A light and loving kiss was placed on the top of Elrond's head exactly where his headaches always started, before Celebrian circled her arms around his shoulders from behind while she laid her cheek over the stop she had just kissed. "What are you working so diligently at, my love?"
Elornd sighed and leaned back in the chair so that she could wrap her arms even tighter around him, "This translation. It's an absolute nightmare, I've never seen so many languages used interchangeably throughout one solid piece of text."
She adjusted her head enough so that she could see the text that lay in front of him on the table, he felt her head jerk slightly in surprise but Celebrian said nothing.
So Elrond turned around enough to see her face, "What's wrong?"
"That's Thranduil's handwriting," She said with eyebrows still furrowed with wonder.
"What? How can you tell?"
Celebrain laughed lightly, "Because he's been writing to me for hundreds of years."
"Yes, but how could you know that's his writing in these languages? I don't even know what most of these are." He glared at the page and then added bitterly, "Yet."
"Because when he writes to me he uses some of the same words in these languages. Its a habit, I think. I'm not even sure he means to do it half of the time."
"And when he does mean to do it?"
"You're looking at it, I imagine."
The both looked back to the pages, Celebrain the only one with any degree of fondness.
Elrond asked, "What language even are these? Some sort of Mirkwood code?"
"Greenwood," Celebrina corrected somewhat tersely before continuing, "They're all Avari languages."
"They're what?" Elrond demanded, shocked in all manners.
"Avari languages."
"How on Arda did he learn even one Avari language? Yet here he is knowing at least four of them?"
Celebrian pursed her lips in thought about how much truth she should tell her husband, Elrond could not help but notice the only time there were any secrets between them at all was when Thranduil was involved. After a few minutes of somewhat tense silence Celebrian answered, "Just because Greenwood is not necessarily close allies with us, does not mean the woods and their people do not have any friends."
Elrond stared at her openly and blinked several times in an effort to digest this new information. His mental images of both Thranduil and the Avari could have never allowed for them to have peaceful interactions, especially not some sort of relationship.
Having learned from experience, Elrond kept these thoughts to himself, "Well, can you read it?"
Celebrain looked at him with slight suspicions, "That depends; where and how did you get this?"
"It was in a book your father lent to me, take your accusations to him."
Celebrian picked the book up off of the desk and peered at the cover, and then flipped through a few of the pages. Turning the book a few times in different directions to peer at the hastily scrawled notes in the margins. "Thranduil must have given this to him. It has advice and a few cures for the various ways the darkness can infect warriors and their hearts."
She closed the book and put it back on the desk, the fond smile back on her face, "He must have been worried that soon Ada and his warriors would have to start facing this new darkness soon. He wanted them to be as prepared as possible for when the time came, I imagine this has some of the treatment plans for Thranduil's own people."
Elrond spoke without being prompted, "Celeborn suggested that I read through the contents to be better prepared to help any in need of healing that might end up coming my way. It even has a section on the Morgul weapons wielded by the fallen 9 kings. What I might ever need with that information, I do not even wish to imagine."
"Trust Thranduil to be prepared for every contingency, just in case."
"So can you translate it?" Elrond asked again, adopting his best pleading expression.
Celebrain surveyed him from above with a smug look on her face, "Probably, I'll need the help of the tree's that grew from his planted crowns out in the garden."
"What?" Elrond asked with complete beweidlermnt, "How are they going to help you translate Avari languages?"
"Because they soaked up Thranduil's magic for an entire year each. Plus, when he was here when Legolas was still small he spoke to them about helping me read the letters in case he uses words that I do not know."
Elrond could not help but stare at her in slight disbelieving shock, "He what? How? How could the tree's still remember such an order from so long ago when Thranduil is so far away and has not visited for many, many long years."
Because," Celebrian said as she gently placed another kiss on the top of his head, "Thranduil is not just the King of the Greenwood forest, Thranduil is the King of the Tree's. And they can all tell the moment he even comes to a breath near them."
"Well that's beyond alarming," Elrond muttered, "I think I might have nightmares."
"Maybe if you put more effort into getting along with Thranduil, it might bring you comfort as it does to me."
"It's unlikely."
