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A Healing Touch

By: Gore
folder -Multi-Age › Slash - Male/Male
Rating: Adult ++
Chapters: 40
Views: 18,223
Reviews: 258
Recommended: 1
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.
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Heart of Gold

Hello, everyone here's your next update. I hope everyone likes. Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers.

Kathy: Don't wory, a few more chapters and he'll reach his majority.

Aduial: Horrid piece of work? Your fics rock! Dancing with Knives was one of my favorites, by the
way.

giggle: Lol, yeah. Everyone loves little Legolas, he just so damn cute. But don't think he's completely innocent, you guys may want to kill me for the chapter after this next one.

Steph: You're very welcome! And here, I updated again! Go me!

Natalya: Thank you, I will! And here's your next update.

Mawgy: Well your reply certainly had me grinning like an idiot all day, lol. You'd make a good councilor, you seem to have the gift for making people feel better about themselves. LMAO, rubber wall paper and a double labotomy. Thats a good one, I'll have to remember that.

louise_oblique: Thank you, here's the next bit. *hugs*

perdowen: I have good spelling and punctuation? You have got to be the FIRST person EVER to tell me that. I'm glad you liked the horse scene, I had fun writing it.

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Disclaimer: Um.... no.

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CH 4 ~

Legolas sat disappointedly upon one of the stall doors in one of Elrond's stables, his legs dangling off the side as he swung them back and forth while stroking his filly's neck. "But why can't I go with you?"

Elladan looked up from adjusting the girth of his saddle on his own mare's back. "Legolas, you are too young yet to hunt orcs. You have neither the proper training nor the correct equipment. Besides we may be gone for months, we are not simply out skirting the boarders of Imladris."

"Yes," Elrohir inquired, guiding his stallion from its own stall, "we are to join the Dunadan at the outskirts of the Misty Mountains and travel from there on. Such a long journey would not bode well for a young elfling such as yourself."

Legolas scowled at the younger twin at referring to him as a 'young elfling' but chose not to comment. "But .... who am I supposed to play with when you're gone?"

"Well I am sure that Glorfindel or adar will find the time to spend with you."

Legolas sighed, frowning as he stared down at his knees. "They're busy most of the time."

"What about Skylenar? I am sure she will enjoy your company."

Legolas looked thoughtfully at the young mare at Elrohir's suggestion and slowly nodded. "Well I suppose we could find something to do together." the horse whinnied as if in agreement and the twins chuckled.

Leading their horses out of the stables the sons of Elrond adjusted their packs and weapons. Assuring the saddlebags were securely fastened, they mounted their faithful horses.

Legolas, followed closely behind by his own young horse, exited the stables to see the brothers off.

Trotting their horses to the gates of the stable yards, Elladan nodded his head at the elfling. "Namarie, Legolas, be good while we are gone," a sly smile crossed the elder twin's features, "then when we return we shall reek havoc on Rivendell together."

Legolas giggled as he waved goodbye to the two brothers as they galloped off into the distance. "Namarie."

Sighing as Elladan and Elrohir departed, Legolas turned to Skylenar and smiled as she nuzzled his hand. "Come on, Sky', lets go and find something fun to do."

Jogging across a grassy hill, elfling and mare approached Legolas' favoured willow tree. Taking a seat under it while his trustful companion grazed, thoughts and ideas ran through Legolas' mind as to how he could alleviate his boredom.

After seemingly endless minutes of thinking Legolas sighed in frustration as he stared up at the bright sky, watching the clouds slowly drift by. Turning to look at his horse as she neared him he spoke to her as he stroked the dotted fur. "I wish Arwen was here. She'd find something fun for us to do."

Arwen had travelled to Lothlorien several days prier to visit her grandparents in the breathtakingly beautiful lands much to Legolas' dismay. The Evenstar of the Last Homely House had come to mean much to the young elfling, almost as a second mother to him though she could never truly take the place of Asilion in the young prince's golden heart but still, Legolas thought, Arwen always seemed to have time for him.

