Winter Magic

Part 1

Eowyn frowned. “How could anyone abandon such a sweet little—” She stopped herself, aware that the elfling’s eyes were upon her. “He is so wet, Lassui,” she said. “We had better get him home straightaway.”

“Oh, melmenya!” Legolas shook his head, smiling fondly. “We cannot just take him home.”

“Why not? That is what the note says.”

“He is not a Yuletide gift, my darling.”

“But we cannot leave him here!”

“No.” Absently, Legolas picked up the child’s waterskin and pulled out the cork. “But we must make some effort to find his parents.” He handed the skin to the boy.

Melannen took a drink, then offered it to Eowyn. “Would you like some?”

“Thank you,”—she raised the skin to her lips—“Melannen! You speak Westron!”

The child nodded.

“You clever boy!” She gave him a little hug; then she took a sip, and handed the skin to Legolas.

Melannen smiled up at her, proudly.

Legolas, meanwhile, having drunk from the waterskin, re-corked it, and put it back in the child’s basket. “Come, melmenya,” he said. “We will follow Melannen’s footprints back to wherever he came from and, with luck…” He saw the disappointment on Eowyn’s face, and laid a gentle hand upon her shoulder.

“It is getting so late, Lassui,” she pleaded, “and—oh…” She yawned.

“There is still enough light, my darling. And we must make absolutely sure.”

Eowyn covered her mouth and, yawning again, nodded reluctantly.

“Goodness,” said Legolas. “You are making me feel tired!”

*****

Part 2

They scrambled to their feet, and Legolas picked up the basket and with Melannen walking between them, holding their hands, they traced the trail of little footprints through the snow-covered Forest, tramping beneath the tall, dark pines until they reached a frozen stream, which they followed eastwards, gradually climbing up flights of snowy steps—pausing now and then to admire the delicate icicles fringing the sides of the gorge—every step taking them farther and farther from the Doro Lanthron road.

At last they came to a stone bridge.

“Across there?” asked Eowyn, doubtfully.

The child nodded.

“That is where his footprints lead, melmenya,” said Legolas.

On the northern bank the trail left the stream, and wandered back into the woods, and they continued to follow it, through the frosty undergrowth, until, as the light began to fail, they came to an abrupt halt at the foot of a sheer wall of rock.

There, the elfling’s footprints turned east and skirted the cliff, then suddenly turned again, and disappeared into a crevice in the rock.

“Did you really come through there, Melannen?” asked Eowyn.

The boy nodded, vehemently. “Yes, Lady Melmenya.”

Legolas and Eowyn looked at one another, startled. Then they both laughed.

“It is Lady Eowyn,” said Legolas, “but I am sure,” he added, bending down to the child, and pretending to whisper, “that she will let you call her Gwanur Eowyn, if you like. And I am Gwanur Legolas.”

The laughter had raised their spirits and, without further consideration, Legolas led them into the passage, and they followed its twists and turns until, after a few minutes, they came to the other end, stepped out into the open, and found themselves looking down into a little valley. Snow-covered houses dotted the hillside, lining the road that wound along the valley bottom, and clustered together in a little town. Here and there, chimney smoke curled up into the dusky sky, and lights already shone invitingly.

“Where are we?” asked Eowyn.

“I do not know, melmenya. I had no idea that there were settlements this far out. Is this where you live, Melannen?”

The boy nodded, pointing—beyond the town—to the dense Forest that covered the other side of the valley. “Over there,” he said.

*****

Part 3

By the time they reached the town, darkness had fallen, and the clear night sky was filled with twinkling stars. “It is too late to go any further tonight, Lassui,” said Eowyn. “Perhaps there is an inn we can stay at.”

They found one in the market place—The Two Ways—a big, half-timbered tavern with a row of latticed windows (filled with light and laughter), and a heavy, panelled door from which, when Legolas opened it, the mingled smells of mulled ale and woodsmoke and roasted meat spilled out into the street.

“Welcome, welcome!” cried the landlord, rushing from behind the bar. “Strangers are always welcome! And it’s a long time since we saw the fair folk in these parts! Here, my Lady,”—he pulled out a chair for Eowyn—“sit beside the fire and let me fetch you a drink—a tankard of hot mulled ale is just what you need on a cold night like this.”

