Chapter Seven
Offering Alcohol to Elflings


Thranduil was sat at the head of the table patiently awaiting the arrival of both his son and newly discovered granddaughter. It was not a wise thing to do to keep a king waiting. The Elvenking was growing impatient and the food upon the table growing cold. He folded his arms across his chest and watched the door with a rageful patience.

A further ten minutes passed before the door finally opened. It was Legolas, and behind him was a girl. Thranduil presumed the young elleth to be Raina. She was short for an elf, very few of her features were inherited from her father. She looked like an elf at least, from her high cheekbones to her narrow face. Her nails were bitten down to the quick and she walked with about as much posture as an orc with two broken legs. It was clear to Thranduil that she had grown up with men.

"Adar," Legolas greeted and took his seat by his father's right. Without a word, he showed Raina to her seat; on the elvenking's left. There was a long silence, before finally Thranduil turned to address his son.

"So this is...your offspring?" It was less of a question more of a statement. The Elvenking took one look at Raina and in the oddest way possible tried to flash her a smile. The twitching of his lips looked very unnatural and rather than reassure Raina, it frightened her even more. She smiled back weakly, but the smile did not reach her eyes. "She certainly looks like the mortal - I mean Hena," He commented. "

The dark-haired peredhel stared at the food with wide eyes, it was as though she had never been fed. Thranduil leant against the back rest of his chair and let out a long and deep sigh. Raina stared at him anxiously. Legolas was the first to reach for the food, He drew a glass of his father's dorwinion and filled his plate with the vibrant coloured snacks. Raina followed him. She timidly added a few of the food items onto her plate and poured herself a glass of water. Thranduil was about to offer her a glass of wine but after a few seconds he realised that he wasn't supposed to offer alcoholic beverages to elflings.

"Did you like it back in Laketown?" The elvenking finally asked, a question designed to break the tension that was growing between the three.

"Oh...I...it was..." Raina seemed lost for words. Her eyes's were as wide as saucers now, she looked to Legolas to finish her sentence. He smiled at her reassuringly and she continued. "Laketown was good."

"Do you plan on returning there?" Thranduil fired yet another question of her. Legolas shifted uncomfortably - he had been hoping for a pleasant dinner where his father could have gotten to know Raina without interrogating her. "Or do you plan on staying here. With your true kin,"

Legolas put his head in his hands. Raina sat upright, her back unnaturally straight. "With all due respect, I have kin back in Laketown as well. I cannot simply abandon my uncle, my aunt and my cousins. They are as much family to me as anyone here - if not more so,"

Thranduil took a long drink from his wine. "A fair point," He breathed heavily, his gaze fixing on the face of his son. "So why was it that your mother chose not to tell your adar of your existence?"

The peredhel looked upset at the mention of her mother. She stared down at the table and slid a strand of hair nervously behind her ear. Legolas frowned at his father. "I don't know. My mother spoke little of my father. I had always been perfectly content without a father so I had never though to ask," She finally answered.

Raina stared at the different forks, spoons and knives that were surrounding her. All varied in sizes. There were a total of eight different sets of each. Thranduil watched her, bemused, as she picked up her dessert knife and began using it to saw through her steak.

The elvenking would have corrected her, but he didn't want to come across strict or pernickety as one mortal had so aptly described him. After half an hour of awkward questions the elvenking's inquisitions had finally been silenced. Raina had settled more, she had stopped staring at her lap and fiddling with her hair and was now describing in detail her encounter with the orc.

"It was all Alistair really." She continued. "If it weren't for him I'd have died,"

"If it weren't for you he wouldn't have made it to Mirkwood to be healed," Legolas told her. "He owes his life to you as much as you own him yours,"

Raina smiled and finished the food on her plate. Thranduil looked at her once more. She was far from perfect. Her lack of table manners was astonishing and she was perhaps a little bit unruly and odd, but she was his granddaughter, and if she did choose to stay here, like he hoped she would, the Elvenking quite believed she would grow on him.


Alistair had awoken. He had been quite shocked to find himself surrounded by elves, but also pleasantly surprised. Raina had long known that her cousin had longed to see the elves - well a real elf as he had so correctly put it. Raina was sat by his bedside. Alistair was still confined to his bed. He wasn't particularly happy about this, he was all to eager too get out and explore the famous Mirkwood. He had already suggested to Raina a rather risky plan that involved her sneaking him out of the healing chambers. Raina had quickly rejected this and now was busy telling Alistair all about Legolas.

"Are you honestly trying to tell me that Aunt Hena was with a Prince!" Alistair exclaimed. "That would make you a princess! I've been living with royalty! Forgive me for my lack of manners my lady,"

Raina rolled her eyes at her cousins sarcasm. "I'm not a princess," She exclaimed. "Besides I'm hardly royalty - I barely even know him."

"He's still your father. That's got to count for something," Alistair swiveled around so he was sat upright on the bed. He groaned a little in pain gripping his side. "Just think - if the elvenking dies and so does the prince, you'd be the rightful queen of Mirkwood!"

Alistair was over-excited at the prospect of having connections to the royal family of Mirkwood. Raina smiled. He was finally back to his usual over-excitable self. His previously gaunt skin was now flushed with colour and his eyes had gone from empty to filled with optimistic life. He was Alistair again and Raina was happy of it.