"I wonder ...," Legolas chided, "Hey! Glorfindel is supposed to be training some of the soldiers for combat in the courtyard. Maybe he could teach us as well. Wouldn't that be wonderful, Skylenar? Legolas Greenleaf Thranduilion , Guardian of the elves! Alongside his trustful steed, Skylenar, daughter of the noble Asfaloth the great!" Legolas exclaimed, "then perhaps Elladan and Elrohir would let us join them next time on one of their adventures if we are ready,"

Climbing gracefully up on one of the long boughs of the tree, Legolas motioned for his mare to come closer. Once close enough Legolas gently slid on the gentle animal's back and, gripping her mane, motioned her towards the courtyard by pointing his finger which in turn the horse complied setting a slow, gentle trot.


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"Very good, Elwithil, now try closing in on your distance but don’t take your eyes off mine. That’s one of the most important things a warrior must learn -- always look your opponent in the eyes. That way you can tell if he is going to strike, for their eyes will deceive their intentions."

Glorfindel swung his training sword at his young student, attempting to strike at his neck which in turn the young dark haired elf effectively blocked with his own weapon.

"Excellent! now lunge at me."

As Glorfindel instructed his pupil, four other of his students stood staring transfixed at their mentor and companion, some imitating the moves they made with their own training swords.

Riding up the stone path still mounted on his faithful mare, Legolas stopped several feet away from the practiced combat not wishing to interfere in the concentrated swordplay. Guiding Skylenar quietly around the two warriors, giving them a wide birth as to not break their concentration, he slowly approached a bench which held the training weapons.

Sliding off the mare's back, Legolas carefully lifted one of the overly sized training bows-- loverly sized for his small stature at least. Sizing it up with himself, as well as picking up one of the dulled arrows, Legolas strung the arrow to the bowstring and looked into his reflection which glinted off one of the shining metal sword sheaths. Yes, Legolas decided, when he grew up and became a warrior this would be his weapon of choice. Discarding the weapons to their original positions, Legolas looked closely at one of the deadly hunting knives similar to the one Elrohir bore for sniping orcs with. Curious as to how it would feel like in his hand, Legolas firmly grasped the hilt of the weapon, which unbeknownst to him was in fact a real hunting knife.

Luckily for Legolas, as soon as he entered the area he had drawn the attention of several of the students whom observed him curiously, wondering why such a young elfling was gallivanting about in the court yard which, known to everyone, was frequently used as a yard in which soldiers practiced their weapons skills. The students made no big deal at first as Legolas picked up the bow and arrow, knowing it was harmless and merely chuckled at the child's antics but as soon as the elfling reached for the knife the students sobered in concern and one of them turned to their teacher.

"Um ... Lord Glorfindel?"

Glorfindel ducked the sword aimed for his head, just missing it at the distraction and glared irritably at his student. "Yes, Tunndol, what is it?"

"Uh ..." the student simply pointed towards the elfling handling the deadly weapon.

Following the elf's gaze, Glorfindel gasped as he saw Legolas fingering the knife with his hands and immediately dropped his training sword and darted towards the child. "Legolas, no!"

Whirling around in surprise, Legolas caught the edge of the knife on Glorfindel's forearm, making the elf lord grunt in pain as the weapon sliced into his flesh. Dropping the knife to the ground in utter horror at what he'd just done, Legolas backed away several paces in a state of panic as his eyes brimmed with tears. "I’m sorry! It was an accident, I didn’t mean to hurt you!"

Squinting his eyes shut against the sharp sting in his arm Glorfindel took a deep breath before he turned back to the elfling forcing a smile in reassurance that he was alright. Placing a hand firmly over the wounded flesh the elf lord turned to his students who were staring in shock between the two. "I think it best if we cut our lesson short for the day. Tunndol, if you would be so kind as to return this animal to the pasture," Glorfindel gestured to Legolas' horse with his nose.

Without a word the said student guided Skylenar in the directions of the stables while the other students departed and went their separate ways.

