Title: Life calls the tune, we dance.
Cover photo: That picture is taken, belongs to, and is made by Ruchit Sakhariya.
Author: Glea
Fandom: The Hobbit -movies
Rating: The story is rated M just to be sure.
Genre: Drama/romance but probably will go to adventure in later chapters.
Pairing: In the future chapters probably Thranduil/Galarel, Tauriel/Kili, Legolas/Tauriel(in a way of sister and brother relationship or more, I haven't yet decided)

Disclaimer:

Hello there!

I was so stunned and inspired after seeing the Hobbit 2 -movie that I just couldn't stay put and not write about Thranduil and his past, and perhaps add my OC to the plot of the Hobbit -movies also. We'll see where this journey leads..

Everything in this story expect OC characters (Galarel) belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and this story's plot is purely fiction so it isn't based on anything but my imagination and of course the Hobbit.

This story is meant to be enjoyed by the fans of the Hobbit/Thranduil/LoTR, and has been made with no disrespect towards J.R.R. Tolkien. I admire all of his work, a lot.

I try to include as much stuff from the movies in it as I am able to, but I have to make some changes perhaps because I try to put my OC in this story as well. :D


Recalling the past events

"A lifetime is but a blink of an eye to an elf, yet memories are vivid."

/

/

Once again a great party was held in the fortress of Mirkwood; the halls were filled up with music, laughter and wine.

The Elvenking of Mirkwood sat on his throne with a goblet made of silver in his right hand. He then reached for a bottle of wine and poured until the goblet was full again. He took a big gulp from it and swallowed slowly. His mind was set upon something that had happened a lifetime ago: the day his wife, Rirosbes the Queen of Greenwood, had died. He felt like it all took place so long time ago and yet it seemed like it had been only as close as yesterday. Such is the life of an elf, a lifetime in a blink of an eye.

He had lost his wife, Legolas's mother, in a war against one powerful necromancer and it's army of orcs. In the end Thranduil had slain the necromancer, but something in him stayed broken beyond repair.

The Elvenking shifted in his seat, taking another sip from the goblet. The wine tasted as good as ever, although it brought him no comfort from the sadness clouding his mind. He listened to the party going on all over the fortress, but paid no more attention or interest toward it. Thranduil had been drinking all night long and his vision started to get blurry now. But the wine did not blurry his memories, no, as they were shown as clearly like a painting of the events would have been held in front of his eyes. He sighed wearily.

His thoughts spiraled more into the past, memorizing the moments of his life; how it all had changed as he became the new King of Woodland Realm, the Ruler of the Wood-elves of Greenwood. Moments of happiness and peace, also the moments of suffering and agony. The memories were vivid. He brought the goblet to his lips, sinking deeper in those memories.

He had married Rirosbes of Goldfields because it had been the right thing to do and she had proved fitting to become the queen of Greenwood. She had also been the most beautiful woman he had ever laid his eyes upon in his life; her golden hair shining with the sun, and the sun was losing that competition by far. She had the blue eyes clear as the summer sky, deep as the calm lake and both held a spark in them that invited to get to know her more.

And that was exactly what he had done.

She had been raised in a royal family and knew the ways and manners suitable for a queen. She was perfect, Thranduil had thought. She also had comforted him when he was mourning his father, although it had been years since he had died in the war against Sauron's forces. He had been so sure they would be together until the end of times. Until the very end of all.

He thought he had been in love, but as he became older he started realizing it was more out of responsibility than caring. He had never exprienced love, but he knew this was not it.

The beautiness that once had caught his breath didn't do its trick anymore as her harsh and cold words came out of those still pretty reddish lips. If there had been love, it had slowly withered away at some point.

Rirosbes had acted unbelievably cold sometimes and she had started caring a lot about jewelry and other expensive things. It was of course a common trait with queens, but sometimes Thranduil had wondered if there was something more to it.

They had been a gorgeous couple, ruling the Greenwood almost for a decade. They both had a crown decorated with green leaves and they "seemed like a match made in heaven", like many people had said back then. They threw the biggest parties and people loved them for it. Life had been mostly good.

