#65- Inner Beauty
"Isn't she lovely, Galion?"
Galion strained his eyes to see where Thranduil pointed. "I suppose she must be, sire, if you can see her from this far away."
Thranduil chuckled. "Something must be wrong with your eyes, Galion. The river is hardly 'far away'."
Galion squinted. He could see the vague shape of an elf, skipping here and there along the banks of the Forest River. "I really can't make out any detail. Isn't she one of the ladies-in-waiting?"
Thranduil snorted. "Nonsense. Do you really think that I would pay attention to one of those?"
"Well, you noticed me, sire, and I was no better than a lady-in-waiting back then."
Thranduil waved a hand. "Ah, yes, but that's because you were- and still are, of course- a hard worker- and on no account should you compare yourself to a lady-in-waiting, of all things. No, no, she's the daughter of one of those stuffy old lords." Then, he stopped. "Do you think she'd like me, Galion?"
Galion blinked. "I know nothing of her character, my lord- and I very much doubt that you even know her name. But, of course, you are the prince, and I'm sure that she'd like you because of that, if nothing else."
Thranduil sat down, back against the tree that he had been hiding behind, his face slightly disappointed. "Of course I know her name, Galion," he protested. "It's Neliel. And she seems very nice."
Galion remained standing, watching the figure continue her convoluted way down the banks of the river. "Ah, yes, sire, but you must judge character, first of all, before outward beauty. And I judge that her character is very flighty. Why else would she skip so foolishly along a river that could cause sleep if she fell into it?"
Thranduil rolled his eyes. "I don't know why I ever ask you for advice, Galion. You never give me the answers I want to hear."
I have a note this time!
At this point in Thranduil's life, he would probably have been living at Amon Lanc, which, according to the Unfinished Tales: The Disaster of the Gladden Fields, was where the old capital of the Greenwood was, before it moved to the northeast corner of the wood where it is in The Hobbit. I've still decided to include the Forest River in this story, though, so you can make up your own reasons as to why Thranduil is up in the northeast. Maybe he wanted to get away from the pressures of palace life, or something ;-)
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this. Please let me know what you think!
