Chapter 10
Thranduil spoke of the Battle he'd been involved in before his unexpected arrival here as we tucked into our evening meal. The words came out in sporadic sentences as if forced from his lips, yet seemingly unable to stop.
"Thirteen dwarves." Said with deep loathing, "Led by Thorin Oakenshield – King of the mountain", he sneered. "The lust for gold as deep within him as was his grandfather's, Thrór". The Elvenking reached over to snatch a thick slice of bread, tearing it apart angrily as he continued.
"Awakening the vile dragon Smaug with no care of the devastation that would – and did - occur. A tragic waste of so many lives for the greed of a dwarf!" Thranduil snarled with such venom that it caused me to cringe back into my seat. He then calmed a little and spoke of an elf called Legolas - his son, apparently – his last memory of Legolas calling out from the top of the cliff as the Elvenking was pulled from the stairway by the weight of two dead 'Orcs'. Pale eyes closed briefly; full mouth tightened as if in pain.
Silence reigned for long minutes. His broad shoulders slowly relaxed by degrees before he continued, a hint of peevishness colouring his tone as he lamented the loss of his circlet in the fall. He described its delicate beauty and then asked if I had found it on my 'drive'. His lips turned down at the corners in disappointment at the shake of my head.
My thoughts went to the incident earlier. The Elf, thankfully, hadn't brought up my earlier show of hyper-agility. He may have assumed the people living on this planet were equally as limber as I was. The Elvenking had put my grace to shame when he had his turn at trying out the trampoline. He hadn't faltered once, to my disappointment.
And then he'd asked me to join him. I should have declined, but it allowed me to attempt to knock him on his arrogant arse. The sly Elf must have figured I'd play dirty, as I'd soon ended up flat on my back. I'd frantically grabbed his shirt, and he followed me down, both landing with an 'oof'. Anger morphed into shocked amusement at my predicament causing me to laugh.
It took a while to realise Thranduil hadn't joined in, his face expressionless as he stared down at me, his nose almost touching my own. Humour dried up as rapidly as water in the desert as awareness grew of a thickly muscled thigh pressed between mine and had me instinctively tensing, raising my hands to push him off.
The pointy-eared pain in my rear had the nerve to smirk at me. Leaning down with lips brushing my ear, he'd murmured, "you'll have to try harder than that, gwinig, to best me," before springing lithely to his feet and turning away.
Heat surged at the memory of having every inch of his body briefly pressed into mine - and then his words meandered through my mind. That he was a father meant he also had a wife. If their culture was anything like my own, that was how it went. Keeping this salient fact in my mind would prevent my tiny, minuscule attraction toward the Elf from growing.
As I stood and gathered the dishes and washed up, Thranduil remained at the table. He steadily sipped his way through a freshly opened bottle of his favoured wine, and I absently wondered if his liver was the same colour as it.
When I finally left the kitchen, he remained at the table, his beautiful face melancholy as he distractedly murmured goodnight.
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Confident that the Elvenking was occupied – reading a book in the drawing-room, I drew a still-nervous breath and silently opened his bedroom door. I couldn't help my surprise, seeing that he'd made his bed.
Would wonders never cease? But then, I wouldn't offer to do more than change his bedding for fresh when needed, so I suppose he had no choice. Still, it was unexpected.
I hadn't sneaked into his room to be nosy. I was here to retrieve something. Quickly heading to the dressing room, dropping the cardboard box I'd brought with me, I slipped out the key from my jeans pocket and squatted low to open both dresser doors. His unexpected arrival had triggered my memory of the items locked in the cupboards. Things that couldn't be left behind when I finally moved on.
I paused before grabbing the circular leather box, followed by a beautifully crafted rectangular wooden casket. As I was about to close the doors, something caught the light.
I reached in, and my fingers gripped the metallic item and drew it out. Swallowing hard, I stared down at the object and ran a gentle finger over the shimmering stone set into the gleaming white metal.
The ring had belonged to my grandfather. He'd admitted to not being able to recall what the metal was. Many other memories had disappeared like smoke in the wind when they'd arrived at their new home. The centrepiece was a blend of precious jewels intricately joined together to portray a deep green valley surrounded by a colourful multitude of tiny, delicately carved flowers. Some were buds, with others fully opened.
