"My Lord?"
No.
"Breakfast is ready..."
He wanted to die.
"...Thranduil?"
He tried to choke out, "Leave me," but it came out as a strangled sob.
A second voice spoke. "Eat something, Thranduil." It was an order, not a request. Thranduil was not used to orders anymore, except perhaps from Eithryn.
Eithryn...
A hand rubbed his back. "Breathe, my friend."
No...
"Breathe."
He dragged in a shaky breath.
"Good. Now open your eyes and look at me."
No. No, this had to be some awful nightmare... he would wake up at any moment to find her safe and sound next to him.
"Thranduil, you must open your eyes."
But even now he could see her, pale and limp, her green eyes cold and lifeless...
He heard a clink as something was set down, and another hand touched his forehead. "He's going cold again."
"I know. Thranduil, listen to me. You must wake up. Remember that you have a son."
Legolas...
"He needs his father, Thranduil. He is only a child. He needs you."
His son needed him. He forced his eyes open.
Taensirion smiled gently at him. "There, very good. Can you sit up now?"
He rolled over and pushed himself up with only a dim realization that he was doing so.
"Galion, the tea?"
He glanced down without interest as a cup was pressed into his hands, but did nothing else until Taensirion carefully guided it to his mouth. "Drink."
He sipped the tea, but he might as well have swallowed dirt, as much as it helped.
A plate was set in his lap. "Now eat."
He obeyed numbly.
It could not be, a voice said in his head. She could not be gone. It was not possible.
But he had felt her body cooling in his arms.
Another sob ripped its way out of him as the empty cup slipped from his hand. It and the plate disappeared immediately, and Taensirion put his arms around him, murmuring something meant to be comforting, but he did not hear it, and his eyes stared blankly ahead as a white-hot pain flared through his chest. She was dead. Eithryn was dead.
"Thranduil, can you hear me?"
"He looks ill—I'm going to get a bucket."
He shivered as a deathly cold seemed to settle over him. The light of his life was dead...
"Oh, no, no, no... Galion, run out and get Felrion, quickly! And if you love your king, tell him to bring Legolas!"
The sooner he joined her, the better.
"I am sorry, my friend; I know you would not want him to see you like this, but I have no choice. Stay awake, Thranduil."
A wave of dizziness dulled the pain for a moment, and when it passed, he was just conscious enough to dully realize that he was lying down once more.
"Thranduil, stay with me. Legolas needs you. Your people need you."
Just let it be over...
"Thranduil, you must fight it! Eithryn would tell you to fight; you know that! She would want you to live!"
He could not bear to hear that name. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the world.
"Thranduil!"
Everything was going dark now. Fading...
In desperation, Taensirion slapped him across the face with all his strength, and in the resulting shock, he heard one word.
"Ada!"
Legolas!
The elfling was placed directly on Thranduil's chest, where he reached out to pat his father's face. "Ada? Why you sweeping?"
A few weeks ago, Thranduil would have laughed at his child's inability to pronounce his L's. As it was, he could barely open his eyes. "Ada is very tired, Legolas," he said weakly.
"No!" the little elf disagreed. "Ada sad! Kiwvawa tewwed me!"
How much had they explained to him? "Yes, Ada is very sad..."
"Why?"
"Because..." He trailed off as another shiver ran through him.
Legolas was briefly quiet then, a rare thing indeed for the curious little prince, and then he whispered, "Fewwion said Nana no come back."
Thranduil turned his head to look at Felrion, stunned that the healer would tell a tiny child such a thing.
"He would not believe anything else I told him," Felrion said softly.
Thranduil bit his lip. "Yes, Legolas, that is why Ada is sad."
Legolas sniffled. "I sad, too." He wrapped his arms around Thranduil's neck.
Thranduil instinctively brought his hand up to stroke his son's soft golden hair and suddenly realized the darkness was not quite as deep anymore. He had found one last light.
Around the bed, his friends let out sighs of relief.
Don't worry, the happy will eventually return to some degree.