22. THE JOY OF MEETING AGAIN
Hanna sighed bitterly.
Thranduil hadn't spoken to her in days, and she was sure it was no accident that he left early in the morning and returned to their room late at night.
Of one thing she was sure: she would never abandon her children!
The twins were too small.
They wouldn't even remember her in case she left. But would he put his desires in front of him by putting them in danger with his mere presence?!
What if the attacks on the village and during the journey were provoked by this?!
Hanna left the room as soon as she realized the twins were sound asleep.
She motioned for Calien to stay and decided, she headed for the throne room.
Fortunately, at that time of night there was no one, apart from the guards.
Thranduil sat composed on the throne, his gaze was lost in the immensity of the caves.
Hanna didn't want to fight...She knew him well, a fight would break out, and only because they had no control over the situation!
"Are you going to stay there forever?" The King's powerful voice made itself heard majestic and the girl wondered how the guards could remain impassive.
"We need to talk!" Hanna said bluntly.
"I'm busy!" He answered sharply without looking into her eyes.
"Busy to do nothing! It requires a lot of energy!" Hanna strangely did not feel in awe at all, not even when sitting on her magnificent throne and towering over everything and everyone with her menacing presence. He had always seen that threat as protective and never dangerous for themselves or their children.
The guards proved to be alive by moving around uncomfortably.
"How dare you address me like this!?" Growled the King, letting the anger shine through the features of his face.
"You never paid attention to such nonsense!" Hanna remembered "I came to tell you that unfortunately...not that I like it, but maybe Radagast is right!" He declared knowing he had just lit a fuse. "Now I'm your King! I demand that you show respect!" Thranduil said rising slowly to his feet.
"Your youth and inexperience allow anyone to influence you far too easily. You know nothing about sorcerers. They are like a stormy wind, echoing from afar, magnifying the alarm. But sometimes, a storm is just a storm!" He said as he descended the steps of the throne approaching her as if to calm her down and force her not to fight back.
"And what will this...simple storm bring, my lord!?" Hanna couldn't, she didn't have to avoid this conversation.
The security of the kingdom was at stake!
"Only fleeting doubts and fears. If all this had represented the danger he describes, nothing would have ever happened!" The King replied starting to walk around her.
Hanna clenched her fists nervously.
She was not a prisoner, yet she realized how his attitude towards her had changed.
It's okay that she had to look royal in front of her guards, but the mask she wore was so thick that she wondered if Legolas had ever really known her father.
"They almost killed you! And do you consider it harmless?" Hanna screamed trying as much as possible to ignore the umpteenth gasp of the guards.
"You are not dangerous! Proof are our children. If the Valar have granted us gifts..." "They have granted you! If everything has changed at home, history as I know it, even here my presence could cause serious repercussions! I don't want you to suffer through my fault!" Hanna said, hearing her voice crack at the thought of having to leave.
"Don't interrupt me!" The King scolded her, overwhelming her with his voice and height "You are clever in creating non-existent excuses. Do you miss your peaceful and rich world so much that you leave and forget what you have experienced? What you promised me!" "Do not dare!" Livid Hanna hissed "I love you and our children more than life itself! But I have already risked losing you all! If anything happened to you because of me because I ignored the risks and the "harmless" warnings, I would never forgive myself!".
"If you go..." the elf was interrupted by Hanna's irrepressible brazenness "What? Will I never be able to return even if the gate reopens? Won't you tell the twins about me like you did with Legolas?" She asked feeling the anger vanish as he realized what he had said.
Thranduil walked slowly, as if in no hurry. But the storm reflecting in his eyes foreshadowed an impending discussion.
The King passed her out of the throne room without deigning a glance.
Hanna understood where he was going and followed him to the royal apartments.
She tried to mask the sense of guilt that gripped her "Sorry, I exaggerated! I didn't mean..." "Giving voice to the truth!?" Damn.
Not that he helped!
"I don't know what would happen if I lost you...it terrifies me to even think about it! I'm not in a position to criticize, just to use my knowledge against you!" Hanna confessed.
She hoped he understood her fears ...
"With Legolas I have made many mistakes because of my pain. I don't want it to be the same with Aranel, Elanor and Galador!" Thranduil said and Hanna could see a glint of regret in the ancient elf's eyes.
"No! I know you, now that you know you were wrong you will do your best and I am sure that, in case I leave, you will be there for them!" Hanna would never have considered such a solution if she hadn't trusted blindly, how could he not understand it?!
"Would you be willing to deprive yourself of your children just to know they are safe? If you stay you could protect them!" The King insisted.
"Protect them from the dangers I cause! It would be painful, I admit, but you too have been waiting to see Legolas again for our sake!" remembered Hanna, whose hope, that the differences between them would settle, was still strong.
"Yes, but I would have seen it again. If you cross the portal this opportunity will be foreclosed forever!" Thranduil gave voice to the horrendous reality.
"But they will be safe!" tried to convince Hanna.
"It will never be final without Sauron's defeat!" Damn elf! Why did he always have to be right?
"They will be able to prepare for war without worries!" Hanna tried to climb the mirrors.
"You always have the last word! I admire this strength that shines through in your words!" Hanna laughed, then frowned as she remembered a detail she had ignored "What did you mean after If you leave?" Churches.
Thranduil looked away and if at first he seemed to be reflecting on the answer, Hanna understood from the lost gaze that he was immersed in her thoughts.
Gently stroking his cheek she brought her attention back to herself.
"If you go..." he whispered unable to finish the sentence. But Hanna didn't need to hear the rest, because she knew what it meant! "...will you face?!" She asked, startled by the fear that made her feel shivering.
"I'm afraid so!" Thranduil whispered without looking at her.
"You're tying my hands!" Hanna heard her voice crack. His presence would have brought misfortune in any case!
"I could hold out long enough for our kids to take their first steps into the world but…I put up with too much Hanna. I'm tired! Your vitality and your love give me the strength to go on!" The girl recommended that she be told at least once what she had been through.
Not to pity him, but to try to understand him better. But was that the best solution?!
