Chapter 19: Laketown Revisited

Despite the hectic preparations to receive so many important guests, and the excitement of seeing so may well known and respected leaders in their midst, a sense of peace began to fall  over Mirkwood with each new arrival for the Council meeting. Thranduil smiled as he recalled Tathar’s observation that they could feel even more well protected whilst the combined power of three Elven Lords, Lady Galadriel, Saruman and Mithrandir were in residence, and that not even Sauron would have the arrogance to attack Mirkwood. Many of the Wood Elves held the same opinion as Tathar, but the notion in no way assuaged their King’s sense of dread.

“Not unless he had somehow found the One Ring,” Thranduil thought ruefully, his blood turning to ice at the thought

Finally the day came when all the members of the White Council had arrived, and on their first evening together they enjoyed a quiet meal in Thranduil’s private dining room before retiring early in anticipation of an extended meeting the next day. The talk at the table had begun with a simple exchange of pleasantries and the news of happenings in each of the Elven realms, and only touched briefly on the reason for the Council. Saruman scoffed at the idea that Sauron was the Necromancer, but spoke no further on the subject when Glorfindel wisely interceded with an amusing tales from his incredible and occasionally infamous past. It disturbed Thranduil that even in such a relaxed atmosphere of apparent good humour, none could hide the occasional flash of apprehension from eyes that looked into the past and saw the future.

The King sighed tiredly as the last of his guests bid him goodnight, and rather reluctant to follow their example, he poured himself another glass of wine and moved out onto the balcony to savour the coolness of the night air that was perfumed with the scent of the forest.

“It is an excellent vintage, many thanks for the gift Elrond,” he said without turning as the sound of the wine bottle being replaced on the dining table alerted him to the presence of another.

“You are welcome, I remembered it was your favourite,” replied the Lord of Imladris as he came to stand beside the King and gazed out into the darkness, sipping his wine in silence. “Your forest is beautiful in the brightness of day, but even more so by night,” he commented after a few moments.

“Ai, although the darkness casts a shadow, it cannot diminish the light of the stars,” replied Thranduil as he cast his eyes to the twinkling bright jewels that shone from the blackness above.

“Yet I see the shadow hangs heavily over your heart, mellon nin, and I can sense its power more strongly here than in Imladris,” Elrond admitted, shivering as his blood chilled even as he spoke.

“Despite what Saruman thinks, I know Sauron has returned and is gathering his strength.  I can feel it as it haunts my dreams,” stated Thranduil. Elrond studied his friend closely and saw the tell tale signs of lack of sleep and knew that Thranduil was speaking more than metaphorically.

“Come, I will make you a sleeping potion that will free you from your nightmares yet will leave you alert and refreshed when you awake. There is much to be discussed at the meeting tomorrow,” he said.

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As the King’s son, Legolas was expected to be on hand to greet the members of the council as they arrived, and Tathar and his patrol had been temporarily reassigned to act extra guards. Thranduil was taking no chances with anyone’s safety now that the frequent appearance of crebain in the skies above caused him to strongly suspect the presence of spies in his midst. He had already taken the precaution of closing his borders to any other than the Firstborn, keeping only his trade with the Men of Laketown open due to necessity.

Elladan and Elrohir had accompanied the party from Imladris, both to personally oversee their Adar’s safe arrival, as well as to spend a few days with Legolas and Tathar, and now that the Council had begun, the four younger Elves who were not privy to the event, were looking for amusement.

“Anything but spider hunting,” grumbled Elrohir causing the others to laugh at his discomfort with the creatures.

“Perhaps a swim, then?” suggested Legolas, who also was in no mood for battle. Midsummer was fast approaching and although the day was but a few hours old, it was quite warm. The others agreed it was an excellent idea, and soon they were diving and splashing about like children in the deep lake that was the source of a small stream that flowed into the Forest River.

When their energy had been spent and each had received sufficient dunking from the others, they stretched out on the grassy shore and allowed Anor’s warm fingers to caress their glistening water-logged bodies dry.

“Haldir told us of your rescue of Mithrandir,” Elladan said lazily raising himself up on one elbow so that he could look at Legolas as he spoke.

“To be fair, he escaped Dol Guldur on his own, we merely transported him across the river,” explained Legolas.

“After we fixed the boat,” added Tathar proudly, much more willing to accept praise for the venture than his friend.

