Rating: G
Pairings: Elrond/Legolas, Thranduil/Haldir, Boromir/Aragorn.
Summary: Baby-bun learns that you can gain a deep and lasting happiness after war and death have visited, and even if all your dreams can not come true. It is his first step on to the path of wisdom, and this ends the series as Legolas is little no more.
Notes: I am very grateful to my archivist and thankful to all of you who wrote with encouraging feedback -- I really, really appreciate it. The Little Legolas Adventures timeline ends here, but I hope to add more stories that take place before this chapter, later on, and that's why I'm not putting any more numbers after each story title :-)
Warnings: non-canon in many aspects, mpreg mentions (but these are discreetly done, I promise)
"Thank you, Boromir, for inviting us to stay here. It is so beautiful," Legolas said, sighing rapturously.
The elf lord and his spouse had been living in Gondor for the past two years. The Prince's Champion had suspected that there was a void in Legolas's marriage that needed filling, and that couldn't be done while Elrond stayed with Thranduil in the Wood of Greenleaves while Legolas enjoyed Aragorn's friendship in Ithilien. So, he had asked the King to invite them to live in Gondor, and the time together had done much to bring them closer.
Boromir thought it was an obvious step to take but Aragorn had explained that newly married elves took a long time to adjust to life as a couple, and that Elrond would not have suggested it for fear of imposing on Legolas. The elf prince was much younger and used to a great deal of freedom. He would likely have resented being tied down to a domestic life so quickly. It was a vital aspect of elfish society that the period of adapting was not rushed.
While trying to grasp Aragorn's point, Boromir couldn't help but think that newlyweds in all cultures needed attention from their mates. He argued that it seemed to him Legolas was actually craving for Elrond to "impose" on him rather a lot more. Aragorn had thought his lover insensitive to cultural differences at the time but had eventually extended the invitation. Happily, there was no awkward rejection from Legolas, which Aragorn had expected and dreaded, and the couple had moved into the lavish suite of rooms next to the Royal Chambers.
"And you are happy here?" Boromir asked. "I was so worried about you that day by the river when Borrie learned to swim. You seemed filled with so much sadness. It doesn't become your beauty, Legolas, to be so burdened by misery."
Legolas smiled. "You've always been so sensitive to your friend's needs, Boromir. I do appreciate it, even if I may not say it enough. Perhaps, I should explain. I'm barren."
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that," Boromir said, startled. Being around expressive and emotional Gondorians had apparently helped the usually silent, stoic warrior open up.
"I want to give Elrond children so much. You should see how his face lights up when Ori walks into the room and the affection between my father and Haldir makes me feel...inadequate," Legolas elaborated.
"The love shared between two people is unique to them alone, and no less beautiful for it," Boromir said. "And even a union without children can be a miracle of joy and tenderness in itself."
"You truly believe that, don't you, Boromir?" the elf lord asked, touched by his friend's support. It had not been an easy admission to make.
"It took a long time for me to learn that, even if Elrond kept saying it too. But it has been easier to appreciate that truth, here in Gondor, among friends," Legolas gave Boromir's hand a quick squeeze.
"I am glad to see that smile, Legolas. And for your company," the handsome lord said fondly.
Just then, Legolas sniffed the air.
"Ahhh, breakfast buns. Father must be baking!"
By the time the man and elf lord arrived at the small informal dining hall from the gardens, the steaming buns had already been served. Haldir, Thranduil and Elrond were seated on one side of the round table. Ori sat beside his father, unusually quiet as he sneaked peeks at the little prince seated one chair away from him. The king sat next to his son, and was no doubt hoping for the boy's champion to fill the chair between the two children.
The party from the Wood of Greenleaves had arrived the night before, shortly before Borrie's bedtime, so the children had been introduced to each other but had little time to chat.
Boromir took his place with a subtle but warm smile at his lover and king while Legolas stroked Elrond's hair too quickly for mortal eyes to see as he took the chair between the half elf and Aragorn.
Right in the middle of the table was an especially precious treat. Dainty buns no larger than a baby's fist, filled with the sweetest honey, had been allowed to cool before being topped with rich cream.
"Baby tea-cakes!" Legolas exclaimed. "Those are almost impossible to bake."
