Author's Note: Hi all, long time no see, eh? This is a short little something I came up with after seeing the new Battle of the Five Armies trailer. Needless to say there was no new Thranduil footage added into the Extended Edition, so I will not be editing any previous chapters to accommodate. I did see some of the scenes that Lee Orlando did in the Appendices and I have to admit that last one with them looking out toward the mountain would have fit really well with this story; the urgency to rescue Tauriel would have added to the concept of Thranduil maybe possibly having a thing for her! :) Anyway I hope you enjoy this, it's less of a chapter and more of an interlude. Looking so forward to what December will bring and as always, thanks so much for reading!

Chapter 10 – Midnight Musing

The Elvenking sat in his chambers, gazing into the caverns in the distance. His crystal blue eyes reflected flickers of candlelight and the elegant décor. He sipped a glass of wine, waiting.

Although he was weary, Thranduil could not muster up the energy to retire just yet. Maybe, just maybe, Tauriel and Legolas would return this night. However, he began to perceive that Tauriel, troubled, was running away from the Woodland Realm. Legolas would follow her trail and find her standing alone on the edge of the lake, and her youthful ambition would guide her yet further away from the King. Although it wasn't certain, she had no idea that in two days, the dragon under the mountain could be awakened.

A servant came to the door with a meal and more wine. Thranduil was tempted to ask the servant to join him, but everything seemed to feel hollow and bare, and the hour grew late. The King has no appetite, and decided instead to dismiss the servant and seek refuge in meditation.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A silence hung about him then, and he fell onto his bed. Tonight he would revisit some of his most treasured and feared memories. He wanted to imagine the world as it once was.

Time was passing in his mind, and images of his past faded in and out from black. His father, King Oropher, cast a sideways glance at him, as they stood ready for war. Thranduil tried to clutch onto the memory, but his father's face disappeared, morphing into the face of a warlord fixed on the fight, swinging relentlessly at enemies. Thranduil looked up at the sky, lit with fire and smoke, and saw dragons flying high above. When he shifted his glance down again, he saw leagues of death and ruin, corpses of Elves, Men, and orcs littering the ground. In slow motion, he followed a trail of slain orcs. He felt himself getting closer and closer, but...

Trapped in this vision, he wanted to turn away from it, but Oropher's spirit gripped him tightly. There was his father, dying, pierced in many ways, with wounds that cut much deeper than flesh itself. He tried to speak, as he had failed to do that day, but again no words came out. A moment of life and love flashed in his father's eyes, and Thranduil wept. He could not watch his father's face.

Time sped up again, moving faster out of the warzone and into his realm, Greenwood the Great, and Elrond and Galadriel were there, and he was being honored. In the dream, he saw himself holding a sword horizontally across battered hands. But those hands slowly became clean, and the sword slipped away; the hands of another appeared around his, and when he looked up, his saw his wife.

She was smiling, softly, but her eyes were wet with tears. Her expression evolved into joy, and he saw her holding his child – their child – but suddenly, she turned away, shielding him from something dangerous. He approached them both, but stopped when he felt his scar begin to burn his cheek once again.

"Protect him," she whispered.

This time he lunged after them, longing for a passionate embrace. He wrapped his arms around her, but as he did so, she screamed and vanished. There was Legolas, lying on the ground, in a fitful sleep. His face was screwed into a pained frown, and Thranduil bent down to comfort him, pulling the child close against his chest. Then walls were crashing around them somehow, and he saw Middle Earth for what it was; a beautiful world, but a cruel one. Legolas grew, and Thranduil watched; he learned how to use a bow and arrow, and he learned how to lead hunting parties, scouts, and even a small group of soldiers. He watched helplessly as the forest grew more evil, and Legolas, still young, could not handle it alone; he saw himself shaking his head and scolding Legolas for even the slightest injury.

He wanted to close the doors on the outside world. How else could he protect their son? The King watched in his memory as the doors of the palace were shut tight, many to be locked forever, but beyond one door, he saw his wife, mortally wounded and kneeling on the ground. Her head was bent, and she could have already been dead.

He heard guards shouting and saw people running to her, but he was frozen in the memory. He could not save her. He never could have saved her.

She looked up suddenly, eyes wide, pleading. But it was not the face of his wife; it was Tauriel, shattered and heartbroken.

In an instant, the King's eyes opened, and he came back to reality.

And in that moment, he knew what he had to do.