Disclaimer: Please see chapter seven

Chapter Eight

At that moment, as their children tried to make sense of what had been going on, Elrond was making his way to the receiving chamber. A valet led the way, looking grave. He was ushered inside as soon as he had been announced.

Elrond could not help but wonder how his old friend would take his sudden appearance. The minute he had heard of the tragedy he, his sons and his only daughter had made the decision to ride to Mirkwood. They had wanted to help in any way they could.

They had been three quarters of the way there when they had been met by a messenger from Mirkwood. The message had been for Elrond and the contents had worried him all the more. They had hurried on their way once more, the Royal family of Mirkwood needed help far more than they had first realised.

He took in his friend's state as the door closed behind him. What he saw made his heart drop. Thranduil sat slumped on his dais. It looked as if he had not slept since the tragedy, his eyes were red and puffy, thick black rings stained the skin beneath them.

His long raven black hair, normally so shiny and sleek, hung limp around the pale face. Valar knew when he had last changed clothes, for the ones he wore were badly creased.

But what really caught his attention was the goblet in Thranduil's hand He moved swiftly forward. "Mellon-nin, I and my family have come to offer our condolences and to help you in your time of need."

Thranduil's bleary eyes looked up at him and then the hand holding the goblet was raised also and he took a long deep drink of what ever was in the goblet. "Can you bring her back? Can you change what has happened?" The voice cracked and the King shuddered trying to keep his feelings under control.

"If I could I would, you know that, Mellon-nin. Other than the impossible how can I aid you?" Another draught from the goblet and Thranduil gestured for a servant, holding a flagon to refill it.

"I need no help." He seemed to realise then that he really did have a guest. "Some wine?"

"Do you not think it a little early for wine, Thranduil?" Elrond's voice was soft and stern at the same time and it brought Thranduil's legendary temper to the fore.

"How dare you tell me what I can and can not do in my own kingdom? Just who do you think you are? I never invited you, go leave. You are not welcome here. Just get out and leave me alone!"

Elrond stood shocked; he never would have expected this kind of reception. "I am your friend, Thranduil and I did not think I needed an invitation to visit a friend who is need of comfort and help." He tried to keep his voice steady.

"Comfort, I do not need comfort." He took another long drink from his wine goblet.

"How many of those have you had to drink?" Elrond was beginning to get exasperated at his friend.

All that the question met was stony silence.

"When did you last eat properly?" More silence followed by an icy glare. He would give it one more try.

"When did you last sleep?" That finally got a reaction.

"Sleep? You expect me to sleep at a time like this? My wife is dead and you expect me to calmly go and sleep in our chamber? You take too much upon yourself, Elrond. I have no need of sleep." Thranduil's voice croaked and to Elrond's amazement he found silver tears were running down his face.

He moved closer to the King and gently took him in his arms, trying to offer strength and comfort. Finally the Thranduil's tears eased and Elrond offered him a pure white handkerchief. Thranduil had to smile weakly at that, his old friend always came prepared no matter what the occasion.

"I would guess you have not cried since the tragedy? It is not good to bottle it all up, Mellon-nin. Come you need some sleep, if you can not sleep in your chamber we will find you another to sleep in." He led Thranduil from the room, goblet forgotten by the side of the chair. "You will need your strength for tomorrow and a good sleep will be the best medicine I know for that."

Elrond found himself whispering nonsense as they made their way through the palace. At one of Thranduil's councillor's insistence they took a chamber away from the King's normal one. Once Thranduil was safely in the bed and the councillor sat by his lieges side; Elrond made a sleeping draught. He watched as Thranduil reluctantly drank it. The pout and scowl would have put an Elfling to shame and Elrond had to fight to keep his face straight.

He stayed with his friend watching as he fell into a deep sleep. Once satisfied he made his way to the kitchen to let the cook know that there would be more to feed that evening. He looked at the darkening sky, dark storm clouds promised rain…

Legolas was sleeping fitfully. His dreams once more plagued by monsters. Monsters that roared just like the one from the story Elardion had told him. He decided in his dreams that he really did not like dragon's and was glad that Knight Growly could make them go away.

Another really loud roar woke him with a start. He jumped so much that his shoulder began to throb. It was then that Legolas realised it was not a Dragon that was roaring but the sky. Lightening flashed and he hugged Growly to him in fear. He did not like this.

He sat frozen in silence as the thunder rumbled once more followed by another flash of lightening. He could not stay here; he did not want to be on his own. But who should he to go to? He would normally go to his Naneth and his Adar, but that route was gone. His Ad… The King would not want him to go to him. Not any more. His mind made up he shuffled to the edge of his bed and slid himself down to the floor using the sheets as a slide.

Slowly but surely he limped and shuffled his way to the chamber of one who would not chase him away.

Once he reached the door to the chamber he wanted to be in he sat Growly on the floor and struggled with all his might to open it. It took a while and a lot of effort but the door slowly opened.

Picking up Growly he made his way into the chamber. As quietly as he could he made his way across the chamber to stand by the side of the bed. Another loud crash of thunder made him jump and then whimper as pain flashed through his still healing leg. Oh, how he wanted to cry, he was so scared. His thumb began its migration towards his mouth only to stop once more. He wished he could remember, no thumb sucking, but it was such a comfort. What else could he do?

