CHAPTER 3: THE LORD OF THE WHITE TREE
()为结合上下文的补充；[]为可以直接删除不翻译的部分。
“See that no more harm befalls the villagers (who had been plundered by the remnants of dissatisfied Men whose minds had once been under the spell of the wizard Saruman.). I leave them in your care.” With those words, he (Aragorn) nodded and left with his royal escort to begin the long ride back to the White City and his family. After ten years, it distressed him that the safety of Gondor’s lands was once again a cause for concern.
Aragorn felt weary and bowed with care, longing only to go home to his wife and son, a hot bath and his own bed. He did not know if Legolas was there or in the woods. He hoped the elf would be there; they could enjoy some of the good wine from the cellars of the palace. He truly missed his friend, but duties demanded so much time.
Ai, Valar, I could do without troubles for a spell, he thought hopefully.
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Aragorn was always occupied with his duties now, Legolas reflected. He must have been gone from Minas Tirith for … more than three months now? After ten years of the peaceful restoration of Gondor, some problems were cropping up in some of the smaller fiefs on the borders. Robberies, stray outlaws terrorizing villagers, small skirmishes over land – all these needed looking into.
Yes, he has been away more than three months now, Legolas thought. And before that, it had been another tiring two-month tour of the provinces. He himself had left for South Ithilien in between Aragorn’s departures and returns to Minas Tirith, Legolas recalled a little sadly. All in all, he had not seen his friend for close to seven months now, and he missed him. Legolas sighed. Aragorn was a good king, just and kind and devoted to his people. But He seemed more distant now, Legolas realized with a twist of sadness.
[[下面蓝字这段主要通过举例说明，AL在A加冕之后经常在小事上有摩擦，以及他们处理摩擦的方式（萌，之后一次矛盾的总爆发也提到了这个处理方式）。这段的作用是再次突出L十年以来心中的困扰——A是否还真的信任他，呼应第一章回忆提到的Gollum事件的心理阴影，算是贯穿全文自虐感情线（笑）。下面已经是删节的了，但没办法，还是很长，翻译与否请自行决定吧:D。]]
The feeling continued as he remembered that he had been the brunt of Aragorn’s outbursts as well, several times now in the past one and a half years.
On [another] occasion, Legolas had accompanied him to an important meeting. Legolas recalled what had taken place:
“Do elves not find pleasure in meat?” the pompous man had asked him, a mocking tone in his voice. “Does the fare not meet your approval?”
The elf controlled his voice as he replied in his usual soft tones, “Nay, sir, it is not my place to judge the quality of your fare. I consume meat when I need to, for sustenance, but I find it hard to do so with the heads and eyes of the creatures staring at me.”
“Strange are the sentiments of elves, to be unmoved by such fine trophies. Have you no appreciation of hunting skills, Master Elf? Aaah, the thrill of a chase invigorates me.”
“Then I must be strange indeed, Lord Eigen, for I use my hunting skills only to serve me in times of need. At other times, I reserve them for the pursuit of creatures that would seek to kill other creatures only for pleasure or sport,” Legolas replied, thinly veiling his contempt even in his soft tones.
The landowner went red in the face, Aragorn cleared his throat rather loudly, his aide choked, and several looks of displeasure from Aragorn’s company were shot in Legolas’ direction. Aragorn, who would at any other time sided with the elf, felt annoyed at his inopportune coldness toward Lord Eigen, worried that it would jeapordise the negotiations.
Fortunately, an acceptable agreement was reached nevertheless, but Aragorn’s annoyance radiated through the silence he kept during much of the next day’s ride on their way home to Minas Tirith. It had made Legolas ask himself if he had acted unreasonably, and he had approached Aragorn with an apology.
“I am sorry, Aragorn. Perhaps I was too harsh in my judgement of Lord Eigen. Forgive me,” he ventured quietly.
“There is a time and place, Legolas,” he said at last, somewhat tersely.
