Answers to Reviews:

Auguruj: I know - she's not too happy about that fact either XD And as for whether there's the potential for something more between Bainor and Fenna...welll, you'll have to wait and see muhahahaha :D Oh, yes, there's going to be plenty of drama coming up in the next few chapters...plenty of drama indeed XD And as for that last part of your review, I sent a PM to you explaining it, since it's kinda complicated to explain and would take up a fair bit of room here ^^'

Me: Ooooh, thank god I decided to update today, else I'd have gone over my one month update thing ^^' *looks slightly sheepish*

Thranduil: Well, at least you have been writing some of the story whilst you abandoned us *Looking huffy (as usual)* And at least you're back from that stupid comic convention...*looking even more huffy, and just a touch embarrassed*

Me: *Gets a smug look on my face* Hahaha, you're still horrified by that cosplay of you, aren't you? *giggles*

Thranduil: No, I am not! That...abomination was no where near a likeness of me! *Goes slightly red*

Me: ...It kinda was, you know...in fact, I'd go so far as to say- *is silenced when Thranduil wraps me in his cloak and practically stuffs part of it in my mouth*

Thranduil: That thing looked nothing like me, and that's the end of it...Don't you dare bite through my cloak, you little she-Warg!-*is cut off by a blinding flash of light. A thump sounds soon after*

Me: XD

A/N: Translations are at the bottom :)

Chapter 25: The Welcome and The Not

It was midway through the summer of that same year before the relative peace that I had grown accustomed to was shattered, and not for the better. During that time, Thranduil and I had grown to be somewhat close friends, much to my continuing surprise – a small part of me always expected the frosty side of him to surface more often than it did, and stay around for much longer. Sure, we had our disagreements, some of them worse than others and causing Thranduil's easily woken ire to send me scurrying from the room, or causing me to snap at him before trying to ignore whatever angry words or icy glares he sent my way, but those were thankfully few and far between, and did not last more than a couple of days.

He had, or so I believed, softened more towards me ever since I had given him the information about him and his son surviving everything if all went how it should do, and had actually, in his rare free moments during the daytime, started to come and find me, taking me around some of the many parts of his halls I hadn't been in, getting me to play my violin for him, or simply talking to me of things old and new.

Currently, Thranduil and I were sat opposite each other engaging in a staring contest, which had occurred when I'd challenged him about a minute before. I could feel my eyes beginning to water, but I forced myself to hold on, to try and beat this regal Elf in something, at least. Thranduil's unnervingly bright blue eyes continued to watch me, unblinking, and at last I was forced to concede defeat.

"Damn it, there has to be something you're not good at!" I huffed, rubbing my watering eyes with a fist. Thranduil gave me a smug little smirk.

"If there is, I have not yet found it," he shrugged, his self-assured air tangible even from here. Snorting in a disbelieving manner, I went to reply, but then a sharp pain lanced through my head like a knife.

Gasping, I let the book I had been reading fall to the floor, hands flying to my head as the pain grew more intense.

"Fenna?" Thranduil questioned, concern in his river-song voice, and then he seemed to pause, as if he had heard something. I could barely hear him though, as my head felt like it was full of razors all pulsing at the same time. I let out a low moan as the pain grew and grew, building towards something that I did not want to find out the nature of.

Just as it felt like my head was going to explode, though, the pain disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving me hunched over my knees, gasping for breath. As it did so, however, I felt something…familiar echo into my head like a ripple of thunder, from somewhere in the south of Mirkwood, something that I could only call a sense of home. And that could only mean one thing.

"Fenna?" Thranduil's voice sounded from beside me, and when I slowly sat up, breathing calming somewhat now the pain in my head had subsided, I found him perched beside me on the sofa I had claimed as my own, lips and eyebrows turned down with worry. Distantly I thought, Never thought I'd see the day Thranduil was actually worrying over me, but that was a very, very distant thought.

"Did you feel that?" I questioned, and Thranduil seemed taken aback by the urgency in my voice.

"If you are asking whether or not I felt that very odd shift in the forest just a moment ago, then yes, I did," Thranduil replied, frown increasing, but next moment his eyes widened in shock as I shook my head.

"No, it wasn't just that….I think…I think whoever else it is that was supposed to arrive here in Middle-earth, the person I'm supposed to stop…has arrived."

