Through Fire and Water (A Legolas Love Story)

A New Experience and an Intrusion

The King’s son is dead. The funeral is due to start soon and I stand at the window of the modest room I have been supplied with to sleep in, staring out across the landscape and waiting to be called upon to come and take my place in the funeral procession. The door behind me creaks and I turn to see Legolas standing in the doorway. I give him a small smile “Hello” I say.

“Hello” he replies and I turn back to the window.

Since that night by the fire things between me and Legolas have been different, a little awkward even. We said we liked each other and then things between us seemed to come to a halt. We're not entirely sure how to behave together. I guess things will come naturally in time. I hope they will.

“I was just thinking” I say, staring at the clouds “how easily life can be taken from us. Théodred was young and strong and yet now he is dead. There must have been so much he still wanted from life, so much he had yet to do. He must have had ambitions and dreams, I wonder how many of them he fulfilled. I wonder if he lived life to the full before it was so cruelly snatched from him”

Legolas comes up to stand beside me “I suppose we never truly know which moment will be our last” he says “But if we lead careful lives then I suppose there is more chance of us living longer. But what is the point in being careful if it means you do not get to live the life you want?” Out of the corner of my eye I can see he is looking straight at me.

“Exactly” I say “If we truly don’t know when our life might end then surely it would be best if we lived every day to the full” I turn to face him.

“Take advantage of every opportunity” he says, continuing my train of thought. He starts to lean in to me and I find myself leaning in too.

“Live for every moment” I say, my voice barely above a whisper as I lean in even further. Our lips meet and I close my eyes as the fireworks go off in my brain again, just like they did that night by the fire only they are bigger and brighter this time because we hold on for a moment, letting this feeling last. When we do eventually draw apart I open my eyes and find his staring right back into mine, brighter and bluer than I think I have ever seen them. His face is so open and innocent as he looks at me, a look of shock and unbelief as he stares into my eyes. Now that we have moved apart I miss the warmth of his lips on mine so I lean in and kiss him again, catching him slightly off guard so that it takes him a moment to respond. This time he puts his hand on my neck and I wrap my arms around his until we draw away from each other. There is a knock at the door and we jump apart.

“Come in!” I call and the door opens to reveal father. He takes in me and Legolas, both looking slightly flustered and he raises an eyebrow and looks at us suspiciously. “Time to go” he says and we hurry to leave the room. Legolas gets through the door first and when I pass Aragorn he catches my wrist and links arms with me as we walk down the corridor.

“Any reason Legolas was in your room?” he asks quietly.

“Oh, we were just… talking” I say.

“Talking?” he asks, his eyebrow shooting up again.

“Yes, talking” I reply.

“Anything else?”

“No. We were just discussing how tragic this all is” I say and there is no more time to talk because we are in the great hall now where the funeral procession is to begin from. All other thoughts leave our minds and we shut up as we are told where to stand and take our places.

 Théoden’s body is carried down towards his tomb on a stretcher, his handsome face now white as snow.  We are part of the procession which makes its way through the crowd of grieving commoners. I feel so out of place here, walking next to Aragorn in my normal clothes, head bowed in respect. We have no real right to be here, we did not know the man nor are we people of Rohan, we just happened to be here with Gandalf. This is nothing to do with us and yet we get a front row seat to the funeral, an opportunity to observe the grief of those who loved him close up. I feel like an intruder.

We peer through the crowd as the body is lowered and flowers placed on it. Éowyn sings a song in the speech of Rohan and the sound echoes around the silent crowd as the body is slowly passed along a line of armoured guards and into the tomb. I close my eyes as a slab of rock is placed across the doorway, hearing it slide against the stone as Théodred is shut off from the world.

The crowd slowly dissipates and people drift back to their ordinary lives but I don’t want to leave. I stay staring at the tomb for a while but I know that Théoden will want some time there in peace so I wander off among the tombs and eventually stop a respectful distance away, watching as Théoden talks to Gandalf in front of Théodred’s tomb. It is a strange thought that beyond that simple stone slab is Théodred’s body just as I saw it not long ago. Now we must all accept that he is gone when in reality Théodred is rotting behind that door.

It is a sunny day but it is getting late and the meadow where we are standing is in the shadow of the city. I shiver at the cold and at the thought of the dead bodies buried all around me, centuries of kings, so I head back towards the great hall where there will be hot food and a fire.

It’s dark outside now and the great hall is almost empty. When I first got in there were loads of people buzzing around but since Théoden decided the best course of action was for us to evacuate to Helm’s Deep everyone has slowly drifted away until there is just a me, Legolas, Gimli and a couple of people on the other side of the hall. “It’s getting late” I say “I should probably go to bed”

Legolas looks to Gimli who has fallen asleep on the table.

“I’ll walk you to your room” he says.

“I’d like that”

We rise from the table and I link my arm through Legolas’, leaving the sleeping Gimli. We walk in companionable silence until we reach my door. Legolas lets go of my arm and I open the door.

“Well… umm… goodnight, Ariana” he says slightly awkwardly and I smile at him. He starts to turn away but on an impulse I call his name and he turns back towards me. I put my hands on his shoulders, pulling him in to me and kissing him. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him into my room. After a moment I force myself to pull away from him and he looks at me for a moment, startled. I blush.

“Sorry, I just” I start to say but Legolas pushes the door closed and grabs my waist, pulling me into hm and kissing me hard. This time I’m the one caught off guard “No need to apologise” He whispers into my ear before kissing me again. I grab his shirt and pull him down onto the bed, still kissing. After a couple of minutes I pull away and look at him.

“What is it?” Legolas asks, his face so close to mine that I can feel his breath on my skin.

“Nothing. I’m just looking”

“See anything you like?”

“Definitely”