Fans,

I have no excuse for my tardiness save life. But PJ, aka Peter Jackson, inspired me to make up for his lack of imagination and write the real story of Thranduil's life.

What more can I say!

Oh yeah, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Philosophie88

The night fell dark around the hidden valley, clouds covering their twinkling brightness; in fact, Glorfindel thought it was rather like his mood at the moment as he trudged slowly along the corridor to Elrond's office. His perfectly good day had been ruined by the Greenwood elves, the King foremost, and a jealous darkness had crept up in soul, irrupting in the rather frightful outburst of pummeling his "foe". Currently his anger had subsided and he felt nothing but a rather numbing pain and lingering grumpiness. He was on his way to answer for assaulting the most distinguished guest of the valley—pompous Sinda ass, he thought to himself—hence, the trudging.

So engrossed was he in his own misery, that he did not notice the two figures seated in the alcove off the hallway. He was too down to care, but their voice drifted out into the passageway.

"And this was built by…" came the voice of a young elleth. "My lord Erestor, are you even paying attention to the book?'

"hmmmm, paying, what? Oh yes… though I am rather distracted…"

The lady giggled. "So is this the other thing that you wanted to do rather than read, be distracted?'

"Hardly, my lady, I was merely mesmerized by your lips." Erestor found this statement rather bold for himself, but he dared to continue. "They are enchanting."

There was a pause in the conversation—half a hearbeat and the air seemed to tingle with anticipation. Then the reply came from the lady all the more bolder.

"You may kiss them if you like, Librarian."

Silence fell, but in that alcove the stars shone bright, and neither the clouds of the valley nor the darkness of Glorfindel's temper could expel them.

Knock, knock, knock. Glorfindel pounded on the door to his Lord's study.

"Enter!" came the voice from within.

The Captian of the Valley Guard took a deep breath and schooled his face before entering the chamber for what he knew most likely to be a reprimand.

He held his head high but not defiant, for he was not one to wallow in shame.

Good evening my lord, he said politely bowing low, then coming to stand at attention. Focused as he was facing lord Elrond, he did not happen to notice the person seated in the chair behind him.

"Ah, Glorfindel," Elrond began. He looked neither perturbed nor exasperated, as he was wont to do when his household had such a disturbance as apparently had befallen his guest, instead the Lord of Imladris motioned to the empty seat to his right. "Please have a seat, we have much to discuss."

Glorfindel blinked twice, taken aback by this gesture of courtesy. It caught him so off guard that he managed to splutter: "My lord?" quizzically, before Elrond motioned him again to sit in the armchair behind him.

"Of course," he said though still puzzled by the turn of events.

As Glorfindel sat in his chair, he became aware of two things.

Apparently Elrond had gone to pour some wine, from the sound of liquid being poured, and as the mighty Balrog Slayer to face the opposite chair, he found himself face to face with the ellon who made all the stars disappear from his world.

Once Thranduil had managed to escape from the cupboard that his butler had encased him in, or rather once he was let go and regained his regality, without thrashing Galion—only because the butler had unlocked the door and fled gleefully—the king decided that it was time to seek out his host to tell him of the purpose for his impromptu visit. He had told Gíl-wen only half of his intent. He needed to talk to her cousin before he revealed the truth. The Elven King also thought he could explain in private what happened to his face and influence Elrond as to the punishment of the captain of the guard. Elrond received Thranduil with grace, though it was late, but the king barely got comfortable before there was a knock on the door.

Glorfindel merely stared at Thranduil, not knowing what to say, especially since the king had a silly smirk on his eye-blackened face. It must have been the silly grin that caused the Balrog Slayer to glare instead of stare.

"I am glad you are both here," said Elrond, with back to both still pouring wine into goblets. "Perhaps we can make peace between the two of you, before Thranduil gets on to his reason for being here." He turned and began to hand to the wine to the two ellyn who were still engaged in facial confrontation. The Lord of Imladris cleared his throat.

"Ahem… gentlemen, please, take these drinks and we shall talk anon. But cease this nonsensical staring contest."

Thranduil was the first to turn to Elrond and take a goblet. His smirk was now focused on the peredhel. "Is this peace wine, Rondy?" he swirled the contents around in his glass. "As long as it is the Dorwinian I brought with me."

