Elven Queen of Eryn Legaslen

Alone in Mandos

     She lay her head on the pillow as she sighed. How could this have happened. Just a moment ago she was having a picnic with her husband and her son and now she was stuck in Mandos. Why did she get up to try and take a quick walk whilst her infant son and her husband took a nap. She loved him more than anything. Now they were torn apart. She sighed softly and curled up into a ball. Her eyes filling with tears.

        She thought back to earlier that day. Thranduil had been wanting to keep his family inside the gates until Legolas was older, but she had pleaded with him to go on a family picnic. He had never been one to tell her no and he figured that if they stuck close to the palace they would be fine. If she had known. Just known about the orcs that had killed the group of men out on patrol leaving that area unprotected then she would have never asked. But she didn't. Even so it was her fault. Thranduil only wanted to protect her. He'd always wanted to protect her. He loved her more than life itself and she knew this.

        Once the food was packed and a change for the baby was placed in her bag, they rode in the carriage out to the clearing. She'd held their son in her arms and he held her on his lap in his arms. Being tiny it was an easy task for Thranduil as she was small for an elf and he was tall for one. So they fit quite nicely together. When they reached the clearing, the guards surrounded them and they sat down on blankets and began to talk about their future together. They talked about the way they would raise their son. He would be heir to the throne and as such things would be done accordingly. Thranduil had not let them out of his sight the whole time and when she fell asleep with Legolas, he figured he could rest for a moment as well and he gently took the baby from her arms so she could rest them. Since he'd been born she was always snuggling him and the only other person that was allowed to do that was Thranduil. Their son was too young for a nanny and she would not have it. 

        She awoke an hour later and noticed the sleeping 'babies'. She could not bear to wake them yet and she stood and covered them with a spare blanket. Just a short walk. To stretch her legs, she thought. But she did not know that one of the men had fallen asleep. She wandered slowly and as she reached the edged of the woods, she heard the sound of an arrow whoosing through the air. She did not have time to react as it struck her right in the heart. She let out a pained cry, waking the guards and Thranduil as she went to fall to her knees. But she never made it to her knees.

        Through tears she found herself gazing into her husbands eyes. The look on his face will forever haunt her as she fought to stay conscious. "I am so sorry, Meleth e-guilen." She had spoken through short gasps for breath. Thranduil's cry could be heard as the baby cried in the background in the arms of a guard. "NO! DON'T LEAVE ME! I CANNOT BEAR IT."  She had clung to him momentarily her strength all but spent. "I love you. I love our son. Please give him the love I cannot." Then things went dark as she heard him cry out once more. "MERILWEN! NO!"