Aaaaand it's another flashback! Welcome back everyone!

I'm alive and kicking. I know, weird right? Sometimes I wonder how I'm still alive, considering some of the stupid shit I've done haha. Oh, the wonders of youth.

Interlude III

(I still don't own anything)

Thranduil had never been one to count time. Years turned into decades and decades turned into centuries all in the blink of an eye for immortal beings. Yet as he waited for the cycle of the moon to come to fruition, Thranduil could have sworn that time had slowed to a crawl. His father had always chided him about his lack of patience, a virtue which all immortals ought to learn.

The prince let out a sigh of relief when the day of the full moon dawned. He was sure that the other elves had noticed how tense he had been all day, practically pacing the halls until the sun had finally begun its descent. With that, Thranduil strode purposefully to his chambers and began dressing for a night in the forest.

He reached the clearing as the sun began to touch upon the horizon. When he saw that Lëo had yet to arrive, Thranduil scaled the rocky end of the clearing to sit upon a boulder, gazing into the west sky as the colors changed from gold to orange to pink. As the sun dipped beneath the tree line and the sky faded into violet, he felt the air shift.

"For once you are here before me, elf."

Thranduil turned to look in the direction that Lëo's voice had originated. She was again hidden by the shadow of her gray cloak, though she soon lowered it to meet his gaze. The prince was once again made uncomfortable by the golden glint of her eyes and her outlandish tattoos and ear piercings. There would always be something feral about her, something that was far from human or elven.

Lëo leapt lightly onto the rocks, making her way to his position. She dropped unceremoniously beside him, letting out a pent-up sigh as she relaxed her muscles. Thranduil studied her shamelessly, noting how she held herself cautiously and seemed to flinch at certain points. His eyes narrowed as he voiced his observations.

"You are hurt, my friend."

She froze, before glancing at him with an exasperated expression. "I should have known that you would spot that."

"So you do not deny it." Thranduil admonished. "What happened?"

Lëo shrugged. "These are not exactly peaceful times, Thranduil."

The prince allowed himself to be amused at her odd pronunciation of his name before he once again became serious. "Stop avoiding the question, Lëo. Was it Sauron's men?"

Her flinch was almost imperceptible if Thranduil had not been watching her closely. Lëo responded in a soft whisper, "Not here. Here we can escape the war. Please, Thranduil, let us not speak of the war here."

Reluctantly, the prince dropped the subject, though he frowned at the thought that his friend was hiding her wounds. Another thought occurred to him. "Do you have access to a healer, Lëo?"

Lëo huffed. "Honestly, stop mothering Thrahnduil. It will heal soon enough."

Thranduil's frown deepened but he felt that there would be no winning an argument with Lëo. "Fine. I'm horrible at healing magic anyway."

Smirking at him, Lëo playfully bumped his shoulder. "Yeah, I can tell you are not too bright."

"I just do not have the patience to learn it." Thranduil protested with a scowl. His companion only snickered at him, her eyes glinting with feral gold, and for a moment the prince thought he saw her pupils narrowed into slits, but then the moment had passed and he shook his head. He was seeing things, surely.

They lapsed into comfortable silence, sitting shoulder to shoulder and staring into the night sky. As the night dragged on, Lëo eventually raised her finger to point at a constellation hanging above the eastern sky.

"My people called that one Escalireth." Lëo murmured pointing to a cluster of stars in the eastern sky. "She was a dragon of wind and sun, queen of the desert. The legends say that she fought against the forces of darkness which threatened to plunge her desert kingdom into an age of ice. A dark witch had conjured monsters of ice to attack her kingdom, but Escalireth rose high in the sky and opened her great golden wings to welcome the sun. Gathering the rays of light into her, Escalireth angled her wings down upon her enemies and from her wings the sun itself burst forth. Her enemies were burned to ashes from the heat of the light, and the shadows of the witch's magic were stripped bare. The witch turned to flee but Escalireth cut her off. Gathering the last of the sun's power within her, Escalireth sent forth a ball of flame that consumed the witch and destroyed her dark magic. But the power of the sun came at a cost, and Escalireth owed payment to the sun. And so with her dying breath she rose into the air and flew into the sky, where the sun embraced its servant. Honored by her sacrifice, the sun made room for her in the night sky, so that Escalireth may always gaze down upon her kingdom from her final resting place."

