A Time To Forget

For the next two days nothing seemed to happen but Legolas remained optimistic that he would get through to Iriador. The only difference was that he had to go out hunting for them both and had taken Iriador along to show him how to hunt for himself in his horse form. He was surprised by the fact that Iriador seemed to be attracted to the smell of blood but didn’t care whether the meat was raw or cooked.


Legolas had also showed his charge what was safe to eat and what was not within the area around the glade. He showed him the best kind of trees for cover as well as the plants that had healing abilities for minor things that he may be likely to get in horse or a boy form.


Although Legolas was not looked upon as a healer he knew the basics for dealing with wounds, fevers, infections, poisons and broken bones as did all warriors. He had honed his skills more than once on Aragorn when they had travelled together, as well as in Mirkwood where each patrol member’s life could rely on that skill. He had also become an expert on colds and headaches thanks to his friendship with Aragorn.


Apart from anything else, Legolas was a wood elf who was gifted naturally with a feel for the medicinal properties of forests.


Once more they sat together on the fifth morning with Legolas now telling the tale of the quest. When he came to the part where Gandalf fell, he stopped, for the grief he had forgotten while tending to Iriador, once more overwhelmed him.


Legolas was startled from the sadness of his own thoughts by the tentative touch of a human hand on his arm and he turned to look straight into the green soulful depths of emerald eyes that were blinking back tears. The youth’s face was shocked and clearly showed the sorrow he was feeling.


“Legolas, I don’t know how, but I remember something like that happening to me, although I don’t know who. He fell into a void right in front of me and someone stopped me going after the man who fell. All I could think of was if I had just moved quicker I could have stopped him from falling. The man was someone important to me and it was my fault that he was lost.” Iriador choked out his voice hoarse, as he had not spoken for nearly six days.


The wood elf could feel the intense emotion radiating from Iriador and he did the only thing that seemed to make sense, he took the boy carefully into his arms and rocked him as the dam broke and the child sobbed. Legolas said nothing but allowed his own tears to fall upon the head of the boy in his arms. He marvelled at the fact that here, in the most unlikely of circumstances, he had found a kindred spirit.


They sat like that for some time; nothing was said between them, as they just continued to draw comfort from one another.


Eventually however Iriador’s sobbing ceased and Legolas was surprised to find the boy had closed his eyes and was now relaxed and sleeping in his arms, apparently exhausted by all the emotions he had released. The blond archer positioned himself on the ground in front of the log he had been sitting on and let the boy continue to sleep in his lap.


Before long he too drifted off to sleep smiling for at last it seemed that he had gotten through to his charge and helped him to start remembering. Iriador could finally begin healing his mind as well as his body.

They remained that way till late afternoon when Legolas finally awoke, thankful to find the boy was still a boy and still asleep. He carefully picked the sleeping boy up and lay him down in his mossy bed before covering him with a blanket.


He fetched some water from the pool and started a fire. Then he began putting together their evening meal. As it was rabbit stew it would take a while to cook but in the meantime Legolas made some calming tea for both of them.


The stew was nearly ready when Legolas felt a sharp pang of anguish coming from his bond with Iriador. He closed his eyes as he experienced a moment of dizziness and when he opened them again, the glade was gone and he saw a room that was filled with many stone benches arranged in tiers. There were people around him and they were shouting out strange things to each other while different coloured streams came from the sticks they were pointing at each other. He saw Iriador in the sunken middle of the room in front of a raised dais which contained a veiled curtain.


As he watched he saw himself being struck by a red stream and fall back through the curtain, but he did not emerge on the other side. It was then that Iriador cried out hysterically, “Legolas, NO, DON’T LEAVE ME TOO.”


The room faded and was replaced by the glade once more, the blond archer was by the boy’s side and shaking him gently, “Iriador, you are dreaming, wake up now and see I am still here with you.” Legolas called to the distraught youth.


The boy did not wake, so Legolas took Iriador’s hands in his and placed them on his face then upon his shoulders and his chest above his heart before returning them to his face and lips. “Iriador let your hands tell you the truth, you are not alone among strangers I am right here beside you, I have not left you.” He continued to hold the boys hands then began to sing the song he had sung on their first meeting.


Iriador slowly calmed down and opened his eyes to see those of the one he thought he had lost; he flung himself at the surprised elf and wrapped his arms around the archer’s neck.


Legolas gathered up the fallen blanket and placed it around his charge, hugging him before taking him to the fire. “Come sit by the fire and have some tea, it will warm you and help with your throat since you have been most talkative today. Besides I do believe the stew should be ready now.” The archer said lightly as he put Iriador down by the fire.


“In fact there is some honey in my pack that will certainly help your throat.” With that he poured some tea into a mug and handed it to Iriador before retrieving the honey and placing a generous spoonful in Iriador’s tea.


Once he had poured some tea for himself he checked on the stew and was pleased to see that it had not burned and they could eat immediately, so he dished up two plates full and handed one to Iriador. They ate together in silence, Legolas sensing the whirling emotions of his companion.
Something told him that it would not be wise to inform Iriador of the bond they now shared or that he had experienced the boy’s dream for himself. In the end he decided the boy had gone through enough today and he would not push him any further.


The two settled down to sleep with Iriador lying in the archer’s arms. Legolas’ instinct told him that this night the winged horse would not return.