Elrond squeezed his hand quickly. Boromir congratulated himself; the couple was far more affectionate now. It would make it easier for Legolas to accept his infertility.
"We can serve ourselves," Aragorn hastily said just then, as a small army of liveried household staff tried to cram themselves into the small room to serve the two kings, four lords and two children.
The men retreated reluctantly, and the king breathed a sigh of relief. "The castle is too crowded," he said regretfully. The Ranger in him was periodically overwhelmed by his royal duties.
"The crowd follows you, Aragorn," Boromir laughed. The king just smiled ruefully and shook his head slightly.
"Have some buns, Estel, it will make you feel better," Thranduil said. He was a fairly independent king himself, having raised Legolas without an army of nurses and champions. He understood how even the most responsible king might sometimes feel hemmed in by the ever present crowd of advisors, warlords, petitioners and court officials.
The next few moments were spent passing the trays around. But nobody dared touch the baby tea-cakes.
Borrie stared at Ori's and Haldir's heaped plates in alarm. Surely one person couldn't be expected to eat so much!
"Would you like to try a baby tea-cake, Borrie?" Aragorn asked, reaching for the tempting sweets.
"No, he can't! Those are only for my father because when he was little he ran away when his mother refused to make them for him. If we eat them, he might run away again!" Ori exclaimed.
Aragorn retracted his hand hastily. The other elves burst out laughing.
Haldir's face burned with shame. "Honestly, Ori! Who told you such a tale? And to mention it at table! Estel, please give some to Borrie."
"It isn't a tale, the first part is true. The rest I told him so he wouldn't pinch your treats while they were cooling. He has his own tray of buns and he's not as fond of them as you are," Thranduil chortled.
Only Boromir realised tiny Ori's discomfiture. The elfling had believed his mother whole-heartedly and now felt that everyone was laughing at him and that his father had chided him for being rude when all he tried to do was to protect what was Haldir's. When Boromir had been young, his father used to tease him that Faramir was such a little bit of a boy that he would blow away with the next storm. All the retainers had laughed when he threw himself on to his precious younger brother, almost flattening the one-year-old, when the wind gusted into the small dining room at that moment. The man still remembered that children felt such slights acutely, young as they were.
"Oh, I have enough buns, father, and am feeling rather full," Borrie said. His champion gave him a meaningful look. The small boy quickly remembered his manners and also recalled his chat with Boromir last night while being tucked into bed. The man had told him that the other little prince liked to eat sweets and be called "pretty." (It was a strange elfish custom. Stalwart Borrie would challenge anyone who called him pretty to a duel for the insult to his manly honour. After all, he was five and therefore practically a knight, no matter what the adults said.)
"I'm sure they are delicious, but I think the prettiest treats should be given to the prettiest prince," he added, smiling at Ori.
"Well said!" Elrond smiled.
The elfling was startled at first and then beamed at the compliment. "Thank you, Prince Boragorn."
"You can call me Borrie if you like," the little boy said graciously.
"And you can call me Ori," the other prince said, returning the favour.
Both children beamed at each other.
"Haldir, you never told me about the baby tea-cakes incident," Aragorn said curiously.
The former March Warden groaned inwardly and sniffed. He was mortified.
"Haldir was just a child then, and he was very jealous over the attention his newborn younger brother, Rumil, was getting. The final straw came when both his mother and father refused to make him baby tea-cakes, so he gobbled up Rumil's tray of the treats one day and got the scolding of his little life. He ran away to Rivendell, in a fruit and candy box prepared for Elrond! Ha ha ha ha, I'll never forget what a mess he was when we found him," Thranduil explained.
"Oh, Haldir, don't be so embarrassed! This was thousands of years ago," Legolas said to his very silent friend.
The handsome, full-figured warrior smiled, uncharacteristically bashful. "I know, Legolas, but it was so foolish of me. And Thranduil still goes through all the trouble to make them for me, after all these centuries. Thank you, my dear, it is very sweet indeed."
Borrie was scandalised as Haldir kissed Thranduil affectionately on the base of a pointed ear. He often found Boromir in the king's bed when he visited in the early hours of morning, but they would never touch in public, let alone kiss each other!
Ori was used to his unconventionally demonstrative parents though, and continued savouring his share of baby tea-cakes without batting an eyelid.