Thranduil's response to my revelation was to immediately organise a patrol of guards to head out to where we had sensed the disturbance, sending the most capable of his available warriors with orders that they were to look for anything of human or unknown origin, and that if they found someone who was not supposed to be in Mirkwood then they were to be brought back to his halls with all possible haste. What I had said had, it seemed, caused the Elvenking great concern, as he wasn't in the best of moods with most people for the rest of the day.

I, meanwhile, was left wondering who exactly it was that had come to Middle-earth, and that all-consuming thought left me also in a foul mood for the week the patrol were away, snapping at anyone – barring Thranduil and my other friends of course – who questioned me too closely, or who did even the slightest thing to annoy me.

The last day of my week of waiting, unbeknownst to me, found me brushing Rîrandír in the horse field, Aeolus grazing nearby. Thranduil had given me this enjoyable task, saying that he wished for me to do it whenever he could not find the time to do so, which was almost always – another sign that he and I had become closer friends, as not just anyone was allowed to care for the King's personal steed and beloved friend, or so I had been told by Legolas.

"You've certainly seen some action, haven't you boy," I hummed to the great elk as I gently brushed his muzzle, tracing a finger over the numerous scars. He snorted softly, liquid black eyes bright with intelligence, and I smiled. Rîrandír was such a gentle soul, happily playing with the horses when he came back in from his wanderings – he was allowed to wander the guarded parts of Thranduil's outside realm freely, as he was a creature of the wild and liked to roam the forest –, but I could imagine that he and Thranduil would make a formidable pair in a fight.

A pair of light footsteps caught my attention, and glancing over my shoulder I spotted an Elf padding towards me – my hearing was, though still bad by Elven standards, sharper than it had been when I'd first arrived here.

"Bainor!" I called out happily, placing the gilded brush with the others and hugging the armour covered Elf as he came to a stop in front of me. He was another Elf I had grown close to over the past few months, and if he was not on duty, and I was not with Thranduil or doing something else, the two of us could often be found together, light-hearted banter and talk flowing between us as easily as if we had known each other for a good number of years.

*"Oio naa elealla alasse', Fenna," he smiled, hugging me back, and at his Sindarin words warmth blossomed in my chest, something that was becoming a regular occurrence.

"I thought you were on duty today?" I questioned curiously once I'd stepped back from the Elf's return embrace. He nodded his head, which was covered by a sleek helmet that had two horn-like protrusions atop it and elegant designs that followed the curves of the metal.

"I am. King Thranduil has sent me to request that you join him at his throne," Bainor explained, and I frowned. Usually, if Thranduil wanted to find me, he would do it himself rather than sending one of his guards to do so.

He's probably engaged with something and can't do so…though that's not stopped him before, I mused as I, nodding that I would be with him in a moment, turned from Bainor and back to Rîrandír, who was watching me with a curious gaze.

"Well, I guess that's me finished with you for now. Go on, off you go," I said, patting his muscled neck and chuckling when he lowered his head and sniffed my pocket.

"No, else Thranduil will tell me off for making you fat. Go on," I smiled as the great elk seemed to pout before, with a gentle snort to Bainor and I, turning and wandering off into the field. Picking up the grooming kit, I placed them back where they had come from before hurrying over to Aeolus's side and hugging him.

"I will see you later, Aeolus, as I have things that need doing right now," I murmured, kissing his muzzle and scratching between his ears. He whickered softly, nudging my shoulder affectionately before going back to his grazing.

"Right, let's not keep Thranduil waiting any longer then," I said as I joined Bainor as we headed for the stairs leading up from the field.

"I think that would be wise, as he seemed rather eager to tell you what the patrol had found."

"The patrol? Do you mean the one that was sent out a week ago?" I felt a jolt of anticipation and fear run through me. Was I about to find out that the Elves had brought back another person like myself?

"Yes, the very same."

"What did they say?"

"Though I heard what they said, it is not my place to tell you. My job is to simply stand guard and serve my King, not to be an incessant gossip, Fenna," Bainor chided, nudging me with an armoured elbow. I huffed in mock annoyance, but didn't push it any further, as Bainor, like all the other members of the King's Guard who stood watch at his throne and in his meetings, took the vows made never to say a word of what they heard to anyone very seriously.

We continued on our way, speaking of how my training and other such things were going. I could give even the best cat burglar a run for their money in terms of stealth, and perhaps even in climbing, I thought with a grin. My steps were now quiet enough that I could almost sneak up on some of the Elves, though they always heard me in the end, and being trained by Elven folk in armed and unarmed combat – Thurindor had decided that I would do well to add that to my repertoire – was making me even lighter on my feet and as flexible as a sapling in the wind.