Eowyn sat down, and patted her lap, and Melannen climbed up onto her knee.

Legolas smiled at them. Then, “Thank you, landlord,” he said, nodding politely to the regulars as he followed the man to the bar, “but the boy will have mulled apple juice—”

“Of course, sir.”

“—and we would all like some food—pease pudding, perhaps?”

“With butter and mint sauce, sir,” said the landlord, “and fresh-baked bread.”

“Perfect. And two rooms for the night, if you have them.”

“I’ll get the wife to make them up. Take your seat sir,”—the landlord gestured towards the fireside—“I’ll bring your ale over; and your food, too, when it’s ready.”

*****

Part 4

When their supper was finished, they thanked the landlord, said goodnight to his other guests, and took Melannen up the narrow, creaking stairs to his attic bedroom.

It was small but cosy, for the landlord’s wife had lit the fire, and made up the bed with a warm quilt, and had found a tiny nightshirt for the boy to wear. Eowyn asked her to fetch some hot water and—whilst Legolas sat beside the fire and amused them by making hand shadow puppets on the wall—she helped the elfling change out of his still-damp clothes (which she hung over a chair to dry), and wash his hands and face, and put on his nightshirt.

“Now,” she said, “into bed!” She pulled back the coverlet.

The elfling climbed in. “Where’s Niben?” he asked.

“Niben?”

“The toy rabbit, melmenya,” said Legolas, making a shadow-rabbit—which peered at the elfling, took fright, and scampered off.

Melannen laughed.

“Of course.” Eowyn opened up the child’s basket and rummaged through its contents. “Ah, here he is…” She turned, holding the toy up in the firelight, only to find that the elfling had already fallen into reverie.

Smiling, she laid Niben on his pillow. “He must have been so tired, Lassui,” she said, carefully arranging the quilt around his shoulders, and kissing his forehead. “Sleep tight,” she whispered.

Then she and Legolas, hand-in-hand, tip-toed from the room, quietly closing the door behind them.

*****

Part 5

Their own room, on the floor below, was large and draughty, but the landlord’s wife had lit the fire and aired the bed, and provided them both with flannel night clothes. Legolas held a thick nightshirt against his chest. “What do you think, melmenya? Does it suit me?”

Eowyn shook her head. “No.” She sat down heavily.

“You look tired.”

“No… It has just been a strange day. Do you think we will find Melannen’s parents?”

Legolas draped the nightshirt over a chair to warm. “I do not know, melmenya,” he said, kneeling down to unfasten her jerkin. “I think it unlikely that they live in the Forest” He slid it off her shoulders.

“Why?”

He pulled off her boots. “Because: why would anyone with such a well-situated home abandon a child?”

“I think it strange,” said Eowyn, unlacing her leggings, “that he managed to walk so far without being found. And did you hear what the landlord said—that it was a long time since he had seen any elves?”

“Yes. I pressed him on that but he was adamant: he has never heard of any elves living in the Forest. Of course,” he added, “elves are not seen when they do not want to be.”

He fetched the warmed nightshirt, and Eowyn slipped out of her tunic, and put it on. Legolas pulled back the quilt and she climbed into bed.

“Oh,” she cried, “it is freezing!”

The elf laughed. “Just a moment.” He undressed quickly and, naked, climbed in beside her.

“I win,” said Eowyn, snuggling close.

*****

Part 6

Legolas wrapped his arms around her, and hugged her close. “Better?”

“Mmm.”

He shifted his hips.

Eowyn giggled.

“What?”

“You.”

He laughed and kissed her forehead.

Then he kissed her mouth.

Tenderly…

Possessively…

Eowyn responded.

And Legolas, still holding her close, moved his hips again, and Eowyn moved hers, and—“Ah,”—he pushed himself inside her.

“Lassui,”—it was so beautiful—“oh, my love…” she whispered. And she closed her eyes, smiling, and let his thrusts—deep, deep and strong—drive her closer, and closer, and closer until, “Ah,” she wailed, and her smile turned to astonishment as her body arched upwards, “AH!”

