To Live Again: Waiting Between Worlds {Lord of the Rings Fanfiction}

28. An Understanding

*Eighteen Months Later*
Halls of the King
Greenwood the Great

"Duck!"

Whooosh

"Ouch...Legolas...wait-"

Clang!

"Too slow..."

Crrrassshhh!

"Ada is going to kill you!"

I quirk my eyebrow from my hunched over, breathless, barely-able-to-stand, position in the far end of what was once the dining room, whilst Legolas sheepishly tucks his knife back into its sheath and backs away from the scene of the crime.

"Well..." I gasp in sweet air to try and relieve my burning lungs, "if..." I inhale deeply again, "it was that...important...he should have had it...locked up...like he does the rest of his...precious treasures...good gods...I can't breathe..."

"Did you think combat was easy, Nana?" Legolas smirks, as he extends his hand to help me over the deceased chandelier.

"No...but..." I whine and stretch my arms behind my head, straightening up my spine and hoping it will somehow open my diaphragm some, or whatever it is supposed to do, so I can catch my breath.

"But?" Legolas continues to tease as he tosses me a towel, and mercifully pours me a drink. I stagger rather ungracefully towards him, fingers eager to get a grip of that cup. He chuckles at the pained expression I give him over the brim of the beaker as I literally gulp down the water, coupled with my undignified wheezing - I am truly the most unfit warrior in the history of elves.

He places his hand on his hip and gives me a serious look; "Nana, it is perfectly okay not to be a warrior, not all of us are blessed with the skill, maybe you should accept that you are far more suited to the arts than this painful business?"

"What are you trying to say exactly? That I am soft as a sponge?" I grumble, and wince at the twinge in my hip as I try to lean on the table but think better of it...dammit, I think I pulled something? Ugh, I will never hear the end of this now.

"And about as uncoordinated as one too," he snickers and ducks as I toss my towel at him and limp off to inspect the shattered chandelier.

Yip, I probably should not have used it as leverage to leap over my son's head. I groan, and facepalm myself - Naneth's and Queen's should not be combat training in their dining hall! I suppose there isn't the slightest chance that the entire Kingdom did not hear that?

There is the sound of footsteps clattering down the hallway and the door being swung open, followed by a mixture of shocked and amazed gasps, and some more mild snickering from Legolas.

Well, that clears that up then...everyone did hear it!

"Nana?" Celairiel practically trips over her skirts, her eyes wide as she takes in the devastation of what was once the main dining room. "Oh, Ada is really going to notice that...can we tell him it just fell?"

"Nana! Nana! Nana!" Ferion skips excitedly from behind his sister, tittering and clutching a pile of loose papers; "I made these...and...can I play?"

"No! No playing near the glass," I warn and scuttle over to stop him ploughing straight through the shattered remains. He wraps his arms around my waist and grins up and me, shoving his creations upwards - obviously these are far more important than the broken light structure.

"Oh they are just beautiful ion nin," I croon, because they are, he is such a little artist and secretly I am a little smug that at least one of our children inherited my creative gene. I attempt to kneel down to his height to inspect them further, but my back and hip spasm again and I launch back to my feet, hopping around like an angry kangaroo.