The Best Portion

Title: The Best Portion (3/6)
Author: Aglarien
Type: FPS
Characters: Elladan/Legolas
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Not mine. The great Master Tolkien's estate owns everything else. I promise to return his elves when I'm done playing with them.
Warnings: AU.
Beta: Jay of Lasgalen. All remaining mistakes are mine alone.
Summary: Written for the Ardor in August fic exchange. Elladan and Legolas finally sail and find joy in Valinor.
Request: Pairing: Elladan/Legolas. Plot: Resolved angst, established relationship in Valinor. Happy ending, please.

That best portion of a good man's life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love. ~William Wordsworth (1770-1850)


Chapter 3

The journey along the Great West Road, and then to the Anduin River north of Osgiliath where Legolas awaited him, would not have taken Elladan more than three days travel had he been whole and riding his horse. With the wagon moving more slowly because of his injuries, the journey took five days. The men were kindness itself, preparing fresh herbal tea for his pain daily and seeing that he was as well fed and as comfortable as they could manage.

Elladan simply couldn’t remember being in such pain before – or for so long. But then he hadn’t ever cracked so many ribs at one time before either. If it had not been for the generosity of Berior and the men of the village, the journey would have been agonizing. Although his bed in the wagon was cushioned and comfortable, he was miserable, and simply wanted to get home to Legolas. Every movement, or no movement at all, was painful, and he knew just being in the presence of his beloved husband would ease his hurt. With any luck, the ship would be finished and ready to sail. He longed to join his family and friends again – and not just because he knew if he was not healed by the time they reached Valinor that his father would heal him. The truth was he missed them – his father, his grandmother, Glorfindel, Erestor, all the other elves he held dear, and especially his mother. Leaving Middle-earth was no burden when he thought of all those who awaited their coming.

As they neared the great river and the place he had called home for many years past, Elladan guided Berior along the winding roads. The thought occurred to him that he should probably rouse himself to sit in the front with Berior and so ease Legolas’ worry when his husband saw him. The notion of bestirring himself from where he half-sat, half-lay in the back of the wagon, propped up against the blankets so he could see the road, was too much to fathom, however, and he simply stayed where he was, unable to deal with the thought of the pain that his moving would cause.

It was mid-afternoon as the wagon and its outriders pulled into the clearing where their cottage sat, and seeing them, Gimli gave a great shout. “Elladan! I told him you were coming!” The Dwarf hurried to the wagon and leaned against the side, peering at Elladan. “Now what have you gone and done to yourself, and don’t you be bothering to say it’s nothing. Legolas felt it when you were hurt and gave me quite a scare.”

“Where is he, Gimli?” Elladan asked, looking around anxiously. “Is he all right?”

“Aye, he is. I’ve kept him busy making ready to sail while we waited for you, after I threatened to tie him to the mast if he tried to leave and go after you one more time. He’s down in the hold arranging things again. He ought to come bursting out of there any minute now, once he senses you’re back. Now, out with it, Laddie – what have you done to yourself and who are these kindly gentlemen who have brought you home in such style?”

“Just cracked ribs, Gimli,” Elladan said. His words stopped and the rest of Gimli’s question was forgotten as he saw Legolas race across the distance between them. In less than a moment, the lithe Elf had leapt lightly over the side of the wagon and was kneeling at his side.

The men watched the Dwarf curiously, having never before seen one of his kind, but then gazed in undisguised admiration at the beautiful, golden-haired Elf, realizing that the tales they had heard of the beauty of the Mirkwood prince were true. Each of them turned aside as they saw the prince gently kiss his mate, not wanting to intrude on a private moment.

There were no words spoken for long moments. The two Elves had no need for them, each one knowing what was in the other’s heart. Legolas gently laid one hand on Elladan’s chest in the area where the Mirkwood Elf had first felt the crushing pain, and the other lightly moved over the rest of his mate’s body, searching for more hurts.

“It is only my ribs, beloved one,” Elladan whispered, a gentle smile on his face. “Painful, but not dangerous, and I have been well cared for.”

Legolas’ worried blue eyes scoured his mate’s body, and he nodded, finally satisfied that Elladan had taken no other grievous injury. He glanced up to see that the men had dismounted and had been drawn away from the wagon and towards the ship by Gimli, who stood talking with them, allowing the two reunited Elves a few moments alone. “Can you rise? Shall I carry you, or will it make the pain worse?” Legolas asked quietly. “Our bed is in our cabin on the ship so we will go there. We have taken all we wished to carry to Valinor from the cottage and placed it on board the ship.”

