Thranduil arrived at the celebration of spring a little late. Crystal globes and candles reflected light around the outdoor grove. Grass had been cultivated carefully devoid of leaves and sticks. Boots and slippers pressed lightly on the ground. An orchestra in shadow gave the air reason to sing and, at the center of the grove, a pit of coals shimmered beneath a spitted boar.

A group of servants in black and white were clustered respectfully in one corner, holding decanters of wine and platters of delicate meat flowers and tiny pastries.

Thranduil found Harune standing between the exposed roots of tree. Harune wore a soft green robe, Thranduil wore a silk tunic and boots to his knees over his trousers.

As Thranduil approached his father, Marseille stepped past Harune and grasped his arm. In a pea-green dress and her hair looped and curled, she smiled at him.

"You missed the King's most delicious speech," she said, and indicated Oropher and Natelle standing in front of their chairs under a bower of woven willow branches at the head of the grove. "But perhaps you are in time to hear the Queen address us."

Thranduil glanced toward his birth parents. The stones in their crowns glittered and their chairs were draped with silver. As Oropher sat, Natelle rose. She clasped her hands gloved in thin lace.

"In order to move forward" Natelle said, beaming, "We must be done with the mistakes of the past. Yesterday our authority was questioned by a lowly runaway."

Thranduil's eyes opened wide and he tried to step forward, but Marseille held him back as two armored elves dragged Hyrondal out of the shadows behind Natelle's chair. A third elf followed, holding a thin whip.

"Let this serve as a reminder to teach your children to be content with what they have!" Natelle looked pointedly at the silent servants. "Pass this message on within your caste; let it be known Mirkwood does not condone misplaced disobedience or rebellion!" She smiled at the elf with the whip and nodded her head.

Thranduil tore his sleeve breaking away from Marseille's frozen grip and lunged in front of Hyrondal. Briefly, Thranduil felt the whip glance off his back. A horrified silence fell; even the boar stopped crackling.

"Do you know what turns my stomach about this?" Thranduil snapped. He tore the whip out of the elf's hands and flung into the pit of coals. "I find it despicable that you are people who will stand by and hurt your own by doing nothing! Hyrondal invoked his right as a hunter and chose to give his kill to the people he knows, so they might celebrate spring. And because you are greedy and want more then you have, you feast on taking what little others have. Hyrondal is the only elf here today in the right!"

Natelle's cold eyes met Thranduil's. "You have crossed the line, Thranduil. I am disgusted to call myself your mother!"

"You crossed the line long ago," Thranduil answered. "You no longer know where the line is or what side to be on."

Natelle nodded her head. "As I said, Mirkwood does not tolerate rebellion." Her shadow chilled Thranduil as she stood over him. "You will leave us at dawn tomorrow, and you will not return without a silver moose at your side!"

A gasp rippled through the grove. The animals were twice as large as a horse, as silver as the moon, as uncatchable as sunlight.

Unbidden, Thranduil sneered into Natelle's face, causing her smile to falter. "I will do as you require, my queen, but I will not stand by and watch your cruelty!" He jerked Hyrondal into the trees, where Harune stood with tight lips.

"Silver moose travel in herds, Thranduil," Harune said, putting a hand to Hyrondal's arm for the youth looked shaken.

"I would rather rot in unknown territory then watch people be hurt in the place I call home," Thranduil replied. "I am sorry, ada."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Harune said. He slid an arm around Thranduil's shoulders. "You did the right thing. And you, Hyrondal, had better lie low for a while."

Hyrondal snorted. "I am angered thinking Natelle dares call herself Queen! I will not set foot back into the nightmare behind us; let us go where we are welcome."

Thranduil glanced about for Marseille but could not see her in the crowd. He joined Hyrondal and Harune on the short walk through the trees to the south and entered another glade lit by candles tallowed to rocks and paper lanterns hanging from the low branches of trees. Here there was laughter and dancing as maids and butlers danced with the gardeners and cooks and elflings greased their faces on pink slices of boar meat.

Thranduil spied Ailunai dancing with her skirts and a fan in the center of a circle of clapping elves. She soon came breathless to his side as Harune strolled toward Sapphire with a flirting look in his eyes.

Ailunai grasped Thranduil's arm and giggled. "The company here is really fine."

Jailil and Nimrethil swooped to Thranduil and Hyrondal's side. "My goodness!" Nimrethil cried, dressed in an apron stained with meat juices. "You are late! Where have you been?"

Nimrethil's smile faded and Jailil clenched his fist when Thranduil told his tale.

"Natelle ought to be banished!" Nimrethil said.

"Are you alright, Hyrondal?" Jailil asked.

But Hyrondal was distracted. "Is that really Onyx? Captain Onyx?"

Thranduil grinned as Hyrondal gestured to Onyx striding through the crowd. Onyx reached him and wrapped him in a tight hug before turning to Hyrondal.

"I have heard of you," Onyx said.

"I hope so," Hyrondal replied. "You are eating my boar."

Onyx chuckled. "I hear you possess some small skill with the blade."

Hyrondal shrugged. "It is small ability indeed compared to your skill. You have cleared miles of Mirkwood of orcs!"

