Mother hen

"Feren?" Thranduil softly asked as he looked up from the tray Feren had put in his lap only moments ago.

"Aye, aran-nin?" Feren softly asked as he turned to face the king.

"There is a small wooden box in the bottom of my closet. Would you mind fetching it for me?"

"Nay, aran-nin." Feren replied as he walked to Thranduil's closet and opened it. At the bottom in the far right corner there was a small box made from ash wood. "Is this the box?" Feren asked as he showed the box to Thranduil.

"Aye, hannon-le." Thranduil replied as he took the small carved box.

"Aran-nin? May I ask you what you are doing?" Feren asked as Thranduil moved to put the tray away.

"I have no appetite." Thranduil softly told him as he gently caressed the carved design of leaves in the lid of the box.

"I must ask you to eat something. You have been eating very little the last couple of days." Feren gently told him.

"I care not." Thranduil said, not looking up to Feren.

"But I do. Eat a little." Feren said as he picked up the tray fron the nightstand and carefully put it back on Thranduil's lap.

"Nay. Leave me be, Feren." Thranduil ordered, pushing the tray away.

"I will leave you be when you have eaten something." Feren firmly said, holding the tray in place while he sat down on the edge of the bed.

"You should follow my orders." Thranduil said when he finally lifted his gaze from the box.

"I have orders, from hîr Cervus and hîr Elrond."

"I will eat later on." Thranduil said, hoping to satisfy Feren.

"That will not do with my order from hîr Elrond." Feren told him as he gently took hold of the box.

"You are not to play mother hen over me!" Thranduil bit out, not budging in letting Feren take the box. The corners of Feren's mouth twitched into a smile. He had always been mother hen over Thranduil. He knew Thranduil from only when they were elflings. They had grown up together, and long before he knew himself, it had been decided that he would be Thranduil's personal servant and bodyguard if it needed to come that far. He loved Thranduil like a big brother, and he would go to Valinor and back if he asked him.

"I fear that is basically my job description." Feren smiled at his king. "Saes, mellon-nin. Just eat a little bit." Feren hated to see Thranduil weak like this. The last couple of days he had fallen more ill unfortunately. The headaches did not seem to go away that easily now, making him nauseous or dizzy when he tried to get up. Tegalad had now only a maximum of one report he would do in the afternoon while Elrond had forbidden to let him leave his bed. Thranduil had protested at first, deeming himself quite capable of leaving his bed. That was quickly proven wrong when he tried to get up, and almost had fallen because of a dizzy spell. Luckily or not, he often had visitors, mostly Tegalad or Hérion that kept him informed of what was going on in and around the stronghold.

"Let go of the box then." Thranduil said while he pulled the box free from Feren's grasp and put it down next to his pillow.

"Will you eat something then?" Thranduil huffed as he slowly started eating.

"I have had quite enough." Thranduil softly said as he had finished about half of everything on the tray.

"You have eaten more than I expected." Feren praised with a little smile. Feren picked up a napkin from the tray and started to wipe away some crumbs.

"I can do that myself, thank you very much." Thranduil swatted away Feren's hand as he wiped his own face clean. Feren simply smirked and waited until Thranduil had finished cleaning himself up.

"I shall leave you be then." Feren said as he picked up they tray. He watched as Thranduil picked up the box, and the moment he did so, his eyes became a bit misted over. With a little sad smile on his face, Feren left his friend alone, resuming his duties.

Feren knew what was in the box. Thranduil mused as he opened the box and looked at the contents. Thranduil picked up a small acorn, giving it a little smile as he turned it around between his index finger and thumb.

Thranduil lay long out on a small patch of grass basking in the afternoon sun. He had been on quite a scout with his troop and now finally being able to enjoy a free moment. Father probably would be angry he had snuck out again, but it would all be worth it, even more than he would have imagined at first.

Thranduil opened his eyes when something hit his left knee. When he did not see anything around, he shrugged and closed his eyes. Alas, moments later, his lower left leg was hit. Thranduil opened his eyes again and propped himself up on his right elbow to get a better look at his surroundings. 'An acorn?' Thranduil frowned as he picked up the small projectile that had hit him. 'It was end of summer, yet not that early for acorns, was it?' Thranduil wondered when yet another projectile managed to hit him on the left side of his head. Thranduil's head whipped around, just in time to see the bushes move ever so slightly.

"Who is there? Show yourself!" Thranduil called as he slowly climbed on his feet. His right hand went to his left hip, where he discovered that his sword was not present. Mentally cursing himself that he went out without weapons, he walked over to the edge of the clearing. Hand to hand fight had to do then.

"Show yourself now, and I make sure you will not be harmed." Thranduil called. When he was but a few paces away from the bush, the intruder made a dash for it. In a split second, Thranduil was running through the undergrowth trying to get a glimpse of his 'attacker'. Even for an elf, the thick undergrowth was not quite funny as it occasionally scratched the fair skin of the prince.

"Daro!" Thranduil called as he managed to catch a glimpse of golden hair. As they exited the undergrowth to a small path, he suddenly found himself face first into the dirt.

"And you call yourself hest? Or should a say caun?" A soft voice sounded from quite above him. Thranduil crawled up from the dirt so he was sitting on his knees. Before him there stood a lady, dressed in a clad green tunic and leggings. Several leaves stuck in her golden hair, while her eyes, well those sparkled with merit as they were as blue as the sky on a clear spring day.

