The last straw?
"Legolas?" Glorfindel gently asked when Legolas kept looking at the door. "What is it?" He asked when he noticed one of the twins pulled on his sleeve.
"Is Legolas' ada going to be all right?" Elrohir softly asked.
"I think he will be all right. He has your ada with him."
"Ada is the best." Elladan agreed.
"Shall we go and see how your naneth and gwathel are doing? I am sure they are very bored."
"Aye!" The twins grinned before they remembered Legolas.
"But what about Leggy?" Elrohir asked as he looked at Legolas.
"How about we make it your mission to make him smile again?" Glorfindel whispered as he crouched to he was at eye height with the elflings.
"Mission?" Elladan copied confused but full interest. "Sounds like something a warrior would do."
"Aye, it is." Glorfindel agreed while he could not help but smile. "I want you to do your best so that Legolas does not turn sad." Both of the twins nodded.
"When do we start?" Elladan asked.
"When we are back with your naneth." Glorfindel said and gently touched Legolas' shoulder when he stood next to him. "Legolas, will you come with me?"
"Aye." Legolas gave him a small nod. He held onto a fold from Glorfindel's robe as they made it back to the small parlour they used to sit in.
"Already done?" Celebrían asked when they entered the parlour.
"I am afraid so." Glorfindel nodded as he sat down next to the fireplace.
"Did something happen?" She softly asked when she noticed no one else entered.
"Aye." Glorfindel softly said before he lifted Legolas onto his lap.
"Ada fell again." Legolas whimpered before he buried his face in Glorfindel's broad chest. He gently hugged him while he softly stroked the pale blond hair.
"Thranduil got hurt again?"
"Just a little scrape on his face." Glorfindel replied. Even though he did not sound like it, Celebrían could see the worry pour from the crystal blue eyes. "Legolas? Would you like something?" He gently asked when Feren came in with a tray with tea.
"Elky." Legolas said in the robe.
"Hannon-le Feren, maybe a glass of milk would be in the liking of our caun." Feren bowed before he disappeared again. "Elladan? Elrohir? You know where to find Legolas' stuffed elk?"
"Aye!" Both of them replied.
"Do you want to get it for Legolas?"
"Aye!" The twins replied before they started to race off.
"No running!" Celebrían called after them. "What was that about?"
"I made a little thing with Elladan and Elrohir that they are going to try and make Legolas smile as much as possible."
"They seemed rather eager to do something." Celebrían let out a soft chuckle. "If it only was with more happier circumstances."
"Aye." Glorfindel nodded and watched as Feren put down a glass of milk, and only moments later, Elladan and Elrohir burst into the room.
"Legolas!" Both twins shouted as they skipped over to Glorfindel. Legolas slowly turned around to see why the twins shouted his name.
"Elky!" Legolas quietly said as he reached out for his stuffed elk. "Hannon-le." He said as he hugged elky close. Glorfindel helped Legolas sip some milk and after a little while, Elladan and Elrohir managed to convince Legolas to come and play with them.
It was not a comfortable 'ride' if that was how you should call it.
"Would you at least..."
"Nay." Elrond marched straight up to Thranduil's bedroom and put the stretcher down on the bed. "Stay down." He gently lifted Thranduil so that Hérion could pull the stretcher from underneath him. "Hérion? Could you fetch me some tea for Thranduil? If you ask that to Cervus, in the Halls of Healing, he knows what I need."
"Aye, hîr-nin." Hérion said and bowed before he left them. Elrond worked silently as he firstly stripped Thranduil from his shin protectors and boots before he undid him from the other pieces of armoury.
"Elrond?" Thranduil softly asked when Elrond was about to undo him from his tunic.
"What is it, Thranduil?" Elrond asked when he had removed the tunic.
"I could have undressed myself, you know?"
"I would have believed you, but I cannot trust your words anymore." Elrond gently said as he covered Thranduil with a blanket. "Now tell me, how many fingers do you see?"
"Tâd." Thranduil replied while a frown married his face. "That is not right, is it?"
"Nay." Elrond softly replied. It were again three fingers... "I want you to follow my finger, but keep your head still." Elrond held his finger in front of Thranduil's face and slowly moved it to the far left side of Thranduil's vision, so that Thranduil did not need to turn his head yet. He repeated this also with the right side, noting that the left side lagged just the slightest bit behind. "Does it hurt?"
"It is uncomfortable, but not painful."
"Does the brightness hurt?"
"Aye, but it has been worse."
"All right." Elrond closed two out of the three drapes in front of the windows. "Come in." Elrond called when there came a knock from the door.
"Aran-nin, hîr-nin." Feren greeted with a bow. "I do not hope I interrupted something, but I thought it was fair for you to know that caun Legolas seemed upset."
"I am aware." Elrond nodded.
"Is there anything I can provide you with?"
"Some tea for me, saes."
"Anything for you, aran-nin?"
"Nay." Elrond replied before Thranduil could do himself.
"I will return shortly." Feren bowed before he departed. On the same moment as Feren left, Hérion returned with a goblet of tea.
"Hannon-le, Hérion. You may return to the remaining time of your free afternoon." Elrond dismissed him after he handed over the goblet.
"Have a nice afternoon, aran-nin, hîr-nin." Hérion bowed before he left the two alone.
"Can you explain to me why you seemed not to see all the fingers I held up?"
"I am not sure. Sometimes I see spots dancing in my vision, other times everything just seems blurry." Thranduil softly confessed.
"Has this happened before?"
"The blurry edge at my vision, but not the black sports."
