That morning was a beautiful day in Rivendell, the sun was shining brightly, the sky was blue, and there was not a single cloud in the sky. Most of the inhabitants in Rivendell were outside enjoying the day, all save one. Lord Elrond was hunched over his desk, furiously working on the letter that hopefully would reunite father and son, Mirkwood's King and Crown Prince. But he was completely stumped. The only thing he had written so far was "His Royal Highness, Thranduil Oropherion of Mirkwood." He decided he needed a break; perhaps sometime outside would cure the severe case of writer's block he was experiencing.

He heard the sound of laughter and decided to follow it. It led him to the archery range, where he saw his three sons, and 'Thoron' having an archery contest. Elrond stopped underneath a tree that was the closest to the archery range that was just out of sight from the contenders in the contest. It was pretty close, he recognized Elladan and Elrohir's arrows inside the bulls eye, while Estel's was on the top of the bulls eye almost in the next zone. It was Thoron's turn. Elrond took note of his arrows, decorated with the customary designs of the Royal House of Mirkwood, and his quiver had similar markings. He wondered why the Prince never asked anyone about the markings on the quiver and his arrows.

Elrond watched as the Prince shot the arrow right in the dead center of the bulls eye. He had heard from Thranduil, Thranduil's army, and from his own sons and people that the Prince of Mirkwood was a great archer. He had never believed it, but then again he had never seen Legolas shoot. At that moment a thought came to the Half-Elf, how could Legolas remember how to shoot an arrow if he has no memory of who he is. Elrond had heard from someone long ago that amnesia victims can remember bits of things, such as a special skill. It made sense why the Prince was currently beating his sons in archery and why he never asked about the markings. He probably assumed that they were always there, and therefore just copied them when making new arrows. The Prince was just full of mystery right now. Like how did he lose his memory to begin with, and why did he leave Mirkwood to begin with?

"Elladan, stop!" yelled Thoron, ripping Elrond from his thoughts, as he could have sworn that that was Thranduil yelling, but now that he knew who Thoron really was, it really wasn't that farfetched.

Elladan was currently taunting Thoron, in order to get him to miss the target, and Thoron was getting annoyed. Elrohir and Estel were trying to keep silent but ever so often a giggle would come from one of the two of them. Elladan continued to taunt. Elrond was probably the only one who noticed the Elf begin to sway on his feet. It happened all at once; Thoron pulled back and fell to the ground, unconscious. Elladan and Elrohir were on him immediately, as Elrond came running out of his hiding place. It took a few seconds for it to register for Estel, he just stood there in shock, like a major disaster happened, in a way it did. He didn't even notice his Ada come out of the shadows and kneeled down next to Thoron.

"Ada, what are you...," asked Elladan.

"Not now, Elladan," Elrond said, cutting his eldest off, "go get Erestor and Glorfindel, and a stretcher."

Both twins went, leaving just Elrond and Estel. By that time, Elrond had already pulled Thoron into lap.

"Estel," started Elrond, as he handed his son his handkerchief, "go wet this."

Estel nodded, and left. Thoron chose that moment to awaken. He lifted up his head, and whispered a single word that could break someone's heart, "Ada," as he fell back into oblivion.

In Mirkwood, just a few minutes prior

Morchainttir, Thranduil's head guard had stood outside Prince Legolas's room all night while his King was in there. Thranduil usually only stays an hour or two in there, but this was the longest he had ever been there, and Morchainttir was getting really worried. He looked across the doorway to Camram, his second. Apparently Camram was thinking the same thing, as he nodded. Morchainttir slowly opened the door, and saw the saddest yet scariest site ever. King Thranduil, the strongest elf he had ever known, was sprawled on his son's bed clutching a painting of him and his son, with his eyes closed, and he wasn't breathing! Morchainttir dropped his sword and rushed to his King's side, He didn't see where Camram went; hopefully to get a healer. Morchainttir began to feed his energy into his King. He had no clue how close he was to the Hall of Mandos. He had no bond with him. He knew Thranduil was grieving over the loss of his son, but he had no idea it was this bad. Camram chose that moment to come in with the healer, Rhaw, who immediately went over to Thranduil, and pressed hard on his chest. It didn't take long before he began to breathe again.

"We almost lost him there," Rhaw said. "I want to move him to my quarters so I can keep an eye on him."

Together the two elves gently lifted their King onto a stretcher that obviously came with Rhaw, and took him to the healer's quarters. As Thranduil was lifted onto a spare bed, he whispered a single word that would make any father cry, "Ion," and passed out again.

Names and meanings: Morchainttir guard

Camram archer

Rhaw body