"The King is here, Legolas. The King!"
I stare at the messenger in confusion and then look towards Aragorn. Why does he tell me the King is here when I already know? He has been with me all day. Has the boy lost his mind?
He sees that my face is completely blank as I frown at him. It is obvious I am confused and so he clarifies.
"Our King! Thranduil, Thranduil is here!"
My Father.
I turn back to Aragorn then.
"Did you send for him?" I will be angry if he has for how dare he?
"No!" Aragorn holds up his hands in supplication, "No Legolas. I wanted to make things good with you, how would I achieve that, sending for your father behind your back? No matter how tempted I might have been. It was not me."
Maewen then. We have even discussed it but I told her not to.
" You!" I cry at her, "How many times did I tell you I did not want him here?"
But she does not even flinch.
"It was not me, Legolas." she replies. " I respected your wishes not to call him even though it went against my instincts. I promise you I did not do this."
So it must have been Erynion.
Erynion who does not trust me to lead our people. Who seemingly undermines me at every turn. It must have been him. I am suddenly filled with a white hot rage, out of nowhere it engulfs me. Wait till I see him!
"We had best go then." I snap, not waiting for the others to keep pace with me as I stride off in anger. "Heaven forbid we keep my father waiting."
"Legolas," It is Maewen, running to catch up. "This is not necessarily a bad thing, your father being here."
"Is it not? Is it not a bad thing that Erynion mistrusts me so badly he sends for help behind my back?"
"You do not know it was him." She lays a hand upon my arm to slow me down. "Look at me, Legolas." She forces me then to stop and breathe. "You do not know it was Erynion who sent for him."
"If not Aragorn, not you, not him, then who? He must have done this. He watches me with such disapproval in his eyes lately." Now forced to be still the anger which appeared from nowhere ebbs away, as suddenly as it appeared. It is strange how lately it overtakes me so instantly.
"He watches you with concern in his eyes, Legolas, and nothing else. He worries about you as I do. He has your back as he always has."
Always Maewen has been able to pour calm waters upon my fire. Always she can soothe my wildness and steer me straight when my control is in danger of disappearing. She knows the right thing to say and the right time to say it.
She knows me.
"Calm yourself before you see him Legolas, and before you meet your father. Do not march in there shouting. You do not want your father to see you out of control, I know you do not."
She leans forward towards me, her forehead touching mine. Our breath mingling. The feel of her skin on mine, her warm soft breath on my cheek stills my thudding heart. She reaches up and clasps my face between her hands as she leans back again to look at me.
"Calmness." She whispers, "Take charge of that wild spirit, my beloved. I know you can!"
She used to do this often for me back in the Greenwood, when we roamed on patrol and the blackness of the South coated my soul, or in the Stronghold when the endless bickering of politics twisted me in knots. She, more than anyone can help me find my focus. She has not done it for a long time, I think because she has had no faith I would listen.
It is good to have her back.
Aragorn reaches us then and places a hand upon my arm as he stands beside me.
"Let us do this, then, Legolas," he smiles. "Although I must say, had I known Thranduil would call in I may well have not been quite so eager to accept your invitation." It is the final drop of sun to banish my dark clouds. Suddenly everything feels brighter.
"Had I known he was coming I may have arranged to be somewhere else myself." I grumble and he laughs. My Father is not someone you wish to meet unexpectedly. Even if you are his son.
Still, meet him I must and Maewen is right. I need to do it properly. I will not convict Erynion until I know he is guilty. And if I do, it will not be in public.
My Father stands in the middle of the courtyard when we approach the settlement. Erynion is white faced and pale beside him, nervous and jumpy. Because he is feeling guilty, I wonder?
We have only just emerged from the trees when my father sees us and he is instantly striding towards me. One step, two steps, three of his long paces and I am in his arms.
"My boy," he whispers into my ear.
I have not wanted my King here. I have wanted to prove I could do this, I could cope with this trauma, this nightmare by myself. I did not want another ruler to step in and save me. But he is not only my King he is my father as well and oh I have missed him.
Oh, how I have wanted my father here to comfort me in my pain.
How it is good to feel his strength and his protection.
I feel as I did when I was tiny and he would arrive in the midst of my childish dramas and instantly make everything right in the world, when I was naive enough to believe my father could save me from all danger.
He holds me at arms length then and looks at me.
"How are you, Legolas?" His voice, which can make strong men tremble, is soft and gentle when he speaks to me and I can feel his anxiety swirling around me. He holds nothing back, hides nothing from me.
"I am well, Father. I am well." I want to reassure him but he is far too clever for that.
"I do not believe you," he says bluntly and he sweeps around to include Erynion in our discussion. "I have just been discussing with Erynion why it is, your second in command has not alerted me to happenings here."
So that is why Erynion looks so pale. He has been on the receiving end of my father's tongue and that is never pleasant. Maewen was right. It was not Erynion who called him here.
