Chapter Text
Thranduil did as he was ordered and went straight to bed. The only problem was that his mind was too busy to let him sleep. The events of the last couple of days seemed so surreal to him. The enormity of the situation was crashing down on him. While sitting at Legolas’ bedside, all he could think about was him getting better. Now that Legolas was on the mend, he thought about how close Legolas had been to dying; he had come a hair’s breadth away from losing his only child.
He decided that he couldn’t sleep while Legolas was still healing. He made his way back to the healing wing, hoping that Elrond and the twins had gone to their rooms to rest.
He had no such luck.
Elrond immediately turned him away. Elrond knew Thranduil to be one of the most, if not the most, stubborn elves alive, so he took steps to ensure that Thranduil went to sleep. Elrond summoned Galion and ordered him to take dinner to Thranduil. He also gave Galion a draught to add to Thranduil’s food that would ensure he got a good night’s sleep.
Galion took Thranduil the food as planned, but Thranduil paid no heed to it.
There was no other way around it; Galion would have to lie through his teeth.
“I stopped by Legolas’ room. He asked me if you were sleeping.”
Thranduil had been looking through the paperwork that had piled up in the past days while happily ignoring Galion until he mentioned Legolas. Thranduil put his papers down and immediately began to feel guilty.
“I promised him that I would make sure you ate and slept. So far, I’m not keeping that promise.”
“It’s not my fault you make promises you can’t keep,” replied Thranduil smugly.
“And what about you? You promised him you’d eat and sleep and look at you! Wide awake!” continued Galion.
Galion was met with a guilty silence.
“Very well then. I shall go inform your son that you are breaking your promise. I just don’t know how you expect him to keep his promises if you don’t keep yours.”
Galion was halfway out the door before Thranduil gave in. He hated it when Galion and Legolas teamed up against him.
Galion soon discovered that Elrond had overdone it with the draught. The point was for Thranduil to eat his meal, then sleep, but after a couple of forkfuls before he began feeling woozy. Galion just barely managed to help him out of his outer robes and into bed just as he completely passed out.
Thranduil was furious the next day. He slept until nearly dinnertime; he wouldn’t have awakened if not for Galion coming in check up on him. He made sure to give Galion an earful before taking a bath and getting changed as quickly as he could. He walked into the healing wing, planning to give Elrond an earful as well, but his anger instantly dissipated after seeing his son.
Legolas looked a great deal better. His color was back and he was sitting up, laughing at a story the twins were telling him. Thranduil breathed a huge sigh of relief; the sight truly convinced him that the worst was truly over.
Elrond excused himself and took the twins with him. He was exhausted and knew Thranduil would want some alone time with his son.
Legolas and Thranduil spent the rest of the afternoon talking and telling each other stories. Legolas recounted the pranks that the twins had told him about and Thranduil told Legolas about the tricks and pranks he used to play on his ada when he was an elfling. Thranduil immediately regretted telling Legolas about those pranks; he didn’t want Legolas getting any ideas about playing pranks and tricks on him.
Galion brought dinner for both of them some time later. Since Legolas’ neck brace made it nearly impossible for him to feed himself, Galion stayed to help him eat and to watch Thranduil to make sure he ate his dinner.
“I hope you haven’t poisoned this one too,” said Thranduil with a note of bitterness in his voice.
“Eat it and you’ll find out.”
Thranduil rolled his eyes and ate his dinner in sullen silence while Galion fed Legolas and conversed with him.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
Five days later, the wound on Legolas’ head had healed enough for the bandage to be removed, and Elrond declared that Legolas could get out of bed as long as he was very careful and promised not to overdo it.
Legolas was ecstatic to finally be allowed to walk again. He was grateful to Lord Elrond for looking after him, but so many days of sitting in bed, doing nothing but listen to the stories others told him, were driving him crazy. He still had to wear the neck brace while walking, but it was still better than going crazy.
The citizens of the Greenwood were all delighted to see Legolas up and about. News about Legolas’ accident had spread like wildfire, and since nothing travels faster than gossip, there were even rumors that Legolas had died or was near death. Thankfully, none of these rumors ever reached Thranduil’s ear.
Legolas, Thranduil, Elrond, and the twins walked to the archery range, where the twins wanted to show their ada how much their archery had improved after only one lesson with Legolas.
Seeing Elladan and Elrohir with their bows in their hands made Legolas jealous. There was nothing he wanted more in that moment than to be able to hold his bow and shoot a couple of arrows. He looked up to his father, who already knew what Legolas was thinking.
“Only if Elrond says you can,” he answered before Legolas could even ask the question.
Legolas knew he had to give Elrond the look. The look that, when used properly, could melt the heart of anyone who looked upon it. It was usually reserved for his father or Galion, but it was almost guaranteed to work on Elrond too.
Elrond was no match for the look; he gave in without Legolas even having to ask.
Legolas resisted the urge to jump up and down in excitement because that would have landed him straight in bed again.
They all spent the entire day on the range. Legolas helped the twins while they pretended to be furious that Legolas could still beat them with a broken neck and limited mobility.
Thranduil looked on with great pride. It amazed him that even with severe injuries, Legolas’ brightness of spirit and kindness to everyone was undiminished, just like his mother. He was equally amazed at Legolas’ skill; he concluded that Legolas would definitely be the best archer in the kingdom one day, possibly the best on all of Arda.
