This is strictly speaking a new phase of the story but as the chapter list isnt long I've not seperated it out as a different publications.

All the previous disclaimers continue to apply.

To those who have taken time to comment and to whom I havent been able to respond by PM, thank you for your interest it means much. To all readers thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy thinking it through and writing it.I hope you continue to enjoy it.

P

Part 2 Spring

New Year, old acquaintances

Winter's iron grip had finally failed and spring was returning to the forest, and it promised to be the best spring for many a long year. Even beyond Thranduil's realm the trees were growing straighter, their leaves sprouting in greater numbers than had been seen since the shadow took hold. Within the lands held and protected by the Elvenking this verdant resurgence was yet more noticeable with blankets of flowers already carpeting the glades and curtains of catkins draping trees the elves of Mirkwood had once defended from spider's webs. The king would have no shortage of choice for his spring crown this year.

The wind blewaround the forest still, as was generally the case in a Mirkwood spring, but this year it was gentle, stirring the trees to fluttering dance not the head tossing displays often seen this early in the new season. More than that it was unusually warm for the wind was from the south, yet it was soft and untainted and the sun was bright in a blue sky, it's light shafting uninterrupted through the branches where the buds were just starting to breakand spreading out in a honeyed mist.

The two standing on the king's balcony felt a deep satisfaction and joy at the scene before them, though possibly not for the same reasons. The Elvenking was still dressed for winter in whites and blacks and browns and the crown upon his golden head was still decorated with ivy and other greenery, but tomorrow he would put winter aside and change his livery for green and gold and place upon his head the spring crown so loved by his people. It was ostensibly for this feast that the wizard, the shabby figure at his side, had arrived in the forest, though the king knew full well that was not the case. But they would not talk of that now, though the wizard had seemed willing to do so.

"Have you heard any news?" he had asked when he had tracked down his host to the library after a night of rest and a hearty, if lonely, breakfast.
Thranduil's face had shown no sign that any thing of importance had been said but he had smiled a smile that did not reach his blue eyes and putting aside the book in his hand he had indicated that his visitor should preceed him from the room As he followed he had replied in a clear and dissassionate manner.
"There is news enough but it depends upon which news is of interest."
The guard at the door opened it for them and the visitor passed into into the passage beyond with a hint of confusion and impatience in his face
"All news is of interest Thranduil but I would think that you know full well of what kind of news I speak." There was exasperation in his voice.
The tall figure now at his side nodded.
"Perhaps, but there is much that is called news by the uninformed that is only gossip and should not be given undue weight by those with sense.
There was a bored note in the king's voice and yet there was something else too.

The wizard was about the protest at this self obvious truth when he noticed that the king had raised one of his hands slightly and was rubbing it as if the finger involved was painful, as if the ring upon that finger was too tight. The wizard's eyes narrowed as he watched Thranduil twist the seal ring of Mirkwood upon his right hand, the ring that was a symbol of… He drew a deep breath and nodded
"You are correct as always my lord, and rebuke me well, the folk of Mirkwood are fortunate to have so wise a king. I ask that your excuse me for I have been alone upon the roads for many moons with silence as often as not my companion. But it is as you say such tittle tattle is for bored guards and gossiping cooks".
Thranduil smiled
"It is indeed, however there is some news that is worthy of being called such and I am more than willing to share it, if it has already come your way then tell me and I will not tire you with repetition I would however ask that you reply in kind for you may hear many things upon the road that has not yet reached me."

As they walked the pathway to the king's private quarters Thranduil had spoken of floods and more roads lost and the costs of maintaining the river banks, of new trade agreements with Dale and the men of the Lake, of the summer market planned to show off the works of the king under the mountain. He spoke also of the daughters of Bard the Bowman now Lord of Dale, of the new child born to the eldest, the proposed marriage of the youngest and all the celebration that entailed. The wizard smiled as he listened for he knew that Bard had despaired at times for his daughters who had both developed more than a little interest in the king of the wood as they grew to womanhood. Looking at the tall figure beside him, the lord and warrior written clear in his stance and build, at the air of majesty he managed so effortlessly to project and at the face that was fair even for an elf, he wondered if Thranduil had ever been aware of this.

He rather thought he might have been.

