CHAPTER SEVEN – COTTON WOOL
That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it's worth fighting for.
Thranduil stared at the mountain of paperwork that was piled in front of him. Being king was not as easy as many people would believe; there was a lot of work involved and a lot of responsibility. Thranduil however, was completely ignoring his workload today. He had to have a word with his son.
It had not escaped the Elvenking's attention that his son had been spending more and more time with the mortal girl named Kyle. The King knew that relationships between mortals and immortals did not have happy endings, for Legolas, there could be only pain. Kyle would die, and with her so would Legolas's heart.
The door creaked open and Legolas appeared, he caught his father's gaze and sat himself down opposite the Elvenking. "What is it adar?" he asked,
"I wished to speak to you," Thranduil begun,
"About?"
"The mortal," The elvenking spoke, Legolas's eyebrows raised.
"The mortal has a name. She is Kyle and you should call her as such,"
"Kyle, if it pleases you so much," He continued, "It has come to my attention that you spend much of your time with her. In fact, I'd go as far as to say you spend all of your time with her. 'Las, I do not mean to question your motives, but whatever you may feel for this girl...It cannot be,"
"You think I look to her as more than a friend," Legolas took a deep breath. "Then you are mistaken, Kyle is very dear to me, but I do not look at her as anything but a good friend. You need not worry about it Adar,"
"Do not take me for a fool, I know you well, you are my son." Thranduil answered hastily as he leant forward across the table. "She is not good enough for you,"
"What is wrong with her father? Is she not good enough for me because of the scars that ravage her face? Or is it because she is imperfect, because her teeth are not perfectly straight and her skin without a blemish?" Legolas snapped. "You do not know her adar, I am not as vain as you would believe me to be,"
"So you admit you have feelings for her?"
Legolas's face flushed pink, he had not blushed since he had been a child and one of the elf maidens had kissed his cheek. "I feel nothing for her adar, for the hundredth time."
"Then why do you defend her so?"
"Because...I care for her and I love her. The truth of the matter is that she is to good for me Adar. She is...too innocent, too young...too annoyingly generous," Legolas spoke, "You asked me if I had feelings for her? Whether I do or do not is irrelevant. She is mortal and I am not, it could never be, even if I wanted it to. Such things do not have happy endings,"
"I am glad you agree," Thranduil sighed. "Just don't become to attached, in time she will wither and fade into nothing but dust, all whilst you remain ever youthful. She lives the life of ant, It will not be long before we are burying her beneath the ground,"
Legolas's heart stopped. The prospect of Kyle lying old and grey with no life in her blue eyes sickened him. He cared for her, more than he would like to admit, she was his friend, perhaps his best friend now that Santiel was gone, she was all he had. Thranduil noticed his son's pain.
"Mortality is a cruel thing," Legolas breathed. "It is all the more reason for me to spend as much time with her whilst her heart is still beating."
Kyle was stood in her kitchen carefully watching the pot of soup. Her mother had once told her that a watched pot never boils, and Kyle was forced to admit that her mother was in fact right. The soup didn't seem to be cooking at all and Kyle was growing nervous. Legolas was coming to dinner.
Legolas was a prince, and Kyle had quite rightfully deducted that he would be used to only the finest food. Kyle could only wonder what he would think of her food, cooking had never been one of her skills. The colour the soup had turned was doing nothing to reassure Kyle of how it would taste.
The door opened. Legolas. He was early. It had gotten to the point where he didn't even bother knocking. He laid his bow and his quiver down and entered the kitchen with warm and inviting smile on his face.
"Something smells...intriguing," Legolas inhaled the scent, his face flushing with disgust. Kyle sighed.
"It looks as disgusting as it smells," Kyle grunted, "I've never been a good cook,"
"I'm sure it will taste better than it smells and looks," The prince chuckled. "You shouldn't have went to all the effort, Kyle. I could brought something from the kitchens if you do not enjoy cooking,"
"Oh no I enjoy it, it's just. The end results aren't always the best," Kyle laughed, "If you think the soup looks bad, wait till you see the main. Then you'll know the true meaning of disgusting,"
"I'm sure it will be fine," Legolas laughed, holding his breath as Kyle tipped the soup into two bowls. "I have seen green soup, and red soup. I have even seen purple soup. But never in my life have I ever seen...black soup,"
"It's very dark brown actually," Kyle turned her nose up whilst defending herself. "Enjoy,"
"I intend to,"
The pair of them sat down at the counter and with bated breath they finally took a spoonful of the black soup. It turned out, that after all the effort it tasted worse than it looked and smelled and Kyle couldn't finish it. Legolas however did well in hiding his disgusted expression and he finished the whole thing. Afterward he complimented her. Kyle did not like liars.
Her mother had told her she was beautiful after her accident. Her mother had lied. Her father had told her she was as pretty as a princess. Her father had lied. In fact, the only person who hadn't lied was Rory, the brutally honest brother. After Kyle's accident he had told her that she wouldn't need to dress up for Halloween as her face would scare people half to death without a costume or makeup.
Many people would have been appalled by Rory's comment, but not Kyle. That's what she loved about him; he never padded her with cotton wool. He never allowed her to live in a fantasy world in her head where she was beautiful. He told her that she looked like the rear-end of a cow and he told her when she had been putting on weight. He was Rory, the terribly inappropriate and offensive, Rory.
"So what is for the main?"
"A Leg of Pork, but It'll be another ten minutes," Kyle sighed, "At the least."
"Ah," Legolas breathed, "Kyle? I have always meant to ask you. I just didn't know if it was something you would like to talk about. What happened to your face? I see the scars, they run deep."
"I never usually speak about it," Kyle told him, "But I'm ready to talk about it now, I've never had many friends before, I've never had anyone to tell. It all happened when I was twelve, Rory was just nine. I had taken him to the park so he could collect leaves and flowers for his scrapbook. We were rustling through the trees and he was standing on all the twigs, He enjoyed the crunching noise it made. There was a dog, a big dog, it was a Rottweiler I think. Rory's standing on the twigs must have spooked it, because it started growling at him aggressively. All of a sudden it flew at him. He was just small...It was on top of him, he had held his arm out to protect himself and it was chewing through it like a piece of rubber. I instinctively hit it, and I pulled it of him with all my strength and it turned on me...and that's what happened to my face,"
"You were so young," Legolas grabbed Kyle hand and twisted it around in his own hands. "It must have been hard growing up with the scars,"
"I have had people stare at me in the street, I have had others that mock me for no reason. This girl called Priya, made my life hell. She spat in my face and treated me as though I was less than human, as though I was unworthy of and form respect. It gets easier, you learn to live with how you look. I know I'll never be beautiful, or even normal."
"I think you are beautiful," Legolas smiled, "You may not be physically beautiful, but I do not see people for how they look, it is what is inside that truly counts. It takes a while to see someone's inner beauty, but when you see it, it is all that matters,"
Kyle's face turned a pale shade of pink. "Thanks. Your not...to bad yourself," She stuttered. "I mean physically your perfect," Kyle's already blushing face turned scarlet as Legolas surveyed her carefully. A smile broke out onto his face.
"You are too kind," He laughed.
Kyle finally found the strength to stare him in the eye. Legolas met her gaze and the smile vanished as he realized he was still holding her hand. Kyle took her hand back and nervously placed it under her chin.
Suddenly, the overwhelming scent of burning engulfed the room. The leg of Pork. Kyle had forgotten about it. She flew over to the stove and pulled out the meat only to find that it was as black as the soup. She felt like crying, could this day have been any worse?