Greetings! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. This story was written in September but life events kept it from being posted until now. This is my birthday and like the hobbits I'm giving gifts instead of receiving so Nautika this story is for you. This is the sequel to Addendum to The Love of a Father, you don't have to read that to understand this but it you want to see the link in my bio page. This story is slightly AU in that I agree with the belief that Legolas and Aragorn were friends before the council of Elrond.

Overcoming Prejudices

By washow

Rating: G

Summary: Things go badly for the elves of Mirkwood and their only salvation may come in the form of a ranger of the north. Will the woodland king swallow his pride and ask for help?

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings nor am I making any profit from this story. Any similarities to other fan fiction are purely coincidental. I tried to remain as true to the books as I could but there may be a few discrepancies. This is not slash but a tale of friendship and family love.

Chapter 1: Troubles Abound

Legolas rushed down the hall, he was going to be late and would do anything to avoid his father's wrath, even break protocol by running in the halls – something he hadn't done since he was an elfling. He paused before the door to take a deep breath and to calm his racing heart then calmly pulled the door open, only to find an empty room. Legolas frowned and cautiously entered the room, had his father gotten so angry that he had gone searching for his errant son? Legolas was still standing in the door staring at the empty room when a member of the serving staff came in the other door, the elf bowed low and addressed the prince, "Ah, your highness you have finally arrived, would you like to be served now or are you waiting for your father?"

The prince tilted his head, "You mean my father has not been here?"

"No my prince, he has not." The servant replied and then assumed an at attention pose, waiting for the orders of his prince.

Legolas narrowed his eyes in confusion; his father always came to the family dining room for breakfast. The king claimed that the quiet time before beginning his day helped him to focus. That he hadn't shown up was strange indeed, as Legolas could not recall one single day that this father had not made an appearance in the family dining room. Coming out of his musings the prince noted the tense way the servant remained standing and finally realized the elf was waiting for the answer to his earlier question, "Be at peace Thalinar. I require nothing now as I'm going to search out my father, if he comes could you please tell him that I'm looking for him."

Thalinar once again bowed low, "Of course, my prince." Then disappeared from the room.

Legolas momentarily ruminated on the necessary formality of being royalty then went in search of his father. Since he knew there was no possibility his father had overslept he turned to the left and made his way to the royal study where he found the door slightly ajar, a clear indication that the room was occupied. The young elf gently pushed the door all the way open and looked inside the room, frowning when he didn't see his father. Resolute in finding an end to this mystery Legolas boldly walked in and turned in a circle searching for his father. When he saw the balcony door open he moved forward smartly and walked out onto the small suspended platform to find his father learning against the railing with his head in his hands. The young one approached and gently laid a hand on his sire's shoulder, "ada?"

Thranduil was so caught up in is inner musings that he did not hear his son's approach and jumped when he felt something come into contact with him. This reaction caused Legolas to worry even more, "Ada! Ada, what's wrong?"

Thanks to the quick reflexes of elves Thranduil was able to quickly recover from his shock and attempted to reassure his son, "Nothing is wrong my son you just surprised me."

Despite the elven king's best intentions his assurances were getting nowhere with the younger elf, "Surprised you, ada I scared you nearly to Mandos halls. Now please tell me what is bothering you."

Thranduil looked into the worried eyes of his son and smiled, the young one looked so much like his mother. Then the matter at hand returned with a vengeance and the elven king tried to smile reassuringly at his heir, "Perhaps you are right my son, there is something wrong and as prince you deserve to hear about it." The king turned and walked into his study confident that his son would follow. When Thranduil reached the desk he poured them both a glass of wine and after handing Legolas his, bluntly stated, "The acorn harvest is lower than it has been since the second age."

Legolas started, this was grave news indeed, acorns were a staple in the wood elves diet. Sometimes they were eaten whole but more often than not they were ground into flour and used to make delicious breads.

Thranduil just had to glance up to know this son understood the severity of the problem so he continued, "The same dry spring which caused the acorn shortage also left the grasses low, which caused the herds to move on in search of better pasture. I'm in a real dilemma, if it were one or the other we would be fine but both – I'm not sure we can weather this hardship without a few loses. Famine, I fear is eminent, my son."

Legolas was shocked speechless, famine! Never before had he known his people to be in such a position. He closed his eyes and tried to come up with a solution his father would agree to – going to the other elven realms was out of the question but what about the humans? The men of Lake-town had always been on agreeable terms with the elves of Mirkwood, surely they would trade for flour as they had so many other goods in the past. "Ada, what about the men of Lake-town, surely they would help us in our time of need?"

Thranduil looked up from his glass of wine and Legolas was sure his father had never before looked so despondent, "No, my son they will not. I sent a message requesting to buy some flour and received a very empathic no from the merchant in charge of the wheat trade." The elder elf dropped his head in despair, "I feel trapped in a losing battle, for once in my life I don't know what to do and I fear our people will suffer for it." The king took a deep drink of his wine and looked to the west, "If only I knew why the men won't trade with us."

The last part was spoken softly but it was just enough to rouse Legolas from his musings, "Why don't you ask Aragorn to investigate?"

Thranduil took a deep breath and leveled his most formidable stare at his only son, "I am able to care for my own people and will not ask anyone, most especially not a mortal, for help!"

Legolas closed his eyes in frustration, "But I thought you and he had parted under friendly terms."

The king turned from where he was seething in anger and faced his son, "We did part under good terms my son but I will not ask that man to help me run my kingdom! Is that understood? I don't want to hear another word about it."

Legolas recognized the tone of voice from his younger days, when he had often butted heads with his father for one reason or another, and knew it meant his father wanted to hear no more but Legolas was older now and less imitated by his father and he wanted to say his peace, "That is exactly the reason we should ask him to help us with this, he is a man as are the people of Lake-town. He could blend in and find out why they won't trade with us much easier than we ever could." The prince chanced a look at his father and saw the king was still fuming at his son's behavior. Legolas took a deep breath and added one last thought, "Is your pride so valuable that you would risk every life in Mirkwood before you would ask for the help of a man?"

Thranduil didn't even turn to face his son but instead strode out of the room, slamming the door after him. The king stormed out of his study and strode forcefully through the palace until he finally made it to his favorite grove where he dropped to the ground like a stone. For untold minutes Thranduil sat on the forest floor with his head resting on his knees. Finally he raised his head and looked forlornly at the monument which stood not two feet in front of him, a monument which read, "In loving memory of Oropher – a wonderful king but more importantly a wonderful father." The king let a small sob escape his lips, "Ada, I've failed you - the people will suffer because of me – because of my unwillingness to forgive the past. There is a chance a man could save us but not just any man – the heir of Isildur, I can't do it ada! How can I entrust the welfare of the realm to the likes of him!" The dam broke and the woodland king sobbed – he cried for the loss of his father and cried for his helpless situation. As his tears were slowing he choked out, "How can I let him help us?"

Suddenly out of nowhere a sound reached his ears, "Because you must."

Thranduil quickly brought his head up and looked left and right but saw no one.

The mighty king sighed and climbed to his feet, now knowing what he had to do.

Resolutely he walked back to the palace and went straight to his son's room, entering without knocking, "Summon the ranger." Not waiting for his son's response Thranduil turned and withdrew to his study where he prayed to the Valar for intervention.

TBC