Here I have the next chapter for you. Hope you like it!

Hethelil and RedBear5: Thank you for the feedback. =)

For Legolas next morning could not come soon enough. He tossed and turned in his bed at the inn, thinking about his father and this new turn his life had taken. He did not really want to admit it at first, but in a way he enjoyed the excitement. After so many years living a life in boredom this felt strangely fresh. He mentally slapped himself for even thinking that. After all he had a son who was only fifteen years old to take care of and to protect. What kind of father was he going out to save the world instead? No better or worse than his own apparently...

He sighed and delighted in the fact that the sun was rising. He had not slept, but it did not matter. He had a busy day ahead of him. First of all he had to contact one of Lord Elrond's associates in Valmar to send a message about his meeting with the oracle and the fact that he was heading over to Tol Eressea before retuning to New Imladris. The trip would take over a week at least, but Legolas could not bare the thought of not knowing his father was ok. It was ironic really thinking that just a few month ago he thought he hated his father. Apparently he had lied to himself. He did care more about Thranduil than he ever wanted to admit before.

After leaving the message Legolas spent the rest of the morning looking for a bow and arrows. He had cursed himself time and time again for bringing only his knives to Valmar, but how could he have ever known? He sighed when he had to settle for a bow that felt somewhat ok i his hands. The amount of shops selling bows in Valmar was somewhat limited and with the current orc-scare everyone who had any kind of knowledge about how to use a weapon had bought one. Still the fact that Legolas had a bow now made him feel much more secure.

By midday he found himself riding for the coast as hard as he could without pushing his horse to the limit. Everything seemed normal in the countryside outside of Valmar. Elves were harvesting apples and grapes along the road and the sun shone over green fields. The panic of another orc attack did not seem as apparent here as it was in Valmar, but when Legolas stopped by an inn for a meal and a room for the night the other guests and the staff were gossiping. It seemed that when the rumors travelled everything was blown out of proportion. Suddenly it was five hundred dead on To Eressea instead of a hundred. Hardly a surprise. Legolas sighed and retired to his small room directly after finishing his meal. He had a long ride in front of him and sleep served him better than listening to mindless gossip.

When Legolas finally arrived at Tol Eressea by sea the first thing he could see from the ship was the remains of a burnt village by the beach. Only two houses were intact, the rest black skeletons of wood and heaps of ash. Seeing this made Legolas sick to the stomach, and angry. How many had died here? He wanted to kill all the filthy orcs that had done this. Several elves standing beside him on deck had started crying when they saw the destroyed village, but the had just stared at it in blind determination. He was doing the right thing, he was sure now. Fighting this evil and saving his people was what he was meant to do.

In the city of Avallone he got off the ship. His horse seemed delighted to be firmly on the ground again, and so did Legolas himself. If people had been scared in Valmar it was nothing compared to what it was here. It was really sad, because Legolas had always loved the city with its characteristic white houses with blue doors, the smell of the sea and fresh oranges and lemons that were the main export. In the market square there were a few stands, but the one that seemed to be most frequented was one with an elf selling weapons. Spears, bows, swords and even something that looked suspiciously like an antique dwarven battle ax were up for sale to the customer that could manage to pay the outrageous prices. People seemed to be swarming around the salesman, but other than that the streets were almost empty, at least when it came to civilians.

Legolas was fairly surprised to see armed elves dressed familiar in gray cloaks patrolling the streets, and one of them particularly caught his eye. The sharp profile and the arrogant expression simply could not go unnoticed for long. The other elf had seen Legolas as well and was now walking across the square with a wide toothy smile glued on his face.

"Legolas! It has been ages since I've seen you."

"Haldir." Was the only thing Legolas managed to say.

He had never really cared much for the former marchwarden of Lorien. He was a bit arrogant and rude even if he certainly was a good person at heart and a very skillful warrior. It was maybe because Legolas did not care for those two traits very much. Perhaps because they were both traits that made him think of his own father, Thranduil. What really irritated him was also that Haldir always seemed to insist on acting like they were the best of friends, when in fact they had only shared a few battles and even fewer goblets of wine from time to time during the last two ages.

"So, what brings you to Tol Eressea?" Haldir seemed curious in a way that made Legolas want to shut his mouth completely and not say a word. "Looking for work perhaps? There is plenty here, I can tell you. After the orc attacks the city council came to the Golden Woods and practically begged on their bare knees for Lord Celeborn to lend them some of his warriors to protect the city. Now we are here, and the change of scenery has been quite refreshing, even though I still prefer sleeping in my own bed. And we are short handed as well. There are not many warriors on this island."

"Thank you, but I do have a job already."

"And where does an elf with your kind of expertise find work in this realm of peace?"

"I am an archery instructor." Legolas deliberately left out the fact that Elrond was his employer.

"Really?"

Legolas could detect a hint of a smug smirk on Haldirs lips.

"How about a drink? There is a nice tavern not far from here and my shift is ending in a little more than an hour."

"I'm afraid I have to decline." Legolas said. "My horse is growing impatient and we have a long ride ahead of us to my fathers house."

"Restless horses. I see. Well, perhaps another time."

Legolas nodded and mounted his horse. He had a long way to go to his fathers house, indeed. He had not lied about that.

When Legolas finally reached his fathers home by the beach at the easternmost part of the island in the early afternoon, the place seemed just as peaceful as he remembered it. The high, slender pine trees surrounded the white house in the hill above the beach was a breathtaking view, and the scent of salty seawater hit him like a wall. There had most definitely not been any orc attack here that was for sure. Legolas sighed with relief. What he was curious about though was the fact that there were several elves working on the house. Two were repairing the roof, and one working on the masonry. When Legolas walked closer to the house he was met by an elleth dressed in a simple gray dress and and a white apron. Legolas had never seen her before and and he immediately had his suspicions about why his father had hired her. She was curvier than the average elleth, something that his father seemed to prefer and she had long black hair and rosy cheeks with dimples that seemed to have been put there by the Valar them self just to tease.