“Just lower the gate at the end of the wagon and let me hold onto you to pull myself up. Then get down before me and take my hands to help me down, love,” Elladan said. “I can walk well enough, and I feel better just being home with you. Your touch has eased my pain, as I knew it would.”

Legolas did as Elladan asked and helped his mate from the wagon before reaching to gather his saddlebags and weapons in one hand. He cautiously wrapped an arm around Elladan’s waist to support him, watching his husband’s face to make sure he was not causing more pain.

As they slowly walked to join the men and Dwarf, Elladan said quietly, “I have given Dulinn to Caladir – the lad who rode him – and to his father, Berior. He was the one driving the wagon. He and his family took me into their home and cared for me after I was hurt. His wife even insisted I take their own bed. They are good people, Legolas. They would not let me ride off alone because they knew I was still hurting, and they expected nothing in return. Dulinn understands, I think. I have already said my goodbyes to him, and he is happy to be with them. There is already a bond growing between him and Caladir.”

Legolas nodded, but said nothing. When he had first seen Elladan half-laying in the wagon, his heart had skipped a beat, but now, even knowing his mate was not grievously wounded, he was still fraught with worry for the pain he knew his husband was so stoically bearing. All he wanted was to get Elladan on board the ship where he could care for him and ease his pain, but first he owed the men at least a word of gratitude for their kindness to his mate.

When they approached Gimli and the men, Elladan smiled and said, “This is my husband, Legolas, my friends, and our friend Gimli, son of Glóin.”

“I am indebted to you for your care of Elladan,” Legolas said, bowing slightly to the men. “I do not rightly know how to repay your kindness, but I thank you with all my heart.”

“We are indebted to Lord Elladan for helping to rid our village of the wargs that were attacking us, my lord,” Berior said as he and his companions bowed to Legolas and Gimli. “I owe my daughter’s life to him!”

“Wargs!” Gimli exclaimed. “Oh! What I would have given to have been there!”

“I am sorry we did not save any for you, Gimli,” Elladan said with a grin. “I fear we had to kill them all.”

Legolas gasped. “Is that how you were injured then? A warg?”

“You should have seen him, my lord!” Berior said before Elladan could answer. “Never have I seen anyone fight like that! He ran for my daughter and scooped her up in his arms, thrusting his sword into the charging beast! It was a sight to see! But the great, ugly beast still moved forward as it died, and rammed into Lord Elladan’s chest. He fell unconscious as his head hit the fence, still cradling my little one in his arm. The head wound was luckily not severe and he has not complained of it.”

Elladan inwardly sighed, wishing Berior had not told Legolas the whole story, but then he realized that Anwareth’s tendency to babble was not unique in their family. For some reason, that knowledge pleased him.

Legolas looked at Elladan, alarm in his eyes. That explained why his head had hurt when Elladan had been injured, although that pain had been overruled by the agony in his chest. “Does your head still pain you as well?” he asked sharply.

“No, love,” Elladan said quietly. “It is fine now. Truly.”

Gimli saw Legolas’ concern and said, “I have promised to show our new friends the ship, and they are going to stay here tonight and rest before heading back home. So let us go on board now, Legolas, and you can get Elladan into his bed and look after him. The men and I will make dinner for you and I will stay in the cottage with them tonight so you will have peace and quiet to rest.”

Legolas smiled at his friend. “Thank you, Gimli,” he said. “I admit I am anxious to get Elladan to myself and take care of him. We will go to our cabin first, and then perhaps you can show our friends the rest of the ship.”

They boarded the ship and the men praised the beauty and quality of the craftsmanship that went into her building. Legolas accepted the praise graciously and thanked them, and then led the small group to the cabin he would share with Elladan. The cabin was big enough to hold their bed and two bedside tables, a small desk, a dressing table, and a table with two chairs. A railed shelf for books, scrolls, and other small items ran around the room above the windows, and lamps were hung from the ceiling over the table and in the corners of the room. There was even a wardrobe built into one wall. Legolas set Elladan’s weapons and saddlebags on the table, and then let go of his mate long enough to display the thing he was most proud of in the cabin. He released a latch in the ceiling at the head of the bed and another at the foot, and double doors in the ceiling swung down to reveal the sky above. He secured the ceiling doors open with another set of latches at each side of the bed. “We will sleep under the stars at night,” he said softly, smiling at Elladan, knowing his mate would love what he had done.