Elrond's eyed narrowed at his nickname. It had been far too long and eventful a day to deal with the Woodland King's banter.

"I am quite serious, Thranduil," Elrond said exasperatedly. "But if you must know, yes, it is a kind of peace offering and it is Dorwinian." He handed the second to Glorfindel, who reluctantly accepted it; then the Lord of the Valley turned to get his own class and once again turned to face the two lords who were at odds.

"First, if I may, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED THIS AFTERNOON? YOU BOTH ARE ELVEN LORDS and HERE I HEARD FROM THE SERVANTS THAT YOU HAD A MAJOR ALTERCATION IN THE HALLWAY! And then YOU ACT LIKE NOTHING IS WRONG WHEN YOU COME TO DINNER!" His eyebrows shot up as they tended to do when he let his temper show.

Glorfindel merely stared wide-eyed at his lord, for it was not often that Elrond raised his voice, and here he was scolding both an Elven King and a Balrog Slayer!

Thranduil on the other hand merely laughed loudly.

"Oh, Rondy," said the Elven King between chuckles. "You should see yourself when you try to be intimidating. You look rather formidable when angered, but I an hardly take you seriously with those eyebrows!" Thranduil wagged his own eyebrows as he said this, then he turned to Glorfindel. "I would hardly call it a major altercation, would you not agree, Lord Glorfindel? Servants talk too much for their own good, don't you think?"

Glorfindel went from staring incredulously at Elrond to staring incredulously at the Elven King.

"Well, Lord Glorfindel," Elrond said sarcastically, eyebrows still raised and face quite stern. "Care to explain."

"I… Uh… Well… You see…." How exactly did one euphemize wanting to beat the Elven King into a lifeless pulp?

"I think what Findy means to say, my lord," said the unabashed Elven King matter of factly. "Is that he was somewhat possessed by green jealousy and said jealousy erupted to such a point that he wanted to beat the object of that jealousy to a lifeless pulp. But as you can see I am not a lifeless pulp and thus you must conclude that the Lord Glorfindel stopped himself and did not truly let the aforementioned jealousy win." He took a sip, gulp rather, of his wine, and continued before either ellon could say a word. "Also I should mention that he did say sorry afterwards, which given the circumstances, would be more than I'd do if our places were reverse. The lady is worth dying for, don't you agree?"

Elrond's eyebrows still remained arched and he turned to his captain. "Is this, aside from the embellishments, true?"

Glorfindel did not want to explain his feelings or what led him to pommel the Elven King. So he merely nodded, "Yes, my lord."

"And all is well now?" he asked the both of them, though mainly Glorfindel, as it seemed that Thranduil did not care about the injury and insult to his person.

The darkness in Glorfindel slowly dissipated. If the Elven King did not hold this against him, perhaps Thranduil understood a little of how he felt. Perhaps he was worthy of Gíl-wen in some small way, although he still resented him. It was not Elrond he needed to reassure; he turned to Thranduil, sigh, and said resignedly.

"I am truly sorry for, ummm, pummeling you. I don't wish to explain myself, but I will try to contain myself in the future. Well, I shall contain myself. And also, I shall be more excepting of you and the Lady Gíl-wen as well."

For once in the evening, Thranduil replied seriously. "Thank you, Lord Glorfindel. Know that I shall take care of her with my life, and if I fail, I know you will be there to punch the other eye."

Glorfindel merely nodded in response to this, afraid that matters should erupt again should he open his mouth. Elrond's eyebrow regained normalcy with Thranduil's response.

"Very well, my lords," he said with a shake of his head, "since you have resolved the issue, I suppose I should let it rest. You may leave Glorfindel."

Glorfindel left his still full glass on the table beside his chair and hastily beat a retreat with a bow to Thranduil and then to Elrond. He hurried from the room without looking back, scared that the Valar might reverse time and give him a deadlier sentence.

The Balrog Slayer retraced his steps with his head bent in quizzical contemplation of the days events, the dark clouds around his soul dissipating, when he bumped into a figure who was coming down the passageway.

"My pardon," he said hastily stepping aside, not to be bothered with the interruption. But the person eluded him and he had to look them in the…

"Your Pardon, Lord Glorfindel! Yes, I would rather think so…"