Onyx, dressed in black and his hair in a dozen braids tied into a ponytail, said nonchalantly, "I have miles to go. I am lucky I am able to come home for equinox!" He winked at Thranduil and his tattoos winked with him.

Thranduil slipped away to greet Jade, unmistakable in a scarlet dress. When he came back to Ailunai with a plate of pink meat Hyrondal and Onyx had moved out of sight.

"Are you frightened of going out after a silver moose?" Ailunai asked, as she and Thranduil sat down on a tree trunk to eat.

"No," Thranduil said. He looked down at Ailunai's hands. "Maybe a little, but I will be glad to be away from the palace for a short time at least."

Ailunai smiled. "It is a long way to silver moose territory."

"It is good weather," Thranduil answered.

"It is a pity I cannot go with you," Ailunai said. "But my mentor, Ravia, expects me back at her side soon. I still have too much to learn."

"If only we were servants and could be rid of duty!" Thranduil lamented. "We might spend all our time together."

"Then we might not like each other as much," Ailunai teased, and poked him.

Thranduil leaned close to kiss her. They leaned apart as Jade and Sapphire sat down on their tree trunk and Harune handed round plates of smoked meat and salad.

"I am leaving," Jade said.

Thranduil looked at her in surprise. "But the party has only just begun."

"I am leaving Mirkwood," Jade said.

"I wish I could," Thranduil replied.

"The royal council decided that the diplomatic work I have done in the Iron Hills makes me the best person to continue the job," Jade explained. "So I have been promoted to ambassador and must return within the week."

Thranduil swallowed his food. "You must write and tell me more about the dwarves."

"At the rate you wish me to write, little brother, I will be wholly responsible for the price of paper rising!" Jade exclaimed.

"Does Onyx know you are going back?" Thranduil asked, glancing about for his brother.

Jade tossed her head. "Ah, that brother of mine is too wrapped up in his own affairs to care about my bettering our relationship with the Iron Hills, but he will happily wield the steel that comes from dwarvish mines and declare it beautiful!"

Thranduil laughed. He turned his head as he heard a cheer and saw a growing cluster of elves in the corner of the glade opposite him. He left his plate on the tree trunk and pushed his way to the front of the cluster and joined Nimrethil and Jailil. Hyrondal and Onyx were facing each other with drawn swords.

Nimrethil waved her salad fork in the air and cried, "Crush him, Hyrondal! Tear out his jeering tongue!"

"That is my brother you are insulting, you know," Thranduil said.

Nimrethil narrowly avoided smacking his nose. "You are supportive of your friends, I must say!"

In the center of the ring of gathered elves, Onyx and Hyrondal ran at each other. They crossed swords up high, then down low and met shoulder to shoulder. They broke apart and moved together and Thranduil frowned at their pace, knowing Onyx was being kind to Hyrondal.

But Hyrondal seemed to know he was being played and doubled his pace. "It is a game if you hold back, Onyx!"

"It would end in a second if I did not," Onyx replied. "I cannot let these good people down."

Hyrondal narrowed his eyes. "I did not agree to a duel only to be more humiliated than if I were defeated!"

Onyx laughed at the irritation on Hyrondal's face. For several minutes he and Hyrondal went in circles until a slight shift in Onyx's stances said he was ready to end it.

Onyx bounded at Hyrondal, thrusting and slashing. Their swords grated together as Hyrondal parried and heaved. Onyx slid back a few inches in surprise as Hyrondal stepped away.

"Oh my!" Hyrondal said. "You will have to fight for this victory!" He winked at Nimrethil chanting his name.

Thranduil blinked as Onyx and Hyrondal leapt back together, their feet a blur as their bodies lunged and twisted straight, their blades streaming sparks and their wrists guiding their deft movements. They used their feet and knees and elbows and shoulders as weapons as the combat turned rough and their bodies turned onto extensions of their swords.

Onyx slammed his shoulder into Hyrondal and sent the elf tumbling back. Hyrondal stood dazed, shaking his head and wavering as Onyx charged down on him. His parries grew weaker though Onyx's remained as sure as ever.

Hyrondal raised his head as his hair swung out behind him and he leapt back from Onyx. His eyes were darker. He moved with the gentle breeze and the ground as if it were a part of him. Strength surged into his strikes and his sword seemed to meld into his wrist. He moved between angles faster than Onyx could parry and, with a final thrust, knocked Onyx flat and stood over him with his sword pointed at his chest.

The elves cheered and Nimrethil shrieked even as Hyrondal offered his hand to Onyx and helped him to his feet.

"You will be sore tomorrow," Onyx said ruefully.

"I am sore right now," Hyrondal said, and winced. He staggered away from Onyx and joined Thranduil.

"What happened?" Thranduil exclaimed. "You went from being an apprentice to a master!"

"It was incredible," Hyrondal said softly. "It was like—like the trees showed what would happen before it happened through the feel of Onyx moving on the dirt."

"If you were not so attached to your sword, you would make an exceptional tree oracle," Ailunai said.

"Is it possible to be a sword-loving tree oracle?" Hyrondal asked and laughed at the affront in Ailunai's blue eyes.

Thank you for reading! Please do share your precious thoughts. I hope My Prince offered you some escapism in troubled times.

Next Chapter: Thranduil both fails and succeeds in his task.