Erestor was on his way to the gardens of the mountain fortress. He did not enjoy the dark rooms despite the beautiful lighting the wood elves had managed to come up with. It still seemed too stuffy and closed off the more time you spent there. Just how the wood elves, especially the Silvans seemed to live here without a problem, astounded Erestor.

Despite having stayed at the fortress for almost two weeks, he had not seen much of the castle. The twins, who Thranduil had ordered to show him around and keep him company, were too succumbed in their obvious pain to entertain Erestor very much. The Noldo had found a few books in the library though and had spent most of his time in either the gardens or in the book-enclosed space.

Erestor walked around a corner and collided with an elf who was striding down the hallway purposefully. He sent the elf flying onto the floor. Very long silver hair was sprawled on the ground.

"Prince Falin!" Erestor recognized the elf who groaned and pulled a face.

"Ah, I guess I deserve that for running. Good day, Lord Erestor," Falin said and took the offered hand.

"What has you in such a hurry?" Erestor asked, keen to actually talk to someone. The wood elves he had met so far all met him with such distrust it almost hurt and never spoke with him. While the twins sometimes did attempt to talk with him, it was never too long before they lost themselves in their grief.

"I was going to get Ada and then meet with Mithrandir. If you wish you may come along. You must know Mithrandir, do you not? Have you seen him yet?"

"No, I have not. I wasn't even aware he is still here," Erestor smiled benignly. He watched Falin from the side as he followed the elf through the corridors. The youngest prince did not look good either, with dark circles under his eyes and his hair in messy strands. The look Erestor had seen in all of their eyes seemed deeper in the close proximity and Erestor's heart went out for him.

"Are you not afraid I could kill you all?" He found himself asking curiously.

"No," Falin replied. "Not really. I guess I trust the Noldor more than anyone else in my family. Or this kingdom, to be precise. You could ruin us by killing one of us. But if that was your ambition you would have done it the first chance you had. You did not so I surmise that is not your actual goal. I choose to trust your words until you proof me wrong."

"I am glad you see it this way," Erestor said before interrupting himself as they walked into the healing ward. Confused, Erestor quirked a brow. What were they doing in the healing ward? Had Falin not said he wanted to get his father?

He did not have any time to wonder about it as Falin strode through the ward. He stopped before a door and stared at it.

"Is everything alright?" Erestor asked after the elf did not move. Falin jumped slightly and blinked rapidly as to get rid of the tears accumulating in his eyes. He coughed slightly.

"Yes. I just … I haven't been in here since … since before they all died." With that he pushed the doors open as if he wanted to get it over with before he could lose his courage again.

Curious, Erestor followed the warrior-prince. With the first glance he recognized what could only be a private healing ward for the Royal Family of Mirkwood. Falin walked down the room between two rows of beds, not sparing them a glance. Looking around and seeing that each bed bore a small brass plate with an engraved name, Erestor understood why. The bed on the right hand side in the very front was covered by a white linen. So was the third bed on the right and the fourth on the left side. Realising those beds had belonged to family members who had died, Erestor lowered his head in sadness.

Meanwhile, Falin came to the far end of the room where wide balcony doors were closed. The seating area on his left side was abandoned but Thranduil had taken place sitting opposite of Daeros and Arahen.

Erestor slowly joined Falin who was lowering himself into a chair at the table. The Noldo felt like an intruder and kept himself back. The twins were looking slightly better.

"Please, Arahen, just a bit more," Thranduil demanded softly. He was attempting to get his sons to eat. The younger elf met the blue orbs, sighed and reached for the spoon to continue eating, though it was obvious he only did it for his father.

The Rivendell delegate watched how Thranduil put his head into his hands. He swallowed. Never before had he seen the king looking like an ordinary elf, troubled and desperate. Thranduil never allowed anyone to see this side, apparently not even his children, for his action caused the twins to look at each other with a worried frown. Their silver eyes suddenly grew more aware and even their posture straightened up as they tore themselves from their grieve.

"Ada?" Three voices asked simultaneously. The elf with the silvery-blond hair looked up, scanned his sons features and smiled sadly.

"Stay with me, my boys," he whispered. Erestor cleared his throat. Thranduil jumped to his feet so quickly he staggered.

"Forgive me, my king. It was not my intention to intrude," Erestor bowed. The king's face had morphed into a cold mask as soon as he had laid eyes upon the Noldo.

"I brought him here, Ada. I didn't think. I just suggested he come down with us to meet with Mithrandir," Falin intervened before his father could say anything. He pushed a stray lock of his long silver hair behind his ear.

"In that case, we should go now," Thranduil spoke coldly after one second of silence.

"Daeros, Arahen, will you be alright on your own?"

"We will come with you," one of the two – Erestor could not tell them apart – answered and stood. His brother followed his lead.

"I rather you not," Thranduil replied, though his words were not an order.