"Look..." Alistair began. The smile vanished from his lips and his eyes filled with a more sincere emotion. "I never got the chance to say thank you. You risked your life for me. I really owe you one Raina,"

"You risked your life for me as well in case your forgetting. I was only repaying the debt," Raina told him sternly. She gazed out of the window, looking out upon the trees, the forests, her home. She sighed deeply. She had thought of it as her home.

"I spoke to one of the healers. He doesn't think it will be long before I can leave," Alistair grinned. "It'll be nice to get home again won't it? Just think how much stories we're going to have to tell!"

Raina felt her heart thud against her ribcage. The prospect of going back to Laketown, going back to the way things had always been, was become less and less welcome to her. A large part of her wanted to stay in Mirkwood. She wanted to get to know her father, she wanted to explore the forests and too learn about the elves.

Alistair saw the uncertainty in her eyes. He knew in that moment exactly what she was thinking. His chest sunk. He didn't want to lose his cousin. She was a sister to him. She was his family and he had always believed that family was forever. "You mean to stay?" He uttered in a resigned tone, already knowing the answer he was too receive. "I cannot blame you. Prince Legolas is your father. You belong here with him,"

Raina didn't speak for a while. "I cannot go home with you Alistair." She finally uttered. "My fa- Legolas he's very upset about my mother and I worry for what he might do. He has no one else apart from his father Alistair, I think he might need me,"

Alistair nodded, already resigning himself to a life without his cousin. "My father will understand," He finally spoke, "And so do I. We can write to each other all the time. This won't be goodbye Raina, not ever,"

"I know." She spoke. With a smile on her face she reached out and wiped away the tear that had fallen down Alistair's cheek. "You'll always know where I am,"


Thranduil stared at the pig sty that his son's chambers had slowly become. The bed was unmade, the curtain undrawn, even the rug was in complete disarray. Clothes were scattered across the floor and fine elvish armor lay unpolished upon the ground. Thranduil had nearly tripped over a pair of his sons' boots as he made his way to the Elven Prince's side.

Legolas was sat in the window sill, staring absently out across the tips of the trees. His hair was a mess, his clothes reeked of sweat. It was not just his son's room that hadn't been taken care off, but his son himself. Thranduil knelt by his side.

"What bothers you now?" The Elvenking asked.

"She's going to leave," Legolas told his father. Thranduil instantly knew whom his son spoke of. "She's all I have left of Hena. She's everything and I don't know what I'm going to do when she leaves,"

"Has she told you she is leaving?" Thranduil asked. Legolas didn't answer, which the elvenking assumed meant that he had not spoke to her and that he was merely assuming that Raina would wish to leave. He let out a long sigh and rested his hands upon his son's shoulders. "Have you not considered the possibility that she might want to stay here?"

"Why would she? She has a family back home in Laketown. A real family." Legolas answered curtly. Thranduil sighed once more. His son hadn't always been so pessimistic. Before the mortal had left he had been quite optimistic in fact. "She will leave and I will be alone once more,"

"I suppose there is nothing that I can say that will alter your assumptions?" Thranduil questioned. Legolas shook his head.

Thranduil was about to leave when there was a faint knock upon the door. The Elvenking took long strides toward it, stepping over arrows and discarded boots on his way. He opened the door, to find Raina stood on the other side. She looked nervous, yet happy at the same time. Upon seeing the Elvenking she took a few steps back. "Oh I - I thought this was - I," She stuttered.

"Legolas. You have a visitor," Thranduil called, smiling at his granddaughter. "Forgive him for the mess. He hasn't had the time to tidy it nor the will it would appear,"

Raina stared at the mess and she didn't appear appalled by it, which Legolas was relieved by. The Elvenking watched as a wide smile spread upon his son's face. The half-elven made his son happy, that much was clear.

"What is it that brings you here?" Legolas spoke softly. His tone not as hopeless as it had been when he was speaking to Thranduil. He did not treat speaking to his daughter as a chore as he most clearly did when speaking to his father. "Is there something wrong?"

"I'm fine," She answered. "But, my cousin woke up,"

"I heard, that is fine news," Legolas smiled. A trace of sadness flickering back into his grey eyes. "I expect you and he shall be leaving soon,"

"That's sort of why I came," Raina dodged her way past Thranduil who was standing in the corner of the room happily watching the turn of events. "I wasn't going to leave."

"What! Really?" Legolas grinned. "I mean your extremely welcome to stay, but I don't want you staying on my behalf - won't your family miss you?"

"I fear that I am more a hindrance to my family than a help. My uncle's house is full to bursting and my job pays less than I do to feed," Raina spoke. "I am sure that they will miss me and I know that I will miss them dearly, but I want to stay here, you are my family as well,"


A/N

Did I like this chapter? No.

Do I like any of my chapters? No.

Anyway, I'm truly sorry for the late update.

I know that I promised daily updates but with my workload right now that's becoming unrealistic.

I have had lots of prelims/exams and tests at school, not to mention the insane amount of homework I've yet to put a dent in. In fact, instead of writing this I should most probably be doing something like revising for physics or maths. But instead I've decided to spend the night on this, which is obviously much more enjoyable!:D

Anyway thanks for reading and an even bigger thanks if you have reviewed. n_n

Sorry for the lousy chapter! I'll make it up to you next time promise!