At The Queen's Banquet

At The Queen's Banquet

Posted: September 26, 2008
Title: At the Queen's Banquet
Author: Alex
Fandom: Tolkien
Genre: FCS
Characters: Legolas/???
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Challenge Name: Hair
Beta: Larian Elensar

Summary: Legolas becomes impatient to get to the Queen's banquet.

*****

Legolas sighed. Everyone thought he was a vain little peacock who spent hours on his silky golden locks.

Bah!

Little did they know. He was not the one who always made them late. He washed his hair and braided it and forgot about it. Of course it looked wonderful. He wanted to ask them all when they'd seen an elf with stringy, ugly hair. Never, that's when. Beauty was an elf thing.

"Are you ready yet? The King and Queen are expecting us for dinner. At this rate, we may be lucky to get there by breakfast," he shouted through the closed door.

Dammit, he was hungry, both for food and for company. He'd not sat in the company of men or elves in a long time. He knew Elrond's sons were here and so was Faramir. Arwen always had a wonderful collection of people at her table and the collection of food was as good as the fellowship, if not better.

If he could ever get there!

"Will you hurry?"

The only sound from the dressing room was a rude one so he turned away. He could imagine cutting into a fine slice of roast beef or turkey breast. He could almost smell them now. And desserts. Arwen was famous for her sweet tooth, so her chef made the most wonderful desserts. Legolas closed his eyes and sighed, thinking of the last time he'd eaten with them.

They had roasted chicken with herb stuffing, fluffy potatoes and several other excellent vegetable dishes but what he remembered most was the cake. It was made of chocolate, with a cherry sauce between each layer and a creamy chocolate icing on top. It was so moist that it melted in his mouth. Each bite was like falling in love again.

Which brought him out of his reverie and back to his companion. Enough was enough. This happened all the time and the more he nagged, the more irritating it became.

"I'm going without you. I'll see you later!" He glanced at himself in the mirror and left the room.

The banquet was indeed grand. There were several meat dishes as well as many vegetables and breads from all over Gondor. The smells made his mouth water. Arwen had decided rather than have the servants serve each plate, the food would be placed on a long table in the side of the hall and each person would serve his own plate then take his seat to eat. She called it a buffet.

Legolas thought this was a wonderful idea as he fell into line behind Arwen's brothers. Despite their conversation with him, he found himself glancing toward the door every minute or two. How long did fixing one's hair take? He hoped there was enough food for latecomers too.

He took his heaping plate to the seat with his name handwritten by the queen herself. He noted that the seat beside him was still empty.

After everyone was seated, Elessar stood and welcomed them all. "My dear friends, it is always wonderful to sit down to dinner with those who we enjoy spending time with. The food is good but the company is even better."

Legolas could have sworn his old friend was staring at the empty seat beside him. He raised his glass in a toast with everyone else but he kept looking at the doorway.

As all the toasts and greetings were winding down, Legolas looked at the doorway. Finally!

Gimli glanced around until he saw Legolas and then smiled at him. The dwarf's long hair was brushed and tamed as well as a dwarf could do and his beard was braided into three neat braids, tied off with blue ribbons. He rushed over to the empty seat.

"I'm sorry it took so long, lad, but I wanted to look my best."

Legolas touched his hand and sighed. What could anyone do about a dwarf and his hair?

*****

THE END

If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to: Alex