"You are the reason I exist!" That statement warmed her heart, but doubt made her hesitate again "I would put you all in danger!".
"I will not allow anyone to separate us!" He said peremptorily "We won't know if what the magician says is the truth, not before checking into your world! And it is impossible to be sure, before that the connection will be destroyed!" He said approaching her as if to intimidate her.
"What if everything in my world has changed? If my departure has inflicted damage on my world, I don't dare to think what could happen here!" Hanna knew him well and the part of the "King of the heart of ice" did not stick with her.
"Don't you want to fight for us?" Now it was personal.
"But your kingdom would be in danger! The elves..." Hanna only half returned the courtesy "The elves know how to get by! And the kingdom is always in danger!" Thranduil said referring to all the evil creatures that haunt the forest.
"Don't let fear guide your steps!" He whispered, encircling her hips with his hands.
And Hanna decided to make her choice. A decision guided by hope and not by fear.
If she hadn't taken a position she would have risked losing herself.
"I love you and I will always love you!" she murmured resting her head on the elf's broad chest "It was my heart that chose you!" She felt the strong arms envelop her "Whatever difficulties they will try or divide us..." his breath warmed her cheek "... I will always find the way to find ourselves!" She said looking up, getting lost in those eyes as deep as the ocean.
"You mean...what are you staying?" He asked looking hopeful.
Hanna smiled and replied "Radagast will have to stun me with a spell to get me away from you!" Before kissing him as if to give strength to his words.
"And contend with me if he even dares to think so!" Hanna laughed at that statement, not finding it hard to imagine Thranduil making such threats real.
She could say that half of his life had been full of dangers and fighting others for the rest of his life would have wiped out boredom, even though Thranduil would have been very difficult to get bored!
He was right, she had to fight for those she cared about, she was the master of her destiny and since their paths had met in the most absurd of ways, it was impossible that now it was wrong!
Radagast was not long in coming and a few days later he was escorted to the royal apartments.
This time several guards remained outside, ready to intervene.
"My ladies..." the magician greeted them bowing his head, they replied with a tense nod "My lord?" Radagast immediately realized that defining the temperament of the Storm King was an understatement. "Get out!" The ruler ordered peremptory.
"My lord..." Radagast paused, carefully thinking about the words to use.
"You won't be able to get them to leave!" Growled the King, banging his stick on the ground.
Sara held back a laugh.
Hanna had updated her and she too was firm on the decision to stay.
The King's help was an advantage!
"My lord, you have always been fair and wise..." Hanna sighed wondering why the wizard had tried that futile path.
"Silence!" The sovereign ordered "Flattering me will not make me change my mind!" Exactly!
"There's more time!" Kalos stepped in to take a step back when the King turned his fury on him.
"Kalos, how nice to see you!" Sara tried in vain to ease the tension.
"It depends!" Hanna returned to the defensive position.
The influence of a mentor is very strong and even though the wizard was their friend, he wondered if he would take their side.
"I learned a lot despite the short time...I can help Radagast, I can give you more time!" The Istari company had hurt Kalos...he was speaking in riddles after just a few months.
"Stop going around it!" Hanna urged him, feeling himself devoured by curiosity.
"I've done a lot of research! And I came to a conclusion: you can cross the gate but you will have a span of twenty-four human hours before it closes forever!" Radagast again managed to make her speechless. "Thing?" Sara asked incredulously.
"Could we go back ?!" Hanna seemed confident, if they could come and go, the idea appealed a lot.
"If nothing has changed, it will mean that your presence will not have dire consequences here either, if not for those with whom you will live!" "And if something has changed, we won't tell you, to stay anyway! It was fate that brought us together without giving us the opportunity to oppose it, it means that life together was written!" Hanna thought.
"Did they ever tell you you have a good chutzpah!" decided to speak Hanna.
"My lady, we wizards have always been feared and looked upon with suspicion. I can say that you remain cordial!" The girl was surprised by the wisdom that transpired from those words.
She hoped to tease him, but realized that with an Istari it is always uncertain what could happen!
"How soon will you open the portal?" Thranduil asked, looking more relaxed, even easing the tension in his voice.
"Even now my lord!" Radagast replied as if he could not wait to try a magic never performed.
"You will wait until tomorrow!" Thranduil ordered, intriguing the wizard.
"Why?" Sara asked not understanding the reason for this sudden patience "...my lord!" She corrected herself, remembering that she was no longer in the village.
"Because I will go with you!" Thranduil said making the two friends freeze.
"Absolutely not, it's too dangerous!" Hanna decreed waving her arms.
"I wasn't asking your permission!" cleared Thranduil with his usual icy and irritating calm.
For others he could be intimidating, but for girls who knew him well, it no longer worked.
"And mine wasn't a suggestion!" Hanna made herself heard.
"Did you tell me that your people are peaceful, or were you telling falsehood?" Thranduil teased her with a smile.
"Come on Han, it will be enough to tell him something more to prepare him for what he will see, but I don't think there are problems if the magic will allow us to return!" Sara was burning with the desire to see that controlled and apparently emotionless elf forced to deal with 21st century technology.
"All right!" Hanna gave in knowing that they would be safe with him, and would return without a doubt "Now we just have to hope that nothing has changed!" You are welcome.
"But why should we have come this far if we represent a threat? It just doesn't make sense!" Sara asked herself, giving voice to everyone's thoughts.
"It looks like a nice little trick committed by fate!" Radagast mocked.
"Fate has a bad sense of humor!" Hanna complained.
"And they didn't blink?!" Sara couldn't get over what she had just discovered.
"Why should they?" Thranduil asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't know, maybe why are you the King?" He asked pointing to the crown he still wore "Can you really disappear without letting anyone know where you are going?!" Sara had learned that curiosity for the elves was a form of irreverence, but relying completely on their ruler she would expect a modicum of apprehension from them.
"I'm the King, I don't have to explain to anyone!" Thranduil protested, giving vent to his indignation at being forced to put on human-made clothes again.
"Oh!" Sara sighed in disappointment.
Thranduil forced himself to calm down.