"I am going to discuss this thing with Cervus and Tegalad. I am sure Tegalad is capable of running Mirkwood and most of the paperwork for a while. I do not want you to strain yourself, and especially not your eyes. So no heavy reading or anything related. I think for now you still can attend councils. But no reading, for now." Elrond mused out loud.
"I do not wish for the councillors to get involved." Thranduil objected.
"I am afraid that is not your call anymore." Elrond ground out and handed Thranduil the goblet.
"You have no right!"
"I might not, but would gladly fetch Cervus for you. He does have the right to make calls for you as the head-healer of Mirkwood. But I am fairly sure that Cervus would agree with anything I would say." Elrond said. Thranduil knew that he was right. Concerning health had he head-healer the highest call, that in some situations would go even higher than the king's. This was probably such a call. "Now drink your tea before it turns cold."
"Hannon-le." Thranduil softly said when he finished the tea and felt the herbs kick in.
"Now go and nap. I am sure you feel better afterwards." Elrond watched as Thranduil fell asleep while his eyes almost closed. He let out a sigh before he gulped his own cooled tea down. "What am I to do with you?" He whispered to himself before he stood and made his way to the Halls of Healing.
"Suilad Elrond." Cervus greeted when Elrond entered his study.
"Suilad, Cervus."
"How's Thranduil? You had sent Hérion to fetch him some tea?"
"Aye. Thranduil is asleep for now. His eyes are almost closed while he's asleep."
"Almost closed? Then he is worse than the last time I saw him."
"I am afraid so. He almost collapsed again. Luckily he did not black out. He told me he had dark spots in his vision. It also appeared that the edge of his vision turned fussy."
"They must be connected with the headaches he has been having, won't they?"
"I think so too, but why does he have the headaches?"
"I would have no idea. I do not think he is that stressed or emotionally hurt." Cervus mused.
"I still think it is a good idea to take some work from his hands. Having him to do as little reading as possible and make him take a nap after lunch. Further I think he still would be able to attend councils."
"I think that is a very good idea." Cervus agreed.
"I am going to discuss this with Tegalad too, to see if that is possible."
"I think that would be for the best." Cervus nodded. "Can I do anything for you or Thranduil?"
"I think it would be the best to make some new tea. The tea Hérion brought smelled a bit off."
"Did it?"
"Thranduil drank it and appeared to notice nothing, so I deemed that it did not matter. Just to be sure." Elrond said before he departed to Tegalad's study.
"Good morning, aran-nin." Tegalad softly greeted when Thranduil entered the room together with Cervus.
"Good morning." Cervus greeted back when Thranduil did not answer. Thranduil slowly sat down in his chair and watched as the councillors entered one by one.
"Good morning everyone." Tegalad stood when the door was closed and every other councillor sat on their place. "All of you by this time have surely noticed something is going on with aran Thranduil. I am now allowed you to inform that aran Thranduil is not doing so well. Hîr Elrond and Cervus, our head-healer have decided that aran Thranduil has to take it slow until they find that he is doing better. That means for us that we have to take over most of his duties."
"Just hurry up." Thranduil huffed out of annoyance.
"Aran Thranduil will only attend the morning councils, so he is able to rest in the afternoon. If there is important paperwork that needs aran Thranduil's attention, One of us will need to read it to him. The audiences will be delayed until further notice. The remaining of things I will divide among us so we will all do something extra."
"Very well. May health find you soon again." Hérion agreed. "But how had you intended that I would go and do finances? I have not worked with numbers over centuries, neither I am very well with them."
"No worries, hest Hérion. I will take that in account when I divide the things among you."
"Can we start with the first council then?" Thranduil asked while he glared at the chief-councillor.
"Aye, let's start." Tegalad said before he sat down and the first council of the day started.
Thranduil sat propped up against several pillows while Tegalad sat on a nearby chair. He had a tray on his lap filled with several documents that needed the attendance of the king. Tegalad read every single document to Thranduil before he decided if they were to his liking or not. If they were to his liking, he would sign them, and if he did not, Tegalad made sure the noted everything down that needed to change. Thranduil slowly sipped a steaming goblet of tea while he listened to Tegalad.
If this was the way to get things done, so it would be. Thranduil mused as he watched Tegalad's face, trying to read his lips as he spoke. For the moment he blessed himself lucky that he headache was a dull throb, and that he did not need to deal with all the other annoying councillors. He had stated this morning that it was absolutely not justified that anyone else except for healers, family and the chief-councillor would visit him in his chambers. No way that anyone would see him under-dressed like this. Of course Feren had seen him in informal circumstances, but that was yet a whole other story.
"What do you think, aran-nin?" Tegalad asked as he looked up from the paper he had been reading.
"I think it will be well." Thranduil gave a curt nod. Tegalad put the tray over his lap and handed him an inked quill.
"Hannon-le." Tegalad said as he took the tray again after Thranduil had signed.
"Is that all for today?"
"Aye. I am afraid that I will be back with more, tomorrow." Tegalad said as he tidied the documents on the tray. "Is there anything I can do for you before I leave?"
"Nay, have a good evening." Thranduil greeted and watched as Tegalad left. When the door shut with a soft click, Thranduil let out a soft sigh and let himself sink into the many pillows.
-Hi there! I hope you are still enjoying the story. I am asking you again to come up with some ideas that you would like to read about. I just need one more chapter to bridge it to the last chapters I have already written. In the end I hope to hit the 50.000 words, I am currently hitting the 44.000 so... Thank you for your review!-
Dictionary:
Saes - Please
Suilad - Informal greeting
Tâd - Two
Ada/Adar - Father
Nana/ Naneth - Mother
Gwathel - Sister
Aran-nin - My king
Caun - Prince
Hest - Captain
Hannon-le - Thank you
Hîr - Lord