Legolas approached his father's throne room. He was fully clothed in proper princely attire. He wore a shimmery, light blue tunic which hung long under a vest of light blue and gray. The vest was clipped together at the seams with silver clasps engraved with Elvish markings. Under this, he wore leggings of dark gray to match his vest and gray boots that came up to the knees. His hair was now neatly braided behind each pointed ear and once down the back of his head. Circling his head was his crown; a simple, thinly curved silver headband.

As he neared the double wooden doors, the two guards posted outside immediately bowed and opened the doors for him. Legolas entered the throne room. A long green and gold carpet led from just inside the entrance of the room, down the length of the room and up two large stairs to a ornately carved, but at the moment empty, high backed chair. On either side of the long carpet, just inside the entrance were benches and a few small tables. Like the Grand Hall, the Throne Room's ceiling towered high above their heads, held up by gigantic columns. The only difference was that the columns' carvings were leaves and fruit to match the king's crown. At the rear of the room was an open door leading into the King's study. Through the open door, Legolas noticed his father and started towards him. Other than himself and Thranduil, the throne room was empty.

Legolas's father, Thranduil, King of Mirkwood was seated behind a large wooden desk. The desk was littered with maps, papers, quills, ink and a large goblet of wine. Thranduil was intensely studying a map. His crown, though still a mere headband, was far more ornate than that of the prince. It was made of silver and curved around his head forming the shapes of leaves and fruit with jewels faceted to its surface. Ancient Elvish writing was etched around the jewels. His clothing was like that of the prince, though he had a beautiful cloak of the shimmery blue material draped over his shoulders. Though he was at least a thousand years old, Thranduil hardly looked a day over 40 by human standards. And like everyone in the castle, aside from Linnah, he was fair with blond hair, piercing light blue eyes and a strongly handsome face.

"Father you wished to see me?" asked Legolas.

Thranduil looked up and motioned for him to come nearer. "Yes, come Legolas, I must speak with you."

Legolas went to his father's side. The king pointed to a spot on the map and said, "Last month I was informed by one of our scouts that the creature Gollum, who our border patrol had been tracking through our forest and lost sight of, was captured by Aragorn, Son of Arathorn in the marshes here." Then he pointed to the forested region just south of Mirkwood on the map. "We know that there is a great darkness rising once again in this area, here at Dol Guldur and now there is talk of The Dark Lord building a great legion of evil in Mordor. I have yet to send any of ours to investigate as I wanted to stay out of any entanglements with this evil if at all possible, but..." The king turned his eyes from the map and took a drink of his wine. Looking more into his goblet then at Legolas he continued, "This Gollum is most likely an agent of the Dark Lord. Aragorn brought it to Mithrandir and the wizard has requested that Gollum be brought here to stay in our dungeon for the rest of his days. I have decided to honor that request."

"If you feel it is wise, Father," said Legolas.

"If Mithrandir requests it, I can not begrudge an old friend," said Thranduil, with a tired sigh. He stood and placed a hand on his son's shoulder. Looking him in the eyes, he said, "I feel we can no longer shield ourselves from involvement. Things change around us, even as we wish to ignore it. They arrive with the creature tonight."

Legolas looked at his father questioningly. "Why did you not tell me of this sooner? Gillel said that you seemed less than yourself these past days, but I had no idea that you would keep something like this from me."

"It was not my intention to deceive you, Legolas," said Thranduil seriously. "I only received word this morning that they would be here by nightfall. I let Gillel know that there were special guests attending tonight, but only so he could make the necessary preparations. I said nothing more than that to him. I, myself did not believe they would actually come this soon. No doubt, this creature should have slowed down their traveling considerably. I thought for sure they would not be here for another month or two and that I would have time to speak to you before then."

"I see," said Legolas, thoughtfully. A great ringing of bells was heard again throughout the castle. He looked at his father and smiled saying, "The second bells of the evening have chimed. I believe I should go and greet our guests."

"Let me summon Orlindel and I will go with you," said Thranduil, returning the smile to his son.