As Lëo's voice drifted off, Thranduil stared at his companion. "Your people worship dragons?" He could not imagine such a thing, for the dragons of these lands were servants of Sauron. They were cruel and barbaric, with no regard for the lives of people.

To his surprise, Lëo laughed and shook her head. "We do not worship them, no. But they are respected creatures in my homeland. Escalireth gave her life for the people that lived under her protection in the desert." A saddened look crossed her face. "The people of your lands misunderstand dragons. They are not born of darkness. Just like any man, elf, or dwarf, dragons are capable of both great good and great evil."

Thranduil was silent at the thought. Perhaps the dragons of Lëo's homeland were kinder than those that he frequently saw on the battlefield fighting for Sauron. He turned his attention back to the constellation that his friend had pointed out.

"My people call that constellation Remmirath, the Netted Stars." Thranduil stated, remembering long forgotten lessons that he had been forced to learn as a young elfling. "There is no myth attached to them, however their rising in the summer signals a spiritual fasting, a time of reflection and peace. We meditate for the three weeks leading up to the summer solstice, whereupon we break the solemnity with a great festival full of music and dancing and feasting." Though as Thranduil described the festivities, he was saddened to realize that the elves had not celebrated any of their holidays since the beginning of the War of the Ring. There was too much sorrow in the land for such revelries.

"It sounds wonderful." Lëo smiled softly, the expression tempering her usually sharp features.

"It usually is." Thranduil admitted. "Though we have not celebrated in many years due to the war."

Lëo frowned at that and admonished the prince by playfully pinching the tip of his ear. Thranduil startled at the action, rubbing his ear with a scowl. "We do not speak of such gloomy thoughts here, remember?"

Thranduil rolled his eyes at his companion but relented. Oddly enough, Thranduil's thoughts drifted to his arranged marriage. As royalty, his father had chosen a young elleth of noble birth to be his future wife long before Thranduil had emerged from adolescence. He wondered if his future wife would understand him as much as this strange woman did. He had never felt so relaxed and comfortable in the presence of another person before. With Lëo, he was not a prince or a future king. He did not have to worry about manners or reputation with her, or worry that she might give away his secrets or start inane rumors in the courts. He was just Thranduil.

He felt her shoulder knock into his, pulling the elf out of his thoughts to see her leaning against him with a familiarity that few dared to display with the prince. Meeting his gaze, Lëo smirked at the elf and they drifted off into other subjects, conversing long into the night.

{::..*..::}

They continued the ritual for years to come. As the War of the Last Alliance progressed, their rendezvous became less frequent, as Thranduil was called to war with increasing regularity. The same was said for Lëo, who was also called away more often as time went on. When she was unable to meet Thranduil, she would send a small crow to the rock that they often sat on. At the sight of the black bird, the elf prince knew that his friend would not be joining him for a nightly conversation. And when Thranduil was called to the war front, he would leave a small message at their meeting place explaining how long he expected to be away.

Thranduil had lost track of how long he had been fighting. The Greenwood became nothing more than a short respite from a war which seemed unending, a place to eat and sleep in peace before plunging back into the conflict. War had hardened him, nursing a hatred for the darkness which left him feeling empty and angry. His only sanctuary in an ever-darkening world was the clearing where he would meet with Lëo and pretend, if only for a night, that the war did not exist.

"You are troubled, my dear prince."

