Be My Voice in This Present Darkness (Legolas x OC)

~Chapter I~

Elrond adopted Vana as his daughter. At first glance, you would have thought that Vana was of the same blood as his children, Elladan, Elrohir, and Arwen. But then, looking closer, you would have noticed that Vana's features were slightly different, destined to be of a wilder, more untamed beauty than Arwen or Galadriel's. Vana herself didn't know that she was adopted., but Elrond knew it was only a matter of time before she knew.

********

"Gotcha!" Vana called to Elrohir.

He and his older twin, Elladan, were playing a game of chase in the nearby forest with Vana, and she had just jumped out of a tree onto Elrohir's shoulders.

"What the Valar?" Elrohir exclaimed, before grabbing Vana and proceeding to tickle her.

"Help! 'Dan! Tell 'Ro to stop tickling me!" Vana squealed, hardly able to move, she was laughing so much.

"Stop it, 'Ro," Elladan said, laughing so hard tears were pouring down his cheeks.

Elrohir finally released her after he had her on the twig floor of the woods. Vana ran over to Elladan for protection. He picked her up and hugged her.

"Can you fix my hair, 'Dan?" she confided, after a minute. "Elrohir messed it all up. Look at it."

Elladan, still laughing, took out a small comb that he kept specially "in case of accidents involving 'Ro," and began to comb her hair. Once finished combing he plaited her hair back up and secured it.

"Elladan, you promised to show me archery today," suddenly said Vana in her wheedling tone.

"Vana, what would we do without you?" Elladan asked, half-joking.

"Fade from boredom, I guess," Vana replied with a nonchalant shrug.

Elladan and Elrohir started laughing all over again. Vana was really too funny sometimes. She didn't even mean it, it was her personality.

Just then Arwen came up behind them. "Boo!"

Elladan and Elrohir turned to chase her.

"Sorry," she giggled. "I couldn't resist. But have you forgotten that Grandmother and Grandfather are coming to stay?"

"I believe we did," Elrohir told her, with a smirk. It was obvious he hadn't.

"Well, now you've remembered. Come on," Arwen said.

She felt a tug at her sleeve. "Granny Gally's coming? Why didn't you tell me, Arwen?" Vana stood right next to her, a twig or so still evident in her dark hair.

Their grandmother was Galadriel, and the first time Vana had met her she hadn't been able to say Grandmother, and hearing Elrond call her Galadriel, she had christened her 'Granny Gally.' The name had stuck, to Galadriel and the rest of the family's amusement.

"Didn't I tell you?" Arwen looked surprised. "Well, you know now."

Arwen took Vana away and helped her dress and do her hair, and while doing the latter she was mentally cursed Elladan's way of securing braids. She could never undo his knots without a pair of scissors handy. Eventually it was done, however.

When Arwen was finished dressing Vana in a light-blue dress, they went down to dinner, where Elladan and Elrohir had already arrived.

"Arwen, you're late," Elrohir said. "Were you meeting Aragorn on the sly, or something?"

"Quiet, 'Ro," Arwen said, her cheeks aflame.

"Aragorn? The ranger who comes to see us sometimes?" Vana's curiosity had been piqued.

"Yep, that Aragorn," Elrohir interjected unhelpfully.

Arwen blushed even more.

"Elrohir, please stop teasing your sister," Galadriel said upon entering the room.

Elrohir stuck his tongue out at Arwen, then obeyed. Elladan had been laughing too hard during the intercourse to do anything.

Galadriel shook her head slightly. "You still behave like an elfling."

"I know." Elrohir looked proud of himself.

"That's not a good thing," Arwen told him.

"Says the most immature Elleth in Rivendell."

"I am not!"

"You are."

"Not."

Elladan put a hand on Elrohir's mouth before he could respond to his sister. Elrohir glared at his twin.

"Enough, please," Elrond said, sitting down. "Behave, both of you."

"Fine. . ." the twins grumbled in unison.

********

After dinner, Elladan took Vana out for archery practice. There was a practice field next to Elrond's main courtyard, with an outhouse for spare weaponry and targets at the end of the field.

Vana had a good natural aim, but she usually hit the sides of the target, rarely getting close to the bullseye.

The targets were riddled with arrows. The ones on the sides, Vana had shot. The ones on or near the bullseye were courtesy of Elladan.

As they practiced, Vana looked at him. "Um, 'Dan?" Her eyebrows were furrowed in thought.

"Yes?" he asked, poking her in the stomach.

She ignored the poke. "Why do I look different from you, 'Ro and Arwen?"

"But you don't. Obviously you're not as similar to Arwen as Elrohir and I am to each other, or as good-looking as us. . . But you still share characteristics."

Vana punched his arm. Hard. "I mean I don't look the same as any of you. I look similar, but not in the way you three do."

This was a bit of a poser for Elladan. He wasn't allowed say that Vana was adopted, but he didn't want to lie to her, either.

"Maybe you look like another relation?" he suggested.

Vana gave him another look.

"Fine. I don't know. Maybe ask Adar?"

"I'll do that after we finish," Vana said. "Anyway, when are we finished?"

"We can finish now if you want," Elladan obligingly told her. It was hard to teach Vana; she never stopped talking, so he was doing himself a favour as well.

"Okay, bye!" Vana called, gathering her arrows, picking up her bow, and running off.