Chapter Text
A slight breeze through the treetops sends the bright leaves dancing, and makes the shadows on the ground at my feet look as if it too is moving in time with the leaves as the sun filters through the canopy and joins in the revelry.
Birds high in the trees sing and small creatures move from branch to branch, while on the forest floor larger creatures step lightly through the underbrush. It is as if all of nature is enjoying this bright summer morning with me, and why should they not? Each dawn can now be greeted with a smile, in the knowledge that the evil, which once tainted these woods, is being systematically erased. Already there are areas of the forest where elves and men can walk in safety, where the forest animals no longer hide in fear, and where my beloved trees grow tall and stately once more now that they are recovered from the taint that was spread by Sauron and his hated minions.
I half close my eyes and look across the sunlight glade as brightly coloured butterflies flit from flower to flower it is a perfect day and made all the more so because of the company I am travelling with. A faint smile crosses my lips. Whoever would have believed that the son of Thranduil, king of the Wood would have befriended and been befriended by a dwarf. Yet such are the times we live in. Not only have Gimli and I become friends we have become more than that, we are family.
A disparate family in the eyes of many no doubt but one that our friends and families have come to accept and appreciate, my Adar even going so far as to commend me to Gimli’s care when I travel beyond the borders of Eryn Lasgalen as I am doing now. I ease my back against the bole of a giant beech tree and stretch my arms above my head, allowing the warmth of the sun on my face to bathe me in its renewing light.
All is quiet behind me in the camp, another night spent in peace another day of travelling ahead of us. Soon we will leave the elf path at the Forest Gate and depart my father’s realm and make our way south beside the River Longflood, following its path as we make our way past The Carrock to the Old Ford and on along the Anduin to Rohan. It is a journey Gimli and I have made several times since the end of the war. Accompanying each other from Ithilien, Gondor or Rohan, north to my Ada’s home and beyond to Erebor and then back south again as I begin to lay plans to set up a colony of elves in Ithilien and Gimli prepares to move permanently to his new lordship of Aglarond in the wonderful Glittering Caves.
I spent the winter in Eryn Lasgalen, and had intended to travel south with Gimli as soon as the roads became passable after the winter snows, but he sent word that his journey would have to be delayed until early summer.
He gave no reason for the delay but when he arrived at the stronghold some few weeks ago it soon became clear as to why he had been unable to travel in the spring. Our patrols spotted Gimli and his party as they crossed the Long Mashes and picked their way along the river path and into the wood of Green Leaves.
The patrol reported that there were several dwarves beside Gimli and that they also had with them a string of pack ponies and two covered carts.
When I heard this I thought I knew the reason for the delay my friend had asked for. Because travelling with carts and wagons is best done when the roads have dried enough to take their weight without too much effort, else the whole journey becomes a nightmare of hauling wagons and beasts through mud and rain not a pleasant way to travel if it can be avoided.
I assumed the dwarves accompanying Gimli would be those who had agreed to move to Aglarond with him. I could not have been more wrong for as the cavalcade pulled into the stable yard I realized it was not dwarven warriors or miners but Gimli’s family who were travelling with him.
Lord Gloin rode a sturdy pony at his son’s side and behind them driving the two wagons I was stunned to find Lady Vonild, Gimli’s sister Mistress Dorbryn, and her young son Greirr.
Gimli said later I stood with my mouth gaping like a fool, but I maintain that this was not true; I was merely taken by surprise for dwarven womenfolk rarely travel and almost never mix with other races. Dwarven women are held in high esteem by their families for fewer female dwarves are born than male. And although I know that they can be intrepid fighters in defense of their homes and families it has been many yeni since they were last seen above ground.
Yet here they were both grinning at me and looking very pleased with themselves at my reaction to their arrival.
When Lord Gloin gave the traditional greeting as he stepped down from his pony I could only manage a strangled ‘urk!’ in response.
I could not have been more amazed and I could see Gimli thought my stupefaction highly amusing. Fortunately the household were more adept at covering their surprise than I was and soon had rooms made up and our unexpected guests made welcome. My Adar of course seemed unfazed by the arrival on his doorstep of several dwarves, one of which he had imprisoned many years before while they were journeying with Bilbo Baggins.
I found out later that, Ada and Lord Gloin had fought together in the Battle under the Trees and had come to see that their distrust of each other and of each other’s race was another evil to be laid at the door of Sauron and his henchmen. They had spread the seeds of hatred and misunderstanding across the northern kingdoms just as they had in Gondor and Rohan turning race against race, in the hope of splintering their strength. Thankfully, the desire of elves, dwarves, and men, for peace had overborne this attempt to turn against each other and they had banded together as they had once done before at the Battle of the Five Armies and defeated the evil that tainted their souls and their lands.