It wasn't his fault that simple objects evoked unpleasant memories...
"Forgive my manners. Do not be influenced by my appearance, you have not shown discomfort with my position before! Voice your thoughts freely!" The elf said, appearing cheerful.
"But you are the King!" The sovereign nodded "I could offend you!" Sara relaxed completely to the sound of Thranduil's laughter, so rare and precious!
"You have never done it and you would not do it intentionally, I'm sure!" The King saw the surprise mixed with embarrassment manifest in Sara hearing him say such a thing.
Yet they had known each other for years, how could she doubt that he did not know her enough...
"Only Milo dared so much!" Sara thought, knowing full well not to give voice to such thoughts that could take away his smile.
"Sara, you are one of the few humans who has earned my full trust and friendship, in case of misunderstanding you would never be treated as a simple subject!" It calmed her.
"Only..." "Alone?" He encouraged her.
Sara looked up, staring intently into his eyes "How can they let you go alone and in an unknown place when, the last time, they knew your destination and considered you protected, you disappeared and gave you up for dead?!" She finally asked.
Thranduil smiled to see how fragile the girl still was, although he had to acknowledge that she had grown and matured a lot since he first laid eyes on her.
"They trust me!" He said in a solemn voice, "I am their ruler. Their guide, the one who protects them. How could I be worthy if I can't protect myself ?!" Thranduil asked.
"Do you really think so or are you asking thinking about the last time?!" He asked thoughtfully to find himself having to correct himself by lowering his head in an attempt to hide his embarrassment "Sorry, I shouldn't have!".
"The past does not affect my present!" Thranduil said irritably "These words of mine are not born of memories. But from the need to reveal the existence of the gate only to the few necessary!" Hanna entered at that moment.
"Let's leave the dark thoughts for the moment!" Thranduil said "You have told me very little about your world!" He pointed out knowing how much her friends liked to tell and describe what they lacked.
"Quite right! Then we have no kings or queens, at least not in my country. We call those you call guards "law enforcement" even if their job is the same! Protect people and keep order!... " They talked a lot about the history of their world, explaining without much detail the so-called industrial revolution which had shortened the distances between the various nations and brought innovations in many fields.
Thranduil was fascinated by the girls' tales.
And he found it incredible to know that without Sauron's dark influence, humans had progressed so quickly.
He did not believe it possible that the scientific knowledge of mortals could allow them to find facilities to enrich a kingdom.
For many centuries he had been convinced that there was only the mechanical muscular energy of humans and animals. Magic, being a gift, was not used for selfish purposes.
Instead now, the more Hanna and Sara talked the more curiosity grew inside him.
The desire to visit their world grew with every word!
The King of Mirkwood restrained the horse a few paces from the two sorcerers.
Aegnor snorted impatiently.
The ride had been far too short for him. Radagast was calm and relaxed, lost in who knows what inner world, while Kalos seemed as excited as the two friends.
After some brief greetings and tying up the horses, they set off up a steep slope full of pebbles.
A certain stone was needed to open the passage, but the happiness of the girls made them walk fast despite the slope. At one point the magician stopped in front of a cave and after having felt the rock with his stick, he began to speak in an unknown language.
If at first they seemed like words, they later turned into complaints. Kalos joined his mentor without hesitation.
A light similar to the reflection of the sun just risen on the water, or for girls, that of a flash belonging to a camera, forced the three to close their eyes and protect themselves by raising their hands.
They were amazed to see the trees where before there was only darkness.
The image moved, as if they were observing it from underwater.
Hanna and Sara did not hear the umpteenth recommendations of the magician but saw his nod that told them to go and they did not have it repeated...If the glow emanating from the gap was bright, it proved nothing compared to the sun hitting her full face at one point.
The first thing Sara realized was that she was resting her head on something soft.
She sat up abruptly as she realized that Thranduil was her pillow.
"You look fine?" The elf asked, sitting up. Hanna got up uncertainly on her legs, looking around "Uhm, this isn't the woods behind the house!".
"Great spirit of observation! Let's move!" Sara said waving a hand "We have to reach the road to understand where we are!".
"If you're done saying the obvious, let me take full advantage of a magical creature!" Hanna began by pointing a finger at Thranduil.
"You are welcome?" He asked annoyed.
"You could climb a tree and use your wondrous sight to spot a...either she's gone deaf, or I'm invisible!" She protested seeing her friend who had already crossed a huge bush in front of them, ignoring her from scratch.
"Come on, move!" Sara called them.
"If she calls us again, I'll feed her to a spider!" Hanna complained trying not to get her hair tangled in the branches.
"Come on...stop!" Sara felt her enthusiasm wane, replaced by unpleasant sensations.
"What happens? Have you lost your bearings?!" Asked her friend, reaching her to lose her sense of humor as soon as she set her eyes on the surrounding landscape.
Hanna was shocked to see, beyond the big bush, many people walking around and enjoying that beautiful sunny day.
But what struck her most was noticing numerous skyscrapers that interrupted the expanse of vegetation. How had he not noticed.
"Hanna...I remember magnificent bridges in Ireland, waterways, but I was in the dark about the skyscrapers!" She looked at Sara, unable to say more because of the confusion into which she had fallen. "What are you talking about?" Thranduil asked, putting his hands behind his back, studying curiously those humans dressed in such different clothes.
"Do you remember we told you that in our world we had increased in number exponentially!?" The elf nodded.
"Well, to cope with this problem we started building higher and higher houses, until we got…" Hanna pointed at the skyscrapers with her arms "…this!".
"To tell the truth, many are offices!" Sara pointed out.
"Ignore her when she snaps!" Hanna said waving a hand with a contemptuous gesture in his direction. "Actually I was specifying a detail..." she insisted "...Irrelevant! Ignore her when she is fussy!" Hanna corrected herself, intent on following her friend through the overly manicured vegetation.
"Oh no! No! No! No! No!" Sara confirmed that she was not where she thought she was.
The flower beds he saw as he passed a tree dispelled his doubts, but never as much as what he read when he looked up.