Lëo interrupted his brooding, pulling the elf prince from the dark corner of his mind, his lips twitching with amusement at her teasing tone. He always marveled at her ability to calm him. When Lëo spoke, there seemed to be a charming quality which always put Thranduil at ease. Her voice was low, slightly gravelly, and thrummed with layered tones, like a small hum that rang in his ears even after the words left her mouth. He often wondered if there was some sort of magic that affected her speech.

"I am indeed." Thranduil answered her, staring into the starry sky. He did not need to look at her to know that those brown eyes of her would be flickering golden with concern. One's first impression of Lëo would be that she was carelessly blithe to the troubled world around her. But Thranduil had come to know better. Lëo was observant and sharp, but she hid her skills behind a façade of ignorance. And much to his frustration, she refused to burden him with any of her troubles.

At the moment, his friend was sitting behind him with her fingers intertwined in his pale gold hair. After years of pleading and persuading, Lëo had finally convinced Thranduil to allow her to braid his hair. She was currently attempting to wrestle his hair into the intricate braiding patterns that her people used, though the silkiness of his damnable hair meant that it was prone to slipping out of place. Lëo hummed a lilting tune as she wove Thranduil's hair into a crown around his forehead, before plaiting several braids across his scalp so that they took on the appearance of a net. She then pulled the rest of his hair into a low ponytail, brushing her fingers through the star-lit strands as she debated whether or not to plait that too.

Deciding against it, knowing that to go any further with his hair would be an insult to Thranduil's sense of masculinity, Lëo shifted to sit beside the elf prince and lean her head on his shoulder. It had taken years for the two to become comfortable with close contact. Both were accustomed to a lonely lifestyle, and had long been unused to the kinship which their reluctant friendship had provided. As Thranduil felt Lëo relaxing into him, he could feel his own muscles easing in response.

"Thrahduil… my dear prince..." Lëo trailed off as she hesitated, staring down at her hands twisting together in her lap. He waited as his friend collected her thoughts, knowing that she liked to express herself very explicitly and only with the most appropriate wording. Her back pressed against his, he felt her take a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I… I will not be able to return after this night."

Thranduil froze. Well, he had certainly not been expecting that. Sharply, he turned his head to glance at Lëo, but her head still rested on his shoulder and he could not see her expression very well. His throat constricted with a foreign feeling as he pushed down his panic.

'Why are you leaving me?' He wanted to growl, but his voice was suddenly thick with emotion and he fought to hide how sharply it was affecting him. The only word he could manage was, "Why?"

He could feel Lëo's muscles tense as she struggled with her own regret. Lëo exhaled sharply, pulling away to curl into herself, still refusing to meet his eyes. She brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin atop her knees to stare into the distance. She looked so much like a child, then, that Thranduil wondered how old she really was. Lëo seemed so much larger than she was with her intelligence and daring aura, but in the end, weren't they both just children? Youths thrown to the slaughter as lords waged their war?

"Something has happened and..." Lëo cleared her throat to keep her voice steady. "And I will not be returning. I… I can't. I am sorry, Thranduil."

Thranduil continued to stare at her, incredulous. What? Why? It was too soon! Too inconceivable! Was it the war? Did she find out about his title? Was she in danger? The decision was so sudden that Thranduil felt left out. Something else was behind this, but she clearly refused to say.

Then his sorrow turned into anger. "What do you mean you can't return?" He snapped.

To his increasing frustration, Lëo seemed unaffected by his wrath. She just sat still, avoiding his gaze.

He couldn't believe this. He would not accept this. The world was going up in flames around them and his only source of comfort was leaving him? No, he refused to just let her go as if he had never meant anything to her. What they had could not be thrown away and forgotten so easily!

"I'm sorry, Thranduil. I'm really -"

"Stop that." Thranduil hissed, narrowing his eyes in anger. "If you think I'll just let you walk away from me –"

"I don't have a choice!" Lëo exclaimed in an unusual surge of emotion. She froze at the outburst, surprised at her own outburst, so out of character for the usually calm and collected woman. Her eyes flashed gold as they clashed with the crystal blue of Thranduil's, and he was found himself confused by the pain in her expression.