As we neared where Thranduil's throne was situated, I was about to ask Bainor a question when I spotted something that made me pause in shock. Standing on the dais before the throne and Thranduil, who had vacated his antlered seat for the time being, was a tall, slightly stooped figure in a sweeping grey cloak and a large, pointed grey hat. A staff of wood was clasped in his right hand, twisting around itself in a large, spiralling knot at the top.

"Well there's a person I thought I'd never get to meet," I mumbled, much to Bainor's confusion, because though I couldn't see the front of the person I knew exactly who it was that was stood in front of Thranduil, gravelly voice as familiar to me as that of my families'.

Starting forwards once more, Bainor trailing behind me, I couldn't stop the smile that crept on to my lips. If there was one person I'd always wanted to meet in Middle-earth as much as I'd wanted to meet the Elves, it was this person.

Thranduil spotted me over the grey-cloaked figures shoulder – he stood a good few inches taller than said figure – and nodded to me and said, "Thank you, Bainor," as the Elven guard bowed his head before, with a warm smile in my direction, re-taking his place to one side of the small set of stairs that we had just come up.

"Fenna, this is Mithrandir…but I expect you already knew this," the Elvenking remarked in the Common Tongue with a slight raise of one of those majestic eyebrows of his, and at his words the figure turned, revealing a kind, wizened face beneath the brim of the hat, with silver-grey eyebrows that almost rivalled Thranduil's, and a great bushy beard that trailed down his chest and tangled with the ends of his silver scarf. Laughter lines spread from the corners of his blue-grey eyes, which were like those of an Elf in that they sparked with an inner light and age that was far greater than that his body appeared to have attained.

Bowing over my fist as I pressed it to my heart – a traditional Elvish gesture that I had taken a liking to – I then murmured, "Mae govannen, Mithrandir," before meeting Gandalf's eyes again. They had been examining me curiously before, but now that curiosity sharpened, along with a warmth that spread a smile across his lips.

"Well met indeed," he replied in Westron, before turning to Thranduil and saying, "I did not think you were one to allow human folk into your kingdom, let alone into your halls, King Thranduil," in a questioning tone.

"I am not, no. But Fenna is the exception to that rule," was the reply that was given. Gandalf looked as though he were about to ask another question but Thranduil held up a pale hand, forestalling it.

"I have news that both of you will wish to hear, so listen for a few moments," he explained. "As you have stated in your reason for coming to me, Mithrandir, there was a strange…disturbance in Southern Mirkwood not a week past, one that affected Fenna the worst when it made its presence known." The grey cloaked wizard glanced down at me with interest at this, but Thranduil continued on, recapturing his attention with his next words.

"I sent out a group of guards to find out what had caused it, and if they could bring whatever it was back. They made their way as swiftly as possible to where we had sensed this disturbance, and when they arrived they found marks that indicated that someone, more than likely a human, had appeared out of thin air there – there were no tracks leading to that point, only a set that lead away.

"My men followed this set of tracks through the forest for half a day, until it was clear that they led into a place I have forbidden everyone from entering…a place that no human should have been drawn to…"

Dol Guldur…I thought with a sharp intake of breath, my thoughts echoed aloud by Gandalf, whose brows had drawn deep over his eyes. But why would anyone from my world head in that direction…even I, when I first arrived here and was unsure as to what this world was, could feel the malice emanating from that direction, and took great pains to follow the path away from it…

"Yes…the Hill of SOrcery…they, as per my orders, went no further, and headed straight back to these halls once they were sure that the human had indeed gone into the fortress." Here Thranduil turned to me, and held out a closed left hand. "They did not find anything along the tracks that led to Dol Guldur, but at the place the human had appeared, they found this."

Opening his hand, Thranduil revealed the object clasped within. A thick chain pooled in his palm, coiling about like a silver snake. A large chip of black stone, shaped like a fang, was held on to the necklace by a small cage of silver around its top, which spiralled around it in thin bands.

"It is not crafted in any style known to me, human, Dwarvish, Elvish or otherwise," Thranduil continued as I reached out and took it from him. I frowned at the piece of jewellery, examining it all over for any distinguishing marks such as a 'made in china' stamp – because this was definitely a piece from my world, not Middle-earth. As I looked it over, the stares of an Elf king and a wizard resting curiously upon me, I felt a strange sense of recognition stir within me. This necklace…it seems..familiar somehow…but I can't remember where from…

"You recognise this piece of jewellery?" Thranduil questioned. I nodded slowly as I looked up at him and Gandalf.