The new city was coning on apace,Thranduil continued, the walls were now whole again and new buildings were replacing the ruins of those destroyed by the dragon or the battle. The son of Bard was to come to the forest to finish his training as a warrior it seemed, as was the intended husband of the youngest daughter, for both wanted greater skill with the bow than could be found amongst the sons of men. There were several women coming to train as healers too, though the elves no longer found it necessary to provide other skills to their neighbours for the journey men had returned to both Lake and Dale.

By this time they had reached the king's quarters and with a nod to the guards they both passed through the gates and into the most secure part of the palace. Even so the wizard waited until they were in the king's private rooms before he asked what he had been impatient to ask since his arrival
"There has been no news of…" he nodded towards the kings hand
Thranduil shook his head but said nothing.
"I saw a little of your works on my arrival my lord, they are extensive. You still fear the dark then though the shadow retreats?"

His host sighed.
"Don't you Mithrandir? We both know that the fortress in the south will not be abandoned for long. I am sure both Elrond and Celeborn have said much the same to you.
"I'll not deny they have, yet neither seems as cautious as you.
"Neither has lived at such close quarters withits malign influence as I for so long." The Elvenking drawled
The other sighed and smiled sadly.
"That is also true.
The king looked at him with blue steel in his eyes.
"Do not doubt the danger Mithrandier. My spies tell me all is quiet at Dol Guldar as yet but while the fortress remains standing, and the old enchantments are in place, then it is but waiting and it will be called upon and brought back into service when it is needed,
"Yes, that is my fear too." the wizards said quietly
Then he frowned.
"Spies? You have sent elves that far south?"
"No I have not!" The king sounded annoyed. "I would not risk my people in such a manner. I know too much of the pits in that foul place to send any elf within striking distance, however quiet it might seem. I am no novice and I would not cause any to risk the torments enacted in that place for anything other than the most dire of needs."

He lowered his voice to close to a whisper
"However there are those who can move unsuspected and who can flee quickly and unseen, those who would not be tormented even if caught for there would be no purpose. Many of these will act as spies for me for all wish to see the forest returned to the Greenwood that their ancestors knew. But do not ask me to name them for I will not, not even here or to you."
The wizard smiled
"A wise elf you are indeed Thranduil of Mirkwood, and I'd not ask that you acted differently." He spoke in the same low tone
The king inclined his head slightly.
The wizard frowned and continued in the same low tone.
"Yet you fear spies here?"
The kings robe shimmered as he shrugged as he replied looking towards a spider that was spinning a web in a corner high above them..
"What I can do so can others. Certainty on that matter is still denied us."
The old man's eyes narrowed for a momentas he followed the Elvenkings gaze, then he nodded
"Very true
The king inclined his head again
"As for certain matters." Again his left hand strayed to the seal ring upon his finger, "No mention is the best course. Gossip and speculation is not news and I suspect we are in agreement on the reality of the situation."

With that he indicated that his visitor should precede him out onto the balcony. With a nod more graceful than his appearance would have suggested him capable of the wizard did was requested.

For a moment they stood in silence watching the bustling scene below, preparations for the feast that would begin when the day changed and spring began were well in hand. Amongst the throng were some that the wizard recognised and many he did not. A pang of sadness ran though him as he realised that many he had seen here before were no longer amongst them.

But one he had not seen here on his last visit was amongst those busy with the preparations and he smiled in joy.
"He is home then.
The visitor's quiet voice held both relief and satisfaction
"As you see." His host replied with a hint of a smile
"He has been welcomed?" There was a slight hesitation before the 'welcomed' but other than that the tone was bland
"Why would he not have been?" There was a hint of warning and annoyance in the king's melodious voice
The wizard shrugged his stooped shoulders
"No reason that would have been justified to those who knew the circumstances of his departure, but I doubt that many did.
The visitor turned to the tall and regal figure beside him and smiled again.
"I think that you did all within your power to hide his distress from your people, and as their king your power is considerable. But his flight was very sudden and occurred at a strange time, and of course there is the fact that elves have a reputation for knowing things that others do not, so I doubt it went entirely unnoticed."