“I am sorry.”
“I should not have asked you to come with me,” Aragorn responded shortly, and spoke no more on the matter for the remainder of the day. [The king was reflecting on how difficult it must have been for the elf to see the horror reflected in the glass eyes of the animal heads, but perhaps it was weariness that made him keep these thoughts to himself and not voice them to his elf companion, and he did not realize how brusque his words had sounded.]
The king’s anxiety was understood by the elf, but even so, Aragorn’s statement still stung like a slap in the face. As he swallowed his pride, Legolas could not help thinking: the son of Thranduil fails again in his trust.
The following day, Legolas approached Aragorn and unexpectedly begged leave to depart from the King’s company so that he could turn north-east to visit his father in the Greenwood. With as much of a smile as he could muster, he said, “Send your father my regards, Legolas. And – please do not take to heart my earlier words – ”
“As you say, there is a time and place,” Legolas interrupted with a small smile, but sadness was in his gentle eyes. “It is I who spoke rashly in the presence of Lord Eigen, an elf still unused to the thinking of Men, perhaps. Worry not, Aragorn, I shall not repeat my error.” Before Aragorn could utter a protest, the elf briefly placed his hand on his heart and swept it gracefully forward and down, saying, “I wish you a safe journey home, Aragorn,” and left, leaving the King of Gondor feeling strangely empty.
If such tense exchanges occurred when they were in Minas Tirith, the elf would get on his horse to ride away, feeling his hurt burn him as he spurred his horse down the seven levels of the city. But by the time he reached the lowest level and the Great Gates of the city, he would wonder if it was his fault after all, and if he had indeed failed Aragorn. He was never sure, and when he felt it was not his fault, he told himself that even kings could be bowed under the weight of his burdens – after all, he had seen his own father lose his temper many times. In the end, it was always his love for the Lord of Gondor that overcame his own hurt. He knew that if he rode off, Aragorn himself might feel wretched. So each time, he would stop his horse before he left the city, and he would turn back, riding up to the seventh level slowly so that his own anger would cool by the time he faced Aragorn again. Sometimes, he would delay seeing the King, retiring instead to the room Aragorn and Arwen always kept ready for his use. The following day, Aragorn’s anger would usually have dissipated, and they would act as if nothing had happened. Legolas continued to hope that things would improve for the King.
Arwen often witnessed these incidents, feeling a little sad that these two friends who would die for each other could drift apart, for a night or a week or a month, over such trivial matters. She once caught Aragorn standing in the shadows of their bedroom balcony, looking miserably at the figure of the friend he loved best riding away from him.
The balcony was located in a part of the palace that let them see what went on at the Great Gates. When Legolas stopped at the Gates as he invariably did, the king held his breath as he waited to see if the rider would turn back. Only when he turned did the king exhale and his shoulders sag in relief.
Two days later, she told Legolas what she had seen, and the elf’s eyes had softened when she said what he already knew: “Estel needs you, Legolas, even if he does not see it himself. Forgive him.”
So Legolas had always returned to his friend, knowing the true tenderness that lay beneath the hardened exterior of the king.
Legolas’ attention returned to the present. Aye, I miss you my friend. [Reflecting on how distant Aragorn felt now, the melancholy caused by his earlier dream returned, and he sighed. He wondered briefly if the dreams had come back because of those incidents with Aragorn.] Alas, he thought, even great kings are sometimes compelled to do things that do not please everyone.
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It was getting late, so Legolas shook off his thoughts and left his secret spot, by way of the trees. Tomorrow, he would have to return to North Ithilien.
The sights and sounds of the riverside town jarred his senses, in sharp contrast with the serene peacefulness he had just left. There, he met with the other elves who were working on what he had been assigned them with. He looked at the progress with approval as he ran his long fingers over the woodwork. The elves noted that while their prince’s eyes shone with pleasure, there was also longing tinged with sadness.