“It never occurred to me that you two were skilled as shipwrights,” Elrohir mused as he watched as Legolas studied the delicate butterfly that had landed on his hand, making no move to cause it to fly away. He looked up to see his friend watching and smiled.

“The Forest River is our means of transport for the goods we trade with the Men of Laketown. We are by no means shipwrights, but knowing how to fix a leaking boat…” he began to reply.

“….  Or how to keep your barge tied together….  ,” interrupted Tathar gleefully.

“….  is preferable to finding yourself immersed fully dressed in the water, and losing your cargo in the process,” said Legolas, obviously with the voice of experience. The amused glance he exchanged with his friend did not go unnoticed by Elladan and Elrohir.

“Let us in on the joke!” demanded Elladan sensing there was merriment to be told.

“Ai, tell us!” entreated Elrohir, whose curiosity was also piqued. Legolas waved his hand to indicate he deferred the story telling to Tathar, causing the butterfly to take flight and then lay back and listened.

“Legolas and I had never before been to Laketown, and decided that travelling by River would make a pleasant change to horseback. The King was reluctant to let us do so, since we were both totally inexperienced in the ways of water craft, but eventually agreed to let us go if we went with the more experienced Elves. Of course, that arrangement was not entirely to our liking, and after several threats to his favourite bow, I managed to coerce Legolas into going on our own. His only condition was that we at least take a few of the empty wine barrels with us so that we were not being too deceptive, to which I agreed.

We were arguing about the differences between the barges and the boats the River Elves use, and could not agree on which was faster. Legolas favoured the barge, and I the boat so the only sensible course of action was to take both and make a wager on who would reach Laketown first.”

“I see, so you took the boat, and Legolas the barge,” said Elladan.

“Ai, but neither of us wanted to lose and have to fletch the other’s arrows for a month, which was the stakes, so our… ahem… competitive natures…shall we say, took over,” replied Tathar with feigned innocence. Legolas rolled his eyes and spoke up.

“Competitive indeed! You untied the ropes holding the logs of my barge together!”

 “I only loosened some so that when they became fully wet they would no longer hold the craft together, the others I merely cut through so that they also would bot hold. You were well on the way to our destination before it fell apart beneath you, and there was really no danger, for you are an excellent swimmer and made it to shore safely,” said Tathar totally nonplussed by his friend’s accusation.

“Then are we to assume you won, Tathar? Did you reach Laketown first?” asked Elladan, not believing for a moment Legolas had not retaliated in some way.

“Nay, I did not! Tathar replied hotly, still highly affronted at the thought. “By some strange will of the Valar, as soon as Legolas was on dry land, MY boat began taking on water from the tiny holes he had made before we left Mirkwood!”

“Tathar had to row to shore before the boat sank. He tried to use the wood from the empty wine barrels to fix the leaks, but did not know how,” smirked Legolas, not even attempting to look innocent.

“Neither did you!” declared Tathar.

“So you both became stranded on the river bank. Then how did you get back to Mirkwood?” asked Elladan with laughter in his voice at the image of the two shipwrecked Elves.

“We decided to wait for the next delivery to Laketown, which unfortunately was not until the next day, and then hailed for our rescue. Naturally the King was not amused, having spent the night concerned for Legolas’s safety.”

“And yours, mellon nin,” Legolas added affectionately.

“Ai, and mine. When he learned of our folly, he was so enraged at our lack of commonsense, for deceiving him and for our inability to fix the boat, not to mention the loss of the wine barrels,  that he ordered us to spend time with the River Elves until we had learned how to both build and repair water craft,” said Tathar.

 “It was hard work, but in fact it was quite enjoyable,” Legolas added. “We spent many a pleasant evening in the taverns until Tathar decided to argue with the Dwarves.” Elladan and Elrohir laughed heartily as Legolas quickly recounted that incident.

“I imagine our elders will be similarly occupied with the Council tomorrow, and I am suddenly of a mind to try my hand at boating. It sounds like fun. We have been thrown out of one or two taverns ourselves, but we have never visited Laketown,” commented Elrohir, raising a questioning eyebrow at Elladan who caught his meaning and smiled wickedly, nodding his agreement.

“Ai, a relaxing boat trip, followed by a quiet drink and perhaps an argument with a Dwarf or two for good measure will help relieve the boredom of waiting.”