Prologue To Part Two

AN: Hello hello! Here is the prologue to the next part of Walking in Worlds :) Hope you like it :) Chapter 1 will be up in a few days, I promise. In the meantime, does anyone know what the elvish translations for 'uncle' 'grandfather/grandpa' and 'grandmother' are? I may be forced into making it up if no one tells me cuz I can't find them anywhere.

A cup was slammed down hard onto the table top, the sound ringing through the elegant cavern and rolling out into the vast palace. His majesty, Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm, was in a foul humour; he had been for weeks. This was not a terribly uncommon occurrence, for over the many long years, the people of the Woodland Realm had come to accept this aspect of their king. But it was painful for the people to watch now, particularly after seeing the brief transformation that had come over the king since his time in Imladris. Thranduil had returned to his kingdom soon after Emily's departure, mere months earlier, just before the winter set in for good which would have made travelling more difficult. His behavior reminded the people of what it had been like when the queen still lived and the royal family had been intact. For many weeks he was almost cheerful, smiling more easily and behaving as though he had found peace in something. However, as the weeks turned into long months, he became gradually sullen once more, slipping back into his old patterns.

It was the anger that soon swallowed any hope and happiness he had felt over knowing that his daughter was alive and that he had grandchildren. Anger raged within in frustration that he had been so close to bringing his family back together. Anger at missing and ignoring what he had known all along.

His granddaughter. She had been his granddaughter, his own kin, and yet he had ignored what his heart had tried to tell him and brushed aside all knowledge he had about it, wallowing in ignorance until it was too late. Now he was left to wait for goodness knew how long until he could see her again. And he wanted her back so badly...not just Emily, but rather her mother and siblings as well.

It did not help that he found no relief in wandering through elvish sleep. His guilt and frustration followed him there as well, as he would periodically dream of his family living life in another world, but not being able to reach out to them or communicate with them in any way. All he could ever do was observe what he surmised were real events in their lives since Emily's return. Through his 'dreams' he learned much about the lives of his kin. He learned that his daughter went by 'Winifred' now and was a sort of healer. She worked in an emergency ward as an 'ER' nurse. Her husband, Gareth, was some sort of guard for the public that they called a 'policeman'. So far as he could tell, Gareth was a good man and worthy of his daughter. As for his grandchildren, he had learned much about their lives. His other granddaughter, Clare, was very much like her mother in terms of appearance and was somewhat of a 'free spirit' who traveled a lot. Joel, his grandson, was also a traveler and took great satisfaction in building complicated contraptions and know how things worked. Thranduil sensed from both of the older siblings that they were unsettled and could never seem to find rest in one place. They were constantly on the move, searching for something. Then there was Emily. She struggled along bravely without telling her parents anything about her troubles or worries. It would seem that she feared making them worry and given that they already had 'stressful' lives, the girl keep things to herself. She was lonely, and Thranduil could tell that she felt lost in life, uncertain of where she stood or what to do next now that she was done 'high school'. How he loathed being powerless to help her, allowed only to watch and follow like a shadow.

Why he was able to see these things, he could not guess. Nor did he know if it was a torment or a blessing to see his family whenever he strayed into sleep.

Perhaps more of a blessing...was his lazy thought as one of the more recent 'dreams' surfaced in his mind. Emily was highly amusing when she thought no one was looking and her antics brought him immense joy. Dancing around the kitchen and singing ridiculous songs in various comical voices was a side of Emily that he had never seen, and the king rather suspected that few ever did. Or there were the moments in which the family was engaged in lighthearted banter and teasing. Those scenes warmed his heart greatly.

But, regardless of these moments of delight, he was growing impatient.

'Wait and see', said Elrond. 'We do not know what Eru and the Valar are planning', said Elrond. 'Be PATIENT', said Elrond...well, mellon nin, I do not know how long I can keep a 'patient' attitude, but there is no other choice. I have no way of getting to them...and I will not repeat old mistakes attempting to find the means. That would be extremely foolish.