Without realising, one of Growly's ears made it into his mouth and he was pleased to realise he had found a substitute for his thumb. Surely his Ad… King could not object to that? Or would he take Growly away as well. A shiver shook his slight frame. What would he do if he took Growly?

Another loud rumble made him scream, unable to keep his fright in. A voice made him jump once again.

"Legolas? Little Leaf, what are you doing out of bed? You should be sleeping." Lomion's voice was gruff from sleep. Seeing the scared pale face in front of him he sat up and perching on the side of the bed beckoned Legolas to him. He watched as Legolas hopped/shuffled to the bed and swept Legolas up into his arms. Safe at last!

The voice was a scared whisper as if afraid someone would be listening and made Lomion frown. "Nasty noise, Growly was scared. We thought we would come to you and you would make it stop."

Another loud rumble that sounded as if it was directly over head made Legolas flinch and bury himself in Lomion's arms.

"It is alright, Little Leaf, it will not hurt you. Do you remember how warm it has been? This is the skies way of cooling it down. It also means that your beloved trees are getting the water they need." He stroked the blond hair, noting the bear still clutched tightly to the small chest. "Just you see in the morning when you get up it will all be fresh out there. The trees will be a brighter green and their songs even sweeter than normal."

"So this is good?" The whisper was faint and Lomion could hear just how tired his youngest brother was.

"Yes, little One, it is good. The birds will sing brighter and every thing will be good again." As he was speaking he noticed that Legolas' head was nodding and he gently sat back further on the bed, careful not to waken his precious bundle. He lay Legolas' gently down on the bed, a smile breaking as he realised that Legolas had one of Growly's ears in his mouth for comfort. All he could think was how incredibly lucky they were to have him in their lives.

Yawning himself he settled himself down once more, cradling Legolas to his chest and fell into dreams once more.

Lomion woke the next morning to find something tickling his nose. Blinking he brought his eyes back into focus. Legolas was sat by his side as close as he could get using one of Growly's paws to tickle his nose. The Elfling was giving tiny quiet giggles as he once more made Growly swipe Lomion's nose once more.

Lomion gave a mock growl. "So you think that is funny do you? I will give you funny!" And with that he began to tickle the Elfling unmercifully, soon sounds of laughter could be heard from the chamber. All the passing servants gave a small smile, it was nice to hear the Elfling's laughter it had been too long. Then their faces fell once more as grief took over. Today was a sad day, a very sad day…

A little later once they were both once more under control, Lomion carried his younger brother back too his room. Once Legolas was safely back on his bed Lomion gathered up the book that Elardion had given him. "I need to wash and dress, Legolas, and then I will come and see to you, is that alright?" At Legolas' nod he gave him the book. "Look at this while I am gone, if you are good Elfling maybe you will get another story from Elardion this afternoon. Would you like that?"

At Legolas' happy nod he turned and left the chamber.

Not three minutes had passed before Drowlin made his way into the room.

"Well, Brat, I would not get too comfortable. I happen to know for a fact that Adar is going to be sending you away soon. It may even be tomorrow. And as for my brother's, they are only being nice, deep down they hate you." His malicious smile widened as he took in the wide, fear filled blue eyes that sparkled with unshed tears. "Aw, is little Baby wanting to cry? That shows me you are not from this family. When have you ever seen any of us cry? Well?"

Legolas' could only shake his head, he had not ever seen any of his brother's cry. Did they mean he really did not belong to this family? A thought began to form in his frightened mind. One that made perfect sense to a little scared Elfling. If he was not wanted here, if he was hated, why stay? He could go and look for his real family.

Drowlin, very happy with his morning's work left the chamber leaving behind a very confused and hurting Elfling…..

To be continued

Replies to reviews.

Bradleigh: We know it's confusing and that every one's confused. But it's fun! We will work on the now and know (That's my fault, sorry. Shell) All will sort it self out, we promise! And yes, to confuse every one even more we have two sets of twins. We will have to be careful with that and not confuse everyone, including us!!!

Anglebird12241: Thank you we are glad you are enjoying it.

Gemini969: Meisalliam thanks you for the well wishes and trust me she is feeling better, I am pleased to say.

Ak-stinger: We are glad you like Leafie and yes, he's absolutely adorable. Meisalliam writes the nice stuff and I write the nasty and a few times I've had to take a break to stop and stop myself from crying. Does that sound daft? I need a Leafie to hug!

Triptych: Aragorn to the rescue! Well, partially.

Coolio02: Oh, no I made you cry too. I'm sorry please forgive me, but keep those hankies to hand you may never know when you need them!

We want to say Thank you to all our reviewers. We hope you continue to like this story and tell us what you like and dislike. Any flames are accepted but will be fed to Knight Growly's dragon!

Also, Meisalliam has a new story that she has just posted so please head across and see if you like that one as well? And also please go read MCross's story (Shell it is wicked)

Thank you!

Love,

Shell and Meisalliam