Thranduil stepped slowly into a clearing, bathed in moonlight. Some distance behind him the camp bustled with activity preparing the evening meal. Before him, a boulder reaching as high as his chin stood in the new snow that had fallen earlier in the day. On top of it sat Seren.

She was sketching in her book under the stars. Her loose hair hid half of her profile from view and it shifted with the soft luminance of the night sky as she worked. She was utterly oblivious to him.

He thought of the drawing she'd left him. It was improper for her to have given him a gift and equally improper for him to accept. He'd placed the smiling countenance of his son in a small leather scroll sheath, intent on returning it. Once or twice he had nearly succeeded but his reluctance proved stronger. He decided to graciously accept it and so it remained, tucked away in his robes, though he wouldn't tell her as much.

"You have done well these past two days," Thranduil said by way of greeting.

Seren looked up and closed her book. "Thank you."

He took several steps past her, his velvet burgundy robe trailing in the snow behind him, and gazed up at the stars. "I thought your presence might help keep the Master focused on what mattered most. He was… easier to bargain with this time."

Seren hummed thoughtfully. "He was rather desperate to save trade relations with your people."

"Our people, Seren," Thranduil reminded her. The circlet on his brow glinted in the moonlight as he turned around, gaze narrowed on her. "You agreed to be a citizen of my kingdom. Yesterday we brought accusations against a citizen of another people on your behalf. The elves of the Greenwood are your people, not charitable hosts."

Though she had accepted that she was staying with the elves, she still sometimes felt like a guest when dealing with the elvenking. By her attendance at the negotiations these past two days, she declared her allegiance to all of Middle Earth. She couldn't pick and choose when she regarded the elves as kin.

She swallowed. "Of course. Our people…"

Thranduil stepped closer, blue eyes thoughtful. "You have seemed unlike yourself since we arrived at here."

Seren wet suddenly dry lips and dragged in a breath. "If we're going to talk, I really shouldn't remain up here. I need to stretch my legs anyway."

"Then if I may?" The king held out a hand to her and stepped sideways.

Seren's mind went still and she took his hand in hers. The contact was distractingly warm. Scooting forward, she prepared to hop down but the hand she held slipped from her grasp. Instead, the warm strength from both of Thranduil's hands settled around her waist, helping her slide from her perch. Her hands grasped his arms instinctively for balance and she could feel the tension in them, flowing hot under velvet and satin layers. This close, his faint spice and woods scent permeated the air and heat flooded Seren's belly. Her limbs quivered and she breathed slowly to steady her nerves, hoping Thranduil wouldn't notice.

It had been a simple offer of courtesy at the time. Yet a keen urge to pull her close surprised him when her weight settled into his arms. The world around him seemed to slow and the rich warm fragrance of her filled his senses. It took more effort to resist embracing her than he expected and more still to release her.

She stumbled as her feet touched the ground. He steadied her and she giggled to mask her case of nerves.

"I suppose I was sitting longer than I thought. Thank you, my lord."

Thranduil stepped back with a curt nod and drew a shaky breath. Her use of proper salutations had passed without catching his attention recently but it bothered him now. It sounded wrong to his ears. He frowned in thought. Again he detected the awkward pause and wondered if it was telling that now she faltered.

He clasped his hands behind his back; beginning a leisurely stroll and she fell into step beside him. They passed many trees, marring the snow with their feet and the stone she left was far behind them by the time the king spoke.

"The restraint you have shown here is admirable. There were moments I was certain you would object; vocally and immediately…"

An impish smile pursed Seren's lips. She knew to what he was referring. Thrice she had held her tongue despite her desire to do otherwise. Thrice she had watched him struggle not to show his surprise. "If it was your command, objecting was pointless."

Thranduil glanced at her as they stepped around a tree. "I think we are both aware you had to exercise a level of self-control to which you are unaccustomed."

"Hmm, I do not deny that. At times my errant mouth nearly prevailed. Ultimately it didn't."

Amusement flickered over the elvenking's features. "I would be remiss to let such momentous occasions pass without remark."

Suddenly, poking him in the ribs held great appeal but Seren resisted. "I assure you, I wouldn't have taken offense if you failed to note it."

For a moment, Thranduil seemed more interested in the ground and Seren was certain she heard the faintest laugh escape him. The flush that warmed her made the air seem suddenly colder and the heat of him to her left that much more distinct. She tugged her cloak closer.

She wished she could simply not feel drawn to him. This was the sort of moment she had sworn to avoid, yet here she was. She looked away and pushed her thoughts in a more productive direction.

"I still don't agree that I should be present during the assessments."

That development had been unexpected. As part of the new contract, terms for having an elvish envoy visit Esgaroth from time to time to inspect their handling of goods was agreed upon; so long as the elvish seal applied to all goods and not just their own. The king had decided Seren would be part of this effort.

"It is a temporary provision," Thranduil said. "A human face might ease the proceedings. I suspect your gift with things that grow will also be useful."

"So long as that gift is not discovered?"