The elf slumped into an armchair and glowered at the floor.

A knock at the door brought a deeper twitch of annoyance to his face.

"Come." he commanded shortly. His eldest child entered. The younger elf's darker auburn hair was pulled into proper warrior braids and his dress suggested he had just returned from patrol and was looking extremely grave. This was no surprise, for Faervel had long adopted that look ever since his mother had passed and his sister vanished. Gone was his carefree fascination with the intricate workings of the world and his youthful vigour. Instead he retreated within and controlled himself much like his father did. Thranduil sometimes believed that his son accomplished the latter more effectively than he did.

Faervel bowed and then stood at attention. "My lord, there is a small delegation of dwarves from Erebor headed this way. They beg an audience with you."

"And why should they wish such a thing?" asked Thranduil coolly with disinterest, but internally he intrigued as to why these dwarves would risk such a venture. There was no love lost between their two peoples, particularly after 'the incident with the dragon' as Mithrandir so lightly put it.

"They gave no specifics, but merely said that they wished to return something that belonged to you." stated Faervel.

Thranduil snorted. Of course dwarves wouldn't give specifics, such secretive creatures as they were, however he had to admit his full attention and curiosity was captured by this new development. Besides, he was just in the right kind of mood to snarl at a few dwarves.

"Where are they now?" he asked, raising from his chair in one fluid motion.

"They just cleared the great east bridge." was the reply. "Shall I have them detained?"

"I will allow them to enter my kingdom, but have them brought to me immediately." ordered Thranduil as he swept out of the room. "And Faervel? See to it that they are treated with care. We do not wish to damage the fragile relations we have with the dwarves."

"Of course, my lord."

In a short time, Thranduil was peering down at the small delegation of suspicious looking dwarves. There were three of them and he vaguely recognized them as being part of the company of Throin Oakensheild whom not too long ago had been kept prisoner in his dungeons for a sort time.

Until that confounded hobbit let them all out...

He smiled inwardly at the memory of the Halfling. In truth, he had greatly liked the kind hearted and courageous creature. For his sake, Thranduil decided that perhaps he would at least try and see in the dwarves what Bilbo Baggins had.

"What is your purpose in my lands, master dwarves?" he asked steadily.

The tallest of the small band grunted and then cast an unpleasant glare at the king. Thranduil choose to ignore it and turned his attention to the dwarf who seemed to be leading the group.

This dwarf was odd looking, being the only one wearing a hat of sorts upon his head which covered his brown unruly hair that was kept in two messy braids. He bowed grudgingly and then said, "Bofur, at your service."

The next dwarf seemed to have more diplomatic flare, for he bowed as well with little irritation and announced politely, "Dori, at your service." then they both cast a sharp glance at their other traveling companion. He merely nodded proudly to Thranduil and said gruffly, "Dwalin, at your service."

Thranduil nodded graciously in reply to these proud introductions, keeping in mind that he should really try and appreciate how humbling it would be for them to come before him in such a way.

Bofur took a step forwards and then cleared his throat awkwardly. "It's like this, your majesty. We have come to honour our agreement with you and return what is rightfully yours." with that the other two dwarves brought forth a sizable chest, set it just in front of Bofur and then opened it.

In surprise, Thranduil was moved to stand, staring in awe at the dazzling white gems that shone from the box, a few of them humming with a delicate sound that only an elf could have heard. Descending from his throne slowly, eyes never leaving the precious gems, he reached out a hand to touch one of the humming ones, fearing it was not real, but then quickly drew back and recollected himself into his neutral tower of strength.

Regarding the dwarves with a impartial, yet piecing gaze, he asked, "And why do you choose to do such a thing? After all this time, what has brought about this change of heart?"

"None of your business," Dwalin growled rudely, only to be hushed once more by Dori.

