Around him, their people continued their celebrating with incredible sincerity, and his heart sung even louder to hear it. Thranduil could never get tired of that sound. Never.

Already elves were streaming around in every direction, every single one of them looking like a flower brought to life. Gleaming and glowing and smiling and laughing. The great doors leading to the forest had already been asked to keep themselves open, and the merrymaking elves skipped and passed through them in both directions.

Thranduil could feel his son approaching, and hear his laughter long before he could see him and assumed that he had managed to track down his mortal friends. Legolas came to a stop near him, one hand on each hobbit's shoulders, "Ada, have you seen Avaleina? Our dear friends here want her to draw on their faces."

Thranduil cast his eyes around the crowd momentarily but quickly discovered she was not where he had last spotted her, he gestured vaguely towards a grove of tree's within the walls, "Last I saw she was over that way."

Legolas beamed at him, "Thank you," and then to the hobbits as he shepherded them away again, "Come, she won't have gone that far yet."

To his credit, the dwarf bowed in what Thranduil had learned over the years to be of greeting and respect before he followed after Legolas.

He was mildly surprised when Estel lingered behind, Thranduil had fully expected him to retreat to the safety of communal blame amongst his brothers, "Yes?"

The man looked like he might actually have been on the brink of passing out, "I understand this might not be the best time, but I was wondering if your majesty would take the time to have a talk with me."

Interesting.

Thranduil took a few steps out of the direct firelight and gestured for Estel to do the same, "Very well. What would you like to talk about, King Elessar?"

He took a deep breath, "If you intend to express your anger with me, I ask that you do it now and away from Legolas so that his already troubled heart won't be further wounded."

"Do you think I should be angry with you?" Thranduil asked, crossing his arms. He could not help but remember the summers Estel has spent in Greenwood at Elrond's request for various lessons, it felt like he had asked this same question like this many times before.

As a rule, he tried not to be angry with children, or at the very least not show it. They needed to understand why they had done something wrong, instead of just being punished for it. There was no point in punishing somebody for something they didn't even understand. Even human children.

With what appeared to be a small internal struggle, Estle forced himself to meet his eyes, "You know as well as I do, my King, that once Legolas decides he's going to do something there is nothing anybody can do to stop him. If you genuinely believe that Legolas could have been offered a chance to put an end to the darkness and evil that plagued the world for so long, and somehow been swayed from it, then I suppose you do have cause to be angry."

The man seemed to force himself to swallow and take a breath, before continuing, "And if that is not why you are angry, then you should tell me. And then give me ten to fifteen minutes to practice another speech."

Thranduil almost smiled at that, almost. "I don't have the energy to be angry with you right now, I'm saving it all for when I next see Mithrandir."

Estel seemed like the might pass out again, but this time from relief, "I find myself being more and more thankful every day that I'm not a wizard."

"Yes," Thranduil said, stepping back towards the light and the celebration, "You should be."

.0.

Gimli knew from experience that the whistle Legolas let out was one meant to locate somebody, and he wasn't surprised in the slightest when Avaleina appeared from around a large and round tree.

The colors of her outfit and Legolas' were the same, but switched. Where Legolas' were mostly blue with merry yellow accents, Avaleina's was mostly yellow with blue accents. The skirt seemed to have multiple feather-light layers to it, the top being yellow and the other increasingly darker shades of blue.

Unlike any formalwear Gimli had ever seen, the top did not cover the entire upper body. A beautifully patterned but rather simple blouse of unending yellow ended so that a little less than the bottom half of her stomach showing, with small colorful gems carved in the shapes of flower tangled on chains where fabric normally would have been.

If she had been anyone but an elf the wound from when the arrived would have still been too tender and scared for anything like that.

Whoever had made their outfits had co-ordinated it beautifully, Gimli had to admit the pair were stunning. Even before he watched the way they smiled at each other, as Avaliena came to stand at Legolas' side, playfully bumping her hip against his.