Yet Thranduil had not ignored the fact that too much wine for his wife made her to turn into something else; she usually said some very nasty things or just acted somehow bitter and cold. Like there was two completely different personalities in her, only the other one showing up when she had drank too much.

Thranduil knew her family wasn't from such a wealthy place as his had been from, but he didn't understand why she would hold something like that against him. Or had she been disappointed at him as a king? As a husband?

/

Some time passed by and Legolas was born. Beautiful elfling boy with the hair from his father and eyes from the mother. An adorable child.

After this joyful moment things had started to take a downfall, little by little. There had been arguments between the king and queen, including too many goblets of wine taken. Rirosbes seemed to regret their marriage although she always had loved to be a queen. It had then been very clear to Thranduil that it didn't matter who the king beside her was, as long as she got to be the queen. As long as there were parties and shiny stuff, jewelry, clothes.

It was a cold and hurting truth. But at least he got to know the truth. He had felt somewhat betrayed, yet he tried to understand Rirosbes. After many sleepless nights, he still had found it difficult. Nearly impossible.

/

He didn't want for Legolas to suffer from their arguments and had ordered a few maidens to keep him company. Yet it seemed that young Legolas was very eager to learn how to use a bow and kept being found near the archer range, despite the orders given to him said the opposite.

"He is just an elfling, my King."Galarel, one of his most promising soldiers had told him with a warm smile and continued;"If it is alright with your highness, I could keep company to him, maybe even teach about crafting a bow and arrows? Maidens could keep an eye on him, of course."

Thranduil had thought it would be an excellent idea and as Legolas seemed to enjoy Galarel's company, hehad given the permission to teach the boy.

He remembered how happy Legolas had been when hearing the news, his smile had reached from ear to ear. It had been a while since he had seen a smile like that on his son's features.

Few weeks after almost continuous arguments alternating from little to bigger things, Rirosbes had gone outside of Greenwood for collecting some herbs with a few maidens and of course a handful of archers to protect her. It had been a routine task to do, everything went always smoothly, until that day.

They had got surrounded by orcs and taken captive. Orcs let one archer to escape, so that he would tell the Elvenking the news. Thranduil had felt worried and fear had gripped his insides with icy fingers as he heard the bad news.

Even thought their differences at that time, Thranduil had cared for Rirosbes. He felt responsible for this happening, if they hadn't argued so much... maybe then...

Assembling a large rescuing party, he had gone to save his wife. All the way to the Mount Gundabad, which was a chief Orc mountain-stronghold at the northern end of the Misty Mountains.
The orcs were commanded by a servant of Sauron at that time, some necromancer, but seemingly their forces were not so well trained for battle and their numbers had been surprisingly small.

Slaying many orcs on their way to the tower which was necromancers fortress, the elves seemed to be unstoppable. They had arrived at the tower and went inside, fighting off the last of orcs. But it had been all too late. Thranduil had felt his heart drop a beat when he saw the vision in front of him.

There was a huge flat stone in the middle of the ground-floor and a figure dressed in white lay there. It was Rirosbes. The red stains on her dress and on the stone, on the floor, were her blood. There had been so much blood, red as the rising sun.

Thranduil had ran to his wife, only to see more blood and realize there was nothing he could do anymore. She was dead. Her eyes stared into nothing and the Elvenking slided his hand over them, closing those eyes forever.

His eyes had scanned Rirosbes; it had been a quick death, her throat was cut open.
Something familiar and painful had punched the Elvenking in his stomach; the same feeling when he had seen his father die on the battlefield and couldn't do anything to help. Suddenly his father had been gone, just like that. The same feeling he had felt when he led the remaining men back to Greenwood after that war, even though he was filled with sorrow because of his father's death. The painfully same feeling when he led his army to a battle, the only aim was to reach a victory but the result was besides a victory, also the fate of losing many of his men to the Dragons of the North. He never let healers heal his face damaged by a dragonfire, instead he used a spell to cover the injury. He would not forget that battle and it's result.

