1Chapter 1
He loved her scent. He could smell her through all the trees of his father's realm, her spicy aroma wafting through his perch in the highest tree, teasing him, beaconing to him. Legolas Greenleaf could inhale her seductive aroma until his last days and never grow tired of it.
As she drew near, he could never see her. One of the distant elves of the air, she stayed to the shadows in the great forest, collecting her bearings and bade her time until she reached his father's gates. But Legolas knew that she was there. And she knew that he was watching. He focused his eyes on the ground before the gate and he was always amazed at the way she simply appeared. There was no warning, no change in the wind, it was as if the whole forest seemed to hold its breath for a moment and suddenly, she was there.
Aether. Her name fell from his lips and his heart skipped a beat when it happened. He abandoned his perch and met her where she stood patiently waiting. She fought a smile and her face was regal and proud. She positively glowed and Legolas longed to run his hand along her smooth pale cheek. As if she sensed his thoughts she turned from him and sauntered to the gate. When her back was to him, she let her smile creep across her face.
"Is it normal for Mirkwood elves to fall from the trees at the arrival of a messenger?" She taunted him gently.
"Only when the messenger is not simply a messenger but a being dropped from the heavens it seems by the hands of the Valar." Legolas kept his tone light, enjoying parrying words with her, never revealing how true the words were to him. He thought that it was better that she think his words jest than think them true. There was no rejection to be had that way.
"I am but a maiden who carries a message from Imladris. Hastening on a journey that I have dallied far too long in partaking." She sighed the words out and Legolas marveled that the wind possessed her lungs as well, giving her words the force of the element as well.
"Aye, a maiden who is known for her quickness of foot and assurance of traveling with no assistance or mode of transportation or protection of any kind. Tell me, how do those traveling boots fit?" Legolas schooled away his smile as she turned to him.
"What are you speaking of?" She also kept her face clear of her true emotions.
"Well, Elbereth must have given you feet with glorious wings for you to make the journey faster than any elf or man or wizard alike." He felt his grin creep into his eyes. Aether's began to twinkle as well.
"I have no wings upon my soles, nor do I travel unprotected. You jest Greenleaf." She motioned to her small pack on her back, she was also equipped with a bow and quiver of arrows, and twin blades of her own. She also carried a staff with her. At first glance it seemed a mere walking stick, but Legolas knew that it was a very powerful tool. There was no mistaking that she had opportunity to use them more that once on her journey through the forest. He trained his eyes on hers as he realized her slip.
"You are so bold as to use informalities? Greenleaf say you? Aye, I suppose being only a maiden traveling with a message, you would not be aware that the golden knave you see before you is none other than Legolas, Son of Thranduil and Heir to the Throne of Mirkwood?" Legolas almost laughed at her slighted expression.
"How quickly we rush to impress the maidens? Blurting titles that you would hide from others in different circumstances. I am shocked at your ego, Legolas, Son of Thranduil, and Heir to the Throne of Mirkwood." There was no mistaking the smile that now crossed her face. A slight breeze rushed his back and sent shivers through him. Not from cold, Legolas was impervious to cold, but of humility that he could goad a smile out of such a being.
Aether had always mystified him. Since the time he had met her and cowered shyly behind his father's leg as an elfling, he had been entranced by her. Aether was a completely different kind of elf. She was an oddity among his people, some looking on her with prejudice for her wanderings, but there was something about the ancient elf that drew his family in it seemed.
Aether was a wanderer, traveling easily between the realms of men, dwarves and elves with grace. She carried with her Istari blood, and a deeper wisdom that any of them could comprehend. And like her associate, Mithrandir, she contained within her a sense of humor that was dauntless. Nothing she said was particularly funny outright, but she had a way of taunting one that made the victim smile regardless. None other than Aether could crack the grim façade of his father, and he knew that the King of Mirkwood anticipated her arrival almost as much as he did.
Their laughter bubbled forward and she waited for him to signal the gate to be opened. She wondered how he could know of her arrival before anyone, it always seemed that when he was here, he met her at the gates. The same was true of when she visited Rivendell. He always had abandoned his mischief with Elladan and Elrohir to meet her. It warmed her to be greeted with such eagerness and light humor when she traveled. There was not much happiness in the world, and the days that were lined with such sunshine were few and far between.
Legolas seemed to hesitate to open the gate. She did not rush him, but met his gaze with twinkling eyes as he looked back at her one more time. These were her favorite moments, the comfortable silence after a light rain of laughter. She breathed the sweet air deeply and gave one last smile as he gave the signal. And as if it all were a dream to Legolas, her face was as passive as it had been when she first had appeared.
Legolas escorted Aether through the kingdom, making his way to his father's study. Aether was earlier than expected, but Thranduil would be pleased to see her no doubt. As Legolas opened the door for her, his father's eyes rose from his parchment ready to spend his wrath on the intruder. Long had Aether told him that he worked too hard, but after his wife's departure, he poured himself into nothing but his kingdom and his only son, Legolas.
Aether bowed a customary maidens bow and Legolas smiled as he announced her presence, "I present a simple maiden traveling with no wings upon her feet, from Imladris. She bears a message, and assures me that it took her no longer to arrive here than any other being could have taken. She must have lost her head somewhere on her path and has taken to speaking informally and jests to no end. Ada, there is a spare room in the dungeon available if her presence is not to be tolerated…"
Aether cut him off, "I said nothing of being a simple maiden, and I'll have you understand that I am quite complicated…"
She in turn was cut off by the King himself, "Enough you two! Aether, it has been too long. What has kept you? I hope it was not my son holding you at the gate for this long, trading words with you while I waste away in here." Thranduil paused to bestow Legolas with a mocking glare.
