Chapter 3

As he strolled through the garden his feet carried him towards the place he spent most of his days in solitude, but this time he could see that he wasn't alone. An elf maiden sat on the grass before the statue they had erected to honour those who didn't made it back to Mirkwood after the great battle.

"Lindëlas?" he asked softly as he stood behind her. Only then did he remember how very little he knew of this maiden, who her family was, where she had come from, or simply who she was.

"My Lord" she greeted him and wanted to get up and leave him alone.

"Please," he jested, "stay where you are, if you want" and sat down besides her. Silence fell for a few moments. "It's been a while since I last saw you" Thranduil spoke softly after that time.

"I have been busy, my Lord" she lied, "your wounds are healing nicely, you have no further use for my services." She wanted to say his advisor told her to stay away from him, but she dared not.

"Are you leaving me as well, Lindëlas?" he asked softly and watched her profile as she turned her gaze on her hands which lay folded in her lap.

"No, My Lord" she whispered. "It's just… you no longer require my assistance."

"If I asked you, would you consider joining my personal staff?" Thranduil asked after a while a silence.

"My Lord, I have nothing to offer you" she replied loudly and resisted the urge to look him in his eyes.

"I enjoy your company" he rejected her answer, "I find it soothening ".

"He will never allow it" she sighed only to realise to late that she had spoken that out loud.

"Who won't? Your family?"

"I have no family anymore" she whispered trying to avoid his question.

"Then who won't allow you?" he asked after deciding which questions to ask first.

"Your advisors, my Lord" she answered softly, "they think I have a bad influence on you."

"What?" he asked outraged. "What kind of influence? I don't understand" he sighed.

"I think you better ask them, my Lord" she spoke softly.

"Trust me, I will" he said standing up and started to walk back inside until he stopped and came back towards her. "Will you consider my offer?" he asked and watched as she turned her head to him and looked at his face.

"If you want me too" she replied, "I will consider it."

"Yes, I want you too" he smiled and hesitated if he should do something, instead he turned around and went inside again. Pushing open the doors to the room he had just left he found all his advisors still around the table and silence fell as he entered the room.

"Welcome back my Lord" Herudil greeted him as he was the one who had been speaking prior to his arrival.

Thranduil remained silent and walked towards his seat where he sat down. Herudil continued his speech about how important agriculture was in this day and age. Thranduil listened only partially, fixing his gaze on every member of the meeting for several minutes trying to figure out who had mingled in his personal affairs.

When the meeting finally drew to an end, Silas stood again and waited until the room had gotten quiet again.

"Before we close this meeting, does anybody have any other items we should discuss? Any questions?" the elder advisor asked. Silence fell as they all watched the other advisors shaking their heads.

"Good" Silas continued after a few moments of silence. "Then…"

"I have a question" Thranduil suddenly spoke up interrupting Silas and felt all eyes drawn to him. As Silas nodded at him and sat down again, he slowly rose to his feet and leaned on the table. "I have decided to enlarge my personal staff, does anybody here have a problem with that?" he asked and looked around the room.

"My Lord" Aranlin spoke up, "this is hardly the place to discuss such matters, I…"

"What would you like to change?" Silas interrupted the financial advisor and watched as Thranduil straightened his back.

"I asked Lindëlas to join my personal staff" he spoke loudly.

"My Lord!" Aranlin objected, "a nurse? Surely we can find you a better maiden…"

"Do you dislike her that much?" Thranduil asked and stalked towards the elf that clearly cringed under the pressure of his questioning. "Are you the one who told her to stay away from me?" he asked when he reached him.

"My Lord, I…"

"What did you tell her?" Thranduil asked leaning towards him. "Did you threaten her?"

"I don't know what she has told you, my King" Aranlin spoke trying to regain his composure when he realised she had not told him the exact details of their conversation. "But I did not threaten her. I only suggested she'd not influence your decisions."

"Where did you get the idea that she influenced me?" Thranduil asked frowning.

"My Lord" Aranlin continued before glancing at the others in the room, "she has spend almost every waking moment with you, I'm sure she has influenced you somehow."