Turning a stern glare to the youngster once his students had left, Glorfindel started walking towards the house, expecting Legolas to follow. Legolas walked closely beside the seneschal, his head bowed in shame, the unshed tears in his eyes did not dissipate.

Dread overcame the young elf as he hesitantly looked up to his elder, fearing his fate.
"Are you going to spank me now?" he fearfully asked in a barely audible, small voice.

Glorfindel clenched his teeth tightly, and sighed exasperatedly. "Nay, Legolas. It was not deliberate and accidents do happen but even if I did wish to punish you I doubt I would be able to in this condition," he gestured to his injured arm, "but the next time there are weapons laying about, harmless or no, you be sure to have either my or someone else's permission before you handle them, do you understand?" with a nod of the boys head Glorfindel continued, "this is exactly how accidents happen. You could have seriously gotten hurt." leaving it at that Glorfindel climbed up the stairs heading the direction of the healing rooms on the west wing of the house, Legolas following after him.


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"Legolas," Elrond chastised as he smeared a healing liquid over Glorfindel's arm, "What ever possessed you to handle those weapons in the first place?"

Legolas looked up guiltily from where he was sitting on a simple wooden chair at the side of the wall to the two elf lords, Glorfindel sitting on one of the beds in the healing room and Elrond standing in front of him gently cleaning his wounded arm.

Still fighting against the tears that threatened to spill, Legolas answered the dark haired lord trying as best he could to keep the sorrow out of his voice roused from the guilt he still felt for hurting his beloved mentor and guardian. "I ... I just wanted to train with Glorfindel so I could become a warrior."

Elrond sighed. "Legolas, you are too young yet to learn combat, especially with a weapon."

"Why does everybody say that!?! I’m too young to do anything around here and just because I'm smaller than everybody else they never want to do anything with me! Elladan and Elrohir said the same thing and that is why they would not let me go hunting with them."

"Whether or not they would have allowed you to go with them would not be their decision in the first place, I am your rightful guardian and decisions of such are to be made by me alone and you will not take that tone of voice with me again, Legolas Greenleaf, do I make myself clear?"

Looking into the lord of Rivendell's eyes, Legolas could see the anger that flared in them because of Legolas' disrespectful tone and he immediately regretted it. He did not mean for his words to come out as they did but his anger and frustration at being thought so little of set his temper off. Lowering his eyes in shame as his guardian awaited his reply with a raised eyebrow, Legolas slowly nodded."Y-yes, my lord. I'm sorry to have disrespected you so."

Elrond nodded, acknowledging the heartfelt apology. "As for being lonely, Legolas, why not play with the other children in Rivendell?"

Legolas looked down at his knees when he replied. "They don't like me."

"What makes you think that, penneth?" Glorfindel asked before he hissed in pain as Elrond poured a pulp on his wound."

"Because I know they don’t. Because I'm from Mirkwood. They think it’s scary there and ... and I don’t know. They think I'm strange."

"Legolas I--"

"People treat me different, Glorfindel. What's wrong with me?"

Glorfindel sighed, a sad smile upon his lips "Nothing is wrong with you. They just don’t know how to react to someone that comes from so far away from a different land." Legolas made no other response than a curt nod.

"Legolas," Elrond gently said, "Why don’t you go and meet Erestor for your lessons. He is expecting you shortly."

"Yes, lord Elrond."

Legolas slowly slid off his chair and took his leave while Elrond returned his attention back to his patient. Glorfindel jerked slightly as the elf lord rubbed a salve over the cut. "Oh honestly, Glorfindel, you are worse than an elfling. Now be still."

"It hurts." Glorfindel ground out through clenched teeth.

Elrond hid a smile as he turned to retrieve some bandages. " 'Tis barely a scratch. You know, for a former Balrog slayer you complain far too much over pain. Your return from the dead has left your new flesh as sensitive as a new born babe's bottom."

That earned Elrond a playful swat from his patient. "You try staying in Mandos' keep for a while and see how you'd react."