"Are you out of your mind?" Joked Hanna who was studying the surroundings, not feeling particularly alarmed knowing that they were back in their world.
"Damn...magician...by... scruff!" Sara hissed stamping her feet on the ground.
"What are you doing?! Are you mad at a sign? And being invisible do you throw it overboard?" Hanna picked her up and following her gaze, she had caught the same truth.
"Central park!" Sara screamed pointing at the sign with one hand.
"Yes, I remind you that I too can read!" Hanna said crossing her arms over her chest.
"My parents don't live in New York!" Sara screamed pointing out that tiny detail.
"Eh what the hell are we doing here?!" Hanna asked more generally than anyone in particular.
"It's all useless! It would take forever just for the trip...and we don't have the money for the plane, or the documents! Not to mention they may have moved! My father has always traveled a lot!" Sara reasoned holding her head with both hands and circling like a soul in pain.
"Take it easy! Look, in certain situations panic doesn't help!" tried to calm her down and calm down Hanna.
"But don't you understand? It means it was all in vain! You won't be able to see your father again!" Sara was desperate.
"I already told you it wasn't my plan to meet him again. He was a point of reference during my adolescence, he remained a good friend!" Hanna explained herself trying to shift her friend's attention.
"I'm still the stupid little girl who spits on elves from behind bars! I'm a real...but where is Thranduil?!" She asked as she looked up at her friend, not seeing the elf at her side.
"WHAT?!" Hanna asked looking around without being able to notice the slender and stout figure anywhere "But I'll kill him!" She growled as she felt terror overwhelm her like a raging river.
Why had he indulged his whims by letting him go with them?!
They ran at breakneck speed, circling several times, not being familiar with that far too large park.
Finding an elf with non-modern clothes might seem easy, but it wasn't!
Hanna looked around one last time, intending to move back to another area, but as soon as she took the first step, she collided with someone.
"Excuse me, today I really have the head... YOU!" She growled at Thranduil who was looking at her bewildered.
"Are we in danger?" He asked on alert.
"Yes, because of your foolishness! But how does it occur to you to wander around without us!" Hanna's voice became shrill and then deepened again at the word we, marking it to make her partner understand that parting was forbidden.
"To wander? It was you who started running around the forest!" Thranduil accused him with a raised eyebrow in outrage.
"But..." she shouldn't have laughed "...what..." actually all those trees could have looked like a small wood "...are you..." Hanna couldn't resist bursting into laughter .
"Hanna..." Sara arrived at that moment, too busy looking around to notice the elf "Let's go to the zoo! The elves sin of curiosity and I think that could attract him like moths with...shame on you! But do you have any idea of the fear we took?" Thranduil smiled.
Their apprehension was almost touching.
Had they forgotten that he was a skilled warrior?
But despite this, he knew that wandering alone could prove dangerous in this unknown world, even for a fighter like him.
"Why are you laughing?" Sara asked furiously "There's nothing to laugh about!".
"We are...we are in a park!" Hanna managed to say amidst laughter.
"What is a park?" Sara started laughing too.
"It's..." Hanna forced herself to calm down "...a big... garden!" Yes, it was a fair description and one that he could have understood "Yes, a public garden, crossed by avenues. Most often embellished with ornamental plants and flower beds. It is a place for recreation and strolling!" She explained.
"Leaving aside the general culture..." Sara recovered "Where the heck were you?! Can you elves become invisible!? " She asked.
"I had climbed a tree to find out where we were. And also out of curiosity, I recognize it. I don't think I've ever seen so many humans in my entire existence!" Thranduil confessed, starting to look around again.
"All right. If we were where we thought we were then it could be fine, but you can't climb the first tree you see here!" Hanna said as if she was berating one of her children.
"I apologize. I didn't think it could be unusual for you humans!" Thranduil ignored his companion's tone, realizing he was wrong.
He hadn't behaved rashly in years.
It had taken a magical opening and the tales of two humans from a different world to make him lose all control !?
"From what I have been able to deduce, you are surprised to find yourself here! Do your parents live in another kingdom?" She asked, returning her attention to the two friends.
"Stop...using...terms that are centuries old!" Sara said trying to hold back her laughter "They live...in another land, very far from here!" But finding himself having to indulge him so that he understood.
"And why did we find ourselves so far apart?" Thranduil voiced the question that everyone had asked, finding no answer, apart from the most elementary one.
"Because the magician misfired!" Sara replied furiously "I had hoped with all of myself..." "Wait!" Hanna interrupted her "Can I get depressed in peace?" Sara protested that she was racking her brains trying to find a solution.
"No! Do you remember what job your father does?" Hanna felt guilty for doubting the wizard.
She had been smarter than them.
"Ask silly questions!" Sara attacked her once her patience ran out.
"And you let yourself be overwhelmed by emotions without first thinking carefully!" Hanna accused her offended.
"This is true!" Sara calmed down recognizing that truth and trying to understand what her friend had guessed "You mean that even in this case I have...they travel a lot!" She realized suddenly.
"I had an idea!" Hanna said walking towards a specific destination, known only to her.
Thranduil walked slowly, remembering that he had seen the uncultivated vegetation only in the countryside where they had camped during the war years.
Humans were listless and sloppy in many things and being used to them, they were not affected by having left that garden abandoned and devoid of any care.
He wrinkled his nose and with amazement he watched them stroll carefree as he had never seen them before.
Very different from each other in terms of facial features, they all appeared well fed, which surprised him even knowing, from the girls, that they had learned a technique for preserving food, which allowed them to have supplies for the whole year.
He hesitated for a moment when he saw the vegetation suddenly disappear, interrupted by a road where what Hanna and Sara had presented as "cars" circulated.
Iron chariots that humans used to move, carriages that, of course, moved thanks to magic.
As soon as they passed the last tree, the elf stopped, stiffening.
Hanna grabbed his arm and tried to calm him down when she saw him look around nervously.
He turned his head from side to side, appearing confused and ready to react.
If the elves of Mirkwood were unwelcoming, nothing matched their reactions to danger.
If they felt threatened they became lethal!