"But I can't remember where from…"I trailed off, glancing down at the necklace once more before returning my gaze to the two powerful being before me.

"All things that are lost come back to us eventually, whether we go looking for them or not," Gandalf said with that kind smile of his, though his eyes remained sharp and curious, and I smiled in return.

"Mmm…I'm probably going to have to go looking for the answer to this, though, as otherwise it's going to bug me no end…I'll be in my rooms if anyone needs me, if that is alright?" I questioned, addressing this last part to Thranduil.

"Of course. Mithrandir and I have much to discuss, so we will accompany you along your way," he replied, sweeping around the two of us and gesturing for us to follow the flick of the small tails of his light tunic.

Waving absentmindedly to Bainor – he, along with the other guards at the throne and Thranduil's rooms, stayed in the places they had been given for the day unless Thranduil told them otherwise – as I passed him by, I trailed after Thranduil, the strangely familiar necklace swinging in my hand as I mused over where I had, if anywhere, seen it before.

"Is that by any chance a moonbeam in that diamond at your neck?" questioned Gandalf, rousing me from my musings as our trio wove through Thranduil's maze-like halls. Turning my attention from the necklace in my grasp and to the one at my neck, I nodded and smiled.

"It was a gift from the Lady Galadriel just before I left Lothlórien after…well, after spending some time there searching for an answer to a question I had," I answered, and Gandalf's bushy eyebrows rose towards where his hat met his head.

"A great gift," he murmured, eyes flicking to where Thranduil walked along ahead of us, hands clasped lightly behind his back, before they returned to me. "They are very rare things, true moonstones."

"I can imagine so. It must be very hard to catch the moonbeams."

"About as hard as it is to get a straight answer from an Elf," was Gandalf's quiet reply, a twinkle in his still curious eyes as he spoke. I stifled a laugh, trying my best to keep a straight face as Thranduil looked over his shoulder at the two of us. As soon as he had turned back to watch where he was heading, though he could probably have walked these halls blindfolded and not gone wrong, Gandalf winked at me, and I snickered, my book-born fondness of this Istari growing by the minute.

My happiness at meeting one of my favourite book characters, however, dimmed as we neared my room and my thoughts returned to the necklace in my hand. There was definitely something that struck a chord of familiarity within me each time I looked at the black fang and metal chain, and it wasn't because I'd seen its picture on the internet, as I had first thought.

"I take my leave of your company, for now at least," I sighed as the three of us came to a stop before the corridor of the guest wing. "Should I remember where I know this necklace from, I'll come and find you, but I don't know when that'll be, if ever." Turning to Gandalf, whose staff was as tall as he, I spoke.

"It has been wonderful to meet you, Gandalf, and I hope that you and I are able to speak with each other again," I smiled, before, with another bow over my closed fist, turning and starting towards my room. I was stopped, however, when Thranduil's rich voice called,

"Do not forget that you have your writing practice with me this afternoon, Fenna."

"But my writing in Sindarin and Silvan is adequate now, damn it!" I exclaimed, turning and throwing the Elvenking a pleading look. It was true; my writing in the two languages was actually legible now, if a bit scruffy. But that, it seemed, wasn't what Mr. Perfectionist wanted.

"Adequate is not good enough," he replied, the tone of his voice leaving no doubt in my mind that, should I decide to skip our lesson, he would find me and have me dragged, kicking and screaming and cursing, to his study and forced to practice my writing, no matter how much I disliked it.

"Ugh, fine," I groaned, turning and continuing my trudge back to my room, almost tempted to send a curse flying Thranduil's way because I really, really didn't like practicing writing in Sindarin or Silvan, no matter how satisfying the end result could be. It was just so damned easy to confuse letters or words, and Thranduil would, if I did that unthinkable deed, make me practice the words or letters many, many times over so that I didn't do it again.

Just the thing to add to my already interesting day.

Gandalf watched as the human woman traipsed surprisingly quietly down the corridor. What a strange person she is….he thought, eyes narrowing in contemplative confusion as she turned the handle of one of the doors and slipped silently in. He looked to Thranduil, who, after a moment more of watchful stillness, turned and walked – no, glided was a far more appropriate term for the smooth gait Elves had – down the stone corridor towards his own rooms.

