The old ways

Aragorn got up and turned to Haldir, who had still been talking to the Hobbits. The elf looked up and immediately recognised the stricken look on the ranger’s face. All blood drained from the handsome face as Haldir rose and quickly moved over to Legolas.
Aragorn stooped him midway. “Wait! Listen, I cannot make out the child’s heartbeat as clearly as I should be able to. Maybe it is nothing. Maybe I am just too clumsy and stressed. Please, try to calm Legolas down. It won’t help if he is as upset as he is now. Look, I will see if there is anyone among us, whom I could send out to ride in direction of Rivendell. My father is maybe already on his way here. If that messenger could meet him on the way, I will order him to tell Elrond to hurry to Minas Tirith as quickly as possible.
It will take us some days anyway, because of the wounded. I want Legolas to be carried by a litter. No way will I let him ride. Make sure he stays calm. “
Haldir stared at Aragorn, clearly fighting down his own feelings. He let his arrogant mask slip over his face and turned again to Legolas, who was still laying on the makeshift bed, silently crying.
When Legolas saw Haldir approach, he stretched out a hand to his husband, pulling him down towards him.
“He says, something is wrong, Haldir. The child. Something is wrong with the child. Why? Haven’t we felt enough strain, haven’t we got enough burdens to carry already. Why, Haldir? Why do the Valar punish us like that?”
“Shh..., melme. We are not being punished. And Aragorn is not sure if there is anything wrong with our child at all. Maybe he just to exhausted, to stressed. Please, love. Calm down and rest. We will make our way to Minas Tirith tomorrow you you will travel on a litter between my horse and Arod. So Gimli can sit on Arod and we both will have an eye on you.”
Legolas eyes were red and swollen, when Haldir gently turned him onto the side, so he would rest a bit more comfortably and gently caressed his shoulder.
“Maybe we shouldn’t have....” the prince’s voice trailed off.
“What?” Haldir bent over his love “We shouldn’t have what?”
“You know. At the river’s shore, at night in the camp. It wasn’t right to do that. What if we hurt the child. I shouldn’t have said yes. I should have stopped you.”
“Stop, Legolas. Stop this instant. You know what Gandalf said. And besides, why do you think it could hurt the child. How do you think she elves and women cope with it? Do you really believe that they don’t make love to their husbands for the whole time? And they don’t have the choice whether to be taken or to take the other one. And what about the first months. Neither you, nor all those pregnant females know that they are pregnant, and they surely encounter their sexual demands. Nothing happened to you and neither to the females. You are worrying too much. And that definitely is not a good thing. Oh and before you start accusing me that I do not , I , I do care, Legolas. But I refuse to give up hope, yet.”

Haldir got no response from Legolas and kissed his neck once. Straightening up again, he glanced at the Hobbits huddled together, Merry and Pippin clearly telling Frodo and Sam about Legolas’ condition, for they were pointing over to them every now and then.

Before the night fell, all of Middle Earth knew that the dark lord Sauron had fallen. Like an earthquake a wave of relief and happiness washed over the lands and many gathered to celebrate.

In the vast caves of Mirkwood, King Thranduil felt the tremors of the earth that was now freed of the dark threat and a smile broke out on his face. Something that hadn’t happened in quite some time. He felt giddy and light hearted as he stepped from his study and turned in direction of the large entrance hall. On his way he passed the corridor that led to Legolas’ private quarters in the lower level of the caves.
Legolas, Thranduil worried about his son. He had no news of him since he left Rivendell together with the nine walkers. His son had sent him a message telling him of their quest and the route they would take.
From then on, Thranduil had been fed bit and pieces by Elrond from time to time, but ever since the last note, telling the Mirkwood King of a horrible battle that was to take place somewhere in Rohan, he hadn’t heard a thing.
Thranduil was sure that he would have felt something, if Legolas truly had died, but what if the Valar wouldn’t grant him this knowledge?
When he stepped out into the light, it felt like a dark cloud had been lifted and the sun was shining even brighter, the sky was a purer shade of blue and nature itself seemed to rejoice. Surely Mirkwood was still infested by dark crres,res, but with Sauron gone, it would be only a matter of time, before the great wood was restored to its old self.

