I Will Be There

Chapter 15

The next day, Legolas sent for Lairiel. He needed a friend to help him through, and he couldn't burden his daughter with his grief. It surprised him when she arrived only a few hours after he'd sent the messenger to find her. 

"How did you reach here so quickly?"

"I was already on my way here," she explained, "and I met your messenger along the way."

"I see," he murmured. Anorwen peeked out from behind him, and Lairiel smiled. She bent down, giving her a kind smile.

"Hello, little one. What's your name?"

"Anorwen," the child muttered shyly.

"My daughter," Legolas informed. 

"Ah. And..." Lairiel's unspoken question was answered by the king's silence. "It's not easy. It won't be for a while, and it's your right to mourn."

"Please, let's not talk about this with Anorwen nearby," Legolas told his friend quietly. Lairiel nodded in acceptance. "Come, little one." He held his child's hand and walked with her.

"You are a good father," Lairiel told Legolas. "Anodien would have been proud." The Ellon gritted his teeth.

"Please, do not speak her name." Lairiel stared at him.

"Why not?" she growled.

"It brings me more pain than I'd like to admit."

"That's something you have to face, Legolas. You can't hide away all of this." Legolas opened his mouth to respond, but Lairiel interrupted him. "You can't cut this all away." Legolas felt a deep panic rising in his chest and knew what was coming. He turned to his daughter.

"Anorwen, how about you go find something to eat?" The small Elleth nodded and ran off in the direction of the kitchens. Legolas turned to Lairiel, and immediately, like water bursting from a dam, every emotion inside him came crashing out. "I'm dying every day, and it's harder every day, every time I look at my own daughter, I see her, I'm just... reminded, this is like a knife... and I'd be dead if I didn't have Anorwen... who would be so cruel?"

Lairiel patted his shoulder comfortingly while he cried. "Whoever is the writer of our fates is cruel, that they would bring me this... this dagger in my heart...!" Thus, he collapsed, his heart broken and shattered on the ground.

A few minutes passed before the Elf picked himself up off the floor, ashamed to have been seen falling apart. He wiped away the tears on his face and straightened his robes, not meeting Lairiel's eyes. "I'm sorry," he apologized.

"Don't be," Lairiel urged, grabbing his wrists. "You let it hurt. If you want to heal, then you need to feel the pain."

"Ada?" Legolas turned around, and upon seeing his daughter peeking into the room, put on a fake smile. "Look." She opened the door fully, and consternation shocked the king to his soul.

Nothing could have prepared him for who stood in the doorway.