The Lady of the Golden Wood

Disclaimer:  The characters and settings belong to Tolkien, I do not profit from them.

This was written for Karri’s challenge.  The criteria being that this is a child’s first dose of puppy love.  The youngling must be under the relative age of 10 while the object of the youngling’s affection must be over the relative age of 20.  It is supposed to have a 2000 word limit, but I went over.  This is my first attempt away from the angst/drama type of genre so I am a little nervous about this.  Hope you all enjoy =)

Once again, many thanks to my beta Eleniel =)

*~*~*~*~*

Legolas Thranduilion pulled at the chafing collar of his dress robes.  He hated wearing the large, ornately designed forest green robe, but his father had insisted that it was the proper attire for the occasion, for today the delegation from Lothlorien would be arriving for the centurial meeting of the realms.  At the present he was in the palace, waiting for the Lothlorien party, which had been reported to be only minutes away, to arrive.

Once again Legolas tugged at the tight collar.  Why did he have to stand here and greet boring adults when he could be out playing?  His other friends did not have to stand through this excruciating boredom.

Legolas watched with disinterest as the group of elves rode up. However, one lady in particular soon caught his attention.  She sat exquisitely upon a snow white horse, a delicately designed white dress hugging her astonishing frame while her long golden hair cascaded down her back. What really caught the young elf’s attention were her eyes.  They were the most beautiful crystal blue eyes, sparkling as if beset with diamonds.

An elf with silver hair dismounted and then helped the lady down from her own horse.  They both approached King Thranduil, who gave them the traditional elven salute.  “Mae govannen Lord Celeborn, Lady Galadriel, welcome to Lasgalen,” said Thranduil.

“Hannon le Thranduil,” spoke Celeborn.

Thranduil began to introduce his sons, starting with his eldest and making his way down, but when he came to Legolas, the young elf stepped forward and bowed before Galadriel.  “I am Legolas, my lady.  If you require anything while you are staying here, please, do not hesitate to ask.  I would be happy to do anything for one so lovely as yourself.”

Galadriel smiled at the young elf.  “Thank you young Thranduilion, I appreciate your generous hospitality.”

Thranduil, although upset with Legolas for interrupting the formalities, had to smile at his son.  One need not be able to read minds to know that the elfling was smitten with Galadriel.  “Please, my honoured guests, follow me and I shall show you to your rooms.”

Legolas followed the group of Lorien elves inside.  He made his way up to Galadriel’s side, effectively placing himself between her and Celeborn.  “My Lady, I know you must be tired from your travels, but I would like to invite you to join me for a picnic in the garden,” he said, receiving another beautiful smile.

“I would love to Legolas, but I am tired from my travels, perhaps another time?”

Legolas’ heart sank a little at these words but he soon regained his cheery disposition; after all, a later time would give him more time to plan their date.  “As you wish my Lady,” he said, “I shall take my leave now, but please remember my offer.  If you ever need anything, do not hesitate to ask.  Adar still makes me go to bed at ten, which is a child’s time in my opinion, but I would be glad to get up, even if it is to only get you as glass of water.  Farewell for now.”  Legolas bowed once again and then took off down the corridor, leaving a very humoured Galadriel behind.

*~*~*~*~*

A few days later, after the Imladris party had arrived, there was a feast in one of the great gardens.  Legolas tried to tell his father that he was old enough to sit up with the adults, but his father had placed him among the children because there was no room for the young elf at the other end and because he thought that Legolas would be more comfortable with elves around his own age.

Legolas sat in his chair with his arms folded just watching the other end of the table where the adults were talking and laughing merrily.  Oh how he wanted to be up there sipping wine and enjoying Galadriel’s company, but no, he was condemned to spend the night surrounded by elflings!

Dinner was to be served shortly when Legolas noticed that Lord Celeborn get up from his seat beside Galadriel and disappear into the palace.  Wasting no time, the small elf leapt up from his seat and made his way directly to Celeborn’s vacated seat.

“Good evening my lady,” he said as he sat down.  “Are you enjoying yourself tonight?  Has the hospitality met your approval?  If not, I could implement some changes around here, after all, my position does hold some power.”

