The time came at last for the elves to make their departures. Legolas embraced his father and brother tightly, and promised to write to them, and tell them how Anarion was doing. Thorongil shook Boromir's hand solemnly and told him to look after his younger brother, as he always did. As he waved them away, Legolas had tears in his eyes. He missed them deeply in the months that followed.
For a while, everything carried on as before. Aragorn had received troubling news of unrest in the south, and has sent envoys to help settle the skirmishes, but elsewhere, all was peaceful.
And Legolas dared feel hope in his heart, for the summer air was soft and pleasant, and the nights full of song and music, and better still, better than any of his rich silver furs or glimmering gold bracelets, better than his newly carved bows with their sharply-turned arrows, was moment when he at long last felt the flutter of a child beneath his heart.
He was sitting in his garden, enjoying the evening in the open, when he stood up suddenly. And there it came again, he was sure of it: his face flushed with pleasure and he clenched his fist against his belly, over the life he sensed within.
"The Valar have listened to my prayers," he said softly to himself. "They have seen how I have struggled to serve my Lord, and they have blessed me with a child of his own blood to relieve our sadness." He went then and there into the house, determined to tell Boromir the joyful news immediately.
But when he entered their room, Boromir was not there. Perhaps he still had business to attend to. It was of no great consequence -Legolas sat down on their bed, eagerly awaiting his husband's return, barely able to contain his delight and relief at finally being able to offer him what he had always desired. How he would laugh and clap his hands when he heard!
He sat and waited for almost an hour, half impatient, half brimming with anticipation. Eventually there were footsteps outside the door, and Boromir appeared. Legolas's initial smile of welcome faded a little when he saw that his husband's face was heavily flushed.
"Have you been waiting for me, my love?" Boromir asked, moving towards him, his words a little slurred.
"Yes. Where have you been?" He was even more disconcerted when he smelt the wine on Boromir's breath.
"Oh, there were some events to celebrate, and the evening ran a little long," came the reply.
"I see." The smile had disappeared. His lips were set tightly together.
"But I'm here now. How is my lovely husband?" he said grinning, and he reached out for him unsteadily.
"I am well. And I have some news for you."
"Some news?"
"Yes! My lord, it is what we have been hoping for. I am carrying your child. It is a son, I think."
Boromir was overjoyed, as Legolas had known he would be. "This is good news indeed! You are an angel, three times blessed. Come now, come kiss me," he said, as he drew the elf into an embrace. Legolas should have been pleased, but he flinched at the close contact.
"You have been drinking too much, my Lord"
"Only a few glasses. Only one or two."
"A lot more than that, I think."
"Well, what does it matter? Should I not enjoy myself? I am wealthy, and I have a beautiful husband, and I will be a father. Should I not enjoy them all?"
Legolas sighed. "I am tired now. Perhaps I will retire." But the excess of wine had put other things in Boromir's mind.
"Lie down for me, then," he said huskily. He kissed Legolas on the mouth. "Take off your clothes."
"Not tonight, my Lord," he replied, uncomfortable. "It has been a very long day."
"For me as well. And I would like to stretch my weary limbs by lying upon my husband." He kissed the elf's white throat, his breath heavy.
"Please, not tonight." He made as if to push Boromir away.
"Don't be foolish," said the man. "I want you tonight. I want you moaning when I move deep inside you."
"No," said Legolas under his breath, and he panicked. The lust with which the whispered words were spoken had unleashed a torrent of horrifying memories. When Boromir leaned towards him again, he beat him away with his hands.
"What's the matter with you?" said Boromir, shocked. Legolas did not reply.
"You have been very cold lately. Every time I come to bed, you turn away from me."
"I - I have been tired, that's all."
"Tired? I have been hearing every excuse. If something is wrong, tell me."
"Nothing is wrong."
"Isn't it? If you do not tell me, Legolas, how can I fix it?"
Legolas turned on him, his face flushed with anger.
"That is how you see everything! If there is a problem, it must be fixed. If there is trouble, all you have to do is get up and do something about it. You do not realise how many things there are in this world that cannot be fixed. You do not realise how much pain there is that can never be undone, never."
The man was taken aback.
"You are upset. I only wanted to find some way to comfort you."
"Some things are beyond comfort," said the elf bitterly. "Some things, we have no strength for."
"Nonsense. We are strong enough for anything. We love each other."
Legolas looked at him and bit his lip, then sat on the bed.
"Boromir," he said, and his voice was terribly strained. "You know that is not true, though you try to pretend it is so."
Boromir looked as if someone had struck him in the face.
"What are you saying?"
"I am saying that I did not marry you because I loved you. I married you because I was afraid for my son, because I was ashamed of what people would say if they knew how I had been dishonoured." Legolas knew that he had gone too far, but in some ways it was a blessed relief to have out in the open what had for so long been left unsaid. "I am sorry, but it is the truth."
He thought that the man before him would argue or shout. But Boromir's large frame seemed to crumple, as if beneath the surface his core was tired and fragile.
"I see," he said, after a long pause. "I had no wish to make you unhappy, Legolas. I am sorry for it." He paused, then spoke the next words as if they cost him great effort. "If you wish this marriage to be dissolved, so be it."
"No," the elf replied immediately, looking distressed. "I made my decision, and I will keep to it. You have given my son a good life, and in return I hope that I will give you children of your own line. You have been a good father to him, Boromir. I will not take that away from you." He bowed his head, and did not look at him, for it pained him to hurt the man he had bound himself to.
Boromir sighed deeply. "Well, then." He sat down beside Legolas. "But we will manage, will we not, my love? I know that you long for your home and your people, and I know that things have been . . . have been difficult between us. But we are friends, we can live well enough together, can we not?"
"Yes," replied Legolas, although his voice sounded faraway. "Yes, of course we can."
Boromir felt as if he wanted to reach out and take the elf's hand, and he wanted to let the tears that stung his eyes to flow. But he did neither.
"For Anarion's sake, at least," he said quietly.
"For Anarion's sake," repeated his husband.
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