The air was sweet, the grass was green, and Legolas trotted in silent anticipation for what Aragorn was planning. Trees circled around them, the sky rotated around a white, glistening sun, and at last they reached a waterfall.
Aragorn called out. "Legolas!" Legolas looked, and was drowned in love for a moment. Aragorn- his dark, wavy hair flowing in the wind, tanned complexion enhancing misty gray eyes, a broad, muscular upper body, cloak and sheath resting smoothly about his tanned shoulders...belt laying smoothly around his toned stomach...Legolas jerked his head up in a vain attempt to conceal his obvious ogling. Feeling his face get hot, he refocused on the path and joined Aragorn.
When the two horses sidled up Aragorn turned, taking his foot out of the stirrup and inadvertently letting it graze Legolas's thigh.
He dismounted and began to unhitch his horse, tying it to a tree and laying out his blanket on the rock. He motioned for Legolas to do the same.
Legolas tied up his horse and dropped his knapsack on the ground, then joined Aragorn who was sitting on a rock.
The view was breathtaking. The meadow, the mountains in the distance, the waterfall and the rocks, it seemed to go on forever.
Legolas yawned and began to unbraid his hair, feeling very awkward as he did so.
Why was it so hard to be normal when Aragorn was around?
It was dark, and both were mildly tired. The air was peaceful, and Legolas shook off his cloak. Just then he felt something bump his shoulder. He turned, and Aragorn was standing there, a mischievous smile on his face. "Hey, Legolas...remember when I made you agree to do one thing for me?"
Legolas shuddered. "Valar, Aragorn, what do I have to do?"
Aragorn laughed. "Nothing too bad, don't worry. Either one of these - eat a cucumber, or jump into the water from where we are."
"Valar, Aragorn. " Legolas repeated himself. "They're both terrible. "
"But cucumbers are worse, so forget it. Now stand on that rock so you can supervise me.
"One, two, three..."
A moment later he felt the cold water surround him. "Aragorn! You'll get this back!" But Aragorn only laughed, and climbed down and offered him a blanket to dry off.
Legolas knew it would go quicker if he took his clothes off, but decided not to mention it, given the awkwardness it would bring.
When they reconvened Aragorn suggested they go for a walk around the marshes -- explore the area and just chat for a few hours. This was both for lack of a better idea, and a desire to spend some quality time with Legolas and possibly get to know him better. For how long the two had known each other, Legolas never said much about himself. For some far-fetched reason he had agreed to the walk and the two reinforced their horses' ropes' knots to the tree, set down their bags, sheathed their swords and daggers, and set off.
The air was warm and inviting, and the grass rumpled under their steps. They walked for miles, until a large bush came into view, obstructing everything past it. There was a narrow path leading to it, that disappeared into open sea that stretched on forever. Aragorn stopped there. "Close your eyes, Legolas." Legolas questioned why, and received only a playful smile and wink. "Just do it. For now, for once, for me." Sighing, Legolas obeyed. Aragorn led him down the path, past the tree, and down an even narrower one to a large boulder, where he sat him down, taking a seat beside him. "Well...here it is."
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Legolas opened his eyes, and let out a small gasp. "Whoa. This is... this is beautiful, as an understatement of course." Aragorn laughed. "I'm glad you like it. I decided to come here as a-- chat-spot, if you will. For how long we've been friends, I still feel that there's so much I don't know about you and should."
Hearing that, Legolas felt nervous. What is he going to ask me? He sighed. Aragorn kept some things secret until he was certain he wanted them known.
"That- depends on what you want to hear. Where should I begin?" He didn't know why he agreed so readily, but a small part of him wanted to share stories, memories, possibly a few secrets, with Aragorn.
"Start with your deepest, darkest secret." Aragorn joked. Legolas looked at him, shocked, before Aragorn lightened up and laughed and the elf's gullibility. "Relax...I was messing with you. Now actually, start with...your life before I came into it."
Before him, my life was nothing. It was bleak, empty, all of the above. But how do I say that without him judging me?
"-Legolas?"
His head shot up to meet Aragorn's confused expression. "Want to pass on the question?"
"No..I'm just...trying to figure out how to phrase it without-" his words died down. Valar, thought Legolas. This is awkward. "It was...normal. Very normal, a lot more than now. A normal day was wake up, breakfast, meeting, prince stuff for Mirkwood, lunch, meet again with my father and take an hour off, then read, write letters, send them, manage the staff, then I have the late evening to myself."
"I mean...what was it like before...never mind." Aragorn forced himself to stop before he asked the rest of his question.
"Before what? If you wanted to ask about my mother, it's now or never while my doors are open. If it's about before I lost my mother-" He looked at him, and felt his throat catch.
"If, and only if, you're comfortable talking about it."
Legolas disregarded the last statement, then proceeding into a smooth, cohesive narration. "With her, my father and I were fully content, the lights were always on, if you know what I mean. It was truly perfect. But the day we lost her-" He hugged his knees to his chest. "was the beginning of the end of true happiness. After she died, Mirkwood became a solemn, melancholy place. Sometimes, vague memories of her - her face, her laugh, the way she could turn any situation into a memory - pop into my mind, and they're painful. It hurts to think about a time, so long ago, when your life was free of sorrow and worry. But I can't let them go, because those pangs of grief are the only remaining aspect of my childhood happiness."
Legolas' sudden confession shocked Aragorn, who was thrown into a brief moment of confusion. So as not to make the moment awkward Aragorn's quickly-formed response said he was flattered at the trust Legolas placed in him, and that the story would not be repeated without his consent.
The conversation continued with a very unexpected question from Legolas. "What else do you want to know?"
"That was all, really.'' To return the favor, he flipped the question: "Anything you want to know about me?"
"Would you take any offense if I said 'not really'?"
"No, so what do you want to do?"
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how much of a rush are we in to get back to camp?"
"Not at all, why?"
"This is such a nice place, I was thinking spend the night here, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by water and trees, and the sounds of birds, smoothly minding their own business."
Whoops. That was unexpected.
"Sure, do you want me to go back and get the blankets?"
"Actually, no. I'll just wrap up in my cloak, and see what it's like sleeping in the middle of nowhere."
He yawned and stretched out on his stomach. Aragorn laughed. "I'm glad you like it here." Then he slapped his shoulder. "Now go to sleep, elf."
Legolas half-smiled as his eyelids drooped shut.
A moment passed before words escaped his mouth. "I do like it here."