Compared to humans, who reacted out of pure desperation or driven by panic, they were deadly because they remained perfectly lucid!
A myriad of sounds reached Thranduil's ears simultaneously.
In the background there were noises that he could not distinguish, loud ones that covered the weak ones and voices of different timbres also at different volumes.
He perceived numerous presences inside the buildings!
Humans had always been boisterous and numerous, but this had always been inconceivable to him, as well as finding it impossible.
Each person had a pungent smell of his own and the smell of freshly cooked hot food filled the air, allowing him to locate the various counters where these dishes were displayed.
Thranduil clenched his fists.
He felt the frustration increase, he did not know if more because of that upheaval of the senses, or the fact that he did not understand the language spoken by mortals.
"Hey! Watch me!" Hanna called him grabbing his hands to get his attention "It's all right! There are no dangers, only confusion!".
Hanna felt him stiffen in jerks, and from the frowning expression she had understood what was the problem she had not even considered: elven hearing!
It wasn't tense because of the large number of people, but because of the myriad of sounds it could pick up.
"Well I think it was impossible to prepare him for this! In a city like this there are millions of people!" Sara said, relieved to see that her friend was doing a great job of calming the elf.
"There is a danger, there are many!" Thranduil informed her, taking his head with his hands as if to plug his ears and relieve the headache "I can hear people screaming and asking for help, others angry...these humans do not mask emotions at all!".
"Let's say that we have not lost the habit of deceiving and hurting each other, but having lived childhood in this world, we know where any dangers are and we are able to avoid them, so I told you not to worry!" Hanna said heaving a sigh of relief at seeing him slightly more relaxed.
"You want us to go back to the park, we have a lot of time!" Sara returned Hanna's glare with a fake innocent face.
She knew very well that the elf hated being weak and slowing down whatever they were doing.
For this Thranduil lowered his hands and answered firmly "We can proceed!" Tilting his head towards Sara, inviting her to lead the way.
The elf was still alert and jerked her head as soon as she sensed something, certainly a few meters away since her friends did not feel anything that could alarm them.
"If he kills someone, it's entirely your fault!" Hanna attacked him.
"You asked me not to kill anyone and I promised to respect your wishes!" Thranduil remembered.
Sara smiled triumphantly and Hanna rolled her eyes.
The elf focused his attention on his surroundings, managing after just a few minutes of walking to ignore or eliminate from his head the sounds too far away to be heard.
While Men had prospered on the one hand, things remained unchanged for others.
He saw people stealing, others quarreled without any restraint, even though he had lived a lot among those of their race, he was aware that he did not know the men of his world.
He had visited their cities as a sovereign, where the label partially hid their real way of relating.
A reflection of light caught his attention and he stopped completely absorbed by what he was observing.
A small and long object was moving fast on a small and narrow black base.
Apparently they looked like many small wagons tied together in single file, a unique mechanism present in the first, made them walk.
It was incredible, not even the best wax made the wood so bright.
So what was it?!
He heard the girls' footsteps stop almost immediately and turn back.
They were much more alert than usual.
"What material do you use to make these inventions?" He asked looking at all the other self-propelled objects in what they called, the showcase, where the items for sale were displayed.
"Plastic! They haven't invented it yet by you!" Hanna smiled back, imagining Aranel playing with an electric train.
"Is it resistant?" The curious elf asked.
"Not as hard as wood, but yes, very resistant!" Sara began to speak, putting herself in the "lesson" position: shoulders relaxed, hands up to mimic the topic in question, eyes staring at the sky while remembering theoretical things studied long ago "It is an artificial fiber created by man. It was enough to combine polymers..." "It's not a question!" Hanna made her stop.
"Yes, but the pride given by my exceptional memory has made it so!" she found herself having to admit Sara.
Hanna was forced to ask for directions, more gesticulating due to the anxiety and impatience that made her misread the words.
She knew English well, but interacting with someone from his home world was like being questioned. However, they managed to find an electronics store, one that matched the Euronics they knew.
"Best Buy! Perfect name!" Sara said before entering.
After laughing for half an hour at hearing the elf call the televisions "magic mirrors", Sara, after a thorough search, managed to appropriate a computer for sale but perfectly functional, with which to search for what she was interested in.
"Bingo!" She exulted recognizing the logo she had seen since she was a child "My father's company has a headquarters near the Empire State Building, on 34th Street!".
"Perfect! Along the way we stop in one place!" Hanna announced as she dragged Thranduil to the exit. "Where?" Sara asked disappointed. Why waste time?!
"I tell you while we walk!" Her friend said without turning to look at her.
"Hanna!" Sara protested impatiently.
"Quiet! Let's not go to the lair of a criminal gang!" Hanna soothed her.
"Only you in moments like this can think of anything else!" Sara made herself heard.
"Stop complaining! If we want to remain anonymous we have to find something more convincing! As much as they are human clothes, we seem to come from the background of a historical film!" Hanna said pointing to her clothes.
Hiding the fact that he was really very cold.
"I wasn't complaining, just illustrating a truth!" Sara replied piqued "This great idea of the moment had to come to you right now? Why not ten minutes ago? Your brilliant ideas have their own way of presenting themselves!" She said nervously, although she had to recognize the truth in her friend's words.
"You are the most judicial person I know!" felt compelled to point out Hanna.
Being regularly ignored "About anonymity...Where are we going?! We should have moved long ago!" Sara asked suddenly feeling very discovered and observed.
Although, the poor clothes he wore did not attract the slightest attention.
They entered a small church and Hanna, after asking for some information, went straight to a particular priest.
"Good morning, are you Father John?" (Hello, are you Father John?) She asked.
"Welcome dear girls and welcome to you sir! What can I do for you?" (Welcome dear girls and welcome to you sir! What can I do for you?) The man asked with disarming kindness.
"We would need some warm clothes if it doesn't bother her too much!" (We would need some warm clothes if it doesn't bother her too much!) Hanna said, remembering the years of catechism.