And Legolas felt her climax envelop him; and his own body, in swift response, spiralled helplessly into sweet release. “Melmenya,” he groaned, “ai, ai, meleth nín!”

*****

Part 7

“Good morning, melmenya.”

Eowyn pushed herself up on her elbows.

Legolas was sitting beside the fire, stirring up its embers, which were beginning to crackle merrily. “The landlord’s wife has brought you hot water,” he said, “and I have asked her to prepare us some breakfast.”

Eowyn yawned. “Melannen,” she said.

“I have been to see him, and he is still resting.”

“We must get him dressed.”

Legolas smiled. “We must get you dressed, first.”

Eowyn pushed back the quilt, climbed out of the bed, and padded over to the wash stand. “How long do you think it will take us to walk to the Forest?” She washed quickly.

“Two hours, perhaps. Here, melmenya.” He picked up her tunic, which had been warming by the fire, and held it for her to slip on.

“Oh, that is better!”

…

To Eowyn’s disappointment, when they reached the elfling’s room they found him already up and dressed, standing by the window with his toy rabbit. “Look, Gwanur Eowyn,” he said, showing her the frosted panes.

“Oh, yes!” She crouched down beside him. “It is beautiful, Melannen! Look, Lassui,” she said, tracing one of the crystals with her fingertip.

“Like a faery Forest,” said Legolas.

…

They ate a hearty breakfast of porridge, eggs, and bread and butter; and then, whilst Legolas paid the landlord, Eowyn spoke quietly to the man’s wife.

“Here you are, my Lady,” said the woman, moments later, handing Eowyn a bundle of coarse brown fabric. “It’s old, but it’s still sound, and it should do the job.”

“Thank you.” Eowyn reached for her purse.

“Oh no, my Lady,” said the woman. “Please have it. Mine have long grown out of it.”

“Thank you very much, mistress. Come Melannen, this will keep you nice and warm.” She unfolded the thick brown worsted and wrapped it round the elfling’s shoulders, fastening it beneath his chin with a large wooden toggle. The heavy cloak bunched in stiff folds about the boy’s legs, and parts of its hem brushed the floor. He looked like a particularly stout blond dwarf.

“Melmenya,” said Legolas, smiling fondly, “he is an elf. You do not need to be so protective.”

But Melannen was beaming up at his new Gwanur as though she had just given him a riding cloak of fine silk velvet.

*****

Part 8

Outside The Two Ways tavern, the market was already bustling.

Eowyn took Melannen by the hand and the trio spent a few moments walking up and down the rows of stalls, buying bread and cheese, some rosy apples, and—as a special treat—three slices of spiced yule cake.

The stalls were hung with garlands of spruce and holly and decorated with strings of glass baubles, and with stars of woven straw, and many were selling seasonal gifts—scented salves and beeswax candles, boxes of sweetmeats, nuts, and exotic fruits.

Whilst Legolas and Eowyn were carefully stowing a bag of peppered almonds in Melannen’s basket (which Legolas had volunteered to carry), the elfling wandered over to the next stall.

“Good morning to you, young sir,” said trader, hanging a toy bear from a hook in the stall’s pitched roof.

Melannen studied the wooden creature—smartly dressed in a blue shirt, a flowered waistcoat, and grey leggings—and frowned. “He looks like a man,” he said.

“Watch,” said the trader and, unseen by the elfling, he pulled a cord, and the bear suddenly leaped up and down, waving its arms and legs.

“Oh! Gwanur Eowyn,” cried Melannen, in amazement, “Gwanur Legolas! Look! Look!”

Legolas and Eowyn hurried to his side.

“It jumps!” said the boy, pointing excitedly.

Laughing, Eowyn gave him a little hug. “Would you like one of your own, Melannen?” she asked. “Then your Gwanur Legolas can show you how it works.” The boy smiled up at her. “Which would you like?”

Besides the bear, there were several men, an oliphaunt, and a big striped cat to choose from.

“The bear,” said Melannen. “The bear with clothes on.”

To be continued...