Chapter 8
A/N - ok, so the shorter chapter idea went out the window. But hey, I'm only human.
When they returned to the palace Thranduil was waiting for them outside. When he saw them he called out jovially,
"Mithrandir! 'Tis good to see you again nin mellon. Nae saian lumme'!"
"Aaye Oropherion! Eleneth sila am le." Gandalf replied with a smile.
As the two old friends talked together, Legolas made another bid for freedom; Arhival having made the mistake of loosening her grip on him slightly. But once again, the little prince wasn't quite quick enough and Arhival's voice cut through the air as her grip tightened around Legolas' arm once more,
"Oh no you don't you little pest. You're staying right here."
"Indeed." Thranduil sighed, "I'll deal with you later Legolas. Right now, you need to go and change; the man from Dale will be here soon."
Legolas stared at his father (he had only just realised Thranduil was in a high necked shirt, formal tunic and other impressive clothing) so, all his efforts had been in vain, he hadn't even escaped the dinner.
Legolas' musings were cut short by his father's voice giving instructions to Arhival,
"Please take Aros, Balar and Earelen home. Then, if you would, take Legolas to his room and make sure he gets changed and doesn't escape again."
"Of course, I don't want to be running after him again."
So, Arhival led four very subdued little elflings to the tree houses around the other side of the palace. They knew they were in serious trouble now, none of their parents were going to be happy. Legolas looked at his friends, they knew without words that the young prince felt responsible for all this and he was really sorry to have got his friends into trouble again. To him, it was always his ideas that got them into this sort of mess. He didn't mind if his friends laid the blame on him, after all, it was his idea to go into the forest. He told them this quietly as they walked on, but his friends wouldn't hear of it. Legolas wasn't the only one whose schemes went array, he just came up with more than the other three. There was one small portion of hope for the young ones though, Thranduil had said they weren't allowed into the forest to play and they hadn't really been playing after all.
Once Legolas' friends had been taken home Arhival half dragged, half escorted the young prince back to his rooms. When they got there, Legolas saw his formal outfit was neatly laid out on his bed. The young prince walked over and stared at the outfit, high collared shirt with tight cuffs, tight leggings, the whole thing even looked uncomfortable.
"Well go on then, don't just stare at it." Arhival said impatiently from just inside the door.
"I'm not getting changed with you in here!" Legolas said loudly, half defiant, half horrified.
"I'm not leaving this room until you're ready. If I do you'll probably try and escape again and I'm not running after you a third time today. I'll turn around or close my eyes, but I'm not leaving you in here alone." Arhival said snappily.
"Fine!" Legolas reluctantly agreed, "Now would you turn around and close your eyes."
"Very well nin caun." Arhival said calmly, and with saying any more, turned to face the door and shut her eyes.
Legolas quickly pulled off his tunic and shirt and replaced them with the high necked shirt. Then off came his leggings to be replaced by the formal ones and a silver belt.
"I'm ready."
Arhival turned round and looked at the young prince. He did look extremely handsome, the shirt was pale green with silver embroidery and trimmings at the neck and cuffs, the leggings were slightly darker, but not by much, also embroidered in silver and they had very slight flares at the bottom. His belt was shining silver as well, with an emerald clasp. But Arhival sighed when she looked at the prince's feet.
"Change your shoes too Legolas, or do you want me to do it for you as if you were a baby? And please do up your cuffs."
Grumbling Legolas yanked off his brown boots and pulled on the delicate silver shoes with green trimming. Once that was done he stood up and glared at his mentor.
"And the cuffs."
"I can't do cuffs up one handed."
"Fine, I'll do them."
Arhival moved forward and did the prince's cuffs up, then led him to his dressing table and sat him down in front of it so she could do his hair. Carefully she undid the child's plait the young prince wore in his hair, picked up a brush and began to untangle the hair. To be fair, it wasn't too bad, it took a lot to get Legolas' hair in a real mess, but there was the odd knot or two and Arhival was very careful not to hurt the prince as she got rid of them. Once his hair was brushed out, she carefully redid his plait and entwined some green and silver thread into it. With that, Arhival led the young prince out of his room to the throne room where Thranduil was waiting with Aegnor and Gelion.
