When I sit by this tree trunk, I feel myself absorbing into my surroundings. My body melts into that tree trunk I always lean against, and my mind dissolves into that day.

“Gwador nín! Gwador nín! Where are you? Legolas!” Panic filled the air that day as I searched for my brother. He had escaped my grasp for one second and was swallowed up by the murky dark forest. Sunlight no longer filtered through the tree tops and the sun was lost in a cloudy haze. Sweat rushed down my face, Legolas was a mortal’s age of nine, and I was of the age of a mortal, nineteen.

Legolas never listened to me; he always wanted to explore his father, his king’s realm. I knew father would gut me if he found out I had lost my little brother once again, Legolas wouldn’t be able to fight the dangers of the forest for another thousand years. I stood there for a second and listened, and then I heard it, the sound that wrenched my heart.

“MELRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Legolas’s voice ripped the air into shreds and his voice sounded as if he was being dragged away or attacked. I ran with all my might to the source of his voice but I could not see him anywhere, I wildly turned around, around and around. The forest whipping around like a carousel, the scene lost in the whirl. I was in the middle of a clearing and there was a break in the trees above, the blue sky filtered in and the air was no longer moist and mossy tasting.

I looked up into the tree and Legolas was barely hanging on, the branch had snapped and he was extremely high up. The only way I knew it was him because his blue tunic did not blend in with the forest surroundings. His voice was echoing around the forest cavern and his little legs hung limply, swinging back and forth. Tears dropped down from his frightened face and landed on a rock in front of me. I jumped to my senses and climbed up the tree, oh so I climbed for nearly ten minutes and I reached him. He was two arms lengths away, I could not reach him, I could not.

His pleading blue eyes looked serenely at me, the well no longer full. Then his grasp loosened, his hand let go and I watched as his little body arched forwards and he fell. He fell into the dark abyss of the forest floor. He fell into the arms of Mandos; he fell from my reach, from my heart. I screamed in terror and grief as his body hit the ground with a recurring thud, I would never look away from him again.

The grief overwhelmed me and I hastily wiped the tears from my cheeks, I hastily threw away that grief and climbed down. Down into the dark abyss, which I never thought I would resurface from. I saw him, his pale form, his closed eyes, his no longer rosy cheeks. I did not think I would see the day again where the blues of his eyes would pierce the air again.

I knelt beside him and I searched, I searched every detail of him with my eyes in shock. But his chest! It rose and fell softly, like a tide in the sea, not ferocious but calm, and gentle. I put my hand up to his cheek, and I felt the warmness, like a fire in the snow. His eyes flickering like lightning, flashing here and there, and his gentle breath out pouring like a breeze of bats flying out of a dark cavern.

That day I remember because he, my little brother, lived to tell another tale. I would never let go of him in my heart or mind again. For now I know, he has grown to a great warrior, his heart large and his mind open.