"No, thank you, I'm quite content here, for the most part," Elrond added, "at least I would be if it were not for you." that earned the respectful elf lord a pillow right in the face.


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".... and when Isildur took up his father's sword he ... Legolas? Legolas, are you listening? Legolas!"

Erestor's sudden shout of his name immediately roused Legolas from his own thoughs hes he was staring out the window in the study. "I’m sorry, lord Erestor, what was that?"

With an exasperated sigh Erestor all but slammed down the book he was holding, glaring at the distracted child. "You haven’t been listening to a word I’ve been saying, have you?"

"I've already heard this story over a hundred times, lord Erestor, and I doubt it’s going to change from the last hundred times I’ve heard it."

"Well that all depends on your perspective, does it not? Everyone sees things differently, Legolas. Everything changes depending on one's point of view. Winter turns to spring, small things grow large and things are always changing into something else, much like after a caterpillar has made its cocoon, it then breaks out and emerges into a beautiful butterfly."

*Not again. Erestor's going into one of his boring lectures.* Legolas thought. Turning to gaze out the window again he noticed the sun high in the sky. "And speaking of things changing, look at Anor."

"Fine," Erestor groaned, "go then, have your fun. And, Legolas? Perhaps you should take Glorfindel's advice and make some friends your own age. Unless of course you wish to grow into an old grouch like myself."

That thought seemed to have struck a nerve with Legolas as a look of dread overcame his young features. Bowing his head quickly to his teacher the young prince left the room and wandered outside.

Once outside Legolas walked the paths along one of the great rivers of Imladris until he spotted a group of four children approximately his age standing near a cluster of trees. Feeling terribly shy and not wishing to interfere, but awfully lonely, Legolas timidly approached the small group of elflings, listening to their conversation.

"I still think we should go swimming. There’s naught else to do." the tallest boy said, obviously the leader of the small group.

"But Orchalorn, were not allowed. The tide is in and without our adars and naneths here we would have nobody to help us if we drown. Besides it’s going to rain this eve."

"The storm won't approach for a while and we wont drown. Unless any of you don't know how to swim ... "

The other boys looked at each other uncertainly. They knew their parents would not be pleased if they disobeyed them but they felt as if their pride was at stake. Before they had a chance to reply however a new voice broke in. "I can swim, may I join you?"

The four boys turned to the golden haired elfling, some of them scowling at his intrusion, others simply staring at in ain amusement. The lead boy, Orchalorn, was the one who spoke. "What? You can swim," the boy said sarcastically, "from what I was told you fell into the river once and would have drowned had it not been for lord Glorfindel."

"Well that was a few months ago. I’m better now. Please may I go with you?"

"No! be gone, prince of Mirkwood, before I decide to pommel you to the ground."

"Careful, Orchalorn, he may share his adar's bad temper and decide to throw you in the dungeons or worse yet, feed you to the spiders." one of the other boys chided.

Though Legolas tried to oppress his hurt by the cruel words and attempted to blink away the tears that were forming as he began to turn away, the crude comment regarding his father had struck a nerve with the young prince and he turned to the elfling whom had said it, anger lighting his sapphire eyes. "My adar would never do such a thing!"

"Probably not," Orchalorn interjected "Thranduil would probably just let the orcs kill me, like he let them kill his herves."

Feeling as if an arrow had struck his heart, Legolas, full of anger and sorrow, lunged at the other elfling, pushing him forcefully against one of the oak trees.

Orchalorn, being the larger elfling, unfortunately had the upper hand as he, in turn, punched Legolas in the face effectively knocking him to the ground.

Legolas' head was spinning as he tasted the tangy copper of blood pouring from his nose and split lip. Before Legolas could even register what was happening the other boy whom had insulted his father cruelly landed a kick at Legolas' stomach nearly knocking the wind out of him. Then forcefully dragging him up from the ground, one of the boys shoved him, kicking him in the rear to effectively force him away, causing him to stumble.

"Get out of here, Greenleaf, why don’t you go talk to your precious trees. You're not wanted here."

