Chapter one - Thranduil's Letter to Elrond
Lord of Imladris
Dear Elrond,
I need your help mellon. It has been three weeks now since I lost my dear wife in the attack against my realm. Yes I lost twelve of my warriors along with my wife but she was my world. I know you understand that. I miss her hair that would wrap around her when the wind came from the north and her smile as she watched as the flowers bloomed. But most of all, her laugh as she played with our son in the days of summer when the sun brought our kingdom alive. She and my son were all I had and now I have lost her. But that is not the problem I need your help with. It is my only kin that I have the trouble with.
Yes I am King of my realm and I have the responsibilities that a King has and the power to make sure that I don't fail my people however in my own mind Elrond I have failed the one person that I had promised from the day he came into the world and the second her drew breathe that I would make sure our home survived and that we stayed together as a family. And I failed to protect her.
I failed to protect her within my own boarders. I allowed those ruthless orcs into my boarders without dealing with them quick enough and that allowed them to find her. My warriors lost their lives trying to protect her but there were too many of them and they were cut down like they were blades of grass in the wind. And Legolas… he saw the whole thing. He was there taking a walk with his mother in the safety of our boarders and yet he witnessed his mother being cut down by orcs.
He had to see all that at his young age but remains some what the same. He still looks like my son, however not in his eyes. In that way he is not the happy joyful boy that brought so much life into my life. His eyes show a different person. Someone that has truly been broken. And I guess by that fact alone, he did not escape without injury but his is not physical. It is in his soul. The loss of his mother has broken him and to be the sole witness causes even more pain. Pain that I can not help him with. I do not know what to say with him.
He spends most of his time locked away in his room, even his lessons are not taking place in his room. And from what I understand from his tutors, he is not taking anything in. He will not attend his archery lessons in the practice field and that was one of his favourite lessons. He has not even picked up his bow that he designed with his mother since that day. He only leaves the room to join me for meals and that is a silent time for us. I would try to talk to him, ask about his lessons and he barely answers me. He quickly finishes his meal to which he barely touches and then leaves without a word spoken.
I do not know what to do. And I am not the only one that sees his pain. Others in my household are also seeing his like this and they have also spoke to me about him. They are worried. To be truthful to you mellon-nin I believe that he has started to fade. He is losing the battle to live. I have lost my beloved wife and my best friend all at once. And I promised her from the moment he came into his world was that I would protect him with my life and that I would do my best to make sure that no harm came to him. I cannot lose my only son Elrond.
He… I truly believe that he has started to fade and I cannot lose him like that. I remember when sadly your wife sailed to the undying lands, well Elrond I need your advice. You know what it is like to see someone you love fall closer and closer to the line of no return. What can I do to save him?
I have lost too much already and I can not lose my only son as well. And with everything that has happened I need help. You know what it feels like, to lost someone and then to have the worry about losing another. I know too well my friend that this topic is a hard for you to talk about but I need your help. And if you breathe a word of this to Glorfindel, you will suffer painfully and slow death. As he may be a great Elven Lord however sometimes I believe he is more of an elfling than the young children are.
Legolas is my only son Elrond, he has not spoken about his mother and what he saw that day. Not a word. He also has not spoken about what he is feeling. He is keeping everything inside of him and not allowing it to show. I know that I have never been one to speak about my feelings or listened to others about theirs. But my son is not like me, he is more like his mother. Her feelings and emotions sometimes ruled her mind. And that is what I loved about her and I am worried that soon I will be too late to save him.
Please Elrond I am lost on what to do? I need your help and advice if you know of any way that I will be able to save my son. I will do anything to see him smile again or to hear his laugh fill my ears.
Thranduil
King of the Greenwood Kingdom