Chapter 11 – Reputation

One of the many remarkable things about Mirkwood and its inhabitants is the ability, even an hour before dawn, to spread gossip. By dawn the next day, everyone knew what had happened at the party, although depending on which version you believed, Legolas had either punched Thranduil in the face and broke his nose, or emptied a bucket of water over his head, or Era had run away from home with the intention of never returning to Mirkwood. Ironically, none of the versions of the story mentioned Rolena slapping the king before storming off.

Whenever the two princes went out, Ithilas was met with hostility and Legolas was treated with pity (which he despised.) When Era walked out of the palace, people criticized her version of 'never to return,' something which she didn't understand for most of the day until one of the guards took pity on her bewilderment and chose to explain it to her. This particular guard nursed a soft spot in his heart for her despite the fact that Era could hardly remember his name.

The only good thing that came out of the royal family's ruined reputation was the fact that Legolas finally felt that he could forgive Thranduil. However, whether Thranduil could forgive Legolas remained to be seen. The king hadn't actually had a conversation with anyone since the party.

In the palace, the atmosphere was tense, to say the least. Aios was the only member of the Royal Family who was on speaking terms with everyone else. Rolena, Isiris and Era weren't talking to Thranduil or Ithilas, Ithilas wasn't talking to Legolas, and Thranduil just wasn't talking. It didn't help matters that every single person apart from Ithilas had massive hangovers, and Ithilas, who liked to drink himself into a stupor in situations like this, couldn't find any wine whatsoever in the house. Even the secret stash that he had raided from the cellar prior to the party (so he had a back-up until new wine was ordered) had gone. And so he was left with the task of ordering new stocks of wine.

Aios' conclusion: everyone had gone crazy.

In fact, only one member of his family had gone crazy. Thranduil was sitting in his study (where he had slept following Rolena chucking him out of their room) still muttering the same five words. Not that anyone noticed. The servants refused to go in and help, nobody else had any reason (or for that matter particularly wanted) to go in and talk to him, and his mutterings were so quiet that nobody could hear them.

Only Ithilas seemed concerned by his father's conspicuous absence. At breakfast, Thranduil just didn't appear, which was odd as it was normally him who spent the entire morning inflicting his worries and woes upon the rest of the family, regardless of how many times Legolas told him to be quiet.

"Has anyone seen Ada this morning?" Ithilas asked the rest of his family as they sat down to eat.

His question was met with silence and synchronized head shakes.

"Probably too ashamed to show his face," Era muttered.

This didn't quite ring true. Whenever Thranduil was ashamed of something, he was a lot more subdued than normal, but he still came down to show that he was stronger than that, and to show that regardless of his actions, he was still king. It was an unusual power complex that only really made sense to him and nobody else.

"I don't think that's it."

Legolas leant back on his chair. "Relax, Il, I'm sure he'll be fine. He's probably just really, really hung over and still sleeping it off. You know what he's like."

Ithilas looked at Legolas with distain before leaving the room. He went straight up to his father's study. He knocked softly on the door.

"Ada, it's me, Ithilas. Are you ok?"

No answer.

"Can I come in?"

Still no answer.

Ithilas pressed his ear against the door, and listened hard, just so he could determine whether his father was sleeping or working.

What he heard shocked him.

Faintly, he could just distinguish a voice, repeating the same thing over and over again.

"I didn't have a choice… I didn't have a choice… I didn't have a choice… I didn't have a choice…"

Ithilas recognized this sign from the aftermath of the siege. He had hoped his father had overcome this, but clearly the previous night's events had brought it all back up again.

"Oh Legolas," he breathed. "What have you done?"