"Is there something the matter, Mithrandir?" the Elvenking questioned a moment later, though the slight hint of a smile in his voice indicated that he knew very well that there was indeed something the matter.

Elves, Gandalf grumbled to himself, but there were other issues that needed to be addressed beside that of the Eldar's tendency to ask questions that they already knew the answer to.

"I did not tell that woman – Fenna did you call her? – that my more common name was Gandalf, and yet she used it with a familiarity that can only be born from having known someone for a while," he said, looking over at Thranduil to see if his expression would give away why this was. However, even amongst Elves, Thranduil was known for being exceedingly hard to read, and so the wizard was not surprised when he gained no clues that way.

"The answer as to why that is is part of a larger tale, one that I will explain to you behind closed doors, where no curious ears may hear it," the Elvenking said, only adding to Gandalf's questions, but Gandalf knew he would have to be satisfied with that answer for the moment.

"I sense that that is not your only question, Mithrandir," Thranduil prodded, words right on the mark as usual.

"Hmmm…I must admit that I find it strange that you have befriended a mortal woman with such a strong personality and a happiness to speak her mind, whether those around her like it or not," Gandalf explained after a moment, knowing that his words about the bond he had perceived between the two were true from the momentary upward twitch of Thranduil's lips.

"I have befriended Fenna because she would make a formidable enemy were I to show nothing but animosity to her, despite her relative lack of fighting skills. She holds a knowledge that would prove deadly to most of those living in this world, if it landed in the wrong hands." Gandalf's curiosity about the human woman grew as he pondered exactly what she knew that would, according to Thranduil, be so destructive.

"That is not the only reason you have taken her in and chosen to favour her, though," he said after a moment, once more knowing this to be true at the smile that flitted across Thranduil's face.

"Fenna is an intelligent and highly intriguing person, with a surprisingly kind heart and soul for a human, and I find her company pleasant," the Elvenking explained, nodding to the guards at the large set of doors that led to the royal quarters. Gandalf raised an eyebrow at the King as he moved ahead up the set of spiralling stairs that led to his rooms, because Thranduil Greenleaf, King of Northern Mirkwood, was not known for being at all tolerant of mortals, especially those that tended to say things as they were no matter who they were talking to, as he guessed Fenna to be.

Even Elves as fae as Thranduil can change, though, he thought with a smile as the two of them swept into the Elvenking's large study. Once the doors had closed, and Thranduil had taken an elegantly lazy seat across from Gandalf, the Elf spoke once more.

"Now, Mithrandir, tell me of the goings on outside of my realm, and what you know of the nature of this recent disturbance, for Fenna's tale will take a while, and will leave you with questions that will also take a while to answer."

I lay on my bed, one leg bent and the other cocked over it, my head resting on one hand as the other played absentmindedly with the moonstone at my neck, enjoying the comforting warmth and light the jewel emitted. I had been lying here for a good few hours, after my music lesson with Curunas had finished. Today had been especially fun, as he had gathered a little group of us together and had us play small symphonies together on the various instruments we used, and I had received many compliments on how my playing had improved during my time here. I, too, had noticed the difference – my music was more fluid, more meaningful than it could have ever been had I not touched that shadow and been brought to Middle-earth, and I often wondered what my parents and music teacher would think when I played for them.

My thoughts, however, had soon returned to the necklace that the patrol had found, and the unshakable feeling that I had seen it many times before. I had been trying to figure out its mystery since I had put down my violin, but had come no closer to figuring it out in these past few hours than I had to getting Legolas to let me use 'Leggy' as a nickname for him. I knew that I hadn't seen it on the internet, as I'd never had to search for guys jewellery, as far as I could remember, and I also knew that I had to have seen it on a regular basis, as that was the only way it could have stuck in my mind after more than year of seeing the exceedingly beautiful Elven made pieces.

The smiths here would be either completely disgusted or extremely fascinated by the way these types of necklaces are produced en mass, I mused as I held the strange piece above me, watching as the cheap metal glinted in the lights in my room. Probably more disgusted than anything else, as there is no love and enjoyment put into the crafting…though the designers in my world would go nuts for even the smallest thing crafted by Elven hands. The vainer people would also probably be the same, I thought with a snort, but next moment I froze completely as, at the word vainer, my familiarity with the necklace sharpened into true recognition.

I stayed there for a second, eyes widening as the implications of this new recognition hit me, before throwing myself from my bed and out of my room, barely even pausing to shut my door before racing down the guest wing corridor and skidding left towards the royal quarters, heart pounding out a frightened rhythm. Thranduil must know of my suspicions!