Bofur eyed the king and then gave a sad smile. "Because you were right when you said that Throin had gone mad with his lust for the treasure. I think perhaps we all had, in some way or another, except maybe Bilbo. Not sure anything could have corrupted his noble heart..." then paused, clearly lost in a fond memory of the hobbit. He shook himself and continued. "We became aware of what horrors could come over such greed, and feared that the sickness still lingered on in that mountain, waiting to take hold of us. We came to the decision that the best way to attempt to combat it would be to do as Bilbo did. Behave with honour, honesty and respect. We have chosen to up hold our honour and return what we promised. On behave of all the dwarves of Erebor, I ask you to please accept this as a offering of peace between our proud peoples."

Thranduil stood in baffled silence for a time, regarding the dwarves before him thoughtfully, then he inclined his head and did something rather unexpected. He bowed in return saying, "I accept. May there be peace and in time, understanding between us."

With nothing left to be said by the proud dwarves, they took their leave as they seemed intent on returning to their mountain with haste. Thranduil bid them farewell, and was surprised when all three bowed nobly once more upon leaving.

Calling his son to him, the king quietly instructed that guards be sent discreetly with the dwarves in order to keep watch and see to it that they reached the boarder safely. Then he had the precious gems placed in his own vaults, save a few carefully chosen ones which he took with him back to his study.

It was popular opinion that these gems were no more than a petty desire that he had for beautiful things. Although it was true that he had a weakness for pretty things, the anger he had long held against the dwarves for denying him these particular gems was a born from a more noble desire.

Long ago, when the portal in the Woodland Realm had been first discovered, it was also found that sometimes, a humming white gem of pure starlight could open the doorway and keep it open for sometime. Many curious elves experimented and toyed with the gems in an attempt to better understand the portal. They were successful, to a point, even travelling through it once and coming back with reports of a strange world on the other side that was filled with hostile humans. But despite the control that was gained over the mysterious rift in the fabric of their world, it soon became clear that it was still too unpredictable to allow further experiments. It was as though it sometimes had a mind of its own, refusing to open one minute and then opening without provocation the next. His father eventually banned all further investigation into the strange place and marked it forbidden territory in order to protect his people. It was just as well since the beautiful white gems had quickly become rare and it was difficult to find ones pure enough to open the portal. The less pure the gem, the more stress it put on the one trying to keep the portal open and more 'magic' required from the elf to sustain contact.

Now no elf ventured near the portal, save the few times that they sensed that it had opened. Only then would a small force be sent to investigate and ensure that nothing had come through. Nothing ever did. But on occasion, someone would go missing in the near by human villages, or travellers would vanish without a trace, suggesting that they had been taken through.

When his daughter had vanished, there had been many possibilities, and there was never any evidence to suggest which possibility was more likely than the others. Thranduil had wondered at one time if she had been taken through the portal, and thus, in a fit of desperation, had sought out the pure white gems from the dwarves in order to go looking for her himself in the other world. But the dwarves denied him that opportunity and his grief burned into such a deep anger that he fell even deeper into the darkness of his heart.

Then, one day, not many years before the Battle of the Five Armies, he had felt the doorway open. Faint hope stirred that Aewnith had somehow returned, and he immediately set out to see for himself, only to be met by Glorfindel, Elrond, and the twins. They explain that they had lost Estel and there was little time in which to retrieve him. Thranduil, having grudgingly developed a soft spot for the child, offered his help in opening the portal long enough to try and find the boy. Using the only gem they could get their hands on (a semi pure white one), Elrond, and Thranduil combined their efforts to keep the portal open while Glorfindel, being the most powerful and gifted of them all (thus being able to keep the portal stable from the other side), went through with the twins in search of Estel.

They were successful in finding him, and for the first time in many centuries, someone returned safely from the other world.

Smiling, Thranduil remembered how the child had babbled away about the wonders on the other side and how he told them fervently about the brave girl who saved his life. Emily quickly became well known as the heroin of the tale, and Estel would tell anyone who would listen the story and all about the 'magic' this 'Emily' possessed.

Entering the study, Thranduil set the singing gems down on the desk and then settled back as he pondered what to do next. He now held the means to go and find his lost family. But was that what he was meant to do?