Legolas tried not to stare at his father. Tried to. Wasn't very successful about the task, but he had tried. Hardly a year the necromancer had been gone, and already another darkness had stepped seamlessly in to replace it. This 'master beyond the woods' had long been rumored about, but now they had proof.
Hard-won proof.
Thranduil had hardly moved since he had finished reading the report of all the eavesdropped new collected by a few previously captured and then freed elves. His hands were clasped together and rested against his face, elbows folded on the top of his desk. As far as Legolas was aware, he had yet to blink.
He assumed his father was going through all the same avenues of thought Legolas had when he had read it himself several hours earlier. The master beyond the wood was apparently well known to many of the other world powers, but in secret.
Should they tell someone? And if so, who?
There was no one member of another realm they could tell with confidence word would not reach the new 'master' that they had become aware. And that would likely spell doom for all of his people. While all the other continued to look on impassively.
Legolas had immediately thought of telling Gandalf of this news, but after his involvement with the dragon and the dwarves, many in Greenwood were no convinced that Gandalf himself was not the master. Especially after he had vanished from the battle without a word to any elf, and continued to flit from one tragic happening to the next, always involved whenever the darkness seemed to hide itself away.
Pokeing. Prodding.
And leaving others to deal with the mess. And the loss.
And the bodies.
They could not even trust to tell Lord Elrond or Lord Celeborn, for no doubt both would immediately inform Lady Galadriel. Who could do any number of things with the information?
No. There was none they could trust.
Even if they did decide to tell any of them, who was to say they would even believe them?
They had not believed his father when he insisted that Sauron had not been truly defeated, that he would rise again. They had not believed them that the darkness his home face and was slowly losing to was not an example of their simple-minded weaknesses. They did not believe their word about the true and horrible nature of the darkness brewing in their woods.
They did not believe. They never had.
That was inconvenient.
Finally, Legolas could take it no more and broke the three-hour long silence. "Ada?"
After near another minute, Thranduil roused himself and finally broke the staring contest with his desk to look up at Legolas, "Yes, my leaf?"
He glanced down to the hastily scrawled messages across Thranduil's desk. Detailed reports followed by detailed opinions from various important elves form various important councils. "We're on our own still, aren't we?"
A ghost of a smile touched his father's lips and he half-breathed some sort of laugh, "Yes, my leaf. We are."
Legolas nodded, more so himself than anything else and looked out the window with a sigh.
The sun was shining today, the birds were chirping and happy. Laughter and song drifted in through his father's open window. A new day, a new darkness, a new evil, a new battle in this endless war.
"What are you going to do?"
He looked back to his father's desk as Thranduil gathered up all the loose pieces of paper and tossed them into a basket on the corner like he couldn't stand to look at it any longer. "If the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight just like I always have. I haven't lost yet."
.
I had meant to ask this on the last chapter, since it was chapter 80. Officially 50 chapter longer than this whole thing was supposed to be. 30 days has turned into over 365 and that's super cool, and I'm very thankful.
But I'm curious, what your favorite part / type of chapters you've read? What's something you would like to see more of in the future? Or a specific type of chapter or vibe of one you might like to see replicated, but like, in a different and new way?
Or anything else you want to tell me!
Can't wait to hear all of your thoughts!
