The Lady J'ssem's Library

I was missing Them, so I asked @deheerkonijn for a prompt, and she gave me first day of spring + morning after. Here you are: nothing but fluff here!

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Birdsong eased Legolas from sleep to wakefulness: weaving into his dreams like the voice of a guide from one state to the other, leading him gently along a wooded path and out towards the eaves of the forest. He could see the sun growing brighter and brighter in the distance, glowing gentle welcome, and he took the last step out from beneath the canopy of trees –

And into his bed. His vision cleared to the sight of a sunbeam slanting its way through the window of his little home, illuminating motes of dust in the air and catching in green-gold reflection off the vines growing along the ceiling. The birds were still singing, their chorus changing softly into one of welcome, of warmth, of light.

Welcome, rather, to the warmth and light.

Spring had come to Ithilien at last.

A smile bloomed in Legolas’s chest, expanding in his throat and in his cheeks until his face ached with the motion. It had grown distant and dull over the last month of winter, the trees bare of leaves and sluggish in song; the elves themselves leaner and more haunted in memory learned over so many years that it would take longer than this to undo them. Winter in Ithilien was milder than in Lasgalen, the woods less haunted by danger and fell things despite its proximity to Mordor, but still the memory of it lived in their bodies: the instinct to huddle together, to hide, to jump at shadows and draw their defenses tight around themselves.

And Legolas’s heart too had felt slow and cold, loneliness creeping over him despite the warmth and care of his companions, aching with an absence that reached beyond the deprivation of the season.

But now –

He stretched his arms overhead and inhaled, long and full, the first deep breaths of spring.

And beside him in the bed, his companion stirred.

Gimli had tucked himself against Legolas’s side, cold still despite the warming of the season, as he always did on his first night of arrival in Ithilien as he adjusted to the light, airy wood of their home here rather than the snug embrace of their chambers in the stone of Aglarond. His hair tickled Legolas’s neck as he moved, and Legolas looked down at where it seemed to have bunched up overnight, fluffing out like the tail of a squirrel – and squirrel-red in the beautiful golden glow of the sun.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Legolas whispered, and the frizzy wisps of hair stirred with his words.

“Mmmrph,” replied Gimli, and burrowed his face tighter into Legolas’s neck like an affectionate cat. “Not yet.”

The affection swelled up in Legolas’s chest until he felt he would burst with the sensation, exploding into his own radiant sunbeam and raying out across the room. He buried his face in Gimli’s hair, instead, tucking a kiss against the back of his head. “But it is spring, my love. Do you not wish to see it?”

“I know,” mumbled Gimli against Legolas’s skin. “I was treated to many songs about it last night.”

Legolas could not restrain a laugh, a breathy thing that skipped from his lips lighter than a bird on the wing. “And perhaps a bit too much wine?” he teased. Gimli had been in fine spirits for the feast last night as they welcomed the oncoming spring – relieved of his own lordly duties and more than willing to settle into the more joyful role of consort for the coming month.

He grumbled something unintelligible against Legolas’s shoulder.

Legolas smiled again. This was the true joy of the oncoming spring – the spring in his heart, the joyful bloom of companionship and welcome and love born of the presence of his husband beside him, tucked so close to him in bed that Legolas could not work out where he ended and Gimli began. The joy of coming together after their separation, the knowledge that the season ahead was open before them, full of sunlight and birdsong and possibility and the scent of green things on the air.

The passing seasons had cause to remind him, sometimes, of the brevity of their time: of the fleeting nature of mortal life, of the deep grief that awaited him in years to come. But they were brighter, too, because of Gimli beside him: something new to discover each season, a new joy of homecoming and reunion and potential blooming between them each morning, each spring, each time waking in a shared bed.

The annual pic of Gimli in his pride underwear. 🏳️‍🌈

Bark bark bark bark

My wife sent me this video and said 'Jayce Talis' and I said you are so right.🍈🍈 (Vid below.) #JayceTalis #arcanefanart

This mixed-media artwork, titled "Victorian Velociraptor with Violets," was created by artist Adam Mazur using acrylic paint and liquid gold leaf.