Trying to hide the tears that shown in his bright blue eyes, Legolas ran off deep into the forest, a trail of taunts and laughfollfollowing behind him.

Finally letting the long held tears fall, Legolas tried to stifle a sob as he wiped away the blood from his face on the sleeve of his light green tunic. It wasn't fair. How could people be so cruel? All he wanted was a friend.

Stopping at a tree that seemed to beckon to him, Legolas, with little difficulty, climbed the massive trunk, snuggling into the protection of the large branches. Thoughts that had been plaguing him all day returned to his fragile heart. No one seemed to want him. He was a burden to everyone. Elladan and Elrohir wouldn’t take him with them, Elrond was too busy with his work to spend time with him, and every time he spent time with Glorfindel he always seemed to get him hurt, just like this morning in the courtyard.

Legolas pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his head into them, sobbing as the elflings cruel words came back to him. *Get out of here Greenleaf, you're not wanted here.* The words echoed in his mind over and over.

It was true, the prince realized, he was not wanted in Imladris. He seemed to be a burden to everyone he was around. Not bothering to let the tears falter, Legolas looked up into the sky as Anor's rays seemed to darken. Clouds began covering the sky, rain clouds, Legolas noted. It was going to rain. The sky was crying, just like Legolas' soul. Perhaps the Arda could feel his pain.

Hearing a loud crack of thunder, Legolas jolted, huddling right up against the tree. Deciding it was time to return home, Legolas went to leap down but suddenly realized he had no recollection of where he was, nor could he remember the direction he had come from, too distraught at the time to even care.

Whimpering as the sky rumbled again, Legolas snuggled as deep against the tree as he could as the rain began to heavily pour.


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Elrond entered his study surprised to see Erestor, seemingly oblivious to his entrance, skim quickly through an old text. "Where is Legolas? I expected to find him here with you."

"Hmm? Oh, the last I've seen him was when he finished today’s lesson. After that he went outside."

"Outside in this weather?" as if to emphasize his point, lightening flashed across the sky quickly followed by thunder as the rain heavily came down. “Erestor, Imladris is expecting a massive storm.”

“It was not raining earlier when I let him out."

Though masking his features, dread overcame the elf lord's heart and he quickly called down the hall. "Glorfindel!"

Hearing his lord's call, Glorfindel immediately rounded the corner noting the quavering in Elrond's voice. Entering the study he quickly walked towards Elrond. "What is the matter, my lord?"

"Legolas is missing, I can find him nowhere and the last Erestor saw of him was when he was outside."

"Oh Valar, you haven't been able to find him either?"

"Nay. Quickly Glorfindel, Erestor, fetch your cloaks and weapons and have the stable masters ready our horses. We must find him."

Charging out the stable doors, Elrond, Glorfindel, Erestor and two guard galloped their horses through the forest paths, Elrond using his foresight to help guide them through the heavy weather. The rain felt unnaturally cruel as it pelted the elves exposed faces like sharp needles and the wind strongly blew against them as if it were trying to stop them from going in their coursed direction. As they rode deeper into the wood, twigs and branches hit against them and finally when they came to a split in the path, Elrond sent Glorfindel, Erestor and one guard in one direction while he and the other guard took the other. Despite the chilled weather and the late hour they continued on, calling out the young elfling's name.


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It was late night and still the rain poured heavily while the powerful winds howled through the canopy of the trees. Despite the fact that elves were able to adapt easily to the temperature, Legolas shivered as his now drenched clothing stuck to his chilled flesh. He was cold, and very hungry, he noted as his belly rumbled, as well as extremely tired. Despite everything that had happened, that no one wanted him anymore, Legolas found that he dearly missed lord Elrond and lord Glorfindel though he doubted that the feeling was mutual after the way he had behaved with them earlier.