The painful feelings were quickly replaced with cold rage, a fuming rage blinding his thoughts. He hadn't asked for any of this, yet everything seemed to always crumble and fall apart!

Eventually the necromancer was slain by Thranduil, but it didn't bring Rirosbes back to life. He didn't understand why it had to be his queen and not someone else that was chosen as the target of this act? Supposedly the necromancer had used her as a sacrifice in some ritual, sacrificing and elvish queen in the name of an evil force or being.

It was a sad day to all of Woodland Realm and it seemed the Greenwood itself was weeping; the chilly wind howled and made sounds of cry when passing over the canopy of the forest.

Rirosbes was buried in the catacombs under the fortress and it was an order from the King himself that her name wouldn't be mentioned ever again in his presence. The pain was too severe. Love or not between them, the people had lost their queen and the young prince had lost a mother.

Although they had many disagreements and arguments during the end, the sudden death of his wife broke the king. He had blamed himself and became depressed, suspicious and overprotective of his people and the surrounding forest. He couldn't bear to lose anymore of his kin. His mind seemed to find all the mistakes he had done in the past. And he had dwelled in those thoughts, too deeply.

At that day the once so beautiful forest of Greenwood fell ill with a sickness; it almost died and had withered becoming something cruel and dark from something that had been so full of life. The evil that was spreading farther outside of Greenwood seemed to cast it's shadow over the forest and there had started lurking another lifeforms than elves: huge spiders. The lakes of the forest had always been enchanted but now the were tainted with evil and tried to lead the wanderers astray. The forest had become unsafe, only elves and very strongminded could walk in there without getting lured into a trap.

Thranduil had then named the Greenwood as the Mirkwood, the new name of his once beautiful forest; it could be heard as a whisper on people's lips. He had thought it suited it, the forest wasn't the same anymore.

Thranduil had removed the green leaves from his crown and replaced them with autumn colored ones, especially with a color of deep crimson. If you climbed high enough, you could see that the upper branches of Mirkwood held leaves colored with autumn colors. He had collected the leaves by himself.

/

Things had slowly started to whirl downwards and people began feeling worried about their king. Galarel had taken more and more care of Legolas since the boy seemed to like her company better than the maids who had been ordered to babysit him. There was one thing Thranduil had wanted to have, and it was to be left alone.

Of course Galarel wouldn't leave it to that; after some time of this loneliness she had barged in to the king's throne room, and did look rather pissed off.

Galarel had said it out loud and straight into his face: "King or not, you cannot just slip into these depressive thoughts and forget about the surrounding world. Your people need you and more importantly your son needs you!"

Now that the queen was no more there to yell at him insults from time to time, Galarel seemingly had felt she had to say something instead. At least that was the assumption what Thranduil's drunken brain had concluded at that moment, and right after something just snapped in him.

Anger from deep inside, so fuming that even the spell covering his injuries on his face faltered and the horrible scars were momentarily fully visible. His face was badly burnt from the left side and the left eye had been blinded fully. His face became crimson with rage.

He remembers Galarel taking one step back, but never did she lower her gaze or take another step backward. She had faced his fury.

He had been so furious at the way she had talked to him, she had no right to do so, she had stepped over a line. He spat the order to put her in the jail for insulting the king.

After few hours he found himself feeling angry at himself because he knew what Galarel had said was actually true. It was no meaningless insult made while drunk, for she had been as sober as a crystal. He hadn't been anywhere near sober and the result wasn't very pretty. He had let go of the wine bottle and wandered into his bedroom to sleep; to clear his head.

In the next morning, he had released Galarel from the dungeon and also tried to apologize. He didn't find the words, but it seemed that Galarel understood anyway. She had asked a permission to leave for some time, months probably, to visit her former home Rivendell. He had gave her the permission.

/

Galarel had met Elrond Half-elven and probably asked for the Lord´s guidance. Thranduil knew it would do good for Galarel to make the trip: she always felt welcomed in the Rivendell, it was where she had been raised as an elfling, where she had spent her childhood.