Boromir patted the Prince of Gondor gently, noticing that he had gone goggle-eyed, and then spoke before the child could blurt out any awkward questions.
"I always wanted a little brother, and when Faramir was born, I couldn't wait until he could walk. I would climb into his crib every morning and talk to him about famous battles and legends," he said, smiling at the memory.
"But did your parents start giving him your baby treats instead?" Ori asked. (He would hate to have a little brother, and have to share all his food and his parent's affections! Poor Father, deprived in such a fashion when he was still practically a baby him self!)
"I was pleased not to be the only child in the household anymore, I rather fancied myself a man with all the responsibilities of having a little brother, and it was such a privilege to eat grown-up food, and talk about "the baby" with my father," Boromir replied.
"I guess in Gondor all the children want to grow up quickly."
"The Lord Steward's wife is pregnant, and she will have a winter baby. I can go and visit them in spring if I'm good and practise my riding every day. King Eomer will visit too," Borrie said, eagerly. It was the closest thing to getting a little brother.
"That's right, Borrie. Faramir is going to be a father! Imagine that!" Boromir chuckled.
"Will you have a baby too, Legolas?" Ori asked with dread. (How awful if he weren't the only precious elf child around. The new baby might be even fatter and prettier than him, and that thought was unbearable.)
The elfling was surprised at the heavy silence that suddenly fell over the merry table.
Legolas swallowed the food he was chewing and then smiled, but only a little sadly. "I won't ever have babies, Ori. I can't."
"Oh," Ori said, relieved, but also sensitive to the regret in his half brother's voice. He pursed his sweet little lips slightly, not knowing what to say.
"So we will all have to dote on you, Ori, and I'm lucky, because I needn't share Legolas's love with anyone," Elrond said. The beautiful elf lord looked at his spouse both gratefully and tenderly. Aragorn and Boromir were pleased to see that he was beginning to believe Elrond when the great healer said he was happy in their union, completely fulfilled even without a child. For the wise half-elf, having one loving baby-bun to love was enough for all eternity.
"And before you get too smug, Ori, remember that your parents can always have another child," Elrond teased gently.
The little elf looked horrified, and everyone couldn't resist laughing. Thranduil smiled warmly. He was so happy that Legolas found the right match, and Ori was an endless source of joy for him, more so because he resembled his father, whom Thranduil loved overwhelmingly, so very much.
"Don't worry about it too much, Ori. Have you learned the words for the Autumn Festival song?" Haldir asked. He couldn't bear to see his little darling upset.
"Yes, father," Ori puffed out his chest and beamed, happy again. He had a positively gorgeous singing voice, inherited from Haldir, and a marvellous memory.
He couldn't wait to sing that night.
"Careful, Borrie," Aragorn said, handing his son a stubby burning candle.
The little prince, who was wrapped in a heavy fur cloak complete with hood to protect him from the autumn chill, looked positively flammable to the concerned king.
"Do you need a cloak, Aragorn? It is cold," Boromir asked, knowing he was being overprotective, and not being able to help himself.
"I'll be fine, Boromir. I find it difficult to move in heavy clothes," Aragorn replied patiently and lovingly. He had learned to treasure being treasured over the years, when he came to realise that Boromir meant no disrespect in treating him rather more like a precious spouse than a revered warrior-king. It was merely a manifestation of Boromir's tender nature and his innate chivalry.
Ori wore a pretty child's robe made of baby blue velvet to match his eyes and accentuate his plumpness, and it was decorated with gold thread and tiny sapphire beads. He wore large sapphire and diamond ear-rings, and had rubies shaped like berries in his elaborately plaited hair. Thranduil was thrilled to finally have a child who adored jewels and finery as much as he did.
Haldir was more tastefully and subtly dressed in a blue-grey outfit that flattered his very fine figure. He was just about reaching his pre-war level of plumpness and flexibility, and would soon hold his own long delayed wedding ceremony, now that he was feeling beautiful again.
The royal guard of Gondor waited anxiously within sight of their king and prince, but not nearby enough to disrupt the festivities.
There was no lush forest to place the candles in, so they made do with an especially large tree in the middle of the sprawling gardens.
Haldir started singing first, and then Ori joined in, followed by Elrond and Legolas, and finally Thranduil. The beauty of their immortal voices made some among the royal guard gasp in wonder.
