Chapter 14: Obscurity
The horse blankets the dwarf had offered, Ibun his name was as they've found out, were surprisingly comfortable to lie on and the smell of hay they gave out was actually strong enough to overpower the stench of the rotting wood of the old wagon, so given how long they've been travelling without stopping beforehand, Tauriel actually fell asleep despite thinking she wouldn't. Ever a sentinel at heart though, she couldn't have been sleeping long before slight movement and quiet groans woke her. Hand on the hilt of a dagger, she found that the dwarf was nowhere to be seen. However, sporadic snoring noises gave indication to his whereabouts being somewhere at the other end of the hall. It was Thranduil moaning in his sleep that woke her. She immediately shuffled over to his side, noting that he dug a fist firmly into his stomach and he was sweating profusely, with probable further distress attributed to tremors and rapid eye movements under his eyelids that could indicate nightmares.
Tauriel didn't hesitate to draw the king's upper body into her lap and rub his arms soothingly to rouse him out of the nightmare and comfort him at the same time. "My… Ronuin?" The redhead remembered the name and to use it even though it was unlikely anybody could hear them. She reached for the horse blanket and utilised a corner of it as a cloth, wiping the sweat off his brow and cheeks. "You're scaring me. Are you alright?"
Thranduil swallowed and took considerable time getting a breath sufficient enough to talk, "I have a flask in my sack." He held a palm to his chest and breathed deeply, as if trying to calm the mad beating of his heart.
"A flask?" Tauriel winced, not liking where this was going.
"The strongest homebrew Galion could find," Thranduil clarified somewhat too enthusiastically, "these are clearly withdrawal symptoms I'm suffering from. Just a few mouthfuls and I'll be alright."
"I have medicine," Tauriel argued, "real medicine. Different kinds, one to settle your belly, one for the tremors, one for the pain, sedatives and rehydration salts and even one for fever that Idhrenion sometimes says happens with withdrawal."
Thranduil eased himself on one elbow and out of Tauriel's lap, "we can't afford me getting ill at this point. I can delay symptoms for at least seven days if I take only a little of the mead every day."
"A little? Can you do that?" The elleth was no way convinced. He would be more likely to drink it all in a oner, but then again, it would be gone sooner at least.
The older elf reached for the sack himself and as if knowing exactly where the flask inside it was, pulled it out fluidly and swiftly. "I would offer you some, but then it won't last as long," he took a long swig, closing his eyes and visibly calming when he got it away from his mouth. He pulled himself over a little so he could lean on the side of the wagon as he sat, put the cork in and threw the decanter at Tauriel. "Now put it away and don't give it to me till tomorrow night."
The redhead did reluctantly as she was told, the item went in her hipbag. "I thought you decided to stop drinking," she commented. Her tone didn't go as far as insolent, but favourable it wasn't either.
Thranduil gave a minute shrug, barely noticeable in the darkness of their shelter. If his hair wasn't light blond and didn't glint as it moved, she wouldn't have known he made the movement. "So far, I had no reason for happiness."
"One step to happiness would be not having stomach cramps, how about that?" She eyed him rubbing his belly.
The older elf leaned his head back and sighed, "let it be, Tauriel…"
The former guard bit the inside of her bottom lip, regarding him and contemplating. Then on a whim and without it being requested, slid across the floor and sat close by him, with her back to the wall like he did and leaned over silently to slide her hand under his and take over rubbing. Thranduil tensed for the smallest fraction of time at the unsolicited touch, then relaxed, giving himself over to whatever ministrations she had planned.
Tbc