Infinity Ring (Legolas Love Story)

Bonus: A Human Heart (Part 3)

[LEGOLAS POV]

I thought it was an attempt to poison the royal family. Upon that suspicion, Ada had the royal dining hall and the castle on lockdown, and I was ready to behead the royal food taster and the cupbearer– or whoever dared to commit such betrayal to us.

To my innocent, lovely wife. Who would want to hurt such a sweetheart?

I ran the tips of my fingers on the smooth, cold skin of her face as I beheld her sweet face. Pain and anger festered in my heart as I craved to see her smile and hear her girlish giggle again.

"There's nothing wrong with her."

I had to pry my eyes from her sleeping face and looked up to see Indossa eye to eye.

"Care to elaborate, Indossa? I have no time for your riddle."

As soon as those words slipped out of my mouth, I realized how sharp and poisonous my tones were to my old mentor and friend. I closed my eyes and breathed out, before sending him a look of remorse. Indossa gave me a small, understanding yet wistful smile, graciously accepting my silent apology.

"There is no ailment in her hroa (body). She is fine physically," he explained, his tone steady yet sympathetic, "It is her feä (spirit) that worries me."

Unable to form words, I cast my eyes back to Leane's sleeping face.

"It is a mind sickness," muttered Elladan, his expression troubled.

Indossa nodded in confirmation. "He speaks the truth," the healer said, backing Elladan. "Physical injury, however severe, I can still hope to mend. But I am afraid, your highness, that the matter of the mind is beyond my capability."

Silence covered the healing wing like a thick blanket. I held her small hand in mine, reaching the soull bond I have with her, calling her to me inwardly. Sending her more thoughts of love and comfort, I caressed her hand with my thumb before lifting it up to my lips and planted a small kiss on it.

My eyes caught the sight of Elrohir leaning against the doorframe, his brows furrowed in concentration. Elladan, standing a distance from him, were looking at his young twin with much disapproval. I saw them silently locked eyes. Then, as if feeling my stare, they broke eye contact and looked on opposite directions.

"If you two have something to share with the class, you'd do better not hold your breath."

The commanding voice that belonged to Ada echoed around the room. He stood up from his seat, walking towards the twins like a predator sizing up his prey.

Turned out I was not the only one noticing the silent exchange between the two. On other circumstances I would have laughed at how startled the twins were with the king's implied threat, but this didn't deterred Elladan.

"No," he told Elrohir with gritted teeth.

"It is not for you or me to decide," Elrohir replied with wistfulness, turning his silvery eyes boldly towards the king and me. "It is theirs."

"Well?" Asher spoke up in a rather impatient tone. "My sister is in her room, crying her eyes out, thinking that our mother is fading. If you have any information that can help then I beseech you, do not keep it from us any longer."

Elrohir sighed softly. "We have come across a severe mind sickness such as this. Once, a long time ago. Our… patient, had long been healed from her physical injuries. But no spell, no medicine nor time could heal her mind. Our ada thought that since it was the sickness of the mind, then the key to her healing was in her mind. So he performed a Sanwë-latya."

"Thought opening?" I questioned, translating the words in Quenya.

"'Thought Opening' in its basic form is telepathy or mind speak. Some of us use it in our daily lives, such as how soulmates speak through their bond."

"How twins with close soul bonds like I and Elrohir were able to speak in our minds," Elladan added.

"Basically Lord Elrond, being the most powerful healer in Arda and a ring-bearer, used the advantage he had to perfom Sanwä-latya in order to sift through her memories for what ailed her, bring it up to the surface for the patient in hope that she could deal with it in order to let the mind come to an acceptance and heal."

Asher nodded, a flicker of hope flashed through my son's eyes. "So how did it go?"

"It didn't work. He had no choice but to send her off to sail to Valinor. And before anyone ask why he never tried to perform such magic anymore is because it is an invasion of privacy and that it would never work," said Elladan with a clenched jaw, upset.

I felt my heart deflated at his revelation.

Elrohir shook his head. "It won't work for elves because we are not designed to wheather heartbreak." The young twin took a couple step closer to where Leane lay, his eyes watching her with sadness, "But humans…," he smiled wistfully, "In exchange for their vulnerable bodies, human hearts are much, much stronger than ours. They break like ours too, bleed like ours too. But when they're broken they're not shattered, for when they bleed, it leaves a scar, but then they heal."

My heart stirred with confliction within me.

"We must have faith that she is stronger, brother," implored Elrohir to Elladan, then looked to me. "I mean look at her. Remember how we made a warrior out of her a century ago. Look how far she has come. A powerful ring bearer, a princess, the Savior of the Greenwood Forest," he recounted, "Trust me. She would kill me when she finds out that I was the one suggested this, but I think it is worth a try."

"I apologize for bursting your bubble, but you're forgetting the fact that Elrond is all the way in Imladris and that it would take weeks for the news to reach him let alone to have him here," pointed out the king.

A spark of hope lit up inside me. "But his two sons who happen to study healing magic under his mentorship are here, in this room right now," I said with realization, looking at both exact copy of the young lords of Rivendell.

"Do it."

The small, vulnerable voice that belonged to my daughter prompted the rest of us to look at her, as she stood there at the other side of the door while eavesdropping on our conversations this whole time. She made her way to the side of her mother's bed, next to where I sat. I gave her a side hug and a kiss on her temple.

"Please, uncle Ro," she pleaded to Elrohir, whose eyes softened at her in sympathy, then to Elladan. "Elladan."

I watched the look they both shared, and it could be my eyes deceiving me, but I saw the tenderness in Elladan's eyes which I never saw on him before. Elladan was first to break eye contact, and in silence mind speak to his brother, before nodding to an agreement.

"We shall try, if it is what her family wishes," decided Elladan.

"But we cannot do it alone. We shall need a volunteer," added Elrohir.

"Preferebly one who had already established a bond with her."

"Or more than one someone who had established a bond with her."

A smile of hope grew on my face, and on my children's face as we looked at one another. I extended an arm over to my son's shoulder.

"What do you say, ion nin? Ready to get inside your naneth's odd head?" I joked in order to lighten up their moods.

Asher squeezed my hand and grinned at me, while Caladwen did the talking for him. "No, he's not ready. But he must, despite the fact that Nana would kill her when she wakes up."

"Oh I'm trembling with fear, sister," replied Asher, his smile widened, "But I am ready. Let us go save our naneth."

***

[Author's Note: Okay, sorry this thing went longer than expected. There will be Part 4 coming up after this, and if it is not enough to wrap up things, then we might go for Part 5. Sorry if I didn't get the chance to portray more of Legolas' feeings here, I was too focused on the twins' explanation. Review?]