Starting Anew

Free Your Heart

OoOoO

Five years passed sleepily in Fornost, the spinning of the wheel of time marked by snowfalls and sunshine in turns. Elladan and Elrohir departed for Rivendell at the end of that summer, along with promises to return in two years' time. This gave Legolas once again a cabin to call his own, although he cheerfully surrendered it to the twins each time they came calling in the north.

Nerwen gave birth to her child in the depths of November, just as she had predicted and feared. The babe, a girl, was both hearty and gifted with strong lungs. Radanir proudly named his daughter 'Elgarain' after a ranger whom had been a dear friend of Aragorn's father Arathorn in her time. Not only did the child survive her early months in the dark of winter, but quickly grew to be a sturdy toddler with a fluff of dark hair and arresting green eyes.

Andris filled out and matured to full manhood nicely, continuing to live with and support his mother Delia. Much prodding one evening in the main hall revealed him to have an excellent singing voice, and from then on they were just as likely to have a song from Andris as a story from Aragorn or Daernon. He and the auburn-haired ranger Kaylen had...well no one was quite sure what to call what they had. Some days it seemed it was only a matter of time before the two of them pledged their troth, and other days they would hardly be caught dead in the same room together. He and Legolas still enjoyed the occasional wrestle from time to time, and gradually Andris learned to be faster on his feet when tussling with an elf.

Now into his third decade of life, Aragorn only became more beloved and respected as chieftain with each passing year. Over time Legolas became privy to gradually more personal bits of information regarding his friend, up to and including his secret love for Elrond's daughter Arwen Undomniel. Aragorn did not let his private longings distract him in any way though from his duty as leader of the Dunedain, far from it in fact. He went about the business of organizing life in the village each day with a smile and a fair word for everyone as usual. In the evenings though, sometimes he would describe Arwen to Legolas just for the sake of picturing her with vivid detail in his mind's eye. After a time, Legolas felt he too could himself envision the fair elf maiden of Imladris. Then the twins would visit again and he would end up picturing one of them in a gown. He supposed he was lucky that Arwen's brothers could not read minds.

As for Legolas himself, he gradually found a place in the daily life of the Dunedain. When not out hunting with Nerwen, the prince of Mirkwood had taken up giving the children of the village lessons in archery, history and even the Sindarin tongue. Gelwin of all people had proven to be something of a natural polyglot, and took to the slippery elvish language like a fish to water. Even little Elgarain, who had only just two years past learned how to speak the Common tongue was already following Nerwen and Radanir around babbling in the beginnings of both Adûnaic and Sindarin.

Life took on a familiar rhythm, and for a time Legolas was content to forget the world beyond and pretend he was only just a person. He called himself friend, hunter, teacher...but not a prince, not to these people. Still, he kept his mother's ring on his person at all times, either upon his own finger or around his neck on a chain. A reason to leave the life he had built for himself in Fornost seemed never to present itself nor make a convincing argument. At least, not until the final days of summer in his fifth year among the Dunedain...

After wrapping up the day's lesson on the history of Beleriand in the Second Age, Legolas smiled as the youngsters practically fell over themselves in their haste to go and play. It was hard, especially for some of the smaller ones to sit still and listen to the ramblings of an elf. He remembered well his own reluctance to spend time indoors at his lessons when there were adventures to be had out in the forest. At least Legolas tried to keep things interesting for his pupils by holding their lessons outdoors on the grass and always describing events with as much animation as he could muster.