Thranduil scrunched his chin onto his knees and wrapped his arms around them. He hunched his back, but small roots and crumbles of dirt still tickled the back of his neck.
"Thranduil!" Harune's voice brought a glimmer of light into the crevice but Thranduil could not look up without bumping his head. His tailbone dug into the ground and he shifted, wincing as a shower of dirt peppered his blond hair.
Harune's feet appeared at the small entrance Thranduil had wriggled through, his boots peeking out from under the hem of his green robe. Thranduil held his breath but Harune's face appeared as his father dropped to his hands and knees and peered at him.
"This is not safe, Thranduil," Harune said. "Oropher grows angry when you run away."
Thranduil pressed his chin to his knees. "He tried to hit me again."
Harune sighed and shifted to lie on his stomach. "Oh, ion nin."
"I cannot face him, ada," Thranduil whispered. "He is bigger then me, and he does not listen."
"I listen," Harune said. his blue eyes betrayed a sliver of hurt. "There is a reason I am here."
Heat seeped into his cheeks. Thranduil tried to look away but bumped against the wall instead. As Harune's eyes steadied on him, Thranduil slid forward and ducked out under the low overhang of the crevice's mouth. He squirmed to free his shoulders and tumbled onto the mossy forest floor. He glimpsed the sky through the scattered spring foliage budding on the trees above him.
"I am sorry, ada," Thranduil said. "Maybe I—I feel weak running to you every time Oropher tries to hurt me."
Thranduil sat up. Harune sat close enough to him to reach out and brush the dirt off Thranduil's head. Thranduil smiled at the touch and ducked his head to make Harune's hand slid across his cheek.
"Oropher says it is weak of me to run to you," Thranduil admitted. "I did not want to prove him right."
Harune snorted and clasped his hands in his lap. "Let the king think what he lies. We both know what is true. What happened?"
"You know I do not like meeting with him," Thranduil complained. "He tried to slap me, but I ducked. When his face turned red, I ran."
Harune nodded and one of his brown braids came loose to slap his nose. As he brushed it back, Harune stood. "Come, Thranduil, it is almost noon."
Harune's green robe matched the fresh moss Thranduil sat on, long enough to hide his boots but short enough he never tripped on it when he walked. Wide, welcoming sleeves contrasted with the high collar at Harune's neck, but his cheekbones curved smoothly below his blue eyes, always ready to stretch gently when he smiled. Above his eyes, his eyebrows rested like hawk wings in flight.
Thranduil came to Harune's waist when he stood but never found his father's shadow intimidating. He knew the embrace of Harune's strong arms and the caress of his cool hands. He knew the comfort of Harune's shoulders and the steady beat of his heart.
Harune rested his arm around Thranduil's shoulders as the two elves walked, following a spindly deer trail in the forest floor back toward the main path. The deep green of Mirkwood in summer was paler now, as leaves budded and opened in the spring air smelling of damp soil. Grass grew alongside the path, but underbrush thickly covered the forest floor where no feet walked. The elves passed a few cottages tucked back behind trees with small lawns before them.
Too soon the path linked into a wider road made by horses' hooves, which linked into yet a wider strip of hardpacked dirt. The dark shapes of the trees thinned out and sunlight turned the light yellow.
A wall rose up; an abrupt wall of grey stone partly hidden under a veil of ivy leaves crawling between the cracks in the rocks.
Thranduil's smile faded. Behind and above the wrought iron gate rudely shut where the path ended, the first tops of the palace rose. Light wood trimmed with darker eves and window boxes of flowers marked the upper windows, while latticing and moss hung heavy at the roof's edges.
Harune squeezed Thranduil's shoulders as the two stood in the shadow of an oak tree between two of its curling roots. Thranduil nudged old acorns with his boot.
"Why do I have to live here?" Thranduil asked.
