booksfoodmusic-minion: They talked it through. And "Thranduil needs to work on parenting skills" is a serious understatement.

Pink bunny: A necessary conversation indeed.

Disclaimer: I do not own "The Hobbit."

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Chapter 20: Starting Over

Sarah and Edana walked around Mirkwood's riding arena, setting up jumps, poles, and hay bales. A horse followed Sarah wherever she went: Dandelion, Cheyenne's blind son. Sarah had been working with him since she got back from Rivendell. She had been training him to go over jumps, walk over poles on the ground and through a line of standing poles, and around hay bales. She had started by telling him what to do with which obstacles through her magic, but then had developed a series of physical cues and verbal commands that she slowly taught him. Edana helped her by setting up obstacles and recording what they did and how many mistakes Dandy made, keeping track of his progress.

As Dandy got better and better, the obstacle courses that Sarah and Edana made up got harder. The sisters knew that he probably wouldn't be used much by anyone else, but they thought he would be good for simple pleasure riding and they had fun training him. Dandy had really bonded with the girls, having been pretty much ignored ever since he lost his sight. The girls loved him, and he loved them.

Quite a few people were gathered on the sidelines to watch, including several stable hands, Legolas, Tauriel, and even Calanon, who had been given the day off. Thranduil was there as well, watching Sarah carefully.

When the last obstacle was set up, Edana walked over to the sidelines next to Calanon, who handed her the notebook she used to record Dandy's progress. Sarah walked to the starting point, Dandy following her the whole way, and mounted up. Dandy wasn't wearing any tack, but Sarah was a good enough rider and bonded well enough with Dandy that she felt it wasn't needed.

At a signal from Edana, Sarah nudged Dandy into a trot. Together the two trotted over poles and around hay bales and cantered through standing poles and over jumps. By the time they reached the end of the course, Dandy hadn't made a single mistake.

The audience clapped as the pair made their way over to the gate, which Legolas opened to let them out.

"Not bad for one day's workout," Edana commented.

One day's workout for Dandy consisted of a ground-work warm-up, a riding warm-up, and five obstacle courses.

"Not bad?" Sarah repeated. "That was awesome. Those were some of the hardest courses we've come up with and he didn't make one mistake all day."

"All right, all right," Edana said. "You were great, Dandy," and she rubbed his neck and made her way up to the flower-shaped mark on his forehead that had earned him his name.

Dandy nickered and the girls laughed as they led him back to his stall, where they gave him a good brushing and rubdown and fed him lots and lots of treats.

As they left Dandy's stall, Sarah noticed that Thranduil was still there, almost as if he was waiting for someone.

"Are you coming?" Edana asked when she noticed that Sarah was hanging back. She had also noticed Thranduil, and was looking at him as if he was a poisonous serpent.

"You go on ahead," Sarah called to her sister. "I want to say hi to the elks first. Some of them get moody if I don't greet them at least once a day."

"Okay," Edana said in a worried tone, giving her sister a look that said "Be careful." Sarah sent one back that said "I will."

Edana gave Thranduil a look that promised a lot of pain before walking out of the stables. Sarah gave Dandy one last pat on the neck and headed for the elks. She was well aware that Thranduil was following her. Sarah stopped at the first elk while Thranduil walked past her and went straight for Idhrenion's stall. Sarah knew that Thranduil was setting up the perfect situation for a talk, as she always saved Idhrenion for last.

Sarah reached his stall and held out a treat for him to take. As he took it, Sarah heard a voice in her mind.

An entire year has passed since you came back to Middle Earth, yet you and your father are still acting like complete strangers towards one another.

"Not responding to that," Sarah said.

Technically, you just did Idhrenion said with a mental laugh.

Thranduil, who had not heard the elk's comment, turned to Sarah with a confused look.

"I haven't said anything yet."

"I was talking to him," Sarah said, pointing to the elk.

"Oh. What did he say?" Thranduil asked.

"Nothing I want to repeat right now."

There was silence. Sarah and Thranduil hadn't spoken to each other much since their talk that night in Rivendell, and the tension between them had returned.

"You and your sister have really come a long way with Dandelion," Thranduil finally said, breaking the silence.

"I learned that Cheyenne had had a colt," Sarah replied, "so I thought I should let him know what had happened to his mother. When he told me he was blind and how he'd been treated since he lost his sight, I just felt so sorry for him. I knew I had to help him."

"What do you mean 'how he'd been treated'?" Thranduil asked.

"Cast off," Sarah answered. "Ignored. Unloved. Wondering what he did wrong and how things could have been different. He was just a shell when I first met him. He didn't want to feel the pain anymore, so he stopped feeling anything at all."

There were a few seconds of silence, and then. . .

"Are you still talking about Dandy, or are you talking about yourself?"

Sarah was so shocked by the question that she jumped and dropped the last treat in her hand that she'd been holding out for Idhrenion.

Hey!

Sarah ignored the elk's protests, instead staring at her father. The Elvenking stared back at her.

"I was selfish," he continued. "I was clinging to the past so much that I forgot to live in the present. I let my fears cloud my judgment. It was unfair of me to try to push you away, especially when you were making efforts to get close to me. I am sorry."

He started to walk away, and Sarah finally snapped out of her trance.

"Father," she called after him.

Thranduil stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Sarah, surprised. She had never called him Father. Sarah walked up to him.

"I'm sorry as well," she said. "I was also living in the past and letting my fears control me. I never felt like my dad loved me, and I didn't know what kind of father you would be towards me. A part of me was afraid that you would be just like him. I was running away from my problems when I should have been facing them." She paused for a minute, then continued. "Can we just start over?"

Thranduil didn't answer. Instead, he just threw his arms around Sarah and hugged her close. Sarah was shocked by this out-of-character show of affection, but she shook it off and hugged him back.

"Yes," she heard him say. "We most certainly can."

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How was that ending? We'll see these characters again, just not in this story. For now, review this one and I'll have the next one out as quickly as I can.

Amalthea Shine.