“The hospitality has been excellent Legolas.  I especially appreciate your assistance and company over these past few days.  I must say your presence during this visit has certainly made my time here entertaining,” said Galadriel.

“I am just trying to show you a good time.”

Celeborn came back from his room where he had gone to retrieve a necklace he was planning on giving to his daughter who had come, along with her husband, with the Imladris delegation.  From his position he immediately noticed a small blonde head in his chair, no doubt of who it was.  He walked up to the seat and Legolas simply looked up at him, not even attempting to move.

“Good evening Lord Celeborn.  Dinner is about to be served, may I suggest that you find an empty seat so we may all begin to eat.  I for one am famished,” replied Legolas.

Celeborn did his best not to glare at the elfling.  “There doesn’t seem to be an empty seat available here,” he said, trying to keep his voice calm.  He was not so much mad as he was irritated at being replaced.

“Why sure there is,” said Legolas, pointing down to the other end of the table, “there is a seat down there, by the elflings.  I suggest you hurry or the servant may just assume there is an empty place setting and skip over you.”

“But-” Celeborn was about to protest when he heard his wife’s voice in his head asking his to humour the elfling.  He sighed and shot his wife a look before turning back to Legolas.  “Thank you Prince Legolas for pointing that seat out for me, I seemed to have overlooked it.”

“No need to thank me, I was just helping.”

With one last contemptuous glare at wife he turned and walked to where the rest of the elflings were sitting.  He took his seat and was instantly bombarded with questions from the young ones on what he had done to be put down here. 

Celeborn usually prided himself on his patience but that was now wearing thin.  Over their stay in Mirkwood, whenever he had planned on spending time with Galadriel, Legolas was always there.  Walking under the trees with her, horseback riding, showing off his archery skills, reading, or just talking, and the elfling loved to talk.  The Elf Lord of course understood that the elfling had a crush on his wife, and he was far from being the first one, but now Celeborn was getting to the end of his tolerance.  After all, he was now sitting at the elfling’s table, watching the cheerful adult proceedings from afar.  This was just embarrassing!

*~*~*~*~*

A week later Legolas lay in bed thinking.  The meeting of the realms was almost over, which meant that Galadriel would be leaving him soon.  He couldn’t allow that to happen, at least not without asking her a question...but how could he ask this question?  It was not the type one just goes up to another and asks, no, it required planning and the perfect setting.  Legolas sighed and flung the covers off of himself, he would get no sleep tonight until he figured out how to ask the lady to be his betrothed.

Legolas set off in search of his father.  He would not be in bed this early, so instead, Legolas checked his study.  He peered through the crack in the door and saw his father bent over some paperwork.  The young elf pushed the door open wider and wandered in.

Upon hearing the noise of his door opening, King Thranduil looked up.  “Legolas?  You should be in bed, is something wrong?”

Legolas walked over to his father who picked him up and set him on his lap, a customary position for the occasional late night chats that they had.  “Ada, how did you ask naneth to be you betrothed?”

Whatever Thranduil had thought his son might ask him, it was not this.  Legolas seldom talked about his mother since her death several years ago.  “What do you mean son?”

“Did you take her anywhere or do anything special?  Or did you just walk up to her and ask?”

“That is a very important question; one cannot simply go up to someone and ask.  I was deeply in love with you mother and so I planned a luxurious picnic in the garden.  I had the chef make all of her favourite foods and then I led her blindfolded to the spot.  The afternoon was wonderful, but when it came time for me to ask her the question, I was so nervous.  I remember I kept stumbling over the words-she must have had a dreadful time understanding me, but luckily she knew what I was trying to ask her, for she had apparently been waiting for me to do it for some time.”  Thranduil paused for a moment, lost in the memory.  “Does that answer your question ion nin?”

Legolas smiled.  “Yes ada, that was perfect, thank you.”  He slid off of his father’s lap and left, leaving a slightly perplexed Thranduil behind.

*~*~*~*~*

The next day Legolas went down to the kitchens to find the head cook. He didn’t know what the Lady Galadriel’s favourite foods were so instead he ordered a basket full of his own.  Surely she enjoyed pastries and cakes.  The chef of course was not about to give an elfling a basket full of sugar, so when the child was occupied by someone else, he placed bread, cheese, fruit and a couple of pastries in the basket along with the grape juice that the young Prince had ordered.