"No," there was sigh in the reply, "it did not. I will not deny there was some disappointment, even disapproval, at both his departure and his return, but few knew enough to feel more than that"
The wizard smiled and looked up into the fair face beside him with slightly narrowed and considering eyes
"Your guard are very loyal my lord, as are your people, but I must warn you that some others are aware of a version of events and you may yet hear of it from other sources.
The king of Mirkwood looked down into the wizards face with tilted head and a slight frown as he replied
"Why? The time involved is as a moment to an elf but for the sons of men it is a considerable period and only those who have some cause to will recall it. Why should it matter to them?
He looked back towards the merry scene outside
"The men of Dale and the Lake have no reason to wish me ill and every reason to wish my good opinion, why then should they spread tales of old hearsay?"

His guest frowned and shook his head
"Men yes, but for the dwarves…." He sighed. "I heard Dain's taunts to you upon the mountain and thought them strange. For a lord of the iron hills to forget his dignity so completely, to stoop to such foolish childishness, suggests a deep and bitter grievance. Should he find out the full truth of the matters in Dale I have little doubts that he would make use of it at every opportunity.
A slight smile passed across the king's face and his blue eyes took on a colder tinge
"True his words were not worthy of his lordship, and the memory of it pains him I do not doubt, but the grievance is no mystery, you know the reason for it for you were there when it was made plain. Dain was in the grip of a madness contracted from Thorin, but that has passed as you also know.
"Then all is well between your kingdoms?
Thranduil gave a small laugh.
"I would not say that, it's true that some difficulties remain between us, in the circumstances it could not be otherwise.
"The circumstances my Lord?" Concern vibrated in the words
The Elvenking smiled again.
"Dain is as unreasonable as any dwarf and like the rest of his kin his memory is as long as his sense of importance is great. His difficulty now is that he knows his earlier error for what it was and so finds himself at some disadvantage when he must face me; therefore he avoids doing so as far as he can manage it. I allow that and do not remind him of his ….misapprehension… on those occasions when we must meet; in fact I behave as if the words were never said." His smile widened but now there was some humour in it, "which we both know increases his discomfort but is for the best for all. In return he ignores certain…arrangements that I have agreed with Bard. Those are to my advantage, which he also knows, and so provides him with some sop to his guilt and pride. Should he discover more of the matter of Legolas he might see his tolerance of that accommodation as a greater boon to me and so the knowledge would further ease his difficulties, but it would be of no more value than that."

The wizard frowned
"Are you sure of that? For though I know him to be unreasonable I did not expect to see him behave in such a manner as he did before the mountain, and as you say discovering the truth has put him in your debt, a most uncomfortable place for a dwarf!
The king's smile remained but it took on a chill and sharp edge and he turned to stare at the old man beside him with narrowed eyes
"Do not be afraid that we could not bear to be allies should we need to be Mithrandir, should you plan any more unexpected battles we will not turn upon each other.
"Thranduil," the wizard sighed. "I have admitted that the matter of Erebor was not my finest hour. To set in train such events when I knew vast companies of Orcs were being readied for war, and whilst I did not know where they were, was a mistake and I own it. That is cost your people and those of Dain and Bard much I also own, and I grieve for them deeply and regret their fate, whatever you might believe in your heart. But it was not with any intent of such an outcome that I gave Thorin the map and set him upon his quest and I hold to the fact that Smaug needed to be removed and a more reliable authority placed in control of the mountain.
The king looked down into the crumpled face below him in silence for a moment and then he inclined his head and placed a beringed hand upon the shabby shoulder
"I believe that to be the case but you cannot blame me for resenting the outcome." He said softly. "It cost me much Mithrandir and for a while I feared that it had cost me that I hold most dear."
The old man nodded
"I know that you did, believe me I would have done everything within my power to repair such a rent."
The look in the blue eyesabove him seemed pained and distant for a moment then the king inclined his head in acceptance of the words.

'Ah my friend' the wizard thought as he noted the pained look, 'you will not mention the other grief but I know it and wish I could ease it. You grieve still for every elf lost that day and will do so for centuries. Strange it is that the elves, who have the certain knowledge of the love of Eru, should feel the loss of their kin so heavily. I wonder if you will ever sail west and seek the solace of the Valar. Not yet I hope for I fear the world will need your strength again before the darkness is chased away.'