“It is wonderful!” Elladan exclaimed, his eyes moving across the ceiling to examine the latches before finally settling on Legolas. “Thank you, love” he whispered.

Legolas placed his arm around Elladan’s waist again and held him close. “I knew you would love it,” he said.

“I do,” Elladan replied, gazing at his husband adoringly.

“Bah!” Gimli snorted. “Give me a solid roof over my head!”

“I did,” Legolas chuckled.

“It is all so beautiful,” Elladan said. “You and Gimli have truly outdone yourselves.”

“Wait until you see the galley!” Gimli said excitedly. “There is a fine oven for cooking our meals and plenty of room for preparing food and washing up. All the comforts of home!”

“Gimli has constructed a masterpiece of an oven and cooking stove,” Legolas said to Elladan. “But there will be plenty of time for you to see it all tomorrow. Now you must rest, my love, and let me take care of you.”

Elladan pouted and employed the little voice that usually meant he could get what he wanted out of Legolas. “But I want to see it now and it’s only the next room.”

Legolas rolled his eyes and sighed. “Oh, all right,” he said, giving in to his mate even though he knew he was being manipulated. “But you are not going down to see the hold.”

As they began to walk from the cabin, Elladan looked around the room once again and his eyes landed on an item lying on the desk: his leather-bound journal, now nearly full. “Wait a moment,” he said, stepping to the desk and picking up the journal. “Caladir, I would like you to take this with you. When you go to Minas Tirith, give it to Eldarion for the great library there. I began this journal many years ago in Imladris, when Aragorn first came to us as a small child, and it ends with the news of his passing. I would like it to stay in Minas Tirith as a record of his life.” He took a saddlebag from the table, emptied its contents, and handed it to Caladir, saying, “Take this to carry it in.”

Caladir accepted the journal, handling it reverently, and then carefully placed it into the saddlebag. “I do not know when I can go to Minas Tirith, my lord, but I will guard it until I can fulfill your wish and hand it over King Eldarion,” he said.

Elladan smiled at the young man. “I think you will be going sooner than you think.” Standing behind Caladir and unseen by his son, Berior nodded to the Elf. “Now, come and let us see this wonderful galley that Gimli has constructed.”

The galley was a masterpiece of Dwarven ingenuity and skill. Gimli had constructed an oven of stone, complete with metal doors for both the wood burning chamber and the oven itself. It was only slighter taller than a table, but the top of the oven was not of stone: fitted into the sides of the structure was a plate of steel that would heat from the fire inside of the oven and allow food to be cooked on its surface.

The walls around the oven, from floor to ceiling, were tiled in colored stones, and the floor around it was covered in thin flagstones. The smallest space around the stones was closely and expertly filled with mortar so that no flame could catch any part of the wooden ship on fire. Along one side of the room were sinks for cleaning and washing that would drain out into the ocean, and a large table for preparing food and dining was set in the middle of the room. Pots, pans, dishes, provisions, and everything needed in a normal kitchen were hanging from hooks, resting on railed shelves, or in latched cupboards. Barrels of fresh water stood along the wall opposite the sinks.

Gimli beamed as Elladan and the men marveled at the inventive oven, the men immediately beginning to talk about adapting the design for their own homes. After the Dwarf promised to show them his sketches later in the evening, he said, “Legolas, you will need warm water for Elladan to bathe and ease his aches. I will start the fire here and put a kettle or two of water to boil. Take the large tub into your cabin. We will half fill it with water from the river and then you will only have to add the hot water to it.”

“We have a tub on board?” Elladan murmured, just the thought of a warm bath already seeming to soothe his pain.

The men immediately went to work, each of them wanting to help. They filled the oven with wood and started a fire, brought the large wooden tub up from the hold and put it in the cabin, hauled buckets of water up from the river to fill the tub, and placed two kettles of water on the stove to heat.