"Not at all! You are always welcome in the lord's house! And it is my duty to help the needy! Please, this way!" (Not at all! We are always welcome in the house of the gentleman! And it is my duty to help the needy! Please, this way!) Father John greeted them with a wave of his hand, to walk towards the room where they kept the clothes.
In order not to arouse suspicion, they dressed separately, the girls in one bathroom, Thranduil in the other, with the recommendation not to touch anything.
It proved useless after he returned with the toilet knob and it was discovered that he had opened the small cistern behind the toilet, perhaps to find out how it worked.
Sara stopped to observe the oratory.
He reminded her a lot of the years in which she attended that of the church under the house "Is everything okay?" (Is everything all right?) Father John asked as he approached her.
The girl did not answer knowing that her tongue was too loose.
"Peaceful, professional secrecy. Everything you say in confession stays between the two of us! Even if you killed ten people I couldn't tell!" (Quiet, professional secrecy. Everything you say in confession stays between the two of us! Even if you killed ten people I couldn't tell!) the father reassured her.
"And does it seem right to you?" (And does it seem right to you?) Sara asked, diverting the conversation, not wanting to confide.
"I can not do anything about it!" (I can't help it!) Father John admitted "I can make a great coffee, but now we have a new coffee machine, maybe you could teach me how to use it!" (I can make a great cappuccino, but now we have a new coffee machine, maybe you could teach me how to use it!).
"You seemed very thoughtful!" (You seemed very thoughtful!) The attempt was very clumsy, but the father was sure of what he offered "Sure you didn't want a coffe?" (Are you sure you don't want a coffee?). "Another time father!" (Another time father!) Sara replied with a smile.
"If you don't have a place to stay..." Father John stopped her "...I could offer a solution. Temporary, but you could stop here for tonight!" (... I could offer a solution. Temporary, but for tonight you could stop here!). Thranduil had tied his hair and immediately put the hat back in its place, not wanting to show that peculiar feature that would have attracted too much attention.
Hanna, after a surprised look, seemed to have the same thought because she said "Keep your hat, you never know!".
Hanna couldn't be mad at him that much about the bathroom accident.
She too had had the same curiosity once in the kingdom, wanting to discover every little detail of the life of the elves.
Now that he was faced with new inventions, this desire for knowledge was normal.
He heard Sara talking to Father John and wondered what she had in mind.
The walls amplified the sound not even allowing the elf to understand what they were saying and not just for a language problem.
"Guys!" An euphoric Sara ran to meet them "I solved the problem of tonight!" She turned out proud.
She immediately answered the questioning looks of the two "Father John offered us a bed for all of us! For one night he said it's okay!".
"I am surprised! For once you haven't made a mess!" Hanna said choosing a padded jacket with pail.
"In order not to waste our time, I will refrain from answering this little dig!" Thranduil paused for a moment and turned his head slightly before leaving.
The man stared back at him.
The expression on his face did not betray him, his eyes instead were full of suspicion and he felt that he was being closely observed by that human.
"There he is!" Sara suddenly lost all the liveliness and light-heartedness that had always characterized her. Immediately after a lunch offered by Father John they ran towards their destination.
Thranduil looked up.
The building was made entirely of glass and he wondered how he could not fail, not to mention that he still could not understand that humans had been able to build something so impressive.
"How do you intend to act?" The elf asked looking with interest at a shop full of lights and moving objects. "Waiting to see who we are looking for!" Sara answered.
"Did we embark on this perilous journey only to end it with you peeking from behind a lamppost?" Hanna asked not understanding her friend's hesitation. If she could see hers again she would jump on him, suffocating them in a warm embrace.
Just to make it clear how much he missed them ...
"Do you want to insult me ?!" Sara protested offended.
For the first time, Hanna seemed to understand that she didn't have to say anything else "I'm going into that shop while you're taking a stake!" She informed them that she found it interesting to go around the shops even though he couldn't buy anything.
Thranduil turned his attention away from all those stimulation.
Despite his curiosity mixed with alertness, he perceived Sara's uncertainty well.
"Are you OK?" He asked, tilting his head to the side, encouraging the girl to look up.
Sara took a while to answer and when she did she seemed more tense than before.
"If you had been forced to return to the world of the Romans...would you have shown yourself to Legolas one last time?" She asked as she seemed desperately searching for an answer to she dilemma.
"To abandon him a second time?" Thranduil asked, understanding what inner struggle his friend was fighting.
"But the first was not intentional!" Hanna said she had just come back from who knows where.
"No matter what we think, he lived it as such!" Thranduil specified feeling the guilt returning for the pain he had inflicted on his own son.
"Can't I make peace with my parents?" Sara asked frightened.
If he couldn't, what was that trip for?
But since he could, was it just the right thing to do?
"Did you have a fight the last time you met?" The elf asked, continuing to scrutinize the faces of the many people who entered and exited the huge entrance of the imposing building.
"No, but we lied to them on that walk!" Sara confided in telling something she had always refrained from talking about.
At least not in the details.
Thranduil frowned in a bewildered expression.
"The weather was bad, they would only come back late in the evening and had recommended us to stay at home!" Sara began the story "We decided to pass the wait by cooking, but some things were missing, so we went out..." Hanna went on for her.
"Taking a shortcut to the woods turned out to be a bad idea. I saw a squirrel and chasing it to make a... well, following it I tripped..." Sara said, deciding not to talk about irrelevant details and to the elf, unknown.
"I tried to grab her, but her weight was too much to bear and I ended up falling with her! We rolled down a slope and ended up in thick vegetation!" revealed Hanna by making Thranduil smile that he did not find it difficult to imagine such a scene.
"I must have hit something, a log or a stone, because the next thing I remembered were the voices of those who we later discovered to be Romans, getting closer and closer!" Sara remembered seeing the past flow before her eyes like it was a scene from a movie.
"Only we are addicted to music to the point of turning on mini speakers even while we walk!" Sara commented continuing to look around to make sure no one was around.
Due to the rain the case was under the cape and the sound waves propagated under it so that the few people crossed, looked strange at her, ignoring the friend who had had that wonderful idea.