The brace stayed on for two more weeks. Since Legolas still wasn’t allowed to spar with knives, most days were spent visiting the archery range where Legolas taught the twins to shoot with different types of bows.
One day, the three elflings ran into Berion at the archery range, who had been training to get back into fighting shape since his injury.
All three boys wanted to hide under a rock since they knew it was their fault that he had gotten injured in the first place. They knew they would have to apologize; there was no way around it.
Legolas knew he would have to speak first, since it was his idea that had caused all this.
“Berion, first, I want to thank you for saving me. They told me I’d be dead if you hadn’t come. I owe you my life and I’ll never forget it. I also wanted to apologize for hurting you. It was my idea. I didn’t think you would get hurt, but that doesn’t excuse what I did,” said Legolas in a meek, trembling voice.
The only reason his apology came out so well was because he had been practicing it for days, hoping for an opportunity to arise.
Elladan and Elrohir took turns apologizing too.
Berion accepted the apologies. He wasn’t angry; he understood what it was to be young and what it took for the elflings to muster the courage to apologize. It also didn’t hurt that he was fiercely loyal to his King and Prince.
Thranduil and Elrond had been standing several steps away, close enough to hear the exchange. Thranduil knew it was now his turn. He walked towards Berion, who bowed his head in deference.
“Berion, now it’s my turn to apologize. I haven’t thanked you for saving my son. In saving him, you saved me as well and I will always be thankful for it. We will forever be in your debt.”
“Think nothing of it. It was an honor to make myself useful, Your Majesty.”
“Still, you have my most sincere thanks for the service you performed for my son and me. I’ve spoken to General Feren. There’s a promotion waiting for you when you’re ready to return to your duties.”
“Thank you, my King!”
After Berion left, Thranduil carefully picked up Legolas.
“I’m very proud of you, tithen las. One of the most important things of being grown up is recognizing and admitting when you’ve made a mistake. And now you’re one step closer.”
Like most elflings, Legolas was thrilled with the idea of being closer to growing up.
“Ada? When do you think I can go riding with Dan and Ro again?”
Legolas and Thranduil turned to Elrond, who simply responded, “Two weeks.”
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
Two weeks to the day later, Legolas convinced himself to ask his father to let him and the twins go riding. As always, he chose his moment. Ever since Legolas began recovering from his accident, Thranduil had been in a great mood, better than Legolas had ever seen him, but that was still no guarantee. He waited until there was a lull in the conversation while they were all together eating dinner.
“Ada? Can we go riding tomorrow?”
Thranduil put his wine goblet down. His first instinct was a hard “no”. But before he could respond, Legolas interrupted.
“Two weeks ago, I asked how long it would take for me to be able to ride again. Lord Elrond said two weeks. It has been two weeks. I’m better now and I promise we’ll be good. Can we go?”
Legolas gave Thranduil the look.
“Of course, ion-nin. I’ll send word to the stables,” answered Thranduil with a smile.
Legolas was shocked. He hadn’t expected it to be that easy. His father must have been in a really good mood.
Legolas wasn’t the only one who was shocked. Elrond, Elladan, and Elrohir all looked at Thranduil in disbelief.
When the elflings weren’t looking, Thranduil playfully winked at the Elrond. He was up to something.
They were all up extra early the next day. The boys were all excited to finally be able to leave the palace again.
After breakfast, Thranduil and Elrond walked the boys to the stables. Legolas was bewildered at what he saw. He had expected to see Berion waiting for them, but not this. Berion was there, along with a company of twenty guards, all getting ready to depart.
“I’m sorry, Legolas. I forgot to tell you. Captain Berion and his company will be escorting you, to make sure you stay out of trouble. They won’t let the three of you out of their sight for even a second,” said Thranduil with a wicked smile.
Legolas should have expected that. Getting permission had been way too easy. At least they were still going out.
Legolas searched for his horse, but it was nowhere to be found. The only horses that were saddled were three ponies used to train elflings when they first learned to ride; Legolas hadn’t ridden one of those in decades. Legolas looked to his father again, who was now laughing uncontrollably alongside Elrond.
“Did you really think we had forgotten the scare the three of you gave us? These horses will make sure you don’t make any more quick getaways, tithen las.”
Legolas was about to argue, when Thranduil interrupted him.
“I never said which horse you could ride,” said Thranduil between laughs.
“Neither did I,” added Elrond, also in between laughs.
Legolas looked at the twins; they were equal parts astonished and upset. The three of them grudgingly mounted their ponies and set off, surrounded by the company of guards. The ponies they were riding were especially trained to go at the slowest pace possible, so it would be a looooong long time before they got anywhere even remotely interesting. The thought that it might have been faster if they got off and walked crossed Legolas’ mind more than once.
It took a long while for them to be out of Thranduil and Elrond’s sight.
“Serves them right for what they put us through,” said Thranduil with a wicked chuckle.
“The boys want the two of you to visit us in Imladris as soon as possible. They said that Legolas already accepted the invitation, and he’s going to try and convince you to accept.”
Thranduil’s smile was quickly wiped off his face as his eyes went wide. “Oh dear,” was all he could respond.
The three elflings had become fast friends and there would be no way to keep them apart now. All that was left was to batten down the hatches and prepare for the mischief the three of them would be getting into in the coming centuries.