When I was young, I remember absconding with the ring on a few occasions when my father would remove it to bathe. It had drawn my eyes every time the light hit it, and I'd spent the hours before being found staring intently at every minute detail.
I pulled out the carved casket and searched at the back for the hidden buttons embedded in the carving. "One, two, two, one." *click* I pressed a kiss to the ring and slipped it next to a row of others before shutting the lid.
Closing the dresser doors and grabbing the cardboard box, I rose to my feet and quietly made my way out of Thranduil's suite and headed for my own.
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Irritation flared on realising, yet again, that he'd read the same paragraph several times over and still hadn't absorbed its contents. Since the incident on the trampoline, the Elvenking found his thoughts revisiting the moment of Ally's failed attempt at tripping him by hooking a foot behind his lower leg and giving a sharp shove.
Unfortunately for her, it was easy to read her intentions and had been simple enough to use it to his advantage. Just the memory of her stunned expression and the frantic clutch of her hands brought a fleeting grin to his face. Her shift from anger to humour surprised him, but as she laughed, he couldn't help but become hyper-aware of the movement and feel of her pinned beneath him. As the laughter stopped and her awareness of their closeness hit her, he couldn't resist teasing her a little before rising quickly to his feet and turning away to hide his body's traitorous response.
He was almost sure she was just as drawn to him and, with a bit of effort, could so easily dally with her until he found a way to return to Arda. Not like he hadn't taken lovers before, but ... The Elvenking shook his head. The way she had blushed almost crimson at such a brief touch hinted at inexperience. He'd never had even a flicker of interest in mortal women in all of his long life. This fleeting moment of attraction was undoubtedly due to the strange circumstances in which he found himself.
"I found this when sorting through some stuff in storage, and I thought of what you'd said last night."
Already aware of her almost silent approach but waiting for her to speak first, Thranduil looked gracefully over his shoulder, a thick brow lifting in mild curiosity.
"It should fit. My father had a big head, too," seemingly ignorant of his forming black scowl, Ally lifted her arm, and he instinctively looked at what she was holding. Stunned, he rose sharply to his feet and walked over to her.
An intricately woven circlet of a silver-coloured metal hung from her fingers. Thumbnail sized Jewels, similar in colour to the shade of her eyes, were spaced evenly along its surface and held in place by the tiniest of delicate claws closely aligned to the band.
"Where did you get this?" he asked, awed by its delicate beauty.
Ally shrugged, visibly uncomfortable. "It's a piece of costume jewellery," she replied. "My mother came across it in one of those 'Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppes' and bought it as a fun gift for my father."
Thranduil lifted his head to capture her eyes before she looked down. "Costume jewellery?"
"Um, you know, fake replicas of regalia." His eyes narrowed. Did she take him for a fool? There was no question that the circlet he held in his hands was either pure silver or even possibly, mithral, and the jewels were most definitely rare teal sapphires.
As each day passed, more lies fell from her peach-rose tinted lips, and the only thing that had stopped him from confronting her was the shadow of sorrow that accompanied her falsehoods.
"It was only a thought. You don't have to try it on or use it if you don't want to." Her voice broke into his thoughts, and he realised he'd made no other response.
Thranduil headed for the large mirror that graced one of the walls in the sitting room. Placing it on his head, he was pleased to see it fit well.
Scrutinising the circlet at all angles and being more than satisfied with his appearance, he finally turned to face the hovering adaneth. "It was considerate of you to think of me," he replied, letting a ghost of a smile touch his lips.
"Thank you," he softly added and was greeted with a hesitant smile and a half-shrug.
"Better to be put to some use than gathering dust", Ally replied, then paused before adding, "it looks good on you, Elvenking," and then she turned and left as quietly as she'd arrived.
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gwinig: Little One (Sindarin)
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...After a long time spent simply reading books and not being online as much, I finally got around to putting together a new chapter. As before, this is unbetared, so forgive any errors I've missed. Still feel that I could- should do better, but I've left those reading it way too long. Hope you enjoy it... Cali xx