Avadis - A legolas story (slow moving!)

Chapter 52 - Home

One more sleep. She knew even now as the sun began to set that it was not going to be a night that she would slumber through. There were many people she needed to visit yet, and her time was running out fast. 

Technically she was meant to be a guest at a large dinner Aragorn had set out for the company who was headed out to Mordor the following morning. It was set to be a merry occasion, feasting and drinking together on what could very well be their last night in this world. However, Avadis was hoping that she would not be missed as she snuck away back to her rooms. She had things to do. Calculations to make and plans to put into action, and she needed to do them fast. 

Closing the door softly behind her, she tore off her gown she had been wearing the last few weeks and squeezed back into her flying gear, pulling her dark cloak over her head and tucking her auburn hair neatly behind it with a small dagger. She packed many of her things away in a small bag which she strung tightly by her side. Her drawings, her weapons and a few other small items she had collected along the way. She wouldn't be needing these where she was going, so it was decided that they were to go somewhere safe and secure, with someone who would care for them properly and with respect. 

Before leaving, she took one glance at herself in the full length mirror tucked in the corner of her room. She felt as if she had grown slightly, the silhouette of her body under the cloak covered her markings and scars, her wings hanging loosely by her side now fully healed and ready for their final flight. Whether she had indeed grown or more likely had grown only in confidence, she stood for a minute and admired herself, smoothing down the sides of her cloak and folded her arms, taking in the scars which ran down either of her forearms with a slight frown. She had hoped they would have healed more gently than they had, but she supposed that every girl needed her fair share of battle scars some day.

It was only a moment that she stood there in the mirror before leaping off her balcony silently up into the stary sky above. She had an appointment to meet with someone which she simply could not miss. Her wings carried her north, high above the clouds. She moved silently and invisibly, the only sounds coming from the ruffling of her cloak as it flapped in the breeze. Below her, she watched the mountains turn to plains and the plains turn to trees, before finally angling her wings downwards as she began to descend quite rapidly into the tangle of branches below her.

They swooshed by her almost faster than her eyes could follow, but she was not bothered by them. Instead she tucked and rolled herself through the trees with a smile on her face, taking in the smells and sights of a very familiar place. Home. Reaching her arm out, she caught a leaf from a tree as she flew past, twirling it around in her hand before tucking it into her pocket. Finally, she came to her clearing, a place she had not seen in what felt like a lifetime. Everything was as she had left it, her little river, her small hut, her garden beds and her painting rocks. It was as if she had stepped back in time, and she would be lying to herself if she did not say she had the urge to simply go into her hut, fall asleep and leave the worries of the world behind her forever. 

"You have... returned so soon?" A familiar voice called out to her from the edge of the clearing behind her. 

"Treebeard my friend!" Avadis cried out, running over to him and leaping up to his shoulder, wrapping her arms around him tightly. She pressed her ear up against his bark, hearing the familiar creeking of his branches as he swayed gently in the night breeze. 

"How I have... missed you... little one" his calm words washed over her as he picked her up delicately in his hand and held her out in front of him. She sat down in his palm, her wings spread out neatly behind her. "You have... grow so much!" 

"I feel as though everything has changed, and yet nothing has at the same time" Avadis laughed, removing her hood from her face and unclipping her hair. "I see you have been caring for my gardens while I have been gone?"