Summers in Mirkwood

By Ar-elenriel

I do not own any of the characters in this story other than Lothwen, and Lothlanos. The Tolkien Estate does.

Chapter 1: Swimming and Pregnant Mothers

The weather that year was spectacularly gorgeous and for the most part six year old Legolas and his brother Lothlanos had spent from dawn to dusk playing outside. Thranduil had set up a specific area of the palace grounds for elflings to play in. It was surrounded by twenty foot high walls with tall steel spikes pointing out of the top. Difficult for elflings looking to escape adult supervision to get over, but also difficult for orcs and spiders to climb as well. Thranduil had also made sure that several guards were assigned duty over the play ground to better insure the safety of the elflings of Mirkwood. The playground contained several swings hung from the trees as well as a practice area for those old enough weapons practice, a swimming pool, and a large sandy area suitable for building castles and playing in the mud.

On this day Thranduil and his wife were amongst the group of adults supervising the playing elflings. They rarely got to spend unscheduled time with their sons and took advantage of it whenever they could. Lothwen leaned her head against her husband’s shoulder. The Royal Family of Mirkwood was expecting a new addition that winter and Lothwen was tired. Legolas was the oldest at six and Lothlanos was four. So she would have her hands quite full come winter. All of the sudden Legolas ran up to Lothwen. He had put on his swimsuit and had helped his little brother put his swimming clothes on as well. ” Nana, come swim with us! Please. The water is so nice and warm Nana, you too Ada…’ Unable to resist their son’s delight in the cool water the King and Queen made their way to the changing rooms that had been set up near the swimming pool by the servants. Lothwen sighed unhappily, not so long ago she would have looked slender and elegant in her bathing suit. The turqouise was of a shade that perfectly complemented her blue eyes. She felt like a whale. Lothwen sat down and began to cry.

As he passed the women’s dressing room, already dressed in his swim suit Thranduil heard his wife’s sobs coming from the closest changing room.

“Meleth what is wrong?” said Thranduil. He got worried when his wife got upset like this. She and Legolas were both slow to become upset unlike he and Lothlanos who had tempers like summer thunderstorms. Quick to arrive, and even quicker to disappear. He hesitantly knocked on the door to the dressing room and entered. He moved gracefully to his Queen’s side and wrapped strong arms around her. Cuddling her close he began to soothe her tears. “Meleth do you never carry a handkerchief?” Thranduil teased, gently wiping her eyes.

“Thranduil I am so fat. I look like one of those whales that Cirdan told us about last time he visited. None of my clothes fit, and I am tired and grumpy.” She began to cry again as Thranduil continued to hold her close. Gradually her tears stopped as she realized that Thranduil was looking at her with as much love and desire as he had ever had for her during their marriage. She settled contentedly against his chest and listened to her husband’s soothing voice.

Thranduil knew that he had to say something to make his wife feel better. She worked so hard at her duties even though he knew she would rather be wandering the woods with her Silvan kin. “Meleth, I love you as much as I did on the day we first met, right after the Battle of the Last Alliance. You have healed all of the damage that losing my Adar and Naneth and my dear friend Gil-Galad had done. When you are pregnant I find you the most attractive and desirable of ellyths. You are also sweet natured, and funny and incredibly intelligent. Our sons love you and our people love you darling. So please cheer up. I hate to see you cry.” He gave her his hand and lifted her to her feet. “Now my love let us go out and swim with our sons. Let the cool water soothe your grumpiness, and enjoy this all to rare day with our little ones.”

Lothwen took her husbands hand and smiled at him. “Melethron I think we had better go out there lest our sons come looking for us. Thank you,” said the little Queen as she exited the dressing room. As the King and Queen came out of the dressing room several parents raised their eyebrows. Lothwen grinned, blushed and sent the thought at her husband, “Certainly they do not think we were doing that in there? As pregnant as I am that would be difficult.” Thranduil grinned back at his wife and wiped a tear away. Seeing that Thranduil had been soothing an upset Queen and that was all, the parents of the other elflings went back to watching their own elflings. Lothwen grinned at Thranduil and daring him to follow her she stood at the side of the pool and dived gracefully into the pool. Thranduil grinned and followed her. Within seconds Lothwen and Thranduil were surrounded by their tow sons. They spent the afternoon playing happily in the pool and finally went back to the Palace only when Galion the butler had come out to call the Royals in for dinner. For as long as Legolas and Lothlanos could remember that was the best summer. The last summer before life in Mirkwood began to truly become dark, and Elflings could no longer play freely outside even when guarded by warriors and twenty foot walls. Later after Sauron’s destruction and the journey of the Mirkwood Family to Valinor to re-join Lothwen, Legolas and his brother would build similar playgrounds for their elflings and spend summer afternoons playing with their own little ellons and ellyths.