Gimli’s family spent a week as my father’s guests and were warmly welcomed by the majority of those in the stronghold and it was during this time that I learned exactly why Lady Vonild and Mistress Dorbryn were making this long journey south.
Dorbryn’s first husband had been a miner and had been killed in a cave in while the caverns in Erebor were being excavated. After several years of widowhood she had, as was the way amongst the dwarven race begun to look about her for another husband. As the daughter of Lord Gloin and Lady Vonild she was a highly desirable prize for any dwarf vying for her favours but like her brother Dorbryn was of an independent mind. Dorbryn had refused several offers for her hand before she had met and fallen in love with one of the dwarves who worked in the forges under the mountain making fine jewellery.
Her affection was returned by Thorûr, but while he was a fine young dwarf, his family connections were by no means on a par with Dorbryn’s and he had considered it unlikely in the extreme that his advances would be welcomed by Lady Vonild or Lord Gloin. So, he had chosen to begin a new life away from Erebor putting his skills to use in Gimli’s new home in Aglarond. Thorûr had been one of the first craftsmen to volunteer to move to the Glittering Caves when King Thorin gave permission for a group of dwarves to go and set up home under the lordship of Gimli.
He had travelled south over ten months ago without putting his theories over Dorbryn’s family’s view of his suitability as a husband to the test and it had been left to Gimli working on Dorbryn’s behalf to get Thorûr to work up sufficient courage to write and ask for permission to court and marry the daughter of Vonild. Much to Thorûr’s surprise Lady Vonild had welcomed his advances and had been pleased to gift her daughter in marriage to him, what was even more surprising was that neither Lady Vonild nor Lord Gloin had objected to their daughter moving south with her son at the time of her marriage.
Indeed they had not only agreed to her moving but had also agreed to accompany her south for the wedding an honour that signalled their approval of the match more than any other.
I was surprised to hear Lady Vonild had given permission for Dorbryn and her grandson to move away from Erebor and commented as much to Gimli. He had laughed and answered.
“Laddie, it took me the better part of the spring to get my mam to agree to it. You know her temper. She was dead set against any marriage never mind the move. But Dorbryn was determined and she has inherited a fair bit of mam’s temper herself so she declared she would marry with or without mam’s agreement. My father refused to take sides in the dispute, which left the pair of them going at it hammer and tongs day after day all through the winter months until I thought I would run mad. In the end it was Greirr who settled it. He said he wanted a new dad and that he liked Thorûr and that was that, mam never could deny the laddie anything. All that remained was for me after that was to persuade mam and dad to come south with us for the wedding and to give their blessings to the marriage in person.”
So here we all are, Gimli, Dorbryn, Vonild, Gloin, Greirr and myself all travelling to Aglarond to celebrate the nuptials of the daughter of Vonild.
Having seen how Lady Vonild has enjoyed herself so much in the last week or so I am beginning to suspect that her reluctance to agree to Dorbryn moving was all for show. Having lived much of her life in the underground world, Lady Vonild is relishing the opportunity to see Arda as it now is, free from evil and learning to adapt to new powers and welcoming new opportunities. She is as inquisitive as Peregrin Took and as determined to see and experience as much as she can for herself.
I had feared how she would be when she met my father but they got on extremely well. Too well in fact for Ada soon had her telling him all about my visit last year to Erebor, something I would sooner he had lived in ignorance of for the next yeni or so. When we left Ada kissed Vonild’s hands and I swear she blushed. Really my Ada has far too much charm.
He and Gloin got on well also; talking of battles they had shared and traded links that have been arranged between the mountain and the wood. Dorbryn was a little shy at first but when my father presented her with a bolt of finest elven silk for her wedding she beamed in delight and was soon able to enjoy the hospitality offered as easily as her parents and Gimli. Greirr was a favourite with everyone for elves love children of any race and his uncle said he was in danger of becoming spoiled so much attention was showered on him. Even my father presented him with a beautiful belt knife before we left and a warning to listen to the good sense of his uncle rather than allow himself to be led astray by the likes of me!
Behind me I hear the first sounds of someone stirring and I know it will not be long before we are on the road again. Our journey so far has been a pleasant one, there is so much to see and talk about as we travel and each evening after we set up our camp and eat our meal we exchange stories and tales with each other.
It was Greirr who began this tradition on our first evening on the road, asking to hear about mine and Gimli’s time with the ring bearer and now each night one of us is called upon to tell a story and entertain the others before we take our rest. I do not mind too much for it fills the long evenings often with laughter and song and so far nothing too embarrassing has been spoken of, I hope that is a situation that continues all the way to Aglarond, although I doubt my good fortune will last that long, it rarely does!
xxxx
Our week in Eryn Lasgalen has been so pleasant, I feared Mam would change her mind and decide to remain with King Thranduil instead of following us on to Aglarond to attend the wedding of my sister. I admit I did worry over Lady Vonild meeting the Lord of Eryn Lasgalen. She is not one to disguise her feelings and her thinking on the Elvenking has been long known to me and to anyone else who would listen to her. Still given that she has taken such a shine to Legolas, she has realized perhaps that the king couldn’t be all bad to have raised such a son.