He turned away looking down to where a tall golden haired elf was directing the movement of wine barrels across the bridge. Sunrise would see the dawn of the elvish New Year and Thranduil's son was occupied in being useful to a group of young elves charged with mustering the refreshments for the evening feast. He looked cheerful enough but like his father he had long been trained to shield his sorrows and to one who had known him all the centuries of his life there was something about him that spoke of lingering sadness even as he laughed and joked with the other elves.

The wizard spoke softly
"As it is some matters have resolved themselves, at least in that he has returned home." He nodded in the prince's direction. "But what of Legolas himself? You feared for him I know and when I met him upon the road it was clear that things were far from well with him. The cloud of grief that hung around him then seems dispelled, though he is not yet quite himself, or so it seems to me. As his father you may know better."
There was a moment of silence before the quiet response was offered
"No, he is not yet truly himself, though he tries to be for my sake. However, his mood has improved much since he returned home, and he seems to have found a little of his previous peace and joy since the tour of inspection. Being amongst old friends and about familiar tasks has helped, but he cannot miss the fact that there are faces that he knew that are no longer here and no doubt he wonders if his presence in Dale might have saved any of them. No, not all is recovered and there is still much guilt within him. On some matters I think he begins to forgive himself but on others I fear he still has some way yet to travel, and there are hurdles that remain to be over come."

Catching the hint of some hesitation in the king's voice the wizard looked up into the face above him with a frown
"He does not know the sum of it as yet then?"
"The sum?" the king's voice was chilly.
He smiled watching the elf beside him draw the mantle of dignity and grandeur around him, something Thranduil was well equipped to do. It was a weapon the Elvenking wielded very effectively he had to admit but he was not to be impressed into silence, at least not on this occasion. He shook his head
"Thranduil my friend, I have no doubt that you have tried to shield him from of the details behind his folly, and that you continue to do so, and if I were in your shoes I would have done, and do, the same. But we both know that such things will out in the end. "

He paused for a moment waiting for the king to speak only continuing when it was clear that no response was coming
"The arrangements you speak of, I assume they those you have made for the elf that arrived with your son from Gundebad? I saw her in Dale at the time of the funeral of Thorin and his kin. I had learned of her actions by then, for there was much talk of it amongst your guard I admit to overhearing, and it was not hard to guess the link between those actions and Legolas's departure. But I confess that at that time I did not recognise her for who she was. I saw her again close to your camp the night before we left Dale and it was seeing her by the light of the fires that I knew her."
He looked away towards the trees
"She was not part of the elven host that we rode to Mirkwood with, and so I assumed then that you had left her under the protection of Bard. I can see that such an arrangement is to your advantage, for there would be nowhere else that she could go, and for all her perfidity I do not think you would abandon her to the consequences of her actions."

Thranduil was silent, his eyes still locked on the scene below them and the visitor let that silence hang for a moment. When he spoke again his voice drained of expression
"I was much distracted when Legolas and I met in Dale, his news of the coming horde drove all things but the consequences of it from my mind and so I paid little attention to his companion. Only afterwards did I reflect upon it, I do not recall her showing much concern for the dwarves, though from what followed after that seems strange, certainly she seemed less concerned by the situation than Bilbo Baggins. I saw simply an elf in Mirkwood garb riding behind your son and paid her no more attention. But even had I done so at that moment it would have been of no importance."
"You think it of importance now?
The Elvenking remained turned away. Yet even so, and though he was at his most distant and kingly, something in the stiffness of his stance told his companion that he knew full well the importance of the remark
"Yes, both then and now. The past is done with yet her continued presence in Dale may affect Legolas and his future within your realm; I would not see him quit his home again and yet were he to come to a full understanding of the truth ….." He let the words tail away but when the king still did not speak he sighed and continued
"Such a discovery, if made in the wrong manner, might well send him fleeing again if his spirit has not yet found its balance."

Still the figure beside him remained silent and he sighed again, there could be no doubt that Thranduil must find it difficult, how many bitter memories it must stir, for the king would know well the doom that could be brought about when elvish affections went astray.

"She was the watcher in the shadows that I saw was she not?" he said softly.
"The watcher?" Thranduil's voice was expressionless and his gaze still did not move from the scene below them
"Yes. Or so I thought of her. On my last visit to Mirkwood before I set off to find Thorin there were several occasions when I came across her where I did not expect to. I confess the first times it troubled me greatly for I wondered if you feared for your life in some way that caused you to set a hidden guard to watch over you. To do so within your own palace suggested a threat of considerable proportion and had I not been preoccupied with other things I would have questioned you more closely on it.
He looked sideways at the king and his eyes narrowed at the bitter set to his companion's mouth
"You did know of this?" he said softly.