"I… I should leave before this gets out of hand." Lëo muttered in a rush as she leapt down from the rock outcrop which they had always sat upon to stargaze.

Thranduil growled inwardly at the sight of her leaving him, forever. He raced after her, grabbing her arm and forcing her to a stop. "There is always a choice! I find it hard to imagine anyone forcing you to do anything against your will, Lëo . And yet you choose to leave me!"

Lëo whirled around, dark brown eyes flashing golden as her braids nearly smacked him in the face, tinkling softly from the beads and bells interwoven there. "Let go of me, now."

"Tell me why you must go." Thranduil demanded, looming over her, forcing her to look up into his face.

"I can't, dammit!" Lëo snarled, tugging fruitlessly at his grip, frustration marring her features. The way her lips curled and eyes narrowed gave her a feral look that once again reminded Thranduil that she was not quite human nor elven. "Why do you have to make this so hard, you pig-headed elf? Why couldn't you just leave with a simple goodbye? Why do you have to make this worse?!"

Thranduil froze at the sight of something glinting on her cheek, but Lëo quickly brushed it away. His chest was heavy and he felt as if the air around him was constricting. His anger was fading into a feeling far more alarming and Thranduil was hard-pressed to ignore it.

"Please don't leave, Lëo." He whispered, his voice hitching.

"Stop!" Lëo begged, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to turn away from him despite his hold on her arm. "I have to. I can't stay here, I can't."

"And why not?" Thranduil reigned in his temper and lowered his voice, urging his friend to listen to him. "Just tell me how I can help you!"

Somewhere along the line he figured out she was not exactly on the side of the Light, but that didn't matter to him. It was clear to him that Lëo had a good heart, even if she was afraid to show it. He had armies, he had men and weapons and magic. He could protect her from whatever darkness dogged her footsteps. He could give her a home, share his world with her, shelter her from the war.

"I can't tell you." Lëo whispered, staring at the ground and shaking her head. "I should never have come here, and I should never have returned when you began appearing. Now we are both in danger and I –"

"I'll protect you." Thranduil promised. "Whatever you are afraid of, I'll protect you."

Lëo stared at him in shock, as if such a notion had never occurred to her. Perhaps it was so. Perhaps no one had ever cared about her enough to protect her. Perhaps she had always been on her own.

With a fond but sad expression, Lëo shook her head. "You fool. You lovely fool." Lëo smiled bitterly. "Why do you think I am leaving? I am protecting you."

"I don't need your protection." Thranduil scoffed.

"Well you have it anyway. And you always will." Lëo replied, calming down. She had hoped not to part with her only friend on such strained terms but the endearing idiot was intent on keeping her around.

She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Thranduil, surprising the elven prince at the intimate gesture. After a beat, Thranduil returned her embrace. Lëo hugged him with all her strength, burying her face in his chest to memorize his scent. She would never forget him, this stubborn, arrogant elven prince that had somehow become her first and only friend. When she died, she would remember him – his scent, his eyes, his hair, his haughty laughter and annoyed scowls. And when she joined her comrades on the path of the stars, he would be there, welcoming her into oblivion.

Home.

"Don't forget me." Lëo whispered as she pulled away. Thranduil opened his mouth to respond, but a sudden spark of magic interrupted him. The elf fell forward but Lëo was already there to catch him, circling her arms around him and gently lowering him to the ground. She kissed his forehead as his eyes drooped shut and the darkness closed in.

"Thank you, my dear prince. For everything."

Okay kids, there's still time to give me your opinions on the Thranduil/Leo reunion! Should they meet during the rescue or during the final battle? SuriGuri suggested that Thranduil glimpse her during the rescue mission but they don't get to talk until the battle... agree? Disagree?