"Of course."

Seren sighed heavily.

Thranduil couldn't help the smirk at her displeasure, pleased she hadn't formally protested. Thus far she was making the effort she swore she would. "As I said, I expected an adamant refusal from you."

The urge to roll her eyes was strong. "I do see the merit in it, despite my personal feelings. We all have our responsibilities and can't always do as we like. I did promise I would try…"

"So you did," Thranduil said.

Again silence fell as they walked and neither rushed to fill it. Keeping to the forest, their journey took them around their group of tents. They were nearly to the opposite side of their clearing when Thranduil again broached the topic that most concerned him.

"Are you well, Seren? There is still much about what you are that is unclear. If there are any changes, I need to know."

She paused. "I don't know. I think I simply had a moment for the past three months to catch up with me. When I saw those bones… the skeleton of Smaug…"

They passed through a shaft of moonlight and she stopped to peer up at the stars. A faraway look stole over her features. Thranduil watched and patiently waited.

"Since I arrived here, I've had to accept many things as true; things that, on Earth, are too fantastical to believed. Being confronted with such a reality as those I thought to be a fairy tale, left me to wonder if I was going mad."

She turned her mind back to that moment on the lakeshore. "I wondered if I might have preferred it. I saw these past months all over again – Legolas, Taliesin…it was all the same. Except… for the first time, I could see you. Or more accurately, I could remember you. After the moment passed, I felt as though I wasn't quite inside my own body and it took a while to shake the desire to sleep."

Thranduil took a step past her, beginning to circle as was his habit. "Could you not recall me in your memory before?"

Seren turned in place to follow him and shook her head. "Not clearly. I look to my memories and see the people in them. It is how I'm able to draw without a subject in front of me. I could clearly picture your every detail – your clothes, your crown – and I could recall your words. By recalling my own reaction, I could remember whether you were curious or angry… but I could not recall your face. It was as if there were two images of you, neither very clear and both obscuring the other."

Anguish ghosted over Seren's features as an image of Thranduil's scars appeared in her mind, unbidden. "That morning, seeing Smaug's remains, I finally saw you in my memories."

Thranduil paused in his circular wandering, staring warily at her from the side. "And what image did you see?" he asked softly.

Seren looked down at her book and hesitantly raised it out to him.

A feeling of dread churned in Thranduil's chest. That was what she had been drawing tonight. She looked up at him, questioningly. He stepped forward, hands coming up to take the volume from her. His breath came shallowly as the book settled into his hands and he could feel Seren's pulse pounding through her fingertips where they touched.

"You were just as you are now…" She reached for the ribbon she kept between the pages and opened the book. "But I also saw this."

Thranduil looked at the image and his heart lurched in dismay at the sight. It wasn't a surprise, really but still it rocked him to see his injured face staring back at him. The page to the left bore an unblemished rendering of him. Displayed to the right was the tear in his cheek where muscle was exposed, his teeth showing through in a macabre grin. The once ruined eye, stared sightlessly at him. Even the damage to his neck was depicted, disappearing off the edge of the paper. A tremble started in his hands and he hurriedly slammed the book closed.

"Dragon's fire…" he whispered. "You came perilously close to the corpse of Smaug. There's a reason it hasn't been disposed of properly."

Seren closed her eyes, feeling like an idiot. "Magic." When she opened them, her sketchbook was held out to her.

"Dragon magic," Thranduil confirmed. "It can linger long after a dragon dies. Wounds can echo long after they have healed. The injuries inflicted by a dragon scar more than just flesh."

Seren inhaled sharply. "The fea…"

"Yes."

"Can others perceive it?"

"It is not truly there. I can produce a reflection of the damage within, if I wish." He paused thoughtfully and surprised himself with his next words. "Were you to ask it of me; I would show you."

Her eyebrows rose. "Why?"

"Because you have already seen it." It was folly, this risk he was taking; but something else was driving him. He was either unwilling or unable to keep it from her entirely or she wouldn't have perceived it at all.

Seren nodded stiffly. "Show me."

Thranduil tilted his head a little to the side in acquiescence and a moment later, his features twisted in pain. The left side of his face distorted and red gashes bloomed on the smooth skin, quickly spreading over the expanse of cheek and jaw until most of the flesh was gone.

Seren gasped, her eyes widening as the gaping wound continued to grow. It rose until the piercing blue of Thranduil's eye was dimmed to a cloudy white orb. Instinctively, she wanted to step back but squashed the impulse and made herself look. The exposed muscle quivered and Thranduil labored to breathe. Tension shook his torso and Seren realized the cause.

The realization came with a pressure in her head. "It hurts…"

"Yes…" It was a hollow half whisper.

Guilt flooded her and Seren grimaced, wishing she could take this moment back. "Then stop." She almost reached for him but refrained and chided herself.

The mirage didn't fade and she worriedly glanced down his torso, dreading what she would find. The shimmering black tunic was sinking against holes appearing in the body underneath, remembered into existence. The fabric hung on a now near-skeletal shoulder.