"We … I …," the elf stuttered, tears coming to his eyes. "I have to … to see him. What is left of him."

Thranduil's long arm closed the distance between himself and his son and more gently than Erestor had thought the strict and cold elf capable of, he brushed the tears away.

"I understand," he spoke and his voice was distant and contemplating.

With that, he gestured his twin sons to lead the way. Both of them were clad in similar white garments. Erestor suspected them to be hospital wing issued sleeping gowns.

"They are struggling," Falin whispered to the librarian as they left the private wing. "Daeros and Arahen suffer deeply. They have almost given up completely. Only Ada is keeping them here anymore. They are close to fading and their condition only improves slowly, if at all."

"Do you have athelas and gwethweed in your stores?" Erestor asked, remembering how Elrond had treated fading with those plants. While they worked weakly, they were the only things that did work on fading at all. Their smell lifted everyone's spirit and in case of fading, this could be vital.

"Yes, of course, but what for would you need them?" Falin asked puzzled.

"If you could give some of them to me later, I shall show you," Erestor promised.

Erestor was in awe as he followed the four males down the halls and stairs. He was led through big caverns and in small creeks tiny rivers were loudly falling deeper into the mountain. Water sprayed and echoed through the hallways. Light played tricks with Erestor's eyes and mind, lighting the great beauty within the mountain fortress, throwing colourful specks against the rough wall above waterfalls and seemed to carry a soft music.

He followed the silver-haired elves further and further down. Suddenly, an unearthly scream disrupted the sound of cascading water. Goose-bumps covered Erestor's skin and he shivered. Looking over to Prince Falin next to him he saw the set jaw and the tears in his eyes. So this was what Crown Prince Alcanor sounded like, he realised.

They went down a set of stairs. Erestor felt as if he should not be here. King Thranduil and his sons seemed as if they were in trance and it was with deep worry that Erestor followed the once so proud elves. The Noldor elf felt adrenalin rush through him and forcing him alert. It was as if he was marching into battle and not to stand in front of a prison cell.

And then, they arrived at their destination.

Methelion, Leathion and Roewen had accompanied Princess Eyaenne outside. Before, the captain had taken Glorfindel's promise to take good care of the young Thranduillion. Since then, Legolas had gotten agitated as the effect of the manukae oil had worn off. He was speaking so quickly, Glorfindel had trouble understanding him.

"Listen to me! It is not your fault!" Elrond could hear Glorfindel speak urgently. Elrond exchanged a worried glance with Celebrian. The set dinner table remained empty; Elrond had notified the chefs in the kitchen that they should cancel the meal and if possible serve the food for lunch the next day.

There was a knock at the door. It distracted the healer from Legolas' quick, desperate words and the tears that were once more falling.

"Enter," he spoke and rose. The opening door revealed Captain Methelion.

"Excuse my interruption," the elf spoke with urgency. "Have you …" The wood elf stopped himself as his eyes landed on his prince who he apparently hadn't noticed momentarily. Quickly, he bowed before his prince but after being completely ignored – if Legolas even realised the elf was there – he turned back to Elrond.

"May I have a word in private, Lord Elrond?" He asked softly, his eyes trained firmly on the healer.

Elrond's brow furrowed. One glance showed that Glorfindel too had heard Methelion's words and was now distracting Legolas while simultaneously attempting to get him to calm down. It was obvious the captain did not want his prince to know about the conversation he intended to have with the Lord of Imladris.

"Of course," Elrond answered. He gestured Methelion to leave the room and followed him with Celebrian at his side.

"What is it?" He asked as soon as the door closed behind them.

"Have you seen Princess Eyaenne?" Methelion asked bluntly.

"No … why?"

"She ran out on us. We can't find her," the captain explained. "Please, do not let Prince Legolas know. He'd only worry or worse, think she left him now after she told him about the death of two family members."

"You do not think she left?" Celebrian asked worriedly. It was easy to foresee what would happen with Legolas if Eyaenne had left Imladris without him: He'd fall apart completely, if not fade himself.

"No. She ran off because she realised what she did. As I told you, Princess Eyaenne does not usually react in the way she did today. Realising she pulled her weapon on Lord Glorfindel … It made her comprehend how unstable she is. She needs time to admit that to herself, no doubt not without self-directed anger. However, she would not have left Imladris. No offence, but she doesn't trust you as far as she can throw you, especially not with her baby brother who she had thought dead. We only worry because she should not be alone right now. I am afraid she might get lost. At the moment, she will hardly be able to watch her steps and she does not know the area."

"I understand. Do you know where she could be?"

"I am almost certain she'll be in the forest close by. I simply wanted to check here first in case she went to see Legolas."

"Look for her. If you find her or need help finding her, please notify me immediately," Elrond said.

"Thank you." Methelion bowed and made to leave. He stopped a few meters down the hall.