Hurrying towards the four guards who stood at the green doors leading to both Thranduil's and Legolas's rooms, I didn't even pause to greet the guards like I normally did as they opened the doors to allow me through – they and I had become familiar with each other over my many visits to Thranduil's study, even more so when Bainor had introduced them to me one of the many times he had been on door duty.

"I need to go straight in," I panted to Melui and Estel, the only two elleths in the King's Guard, who stood at the door to Thranduil's rooms. They, giving me curious looks, nodded and stepped aside, pulling the door with one of them as they went.

"Ahh, Fenna, I was just about to come and fetch you…is something wrong?" Thranduil questioned in Westron, brows drawing down over his eyes as he took in my disquieted expression. Gandalf, who was sat on one of the chairs around the table, looked up with a questioning expression.

"I think I know who this belongs to," I said in a voice that trembled, holding out the necklace clenched tightly in my fist. Thranduil's frown deepened ever so slightly, and he motioned for me to take a seat.

"Who?" he asked as I sank back into my usual sofa seat, hands clasped in front of him. I swallowed, trying to take some comfort from Gandalf's encouraging smile, before telling them of my suspicions.

"This necklace, I think – no, I know – is exactly the same as the one a man named Damien Turner wears. He and I…well, we were schooled together, so I know him." As I spoke, Thranduil began to slowly pace, as he had done the first time we had met.

"And why does the prospect of him being here, if it is indeed he that is here in Mirkwood, scare you?" I glanced sharply over at Thranduil, thinking, Perceptive bugger, as I did so, before continuing.

"Because he's someone who'll do anything to earn the favour of anyone." That earned me a head tilt from Thranduil, and a frown from Gandalf.

"You say your patrol followed tracks to Dol Guldur….human tracks?" the wizard asked, and Thranduil nodded, eyes still fixed upon me. "And you say that this person is from the same world as Fenna?" I turned a wide eyed stare to Thranduil, who again nodded before, seeing the disbelieving and somewhat unhappy look I gave him – he can't just go around telling people where I come from without my permission, King or no! –, saying,

"Mithrandir is someone I trust with this type of sensitive information…and you would have had to tell him about your true self at some point, as wizards are observant creatures."

"Well you should have asked me first before bandying that 'sensitive information' around like it can't do any harm. You had no right to do so!" I snapped, and Thranduil drew himself up, eyes hardening at my waspish remark, but I was too wound up to care. Gandalf, who had been watching this exchange with interest, spoke up, though his words did nothing to change the chill that had entered the room.

"If this is true, and this person has headed towards the Hill of Sorcery, and knows what Fenna does about this world and the stories about it-" I felt my anger towards Thranduil flare higher at this, "-then we are in grave danger. If Sauron gains the information he holds-"

"You know that it's Sauron who resides in Dol Guldur?" I interrupted, forgetting for a moment my irritation towards Thranduil.

"We have known since the year of two thousand, nine hundred and eighty five of this age, when-"

"When you found Thraín dying in the pits of Dol Guldur," I finished grimly as I took a seat, and Gandalf's eyes narrowed slightly, expression taking on a wary edge. I shrugged slightly, saying, "I figure I may as well prove that I really am from another world where this place exists in books that I've read many, many times, since Thranduil went ahead and explained that to you without my agreement," as I did so, sending a quick glare towards Thranduil but being forced to look away just as quickly, owing to the fact that his eyes had turned to glacial ice and were aimed in my direction.

"Anyway, like you said, if Sauron's got his hands on Damien, things aren't looking good…but there is one thing on our side, though, if Damien hasn't changed since we last met….if it is indeed Damien"

"And what might that be?" Thranduil asked, voice coldly neutral.

"Damien's not stupid. He'll guess, when he realises where he is, that what little he knows of this world and what happens in the future can and will do great harm if revealed, and will hopefully do his best to resist Sauron, or at least give him false information once it is realised what he knows." I hope, I added silently, though something told me that things weren't going to be as easy for me to deal with as that. Damien had a nasty side to him, one that belied his harmless outward appearance

"Well, we must be sure that he does indeed reside in Dol Guldur, and if he does not, we must find him immediately, if indeed he is the one to have appeared here," Gandalf stated, standing with surprising swiftness and picking up his staff from where it rested.

"How can we find that out if no-one is allowed to enter Dol Guldur?" I questioned, trying to ignore the frosty aura emanating from Thranduil.

