Winter Tears

Chapter 6
Legolas sat tentatively up against the pillows in bed his arm tightly bound against his chest in a sling. He ached like nothing he’d ever experienced before. His whole body felt as if a thousand Oliphant’s had trampled him. Haladin sat tentatively on the edge of the bed gently spooning warm vegetable broth to him as he wanted it. He’d woken earlier in the morning to find it still dark outside and so he’d fallen asleep straight away after seeing Haladin meditating in the window seat next to the bed. Now however he was hungry, his throat was sore and so the sweet cakes he craved had to be substituted with warm broth instead.

“Would you like anymore?” Legolas nodded weakly at Haladin but rejected the spoon full of broth his tutor offered him in favour of taking the bowl and drinking from it himself. Encouraged by the prince’s appetite Haladinowedowed Legolas to drink from the bowl by himself before refilling it from the larger pitcher of soup warming by the fire upon the prince’s request. “I have sent a message this morning to your father, telling of your operation. He will be pleased to know that Elrond is looking after you.” Legolas smiled his silent approval of his tutor’s message knowing that even over such a large distance his father had probably felt his pain last night. Finishing his second bowl of soup Legolas handed the empty bowl back to his tutor who merely grumbled his disapproval as Legolas burped and wiped his mouth on the sleave of his nightshirt.

“Nice.” Through his sore throat Legolas managed to rasp out a single word as he pointed to what remained of the soup. Haladin chuckled and nodded in understanding; Legolas liked his food just like Thranduil and only ever enjoyed the finest meals.

“Aye it is good isn’t it? Elrond had it made especially for you.” Legolas smiled appreciatively as he settled back into his pillows, and drawing the blanket back up over his body. The thin sleeping gown Haladin had dressed him in the night before was not nearly enough to keep Legolas warm in the coolness of the morning, even with the sun shining in through the open balcony doors onto the bed. “Speaking of which Elrond is coming to see you this morning to change your bandages, I thought you might like a bath before he arrives?” Haladin stood up from the side of Legolas’ bed fully expecting to receive a positive response to his query but Legolas defiantly shook his head in refusal. Legolas still felt far too sore to be taking a bath and having remembered the pain of last night’s operation was not willing to get his arm wet any time soon.

”No”. A little grumpy all of a sudden Leoglas rasped out his refusal again before turning over in his bed with his back to his tutor. Haladin sighed heavily but did not argue. The prince had been through a lot and it was only natural he wanted to stay in bed for the day, even if he still smelt foul from both Elrond’s work last night and the journey to Rivendell yesterday.

“Very well I am going to go down for breakfast myself, I am sure you are quite capable of staying in bed by yourself until I return.” Legolas watched in the reflection of the balcony doors as Haladin left the room leaving Legolas to relax in the sun beams pouring in from outside. In the morning sun Legolas could see just the treetops of Rivendell’s valley beyond the balcony and the prince longed to see the waterfalls and birds he could only hear from his current position in bed. With Haladin gone however Legolas was on his own and so defying his tutor’s strict orders Legolas rose slowly from his bed. At first he wobbled on his feet but with a steadying hand on the furniture around him Legolas made his way cautiously out onto the balcony and into the sunshine. Despite the coolness of his room outside there was a warm breeze and Leoglas closed his eyes and tilted his face upwards towards the sky as he settled down on the small wicker chair in the corner of the balcony. Never in his life had Legolas seen such beauty in the land around. The waterfalls glistened crystal clear in the sunlight and were so inviting. He could see down below that a small number of elves were splashing about in the cool depths of the pool at the base of the waterfall and Legolas chuckled to himself at their boisterous play. The elves seemed to be about his age if not a little older and Leoglas longed to go and meet them. He’d had very little friends in Mirkwood, being a prince his father had forbidden any friendships that were not considered fruitful to the young prince and his future. There were not many elves his age willing to brave the kings dislike just to make friends with him. Thus Legolas had spent far more time than any young elf should with his mentor Haladin. Imladris provided a rare opportunity for Legolas to perhaps make friends.

There was so much to do, to see and to experience yet he was stuck here because of the stupid spider yet again. Grumpy again because of his confinement Legolas settled back in his chair in the sun soaking up the environment, the strange sounds and smells around him. He also began running through the names of the elves he’d already met, Elrond, Glorfindel, the two twins if not formally, Lindir and the other few members of Elrond’s household but one name made him suddenly refocus. Erestor. The dark haired advisor to Lord Elrond. Although not remembering most of the previous night save for the pain Legolas did however remember the advisor’s soothing voice, the gentle caresses and the soft reassuring chocolate gaze. No one even his father had spoken so gently to him before and none bar a select few, such as his mother, had been allowed to caress Legolas’ cheek such as Erestor had done so freely the night before. Instinctively Legolas brought his hand up to touch his cheek, the memory of the advisor’s soft hand brushing across his skin making him shiver lightly.

The moment however was broken by someone stepping soundlessly onto the balcony beside him. Being lost in his thoughts Legolas had not heard the approaching elf and so jumped almost out of his seat as a warm hand came to rest on his bear shoulder, where his nightshirt had slipped.