Thranduil was sure that, whoever had survived this quest, would gather in Minas Tirith, or what was left of it. He would go there as quickly as possible.
The first elf who passed the King was stopped and immediately sent to the stables, to bring Thranduil’s order to ready the horses of the King and his entourage.

It took the tall blond elf only a few hours to get ready and gather his trusty warriors who would ride with him. They would take the route south, passing through Lothlorien and Rohan. As much as it pained Thranduil, he would even go into this cursed wood of the Lady of light and ask her if she had any news about his son.
Lothlorien; he hadn’t been there ever since the wedding of his son with Haldir. It had disturbed him deeply thagolagolas had left the marchwarden, but no matter how much he had tried to persuade his son to go back to his husband, it hadn’t helped. Thranduil was sure that those two did indeed belong together and he never found out what had driven them apart in the first place, but he regretted Legolas decision immensely even though he had enjoyed his son’s company.

So they set out at the early evening and turned south towards the White city.


The sun had not been up long when Aragorn led his troop back to the road that would lead them to Minas Tirith. They moved slowly, having many wounded among them, most of them carried with litters, some of them able to ride on their own. All the healthy ones had to walk, even the King.
It would take them nearly two weeks to reach the city and Aragorn was afraid that he would loose many of the wounded in the process.
He stepped sideways and waited for the large troop to pass, until he could make out Haldir sitting on his horse. Aragorn fell into step beside him and saw the worried expression of the marchwarden.
“He is sleeping now.” The soft voice of the elf came from above.
Aragorn nodded and patted Haldir’s leg once in a reassuring way. “We will stop shortly and I will check on him again.”
Haldir turned his head and lowered his eyes. “Aragorn, I want you to know, that I very much appreciate what you are doing for us, but are you sure that it is not in vain? Do you really think, that you were too strained to find the heartbeat properly?”
Aragorn only looked at Haldir and didn’t need to voice his thoughts.
“I thought so.” Haldir whispered brokenly.
He had been sure that Aragorn would have been well able to find the heartbeat, even in a strenuous situation, and now his concerns had been confirmed. There was definitely something wrong with their child.
Haldir sighed and looked down at Legolas’ face. It was contorted with fear and sadness even though he was sleeping deeply, his unfocused eyes mirroring the dark blue of the sky.

Elrond led his fellow elves and his daughter Arwen through the plains of Rohan, shaking his head sadly at the destruction that had taken place in this area. Villages were burnt to the ground, slaughtered cattle, rotting in the deep grass, human corpses mingling with them.
He was glad that the light breeze brought a clear sent from the mountains with it to lessen the stench. Arwen sat rigid on her horse, her eyes darting from left to right. She still didn’t know how Aragorn would be fairing when they met him. Had he survived the last battle unharmed? She was only sure that he was still alive. But nothing else.
Maybe Galadriel could have told them something, but they hadn’t taken the time to stop at Lorien.
What about her friends? Her brothers? She shook her head slowly as if to clear all thoughts of fear aside and looked straight ahead to the horizon.

Aragorn checked on Legolas for the next four days, two to three times a day, every time they stopped for a short rest. But nothing changed. Legolas told him that he still felt the child moving every now and then, but the heartbeat was still irregular and faint.
It tore Haldir’s heart apart to watch the love of his life become more still, drawing into himself, not speaking, not eating and mostly lying there with his eyes closed. Even Gimli couldn’t pull Legolas out of it.
At the fifth day, Aragorn ordered five of the healthy men to escort Haldir and Gimli with Legolas between their horses to Minas Tirith on their own. They would make better time without the large troop and would reach the city far earlier this way. He sincerely hoped that the healers there would be able to do more.