"A little magic can be as good as an Elven patrol," Gandalf said, a twinkle in his blue-grey eyes. "I simply need this man's necklace and, using it, I should be able to find his location at this point in time."

That's freaking awesome – like a wizards version of a GPS! I thought with an amused smile as I held the necklace out to Gandalf, relaxing slightly when it was out of my hand. My worry, though, still lingered. The wizard hummed and hawed over the necklace for a moment, prodding it with a wrinkled finger, before nodding to himself.

"Yes, this necklace has spent a sufficient amount of time close to this man for it to retain an imprint of him; my spell should be able to find him quite easily," Gandalf said in a satisfied manner, before turning to Thranduil and I, the former leaving a trail of cold anger behind him as he walked slowly behind me. The wizard's eyes flitted between the two of us, and if I wasn't mistaken his lips twitched in a faint smile as his eyes came to rest upon me, though there was a hint of worry in it as well.

"It will take some time, as this forest is hard enough to see into at the best of times, but I will let you know as soon as it has worked," he said before, with a swish of his grey cloak and pointed hat, which he had taken off earlier, turning and making his way towards the door that led from Thranduil's rooms, humming softly to himself. As the door was closed softly behind him I once more became aware of just how the atmosphere in the room had chilled. Thranduil had stopped pacing – I could feel his icy presence behind and to the left of me – and was, it seemed, waiting for me to speak, perhaps apologise for my angry words.

Well tough turds, I thought, my anger once more flaring up, he's getting no apology from me after speaking of my true origins without me present or my permission.

"Why did you not wait until I was here, or at least ask my consent, before telling Gandalf where I really come from, and that I knew the future of this world?" I questioned in a forcibly light voice, though I couldn't quite keep the edge of anger from my words.

"Because it would have made it difficult to explain this other person to him, and because, as I said, it would have had to have been done sooner or later," Thranduil replied, voice still frosty as the few barriers that he usually kept half down when I was around slammed back up, leaving behind the unreachable, cold King I had met when I had first entered his halls.

"And you didn't stop to think about what might happen if you told Gandalf something I didn't want him to know, you idiot," I growled, rising from where I sat and turning to face Thranduil who, at my words, clasped his hands behind his back – something that I had learnt meant he was getting more than a little irate – and watched me from over his shoulder. Shaking my head, I continued.

"There is a reason I like to be the one who tells the chosen people about my true place of origin, and that is because I can, according to who they are and what part they may or may not play, chose what to tell them and what not to, out of the very little I can risk telling anyone. What I can tell one person isn't going to be the same as what I can tell another, because if it was then they might perceive more than I want them to, or ask too many questions. Did you not notice how I changed the tale I told you when I then told it to Lord Elrond, Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn?"

"I did."

"Then why they hell did you not wait for me to tell the tale so that I could change it again if I needed to?" I yelled, suddenly furious with the Elvenking. How dare he think he had any right to tell something of such importance to someone who was already involved heavily in things, and would become even more so with time? Thranduil remained silent at my outburst, but his eyes narrowed slightly, and his fingers tightened perceptibly around themselves – always a danger sign. I, however, didn't care, and continued with my rant.

"What if you told Gandalf something that I would have kept from him, something that, if it becomes known to others, might endanger hundreds of thousands of people?"

"I told him only what I thought necessary for him to know – I would not endanger my kingdom in such a way," Thranduil said, tone low and edged with growing anger. At these words I felt my own fury with him grow greater and greater until it stained my cheeks red and made me clench my fists.

"It's always about you and your bloody kingdom, isn't it? It's always 'my kingdom above all else' this, and 'the humans are none of my concern unless they're within my borders' that!" I spat, recalling the many times I had heard him say "The humans can work things out peacefully without our intervention, if they so choose," when told of things happening in and around Mirkwood that, if he so chose, he could help greatly with. My words must have hit a mark, because Thranduil stiffened, eyes flashing dangerously as he quick stepped towards me so that he was looming over me in all his admittedly extremely intimidating glory. "Now listen to m-"

"No, fucktard, you listen to me!" I hissed, leaning forwards and meeting those sub-zero eyes of his, the curses I usually kept hidden away leaching into my speech the angrier I became. "You may think that you can keep thinking of your kingdom and your kingdom alone, and only of what will be of consequence to it, but you damn well fucking can't, and nor can I, because what I know will affect every person in this entire fucking world if it becomes known to the enemy.

