. It had always been my hope that together, you and I would have embraced Celebrian on the shores. But it is not to be, Legolas...I cannot resist the call of the sea...I must sail and bring the Great Ring Vilya to its resting place on the Blessed Shores. The Ringbearers have been called, and I must answer." Elrond's embrace tightened even further as he clutched Legolas to his chest. "It is to you, my husband, that I entrust this duty that I otherwise would have taken upon myself. I implore you to watch over my Evenstar and to hold her hand as she departs this world forever. I would not have her alone when her soul embarks on its journey to whatever realm Men's souls travel after death."

Silence fell upon the two Elves, as the elder held the younger, both awash in tears. Finally, Legolas nodded against Elrond's chest. "Aye...it shall be as you say, Elrond. I will remain here until the Evenstar draws her last breath. Will I then be welcomed back into your arms? Please, Elrond, speak only the truth to me...if I am to sail West only to find I have no place with you, then it would be kinder for my feet never to touch the blessed sands."

"Legolas, Legolas..." Elrond soothed, laying soft kisses upon his husband's brow, "There is no place other than in my arms for you. In my embrace, and in the embrace of my wife is where you belong and your absence will create a void that will be difficult to bear. That empty place in our arms can be filled only by you, and our arms and hearts will ache for your absence until you finally come to us."//

The Elf looked up from his ruminations as the Dwarf approached, his arms laden with the results of his foraging. A small smile graced Legolas' lips as he helped his longtime friend load the waiting boat with his wares. Settling down at the prow, he cast off the rope of hithlain that had kept the vessel tied to the decaying dock, the smile remaining on his lips.

As the gentle waves carried the rough-hewn ship bearing Elf and Dwarf unerringly toward that mystic path known as the Straight Road, which in turn would see them at last to the Blessed Shores of Aman where two pair of arms awaited him, his smile grew broader.


The End