#avaleina

[growingingreenwood]

It must be so comforting for Thranduil to know that the person Legolas is in love with will do literally everything and anything possible to help him. Like, he loves his son so so so so so much, and i cant imagine how releaving it is to know that somebody else in the world would go to the same lengths as him to keep Legolas safe. The dynamic between the royal family is like a specific type of crack to me.

Yes & Also No.

Yes because as you've said Thranduil loves his son SO SO SO SO MUCH, and he's happy to have anybody on board the 'We cannot let Legolas die no matte what' boat that wants to be there. Even more so if they're as enthusiastic about it as Thranduil himself is. No because Thranduil also has a pretty vested interest in keeping Avaleina alive and well. He ALSO cares about her deeply. He's loved, cared for, and helped to raise her for a majority of her life. In addition to that, he knows that if anything were to happen to Avaleina that it might very well be the death of Legolas too. Either because he is ALSO WILLING to do anything to keep Ava safe, thus putting himself in extremely dangerous situations, or bc there's a serious risk of Legoals' fading if anything were to happen to Ava.

So like yes, it's very comforting to know that Avaleina cares enough about Legolas to do anything to protect him, but also some of the things that she does to protect Legolas STRESSES THRANDUIL TF OUT FOR MANY, MANY, MANY REASONS.

Thank yyoouuuuuuuuu <3 The Royal Family relationships are also my drug of choice.

[harmfulsilvanelfling]

Day... Wait, what day?

For those of you who suddenly is interested: I lost three days of challenge bc I didn't have internet. But now I'm too mentally tired to make my fics/OCs, so I wrote a poem for @growingingreenwood 's OC Avaleina, who is my absolute favorite.

Scout.

Girl with swords.

Girl in black.

Afraid of saying a word,

Doesn't know if she will come back.

I go through this darkness, I do not see a thing,

But I know that there is only Death ahead of me.

It doesn't make me nervous, it somehow makes me think.

I have to find them, it's my job and destiny.

Girl with swords.

Girl in black.

Tonight she has to save the world

And quickly come back.

One of my warriors is hurt, a wound again.

I am so sorry, although it's maybe not my fault.

He shouldn't feel this burning, these flames and endless pain...

But I continue going, it's the job of their best scout.

Girl with swords.

Girl in black.

Tonight she has to save the world

And quickly come back.

I know all the information, I can't know any less.

I come to my Commander and I see I freak him out,

He says he can hardly believe in my success.

Well, he should expect more from his best scout -

Girl with swords,

Girl in black,

Who has the strongest soul,

Who always comes back.

[growingingreenwood]

Hi! How are you? Do you think that, like Thranduil, Legolas would have a way of remembering all those who had fallen? Also, what manner of tattoos does Ava have? Are they swirly or are they sharper? Do the tattoos that Ava have any meaning or are they purely decorative?

Thank you and have an amazing day!

Hello sunshine! I’m relatively well, thank you so much, I hope you’re doing the same.

Thranduil absolutely has a way of remembering everyone who has fallen. He keeps a massive notebook(s) with the name of the person lost, a good quality about them, the date of their death and how/why they died.

(I actually have a fic of this very thing.)

For Example -- T.A 1078 - Romien. Lost to save the lives of those under her command, every last one of them. Your voice in the garden will be missed until the word shares its breath with you again

T.A 106 - Hithudur. Lost from injuries after wrestling with Warg to save his daughter. Your loving heart will be missed until the world shares its breath with you again.

I do not think Legolas would see any point to making his own exhaustive list of everyone Greenwood has lost, his dad has that covered. However, I do think that Legolas would keep a list of everyone who died that he feels partially responsible/guilty about.

Ava’s tattoos are usually more ‘swirly.’ Partly because most of the tattoos are nature themed in some capacity and partially because she just thinks they look better when she dances. Most of them are just decorative or sentimental in some manner.

There are four that do serve a purpose, though.

Tattoo #1 & #2 - Usually get combined into one single design, but are technically two different tattoos with two different purposes. The first one marks her as Thranduil / Greenwood’s designated representative among the Avari Tribes, and the other marks her as a Silvan Elder. These are a bunch of fancy symbols and letters in a thin ‘band’ that flows from behind both her ears and along the hairline on the back of her head.

Tattoo #3 - Shows that she is a fully trained traditional dancer. These tattoos are on her feet and ankles. They make it look as though grasses and a few different flowers are growing on her feet and up her ankles/lower calves. Swirling among the flowers are wispy tendrils of smoke, she alternates between making the smoke black & grey or colorful each time they fade and she redoes them.

Tattoo #4 - A matching tattoo with Thranduil for *spoiler* reasons, that becomes relevant in future chapters of Effects Of War

You're welcome, thanks for asking 🥰🥰 Have a good day!

[growingingreenwood]

In your fic 'Know You Again' when Thranduil is talking about Tern's finger getting bitten off by the Warg that "Tern was one of the few who still stayed behind with Greenwood's new Queen when Thranduil took the bulk of its people west. "

Is the new Queen Ava??? Did Thranduil appoint her to take the throne when he left?? I HAVE TO KNOW

Hahah yes, the new Queen of Greenwood is Avaleina but the only thing that Thranduil had to do with it was leave and give the remaining Silvan elves a reason to elect a new monarch.