When they had finished, Legolas and Elladan thanked the men warmly. As Gimli led the men away to see the rest of the ship, Legolas stopped them. “My friends, the thought has just occurred to me that we have left quite a bit of furniture and household items in the cottage that we cannot take with us. Perhaps you could use what remains? There are two wagons with harnesses still in the barn and you have the horses to draw them, as well as the wagon you carried Elladan in. The garden is also still full of a surplus of vegetables and the apple trees are heavy with fruit. It will be light for several hours yet and you could make short work of harvesting what remains. Many of the plants are growing in barrel halves that can simply be placed in the wagons. The furniture and other items from the cottage you could load in the morning if need be, before you set out for your home. We will sail early in the morning and it would please us to know our things went to such good people. It would also lighten my heart of its debt to you for your kindness to my mate.”

“Oh, that is an excellent idea, Legolas!” Gimli exclaimed, clapping his hands, and Elladan nodded in agreement.

Berior bowed and said, “Once again, you are far too generous, my lord. We will accept your kind offer with gratitude. The wargs damaged this year’s crops, and the vegetables and fruit will be most welcome. We will make sure that everyone in our little village gets a share of them. Whatever we take, we will distribute first to those who have the greater need, and then as equally as we may.” The other men nodded and added their thanks and agreement to the plan.

What was left on the ship for the men to see was quickly accomplished, and Gimli led them back to the cottage, promising Legolas that he would return to the ship later with their meal. Once at the cottage, they set to work harvesting the garden behind it and preparing food.

Legolas led Elladan back to their cabin. Finally alone, they sat on the bed for long minutes simply holding each other and sharing languid kisses, content for the moment to be together once again. Finally, Legolas said, “Never leave me again, my love. I could not bear it if I lost you. I thought I would die when I felt your pain.”

“Forgive me for causing you pain, love,” Elladan whispered. “I will never leave you again, but you are a better boat-builder than I, and one of us had to help Elrohir convince your father and my grandfather to sail.”

“Did my father and Celeborn go to the Havens with Elrohir? Will they sail?” Legolas finally asked.

“They have already sailed. I can no longer feel Elrohir on these shores,” Elladan answered. “What Elves were left in all of the realms accompanied them. It did not take all that much to convince them. Your father said he did not want to stay if you sailed, and my grandfather said the same about Elrohir and me. They will reach Valinor before us and your father will be awaiting us…awaiting you.”

Legolas sighed in relief – relief that his beloved mate was back in his arms, and relief that his father would finally sail. “Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you for making him listen to you. I could not bear the thought of leaving him behind.”

“Do you not know I would do anything to ensure your happiness, my beautiful one?” Elladan said. “I love you so very much.”

Leaning back to look into his mate’s eyes, Legolas cupped Elladan’s face in his hands. “I love you more than my life,” he whispered. After bestowing a slow and fervent kiss on his beloved’s lips, he said, “Your pain is still bad. I can feel it. Do you need a potion to ease it?” He did not have Elladan’s healing skills, but over the years his husband had taught him all there was to know of herb lore and remedies.

Elladan carefully leaned again Legolas. “Truthfully, love, even to draw a breath hurts. The men have been making me a tea of herbs to dull the pain, but it has been weak enough to merely make the pain bearable. I did not want to fall into a heavy sleep, especially on the journey when anything could have happened. I have not slept very well and I am exhausted. I am so tired of hurting. After my bath and our meal, I would love to have a stronger potion and sleep for hours in your arms.”

“Then you shall,” Legolas whispered, placing a soft kiss on top of the dark head. “Wait here while I finish fixing your bath, and then afterwards you can rest until Gimli brings our meal.”

Legolas added the hot water from the kettles on the cooking stove to what was already in the wooden bath tub, and in no time at all, Elladan was clean and feeling much refreshed, clothed in a soft night shirt, his chest newly bound with fresh bandages, his wet hair braided, and resting comfortably in their bed. Legolas had muttered and steamed and given Elladan the tongue-lashing the half-Elf had been expecting when he saw the vivid purple bruises. Gimli brought their dinner as promised, and after drinking a powerful mixture of healing herbs, he slipped into a deep, restorative sleep, warmly held in Legolas’ arms.

Early the following morning, Berior and Caladir came on board the ship once more and bid their friend farewell, and then the party of men with three loaded wagons began their journey home. Gimli brought the last of his possessions on board, and the three friends set sail down the Anduin. Reaching the Bay of Belfalas at the mouth of the great river, they sailed up the coast to the Grey Havens, and then out to sea along the Straight Road to Valinor.


Tbc...