"Don't criticize Sia!" Protective Hanna said.
"I'm just expressing an opinion on our originality!" Sara defended herself.
"Listen, do you really want to put the vanilla pod in the sauce? It has so little flavor that it seems indifferent to me!" Asked Hanna who, despite being very good at cooking, preferred not to follow the recipe step by step.
"My father only eats the best sauce! And every component, no matter how insignificant or small, is fundamental!" Sara said waving her index finger in the air, as if to want to be heard, or to be valid.
It wasn't clear ...
"Other than a doctor, you would have been an excellent policy! Or lawyer, you know how to assert yourself..." "What are you doing compliments ?! Was today's yogurt spoiled?" "...when there are no guys to be swooning with!" "Now I recognize you! And I don't do the...that thing over there, I'm just very shy!" "You say it as if knowing it helps!" Hanna snorted.
"Awareness is the first step towards improving yourself!" Sara screamed too boldly.
"To be able to improve, if anything! When you panic, you use your own language!" Hanna teased her. "Enough, from now on I ignore you!" Sara decreed, getting angry for not having won that dialectical battle. "Sara ..." Hanna called in a surprised tone.
"Didn't you hear me?!" Sara asked, accelerating her pace.
"Look! A squirrel!" This made her stop suddenly.
"What!?" She asked turning around, opening his O-shaped mouth and widening his eyes in wonder "Shh! Be quiet! This time I'll take it!" She said pulling out his cell phone to pause the music and take a picture.
"I bet five euros that it will come out moved, blurry and all the worst you can do to make it unrecognizable!" Hanna joked, advancing slowly behind her friend, speaking in a low voice.
"If it happens it will be your fault alone!" The other replied annoyed.
"Obviously!" Hanna shrugged, remembering how much Sara didn't believe these words as she was not very superstitious.
They followed the animal for a short while, before it entered the vegetation.
"Sara you won't want to follow him! There could be snakes in there!" The nervous friend took her back.
The other leaned over the top of the steep descent, clinging to a branch "I saw where its lair is!" She cheered enthusiastically.
At that moment the branch gave way partially but it was enough to make the girl lose her balance and she clung to it completely, feeling gravity pull her down.
"Hanna!" She called her friend in despair and grabbed her by the jacket in a vain attempt to hold it.
But the rain had remained on the muddy ground and the asphalt did not give a solid base.
Hanna's shoes slipped more and more, decreasing the strength of the grip with which she prevented her friend from falling.
As soon as the branch gave up Sara's weight, it dragged both of them down and they managed to scream before the impact with the ground silenced them, making them disappear silently in the dense vegetation.
Evening came and Sara felt the grip in her stomach increase at the idea that time was running too fast.
If they failed, there would be no second chance.
But succeeded in what?!
Now he questioned his initial idea.
How did such joyful news turn into the source of so many doubts and questions?!
Hanna and Thranduil seemed much more relaxed, she interested in showing him as much of their world as possible, he curious who listened like a child to whom you tell a new bedtime story.
She could realize that he had a lot in common with Hanna, including an abrupt separation with their parents.
Now that she had a chance to see them again, she felt as lost as when they realized, once the chains were first closed around their wrists, that their lives would change without the slightest choice.
What would he do once he found his people?
How would they react?!
What could repair all those years of distance? Thanks to Thranduil their chance for a new life outside of slavery had been better than they could ever have hoped for, but if he hadn't abandoned her son because she would have done it with his own.
In the twenty-first century she still had connections, people who loved her and whom she loved.
Hanna would stay with her children, they had discussed that and she knew it even before they heard it.
She had even opted for the absurd idea of persuading her to follow her through the portal.
Thinking back, she hardly realized how selfish such an idea could be.
But thinking about staying was just as absurd.
Destiny, the gods, did not know thanks to what or who, but she found herself faced with the possibility of having a wonderful life and did not feel like giving it up.
Yet he would have to let go of something.
Something he wouldn't regret.
Thinking about it and reflecting it carefully, that tiny detail called immortality came back to her mind, which had forced her to take the sole choice of returning to the world of Arda.
Now he realized that no matter how wonderful and hoped for, this meeting would be very short.
Was it better to opt for an introductory speech and proceed calmly and calmly or to go rocket and hope that his parents would believe his absurd story?!
The more he thought about it, the more Sara cursed The Brown Wizard for having opened the damn passage!
The next morning, after quick goodbyes, they returned to their station, but to their great surprise, they realized that celebrations were in progress.
It looked very much like a promotional event conceived by the company for commercial purposes.
Large balloons hovered in the sky on the square in front of the headquarters, under them there were advertisements and most of the most used slogans.
Thranduil surveyed the scene with interest.
Many people dressed in elaborate clothes, for which one glance was enough to understand that the fabric they were made of was precious, spoke quietly to each other in ways very similar to the upper middle class. The others wore really bizarre clothes that he couldn't define.
A smile came to him as soon as he saw a crowd of people.
At first glance he did not understand what attracted them, but seeing them go away only those with dishes never seen before had erased all doubts.
Hanna and Sara had mentioned that in their world they had invented various ways to "preserve" food.
In this way, during the winter, no one died of hunger and even if, on the one hand, they found it ingenious, on the other hand they felt sick at the thought of eating days old dishes.
As well as they could keep them, they weren't fresh! But this news did not upset him that much.
Those humans spent most of their time eating. It had never happened to him to find an empty tavern or not to notice someone walking around without food in hand.
As if to agree with him, Sara returned his side with a plate full of food in her hands.
Taking over from Hanna who had justified her sudden hunger by saying "I prefer the last memory of our world this way, instead of the two of us rolling in the mud!" Before throwing himself at what they called a buffet, as if he hadn't had any food in days.
The elf moved to the restless place.
In the midst of that multitude he felt nervous.
And as if to distract him, a man caught his attention. It was his eyes, all too familiar, that made him shine in the midst of that multitude.
Blue like the sea, even if slightly opaque, as if veiled by sadness, they were identical to another pair that he would have recognized without difficulty.