[growingingreenwood]

okay, but what WAS Ava doing in the misty mountains all alone in 'Expectantly'?

She was visiting with the Avari tribes that Greenwood befriended who live in the mountains. Her and the group she was with were traveling when she sensed Legolas ""nearby"" and decided to stop by and have a visit with them!

[growingingreenwood]

Hi Hi Hi Hi!! I was just wondering who has more magic, Legolas or Ava?

Hello! Hello! Hello!

(for the purpose of this answer, I’m using the word  “magic” to mean the ability to affect somebody's external environment with an unseen internal force)  

The answer to this question depends on what you mean by “more” magic. 

Because of how powerful (magically and otherwise) Thranduil and Oropher were, Legolas TECHNICALLY has more inherent magic he gained through genetics. He gets a lot more ‘passive’ benefits of his magic, including feeling a lot more intimidating to those who can sense one’s inner powers & finding it slightly easier to resist the effects of and recover from dark magic. However, for various reasons he doesn't have nearly as much direct and purposeful control over it as Avaleina does. 

When Avaleina was still younger and the war had not become an all consuming aspect of most of their lives, through great determination and even greater amounts of work she managed to become one of the highest trained dancers in all of Greenwood. Due to this I headcanon that she was able to learn how to channel her magical abilities through dance, kind of like how Luthien was able to put Melkor to sleep by dancing but significantly less dramatic than that. 

Initially Ava was only able to channel her magic through dance, but as she grew more comfortable / accustomed to the process of controlling her magic and her skills in combat increased, she was able to figure out how to channel magic during battle as well. After she had gotten a good grasp on using her magic in battle, she was able to control her magic through most forms of fluid movements. Could be walking, skipping, dancing, tapping, writing, doesn't matter. It's why Avaleina has always been one of the best scouts and is capable of sneaking up on most elves; because she’s able magically make herself quieter and harder to see/detect. 

Then, after already having the basic ability of consciously and successfully using/channeling her magic it was much easier for Ava to pick up on or be directly taught other elves' own magical tips and tricks. 

It’s extremely important to her to be knowledgeable about as many of the traditional cultural practices and traditions of the Silvans that she possibly can. The older or more obscure the practice the more important it is to her to learn it, master it, and continue to practice it in order to preserve it then share it with others. A good portion of these practices involve magic of some kind, such as the Moving Tattoo’s she’s learned to do. 

To summarize: Legolas is theoretically quite a bit stronger than Avaleina in terms of the amount of actual power they possess and could use to do magic, but magic is a very passive thing for him. His body knows what to do when to do it, and he fully trusts it to do its thing without him needing to be a knowledgeable participant in it. To be honest, most of the time he genuinely doesn't know when he’s done something ‘magical.’

But, Ava’s the one who knows and actively practices dozens of different ways of consciously ‘doing magic.’  It's why Legolas is known to (on occasion) burst out laughing if somebody insinuates that he’s the scarier one out of the duo.

[growingingreenwood]

Whenever it’s reasonably feasible Thranduil always has Avaleina greet the elven visitors at their border, especially if it's a Noldor elf, and not because he thinks she will always do the best job at being the ambassador between different peoples. 

It’s because with her short stature, dark complexion, green eyes, and multiple tattoos Avaleina couldn’t physically look any more ‘Silvan’ unless she wrote “Hello, I’m a Silvan Elf,” onto her forehead. She also has a negative ninety-seven percent chance/intention of purposefully changing her mannerisms, personality, accent, or general presentation to appar less ‘Silvan’ for any reason. 

Especially if the visiting Elves show any signs of disdain or judgment. 

The reason this is important is that Thranduil likes to know how other elves treat his Silvan Elves when there's nobody ‘equal or better’ around to see it. He likes to know their reactions to having to listen to every syllable commanded by a Silvan elf. He needs to know if they feel disrespected that it was ‘only’ her that was there to greet them, and it wansn’t at least Farlen (who is a Sindar elf) regardless of the fact that Legolas, Farlen, and Avaleina are essentially equal and interchangeable in the overall chain of command in Greenwood. 

Thranduil wants to know each and every underhanded comment their visitors might make, or be pleasantly surprised by genuine respect for Avaleina and the rest of the Silvan people. 

Avaleina is also probably one of the only elves that would send any visitor packing back to the border of the forest regardless of who or what they are outside of the forest if she feels their disrespect is enough to warrant such an action. She’s essentially a bigotry and superiotority sniffing bloodhound that filters out all the elves that Thranduil probably wouldn’t have the patience to deal with anyways. 

Ava has 100% sent Celeborn and his escort back to the border because of something one of the warriors said and didn’t allow Celeborn back into the forest until he agreed to leave that warrior behind. One time she sent Elladan and Elrohir back to the forest edge four entire times before they finally learned their lesson. 

She’s basically the Sphinx of Greenwood and you have to answer her riddles correctly to even step foot into the forest and especially to make it all the way to the stronghold.  

[growingingreenwood]

An Legolas & Avaleina Moodboard