The king was wearing a high necked and stiff collared shirt of a rich dark green with golden trimming. His leggings were a slightly lighter hue with the same slight flares as Legolas' but with gold embroidery and a gold belt rather than silver studded with emeralds and with an emerald clasp. His shoes were also of a soft golden material with green trimming. Aegnor and Gelion were dressed the same as Legolas and Thranduil but they both had silver embroidery, belts and shoes rather than gold like their father. Aegnor was dressed in deep green, not quite as dark as his father's clothes but a lush colour nonetheless while Gelion was dressed in an even lighter green, but darker than Legolas' clothes, and had more blue in them than the rest. Gandalf stood there also, in his plain grey robes and leaning on his tall staff.
"Nice to see you looking like a prince for once, rather than some little orc raider." Aegnor said smiling at his younger brother.
Legolas stuck his tongue out as a reply.
"That's enough, the pair of you." Thranduil interjected exasperatedly, glaring slightly at them, "I want you to behave today. This agreement is very important to Mirkwood and Dale alike. So try to be good, all of you."
Aegnor started to speak but was cut short by Galion coming in and opening both the great double doors that led to the throne room.
"Galathil of Dale." He announced bowing himself to one side.
A reasonably tall man entered the hall. He had dark hair cut just above his broad shoulders, a healthy colour to his skin, a straight nose, a thin mouth, sea green eyes, stood just under six feet tall and was plainly of Numenorian decent. He wore dark silvery grey leggings, a dark grey silk shirt with full sleeves and a high collar, and a black sleeveless tunic. The tunic was made from soft wool and it came half way down his thighs and was split from the waist down. It had a impressive star device embroidered onto the front.
As Thranduil surveyed the man, three children appeared behind him. A son, with a slimmer build but whose features closely resembled that of his father's except his large brown eyes and slightly unkempt hair. He was also dressed in a similar fashion to his father. Two young girls also appeared. The older had straight dark hair that fell to her chest; she also had large brown eyes and was a broader build than her brother. Her features too were similar, but slightly softer and she wore a black dress that came down to just above her ankles with full-length flared sleeves and a silver belt. The other daughter had fairer hair, curly and pale brown that fell to her shoulders. She had much softer features, a smaller nose and fuller lips than the others did. Her eyes were large green pools of childish wonder and she too was of the slim build of her brother. Her dress was like her sister's but fell only to just below her knees and the sleeves came only to her elbows, it was also a lighter hue and she wore no belt.
"Welcome Galathil, to my Halls. I hope you will find stay comfortable and enjoyable." Thranduil greeted the man, inclining his head.
"Greetings King Thranduil. I thank you for allowing me to stay. May I introduce my son and heir, Galador, and my two daughters, Eldanna and Elanor." Galathil replied with a smile and a bow.
"You are most welcome, all of you. And now may I introduce my sons. Aegnor, Gelion and Legolas. And also, a surprise visitor; Mithrandir, you may know him as Gandalf."
The three boys inclined their heads to the visitors while Gandalf smiled nodding to Galathil who gave him a look that spoke of familiarity and friendly exasperation at the wizard's incredible timing.
Galathil's son was no older than nine summers or so, his older daughter, with the dark hair was seven and the younger was four. To them it appeared that Aegnor was twenty-six, Gelion twenty-three, and Legolas five.
"Come," Thranduil said to the visitors, "You must be weary from your journey. Let us dine before conduct the formalities of business."
"Indeed," Galathil replied, "I could do with some food."
Legolas sighed quietly, the formal meal. All that effort for nothing, and likely as not, he would be punished for going into the forest. The elves and men made their way to the private dinning room that was used for these occasions. The furniture was all dark wood. A long table with a dozen chairs round it and a dozen more situated round the room. Each chair had a lush, green goose feather cushion on it and there were a few cabinets round the walls. Thranduil sat at the head of the table with the elves on his right and the visitors on his left.
So the meal began, Thranduil, Aegnor, Gelion, Gandalf and Galathil were discussing business, the growing orc problem and other boring grown-ups' talk like that. The meal in itself was very good. Soup for starter, pheasant, potatoes and vegetables for the main course and an undecorated cake for desert. However, Legolas was incredibly bored. The two girls were chatting and Galador was listening to the older ones' conversation and attempting to be part of it, trying vainly to get the attention of Aegnor and Gelion whom he found quite impressive.
Finally the meal ended. Thranduil had one last word with Galathil, and then Galion led the visitors to their rooms.
"Legolas."
