Element of the Heart - A Lord of the Rings/Legolas Fanfiction

Chapter 50: Words

"Fate indeed has chosen you both for similar tasks, but the choices you must make are not the same, and your paths will lead separate ways."
​​​​​​​​- Lady Galadriel's words to Estelwen (speaking of her and Aragorn, Estel)
                                                                                      __________

Legolas ducked as a broadsword swiped over his head. He lifted his knife, tore through the orc's torso, and faced the next. There were too many orcs in such a tight area for him to use his longbow. His knives were the best option. Legolas searched for Gondor's men. How many of us left? It had only been minutes, but it felt too long since he had fought alongside any of them.

Legolas spotted a monster he had not seen in a long time. Must be some kind of cross-breed between an orc and cave-troll. He fought his way towards it, but was careful that it would not see him coming. Once he was close enough, Legolas leapt onto its back, yanked out his bow, and hung it around the its neck, pulling it back. The orc choked against Legolas' vise-like grip.

Legolas surveyed his surroundings. Gondor's forces were dwindling by the second. It would not be long. The orc thrashed violently to the left, causing Legolas to grimace. He raised his knives before a blaring horn made him stop. He looked to the pass where he and Estelwen had entered into Mordor. His eyes grew wide. Mirkwood elves were filing through the pass, led by his father, seated upon a white stag. Legolas could not believe it. He quickly cut the half-breed's spine and jumped off its back.

A female cry cut through his senses. "Aragorn!"

It was Estelwen's voice. Legolas whirled around. Estelwen was running straight into the battle without a weapon in hand. Nothing about her weaponless state or the horror on her face made sense. He felt paralyzed. Wait, is she going to use her element? Has she found a way to regain it?

The world slowed as a black object whizzed through the air.

*****

The arrow smashed through Estelwen's diaphragm. Her back slammed against the dirt. She coughed and it burned. The world blurred. Estelwen reached to her midsection with a shaking hand and touched the shaft of the last Black Arrow. Never again. It will never threaten Gondor's line. The people will have the leader they need, the leader they deserve.

There was so much pain. But the void inside her was gone. Estelwen no longer felt the vengeance she had so formerly desired. She had chosen a different path. "It is done," she whispered. She instantly regretted moving her diaphragm. Tears sprang from her eyes. She was ready to close them, but she couldn't.

White hair wisped into the otherwise grey view.

A voice cried out, "Aragorn! Come hither!"

Legolas.

He slid his hands under her back to lift her torso off of the ground. Her head hung back, limp.

"Nay, Estelwen! Am man theled (For what purpose)?"

"Aragorn." Estelwen's vision blurred all the more. "Take it out of me."

Legolas started to lift her. "Uuma dela. (Do not worry.) We need to bring you-"

Estelwen coughed violently. Her chest, was it about to rip apart? Blood trailed out of her mouth. Her heart sobbed. Could he not see that there was no time? "Legolas."

And with that single word, said with more pain and love than he had ever heard before, Legolas stopped.

Estelwen was begging him. Her hands were wrapped around the arrow shaft with all the strength she could muster. "Please..."

Without a word, Legolas wrapped a hand around the Black Arrow and pulled.

Blood, her blood, flowed out freely. Legolas placed his hand over the wound. "Adar is coming. He can-"

Estelwen shook her head. "Díheno nin (I am sorry)-" She stopped, trying to work the words out of her mouth through the pain. "You tried. Tried to help me realize my, my revenge was from that darkness. All along, I," she gasped, "...could have been here instead. By your, by your side." Her vision faded. She felt two wet drops land on her face.

It was not the rain.

With the last of her strength, Estelwen reached up to touch the thin trail on Legolas' face, which contained a torrent of emotions that she could do nothing to help or fix. There is only one thing I can give him. Estelwen's lips parted. "Annin, promise me you will smile again, Melamin (Please...my love)." Before she could brush away his tears, her hand fell to her side.

Legolas felt the soft breath shudder as it left her body. Its slightness could not compare to how it shattered his world. He could not breathe. Anguish seared away every layer of his heart. It was a lance in his soul. He could not pull it out.

In that moment, he understood loss more deeply than he ever had before. This was not the pain that caused someone to grieve before they moved on. This was the pain that broke a person. This was why Tauriel had sailed to the Undying Lands.

He looked up. His father watched him, seated on a white stag.

Thranduil took one look into his son's eyes. He knew that look. It was like watching a mirror of himself thousands of years ago. Seeing that look on his son was more painful than looking into a dragon's flames.

Legolas' mouth was parted in silence until he found enough breath to speak. "Had I been in your place with mother, I am uncertain whether I would have done any differently than you." His gaze fell to his own hands, covered with Estelwen's blood. "Regardless of what you had thought of Estelwen, she-" His throat swelled, forbidding him to speak lest it all come gushing out like a flood.

"Legolas."

He looked up with blurred vision at his father.

Thranduil dismounted the stag and moved towards his son. "Before the sickness came over Mirkwood, before this darkness spread, you and Aragorn attended Mirkwood's spring festival. It was then I had sensed something that distinguished Estelwen from all the other maidens. I sensed the Valar's blessing on her, but I did not have the heart to pay heed to it."

Legolas did not move. How could he? He had set out from Mirkwood to find a path. That path led him to the Fellowship and to discovering the secret of his mother. It also led him to Estelwen. She was more precious than any gem, secret, or goal of a quest. He knew he was not the only one to see her value, but he alone had offered her his heart in its entirety: its secrets, desires, and sacrifices. With her last breath, she had accepted it, and revealed the truth that he knew she had kept at bay: that she loved him.

Thranduil stepped closer. "Give her to me."

Legolas looked at his father, then back at Estelwen. His arms slid easily under her back. He lifted her into his father's arms. "Take her away from here. She should not be allowed to rest in this place of evil."

Thranduil did not answer. Holding Estelwen, he mounted the stag. He rode off as fast as he could, not bothering to look back at the battle. He knew that as of now, Ionor would be best in charge. Thranduil turned east, his heart beating quickly with the thought of what he was about to do.

Some people are worth dying for.

Some people are worth crying for.

Some people are worth fighting for.