Weaving a Song

Chapter 92

March 1 3019 TA

After the Three Hunters at long last recognized Gandalf, the four spoke long of what had happened to Gandalf and some of what had happened to them as well.

"But the hobbits!" Legolas broke in. "We have come far to seek them, and you seem to know where they are. Where are they now?"

"With Treebeard and the Ents," said Gandalf.

"The Ents!" Aragorn exclaimed. "Then there is truth in the old legends about the dwellers in the deep forests and the giant shepherds of the trees? Are there still Ents in the world? I thought they were only a memory of the ancient days, if indeed they were ever more than a legend of Rohan."

"A legend of Rohan!" Legolas cried, slightly affronted. "Nay, every Elf in Wilderland has sung songs of the Old Onodrim and their long sorrow. Yet even among us they are only a memory. If I were to meet one still walking in this world, then indeed I should feel young again!" He said, but even to Estel and Mithrandir, his reasons were not solely based on age of the Ents...

"Ada!" Legolas, barely twenty, ran into his father's study.

His father was alone. He was reading a letter from someone, young Legolas could hardly care who. Thranduil glanced at Legolas smiling. "What is it, las?" He asked.

"It is nighttime and you are still here!" Thranduil chuckled as Legolas crawled into his lap without waiting for an invitation uncaring that his father had been doing something else.

"Tis a curse." Thranduil said.

"A curse?" Legolas asked.

"Of being me," Thranduil said, "If you ever become me you will understand." Legolas looked confused but he was too young and moved past such subjects quickly.

"You must come to bed!" Legolas insisted. Thranduil laughed.

"Now you sound like your naneth." He said. "But I cannot."

"Then I will stay here." Legolas said.

"Your naneth will hunt you down. Why are you not in bed?"

Legolas blushed. "I was." Thranduil raised an eyebrow but laughed slightly.

"You are my son then." He said, tickling Legolas slightly. "But I would think you should go to bed before nana finds out."

Legolas shrugged, apparently unconcerned. "You aren't in bed either."

Thranduil smiled. "You are persistent." Legolas giggled. Thranduil looked at his son on his lap who was convinced he was not going anywhere. In Thranduil's cunning mind he sought for a way to trick his son into either going to sleep or going back to his room. An idea presented itself, and he smiled. "If I tell you a story will you forget I am still awake and sleep yourself?" Thranduil asked his son.

Thranduil could tell Legolas was seriously considering it from the way his eyes deepened and his brow furrowed. Finally he looked up with sparkling eyes. "Ok," he said. Thranduil knew his son was extremely curious and he had counted on his son's curiosity to win him over. Thranduil smiled and wrapped his arms around the young ellon, leaning back in his chair as he did so. Legolas squirmed into a more comfortable position and then settled quietly.

When Thranduil spoke, his voice was low and soothing in more effort to play on his son's tiredness. "I once told you Greenwood was almost not our home. It could have been Fanghorn." His son was watching him curiously. "We visited there while searching for where we would settle. It was quite a beautiful forest, strange trees. Mysterious even. Have you heard any songs of the Onodrim?"