Aether went around the table to greet Thranduil a proper greeting. She placed a hand on his shoulder and was startled as he pulled her in an embrace. Thranduil nearly matched her in a formidable appearance, but in the quiet privacy of his study, both of them dropped their hard complexes. Legolas understood their façades they guised themselves with, but he never could imagine himself walking around his own home with such a somber mask.
Legolas nodded to them and excused himself from the room. He didn't know how long his father had known Aether, but he was almost sure that she had been around since he was a child too. He smiled as he watched Aether give him a last grin before he shut the door behind him.
Aether grinned at Legolas, knowing that he would no doubt be there to escort her to her room, and then to dinner. She didn't mind; the talks they had were amusing. In the work that she did and the things that she dealt with day to day, there was always a need for clever and humorous conversations. And the things that she had to relay to Thranduil were very serious.
She looked at her old friend as he seated himself across the table again. He was now wearing a smile on his face as he looked at her. He always did when she came for a visit. But no visit brought her here this time, she was here to send a message, receive an answer and leave the next day. There was no time to dally Elrond had told her, and she completely agreed. As much as she teased with Legolas, she did rush to get here, and had traveled faster than any other could have. She had arrived here two days earlier than she had expected, and still she worried that she could have gone faster. But as long as she was here and she had Thranduil's attention, she was a step ahead. Thranduil would know what had to be done and he would help her, no doubt.
As if reading her thoughts, his face changed again. He was serious again as he opened a bottle of wine. Aether accepted a glass and pulled out a parchment. She wrinkled her nose at the thin film of dirt that covered her clothes and handed it over to him. He leaned back in his chair and started to read.
Aether sipped her wine and watched as he leaned forward in his chair as the words on the parchment registered in his mind.
"What does this mean, Fanyarë?" Thranduil knew well that it was not a good omen, and that Aether's apparent haste was suddenly clear to him.
Aether leaned forward and rested her elbows on the edge of the table. All of the humor she previously had on her face was gone. Thranduil did not see this side of her often; it had been centuries since she had brought news this ill to him.
"This is an evil that must be fought, Lindornëa. And it is gathering power faster than we can assemble elves. It has turned its face to us, knowing that blood that we carry knows no end. It thirsts for immortality and power beyond the reach of mortals. I fear for these woods, I fear for your kingdom and I fear for all our people. Elrond has looked ahead with me and shares my concerns." Aether's face was far different than he had ever seen and the conviction she used when she spoke sent a cold chill to his stomach.
"What says Mithrandir of these things?" Thranduil looked back to the parchment.
"He has gone to the other races to give counsel and attempt to show them the danger that plagues the lands. I fear he will not be as successful as he has been in the past." Aether's face now carried sadness in her eyes.
Thranduil looked anywhere but at Aether's face. She was ominous as she stared at him, waiting for a response. Thranduil felt as though he were speaking to someone else entirely. When Elrond saw what lied ahead, it generally came to be, unless there was some factor that acted as a variable and threw the process off. The Valar gave him these gifts for that reason. Something or someone had to change the events that were to unfold; it was a pattern that they had followed for centuries. And for Aether to have seen the same thing was a flag that waved in front of him. He knew that he must act. And quickly.
"I will ready my men and we will await your word. Although against this force, I do not know if it matters." Thranduil felt a wash of despair brush his mind. Instead of soothing comfort, he received a smoldering look from Aether, who seemed to transform completely in front of his eyes.
The door opened and Legolas looked in on his father and Aether at just that moment. He stopped dead in his tracks.
Aether was positively towering over his father, and the look on her face could send a room of men fleeing. His father had despair in his eyes and fear, but when Legolas looked closer, his father tried to mask it. Legolas brought his eyes back to Aether who had not changed a feature. As she spoke, a bitter wind stirred up the dust on the floor.
"Do not fall into despondency at my call, Thranduil. I will not see the house of Thrandulion fall before me. Heed my words and unsheathe your sword in bitter anticipation. We will not be pulled under." She spoke with a voice that could wither the tallest tree.
Legolas was not sure what he should do. Her presence was so intimidating that he dared not move. It was as though the most dangerous animal of the forest had cornered his father behind the table and was waiting to pounce at any moment. Well-trained muscles tempted him to fight or flee and he chose the first on pure instinct.
Within an instant he had an arrow trained on the beast in front of him, and he was confused as to how he had gotten into this position. It was no beast, but Aether that stood before him. There was stillness as three figures contemplated their next move.
"Legolas, lower your arrow, there is nothing to fear here. Kinslaying is far greater a crime than being the bearer of ill-omens." His father's soft words broke the spell. Legolas shook his head as though coming out of a trance. He was horrified that he had raised his weapon against his friend. But at the time, she was not who he had known her to be. Instinct and training had made him react as he had.
"Greenleaf, I am sorry that you had to bear witness to that." Aether's voice returned to its natural deep timbre, and was no longer the unearthly sound he had heard moments ago. "I will take leave to rest now, I am weary from my journey and I sense that there are things that you must explain to your son just now." She looked at Thranduil. All signs of her former malicious and determined look had dissipated.
"Very well. I will send for you for dinner." Aether nodded and started to the door.
"Wait, I will accompany you to your door." Legolas started to her, but stopped when she motioned him to come no further.
"I know these halls, Greenleaf. Stay with your father, there are things that you must learn today." With that she was already in the hall, the wind carrying her words back to them.