Chapter 10:

Legolas stopped and stared at his father. There he was in the great hall. He was smiling. Laughing even. He was there and he was happy and Legolas felt completely and utterly disgusted.

How could he be happy? How could he be standing there as if nothing happened? As if he never just sat by and watched his kingdom fall apart? As if he didn't virtually abandon his children!? How could he just leave Lathros to him? How could the great all powerful king Thranduill finally break WHEN HIS FAMILY NEEDED HIM THE MOST?

Legolas' eyes turned to flaming coals of hatred. His grief-ridden mind took all his sorrows and directed it at Thranduill. It turned it to unjust anger, and unfair hate. He suddenly turned and stalked out the door.

Thranduill watched as his son glared at him, as his son hated him, as his son turned and fled from him. And his heart broke again for the second time. He stood stunned for a moment. Where was his sweet boy? Where was the forgiving boy? Where was his little son who would apologize to anything he hunted? Then a thought struck him and chilled him to the bone. I know. I've chased him away. And then Thranduill was racing after his child.

"Legolas!" Legolas didn't slow down. "Legolas! Ion-nin!" Thranduil stopped then said with the authority of a king, "Legolas. Stop." Legolas stopped but didn't turn. With a much softer voice the king took a hesitant step towards his son. "Legolas, please."

The golden-haired prince stood for a few seconds then slowly turned on his heel to face his father. Even slower he dragged his eyes up to look him in the face. He stood there expectantly.

"Ion-nin, .." Thranduill said at a loss for words. "Goheno nin" Legolas clearly wasn't impressed. "I-I've been ... distant lately and I'd like to apologize for that. I should have been there for you and your brother."

"Should have been there!? Yes you should have been there! But no, you were hiding in your room leaving your sons to suffer the loss of their mother and sister alone!"

Thranduil stood shocked by Legolas' harsh words. He recovered quickly, though, and his words came out sharp. "I was grieving for the loss of my wife and daughter!"

"And what about your sons!? Would you lose them too? Do they not matter to you?!"

His words cut deep like a sword. A gentler elf would have burst into tears and hugged his son to eradicate those dark thoughts. Thranduill was not a terribly gentle elf. He felt the sorrow and disbelief like any father would, he just reacted in a very different way. "How dare you accuse me of not loving my family!" the king thundered. Legolas cowered under his fiery gaze then turned and ran down the hall and out the door.

Legolas found himself in his mother's gardens. He stumbled over to a bench and sat down heavily. A thousand thoughts struggled for his attention but he heard a noise. Legolas looked around and found two stormy grey eyes peeering out at him from under a bush. "Estel? Is that you?" The young adan crawled out from the bush and sat next to Legolas.

"Are you mad?" came the small voice in a simple question.

Legolas sighed. "Yes, penneth, I am mad."

"Oh. Who are you mad at"

"My ada"

"How come?" Estel looked up at the prince expectantly, innocent curiosity in his wide eyes.

"Oh, its nothing."

"Than you'll forgive him cause it was nothing?"

Legolas stared at the child. "Well, I'm afraid it's not as simple as that."

Estel looked down at the floor. "My ada always says to forgive people no matter what."

"Yes you should" Legolas replied absently.

The child brightened. "Then you'll forgive your ada?"

Legolas considered the question. Then he said slowly. "I'm still mad at my ada, but I'll think about it."

"Oh. I don't like being mad at my ada."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't like it when he's mad at me. My ada also says to treat people the way I want to be treated. So if I don't like it when ada's mad at me ada doesn't like it when I'm mad at him. Also-also cause I love him. And you shouldn't be mad at people you love. Ada said that, too." Then Estel hopped off the bench and left Legolas marveling at the innocent wisdom of a child.

A/N sorry shortish chapter. A special thanks to the people who have stayed with this story even through my horrendous update rates. :(:( Only a few chapter to go though! Then I'll take a break and fully plan out my next story before putting it on the page...or screen for that matter. again thanks to all who have stuck with this story thus far.