"My lord," he called back. The half-elf turned back to him.

"If my Prince does not calm down soon and you should consider drugging him, you might wish to dose him with gangaroot. Do not use pepperweed, it would react with the remains of the manukae oil and have him act up even more instead of putting him to sleep." With that, the elf left.

Elrond smiled slightly, despite the situation. To suddenly be trusted by one of the wood elves from Mirkwood was a nice change. The captain had just given him the permission to drug Legolas to get him to sleep. The healer had been playing with the idea, worried about Penneth's health, especially considering the fact that Elrond had performed surgery on him only a few hours prior. The elfling definitely needed all the rest he could get.

Not being able to help his curiosity, Erestor stepped forward so he could look into the cell. His breath caught in his throat the moment he lay eyes on the creature inside it. It looked like an elf, if one could ignore the glowing red eyes and the emotion of utter hatred on his face. A strong, broad-shouldered elf who looked exactly like Thranduil. Erestor could imagine that when this creature had actually been an elf, his eyes and posture would have betrayed his youth and made him look younger than his father. But now, with the orc in command, the beast could be the king's twin. Could be, if it hadn't been for the heavy air surrounding the beast. It was as if you could breathe the darkness, as if it thickened the air around this orc.

Erestor could only stare, his mind running through hundreds of ideas, only to dismiss them a second later. Nothing Erestor had ever read in the vast libraries of Imladris had ever prepared him for this, nothing that could explain or help. It felt wrong. The Noldo could feel his inner light shine stronger around him as if it felt threatened by the encaged darkness in the shell of Alcanor's body.

Breathlessly, Erestor looked over to Thranduil who stood still like a statue, with his face cold and devoid of any emotion. Unlike the halo surrounding Erestor, the king did not shine. A quick glance betrayed neither did the twins or Falin. Their inner light had faded too much to protect them against the darkness this thing was emitting. Instinctively, Erestor shifted so he could shield the king with his own aura of elven light. His heart was literally aching in his chest.

Arahen stepped forward before Erestor could stop him. The lost elf, whose eyes carried so much pain, stepped close to the bars.

Suddenly, the creature inside the cell leapt forward. A war-roughened hand grabbed the elf and pulled him brutally against the bars. A sound of surprise escaped Arahen's lips before he screamed in pain. A strong arm snaked around the elf's neck, threatening to snap it within seconds.

"No!" Thranduil's broken voice rasped as the king jumped forward. The king lunged for orc-Alcanor's arm, attempting to pull it away. The utter panic in his eyes was heart-breaking. Quickly, Erestor stepped up as well, grabbing orc-Alcanor's wrist and forcing his lower arm between one of the bars and his hand, so the beast would not be able to pull his arm closer and snap Arahen's neck.

"Alcanor!" Thranduil whispered desperately, still attempting to pry the long fingers away from the twin's neck.

Something flickered. Erestor looked up into the face that looked so much like that of the king, had it not been disfigured with hatred. Another flicker. This time, Erestor saw what caused it. The red eyes shifted to silver for a bare moment. And then, all of a sudden, the red vanished and silver eyes met his.

Thranduil succeeded in pulling his son free from the hard grip, all while Erestor stared into silver eyes.

"My king!" He rasped, unable to let go of the grip he had on Alcanor's wrist nor able to look away.

The silver eyes shifted to meet his father's bright orbs, before lowering on Arahen who was being held by the tall Sinda. Realisation dawned in the young face. Shock displayed over the fair features and the Noldo saw his suspicion confirmed: While Alcanor looked a lot like Thranduil, his posture and eyes betrayed his younger age. Erestor was gently pushed away from the bars and he let go of the person behind it, stepping out of reach.

"Stay away," Alcanor managed. A grimace crossed his face. He gritted his teeth. The eyes flickered once more.

"Ada!" Was the last word Alcanor managed before blood flooded the bright orbs once more. The next moment, orc-Alcanor raged against the bars.

"I love you, ion-nin," Erestor could hear Thranduil whisper, before the king turned, his arms still wrapped around Arahen who seemed to be in shock, and pulled him away. My son.

Erestor looked back at the creature in the cell. Somewhere inside this creature, Crown Prince Alcanor was still present. And he seemed to be strong enough to fight the orc if that beast was about to harm someone dear to him. Alcanor was still there! And Erestor would find a way to free him, he swore himself. With determined strides he followed Thranduil, only stopping to pull a shocked Prince Daeros with him. He'd help Mithrandir to find a way to free the Crown Prince of Mirkwood. And if it was the last thing he did, he would succeed!

It was late at night when Elrond returned to his own room. He had spent the evening in quiet discussion with Glorfindel. The Mirkwood Prince, who had been their guest for so many weeks already, had been asleep in his bed. Elrond had drugged him after receiving Methelion's indirect permission. They had decided to better not leave the young elf alone.

