Chapter Seven

Dinner was unusually mellow to Elrond. Even his sons, who both had at first seemed so overjoyed to actually be in Mirkwood and in the presence of the elves that had heard so much about, were both starting to feel the shadow that had come over the land and the royal family. Their bickering had long since stopped and both were now sitting quietly, with looks of boredom on their faces. Kelderas sat by them, obviously not enjoying himself. Idrial and Legolas had traded seats so that the young elfling could sit next to the twins.

"Luthin," Celebrian broke the melancholy atmosphere. "I hear you just returned from a camp?" She asked politely.

Luthin smiled at her. "Yes," he agreed quickly. "All the young novices go to this camp to be trained and judged whether or not they'll be able to move on to the advanced training." Luthin beamed. Finally someone was inquiring about how his trip went. He hoped she would ask more, for he desperately wanted Kelderas to hear how the trip had gone. Even though Kelderas sometimes made him angry, he still wanted to let his brother know he was around and doing well.

"How long were you gone?" Celebrian asked.

"Almost two months," Luthin answered, gaining questioning glances from the twins. "We had to get to know our mentors well enough for them to judge us," Luthin explained. "The trip went well. Though we encountered spiders on one of our nights in the woods…"

"You didn't tell me that," Thrandruil said, unable to keep the surprise from his voice.

Luthin looked to his father. He was surprised that his father had called him out in front of their guests. He licked his lips before continuing. "I guess I haven't had time to speak with you, my Lord."

The formal title was not missed on Elrond and he noticed, not for the first time that night, the tension between Luthin and Thrandruil. Thrandruil was about to say more when Legolas broke him off. "Did anyone die?" He asked. The question brought the entire table to silence. Luthin stared at his younger brother, unable to hide the unpleasant feeling the question brought.

"No," he replied swiftly. "We were with extremely well-trained warriors, Legolas," Luthin said pointedly. "The warriors kept everyone safe."

Legolas nodded and looked down at his plate. There was a moment of quiet before Legolas looked up again, this time at his father. "Ada, can I take Elladan and Elrohir to the garden?" He asked.

Thrandruil regarded the twins silently, noticing the look of mischief that flashed across their faces and the small grins that followed. Then he looked upon Legolas, whose eyes were pleading with him to let them go. He looked at Legolas' plate and sighed when he saw that the food had hardly been touched. "You should eat some more, Legolas." He suggested quietly.

"I'm not hungry Ada," Legolas assured his father.

Thrandruil knew it was a battle he could not win and so he nodded and swatted his hand to show that they could leave. Legolas got out of his chair and waited for the twins to follow. Soon, the three of them were gone.

Not long after, Luthin and Idrial took their leave. Glorfindel looked across the table to Kelderas, who looked as though he wanted to leave as well, but duty kept him at the table with his father. Glorfindel smiled. "Prince Kelderas," he addressed the eldest prince. "I wonder if you would mind showing me your training fields. It has been a long time since I've been to Mirkwood and there is no doubt in my mind they have changed."

Kelderas' eyes brightened at the prospect and nodded, but then turned to Thrandruil. The king smiled back and Kelderas got to his feet. "Of course, my lord Glorfindel," he said. "Follow me."

Celebrian rose as well. "I would like to join them."

As soon as they were gone, Elrond turned to his friend and watched as Thrandruil ate in silence. The king was staring at a spot on the table, almost as if he forgot Elrond was even in the room. "Mellon-nin," Elrond called to him. Thrandruil turned his eyes towards Elrond. "You have a beautiful family."

"Thank you. You as well." Thrandruil suddenly frowned. "But tell me, didn't you have a daughter?"

"Yes, she is spending her time in Lothlorien, with her grandmother," Elrond informed him. "She would have liked to visit."

Thrandruil snorted and put the fruit he had in his hand down rather harshly. "She would?" He asked crudely. "One so young as your daughter who has spent her time growing up in Lothlorien, would like to spend time here, in Mirkwood?" There was a gaffaw and he sat back in his chair. "Mirkwood is overrun with darkness, mellon-nin. No one wishes to visit here anymore."

"And am I no one?" Elrond asked coolly. Thrandruil frowned. "Mirkwood is not as dark as you think it is."

"You have traveled through our woods, Elrond. Did you not see how thick the darkness has become?" Thrandruil slammed his fists on the table. "We are drowning in this evil and I have not the heart to do anything about it." Thrandruil froze, realized he had said something he wished he hadn't.

Elrond smiled and stood up. "Things will not always be so," he whispered.

"I have known you many years, mellon-nin. Your foresight has not failed me yet. What does it say now of Mirkwood?"

Elrond thought about lying to him. He thought about telling him that he saw Mirkwood returning to the Greenwood it once was. But he knew that his long time friend would see right through it. So he held back nothing. "I see Mirkwood falling deeper into shadow," he whispered. Thrandruil's face fell, but he didn't look away. "I see a great evil and a great darkness. But then my sight breaks apart and I see all that could be."

"What do you see?"

