Legolas stepped out of the bathroom; a deep sigh escaped his lips. The sigh was a signal, not of his resolve leaving but of the level his tension had reached. He was more like an old-fashioned kettle - still full even when some steam forced its way out. It had all reached the tipping point when he stood in the mirror staring at his reflection. He wore the queerest and oddest garments his eyes had ever seen. Feeling completely out of his element, every fiber of his being was screaming this was wrong, but he persisted. He looked down at himself and shook his head in disbelief. How he allowed Willow to cajole him into wearing such atrocities will forever baffle him.  

Willow had successfully argued the merits of them blending into society as much as possible. She insisted on teaching them to navigate their new environment for the time in which they were to stay. A length of time that was yet to be determined. As much as he wanted to disagree with her, he knew her to be right. 

He stepped out wearing a fitted button-up military green shirt and grey jeans that molded to him like a second skin. Willow styled his hair letting it hang, just so. In a way that the pointed tips of his ears would be covered. He felt like a hypocrite covering that which bestowed regalness and royalty upon him. He was at first strongly opposed to the suggestion, he even found it to be offensive but he remembered the way he was gawked at by passersby as he walked Maia down the street when they'd first arrived. Though they did not make their leering obvious, nonetheless, he and Gimli drew their curious glances. His sensitive ears had once heard a child asking his mother why is Santa's elf so abnormally tall.

Infuriated, he pulled at the stifling tightness in the crotch of his skinny jeans. Gods be good. There was no contraption or torture made to endure worse than skinny jeans. It was bloody difficult to move in such binding garments. Any tighter and he'd have to change is gender braids.

"Legolas! Lad where are ye?" Gimli stormed into the room the bedroom. His head whipped side to side before, his eyes latched on Legolas. His eyes slowly widened, doubling in size as a huge roar of laughter escaped his body.

"Hahahaha!" Gimli continued as he pointed a at the object of his mirth, Legolas. "Gaw blimey, you look like a walking beanpole!"

Legolas sighed in irritation, "I think I've had enough experimentation for one afternoon. I'm going to change." He stopped to glare at Gimli. His simple white shirt and dark denim jeans seemed to fit him perfectly. Why he did not seem out of place in these garments was beyond Legolas' imaginings. They had only been there two weeks but Gimli's ability to adapt to the new was astonishing.

His auburn hair was pulled into a neat bun. His woolly beard had been manicured and Willow had evidently taken some creative liberties with his braids. Legolas studied his friend a bit longer before clearing his throat with a disapproving stare. Just as he was about to return to the restroom he felt Gimli's hand still him.

"Hold on there, Lad. The wife would be sorely displeased if ye should not accept these garments. I am told she paid a kingly amount to acquire them in a magical place called 'The Mall'. A place such as this is revered amongst their people and such an auspicious gift should not be tainted with refusal. Besides, she has offered an outing this day. A sightseeing expedition and I am keen to explore this new world. So I warn you, do not ruin my chances by starting an argument. Isn't it time you forgave her?"

Legolas brows pulled together angrily, "I will decide when it is time to acquit myself of that argument, not you. " 

Exasperated he turned to look at his friend, "Gimli, she took a lover!" The obvious hurt and dismay still lingering in his features as he addressed his friend. 

"Lad, you were separated for going on a year. Neither of ye knew whether or not it would be possible to reunite. It's a wonder with a woman as beauteous as she, that no man took notice sooner," Gimli said with a pointed stare. "So, she allowed the whelp a brief kiss. Forget the past. it's nothing to you, she loves you and bore your child. It was but a momentary lapse in judgment, a mere trifle, and nothing more."

For the last two weeks, Legolas was taciturn and indifferent towards Willow. He did not share her bed, nor meals and spoke very little to her and only when absolutely necessary. At first, she continued to beg and plead but as time wore on, she resigned herself to his silence. He opted to sleep in Maia's room. He was an affectionate and loving father to his child. The two quickly developed the kind of relationship only a doting father and daughter could share.  Even Amber despite her initial reservations became close with Legolas and Gimli.  What irked him the most and perpetuated his anger was the fact that Brom, that bastard, continued to linger about them like a rash that a body just couldn't be rid of. Lingering like a fly around a lump of shit. 

Legolas let out another sigh, it was resigned and weary. It signaled the end of a deliberate effort of estrangement from his wife and the beginnings of a passive deterioration of animosity. It was a sigh so quiet that it went unnoticed, it's sound and it's movement dissipated out into the vastness of the world and made no effect at all. It was not the start of any great butterfly effect. But in the Elfen Prince's life, it was a pivotal turning point. It was the moment he gave up his anger that he held fast to his chest like a coveted treasure. 

"Perhaps you're right Gimli, perhaps I have been too hard on her." He admitted. 

"Yes, Lad. I'd say that you were. It's time to mend fences unless you'd like this to set the pace of your marriage from here on out. If that be the case, then you'd better let her go. Leave her to this Brom." 

"By whose authority? I'd see him dead first. That will never happen. I love her too truly and fiercely to let her go. I'd rather give the world over to Morgoth, the devil himself before I see her in another man's arms."

"Since the matter is settled. Lady Greenleaf and her housemate await us in the grand room."

"Do you not mean the living room?"

"Aye, tis' what I meant."

"Oh wait. Wait. Wait..." Legolas called out stopping Gimli as he made his way out the door. "How do I look?" 

"Eh." Gimli shrugged his shoulders, "Let's just say a thought crossed my mind that you're lucky mirrors don't talk, or laugh for that matter."

Legolas guffawed, "How long did it take to muster that one up? It must have been a long and lonely journey for that thought to cross what little mind you have left. Why is it that the people with the smallest minds always have the biggest mouths?" He asked slinging his arm over Gimli's shoulder.

"You know, if I wanted to listen to an asshole, I'd fart." A great bark of laughter filled the hall as they made their way downstairs.