Unspoken ( A Legolas Love Story )

13: A Name

The morning dew still hung heavy on the grass and only a handful of Dúnedain were up and about, as Legolas made his way to the edge of the village. Legolas paused before knocking on the door of the twins' cabin. He felt guilty for prying into Wren's past, but he was unable to set his questions aside. Elrohir opened the door and both the twins greeted him jovially as they were always apt to do.

"To what to we owe this visit, elf prince? Are you tired of sharing a cabin with a mortal?" Elladan grinned, wrinkling his nose.

"Wren," Legolas said abruptly. The elf prince's need for information superseded the need for pleasantries and small talk. The twins looked quizzically at Legolas. "Who and what is she?"

"I assume she gave you permission to ask us," said Elrohir cautiously, "Or you would not be here..."

Legolas nodded.

"Well then, please sit mellon nín; this will take some time." The twins' mood was uncharacteristically somber. Legolas sat on the end of one of the small beds, Elrohir opposite him. Elladan remained standing and began speaking slowly.

"Some twenty-five years ago, an elvish woman, by all appearances, was found by some of the Rangers of the Dúnedain. She was in a sorry state; disheveled, weak and unable to speak. They brought her back to the village, because the snow had started to fall and she would not last the night. The women of the village cared for her, and in the course of doing so, they discovered she was bearing a child. They sent for us to identify her, but by the time the message was relayed to us, the snow was thick and the road impassable, even for elves. It was one of the worst winters we have seen in the last two hundred years.

She stayed with the villagers for almost two months; all the while her health continued to fail. She remained mute, and the villagers assumed a past trauma of some kind or a sickness. The child was born under great distress. The village midwife believed the baby had arrived several weeks too early, as the poor babe was so small. Truly, it was miracle that the child survived at all, considering her frailty and the extreme winter that was upon them."

"The baby was Wren..." said Legolas slowly, Elladan nodded. "And her mother?" asked Legolas.

"She was dying as she gave birth. She is buried nearby, under one of the large oak trees in the forest," said Elrohir sadly. He paused. "During her time in the village, she uttered but one word."

"...The child's name," said Legolas thoughtfully, almost to himself.

Elrohir nodded, although clearly curious as to the source of the elf prince's knowledge.

"Who was the elven woman?" asked Legolas, without giving Elrohir a chance to question him. 

"We do not know," the twins announced almost simultaneously with some despair. Elrohir continued.

"We have tried to uncover her identity over the years. We are fairly certain she came from Rivendell, as that is the closest elven dwelling. Over the course of a few hundred years, we have discovered that there are three elven women unaccounted for, that match the description of Wren's mother. Maybe she fled elvish life and customs for something different. Maybe she fell in love. Maybe she was waylaid and captured and tortured by orcs for decades." Elrohir stopped.

Pain was written all over his face. Legolas knew that the pain was Elrohir's and Elladan's to share. It was the grief for their own mother who had suffered a similar fate. Celebrían was on her way to visit her parents in when she was waylaid by of the Orcs of the Misty Mountains, who tormented and wounded her over a period of time. Legolas had heard it told that her sons arrived late to rescue her. Although Elrond physically healed her, Celebrían never fully recovered in mind and spirit. She had departed for the Grey Havens some several hundred years ago.