"Sara..." "Yes, what is it?" She asked as she tried to remove the larger pieces of onion "I think you've finally found what you could only want for years!" Thranduil's words made her lift her head and followed the elf's gaze. The whole plate fell to the ground.
The forgotten hunger. His memory had been terrific, because the person he found himself staring at had changed so much.
Being his father it was not difficult to recognize him, even if from behind.
She felt something inside her move.
She didn't know how to define him, but she was sure that a part of herself had recognized the presence that had been her guide and guardian for years.
He was across the street, but for her it was like being next to him.
When she turned she hoped and dreamed that his eyes looked at her with the affection that had survived in the memories, only to imagine the pain that would fill them as soon as she knew she couldn't stay.
Sara moved uncertainly to the place.
The time available was too short.
Perhaps her parents would have been calm knowing she was safe, they would have forgiven her haste, for the joy they felt in seeing her again ...
A tremor made her jump, as if the person just appeared in her view had surprised her from behind.
Her mother, wearing a courgette green dress, her hair tidy in a freshly done style, and a huge bag that seemed to hold her entire wardrobe.
His extravagance hadn't changed at all over time.
They greeted each other happily and arm in arm, they walked towards a destination known only to them. They looked carefree, happy ... happy.
No, it was better that way. It was his necessity to know them safe.
Maybe they thought her dead, they prayed every day that wherever she was she was fine, whatever might have happened, they were fine and they remained united.
As he began to walk away, he ignored Hanna's astonished gaze and Thranduil's knowing or proud gaze, it was hard to decipher ...
The walk towards a final goal decided by Hanna was silent and Sara noticed that her friend had entered a shop, only when Thranduil stopped her with a kind gesture.
Hanna had resumed fiddling with a computer keyboard.
Years away from technology hadn't affected his familiarity.
This time he had searched for her name and the video showed a torchlight procession.
"Hanna and Sara are our two stars who now that shine in heaven!" (Hanna and Sara are our two stars who now shine in heaven!) Under the title of the article they read "A freak, Jerry Bones, was in Magheracar, an Irish district that has always been a popular tourist destination, near the Bundoran village, Ireland. Mr. Bones confessed to killing and hiding the corpses of the two young girls, words that turned out to be true thanks to numerous evidence found by the agents, including many personal items. He was sentenced to life in prison due to his involvement in two other murders. The father and guardian of the two victims admitted to the media that he had forgiven the brutal murder, stating that such a tragedy cannot only result in hatred. She founded an organization to help the victims of such crimes called Sister Forever, in memory of the young girls whose dreams were broken too soon, as well as their lives!".
Sara took a big breath of air, listening to Hanna's translation as if she hadn't just read the article and was saying it aloud for the first time.
"At least something good has come out of this adventure!" she tried to pull her up Hanna.
She was linked to her friend's parents, but it would never be as if they were hers.
"I suffer at the thought of all the pain I have inflicted on them..." she turned, looking at Thranduil with shining eyes "...so I understand that it is better not to reopen old wounds!" She said.
"Let's go home!" Thranduil whispered with such warmth that both friends agreed.
Mirkwood was their home, and despite the challenges they would have to face, they understood that more than belonging to a place, the important thing is to stay with those you love.
The same love that drives you to make painful but necessary choices.
Sara left the cave running happily down the slope, miraculously managing not to do the last part by rolling. Thranduil looked around, wondering why the return had been less complicated seeing that they had not found themselves on the ground as on the way.
Crossing the eyes of Radagast, who was at the bottom of the slope, he saw him as amazed as he was, albeit probably for opposite reasons.
He calmly went downstairs helping Hanna in the slippery spots to greet the wizards once they reached the horses.
"Why did you come back so early?" Kalos voiced the question that the brown wizard could not ask in the confusion he had found himself in, crossing his pupils as he was lost in thought.
Hanna looked up and saw that the moon was still higher in the sky.
He shared the surprise of the wizards when he realized that they would have to return late in the morning and not at night.
Did time flow differently in the two worlds?!
"How long has it been?" Thranduil asked, not looking particularly alarmed.
"Only a few hours! That is, less than you would have had to go to the other side!" Kalos corrected himself, seeking shelter from a possible outburst of the King.
"How strange!" Sara made herself heard who was already on the back of her horse "The expected time has passed! Twelve hours. Just think we were very punctual when we reached the gate!" She informed him not at all upset.
"Quite curious!" Radagast commented, breaking out of his reflective silence.
"It's curious..." Hanna began, who as soon as she had seen the wizard had decided she wanted some answers "...that we found ourselves in a different place than where we disappeared years ago!".
"Yes, it is true that then we had an incredible stroke of luck...but what happened ?!" Sara asked, more curious than angry like her friend.
Radagast struck his staff on the ground many times, as if he was looking for the right words to answer "Your world is vast, so I used a particular spell that made you appear not in a random place, but close to those you wanted to meet!" He said dissolving all doubts.
"But tell us first, right huh?" Sara asked in exasperation as soon as she remembered the terror she felt when she found out where they were.
"Indeed! We took a hit!" Hanna protested, finding it irritating the magician's calmness in answering that question.
Thranduil smiled as he saw the girls quarrel with Kalos as soon as he got in the way defending the wizard who also seemed amused.
The shadow of pain that had always accompanied them remained on the other side of the gap.
Those girls, so young and naive, had managed to leave behind the past that had made them suffer for a long time.
Changing it was impossible and like humans, they were focused on living the present life.
The King of Mirkwood promised himself that he would do everything possible to make her wonderful and full of happiness.
This is a very important parenthesis for Sara and fun in many ways! (I answered many of the questions about the girls' past!).
Finding serenity with doubts and unresolved questions, Hanna and Sara will now be able to live free and happy in Mirkwood.
The next chapter will be a prelude to the highly anticipated Battle of the Five Armies! I don't say anything else.
It will be after the next chapter that we will catapult ourselves completely into Jakson's masterpiece and even there we will see some good ones.
I will follow the story it is true, but I have taken the liberty to modify a little something given the presence of my characters! See you soon,
X-98