"My King, the dwarves aren't in their room anymore." One of the guards spoke to Thranduil. He was sitting on his throne, thinking how the orcs could get so close to his land. And not that it was just a small group of orcs. They were more than one hundred. "My King?" Thranduil shook his head and looked at the guard. "They escaped, yes, I understood that. It is not important to me."

Eilidiel ran up into the hall, flustered she was stuttering. "My Lord….your… I mean…Lady Gwendolyn…" Thranduil quickly stood up from his throne, his eyes widened and he ran down from his platform, right in front of Eilidiel. "Speak to me, Eilidiel." He demanded and turned his head to the side.

The maid was scared to tell him something, she was scared that he would probably hurt her after receiving some bad news. "Speak up!" His voice got louder and his expression was pure impatience.

Eilidiel was shaking slightly, but then she spoke up to him. "She isn't in her chambers anymore; her clothes aren't there either as long as her other belongings. I… I ca-can't find her…" The elf-maid backed away a bit, still fearing to feel his anger taking out on her.

Thranduil's heart was breaking into pieces as he heard that. He started to laugh loudly, only to cover his pain and panic. "Oh, these dwarves are….wily…really." His laugh turned silent and he yelled. "Out! Everyone out!"

After the echo faded away one of the guards had the courage to step up to Thranduil. "But my king, we should follow them; they are just one day ahead of us." It was silent in the halls but now, the silence was excruciating. The king turned around in slow motion. His look was rogue but he had to say the guard was tough.

"Four scouts can leave now. I will follow them with five guards." Thranduil ordered. He snapped his fingers and went to the armory, taking on his suit of armor and grabbing all of his weapons. As he walked back from the armory he stopped and turned to his right. It was Gwendolyn's room.

Thranduil moved there and opened the door. He walked in and let his eyes roam around it. Without even knowing what he was doing, he headed to the bed and grabbed one of her dresses. He could still smell her scent in the fabrics.


It has been another day of long political meetings and Thranduil was getting tired and impatient about these long talks. He would rather spend the day outside, as it started to get warm as the spring was hitting Mirkwood.

Luckily that meeting ended and Thranduil got up from his stool at the head end of the table but one of the councilors came up to him. "My King, can we talk for a while? Maybe take a walk?" His first intention was to say no, but as a king he couldn't just do that.

So they headed outside of the palace and walked along the path near to it. "My king, not all of the other elves are happy with how you treat someone who should be working as a maid." Thranduil gritted his teeth but he stayed calm and said. "You mean Lady Gwendolyn? What exactly are the others saying? Or is it just that you are discontent with the situation?" Thranduil knew this councilor very well. He was old, older than Thranduil and he had his views about everything. He even was a councilor for his father before Thranduil was king. And nearly all the other councilors listened to him. So he had to be careful what he was going to say.

The councilor just laughed and kept going. "You know, you changed Thranduil. You aren't that merciless, arrogant and intimidating King anymore. And everyone sees that. Even the elves in Rivendell said that when they last visited us. They were mocking you."

The two stopped walking and Thranduil turned to face him. "Let them talk, that doesn't bother me. And it has nothing to do with her." Thranduil said through his still gritted teeth. The councilor looked over Thranduils shoulder as he spotted Gwendolyn and Eilidiel sitting at a fountain, listening to another maid telling stories to the elven-children.

As the councilor didn't answered to Thranduil he also turned around to see what caught his attention. The small group of maids and elven-children were laughing about the funny story and then a small elfling was crawling over to Gwendolyn, sitting into her lap and snuggling up to her. The blonde was surprised but she wrapped her arms around the small elf, keeping it close.

Thranduil imagined her with a baby, his baby. That would be so perfect. The councilor recognized the look on his king's face and snickered. "Oh, it has everything to do with her, my king. She made you that way. She is like a disease which grew into your body. And if you aren't careful it is going to kill you. She is going to kill you. Just remember my words." The councilor said, he bowed and then turned to his right to leave.

It has been three days already that he was avoiding her presence. Three days without proper sleep or anything to eat. He never thought that the words of the councilor got to him like that. He never was someone who listened to others but in a moment of silence, he knew that he changed. And it was because of Gwendolyn. But she made him feel so good and whole again as well. So how could that be wrong then? He was able to feel love again…

There is no love in you… these words echoed still in his head…

He was so tired, his body and soul were tired. And all of him was longing for her.

In the dark of the night he slowly opened the door to her chambers, he slipped into the room and saw her sleeping in the bed. That sight left him breathless and he could watch her sleeping all the time.

Thranduil slipped under the silk sheets and wrapped one arm around her waist gently; he placed a kiss onto her cheek. Her breathing changed and she let out a sigh, turning slightly onto her back. "Shhhh…go back to sleep." He whispered and put his head down onto the pillow, but she kept turning around. "Thranduil?" She asked half in her sleep, in that dozy voice he loved so much. He placed a kiss onto her forehead and pulled her against his chest. "I missed you…" Even though it was just a whisper, he heard her saying that clearly. She snuggled up to his chest and fell asleep again.


"…duil…My King." Thranduil jerked his head to the side where the voice was coming from. A guard was standing there. "My King, we are ready. Your elk is also ready. We can leave now." Thranduil nodded, he let the dress slip through his hand and then followed the guard out of the chambers and outside of the palace.