My mother can adore with as much passion as she can despise and she has come to love my elfling as if he were part of her own brood. I find this rather amusing considering her cold welcome when first I brought him with me back to Erebor. She did not try to hide her disdain for Thranduil’s spawn, but changed her mind soon enough. The fact that he was willing to risk his neck to win her favour by returning the Great Axe to its proper place, made quite an impression on her. This was done at considerable cost to himself as well, for he found sitting to be rather a challenge for the remainder of our stay after that stunt. Of course I was the one who had to suffer near ostracism from my own mother for daring to wallop her sweet champion. She spent the rest of that visit petting and spoiling the lad in an outrageous fashion and so has remained that tradition on his subsequent visits under the mountain. He knows he has very little to fear from me as long as Lady Vonild is around; a fact he has been known to take advantage of from time to time.
Her devotion to him is what made it possible for her to be open minded when it came to meeting the King. She claimed to be willing to at least try to get along with him, but as it turned out she discovered that Legolas didn’t get his winning personality from thin air. My mother was soon under the king’s spell as well, to the point where they were soon fast friends telling tales and laughing together on a regular basis.
My elfling’s face was a picture when Mother tried to impress the king with the tale of his son’s heroic return of Barazantathul. Clearly she wanted to make sure Lord Thranduil heard all the exciting details of his child’s brave and selfless act that would make him a legend to Durin’s folk for centuries to come. She threw me another furious glare when she came to the bit about my too-rough treatment of her darling, causing Legolas to hide his face in his hands and the king to throw his head back and roar with laughter. She did not see the humour in this and did not hesitate to thoroughly scold the king for his callous laughter while she reached out to pat Legolas comfortingly on the arm. It did not take him long to win his way back into her good graces, though, for he apologized prettily and refilled her wineglass and soon all was peaceful again.
Lord Gloin and Lady Dorbryn were also charmed by the hospitality of the elves of the wood, especially when the king himself presented Dorbryn with a bolt of beautiful elven silk for her wedding outfit. I imagine when it is done up by the fine dwarven seamstresses that have already taken up residence there, it will be quite a work of art in the end. This gift seemed to bring Dorbryn out of her shell and she was able to set aside her wedding jitters and enjoy the rest of her stay. Of course Greirr had no such reservations and could be found at any given time tramping through the corridors or the gardens or following random elves through the stronghold, asking question after nosy question. Everyone took this in good part, for Elves love children just as the dwarves do, and they have not had a little one in their midst for some years. In fact the king tells me that his own son is by far the youngest elf to remain on Arda and it has been some time since he qualified as a young child, though he is not quite considered to be an adult yet either. I had never before considered how his life must have been with the only other youngsters around being mortals who would all manage to outpace him in terms of maturity at some point. No wonder he finds his youth to be so vexing.
That aside, he has managed to become a sort of hero to my young nephew, often waking up to find the dwarfling curled up next to him in bed. This elicited profuse apologies from Dorbryn, though Legolas assured her that he did not mind in the least. Of course this was nothing next to the embarrassment of her son climbing into the king’s lap at first meal and gravely removing the circlet of mithril and silver leaves from his head for closer inspection, taking with it several long golden stands of hair. Dorbryn nearly melted through the floor in mortification, but the king only chuckled and put the circlet on Greirr’s head and allowed him to wear it for the rest of the meal.
Parting was not easy, for mother and Dorbryn especially, realized they would not likely be back. But who knows? The king and his household will always be welcome at the Glittering Caves, so it may not be a final goodbye at all. We left with that thought in mind so we were all smiles as we departed. Greirr especially so, because he had just discovered that Legolas would be travelling with us and besides King Thranduil had presented him with an elegantly carved elven knife as we were leaving. He had stared wide eyed for a moment or two as he held the knife reverently in both hands and then threw himself at the king, wrapping his arms around the long slender legs. Thranduil had knelt down and solemnly reminded Greirr about the importance of being careful with his use of the knife and then warning him not to let his wayward son lead him into mischief on our journey. Greirr found this counsel to be rather hilarious, though I am not so sure Legolas appreciated it as much. He said nothing, but just shook his head, embraced his father for a long moment, then we were on our way.
Our first days of travel have been enjoyable with so much to see and to talk about. Greirr of course has been full of questions, many of them about our time with the Ring Bearer. We have promised that when we stop for the evening we will begin telling him the tales of our adventure together. There are certainly many stories to be told, and some that probably should not be, but whatever happens, I am certain it will be entertaining at the very least.