Aeonian [Legolas]

37

The scenes after the war were fairly docile. Everywhere Viridis looked, he saw men and Elves and Dwarves all working together in a muted somberness to construct medical tents, brushing aside debris from the battle to clear a space for their dead loved ones or simply a resting space for those that had endured and survived.

Despite the weight of their situation everyone seemed to go about their duties with a fond awareness of themselves— an awareness that only served to connect them to their loved one's around as they now shared in a history none of them would ever forget.

Viridis and Legolas side-by-side forward through the market of all those who had gathered, moving forward because in the moment, it was easier than stopping to fully acknowledge the present.

"Viridis." His name echoed from the path ahead of them and the Elf's gaze settled on three figures emerging from the other side, the Dwarf in the middle using the others as a crutch.

Relief quickly settled on Viridis' chest, expanding his airways and allowing him to breathe more freely when he saw who the voices belonged to.

"Kili. Fili." He said in welcome. "You both do not look well but you are both alive. And for that, I am immensely relieved." He felt his eyes soften and shoulders sink, the tension leaving them as he took in the brothers. Though disheveled and coated in blood and dirt, each was alive. Tauriel was there with them, supporting Kili with a smile of her own. Viridis knew tears must have pooled when she first saw Kili go down and now they shone, crinkled with happiness instead of its formidable partner of grief.

Kili himself said nothing as he shrugged off his brothers and the Elf's support, stepping forward without a word as he closed the distance between himself and Viridis. The Elf smiled slightly when Kili looked up to him, gaze set with something brighter twinking beneath them as he offered his hand out.

Viridis accepted it and he nodded as they shook once and then, without unclasping their hands, Kili pulled him forward and engulfed the Elf in a tight hug.

"Thank you." Kili said, speaking into Viridi's shoulder. He pulled away then almost reluctantly. "Thank you for saving my brother. Thank you for saving me." He bowed his head slightly and presented something on the face of both palms. The missing Mori Twin. "I owe you my life, Viridis."

Viridis accepted his blade back, the familiar weight of it comforting in an entirely new way. "There is so much love in friendship, people forget that."

"And for that, we will never forget you." Fili said this time, nodding his thanks from where he stood. He crossed his arms which showed the most of which had been bandaged, blood spots seeping through their confines. "We almost died out there. We should have died out there. But you never were the conventional type, Viridis."

"Not when it counts." Viridis agreed.

"You need a healer." Tauriel said, speaking for the first time as she approached Viridis in one stride, eyebrows knitting together as she looked at his own shoulder. It hardly throbbed and he would have forgotten if only people would have stopped fretting over it. "I'm sorry I could not have offered you more before."

Viridis shook his head, covering Tauriel's hand with his own as he guided it away from his wound. "You could not have done anything differently and I would not have wished for anything else."

"Promise me." She said.

Viridis, reluctantly, nodded.

"I will go with him." Legolas added, gently steering the Elf away from the Dwarves with a respectful nod in their direction.

"Have you spoken with your father?" Viridis asked as they walked, steps falling off the side of the main path everyone had centered their tents around.