"Our dear hobbits have expressed a desire to have their faces marked," Legolas said, idly pulling a stray twig from her hair, "I assumed you wouldn't mind."

Her eyes lit up with glee she turned back to the rest, and then she turned a wide smile directly to Gimli, "Do you want to go first, Master Dwarf?"

Pippin seemed even more enthusiastic about that idea than him going first, and so Gimli hesitantly found himself asking, "What would you draw?"

Without hesitation she sat in the grass, Gimli assumed it was so he and the hobbits could hear her better over the loud music, "Well, traditionally, my people used to write prayers and hopes they wanted the Valar to notice on their faces. But we long ago gave up that practice and faith, and so instead we draw something that's supposed to represent something about yourself at a glance."

"Can anybody draw one?" Pippin asked again, looking around at all the runes and drawing the Elves faces around them wore.

"No," Legolas answered, kneeling down so that the Hobbits could take a better look at his face, "You have to be gifted the right by the elders of the community. Usually there's only a certain number of people allowed the right at a time."

"Why?" Gimli found himself asking, probably right before Pippin did, the youngest hobbit gave his cousin another suppieror look like he always did when somebody else asked questions.

Legolas laughed again and looked to Avaleina, "I'm not the one who swore the oath."

Avaleina thought about it for a while, and Gimli could always admire somebody who took the time to explain things carefully. Then she blushed noticeably even to mortal eyes, "I forget all of the Westorn words."

Legolas didn't hesitate, "Say it in whichever language you want, and I'll translate. I've had lots of practice at speaking Westorn as of late."

And so she did, a tongue that was clearly elvish but not the kind that Gimli had heard Legolas speak with Aragorn, Ganfalf, the people of Rivendell and of the Golden Wood.

Even Legolas seemed to think about it for a second, "I don't think there is a Westorn word for some of it. Hold on." At least that seemed to make Avaleina feel better.

The two muttered between themselves once or twice before Legoals finally said: "The core of the practice has always been to wish and show goodwill and the most heartfelt wishes on parts of your life, since the tradition was started. The core of you should be protected and nurtured, it should be depicted to the world in an accurate but warm manner, otherwise it's useless. To show it incorrectly or with the wrong connection to the earth, could bring ruin upon whatever is shown."

"Huh." Was all Pippin said.

Gimli thought about it for a few seconds and the others allowed it and began talking amongst themselves and helping the hobbits to decide what they might want when it was their turn. After a few minutes of discussion, Avaleina turned back to Gimli, "Have you decided?"

He shrugged, "Could you draw the lonely mountain on one side, and the Blue Mountains on the other?"

"Yes," Ava seemed almost offended at his lack of faith, "Anything else?"

"If I trace ruins in the dirt, can you copy them to my face?"

She seemed more pleased by this, "Probably. One way to find out."

.0.

Ferdan wandered back through the gate from the forest and into the fenced-in fields and courtyards of the stronghold and heard the echoes of Legolas and Avaleina's laughter coming from a crop of nearby tree's. He whistled, loud and clear: Upwards tone for two beats, then down for once.

A question: 'Where are you?'

Four whistles responded immediately in perfect imitation. Pinpointed, Ferdan made his way over to their cluster easily. Not surprised when he found Legolas, Avaleinas, Eloiassa, and Farlen trying to teach all the visitors some of their dances.

They stopped the lesson, and the hobbits stayed to the platters of food that were strewn around, Legolas asked, "Yes?"

Ferdan pointed to Avaleina and then indicated that she should come forward with hits finger, "I need to talk to somebody about a spider raid they weren't supposed to be on."

She looked at him in confusion for a second, since he had already yelled and punished her for that stunt. But wisely she didn't point it out and quickly schooled her expression to mild fear.

"Ohhh," Farlen taughtened with a sly and smug smile, "I told you that you were going to get it for that stunt. Other than that fang, anyway."