"Not the least!" Thranduil spoke without hesitating and straightened his back again although in his mind he searched to see if what he said was true.

"Then I must offer you both my apologies, my King" Aranlin bowed his head. "I believed she had."

"So you don't object to her joining my personal staff?" Thranduil asked again.

"No, my King" he answered, determined to speak to Lindëlas about what she had said to him.

"Good" Thranduil spoke and walked back to his seat. "That is all from me Silas" he nodded to the elder advisor.

"Any other items?" Silas asked again slowly rising to his feet and glanced around the room. "Alright then, I hereby close this meeting" he spoke and they all started to gather their things and left the room. "My King?" Silas then addressed Thranduil, "Could I speak to you in private?"

Thranduil nodded and remained seated patiently waiting until all the other advisors had left the room before Silas came to sit next to him.

"I think it's best that we left your personal items out off meetings such as these, my Lord".

"I know Silas" Thranduil replied, "I just needed to know who would object to what I planned. It will not happen again."

"Good" Silas nodded his head. "I would suggest that you pay a little more attention on our next meeting. Do I need to remind you what is at stake here? Already I hear rumours and speculations on who will take your place if you will not take your duties serious soon!"

"I don't think we are helping Mirkwood by talking about it" Thranduil sighed.

"No, words alone won't help. But we have to start somewhere! And Aranlin is right, we need to fill our treasury, it is as good as empty."

"But how? And where did all the money go? Did we have so much unexpected expenses?"

"Thranduil" Silas sighed using his first name again. "We have been at war for more than eleven years. We have to pay our warriors, even those who haven't returned."

"How do the other realms cope with such problems? My father never spoke of such events" Thranduil sighed.

"Most raise their taxes, or put in a certain war-tax, people get paid by food instead of money.

"Can we not pay them with food?"

"We have none to give, my King" Silas sighed.

"Nothing? How can that be?"

"Eleven years is a long time, my Lord" the elder advisor answered.

"Is there anything left after those years?"

"Only arrogance, my Lord."

Thranduil sighed and thought about what Silas had said.

"I hate having to ask the elves of Mirkwood for money after they have lost so much already" he spoke softly, "I fear they'll hate me even more."

"They do not hate you, my King. They await what you will do. They already know what hangs above their heads."

"Is there no other way?"

"I see no other way out my Lord" Silas shook his head. "We all will have to tighten our belts and put in what we can."

"I can't believe everything is gone" Thranduil sighed. "I'll speak to Aranlin about what our greatest expenses are and how we can remedy them."

"See, it's not that hard. Why did you not start acting like a king earlier?"

"I think I was afraid" Thranduil started after thinking about the counsellor's question, "that when I accepted the duties, I would have to admit that my father really is dead" he sighed.

"You will meet him again. In the meantime, all you can do is try to be a better king he was and make him proud of you."

"I can never be a better king he was" Thranduil spoke.

"I said to try, I didn't say it is possible" the advisor smiled and covered his hand. "But no more moping and wandering around the palace without purpose. You have a kingdom to rule. Now step up to the challenge and be a king!"

"Yes" he said "I will be their king, if they'll have me" he spoke somewhat more certain of himself. "But I will put in just as much as they have, even more!"

"Good! Now I advise you to go talk with Aranlin about our finances, and then we'll put an agenda together for you on who to see, who to visit and who to talk too."

Thranduil rose to his feet and went to Aranlin's office. When he couldn't find his counsellor in his office the young king started without him and tried to make sense of all the papers that lay on his desk on his own.

"How can anybody find anything in this mess" he muttered as he pushed several used napkins from the desk into the bin. "A cat wouldn't even find it's kittens in this rubbish!" he exclaimed when he found a piece of unrecognisable fruit between two books that clearly had been laying there for quite some time. Picking it up between two fingers he pulled a disgusted face and quickly threw it into the bin. Searching for something to wipe his hands with, his eye caught something that was partially sticking out one of the drawers and pulled it out.