Another.. And as always, thanks to the reviewers and new followers! The next few days I'll try to clean up and edit previous chapters hoping it will make a more pleasant read for you.
glassary: Thank you! I tend to agree with you. Let's see what will happen in Valinor.
Spriggan: Thank you!
It was early evening, and Thranduil was standing on a balcony high above ground in Galadriel and Celeborns' house, or perhaps he should call it a palace, in The Golden Woods. The two of them had never retired from being lord and lady. He twirled the wine goblet in his hand and took a few sips. It was his fifth glass and slowly a warm tingling sensation started to spread throughout his body.
Most of the elves from Lothlorien sailed to Valinor and joined their lady and lord in this new settlement, and so had some of his own people. He had heard enough of "My King" to last him to the end of days since he came here in the afternoon. The fact remained that many of the elves in his old realm had stayed in Middle Earth, along with his advisor and friend Galion. He let his finger drag along the railing.
The huge trees were filled with buildings and platforms and in each tree glimmered hundreds of lanterns lighting up the night. He refilled his goblet again, unbuttoned a few buttons on his tunic and let the warm evening breeze caress his chest. This realm was indeed beautiful, just as its predecessor in Middle Earth. But as everything else in Valinor, it seemed somewhat dull, lacking soul.
Coming here Thranduil was given his own apartment and Celeborn provided him with some very exclusive garments made from the finest silk in Valinor. Thranduil smirked. Perhaps his cousin thought he was no longer elegant enough? Newertheless, he preferred, and missed the elegant robes he used to wear.
He emptied one more goblet and then opened another bottle of wine. The smell of tobacco slowly reached his nose. When he turned left he could see Mithrandir sitting on another balcony sucking on his pipe blowing smoke rings into the night. He frowned. No one had seen or heard from the wizard since his return to Valinor. Where had he been all this time, and why had he returned now?
Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. Thranduil groaned. He wasn't in the mood for socializing at the moment. The many years spent in solitude had made him slightly sensitive about being around other people for too long, and the last few days he had hardly been on his own. Still, he quickly tossed on his robes and opened. Behind the door he found Celeborn with a bottle of wine, and a young elleth behind him. Thranduil raised an eyebrow.
"Good evening cousin. How are you settling in?" Celeborn sounded cheerful and put the bottle down on the table.
"Very well, thank you." Thranduil answered.
Thranduil eyed the elleth behind him. She was truly a beauty. Tall with long golden hair that reached all the way down to her shapely hips. She had large light gray eyes and lovely plump lips. Her dress was a light blue and very low cut and his eyes got caught on her round, firm breasts. Suddenly his mind was filled with graphic sexual images. He could see himself fucking her hard, whispering obscene words in her ear and her hot little mouth around his cock. His heart started beating faster. He finally managed to snap out of it and turned to Celeborn who was luckily standing with his back against Thranduil opening the wine bottle.
"What brings you here tonight?" His voice was deeper than usual.
Celeborn turned around and put his arms around the elleth's shoulders.
"I just wanted to talk to you, my friend, and present our youngest daughter to you. This is Laurelin, she is very eager to meet you, but she won't be staying for long. She is on her way to her history lesson."
Thranduil swallowed and hoped that Celeborn hadn't caught him staring at his daughter. He didn't even know Celeborn and Galadriel had another daughter. He wondered how young she was. Laurelin curtsied in front of Thranduil. When she looked up at him, and smiled, he could see a glimpse of naughtiness in her eyes that sent a wave of heat down his spine. He hoped she would leave them soon.
"Well met Laurelin." He said and gave her a sign to rise.
"And you lord Thranduil." Laurelin answered.
"You will have more time to talk to Thranduil at breakfast tomorrow, sweetheart. Your tutors are waiting for you." Celeborn said and opened the door to the corridor.
Before Laurelin left her gaze lingered on Thranduil for a few seconds too long at the same time as she bit her lower lip suggestively.
"The Valar be damned!" Thranduil cursed silently. This was the last thing he needed. Ever since the night on the beach with Cara he had been sexually frustrated, but the ordeal with the keys had kept him somewhat sane and occupied. Now apparently he was losing control because of an elleth he had met for only a few minutes and who was his cousin's daughter. This was wrong on so many levels...
"Thranduil!" Celeborn brought him back to reality.
Celeborn held a goblet of wine in his hand in front of Thranduil. His Eyes full of questions. Thranduil took the goblet and sat down in a chair. He took a sip, hoping it would calm him down. He sighed and Celeborn sat down next to him.
"What is bothering you my friend?"
"There are a lot of things bothering me. The keys and the orc attacks, to name a few." It was not a total lie, but he couldn't possibly tell Celeborn what really was on his mind at the moment. The other elf lord nodded and seemed to be satisfied with his answer. They drank in silence for a while.