Tremors coursed through the young one's body as he began to sob again. Nobody was going to find him, nobody probably even wanted to find him anyway. He had been a bad elfling, snapping at lord Elrond, the elf lord whom had willingly without question taken him into his home when he needed him the most, was one of the worst things he felt he'd done. And stabbing lord Glorfindel with the knife, Legolas still felt an incredible surge of guilt which made his stomach turn at the thought. And then the other elflings .... well they never liked him anyway. No, Legolas definitely couldn't blame anyone for not wanting to find him.

Legolas was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a harsh, deep growl come from the base of the tree. Peering down, Legolas gasped in fear as he caught sight of a very large, very mean looking warg. Unconsciously whimpering in the back of his throat, Legolas tried to push as far back into the tree as possible though his effort was in vane as the result of the act caused Legolas' foot to slip on the wet, slippery branch, losing his balance causing him to fall to the ground with a loud ear piercing scream which immediately attracted the warg.

With an audible crash to the wet, soggy ground, Legolas couldn’t help but wail as a surge of scorching pain lanced up his wrist, while his breath felt like it had been forced out of his lungs. Trembling in fear as the beast approached him with its ears pinned back and large sharp teeth bared, along with the sobs that racked his body from the pain, Las das did not notice the two figures that raced towards him on horseback.

Just as the warg brought its teeth down on Legolas' tiny leg and dragged the fearful child towards it causing Legolas to screech in fear and pain, two arrows swiftly imbedded themselves in the back of the creature's neck, killing it instantly and causing the limp figure to fall over tharfuarful child's body.

Lowering his bow, Elrond immediately dismounted his steed and raced towards the squirming, panicking figure pinned under the warg's heavy body and carelessly pushed the carcass off with his foot before kneeling down to the hysterical child and immediately pulled him into his arms as the small body trembled violently and racked with sobs.

"Shh, shh, Legolas, it is alright, I am here now. You are safe." Elrond gently cooed into the child's ear. He then turned to his guard. "Go and find lord Glorfindel and Erestor and tell them we have found him. We will meet you back home."

With a nod the guard quickly spurred his mount in the other direction as Elrond stood with Legolas in his arms and mounted his own horse.

"Let’s get you home and out of this dreadful weather so I can have a better look at your wounds and get you into some dry clothes and something into your belly."

Legolas sobbed through his words though he did not give up his hold around Elrond's neck.
"I didn't think you wanted me anymore after the way I spoke to you today."

"That is nonsense. We shall discuss this at home." Turning his horse in the direction they came Elrond galloped his horse back to the Last Homely House.


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As soon as Elrond and Legolas arrived back, the elf lord immediately carried Legolas to the healing room and stripped him of his wet clothing and draped a heavy woollen blanket around his trembling form. Elrond had just bandaged Legolas' sprained wrist and was was gently cleansing the blood from his wounded leg. Thankfully the warg did not sink its teeth too deeply into Legolas' flesh though it still pierced the skin. There were dark purple bruises forming on the leg and it would be tender for the next few days and close to impossible to walk on without causing pain but with the incredible healing abilities of elves it would ease to a dull ache in a matter of days.

Legolas yelped in pain as Elrond gently poured an antibacterial liquid over a particularly deep gash on his knee. "I know, I know, Legolas, it stings but it must be done. It will make you feel better, I promise."

Pulling the heavy blanket more tightly around his bear person, Legolas sighed, not having the heart to look the elf lord in the eyes. "I'm sor was was so much trouble. I didn't think that ...."

"That what, Legolas? That we would be so worried?" at Legolas' sorrowful nod Elrond gently lifted the boy’s chin with his fingers, "Legolas, just because wre are angry with you does not mean we love you any less but sometimes your elders must be strict with you to make you understand the importance of a situation," Elrond explained as he finished bandaging the leg. "the incident with the knife today .... We weren’t trying to be mean by forbidding you from touching the weapons, we were simply worried that you would injure yourself. o tho things for a reason, Legolas, because certain actions have certain consequences and we don’t wish to see you hurt. We love you, Legolas, and when you hurt yourself you are hurting us as well. Do you understand now, penneth?"

Nodding his head, Legolas looked up with teary eyes. "Yes, lord Elrond, I'm sorry."