There had been no word from his kin. Apparently, they were still searching for their princess. Elrond felt a bit bad about the harsh words he had directed towards her. However, at the moment, when he had walked into the dining room only to see her threatening his best friend in his house, he had been so shocked and afraid the situation would escalate. He had not taken into account just how she must have felt. Hopefully, it hadn't been his words that had driven the princess away. If he trusted the Captain however, it had been her own behaviour that had frightened the princess.

Elrond frowned. There was light coming out from the door to the healing ward. He fastened his steps and pushed the door open. A brown haired elf looked up.

"Lord Elrond," Methelion nodded, ignoring him otherwise. He walked over and pulled several drawers out and opened two cabinets before he found what he was looking for and returned to the figure lying on the bed. Concentrated, he leaned over the unconscious Princess. The single lamp by her bedside did not spent enough light for Elrond to see much.

"What happened?" He worried and hurried towards the bed. If Princess Eyaenne was injured on his ground … well, should Thranduil find out, he would surely lead Mirkwood to war. He looked the female warrior over. Her silver eyes were hidden behind closed lids and her curly hair was falling in her forehead. Methelion was leaning over her hand and with shock Elrond saw that her hands were bleeding heavily, swollen to almost twice their size. Quickly, he pushed Methelion out of his way and took over.

"Water. I need you to clean the wound!" Elrond snapped an order and the wood elf hurried away before he could answer Elrond's earlier question. The healer lit a few more candles because he needed more light. With an angry frown, he washed his hands, all signs of tiredness vanishing from his features as he focused on his new patient. A quiet curse came over his lips. The right hand had already been taken care of by Captain Methelion, surprisingly professionally as well. He took the bandage off and checked the wounds. One of the knuckles was broken and Elrond added another balm to the mix, leaving the bandage away so the wound could breathe.

"What happened?" He repeated his question from earlier, pulling a chair close to sit down and focus on the now cleaned left hand as well. All anger had drained from the healer and a familiar calmness had taken over.

"I told you, she would be angry at herself. She kept hitting that bloody tree with her bare fists when I found her, yelling how sorry she was over and over again. I pulled her away. For a minute or so she just raged against me before … she just lost consciousness. I got her back as quickly as I could. I couldn't find you, or anyone else for that matter, therefore I tried tending to her wounds myself."

"I was with Glorfindel and your prince. He is asleep by the way. The others will be in the hall of fire."

"Ah, I didn't check there."

"It doesn't matter. Her hands will heal nicely. Where did you learn about healing? You did a good job there." Elrond said and straightened up. It had looked worse than it actually was. He took the gloves off he had put on earlier and stood.

"I am a trained healer. You get a lot of practice in Mirkwood, even though most of what I do is usually field work. Stabilizing the wounded and taking them back to the next stronghold. I haven't handled with proper medicine in ages. Bloody and broken knuckles are thankfully fairly easy however."

Elrond nodded and began cleaning up. The Captain stood to help him but the Lord of Imladris waved him away. Not knowing where everything was, the wood elf had made quite a mess of the room, one which was easily tidied up though. If you knew where to put everything, which the wood elf didn't.

"What about your companions?"

"They are still outside looking for Princess Eyaenne. If you allow, I would like to tell them I found her."

"Of course, but first, help me carry her to her brother. I think both of them would appreciate not waking up alone and with their sibling nearby", Elrond spoke and already searched for a stretcher.

Please review!

Thanks to my beta Jaxzan Proditur!

Does anyone know some good LotR fanfictions I could read? No slash or Mary Sue or anything like that.

Guest#1: Thank you for your kind words. The last few weeks were tough but slowly everything seems to fall into place again.
I am glad you enjoyed the big reveal, it was a difficult chapter to write and I had actually written diffrent versions of the reveal before settling on this one. I might put a chapter out there as soon as the story is finished with all the bits I wrote but did not use because they didn't fit into the plot.

Megan: Yes, the truth is out. Took long enough. And sneaky Glorfindel knew for a long time :D Thank you very much for your awesome reviews!

Guest#2: See answer to guest review #1

eleevne: They all do have interesting gifts. While I have not explained, where these gifts come from, I personnally think they come from Thranduil's side and not Luineth's. But that is a point of interpretation

Guest#3: I am so very glad you all liked it. It was difficult to write (see Guest review answer #1) I just can't imagine Glorfindel not knowing as he had grown so close to Legolas. And I liked the idea of Legolas over-thinking everything, while Glorfindel just wants to know his gwador save and happy and would never dare to hurt or use him

: Thank you for your understanding. The last few weeks were tough, but I am back to writing know. It might still take a bit longer between chapters, but hopefully not another five weeks

Guest#4: Thank you. Hope you had a great Christmas as well. That little comment made my day!