"Welcome Sir. How may I be off assistance?" The elleth smiled, but something about her appearance gave away that she was not quite at ease.

"I am looking for Thranduil Oropherion. Is he at home?"

"Yes he is, but Sir, I must warn you. He is not in a very good mood at the moment."

"That is all right. I am his son Legolas. I think I can handle my father's mood swings."

She sighed, but still looked uncertain.

"He has been drinking all night, and most of the morning since he came home. He has not talked to anyone and I've heard him throwing around things in his bedroom. I did not have the courage to go and ask what was amiss. I am new here and the other workers say your father is known for his hot temper." The elleth flushed bright red and looked down at her shoes.

"Do not worry. Believe me when I say I can handle my father."

"I apologize for speaking so freely, but he scared me today."

"You have no need to worry, My Lady. Do you by any chance know where my father has been before he came back today?"

The elleth shook her head.

"No. He comes and goes, never saying where or when he will return. It is not my job to ask questions. My job is merely to take care of the kitchen, the cleaning and things of that sort. This time he was away for nearly two weeks and came home dressed vey strangely.."

Legolas sighed. His father was always the one to surprise him. There was probably nothing more the elleth could tell him, and he did not want to pressure her further either. He would find out soon enough what Thranduil had been up to. He was a bit worried though. Maybe the fact that both he and his father were involved with the black keys could put the elves working for his father in danger? He hoped not.

The interior of the house was different than last time he had visited. He wondered when he had been there last and he was shocked to come to the conclusion that it had probably been closed to a thousand years. He felt a sting of sadness that he had let the relationship with his father get so infected. He wondered how lonely it might have felt for Thranduil to walk this empty house for so many years. At least now Legolas was happy that his father had apparently decided to renovate the house, and employ staff to take care of it for him again.

When Legolas stood outside his fathers heavy wooden bedroom door he hesitated to knock, and when he finally did there was no answer. He grabbed the handle and pushed it down. The door was not locked and he stepped inside. The large bed was untouched but otherwise the room was in a state of chaos. There were books on the floor, a wine bottle was smashed against the wall. The wine had created nasty red stains on the white walls and the expensive carpet.

Legolas closed his eyes and swallowed. He could still feel traces of the anxiety that he had always felt when he was just an elfling he saw his father loose his temper. Thranduil had never harmed him in any way, but Legolas still remembered hiding under the bed in the room next to his father hearing things breaking against the walls and his fathers screams. He had always wondered if Thranduil had been different when Legolas mother was still alive, but he had never dared to ask. It was a mutual understanding between father and son to never talk about her.

The door to the terrace was open, and the light white curtains billowed in the wind. Legolas stepped out and found his father asleep in a chair dressed in the most peculiar attire he had ever seen and with seven empty wine bottles surrounding him on the floor. If Thranduil had consumed all this alcohol he had surely been intoxicated beyond belief. Legolas shook his head and suddenly anger gripped him. Apparently his father was still the same selfish bastard as he had always been. Being saved by the Valar had apparently not humbled him even a bit.

Thranduil stirred in his sleep and mumbled something that Legolas could not understand. The clothes he wore and the shoes on his feet were indeed something that Legolas could not get his head around. They seemed very alien, but made his father look a bit less intimidating than he usually did. Legolas did not find the garments very appealing. Odd looking loose fitting blue trousers and a white short sleeved shirt that seemed too small for his father's muscular body.

"Ada" Legolas shook his fathers left shoulder but the other elf just stirred and mumbled something in westron that Legolas could not decipher. Thranduil's eyes remained glazed, he was still in dreamland and Legolas could feel the scent of a sweet feminine perfume from his fathers hair. So this was what it was all about, again. A female. Not surprising at all.

"It is too late to teach an old dog how to sit" Legolas thought with a bit of cruel satisfaction. He grabbed his fathers shoulder again. This time he shook Thranduil hard, maybe a bit harder than strictly necessary, but at least it seemed to work this time.

"Ada, wake up!"

"Wh...Legolas.." Thranduil looked up at his son with confused eyes.

"What in the name of the Valar is going on here? Do you know that you have scared your staff half to death with your drunken tantrum?"

"So, my dear son came all the way here to lecture me. What a great way to wake up. You never change do you, Legolas?" Thranduil's voice was raspy and he sounded exhausted when he got up from the chair on unsteady legs. Legolas chose to ignore his fathers insult and Thranduil wandered off into the bedroom and grabbed a goblet standing on a the bedside table. He downed the content and Legolas sincerely hoped it was water. Thranduil then put down the goblet with a loud thud and said:

"Legolas. Why are you here. Do not get me wrong, it is nice to see you but it is not something I expected."

"It is about the keys." Legolas reached for the black key in his pocket and showed it to his father.

Thranduil stared at it and hesitantly reached out to touch it.

"You have one too? How can that be? Do you know what they are?"

"I know a few things, most of all that they are very dangerous. Have you heard about the orc attacks here in Valinor?"

Thranduil shook his head.

"No, but I do think we have a lot to talk about son. Let's go to the kitchen and have a meal when we talk. I am starving."

Legolas nodded.

"And while we eat you can explain to me why you are wearing those strange clothes as well."

"It is a long story, but I'll try to explain. It has to do with the keys after all. Let's go son." Thranduil gave Legolas a gentle push towards the door.