"Eda?"

The familiar voice drew me from the depths of nothingness, and I opened my eyes. My eyelashes brushed something, and fabric covered my eyes and most of my nose. That would explain why everything was still dark. "...Legolas?"

The bed I apparently lay on tilted, and his warm, smooth fingers wound into mine. "Yes melleth."

"Where are we?" I strained to listen. A hum of many muffled voices rewarded my effort, but told me nothing.

"Gondor." He cleared his throat.

I frowned. "What happened? Did we win? Was the R—" Something twinged deep in my chest. A void where something heavy had been torn out of my mind.

"Yes." His tone was reserved, almost wary. "The dragon carried the Ring into the lava."

Imrid. I gasped. "The dragon, what happened to her?"

"She tried to escape when the Ring melted, but..." I felt him shudder. "She's dead."

My stomach knotted. If a regular person fell in, it would at least be a quick death. I couldn't imagine what it would be like for a dragon to burn to death. I shook my head, trying to dislodge the image from my mind. "What about Frodo? And Samwise?"

"They're both fine." His tone lightened, as though he were smiling a little. "And we also rescued the creature Gollum. He was my responsibility at one time...I'm going to try and help him." His pitch changed to something uncomfortable.

I squeezed his hand. "That's wonderful, Legolas. So what's wrong?"

Legolas sighed, and he drew my hand upwards. His warm lips pressed to my knuckles. "The burns on your face are significant, melleth. I'm afraid...you're blind."

Blind?

"No...I can't be...how can you possibly know without me trying to see anything?" I struggled to sit up, heart thudding. I could see light through the bandage...couldn't I?

I couldn't.

He sniffed, then let out a shuddering breath. "There is a chance...just a chance that your vision will improve with time. But it's not much to hope for."

I clung to his hand like a lifeline. Would I ever see my husband again? A clear winter sunset over the LonelyMountain? Strangled sunlight trickling past the haunting branches of Mirkwood? Lothlòrien's beautiful, chilling midnight glow? Rainbows cast by Rivendell's crashing waterfall?

A sob shook my entire body. I pulled my knees up and hugged my legs. Every breath rasped against my throat.

Legolas wrapped an arm around my shoulders and held me tight. He trembled also. "I know," he whispered into my ear. He burrowed his nose in my hair. "But we still have each other, remember? Sauron is defeated, his army has been slaughtered, and we're entering an era of peace...you and I have all the time we could ever want."

I put my arms around him. Here in his embrace, I could endure anything. We would be okay. I couldn't think of one thing we couldn't face together. "I love you, Legolas," I whispered.

He held me a little tighter. "And I love you, Eda."

***Author's Note***

The end!

Actually...it isn't.

If you just want a single book to read, and you wanted TSW to be that book, then this is where  we disembark.

But here's the deal...TSW turned into a series. It's not even the first book, chronologically. There will be a book after it, and at least two books before. Because there is a story about a family that I could not ignore.

So if you want more...if you want a story with more depth - a story about identity, hurt, and healing - read on. Because this is not the end, no matter how it feels that way.

This is only the beginning.

Legolas

A knock came to the door.

Eda tensed beneath my arm. I left a reassuring kiss just above her ear. "Who is it?"

"It's me." Aragorn opened the door and met my gaze. The look in his eyes sent cold spikes of fear running through my body. "You need to come."

Fear rooted me in place. I didn't want to move, I could barely bring myself to breathe.

"Aragorn?" Eda started to touch the bandage near her eyes, then stopped herself and she sniffled. "What's wrong?"

He glanced at her, then focused on me. "It's your adar. Please Legolas, he wants to see you before..."

Oh Eru.

I lurch onto my feet, trembling all over.

"Wait!" Eda pats around the bed, gingerly moving her legs over the edge until she can stand. "I'm coming with you. Wherever you go, Legolas, I go with you." She held her hand out.

I twined my fingers with hers, and she stood. Aragorn led us both out of the small room and into a narrow corridor.

We walked for a ways, avoiding healers as they bustled here and there—the wounded had filled the infirmary, overflowed to every spare room, knook, and cranny throughout Gondor. Men, Elves, and Dwarves milled around, chatted, cried. Aragorn ploughed a path through the lot of them, myself in pursuit and pulling Eda along behind.

