Building Ithilien [Legolas] LOTR

So Begins the Night

Author's note:  My vision of the wood-elves' party feast comes from "Flies and Spiders" in The Hobbit:

            The feast that they now saw was greater and more magnificent than the one before; and at the head of a long line of feasters sat a woodland king with a crown of leaves upon his golden hair...The elvish folk were passing bowls from hand to hand and across the fires, and some were harping and many were singing.  Their gleaming hair was twined with flowers; green and white gems glinted on their collars and their belts; and their faces and their songs were filled with mirth.  Loud and clear and fair were those songs...

Legolas quickly dressed in the solitude of his tent.  All the servants had gone to prepare for the evening's feast, and the prince welcomed the chance to be alone.  He had fallen asleep upon his return from asking Miredhel to dinner.  The elf counted his good fortune that his dreams had been pleasant, not of Moria, not of the sea, and whatever had been the content of his slumber, he did not feel like divulging this secret to anyone.  Legolas smiled to himself and deftly began to braid the sides of his hair in accordance to the house of Oropher, as was the custom for the sons of Thranduil.  One look outside to the forest told him that the sun neared the horizon.  He should hurry, or he would arrive late to escort Miredhel, and he did not want to keep her waiting.  He turned to pick up his prince's crown and was surprised to see that his father had joined him.

Thranduil smiled at his son.  He had rarely seen Legolas in such high spirits since his son had returned from the War.  The king could tell by only looking in Legolas' eyes that his presence in the War, his role in the Fellowship, had altered him irrevocably, but as to what had forced the change in him, the king was uncertain.  Thranduil had never pressed the matter, hoping that his son would confide in him in his own time.  Only now he was leaving for a realm of his own.  Thranduil hoped that Legolas would find peace there, if not in the woods of his old home.  He spoke to him gently now, "My son, the evening finds you much improved.  How do you feel?"

Legolas answered as he sat down to put on his boots, "Much better, I assure you.  I slept better this afternoon than I have for the past month."

Thranduil raised an eyebrow.  His son was not sleeping well?  "Perhaps, because you are in the borders of your old home."

Legolas grinned.  "Perhaps."  He stood again and ran a brush through his hair one last time.

"Would it have anything to do with the forest feast tonight? Or a certain young lady that might be in attendance?"  Thranduil looked quizzically at his son.

"I am going to be late to escort that certain young lady," Legolas said as he looked outside to see the sun begin to dip behind the trees, "if I do not leave soon."

"I thought you might wait and greet the rest of your family before the dinner tonight," Thranduil said.

"When were they supposed to arrive?" Legolas asked and glanced outside again.