“Disobeying your tutor’s orders I see? Just like Elladan and Elrohir.” Legolas spun around quickly to face his visitor and sighed guiltily as he saw the regal features of Lord Elrond smiling down at him. A feeble excuse fell silent on Legolas lips as Elrond held his hand up in protest. “And full of inventive excuses, just like my own two sons’ I have no doubt as well.” Legolas blushed a little under Elrond’s gaze before rising from his seat and following Elrond back into the bed chamber.

“I thought you were at breakfast my lord. I had not expected you to be up so soon, I was planning on having a bath before………” Legolas lied and cut cut short as Elrond sat him down on the edge of the bed and began gently easing the bandages from Legolas’ arm.

“Did I also mention that I saw you tutor on the way up here Legolas, and he informed me you were not quite so agreeable to a bath when he asked you as you seem to be so now?” Legolas had the good grace to blush again under Elrond’s knowing gaze but the apology fell short of Legolas’ lips as Elrond prodded a particularly sore spot on his arm sending Legolas hissing in agony away from the elder. “Your wound looks better already Legolas, look the redness is already beginning to fade.” Elrond captured Legolas’ arm again and gestured softly at places of interest on the prince’s arm but Legolas was having none of it and refused to look at his injured arm. “Come now Legolas, you are not squeamish are you? A seasoned warrior of the border patrols has seen far worse than this! Look it is hardly weeping any longer.” Legolas screwed his face up in disgust and closed his eyes as Elrond began to sponge warm water on the wound from a bowl on the bedside table
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“I am not squeamish as long as the body injured is not my own.” Elrond chuckled at the prince’s comment as he continued to bathe the wound before patting it dry and hastily re bandaging it with fresh herbal cloth. When he was done he sat back from Legolas and smiled at the young prince who was still holding his arm out from his body with his head turned away.

“I have finished now Legolas, you may put down your arm. Perhaps you would like to come downstairs and have a walk around the gardens. Lord Glorfindel is taking archery practice on the field and having heard of your great talents I’m sure you’d enjoy watching a few of Glorfindel’s lessons before you start your own with him.” Legolas nodded enthusiastically, as he lowered his arm back into the sling against his chest. Things were looking up already. Elrond stood up from the bed and Legolas jumped to attention bowing lowly as Elrond went to leave the room. Elrond smiled to himself at Legolas’ courteous manner the prince had obviously had a stern talking to by Thranduil before leaving. No other prince would bow to Lord Elrond, half elvan. “Well get yourself dressed and I will have Lord Glorfindel meet you in the front court yard in an hour. You are not to pick up a bow yourself Legolas, or I will have you back in this room before you can say ‘archery’ understood!” The stern warning did not go unheeded and Legolas nodded his acceptance as Elrond swept out of the room. Elated that he’d been given a reprieve from his room Legolas eagerly got himself washed and dressed, albeit with some difficulty as he tried to tie the lacings of his own leggings with one hand. There would be no possible way of braiding his hair either, so Legolas merely combed it out straight and left it loose. If he were not to pick up a bow it would not matter if his hair hung irritably in his face for the day.

Looking respectable and clean Legolas swept out of his room quickly and began following the curving corridor towards what he hoped would be the lower levels of Rivendell. On the way he passed serval servants but none hung around long enough for Legolas to enquire of his correct path. Occasionally Legolas would pause in the open doorway to a room sheepishly glancing into them in the hopes of finding someone he remembered from the night before. It was on a particularly sharp bend in the corridor that Legolas caught a glimpse of a familiar face within the room he’d just past. Skidding to a halt Legolas glanced back nervously into the room. It was a small room barely half the width of his own bed chambers. The walls were lined with stacks upon stacks of books. A small desk sat in the centre of the room, and a plush red chair sat empty behind it. Unlike the other rooms of Imaldris this room only held a single door that seemed to open out onto a warm sun lit terrace. Silently Legolas crept into the room. On the terrace outside he could see an elf lying flat on his back on the warm stones. A soft pillow lay beneath his head and a book lay propped open on his stomach.

Creeping around the end of the desk Legolas paused at the entrance to the terrace and stared down at Lord Erestor. The dark haired advisor was asleep his book forgotten in his hands as he slept soundly. The prince couldn’t help but smile, such a serene picture of bliss spread across the advisors features and Legolas supposed Erestor was enjoying a wonderful dream. Not wanting to wake the elder elf but loathed to not say his thanks for the night previously, Legolas crept slowly back into the room and grabbed a spare piece of parchment from the desk. In an awkward scrawl, because of his injured arm Legolas wrote a small thank-you note to Erestor before slipping the note onto the book that rested on Erestor’s chest. Replacing the ornate quill in the pot of ink on the desk Legolas crept back out of the room again and continued on his journey to the courtyard.

TBC>>>>>>>>>>>>

(A?N) sorry it's been awhile since I update but I've been slack, so you can slap me on my wrists but I'd love to hear what you think of direction this story is taking....