Thorin and Thessa were led through many open-air corridors and across tree branch walkways. Eventually they were pushed into a large throne room. The Elvenking Thranduil sitting upon his throne, looking arrogant and bored. Thessa was shaking like a leaf as she was shoved forward. They came to a halt at the small landing that had its own set of stairs that led up to the king's throne. The king eyed the two prisoners before him, focusing more on the dwarf.
"Some may imagine that a noble quest is at hand," Thranduil began, staring at Thorin. "A quest to reclaim a homeland and slay a dragon. I myself, suspect a more prosaic motive. Attempted burglary, or something of that ilk." He looked to Thorin for confirmation, but the dwarf king remained silent.
"You have found a way in," he continued. "You seek that which would bestow upon you the right to rule. A King's jewel. The Arkenstone. It is precious to you beyond measure, I understand that. There are gems in the mountain that I too desire. White gems of pure starlight." The Elvenking turned to look at the dwarf. "I offer you my help."
"I am listening," Thorin said, looking defiantly at the elf before him.
" I will let you go, if you but return what is mine," Thranduil offered.
"A favor for a favor," Thorin mused.
"You have my word. One King to another." Thorin became extremely angry all of a sudden, Thessa was shocked at the change in his demeanor.
"I would not trust, Thranduil, the great King, to honor his word until the end of all days be upon us!" he shouted. "You, lack all honor! I have seen how you treat your friends! We came to you once, starving, homeless, seeking your help. But you turned your back! You turned away from the suffering of my people and the inferno that destroyed us!" Thessa heard him begin to yell in Khuzdûl. "May you die in dragon fire!"
"Do not talk to me of dragon fire!" the Elvenking hissed. "I know it's wrath and ruin. I have faced the great serpents of the North." Thessa and Thorin watched as burns and a cloudy, white eye appeared on the elf's face, obviously concealed with magic, before it faded again.
"I warned your grandfather of what his greed would summon, but he would not listen," Thranduil ground out, walking back up to his throne. "You are just like him. Stay here if you will, and rot. A hundred years is a mere blink in a life of an elf. I'm patient. I can wait." Guards came up to Thorin, wrestling him toward the door and away from Thessa. Thranduil turned to the small woman in front of him, his eyes resting on a familiar arm band. Rage and realization boiled up inside him as he quickly stood.
"HOW DARE YOU ENTER MY REALM, SERPENT!" Thessa shrunk away from the rage of the king. "I vowed that the next sea monster I came across, I would make an example of!" He fumed at the woman in front of him. He stepped down from his throne and came to stand before her. Thessa felt her head snap to the right as the Elvenking struck her.
"That is for the atrocities your kind inflicted upon my family," he growled, returning to his throne. He turned to the guard next to him. "Take it back to the dungeons while I find another suitable prison for it. Unbind its mouth and hands so that it may weep before the dwarves. But cover your ears when you go near it, and use deadly force if necessary." He waved his hand at them dismissively and they were hauled back to the dungeons.
Thessa watched the guards put something in their ears and then untie her gag and the rope around her hands. However, they still roughly threw her back onto the floor of her cell once they had finished.
"Thessa!" Thorin called out to her. She watched the elf lave her cell and then turned her attention to Thorin.
"Thorin!" she sobbed, breaking into tears. She let out heart-wrenching cries that stabbed at Thorin's heart as he could only watch her in anguish.
"We'll get out of here, don't worry," he said softly, trying to calm her. Thessa looked over to him again, realizing that this might be the last time she would be with him. She didn't want to spend that time crying, so she tried to pull herself together. She was a princess, a general, and a mermaid, dammit! She would not let these elves get to her.
"Thorin," she called, wiping her tears away. She slid her arm band off her bicep and went to the bars of her cell. She set the band on the ground and slid it across the stone to Thorin. She watched him pick it up, smiling sadly as the blue gems glowed. "Take it with you when you escape from here."
"Thessa, no I can't just-" he started to say.
"Promise me!" she yelled. Thorin looked at her, startled.
"Okay," he conceded. "But we are all getting out of here. Bilbo hasn't been captured and I know he can help us in some way." Thessa smiled at him sadly. She would never leave this place, but she could find a way to get him out.
"I have not used magic without that band before," she continued. "I know I am stronger without it, but it is unpredictable. I will likely fall prey to my own emotions, and I don't know what will happen." She glanced around the cell she was in, sighing. "I will make sure you all get out."
"And how would you do that, lass?" Bofur asked from the cell above her.
"I'm not sure yet," she sighed heavily. She caught Thorin's gaze across the stone walkway.
"Thessa, take the band back," he said. "We will all make it out of here, you included."
"Thorin, you must take my band with you, I cannot allow it to fall into Thranduil's hands. I would feel comforted knowing that it is with you," she finished, giving him a pleading look. Thorin just looked at her, feeling utterly useless. He was about to say something to her when they heard footsteps. The red-haired elleth, Tauriel, had returned, and she was speaking with Kili.
"The stone in your hand," she said quietly, "what is it?" Kili looked at the small black stone he had been tossing in his hand.