"It is good to see you well again. I was afraid you would be gone after I visited you last time."
Thranduil nodded and started telling Celeborn about everything that happened since they last saw each other. He told him about the Island, the keys, the orc attacks and Cara. The other elf didn't comment much, most of the time he just nodded.
"My wife and I have been in contact with Elrond. Since our grandson was the first one who found a key. However, all this new information makes the whole situation even more complicated and highly dangerous. The keys are safe here, for now at least. We have plenty of skilled warriors in this realm and the borders are well guarded. No one gets in."
"I trust you on that."
"And this woman, Cara. Where does she fit in? You said she is the daughter of lord Glorfindel?"
"Yes everything points to that. Whether she has a role to play in all this or not I do not know. After the orc attack I couldn't leave her on The Island. She might have died, and she does not belong there. She is the only one of her kind in a world of mortals. What future would she have there?"
Celeborn nodded and took a sip of his wine.
"And she is important to you, isn't she?"
"I suppose she is."
Again, they drank in silence until Celeborn said:
"Speaking about the future. I am not so sure about our own future here either."
Thranduil raised an eyebrow.
"Don't tell me you haven't seen it and felt it. Valinor is not what it once was. My wife has seen it too. It is not what it once was. And she should know. She has been here before. The magic is fading. The Valar no longer walk among us as they used to. I feel stretched out somehow."
"I've felt that way since I came here. Maybe that is why I started fading." Thranduil confessed.
"Perhaps. Do you know how long you isolated yourself?"
Thranduil shook his head. He honestly had no idea.
"I've counted the years. 1043 to be exact. And during that time things have not changed for the better. What do you think is happening? Are the Valar losing their strength somehow?"
"Maybe Mithrandir will have the answers. When did he show up here?"
"Just a few days ago. He hasn't said much, but I suspect he will tell us what he knows during our meeting tomorrow."
Thranduil nodded.
"I didn't know you had another daughter."
"I told you, but I don't think you listened."
"I am sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry about .You were not in a healthy state of mind. She is 70 years old now." Laurelin is a lovely and bright elleth, but we have struggled with her. Let's just say there are some disciplinary problems, and she has some of ther mother's talents. She can be quite manipulative at times." Celeborn sighed.
"She can get inside peoples minds?"
"Yes, and she doesn't always use it for good. Her mother is better at handling her than I am."
This explained a few things. Laurelin must have reached into his mind earlier. Surely there were more suitable males for her to pursue in this realm than her father's cousin and friend. She was not of age yet and did she think he was depraved enough to betray her parents like that? Perhaps he would have done so in his darkest days? The thought sent shivers down his spine.
He had to be careful around Laurelin from now on. Long ago he'd learned to block her mother from entering his mind. Even though Galadriel used her powers for good he never liked having her snooping around in his head. Perhaps because he had many dark secrets.
On the way to breakfast next morning Thranduil met Elaron in the corridor. He hadn't seen him since they arrived the day before and were assigned to their own rooms. The elf seemed in a very good mood.
"Good morning! Elaron greeted Thranduil with a smile.
Thranduil was dressed in all black silk and it suited his mood perfectly. He tried to return Elarons smile but gave up halfway.
"Good morning.."
"You did not sleep well?"
"No." Thranduil answered matter of factly.
He had been tossing and turning all night, his dreams filled with a mix of aggressively fighting orcs and the same kind of explicit images that had popped up in his mind while meeting Laurelin the day before. This time, however, it was Cara that plagued his dreams. He woke up hot and bothered tangled in his sheets. He wondered if it was Laurelin who was messing with his dreams, but in this case he highly doubted it. She would surely have put herself in them if that was the case. He had also used the proper methods to shield his mind before he fell asleep, and he also doubted she had enough control over her gift to influence someone without eye contact. A sleepless night though was not really a challenge for him, the was quite used to them. It was more about the strong feelings and urges that were bubbling under the surface that worried him.
"Perhaps a good breakfast will ease your mind then. My wife always tells me that."
"Perhaps."
Elaron frowned and seemed to give up his attempt at a cheerful conversation. They continued walking in silence. Thranduil's mind drifted back to Cara. When he thought about her lying there in bed pale like death and smeared with blood he suddenly felt cold. He had left her to wake up with people she didn't know and a friend who would be dying or dead. There was no going back to her old life.
The thought sent him back through time and space, back to Dagorlad surrounded by his two dead sons and his dead father. The day he lost almost everything. For the first three days after he had been a violent screaming madman. Finally Galion had chained him to the narrow bed in his tent and forced him to drink a foul smelling potion that made him sleep. After waking up he was calm, but he had also lost a piece of himself. A void that he tried to fill every day.
