Thorns & Roses (Legolas Love Story)

21. Confession

Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible–it cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could.

Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses. And when Cupid’s arrow hit the heart, it poisons you, makes you so drunk with love that you momentarily forgets about the pain.

***

We were hot in pursuit.

The Uruk-hai, or Uruks as Aragorn called them, were swift and strong runners. And since they had a huge head start, the five of us must compensate by running nonstop during the day in order to catch up to Merry and Pippin.

The running lasted for days, but it felt like forever. Despite the hard terrains, good or bad weather, Aragorn kept pushing the group, not slowing down.

I always thought that I was stronger than most people, but the endless days of running proved to be a challenge as I pushed myself beyond my known limits.

I sent Legolas a little look of resentment, deep down wondering how he could endure all this without marring his appearance. He still looked perfect, immaculate despite the run. His hair was neat, not a single strand out of place from its braid and he didn’t even sweat. Not even breathless. The continuous running was like a walk in the park for him while I literally had to drag myself and tried not to think about the burning in my lungs.

Or the pain all over my thighs and legs.

Or the fact that air seemed to be thinning as we run up the rocky hills with jagged stones around us.

The elf ran just behind Aragorn, who despite being more human than the elf, didn’t show any sign of exhaust like the rest of us.

“On your left,” said a voice next to me. David ran past by me, sending me an annoying grin. He continued to jog with his back forward just so he could tease me through his breath. “Try to keep up, sweetheart,” he said breathlessly and flashed his crooked smile.

I only glared at him, too out of breath to reply to his taunts. I’d like to think he was tormenting me in revenge for what I did to him a decade ago when I started to train him. Back then he was weak, I was stronger than him. But now seemed that the table had been turned.

I stopped running and rested my weight on my knees as I haggardly tried to catch my breath. Not long after, I heard Gimli’s heavy footsteps as he stopped next to me, looking like he was ready to drop dead and roll down the hill and give up. He breathed loudly like I did.

“If this…is full moon…I would have… raced y’all…to Mordor!” I exclaimed in annoyance as I struggled to breathe at the same time.

“Aye, lass…” he replied with heavy breath, “We dwarves… are natural sprinters! Very dangerous over short distances.”

I sent a look at Gimli, realizing that both of us were in denial.

“Let’s keep going,” I said through my pants of breath, clapping a hand on Gimli’s back encouragingly, “Aragorn isn’t going to wait for us. We must… keep up.”

More running.

Oh lord, will this ever come to an end?

“The red sun rises,” announced Legolas with an even, ominous tone. “Blood has been spilled this night.”

“Oh no, don’t tell me…” trailed David, his expression crestfallen.

“They may yet still be alive,” Aragorn clapped David’s back. “Let’s keep going.”