Avaleina rolled her eyes and tipped the bottom of the wine glass he held so loosely in his hand so that half of it spilled, "And I told you not to be so irritating."

Ferdan just crossed his arms at their interaction, but internally he held nothing but affection for these rambunctious and impossibly experienced warriors. Even if he did want to strangle half of them half the time.

He turned on his heel and walked away from the group and far enough that eavesdropping friends would not be able to hear over the sound of the music, "I don't suppose you know the reason that Jah'har is supposedly on his way here right now?"

The look of complete bewilderment was sincere enough he knew her answer before she even spoke, "No, none."

"Thought I should ask."

"What do we do?"

"You are going to do nothing about it. You're going to go back to dancing, and just let it happen. Thranduil and I have it sorted out."

"Let me help." She said, pleaded almost.

He placed two hands on either side of her shoulders, closer to her neck so that he wouldn't stab himself on her decorative wood, "Avaleina, you need to stop helping. For a minute. For a night. Just stop, relax, have fun."

She looked like she might be about to argue so he spoke louder, and moved his arms back to his sides, "You keep telling everybody they need to rest, so go rest. That's a direct order, captain."

Avaleina glared at him and took an obviously deep breath to hold some undoubtedly sassy words, but wisely she didn't say anything other than, "Alright, fine."

"Good. Now go back to having fun, should we need you, which we won't, we'll have someone come get you."

"Alright, fine. Anything else?"

"Yes," And this time Ferdan smiled at her, "Remember that everything is going to be okay."

"That doesn't look like scolding to me!" Farlen called from the group, both of them showed him a rude gesture to the laughter of the others.

.

Aragorn had never actually been able to hear the tree's, but he had gotten pretty good at figuring out when they were talking to Legolas or any other wood elf, really. If you paid close enough attention you could always watch as their keen elven eyes were less focused than usual, and they seemed to listen very closely to something his ears could never hear.

Ava noticed Aragorn's attention, while Legolas seemed to listen a little while longer, "The king wants us all to come back to him."

As a group, they all began the return journey from where they had strayed far from the wall and back to the main fire where they had first seen King Thranduil. Only a minute into their journey, Avaleina kissed Legolas on the cheek and quickly vanished into the treetops above them.

As they drew closer to the center of the celebration the number of Silvan elves clustered around grew steadily, each as tastefully colorful as the last. All of them with a smile on their faces.

Once they finally reached the center, Aragorn was mildly surprised to discover that apparently, the reason that Avaleina had been called away from the rest was so that Thranduil could braid her hair.

The center of the huge clearing across from the one that held the fire was completely empty except for where around thirty small platforms had been placed in a tiered and staggered circle formations with plenty of space between them. Four in the first ring, eight in the second, and sixteen in the third.

"What's that for?" Pippin asked nobody in particular, eyes completely focused on the clearing. It was only Merry's knowledge of his cousin's attention habits and quick reflexes that kept Pippin from walking right into the leg of a table.

"You'll see," Legolas answered with a laugh, coming to stand on the other side of Pippin to lessen the chances of a head injury for the last few feet of their journey.

Avaleina expectedly smiled brightly at them, even while Lord Ferdan gave mild criticisms of Thranduil's braiding technique. Aragorn had never pictured Lord Ferdan to be the sort to even have much of a braiding technique, especially not one on such an intricate design.

Without looking up Thranduil muttered, "I should have let that snake poison take you and rid me of your insistent opinions when I have never once asked for them."

Unphased, Ferdan replied, "And then nobody would have been there to save you and that thick-headed stubborn monstrosity you call a personality." He took a drink of wine before continuing, "Then where would that leave us? Trapped in the Halls of Mandos together."

"You don't know for certain that the dragon would have killed me -"

Ferdan scoffed loudly, Legolas and Avaleina gave a suggestion of an attempt to stifle their laughter, "Oh, I absolutely do know for certain! Who was the one who had to shoot a dragon in the eye because the other had already been snatched up?"