Being a halfelf was no easy task to survive if you lived among humans. Elrond had found her when she had been just a baby and taken her in, away from people of Men. He had raised her like she was his own daughter. As she grew older, he had started to see the promising soldier in her and sent her to Greenwood just as she was reaching adulthood.

Galarel had got a chance to meet Lady Galadriel while she had stayed in Rivendell, for she had visited Galadriel's daughter; the wife of Elrond.

After coming back to Mirkwood, Galarel had told Thranduil she had been given the advises of wisdom from both Lady Galadriel and Elrond. Elrond had also promised to visit Mirkwood as soon as possible, because he was familiar with the king and his past and wanted to offer his support.

Things started to go toward better and the people of Mirkwood did all they could to make the kingdom rise and shine again. After years of fighting Thranduil managed to find his balance, although he had become so much colder than he had been before. Surprisingly he had found himself feeling proud of his people and at the same time the darkness in his heart had lifted a bit.

/

Time passed and years went by pretty fast for a while. He hadn't paid much attention.

Galarel had always been there, caring for Legolas and caring for the king like a true friend would. She had asked to receive the position as the commander of the Mirkwoods scouts and she had gained it almost instantly. She wanted to make sure to be the first one to know when orcs closed in on their borders, if that were to happen ever again in the comnig days. She did everything to pull Thranduil back when he had started slipping away into the dark thoughts on his worst days. Sometimes it was harder task to accomplish, but she had been persistent.

Legolas had been just an elfling and Galarel tried her best to teach him the good manners and ways of the elves. And add something from her own knowledge too in it.
Thranduil disapproved some of her teaching, like "not all dwarves were that bad", but didn't deny her from giving his son the lectures. She also taught another elfing, Tauriel, to fight with a bow and swords, and Thranduil had been sure she would someday become the next commander of scouts. She reminded him of Galarel when she had arrived into Greenwood for the very first time. Legolas seemed to like Tauriel's company, so she became close to the family, like a daughter to the king. Galarel seemed to be very fond of that elfling girl.

At one time, Thranduil had thought of leaving this world, the Middle-earth. But then again, he couldn't leave his kingdom abandoned and life had become somewhat durable with Galarel around.

Thranduil had always known how to throw parties and these days parties were held every so often. Galarel probably understood that in those drunken moments, he was free of worries and nightmares. Nightmares had lessened over the years, but at some point they were taking their toll of the king. Galarel contacted Galadriel, and visited the Lady to collect some herbs and learn specific spells to help the king to gain more restful sleep.

/

/

Thranduil awakened from his thoughts at the realization that all the music had started to fade. The party he had thrown tonight was reaching its end, and so was the bottle of wine.

Years had gone since those times which he had just recalled in his mind. Nowadays Galarel was the known guardian of Mirkwood, not just any plain commander of scouts. He was proud of her.

She had witnessed the glory and beauty of Greenwood and seen it wither and become something ugly and dying. He remembered her sorrow when the forest had fallen ill.

But still after those past horrible events she wanted to protect Mirkwood and the fortress deep inside of it. She had grown fond of Legolas although she wasn't part of his family tree and she seemed have been like a big sister to Tauriel. Galarel's hair was colored like autumn red and hint of orange, while Tauriel's was copper and a hint of gold. They looked a lot the same in that way, kind of like real sisters.

Thranduil would have invited Galarel to share some bottle of wine with him, but she was on a journey to Rivendell at this time. Maybe he'll throw a new party to celebrate her return, but then again he knew she would comment about him drinking too much again.

Funny thing was, he listened to her although she wasn't anywhere near in position to be lecturing him. Thranduil sighted and decided to go to sleep, to clear his head once again.


Please R&R!

AN: I'm open for ideas for the future chapters! :) I think about writing something about Galarel's and Thranduil's past, perhaps a beginning of a romance. OR I could just take the events to the ones in the Hobbit 2, and add my own fictional plot in the mix. Thank you for taking time to read this, I really appreciate it! All kind of reviews are welcome!

AN: 13.12.2014, just saw the last part of the Hobbit -trilogy. Now I can finally continue writing this and perhaps make some small updating to the chapters I've already published.