The king turned then and met his questioning look with a gaze as distant and expressionless as a summer sky
"I knew, but I had set no hidden guard nor in any other ways instructed her to watch over me. She was a captain in the guard and her duty was to protect my people, should I have needed extra protection at any time for or any reason it would never have been to her I would have turned.
There was weariness in his tone, something that spoke of a road often travelled in private.

The wizard smiled slightly and turned to watch the labouring prince laughing with a group of elflings as they struggled with a small barrel
"No. You would not." He said softly
There was silence between them for a moment before the wizard continued
"How long had you known of her habit? For by the number of occasions I observerved it in a single visit it was a habit."
For a moment it seemed that he would get no answer but finally, and a little to his surprise, the woodland king replied
"There were more than ten turns of the seasons between the point at which I was first sure of it and the time of her leaving to follow the dwarves.
"Did you never ask her why?"
"Yes, though I confess not as soon as I perhaps should have done. It seemed such an unlikely thing and I found it hard to ask her. Yet when I did ask she always had a reason that might have explained it and there was nothing that I could challenge her on. It made me uneasy but no more than that, she was a loyal captain of the guard, raised within in my own house, if she found it hard to approach me as she usually claimed when found out, then some of the fault was mine."

"And Legolas does not know of this?"
"No! Nor would I have him know, for what purpose would it serve? It is enough that he has lost something that he thought he held dear, harder still that he feels unwise for his errors in judging her conduct as he knows it, I would not see that grow to something that will bring yet more disillusion."
Thranduil sighed
"I do not absolve myself from all culpability in that matter and I would not have my son pay for my unwillingness to see the flaws in her as quickly as I might have done. I should have acted to curb her ambitions before I did and I was too slow to understand the destructive nature of her relationship with Legolas. By the time the dwarves escaped I was seeing the matter in a harsher light. Her desertion I did not expect; and I admit that had she returned with Legolas when I asked I would have set the matter aside and taken her back into her former role. But I still misjudged the degree of his blindness where she was concerned." He shook his head, "I had not expected that he allow her desertion to continue and certainly not that he would follow her in that desertion."

"Yet you have forgiven him.
"Yes, that is of no matter. I understand how she played upon his regard for her and his natural desire to know more of the matter of the Orcs and see no reason to castigate him for his actions."
The wizard shot him a sharp look and his voice took on a harsher edge
"But what of her? There is more that you fear Elvenking where she is concerned than you have yet revealed, I hear it in your voice. I know you to be protective of your kin but if you have doubts or fears that touch upon wider matters you must speak of them. We neither of us believe the darkness gone far and if there are deeds or ambitions that might need to be accounted for in future plans then they must be known to those who must do the accounting."

The elf beside him was silent for a while, his eyes following the path of his son through the growing throng below and his mouth set in a line as if he had swallowed something displeasing to him. Finally he drew a deep breath and nodded just once.

"Very well, but to you alone, at least unless matters prove to be more serious than I hope is the case." He was speaking slowly and with great care in his choosing of words. "For I believe I have acted to contain such danger as might or might not have been present and I would not have Legolas learn of my concerns unless it cannot be avoided. I will speak of what I feared at that time but you must swear that it will go to no other, not even to Elrond, unless there is no choice but to disclose it."
The wizards sharp look had become a frown as the king had spoken but he nodded in response
"I agree as long as you allow me to determine the point at which it must be disclosed. You know I am not of a gossiping nature and I hope will trust me with that."
It was clear that the king was not pleased with the situation but after a moment he dipped his head
"So be it, I will trust to your care and wisdom Mithrandir, and to your fondness for my son."
"Then tell me of your worry."