"I see your family falling to ruins," Elrond said. Thrandruil's face paled visibly and he had look away, his eyes blinking rapidly to keep back the threatening tears. "But I also see hope. Things must change first, but I see your family as a light among the darkness; a weapon against the enemy."

A sob escaped Thrandruil's throat. Elrond's façade of leisure broke and he sat down next to his friend. Thrandruil turned to look at him. "If only it would be so," he whispered. "Tell me, Elrond, tell me what I must do to make it so."

"You must face them," Elrond said, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "There is distance between you and your children. A distance that must be lapsed. They need to know they are still very much loved and wanted. They need their king back, their Adar."

Thrandruil gave a drilling laugh and shook his head. "He has passed," he whispered. "He followed her into the abyss." With that, Thrandruil rose from his seat and walked away from the dinning room, leaving Elrond to sit back in his chair, watching his friend's back retreat.

"Then we shall have to call him back," he whispered.

"What are you looking for?" Legolas asked from his place perched upon the base of a statue. They had been in the garden for an hour now, but still the twins hadn't found what they were looking for. Legolas had watched them in curiosity for a while, but now he was wondering if the two identical elves were plagued with madness.

"Aha!" Elrohir suddenly called, clasping his hand down on something he had come across. Elladan rose from his position to Elrohir's right and came over to his brother.

The two rose and Legolas got a good look at what the brothers had caught. In Elrohir's hand, he held a small snake, squirming and squiggling to get free. "A snake?" Legolas asked. He frowned then and stood up, using the statue as balance. "What do you need a snake for?" He asked.

"To put in Glorfindel's boot of course!" Elladan said triumphantly. "It worked so well with Erestor."

Legolas looked appalled. "Why would you want to do that?" He said, sounding frightened.

The twins turned to the youngling. "To rile him up," Elladan informed him, smiling the entire time. "To give him a scare and I suppose, just for our own sake of mind and pleasure."

Legolas still looked worried. "Won't he get mad?" He asked quietly, taking the snake from Elrohir as the younger twin handed it to him.

"I suppose a little," Elrohir answered. "But the look on his face will be a benefit I am willing to endure his anger for."

"Not to mention his scream," Elladan added, chuckling.

"Oh yes," Elrohir smiled and bent down to Legolas and whispered, "You shall hear the mighty Lord Glorfindel squeal like an ellyth." The twins both broke into laughter at the bewildered look on the young elfling's face. Legolas, for his part, could not picture the distinguished elven lord to ever squeal in fear. Nor did he much like the idea of making Glorfindel angry, for as far as he could see, he had done enough of that during their visit already. But watching the twins laugh and joke about the ordeal gave Legolas a feeling that they had done this many times. And their hopes were so high…but Legolas just couldn't bring himself to do such a thing to the fabled elf.

"I don't think this is a very good idea," Legolas said quietly.

"That's all right," Elladan assured him, taking the snake from Legolas' hand. "All you have to do is sit back and watch. We will do the rest." The older twin smiled down at Legolas so whole heartedly that Legolas couldn't argue with him anymore and he quickly hurried to catch up with the twins as they made their way back inside the palace.

Later in the evening, Elrond sat in his room with Celebrian putting away their things. She turned to look at her husband. "You look worried," she commented.

"He needs to realize that he has not lost everything," Elrond answered her. She came over and sat down next to him. He took her hand and kissed her fingers. "He still has a family that needs him."

"That is something every great warrior should remember," Celebrian whispered quietly. "No matter how alone he feels, he needs to realize that there are so many people who love him still and who he loves back as well. Thrandruil is a loving father. The grief is clouding that notion from him."

"I have never seen him so defeated before," Elrond said, shaking his head.

Celebrian kissed his cheek. "And I have never seen you so lost before," she told him. "I believe that this will be a healing process for all. We've all realized that we are not invincible and that even though the Valar have graced us with eternity, we can still be ripped from this world."

Elrond smiled and turned to his wife. "How was I so blessed with a very wise wife?"

Before the two of them could respond, a shrill scream came from down the hall. Elrond sighed and dropped his head to Celebrian's shoulder. "And how was I so blessed with two sons?"

Celebrian laughed and pushed him away, rising from her seat on the bed. "Let us go and see what your sons have done this time."

"They are your sons too," Elrond reminded her.

"Not tonight," Celebrian said light heartedly.

When they reached the hall, Elrond found a fuming Glorfindel, two laughing twins, and a very frightened elfling prince.

Review Responses:

Templa Otmena: Thank you for the wonderful reviews! Yeah, I decided since you asked so nicely that I would update rather quickly. Hehe. I guess I just also have had a lot of inspiration recently. Yeah, things are pretty rocky between Glorfindel and Legolas right now...and as you can see, they're about to get rockier. I wonder if they'll ever be able to be friends? Hrm...;-)

Sesshyangel: Yeah, Legolas takes a lot of things seriously. In his mind, he's the reason why everyone is hurting. We'll see more of it later. I'm glad you like the story!

Thank you to all of those who read this story! I really like reading what you have to say so that I know what I'm doing right and where people want this story to go hehe. I have plans for the rest of the story, but if anyone has ideas or whatever, I'm game for any inspiration! :-)