"I was about to stab him in the foot anyway, he would have dropped me. Besides," Thranduil paused for a moment in concentration as he put the finishing touches on Avaleina's braids, "Who was the one to think of flaying the bottom of his mouth and down his neck?"

"Who was the one that -"

"Children, stop your bickering" Galion scolded, appearing out of nowhere, "You're supposed to be on your best behavior in front of the guests."

"This is our best behavior," They answered together without planning to, at least that's what Aragorn assumed by their momentary surprised but delighted expressions. And then the two of them began placing dozens of blue and yellow flowers into the braids.

Aragorn glanced over to Gimli to see if he was as surprised as he had been the first time he had seen Thranduil and Ferdan interacting as friends and not King and Weapons Master, he did. More surprised, somehow.

Galion rolled his eyes, "We're just about to get everybody settled, are you ready?"

Thranduil stepped away from the chair, finished with his part of the masterpiece and waiting for Ferdan to finish his, "Well, I'm all finished."

"I will be done in a moment, stop getting so stressed out," Ferdan told Galion, while still adding flower chains around her hair like it was his born duty. "There, done."

Avaleina stood up as Galion vanished, only after finishing the rest of Ferdan's wine.

Gently she felt the back of her head for their work, and then turned to give them both Thranduil and Ferdan a huge smile and a kiss on the cheek, "Thank you, I appreciate you both."

"You should," Was all Ferdan said before he disappeared in the same direction that Galion had. Thranduil just kissed her on the temple in return as he too walked away from the group, towards the clearing surrounded by platforms.

Around them, many others began doing the same.

Ava nearly skipped over to Aragorn and the rest of them, but stopped directly in front of Legolas, "Are you sure you don't remember all the steps?"

"Certain." He answered, "Not all of us are trained dancers, or an ancient King who once had much too much time on his hands."

0.0.0.

Gently he began herding Aragorn, his brothers, Gimli and the hobbits towards the clearing as well.

Once the others were on their way, Legolas stopped briefly to whisper in Avaleina's ear, "You look absolutely breathtaking, by the way. More than usual, anyways."

And she did, better than anything he had ever seen in his life, he wouldn't even need to breath if he could just look at her. So many endless nights he had been kept away by the tormented thought that she would by gone by the time he got home.

Yes here she stood next to him, looking exactly the way she did.

"So do you," Avaleina replied with sincerity, "I missed having you here for celebrations. I missed having you here in general."

"Will you marry me?" Legolas asked quality, for possibly the thousandth time. Fully aware he was getting a few 'stealth' side glanced from his friends.

She smiled at him, that special smile just for him and somehow it found a few last scaprs of ait to take from his lungs, "Of course."

If they hadn't been in public he would have kissed her. He would have told her he loved in a forward manner, at the very least held her closer to him. Instead he smiled back and said, "Good."

It was only then that he finished leading the way to a nearby platform while Avaleina disappeared into the crowd, probably in search of his father.

"Up the ladder," Legolas instructed to Gimli and the hobbits specifically, because the others had begun scaling the rungs of the platforms with ease as did most of the elves around them.

Up they went.

They climbed onto the physical platform and Gimli wasn't entirely too pleased to find himself nearly nine feet in the air, but the view was spectacular. From this height, the elves underneath them that appeared to be getting themselves organized in some manner looked almost like flowers.

He found Avaleina in the crowd and watched as she slipped through the people to catch up with King Thranduil, but she did it in a manner Gimli could only assume meant she was trying to sneak up on him.

The attempt proved unsuccessful, as she drew close the King turned around and managed to snatch her out from behind the other elves she had been trying to hide behind. She screamed for a second in surprise, and then with laughter as King Thranduil slung her over his shoulder upside down like a deer, careful to ensure her dress did not render her immodest.