Thranduil was silent for a moment longer, apparently collecting his thoughts, before he drew a deep breath and spoke softly
"I had seen some change in her in the time before the coming of the Thorin. She had become impulsive and careless and bold, even disrespectful, in her manner to others. It annoyed me for I thought I had taught her better and wondered if perhaps I had not given her preferment too soon, yet it was no more than that. Until the day Thorin was taken." The king's brow creased in a frown and his eyes took on a look as if he was back in the encounter and away from the present
"She told me that the spiders were spawning at Dol Gulder, something that I knew to be untrue, and the thought sprang into my mind, 'Why do you think that?' She could not have drawn the belief from any misunderstanding of things she learned within my halls for I have not sent spies close to that evil place since we withdrew north of the mountains, for, as I have told you, nothing would I risk there."
"Might she have seen something in your correspondence that gave her such a belief?" the wizards asked
The king shook his head his mind still in the vision of the past
"No. for whilst I no longer have any difficulty in believing that she would spy upon my correspondence if the opportunity presented itself the codes used between us are not something she could discern."
"Might Legolas have told them to her?"
"Not even Legolas knows them. It has always been thought safer that way."
"Then your thought was a fair one, how did she know, or rather why did she think that she knew? But continue my lord for I sense from your reluctance that there was more to it."

The king nodded silently
"She continued, demanding that I sent a force out to the fortress to as, she put it, 'destroy them at their source". At that I became more angry not only that she sought to reach so far above her competence as to instruct me in my duty but also because I judged her request, and indeed her previous statement, to be a vessel for her own further preferment. I thought that she sought a dangerous and fruitless campaign for her own glory and advancement with no thought for the blood of her comrades she might spill in its pursuit."
"Did you not challenge her on this?"
"I did, in as measured a manner as I could for I confess I felt some anger at this point. As it was I reminded her of her duty and that the fortress she casually spoke of was not within our borders. It should have been enough and yet it was not."
The wizard watched the Elvenking closely knowing they were near to the nub of the matter, though his expression was distant it was clear some fear had come upon him at the time he spoke of.
"How then did she respond?" he asked softly
"With some vague claim of the common good, some rant that the spiders might spread to other lands, though they have not done so in more than millennia and there had been no reason to consider that they might change their ways."
"Is it not something a child knowing little but with a generous and innocent heart might ask?"
"Indeed it is but she was no child Mithrandir but a captain in the guard who knew well the war we wage."
His voice dropped further, the words coming even more slowly than before
"It was then that I began to fear that something darker might be in hand. For what was it that she asked of me when it came to it? That I divide my forces, leave some of my people and lands unprotected, and send elves into the sphere of a place of dark magic and evil. She demanded this, she who was a captain in the guard and knew of our daily war against the dark and how much we had already lost to the shadow. She who knew how hard was the fight to hold our lands."

The wizard fowned.
"True I was forgetting that point and considering that it was indeed a most singular request. But was it your only cause for concern for even so there could be other reasons than the influence of the shadow, which I assume it what you feared. Perhaps it was as you said a vainglorious desire to prove her valour."
"That was what I hoped for all our sakes. But I have stood before the gates of Morder Mithrandir and fought those servants of the dark who started on the path into shadow in much a similar manner. We both know how Morgoth deceived the Noldor and the black deeds that followed on from that deception, we both know that evil can be painted in the colours of honour and kindliness to trap the unwary."
The old man sighed and shrugged sadly
"That we do, and that was what you feared?"
"Yes and yet no, at that point the fear was not worthy of the name, just a feeling that somehow she had become, blurred, in some way that I could not describe. I sought to turn her thoughts then, to pull her back to the reality of the day and the truth of her kin. But in that too I was disappointed and the sense of something wrong continued, and in the following days it grew. For whether it was her infatuation with the dwarf, itself something I viewed with deep foreboding, or some other cause, she changed such that she no longer seemed to behave as an elf and her words and deeds took on more the form of those seduced by the darkness."

He paused for a moment bringing his eyes back from the past to look into the wizard's eyes
"Mithrandir we have spoken of this before and I would not chose to visit that event again if I could avoid it, but when I looked into her face as I sent her away after she tried to kill the Orc I swear that for a moment I saw an old evil there; a bloodlust that had been denied and something more; a deep and bitter anger that another purpose had been frustrated."
The wizard felt a surge of shock for he knew how much Thranduil regretted the manner in which his memories had overtaken him that day and it said much of his concern that he would speak of it again. Yet elves always lived at odds with time and there was need to dwell upon it and so he shrugged
"The dwarf perhaps?"
"Perhaps, but she had no reason to believe that he was still living or that he could be saved given the Orcs report and yet it was not grief I saw my friend but fury that I was sending her away."
The wizard thought about that for a moment
"Where she could not hear what the orc would disclose you think?" He said eventually
"It has crossed my mind many times that events would fit such a reading."