"It is a talisman," he answered. "A powerful spell lies upon it. If anyone but a dwarf reads the runs on this stone, they will be forever cursed." He thrust the stone toward Tauriel and she took a quick step back, turning to leave. "Or not," Kili added with a smirk, watching her come toward him again. "Depending on whether or not you believe that kind of thing, it's just a token." Kili gave a chuckle.
"Its a rune stone," he continued. "My mother gave it to me so that I'd remember my promise." He glanced at the stone and tossed in the air, catching it again.
"What promise?" Tauriel asked.
"That I would come back to her," Kili smiled. "She worries, she thinks I'm reckless." Kili sent Tauriel a roguish grin as he tossed the stone again.
"Are you?" she asked him with a small smile. Kili looked back at her and tossed the stone again.
"Nah." He went to catch the stone, but it rolled away and Tauriel stopped it with her foot, bending to pick it up. "Sounds like quite the party they're having up there." They could all here the sound of music and laughter from the halls above.
"It is Mereth Nuin Giliath, the Feast of Starlight," she explained. "All light is sacred to the Eldar, but what wood elves love best is the light of the stars."
"I always thought of it as a cold light, remote and far away," Kili said, eyeing the elleth.
"It is memory," she contested, "precious and pure. Like your promise." She handed Kili his rune stone with a smile. She looked up to a skylight far above them. "I have walked there sometimes, beyond the forest and into the night. I have seen the world fall away, like a white light forever filled the air."
"I saw a fire moon once," Kili said, drawing her attention back to the dwarf behind her. "It rose over the pass near Dunland. Huge! Red and gold it was. It filled the sky." He smiled. "We were an escort for some merchants from Ered Luin. They were trading in silverwork for furs. We took the Greenway South, keeping the mountain to our left." Tauriel was listen attentively, leaning down closer to his level. "And then it appeared. This huge fire moon lighting our path. I wish I could show you the caverns."
"That is quite the story," Tauriel smiled. She turned to leave, but stopped when he caught her hand through the bars.
"Tauriel, please tell me, what are they going to do to Thessa?" Kili pleaded. He wanted to help his soon-to-be-aunt in any way he could. Tauriel balked at his question, however, a look of disgust on her face.
"That monster will be placed in a cell befitting its crimes," Tauriel said. Kili's eyes widened.
"Please, she is our friend, not a monster. She doesn't deserve to be treated so harshly," Kili tried to explain. "And she hasn't committed any crimes!"
"Those sea serpents have no place in this world," Tauriel ground out, turning on her heel to leave. Kili could not believe that they thought that of Thessa. He called down to her from his cell, unaware that Legolas had been watching them from the shadows above.
"Thessa, I'm so sorry," Kili said, sounding defeated. Thessa sighed.
"Its okay, Kili. Their hate is clouded by the mistake of one mermaid long ago. Had she realized that it was Oropher she had tried to seduce, I would not be in this mess." She gave a sad chuckle. "Its funny actually, part of our job, as ordained by the Valar, was to watch over the elves."
"What are going on about, lass?" Dwalin asked.
"When the elves sailed West to the Undying Lands, the mermaids in the Great Sea protected the boats and their passengers." Legolas' eyes widened, that couldn't possibly be true. "But whenever men had discovered our presence there, and in other seas, we were hunted down. They killed us for our tails or captured us to keep for entertainment. We had to hide from the world. We did it so well that people forgot we existed." She sighed again, looking down at her hands. "It doesn't matter that I am innocent. Thranduil hates me and my kind, and that is partially why I shall never feel safe in this world. Because people like him spread that hate and malice, and others come to kidnap us from our homes, like they did me."
Legolas was shocked by what she was saying. She wasn't vindictive or cruel like his father had described her kind to be. He looked down at the cells, the dwarves had all gone silent, listening to her speak to the dark-haired one.
"I will never see my mother again now," Thessa said sadly, wiping a tear from her eye. "She tried to dissuade me, you know, from taking command of our defenses. She didn't want the heir to her throne at risk. Turns out she was right." Thessa gave a watery smile, even though she was breaking on the inside. "The story of what Thranduil did to that mermaid is a story that is told to young children in our kingdom, to dissuade them from leaving home or being bad. I had forgotten the story myself for many years, but I remember my nanny telling me that if I ever behaved badly, that the wood elves would come for me and pull all my scales out." She looked over all the cells, seeing them facing her. "Please know that no matter what happens to me here, I love all of you, and I am the luckiest mermaid in the world. I found not only my soulmate, but the best friends I could have ever asked for." She started crying once more, and she could here the other dwarves crying quietly as well.
Legolas couldn't bring himself to listen anymore. Not only was she innocent, kidnapped from her home, and abused by his guards, but she was a princess as well. Guilt began to take hold of him. Everything he had been told by his father was a lie. He hadn't known that his father had brutalized a mermaid the way he had, and then to find out that the story of his father's malice was a terrifying bedtime story they told their children. He felt sick. He had let her be treated so badly. He had to share what he had learned with Tauriel. He stalked away from the dungeons and went to find his captain of the guard, intent on righting his father's wrongs.