"Thranduil stop."

He didn't seem to register her words and the pressure in her skull became a piercing agony. Her hands reached out for him of their own accord. The instant they settled on him, light filled her mind. She could see nothing, hear nothing, and feel nothing save for the void sucking at her very soul. Instinctively she resisted and the light pushed against it, shoving it away.

The night abruptly surrounded them once more. Thranduil leaned heavily on her, chest heaving as he breathed and he was once again whole.

"Thank you, Seren." He tried to straighten from her and stumbled into a tree, holding himself there. The cold wood helped to soothe his nerves.

Though she was exhausted and shaking, Seren circled around him to glare. "You didn't have to go so far! Was there something you had to prove?"

When he didn't answer, her ire rose. "Thranduil!"

Finally he shook his head. "I do not know… I have never been unable to stop it before." He looked as confused as he sounded.

"You don't know?" Seren's cross features went slack.

"Did you know why… you had to see the stars… the night you died?"

"No… I just… had to. I don't know why."

His blue eyes rose to meet hers and he inhaled deeply as he straightened. He trembled with the effort but he remained upright this time.

"You weren't simply burned," Seren said.

"No."

He didn't elaborate but she didn't need him to. "Here I thought, because you're an elf you couldn't possibly know what it was like to die and live again. You could have just told me rather than do something so foolish!"

The king scowled at her in a sort of wonder. "You are… angry with me…"

"Of course I'm angry."

"The wound cannot kill me again."

"It certainly didn't seem that way to me."

He squared his shoulders and lifted his chin, schooling his features into a mask of cool condescension. "It is not your place to be concerned."

"Not my place? I consider you a friend."

Thranduil scoffed. The ridiculousness of such audacity was a more familiar sensation and he welcomed it. "We are not friends."

"Maybe not in your estimation," Seren replied with calm she hadn't expected to feel in the face of his words. His statement was a likely response. "I consider you a friend, regardless. Anyone who is not an enemy is a friend – some more than others."

"A king has no need of friends – only loyalty," he said smoothly.

"You are more than a king, lord Thranduil."

"Really?" Suddenly unable to remain still, he stepped in an arc around her. "What else am I then?"

The words were dangerously soft but Seren refused to listen to the caution they advised. She suppressed the nerves and agitation he was trying to stir and breathed for a moment.

"To begin with… You've fought dragons. Does the Last Alliance of Men ring a bell? You know what it is to lose a home. Then there's Legolas… You raised him alone."

Here she paused and decided against mentioning the reason for that. "You broke my book to keep it open to a depiction of him. You're far more sentimental than you'd like others to believe."

"Seren…"

"Let's not forget the game I made – you're someone who despises not knowing. You're someone who likes sweet rolls and is known in one particular kitchen for purloining two before supper every night. Shall I go on?"

"You made your point." He wanted to be angry at her but could summon no more than annoyance that she was flouting decorum. "All of that may be true but it does not give you liberty to forget who you are addressing."

"I haven't forgotten," she said softly. "You are many things. One of them just happens to be a king. I couldn't trust anyone who defined themselves solely by their position of power."

Thranduil's eyes widened. "Do I have your trust?"

A slow smile spread over her features. "You do."

Thranduil searched her expression for any hint of subterfuge for several long moments. Finding none, he leaned away. The reply he had on his tongue, however, was forestalled by a sudden rustle in the brush.

Caireann was running into the trees toward them with obvious urgency.

"My lord, Thranduil!" she called out. "Nuinethir and Eleros have not returned!"

"Returned?" Seren half jogged ahead to intercept her friend.

Thranduil was right behind her, worriedly scanning the camp, noting several elves already in motion. "I assigned them to escort Bard back to the city after he came to visit."

Seren looked into the distance through the trees, trying to catch a glimpse of the lights of Esgaroth but they were quite a distance from the city of men.

"We have to go to Laketown," Caireann insisted.

"I intend to," Thranduil said flatly and took off at a brisk pace. He strode into his tent and removed the cloak from his shoulders.

Seren watched from an opening as he began taking his armor off its stands. "What can I do?"

Caireann gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "Watch… and wait." The Warrior hurried away then and set herself to the task of slipping on her leathers.

It took little time for a search party to be assembled. After that, Thranduil appointed guards to escort him back to Esgaroth, leaving ten of their original number at the camp with Seren. After giving orders for patrols and when to expect his return, Thranduil mounted his white mare and headed for the path that led into the forest. He halted when he came to where Seren stood.

"Be ready to leave at a moment's notice. If we have not returned by daybreak, make all haste back to our kingdom."

She swallowed. "Of course, my lord."

She stepped back and his group fell into formation around him. The lead guardsman kicked his mount into a gallop and the rest followed. Seren watched them go until they were out of sight.

When she turned back toward the camp, Tellis was standing a few paces behind her. "Should the need to leave arise, we must be ready. There are preparations to make."

Seren gestured toward the tents. "Then we had better start."