"Yet from what you said at our last meeting you would have taken her back. Why was that?"
"Because I have known her all her life and I could not be sure. Nor could I see how the darkness might have reached out to her. And I could have kept a watch upon her."
"Yet now she is unwatched. Do you feel the danger passed?"
"No, but she is not unwatched. The commanders of my forces in Dale are drawn from elves of the first age and who travelled with my father across the mountains from the west. Her companions amongst the garrison are all elves of the second age, those who stood with me at Mordor and know the wiles of the evil very well. If the shadow comes to her it will no doubt come in the shape of good but they will not be confused by it as she might be. Bard too has been put upon his guard and in a town of men she is unlikely to find support should she seek it. No it is safest for all that she remains where she is."
"I would agree, provided you are sure she had no following here that might influence matters.
"On matters that affect my people I am not afraid to face unpleasant tasks Mithrandir. I have been most careful to discover if that was the case and I can find no suggestion that it is. Certainly none seemed unduly distressed by the loss of her or in any other way affected."
"Except Legolas."

The king drew a deep breath and met his companion's eyes without flinching
"Yes, except for Legolas. But I truly believe the matter there is as it seems and that his support and protection of her had a less portentous cause than seduction by evil. Only time will tell, and I accept that, but so far all the signs are that he is untouched by the shadow, though in his desire to please her he may have been drawn into ways and errors that mimic it. These he now sees and I believe he is honest in his regret of them. It is my sorrow that I did not, or would not, see the changes and press him on them before. Perhaps I was too willing to explain them away as unhappiness."
He turned away again and looked down once more upon the scene below
"As for her, well there too I may be mistaken for there are things other than the dark lord that can draw us into delusions and petty spite, and there are things….. Well let that rest for the moment and I'll say no more than I hope that proves to be case. But even if it is not and she was touched by shadow for a time, it may now have departed since she no longer offers it any profit. If so we must do what we can to succour her and ensure it does not return."
He shook his head sadly
"For she has paid a high price for her weakness already, whatever it's' cause.
"Indeed she has and I hope that you prove right in your hopes for all our sakes my friend."

A peal of laughter wafted up from beneath them followed quickly by a snatch of song in which Legolas's voice could be heard amongst others. Thranduil smiled at the sound, in a flash more elf than king. The cloak of power and authority seemed in an instant to drop from him, the crown fading, and for a moment he was a Sylvan not a Sindar Lord. The fey air that was never far away even from a king of elves strengthened, the light of him glowed brighter and his connection to his land seemed to vibrate in the air. The wizard beside him marvelled as he always did when one of the Elf lords underwent such a transformation, for he had seen even Elrond react in such a manner on occasions when the world was bright.

"It will be a good spring Mithrandir, a soft and gentle spring." The Elvenking said quietly. "A truly green and silver spring such as was often seen when the world was younger. The new life coming will be strong and clean, straight and fair and it will have time to flourish before cold winds return. For a season or so my people may make merry beneath the trees and stars as they should and they will not need Halls of stone for their safety. I know it to be just a respite and I will ensure that the halls of stone will be ready when they need them. But that is not now my friend let us drink from the joy of this shining spring as fully as we may."

Below them a group of young elves due to reach their majority in the coming season crossed the bridge hurrying to claim their place at a nearer table before donning their finery for the feast were waylaid by the king's son. Thranduil's smile widened at their protests as Legolas directed them towards the fire builders, but they met with scant sympathy from their prince and turned dragging steps towards the duties set. As if suddenly aware of his father's presence Legolas looked up and flipped a hand in salute before striding away to some other errand.

His father laughed, and the sound of the river and the rustle of spring trees seemed to echo through the sound
Then the elf faded into the king again and the wizard felt a strong hand upon his arm drawing him back into the room
"Mithrandir I wish you great joy of my halls this night and for all the feast time. Until it begins let us find somewhere secluded lest my energetic son finds something for us to do too."