"What are they singing, father? It's so beautiful!" Borrie said.
Aragorn gathered his thoughts, and then as the elves knelt to place their candles by the tree, he said in Westron:
When first autumn day turns to night,
And the sky is afire with stars so bright,
And the moon lights darkness with silver,
Light a candle for the one you'll love forever.
When the golden leaves dance to the ground,
With song keep your dearest to you bound,
When the wind sings a melody to herald the fall,
Light a candle for the one you love most of all.
Let your heart decide the mood, rhythm and rhyme
To hold the one you love to you for all time
And as the trees sigh in autumn's winds and tempest,
Keep safe the light you lit for the one you love best.
This fall call upon the power of the stars above,
That you will always know warmth and love,
So even as the forest sleeps in the cold of winter,
You will always have the one you'll love forever.
The king was answering his son, but he was speaking the lines to the man he loved, the man he had fought down death for, the man to whom he had gifted a miraculous son.
Boromir's eyes were shining with emotion when Aragorn finished, and suddenly the former Ranger remembered a night from what seemed like lifetimes ago...
..."And then the dream changed, and we were together in this beautiful garden, with a grand city in the background, gleaming white in the moonlight, lighting candles for each other..."
"And all is right with the world," Aragorn said, so softly and tenderly that his lover did not hear him, but the elves did, and they smiled.
They set out a thick leather sheet to cover the ground, not far from where the four pairs of candles burned merrily at the tree's base. (Borrie and Ori had placed their children's candles next to each other's).
Aragorn had lit a fire and a pot of soup boiled merrily.
"Ah, this brings back happy memories," the king said. "It is Sam's original recipe for rabbit, mushroom and potato soup."
"I miss Sam's cooking," Legolas said, sniffing delicately as the scent wafted around them.
Aragorn badly wanted to smoke, but refrained, being surrounded by elves and children. Maybe on his next visit to the Shire...
Ori and Elrond sat at the mat's far side teaching Boromir and Borrie bits of the autumn festival song, and their pronunciation was making Haldir and Thranduil helpless with laughter. The elf king roared with amusement while Haldir stifled his mirth as best he could out of elegant politeness.
"You're a good cook, Aragorn," the elf lord said.
"You taught me how to prepare food on the road, how to use a bow and how to skin an animal," the man said. "Humph, I make it look easy now, but there was a time...,"
"...Elrond had to clear the whole area you were hunting in, for fear your arrows would end up in one of his patrolling warriors instead of the prey! Ha ha ha, I remember. And the deer pelt that you wanted to turn into a tunic for your mother that you totally mangled; you ended up with only enough to make her gloves," Legolas chortled.
"Mmmmm. But we got it right in the end, didn't we, my friend?" Aragorn asked.
Legolas looked at the handsome features, so coloured by experience, emotion and noble intentions, and then he looked at his dark haired spouse, his dear father, treasured childhood friend, cherished friend from the Ring Quest, and the two children.
And suddenly his heart felt full, and all his sorrows for the children of Elrond that would live forever only in his mind melted away.
"You get the first bowl," Aragorn grinned, dishing out the soup. He enjoyed this, sitting on the ground, cooking and serving his friends. He had left strict instructions with his bodyguards to stay well away this night. For the Autumn Festival, he wanted to taste freedom again.
They stayed up late into the night, talking and laughing, revelling in the peace and joy that had arrived in their lives after so much loss and war.
Borrie slept in Boromir's lap, bundled snugly in his own cloak and that of his champion's, who was very warm after the nourishing soup.
Ori tried to stay awake, if only to keep his hair do intact. But soon his little eyelids slid shut, and he sagged gently against Haldir who popped him on to a generous lap with the ease of long practice.
For a moment the warrior elf's heart missed a beat with sorrow, for his youngest brother used to sleep in his arms like this for many nights. He cast his eyes up to the heavens to hide the sudden burst of emotion, and suddenly a star winked at him. They say the souls in the Halls of Mandos watch over their loved ones.
Haldir looked down at Ori and then bent to kiss his son. The podgy elfling purred softly in his sleep and snuggled more closely against Haldir's lap. Orophin would have been pleased with such a loving namesake.
And at last, at last, all was right in the world.
The End
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