"I asked him not to Father." I am not about to let Erynion take the blame for my decisions, but my father is not placated.
"Just because you are foolish does not mean he should be. Sometimes a second must take things into their own hands."
"Father," I lower my voice and speak with urgency. I know him well enough to know this is his worry speaking, but this is not the place, in front of our people. "Let us speak of this inside if we must. It is good you are here. I am pleased to see you." And it is the truth.
He collects himself then, straightens himself to be, if it is possible, even more regal and finally his gaze falls upon Aragorn who stand silently, quietly behind me, hoping I think, that he may be totally overlooked. But he is a King now and my father is nothing if not a stickler for protocol.
"Elessar." He inclines his head as a show of respect. "I am pleased to see you are here at least. Perhaps my son is not quite as foolish as he first appears."
"Thranduil." Aragorn bows low. He has always had good manners. And then he straightens and looks my father in the eye—he is also hard to intimidate. "Your son is far from foolish. Look around you." And he indicates our settlement and the forest with a wide swing of his arms.
"It is impressive, I admit that." Father says grudgingly, and I think I even see a hint of a smile behind his regal exterior. Then he turns to me putting his arm around my shoulders. He towers over me in height. "Come Legolas, let us retire somewhere and you can tell me all you have done here." And much more besides, I think to myself, but I lead him away, towards my rooms. Away from watching eyes.
Where am I going to put him? I think to myself. Aragorn already has our finest rooms. And we are overflowing with the men here from Minas Tirith. Where will my father's retinue go? I can only hope Maewen will somehow magically solve this logistical problem for me while I am closeted away here and my Father can have our rooms, they are the only others appropriate. I will just have to retreat to the bolthole Maewen has taken herself off to and sleep with her there —if she will have me.
I wonder then why, when he seems displeased with me and I am about to recieve a lecture, I am so diverted by worrying about sleeping arrangements.
He turns to me as soon as the door closes behind us.
"Legolas, tell me the truth. How are you?"
I sink into a chair then, depressed, for I suddenly do not have the energy necessary to attempt subterfuge with him.
"I am better than I have been." It is an honest answer and yet not the whole truth. "Why are you here Father. Who sent for you?"
"No-one sent for me. Do not take me for a fool boy. Do you not think I know you well enough to tell when things do not go well with you? That letter you wrote me said it all and even had it not, I know what Taenor meant to you."
"I am sorry," At the mention of Taenor I am filled with a rush of remorse and I do not know how to make this up to him. "He was your friend and I lost him, I lost him for you father." It all pours out now, all my self loathing and blame. " He is one more person you care for I have taken from you. Laerion, Mother, now Taenor. How do you even look at me Father?"
I bury my head in my hands. I do not know where this has come from but I cannot face him and I cannot face his pain. Pain I have caused him.
"What are you talking about, Legolas?" He is kneeling on the floor beside me and he takes my hands in his, peeling them away from my face. "Legolas?" I see his face before me as he cups my own face gently in his hands.
"You are not to blame for this."
"Taenor was only here because you needed to make sure I did not completely destroy our people." I have known since the first moment he arrived here that Taenor was my father's insurance in case of my errors.
"That is not true, Legolas." He is insistent. "If anyone is to blame for Taenor's presence here it is me."
"Because I am such a mess. Because I cannot do this and you know I cannot."
"Because I could not bear to let you go. I have no doubts about your leadership, Legolas. Do you think I would let you bring my precious people all this way, to a wilderness, if I did not trust in your ability to keep them safe? You can do it. You have done it and I knew I could trust their lives to you. I sent Taenor here for my sake. Because I needed news of you. Because I needed someone to be my eyes and ears to reassure me you were safe. Because letting you go was hard and I failed to do it successfully. Taenor was here solely because of my weakness."
I am astonished. I do not know why for my Father is always full of surprises.
"I did not know... I thought..."
"Well I would hardly admit it to you child," he smiles at me sheepishly. "You are grown, I have no right to keep you close any longer. But you have always been special Legolas. It is hard to think of losing you." He reaches out and strokes my hair clear of my face as he used to do when I was young and flustered from running in corridors and getting into mischief.
"You will not lose me Father."
"I already have, I think." He sighs and pulls me close. He bathes me in his love and I bask in it. It heals my soul. "I am sorry I was not clearer about Taenor's role here," he goes on. "I am sorry I have allowed you to think I spied on you out of distrust for nothing is further from the truth." Then he pauses, pulls back and I flinch. I want that closeness back, but he is frowning now. He is unhappy.
"What did you mean, you have taken your Mother from me? Taken Laerion? What did you mean by that Legolas?"
I wish I had not said that now. It is something we have never spoken of. We do not mention Laerion's name, and we rarely talk of my mother...and never why she left.
But I can see in his eyes he is not going to let me turn from this today.
And I feel sick.