"Hey!" Thranduil called as she pelted another acorn right on his brow. Thranduil rubbed the place of impact, while the girl in front of him grinned. After a moment she held out her hand and helped Thranduil to his feet.

"It is not my fault that you are an easy target." She smiled as she gave Thranduil a light shove, before she bolted off again.

"Daro!" Thranduil called as he started to follow her. "You are not that easy to get away from me!" He called up behind her. Thranduil quickly skidded to a stop when he had realised they were back at the stronghold, where the girl stood next to his father.

"What am I to do with you, ion-nin?" Oropher shook his head. "You look like a filthy adan." Oropher turned to leave. "Clean yourself up before you join dinner." When he walked inside he noticed he was still holding the acorn…

"I miss you so much, melleth-nin." Thranduil whispered as he put the acorn carefully back into the box. There were several other trinkets in the box like a piece of wood, that Thranduil had carved himself in a shape of an animal, with help of Oropher. He had been very proud at the accomplishment, even if it was very hard to make out it supposed the be a bunny. Among there was also a piece of a broken shaft of an arrow. It was from the very first arrow Legolas had ever shot with his help. The most room in the box was taken by a part of a broken toy sword. Thranduil smiled to himself as he picked up the piece of wood. He wondered if Feren remembered...

A small Feren and Thranduil stood next to each other, watching the warriors practise on the training field.

"Do you think I will become a good warrior when we grow up?" Thranduil asked Feren after a while.

"I think you need to practise a lot. I will practise with you if you want too." Feren offered.

"But we do not have a sword." Thranduil huffed before his head snapped up and a grin spread over his face. "I know where we can get one!" Thranduil cheered as he started to make his way over to the storage room where he knew his ada's sword was kept.

"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Feren asked as they walked into the armoury.

"Aye. Then we can practise and become the best warriors." Thranduil nodded as he tried to pull out a sword from its holder. "Feren can you help me?" Little Thranduil asked when he could not free the sword on his own. Together they pulled and managed to free the weapon. "Now we need to get one for you." Thranduil looked around for another suitable sword for his friend. The sword they had pulled out was about as big as Thranduil was himself.

"What do you think you are doing?" A voice sounded from behind. Both Thranduil and Feren let go of the sword they were freeing, both falling on their behinds in the progress.

"Ohw." Feren cried as he slowly stood again and rubbed his behind.

"I want to be a warrior too." Thranduil said as he looked up the stern looking face of the captain.

"And you think you can accomplish that by handling way too big and heavy swords?"

"They are not too big." Thranduil protested.

"Your adar will have my head if he saw you in here." The captain quickly shooed them out of the armoury. "Give me a moment, then I will give you something you can practise with." The captain said when Thranduil was about to protest again. A couple of moments later, the captain returned and handed the two elflings each a wooden toy sword.

"This is not a real sword!" Thranduil protested as he stuck out his bottom lip and pouted.

"You are also too small for a real sword. We do not want you to get hurt. With these you can already practise your footing and handling. You still need to grow and get stronger before you are ready to handle a real sword and become a warrior." The captain told him gently but sternly before he left them alone, continuing the practise.

"You are wounded!" Feren called as he poked Thranduil in his leg with the toy sword. Feren giggled before he bolted away, Thranduil quickly following, while he held his 'sword' ready.

He really should ask Feren if he remembered. Thranduil put the part of the toy sword away as he picked up the last trinket from the box.

Thranduil slowly walked while he carried a basket in his left hand, while his right arm was linked with his wife. Legolas curiously peered around from her shoulder. Today was a beautiful spring day, and he had decided that it was too good to simply let it pass. He had sent all the councillors away and let the cook pack a basket. Thranduil smiled as he spread a blanket on the grass and put the basket in the middle.

"I am very glad we are able to enjoy this beautiful day together." She smiled as she sat Legolas down on the blanket. Legolas happily babbled as he crawled over to his father.

"I am very glad as well. Before we know, this one is running around already." Thranduil smiled as he picked up Legolas and tickled his stomach, making Legolas shriek with laughter. Both Thranduil and his wife joined the laughter. After a little cuddling, Thranduil set Legolas back on the blanket. They lunched together, enjoying the peaceful surroundings.

"Legolas, come back!" Thranduil called after a while when he noticed Legolas had crawled further than he liked. Thranduil quickly stood and picked up Legolas. Legolas let out a little cry when something fell from his little hand. Thranduil bent to retrieve a small white stone. Legolas eagerly grabbed the little white stone back.

"We should keep a good eye on this one if he already gets into mischief." She smiled as she received Legolas.

Thranduil put the small white stone back in the box and closed the lid. "And mischievously he is." Thranduil whispered with a sad smiled as he put the box aside and slowly fell asleep. A little while later Feren entered to see that Thranduil finally had fallen asleep.

"Sleep well, mellon-nin." Feren whispered as he covered Thranduil properly with the blankets. With a little smile Feren left Thranduil to sleep.

-AN/ So, a few more memories from Thranduil, since you liked the others! I really do not see Thranduil as someone who would be very attatched to objects, that is most likely why he would hide them in the bottem of his closet. And so I think that Feren is the one Thranduil would trust the most.-

Dictionary:

Melleth-nin - My love

Ada/Adar - Father

Hest - Captain

Caun - Prince

Daro! - Stop!

Ion-nin - My son

Adan - Man

Aran-nin - My king

Hannon-le - Thank you

Hîr - Lord

Saes - Please

Mellon-nin - My friend