Sitting on the bed beside him, Elrond opened his arms towards the small elfling. "Come here."

Without any hesitation, Legolas all but jumped into the elf lord's arms, very much needing the physical comfort as Elrond tenderly pulled up the falling blanket tightly around the shivering frame. Sighing in relief Elrond then held the small body as tightly as he could without injuring the elfling further. "Oh, Legolas," Elrond whispered, "don’t you ever run away again." Elrond's ears perked when he heard rapid footsteps coming down the hall.

Glorfindel immediately paused in the doorway with a sigh of relief at seeing the young prince safely tucked in Elrond's lap, and slouched against the door frame. Erestor all but stormed passed him in a fit of anger. "Where is he?" Erestor demanded, "I'm going to put that boy over my knee and give him the spanking of a lifetime for making us worry like that."

Legolas instinctively tightened his hold on Elrond while the elf lord tried to calm the angered elf down. "I don’t believe that will be necessary, Erestor. I believe Legolas has already learnt his lesson. Haven't you, Legolas."

"Yes, my lord," Legolas mumbled, looking down.

"Erestor, why don't you go and tell the cook to make Legolas some broth and have it sent to his room."

Erestor merely grunted and stocked out of the room. As soon as he left, Glorfindel rushed up and sat beside Elrond on the bed whom still held Legolas in his lap.

"Are you alright, penneth?" Glorfindel murmured as he tenderly stroked a strand of the elfling's damp golden hair behind an elegantly pointed ear.

Legolas took hold of the seneschal's wounded arm with his uninjured one and nodded while he gently traced his hand over the bandage. "Yes, lord Glorfindel. I got lost in the woods after I got into a fight and I was so upset that I didn’t pay attention to where I was going. I’m sorry I made everyone worry."

"A fight, Legolas? With whom? About what?"

"Orchalorn," Legolas mumbled. "I wanted to play with him and his friends but they wouldn’t let me. And then they started teasing me and then they insulted my ada and said that he let the orcs kill nana so I pushed him and he punched me and one of his friends kicked me and then I ran off into the forest."

Elrond and Glorfindel looked worriedly at each other before Glorfindel sighed. "Orchalorn and his friends are just common bullies, Legolas. Stay away from them and always come to one of us if they start bothering you. If you must defend yourself against them than do so but never instigate a fight, Legolas, please, just walk away."

"I won't, Glorfindel, I promise. But who am I supposed to play with now? You both always seem so busy and now Elladan and Elrohir aren't here."

Elrond sighed, "I will make a deal with you, Legolas. From now on every night after noon meal the three of us will spend the evening together, alright?"

Legolas' face seemed to brighten a little as he looked up at the elf lord. "Alright."

"Come then," Elrond and Glorfindel stood in unition as the elf lord lead the way out the door, "Let’s get you ready for bed. The hour is late and you have a meal awaiting you in your chambers."


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After Legolas had eaten his fill Elrond and Glorfindel had helped him bathe and ready himself for bed and tucked him in. While Glorfindel reclined on a soft chair at the side of the bed retelling the story of the days of Gondolin and its great fall, Elrond had sat beside Legolas at the edge of the bed running his hand through the elfling's hair until he finally fell into a peaceful sleep.

Joining Erestor in the Halls of Fire, Elrond recalled to him of the warg attack as well as the incident with the other children.

"Well," Erestor murmured, "at least now the lad is safe and sound. I must admit I was terribly worried about him."

"We all were, mellon-nin," Glorfindel replied, "and whether Legolas realizes it or not he is a member of this family and holds a special place in each of our hearts."

"Yes, he does have a way of growing on you, doesn't he. A heart of gold, that one has. Perhaps we should start calling Legolas 'glaurohun'. "

"Yes," Elrond agreed, " glaurohun ... a heart of gold."


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penneth: young one
ada/adar: daddy/father
namarie: farewell
anor: sun
herves: wife
mellon-nin: my friend
glaurohun: golden heart

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