NEW LEAF (Legolas FF) | ✔️

Chapter 6: Travellers

Legolas PoV

We waited until dark to stop and have a rest. Aragorn and I did not stop for anything, and even ate as we rode on. Both of us may not say it, but I was convinced it had something to do with the shadow we had seen the other night. We stayed near the path and have not met any travelers or trouble along the way, which was odd. Aragorn had started a fire but I could not help but notice him glancing around the woods every now and then.

"It is alright. There is nothing out there." I try to convince him while trying to convince myself. I have heard of the rumor of a shadow wandering middle-earth. It was once known as the necromancer, that dwelt near Dol- Guldor. I knew for a fact that it had been driven away by the Lady Galadriel, therefore saving Mirkwood from further poisoning. I could not shake off the feeling of dread after we saw that dark shadow. It seemed to have pure malice surrounding it, thickening the air with something heavy and foul. Aragorn glances up at me briefly, his lips a thin straight line. He was not convinced but decided to nod. I sat near the fire as we ate. Well, he ate. I held on to my food. Time seemed to pass by slowly as the silence stretched. Both of us too occupied with our thoughts.

"I think it best you should address me by my other name," he says suddenly. He was far too young to be in such a secretive place in his life but I could not blame him, for I knew the burden that is carried with his name. I knew that he was hunted and wanted by many, simply because of a past that was tied to his name. A past he wished to forget and make no claim of. I find it often troublesome how many people are ruined simply because of a doing that their ancestors have done. How bad deeds seem to travel down, and passed down like a heirloom. I smile at him before giving a brief nod of my head.

"Alright, Strider." I stop the smile from broadening further as he turns to me with a scowl. I had always thought it 'amusing' how he called himself 'strider'.

"Laugh all you want, Legolas. I, for one, think it is a perfect alias," he comments and I fight the urge to roll my eyes at him. For a moment, only the crackling of the fire could be heard as we both stared into the flames. A memory comes back to me, and I turn towards him again.

"I have seen you taking a liking to Arwen."

His head snaps up almost immediately and I could make out the faint color that reddened his cheeks. He lets out a sigh before nodding his head and poking a stick into the fire, making small embers spark around it.

"Well, there is no use denying it," he explains, but his face was solemn that I had to wonder why and was relieved when he continued, "I have loved her since the day I had met her. She was far older than me." He turns to look at me with an amused look, " but even so, I could not deny my heart of what it yearned for. It is quite impossible, some say it is even foolish. A mortal to love one that lives forever, until there are no more stars in the sky."

He turns towards the sky as I leaned back on a bark of a tree.

"Still, I tried. Simply because she was too beautiful and too perfect to not deserve such effort. She means more to me than anything in this world. You might say I am quite young to think of such things, but I tell you, I am not too young to know where I belong. Where my heart lies, until the day the gods would take me."

We are quiet for a while. I stared at the young man before me, he was far younger than me and yet he seemed to know more about the world than I do. More about the things he wanted to do. I guess that is why sometimes, I envy the mortal people of our world. Because of the knowledge of not having an eternity to live, they seem to make the best out of everything. They do the things they do simply because they know they have some sort of time limit. I wonder, if I had a time limit would I have done the things I wanted to do a long time ago? If I died tomorrow, out of some fatal accident that no elf could survive from, would I have regrets?