Legolas took the basket, which was covered with a piece of cloth, without question and left the kitchens.  Next he went up to his room and took a blanket off of his bed, which they could use to sit on, for surely a lady of that calibre did not sit on the ground!

Legolas went into the gardens and picked the perfect spot.  He set the blanket under a giant oak tree so they would be covered with some shade from the bright afternoon sun.  He put the basket down and then went off in search of his lady. 

Legolas wandered around the palace for a while until he ran into Galadriel and...Celeborn!  Why was that elf always around when Legolas wanted to be alone with the Lady of the Golden Wood?  Well he would just have to put a stop to this.

The young elf immediately ran up to the two of them and placed himself between the couple.  “My Lady,” he said as he bowed to her.  “I have a surprise for you if you would come with me.”  He grasped her hand and began to pull her in the direction of the garden.  Galadriel shot and apologetic look to her husband as the elfling led her away.

Upon entering the garden Galadriel was surprised at the amount of effort Legolas had put into this.  “Please sit,” he said indicating the blanket.

Galadriel did as she was bidden.  Legolas opened the basket and was dismayed to find food in there that he did not ask for.  Oh well, this would have to do for he had no time to lecture the cook now.  He pulled out the two glasses and the grape juice, then filled each glass and handed one to the lady.  Next he began to unpack the food.  “Would you like some fruit?” he asked, offering up the plate.

“Thank you Legolas, but may I ask as to the occasion?” she said while selecting a piece of a sliced apple.

“I have something very important to ask you,” he said, fighting the butterflies that had suddenly appeared in his stomach.

“Is that so?  Well first Legolas, I wish to talk to you.  I know you like me and I like you,” she let out a small laugh as she saw Legolas blush a deep scarlet red.  “But, think about it, are you really ready to be with someone yet?” she asked resuming her original questioning.

Legolas considered this.  He had thought he was ready to be with her, but the more he pondered it, the more the thought seemed disgusting.  His mind travelled to all of the married couples he had seen.  They were always hugging and kissing and doing other stuff that now seemed quite revolting.  Maybe he wasn’t ready to be betrothed to her, but how to let her down gently?  She had just admitted to liking him and the more he thought about it the more he realised it must be true.  She was always spending time with him, and today, when he had seen that she was enjoying Celeborn’s company, she had just left him for Legolas.

“My Lady, I know where you are going with this, but I must ask you to stop.  I am still young and not ready to be ‘tied down’ as my brother always says.  I apologize for any feelings of yours that I may have hurt, but I think it just has to be this way.”

Galadriel paused for a moment.  Did he just break up with her?  She allowed her mind to trace back over the conversation to see where the young elf had gotten this impression and instantly she realised the mistake where she had left out several key words.  After telling him that she liked him too, she had meant to add ‘just not in the same way’ but had forgotten those words upon seeing Legolas blush.  Maybe it was better this way; at least the elfling would not get hurt.  “I am sorry you feel that way Legolas,” she said fighting to keep a straight face.

“Well I must go now,” he said standing up, “please finish the rest of your lunch.  Good day my Lady.”

As soon as Legolas left Galadriel could no longer contain her laughter and could be found giggling at several points during the day.

*~*~*~*~*

Two days later the party of elves from Lothlorien was preparing to leave.  “Goodbye, my Lady,” said Legolas as he stood in the courtyard with several other elves bidding farewell.  She was still by far the most beautiful elf Legolas had ever seen and although he was not ready to become betrothed right now, she was the one he would ask when he was older.

“Farewell sweet Legolas.  I shall miss your daily company, but we shall meet again someday,” said Galadriel as she mounted her horse.

That was enough to send Legolas’ spirits soaring.  He would meet the lady again some day and that day would be the day in which he asked her to become his wife.  It was only a matter of time. 

Unfortunately, or maybe it was actually for the best, the next time he met Galadriel several decades had passed and he was old enough to realise that she was already taken  (by Celeborn of all people!), but to this day, she still remained the most beautiful maiden he had ever seen.

THE END

Elvish Translations

Mae govannen = Well met

Hannon le = Thank you

Adar/ Ada = Father/ Dad or Daddy

Naneth = Mother

Ion nin = My son