Legolas grimaced and turned towards his father. Thranduil glared down at son with a look that would have made Morgoth tremble with fear. Legolas swallowed in a dry throat, he was in so much trouble, the thread of hope he had held onto slipped away as he faced his father; who at present looked more fierce than a Balrog to the little prince.
"Come with me."
Thranduil's voice was as cold as steel. Legolas stared fearfully at his father, but obeyed. Thranduil led the young prince to his formal study. He opened the door and Legolas walked slowly in. The room looked even more foreboding than usual, the shadows were all deep and long. Thranduil entered behind Legolas, lit the candles and sat down.
"Why?"
Legolas stared at his father for a few moments, then lowered his gaze. Why? That was simple enough. He didn't want to be pained by memories of his mother, but how could he tell his father that?
Thranduil asked the young prince again, "Why did you go into the forest when I had told you not to?"
"I didn't want to come to the formal dinner Adar."
"Legolas, I didn't tell your friends' parents about the spider baiting. I kept you in the grounds so I could see whether or not I could trust you not to spider bait again. Then you run off, is that really going to make me trust you?"
"Adar, I'm sorry, I just didn't want to have to face another formal dinner with Galathil." Legolas sounded desperate. He even sounded as though he meant he truly was sorry, and he was.
"Why though?" his father asked, genuinely not understanding what Legolas meant.
"Naneth was here last time."
Thranduil sighed. Ailiel was the key to most of the odd things that Legolas did nowadays. Painful memories. He could sympathise with his son in that. It was hard to think about his beloved wife sometimes, even painful. But the poor king wished that his youngest son didn't only have to associate memories of his mother with pain and suffering. However, as the young prince had seen her die, it wasn't easy to recall her without recalling her death. Thranduil understood that, some of his close friends had died in the Last Alliance, and it was hard to recall them without bringing up memories of the battle, the thousands slain. Thranduil shook his head slightly, trying to banish those evil, morbid thoughts.
"Come here nin ion." He said, but in a much gentler tone than his previous one.
Legolas complied, allowing himself to be scooped up onto his father's lap. Thranduil spoke quietly to his youngest son.
"I know it's painful to think about her. But I don't think your naneth would want you never to remember her in any way but pain. She wouldn't want you to be so sad."
Legolas rested his head on his father's chest.
"I know Adar, but whenever I think about her, I see her surrounded by orcs, and-"
The young prince stopped, he didn't want to finish the sentence. Thranduil understood, and held his son tightly to him.
"I know. But try to think about all the good times we had together with her. Not just in longing, but in happy remembrance."
"I'll try Adar."
"Good boy." Thranduil said, placing a kiss on the top of his son's head.
A/N - I thought that may take a while. Next chapter; Legolas, his friends and the children of Galathil get into a spot of trouble when Galador doesn't like the idea of being 'looked after' by someone he assumes is only 5.
Translations
nin mellon - my friend
Nae saian lumme - it has been to long.
Aaye Oropherion - Hail son of Oropher
Eleneth sila am le - Stars shine on you.
nin caun - my prince
Adar - father
Naneth - mother
Nin ion - my son.
REPLIES TO REVIEWS: (And there's more than one for once!)
TreeHugger: I'm glad you thought it wasn't too long. I've decided to give up on the keeping the chapters short idea, it isn't really working. Well, what can I say, he has his ways of worming out of trouble. Though, sometimes at the cost of poor elves such as Dimrost and Arhival. Ido feel quite sorry for them, Thranduil must be pretty scary at times like that. I believe this introduction of Gandalf may have even more of an effect than most people, including myself realise, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with him yet. But poor Legolas, that formal dinner is not fun even if hanging around with a pipeweed smoking wizard is. You're right, I think a fic about little elflings and hobbits would be quite sweet. Well, glad you liked the last insalment and hope you like this one!
Nellas: Hello you. I couldn't agree more about that statement. Poor Arhival. I certainly wouldn't have the energy to deal with Legolas. And yes, Thranduil does like locking people up, just not in this story, yet. Thanks for the complement, and Legolas is the equivalent to five and a half, not six. I know, I'm being picking. But as to your question, in my fics, elvish children have the intellect of their actual age, but behave like their equivalent age. Glad you like it! I hope this chapter is a good.
daw the minstrel: Indeed it is good to see Gandalf, but I think you're right, Thranduil probably didn't take his words quite as literally as Legolas did. However, the little prince can always try! Great to hear you liked it. Hope this chapter lives up to the rest.