Thranduil looked up from his paperwork as his wife stuck her head in the door. "Hello."
"Hey." She looked around and frowned. "Where's Legolas?'
Indeed, their son, who had been crawling around the room moments before, was nowhere to be seen. "He could not have left the room," Thranduil protested. The door was closed, after all, and the elfling couldn't even walk yet. The only opening was a window five feet off the ground...
Surely not.
. . . . . .
On the roof, little Legolas munched contentedly on a twig.
. . . . . .
"He's not down there," Eithryn sighed in relief as she leaned much farther over the side of the balcony than Thranduil would have liked.
"Nor is he anywhere else, it would seem," said Thranduil, who, along with Galion, had searched the entire inside of the house in well under a minute.
Eithryn bit her lip, and then, on a sudden suspicion, scaled the side of the house to look on the roof.
No elfling.
. . . . . .
Legolas, peeking up between the bars of the balcony railing, wondered why his Ada was frowning.
. . . . . .
"He's got to be around here somewhere," Eithryn said to herself, re-checking the kitchen.
Thranduil was slumped on the couch with his head in his hands. "I am a terrible father."
Galion patted his shoulder.
Eithryn ran back in from the bedroom, which she had just searched for the third time. "Quit sulking and help!" she ordered.
Thranduil obediently went out to check the stairway to the ground, and as he was returning from the unsuccessful trip, he glanced at the bottom of the house, where there were indeed some handholds.
No elfling.
. . . . . .
Legolas watched curiously from the chandelier as his mother ran frantically from room to room.
. . . . . .
"Where IS he?" Eithryn wailed as her husband returned, defeated.
Thranduil had an idea. "Galion, go get Coryn." If anyone could find Legolas, it would be the elfling's uncle. "We will find him," he promised his wife, pulling her close. It occurred to him then that maybe he should look up, and he raised his head to look at the chandelier.
No elfling.
. . . . . .
Coryn was smirking a little when he arrived, but the other three were too frantic to notice. They dragged him through the open door, Thranduil and Eithryn both trying to explain what had happened and where they had looked at the same time, but Coryn put his finger on his lips to quiet them. Then he turned around, marched straight back to the door, and reached up to the missing elfling, who perched atop it, seeming not at all bothered when the wind pushed it back and forth. "Come on, Legolas."
The elfling happily dropped into his uncle's arms. Coryn grinned as he returned to the speechless parents, bouncing the little prince in his arms. "That was Sky's favorite hiding place at that age."
Thranduil wondered what in the world had possessed him to marry a Silvan elf as Coryn handed him his son. "How on earth did you get up there?" he started to ask Legolas, but then he noticed the tears in the little elf's eyes. "What is wrong, little one?"
Legolas pointed behind him. Thranduil should have noticed something was wrong; his son had not yet learned to point.
"Nana," whispered Legolas, who had never said a real word before, either.
Thranduil spun around, but his wife was not there. "Eithryn?"
No one responded. It was eerily quiet, and the sunlight seemed to dim.
A pang of fear gripped Thranduil's heart as he spun around, searching. Where could she have gone? Did she not want to thank her brother for finding Legolas?
Legolas!
Where was his son? He had been holding him a moment ago, had he not? Thranduil raced into the bedroom, then every other room in the house one by one, but there was no sign of them. "Legolas! Eithryn!" They were not on the balcony... not on the roof... not in the surrounding trees... "Come back!" he screamed into the night.
Something gripped his shoulder, and he whirled around again, finding himself staring straight into Coryn's cold eyes.
"Where are they?!" Thranduil begged.
Coryn only shook his head slowly, disapprovingly. "You lost them," he said simply, before fading away into nothingness.
. . . . . .
Thranduil cried out and tried to scramble upright, throwing off the blankets and dislodging the she-elf curled against his chest. "NO!"
Sky, suddenly finding herself sprawled on the floor, vaulted back onto the bed before her husband could figure out what was going on. "Thranduil!"
He was breathing hard, disoriented, but he was able to return the hug she gave him... what was this, the fourth nightmare in the last week? At least he hadn't woken up clawing at his face this time.
Legolas started to cry from his room, woken up yet again by his father's shout, and Sky was surprised when Thranduil was out of the bedroom before really even registered the noise—that was a first. He was already holding Legolas when Sky followed him into the room, and she felt bad for prying the baby out of his arms. "It won't help to hold him if you're scared, too," she explained, leaning into him and rubbing little Legolas's back. "We're sorry, Leafling. Ada didn't mean to wake you up; he just had a bad dream again. Can you give him a hug?" She shifted him so he was facing his father, and the elfling did indeed give Thranduil the biggest hug his short arms could manage.
"Thank you, Legolas, that helps." Thranduil was already feeling much better, though he still looked shaken. "Eithryn, do you think it would be all right if Legolas went outside with us for a bit?"
"Aaaaa?" Legolas asked, turning his wide blue eyes on his mother hopefully. He knew the word "outside"; it was his favorite place.
"I understand now why Ada can't say no when I give him that look," Sky told Legolas. "Sure, but only for a few minutes, and then it's back to bed for the elfling, okay?"
"Mep!" Legolas replied. "Gabap ga!" This meant "Why are you still talking, Nana? Let's go outside!"
"Gabap ga indeed," said Sky, climbing out the window. Thranduil followed, and a few moments later they were walking along a moonlit branch.
"Ooo," said Legolas, noticing stars shining through the leaves (also known as the green things he wasn't supposed to eat, even though they looked like some of the things that were food).
"I know, it's pretty out here tonight," Sky agreed, handing Legolas to Thranduil. "I think your Ada wants you now."
"Ba," he told her, meaning that he didn't mind if his Ada held him instead, though he did decide to ride on Thranduil's back instead of being held. His father allowed this; if anything, Legolas's grip on his neck was a little too strong.
Legolas's parents began to talk about his Ada's dream, but he was more concerned with the plants. Some of them had roundish leaves, some oval-shaped, some spikey, and all of them with interesting patterns and a perfect texture for tearing, although his Nana didn't like it when he tore the leaves. He spotted some extra-pretty ones approaching, but even though he leaned as far that way as he could go, they soon passed by just out of his reach. "Weef!" he cried sadly.
Thranduil craned his neck to look at the elfling. "What was that, Legolas?"
"Weef!" Legolas exclaimed joyfully, noticing more leaves of the same kind just ahead.
Thranduil blinked. "Is he saying...?"
"Aba dap bap!" Legolas complained. His Ada had stopped moving, and they weren't at the pretty leaves yet.
Sky pulled Thranduil forward to the leaves Legolas was looking at, and pointed to one of them. "What's this, Legolas?"
"Weef," Legolas said. He was very confused when his parents started to cheer.
Weird chapter, I know :P