"I feel almost sure you are practicing in secret," Yuai said as he watched Thranduil move through the steps of an attack.

"If I am, you cannot say it is not noticeable," Thranduil answered. He dropped to the ground, rolled, and came to his feet in a single motion, and crouched in the final pose before he stopped.

"Kryn tells me you also improve with the bow," Yuai said.

"I am not practicing archery on the side," Thranduil said. "It grows easier to aim an arrow as the days pass."

"That is what training is for," Yuai smiled. "I will see you tomorrow."

Thranduil turned in his wooden sword and skipped along the path to the archery fields. His arrows joined in the thud of the arrows around him as he listened to the wind and steadied himself on the ground. His arms hurt but he liked the ache, until Kryn remarked on his determination and Thranduil jogged out of the warming summer air to the library. His fingers were stained with ink when he bowed to his teachers and hurried into the library shelves. With careful attention to the cracked leather volumes, he carried them to his room and arrived at the kitchens late for lunch.

Thranduil had no change to apologize to Harune for, as he joined his father, he witnessed Hafia smack Nimrethil on the side of her head.

"You are a nagging waif!" Hafia snapped. "Cook for me indeed! I want nothing to do with you."

"If you were not the only decent cook in the place, I would not even look at you!" Nimrethil cried. "You are a mean old cow!"

The kitchen maids gasped. A few snatched their aprons to their faces as Hafia's round face turned purple. "Get out of my kitchens!"

Nimrethil stamped her foot. "No! all I have asked for is your mentorship. What does gold have to do with it when I am eager to learn?"

"I would not take the likes of you on if you had the gold," Hafia sneered.

Harune put his hands on Nimrethil's shoulders. "Come with me, child, you are doing no good fighting."

Outside the kitchen doors, Nimrethil burst into tears. "She will not even let me cook for her!"

"It is not worth learning from an unpleasant person," Harune said gently.

"There is no one else to learn from," Nimrethil sniffled.

"If you cared to open your eyes, you may find you are wrong," Harune said.

Nimrethil dabbed her eyes with her apron. "I suppose there is no harm in looking."

"You may not have to look long," Harune said. He nodded to where a woman walked past the herb beds toward them, her coral apron flapping in the breeze.

Thranduil looked back as Harune nudged him away. "Who is she?"

"She is Coral, the pastry chef, and, if you paid as much attention to life as I do, you might have noticed she has been watching Nimrethil for some time," Harune answered.

"You would have saved a lot of fuss if you had said something to Nimrethil sooner," Thranduil said.

"I hoped she would notice on her own," Harune answered. "I can only be my own eyes else others will not learn to use theirs."

Thranduil narrowed his blue eyes. "I am beginning to wonder what you have not told me."

Harune smiled and ruffled his hair. "I do not know about you, but I am hungry for lunch."

Thranduil was halfway through taking cheese melts out of the oven when Nimrethil streaked to his elbow, screaming. Thranduil started and almost dropped the pan, where slices of crisp bread sizzled with melted cheese. Nimrethil ran in circles around him, clutching her purple head.

"You almost burned me!" Thranduil snapped. He banged down the pan and transferred the bread to a plate.

Nimrethil threw her hands up into the air. "Coral will take me on as an apprentice if I cook her something nice."

Thranduil softened his tone. "What will you cook?"

Nimrethil leaned close to him. "A family secret."

"Would you like some cheese toast?" Thranduil inquired.

"Ha!" said Nimrethil. "Sounds like a bribe. Goodbye to you; I need to start cooking."

Thranduil watched her hitch up her skirt and run into the gardens before he joined Harune at the table and helped himself to slice tomatoes and salad.

"I suppose gold does not matter to everyone," Thranduil said.

"Thankfully, no," Harune said. "We must look for the people who admire passion."

When the shadows signaled mid-afternoon, Thranduil took the cracked leather books from his room, a basket of food from the kitchens, and walked to meet Hyrondal. Instead of eagerly awaiting him with bright eyes, Thranduil found his friend with his back to a tree, crying into his knees.

Thranduil picked up Hyrondal's sword and sat down beside the elf. "Yuai said no?" he guessed.

Hyrondal nodded without looking up. When he finally met Thranduil's eyes, tears dripped off his chin. "I begged, Thranduil, on my knees, but he would not even let me show him what I can do."

"I could command Yuai to teach you," Thranduil said.

Hyrondal dragged his sleeve across his nose. "No. I need to do this the right way. I-I do not want to do the ravine, Thranduil. I do not want to die."

"No one does," Thranduil replied. "But if you must survive the ravine, we need to prepare properly."

"We?" Hyrondal questioned.

Thranduil put the leather tomes he held into Hyrondal's lap. "I borrowed these books from the library. They are ancient blade and survival techniques. I thought—we could learn them together."

Hyrondal opened the cover of the first book and looked at the yellowing page. Fading ink made the outline of an elf upside-down midjump.

"I should like to learn with you," Hyrondal said. He grinned. "We should start with this jump."

Thranduil laughed. "We must follow the steps in order to learn well, and you have opened book two. I know it is tempting to skip ahead but we should start one page one of the first manuscript."

Hyrondal leaned his back against the tree. "I know."

For a moment they sat in silence. Then Hyrondal dug into Thranduil's basket for an apple and Thranduil jumped up to show Hyrondal the new routine he had learned from Yuai that morning.

Do you suppose Hyrondal and Thranduil have made the right choices?

Thanks so much for reading! As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Next Chapter: An orphan escapes into the palace.