When they reached the center of the circle, he simply released her legs and she flipped back to the ground with amazing amounts of grace. Ava laughed when she landed and turned to push at his shoulder, King Thranduil did not budge a single inch.

She threw up her hands in defeat and Gimli heard Legolas laugh, he looked up to his friend and was surprised to find he had never seen that expression before. When he looked back to Thranduil and Avaleina the two of them came to stand across from each other, while they waited for everything else to get organized.

"What are we waiting for?" Pippin asked.

"A dance, a very, very, old dance," Legolas answered, "Just wait."

Gimli cast his eyes in every direction as the elves arranged themselves around perfectly spaced apart in the circles. Within the minute, all of the audience watching drew silent. And those below them all drew completely still.

Gimli looked back towards King Thranduil and Avaleina at the center of it all. She seemed to be struggling with great effort against a laugh. He wondered what the King was saying

Then the music started.

A few slow strings at first, floating around the night like invisible stars.

As one, all the elves slowly began to dance as slow as the music. Each of the elves moving in near stationary circles with movements that still managed to be absolutely amazing.

The only elves that seemed to actually dance with each other were Thranduil and Avaleina, perhaps because they were the only two in their circle. Even then they didn't touch one another. The movements and hand motions were clearly meant to be done together, but still, they did not touch. Hands, legs, and feet came within inches of each other and then the next move started in the opposite direction.

They all began to sing, taking turns between the female and male elves. Every voice wrapped so tightly around music notes it was like they were two parts of one whole.

The music drew quicker, and so did the dancing and singing. Each move bled into the next so perfectly and seamlessly that none of them seemed to belong to an individual. They almost looked like hundreds of flowers caught in a tornado.

And then they began to move faster each level turning perfectly in a circle, but each tier in opposite ways.

The music grew faster still and each circle began intermingling with each other in so many ways it was dizzying. No elf stayed in any one place longer than a second and a half, and he couldn't see any specific faces amongst the crowd.

Even one second of timing off would spell disaster for everybody participating.

It was amazing, stunning, and inspiring all at once. It was uplifting, magical, and slightly nauseating.

The music quickened and somehow so did the dancing elves, their voices and music so apart of nature and the world around them he hardly even noticed it anymore.

He didn't know how long they danced, and frankly, he didn't much care but suddenly it all drew to a final silence. Right before hundreds of elves from the tree's, platforms, and other places all around cheered and screamed loudly.

.

Ferdan was leaning against a tree on the path, whistling a tune to himself when Jah'har and the few who came with him strolled up. At least they knew better than to try and avoid and Silvan Elf in their own forest, "Strange hour to be visiting, Jah'har, don't you think?"

The other elf shrugged, the scar on his head shining in the moonlight, "I came to warn you."

"About?"

"The Chieftain is angry about the books. He's looking up the old laws on possession numbers, I'm fairly certain it's four." He almost managed to be nochalanchent about his widening stance, "I'm also fairly certain with his new acquisitions, King Thranduil has six, perhaps seven."

Ferdan took a few steps closer to Jah'har, absolutely ignoring when the other's companions drew their swords, "And who would be telling the Chieftain how many books they thought were in King Thranduil's possession?"

Jah'har shrugged, "I know not."

"You came all this way here to warn us? Long way to travel for a message."

"I came here to offer you something on behalf of my father," Jah'har said taking a step closer to Ferdan, "The opportunity to the King to smuggle some books out, without relinquishing his claim upon them until after any council meetings might be called."

Ferdan made sure he didn't hesitate, "The old books burned with our city. There's no law breaking here/ Except for you as its a crime to accuse a King of such thing in his own lands."

Jah'har spread his arms out, "Then take me."

Ferdan didn't move, he didn't like being threatened. However subtly, "Thanks for the warning, the Kingdom's closed until further notice. Run along."

He stood there long enough to ensure they were long gone.

If anyone is still out there I can't wait to hear your thoughts!