"I cannot afford to have you throwing the information I chose to give you around because you only care if it affects you and your own people, because if you do, or if someone else you tell without my permission lets it slip to the wrong person, this world and everyone in it, including you and Legolas, will burn!"

Thranduil flinched away from me, eyes going wide at this last part, but before he could say anything I had turned and stormed away from him, fists clenched so tightly that I could feel my nails biting into my skin. Reaching the door in seething silence, I reached out and grasped the handle, but before I twisted it and left the Elvenking's now frigid rooms I turned once more to Thranduil, who was exactly where I had left him, eyes ablaze with fury.

"Don't expect me to be trusting you with anything else of such importance any time soon. And don't expect me to be coming back here for my writing practice, either," I said in an only slightly calmer voice, before turning and yanking open the door with more force than was necessary. No sooner had I stepped through than it crashed shut behind me with no tangible thing having touched it, causing myself and the two elleth guards to jump.

Now I've really gone and put my foot in the shit pile, I thought with grim amusement to myself, feeling the faintest twinge of regret for my words about Thranduil's lack of care for anything aside from his kingdom. That twinge, however, soon disappeared, because Thranduil really couldn't go about revealing who I was to people without my agreement. Shaking my head and snorting in annoyance, I turned and made my way down the stairs, the curious and half afraid looks of Melui and Estel following my irritated steps.

Next Time...

26: Reconciliation Amongst Rumours

"At least I have something I'm perhaps better than Elves at," I mused aloud as I watched one of horses knock down a pole with her heels, much to the delight of the other riders.

"I do not doubt that there are a great number of things you are better than Elves at," Gandalf murmured, before making a noise of pleasure as whatever it was in his pipe caught light at his urging.

"Well, if swearing and pissing off people of great importance in the place you live count, then yes, there are," I said with a slight laugh, referring to my little confrontation with Thranduil three days ago. Since then, I'd not see hide nor tail of him, not that I minded overly much, as I doubted we'd have many nice things to say to each other if our paths did cross. However I'd found out from Legolas, and several unfortunate guards, that what I'd said had put the Elvenking in one of the worst moods they'd seen him in for a long time. He remained dangerously quiet for the most part, but his eyes were filled with a flashing storm of anger, and his voice when he spoke was colder than The Helcaraxë. If anyone disturbed him or said something that contradicted anything that he'd said, no matter how small, a stormy look would work its way through his mask, and he'd snap at them even when they'd done nothing wrong, making it very difficult to broach any delicate topics with him.

"Yes, I don't believe that there are many, if any at all, amongst the Eldar who would have dared to speak to King Thranduil in such a way," Gandalf said between puffs of his pipe as I slathered Aeolus with soapy water.

Another reason I didn't mind not seeing Thranduil as I usually would do at numerous points during the day was because of the fact that Gandalf took up most of that time at the moment, having taken an interest in me. Since he had, a little while after I had stormed from Thranduil's rooms, come to me and told me that Damien, if it was he who had been dragged into Middle-earth by the ancient song of Melkor, was indeed deep within Dol Guldur, I had found myself in his company by 'the purest of chances' as he had smilingly put it. Of course, he had had questions about where I had come from but, he hadn't once asked me to tell him what lay ahead for this world. When I'd questioned him as to why this was, he'd replied, "The future is best left to become the present,"; a way of thinking that had brought a smile to my lips. My love of him as a character had only grown now I'd met him in person.

A/N: Translation of "Oio naa elealla alasse'" = "Ever is thy sight a joy"

Me: Hooo boy, a long chapter and a spat with Thranduil? Things are getting really spicy now!

Thranduil: *Just waking up, holding hand to head* What...what happened?

Me: *Bouncing over to Thranduil's bedside* Oh, you mean what happened to put you in bead with a bad headache? Well, you called me a she-Warg, so I knocked you out ^^ *grins*

Thranduil:...I should have known better to insult you...but you really were acting...like...one *trails off as he sees a giant mass of fabrics slung over a chair* Why are all my cloaks out of my wardrobe?

Me: Oh, no reason *grin grows wider*

Thranduil: *slowly gets up, ignoring me as I slip out of the room, and picks a cloak up*

Me: *running away, laughing* Three, two, one-

Thranduil: DEVICORN! YOU'VE BITTEN HOLES IN ALL OF MY CLOAKS!?

Me: Bahahaha, I love annoying Thrandy; he's so funny when he's angry *runs off into the distance, cackling madly* XD