NEW LEAF (Legolas FF) | ✔️

Chapter 26: Looming Darkness

ELROHIR

Me and my brother travel swiftly- quietly. It was on our fathers orders that we travel alone. Andriél needed much convincing and eventually she had agreed to stay to watch over our father and the rest of them that we have left in Calaer.

My mind was troubled and it has been long since that ever happened. I used to think I knew everything there is to know about the world but then I was proven wrong. I know nothing but a small portion of what was shown to me. Of what I have read. Why did everything have to start confusing me?

"We should make camp here," I hear Elladan say as he stopped his horse and unmounted it. We were already within the borders of the great forest of Mirkwood. I unmount my own horse and we set up camp. We built no fires.

I stretched my legs as I sat on the rocks that littered the ground, massaging my knees. The sleeves of my tunic goes up and my eye catches the dull glint of the emerald jewel that hanged on my wrist. I touch it, feeling the cold surface of the stone.

"You are already in that deep?"

Elladan's voice startled me away from my trance like state and I catch him smirking at me as he leaned against one of the trees. I frown at his question, not really understanding what he meant. He shakes his head in mock disappointment as he lets out a breath.

"You do not even know," he says like an answer and I continue looking at him before he examines the same bracelet strapped to his wrist.

"Amazing, are they not?" He asks, lifting his hand in the air. "All this time I thought them to be nothing but mere stories. Yet Ari and Laralen are living proof."

We sit in silence for a while as he continued to examine the simple piece of jewelry.

"Quite beautiful," he states after a while and the first thought that came in my head was Lara. Beautiful. "Just like the maker, do you agree?"

I could almost hear the tease in his voice but decide to ignore it. He settles himself beside me, waiting for me to look at him and when I do, his expression was that of concern, a sad smile on his lips.

"What troubles you?"

I give him a shrug before he places his hand on my shoulder.

"I would hate to pry but I do believe it is my duty as the older sibling to ensure your well being," he says and I smile, fighting the urge to roll my eyes.

"You know," he began again when I did not speak. "Andriél and I have history. It wasn't until during mother's rescue that I realized I wanted to spend my whole life with her. Our people seem to think it happens at first glance and I do believe it is true, we just have to acknowledge it."

"Do you remember the first time we ever met Andriél?" He asked me and we both shared a smile. How could I forget? It was the first and worst time me and my brother had ever been separated. She had hit him so hard with a broken arm chair that he had to be rushed into the infirmary. Of course she had been a new arrival to Rivendell from Lothlorién. She had not been told our father had twins and when she saw me in the garden and saw Elladan in the kitchen she was surprised and Elladan being his usual reckless self, decided to play a trick on her. We had not known then she had already differentiated us. Smart girl. Elladan rubs a spot at the back of his head, remembering the memory.

"I had felt something then," he admitted, glancing at me from the corner of his eye. "I just never acknowledged it because I wasn't sure I wanted to be with someone who could inflict that much pain." He chuckles and then silence descended upon us again.

"I do think her beautiful," I admit after a while and Elladan looks at me with a brow raised.

"I hope we are talking about Laralen and not Andriél," he says and I groan at his attempt at humor before he smiles wide and urges me to continue.