We entered a large room with fewer people, but more severely wounded. We passed Larika, not moving, with a blanket tucked around her body and a clean bandage around her stump leg. Sleeping, then...not dead.

Some were dead.

A few healers hovered near the middle of the room, a couple hunched over a writhing figure on a crude cot.

"Ada!" I left Eda behind and rushed to him, pushing past a couple of useless healers. The stench of burnt flesh made me gag.

Most of his clothes had burned off. What little remained had clearly bonded into his melted skin. His old scars resurfaced under the new burns, and aside from the mostly-uninjured right side of his face, the mangled form before me was barely recognizable as the former pillar of strength I'd come to rely on.

I doubled over and retched, bracing myself on the cot. To see any Elf in that state...but my Ada...

He stilled. "Legolas." Though strained, Adar's voice was still his own. He reached out a puffy red hand to me.

"Yes Ada, I'm here." I loosely took his hand in mine. To the nearest healer, I said, "How bad are his injuries? They look awful, but maybe they aren't all that bad?"

She raked a hand through her messy hair. "I'm very sorry Prince Legolas...we can't stop his fading."

My chest heaved...he couldn't just...

His strong grasp surprised me. "I am weary Legolas...I long to be free of this darkness."

I gripped his hand with both of mine. "You can sail, Ada, just hold on...don't leave me like this." I pressed a hand to my mouth—I had to stay strong. "Not after I forgave you."

A tiny smile pulled at his bleeding lips. "I reigned the Woodland Realm as a warrior, but you, ion nin...you will make a very good king." His grip on my hand doubled, and his back arched. A strangled groan escaped his throat. "I wish...I could've seen you..."

Tears streaked down my face. His body was failing. "You can, Ada! Come home, teach me how to rule. Then sail."

"You don't...need...my help."

Shuddering, I rested my forehead on our hands. "But...I want your help." When he didn't respond, I met his gaze. "Please stay?"

Tears underlined his eyes. "Listen closely, ion nin...I—" He released a sharp cry. His legs thrashed. The healers hurried to pin him down. Chest heaving, he gasped, "I don't have enough time to repeat myself, Legolas."

This couldn't be happening.

But it was.

To the healers, I muttered, "Out—or about your business, just...go."

They scurried away, some dispersing among the wounded, some exiting the room. Only Aragorn and Eda lingered. My friend watched me with a grieved expression, but a compassionate strength lit his eyes.

That drew me back to some semblance of calm. Not so many years ago, I stood beside him at Arathorn's deathbed. "I am listening, Ada."

The focus in Adar's eyes wavered. "You must...become...K-king." His breath stuttered.

I blinked hard, trying to postpone more tears. "All right, I will."

He squeezed my hand painfully. "P-promise me!"

"I promise." I swallowed against the thick lump in my throat, but it wouldn't dissipate.

Adar's head thumped back onto the flat pillow. "And do not...let Lachiel near...the throne." He sucked in a weak breath. "She loves power...doesn't respect it."

"All right Ada. I'll make her behave."

He stared up at me, and his pain-lined expression softened. "I l-love you, Legolas."

A silent sob stole my breath. My eyes burned. "I love you, Ada."

He smiled. A beautiful thing, a stark contrast to the ugliness of his injuries. "I am proud of who you've become..."

The light in his eyes flickered.

Vanished.

A light I hadn't noticed before slipped out of the room. The piece of my feä protecting my father-son bond tore out of my being.

Agony shot through my soul. My knees buckled. Gasping for breath, I sank to the floor. I'd nearly come to terms with the shock of losing Nana—the scarring on my young feä had never quite healed. Now new wounds over old ones...like the soulless shell before me, staring at the ceiling.

"Legolas?" Eda's hand bumped my shoulder, then cradled the back of my head.

I flinched and stood, moving away from her touch. Avoiding eye contact, I muttered, "I need to be alone." Before either of them could argue, I spun and strode out. Too aware of the tears streaking down my cheeks, unhindered. Too aware of the people pausing to stare, of the whispers behind hands.

I burst out onto a miraculously empty balcony. The view opened up to the west, where a red sun sank toward the horizon.

Under my first sunset as King of the Woodland Realm, I buried my face in my hands and wept bitterly.

The End.