This chap is about 3,100 words. Thank you all reviewers, those that fav and follows, it means a lot, and I'm sorry it has taken so long to get this out, but my health as usual has been a big reason to why I haven't written much. But at least it is here now.

R&R! Enjoy!

Chapter 8:

Calithilel woke up alone and she frowned. Beside her on the bed were a plate with food and she carefully smelled it. Normal, she thought and started to eat slowly. She wondered what the day or maybe even days would bring. What would she do in this huge underground place? Away from the stars and away from the trees. She wondered briefly if Thranduil would let her see the trees and their condition. She knew from a little loud gossip around the place that some elves still lived in the forest. But it was a healthy part of it, one that was not sick yet. And somehow they had managed to keep that place. She had also noticed the part where they had said that a lot of guards guarded the forest there.

I wonder what it is like there, she briefly wondered, curious about the little village in the trees, though it was said to be very different from Lórien.

Startled she lost the tray that had rested in her lap when Thranduil strode into the room. She had been too deep in thought to even notice him coming. The tray fell and down to the floor where it made enough noise and she automatically covered her ears. It seemed her healing process had made her a bit extra sensitive to sound. She took herself in glaring at the king and then had to remind herself to play nice. She smoothed out her expression so he could not read much from her, except her emotions now and then.

He stared, but then seemed to remember what he was doing and he too was blank. She could barely even feel him.

"I'm fine." Confusion. "I mean, I feel fine," she then said and gave a small smile, hoping to make him speak.

"I can feel that," he answered and raised a brow.

"Gee, don't be a statue at all." She rolled her eyes.

He tilted his head. "Why is it that you so easily manage to annoy me?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Don't ask me."

He sighed and then said, "I want you to walk with me."

She almost snorted. "Walk with you? Why?"

"You rather stay in here?" he asked and looked around the room.

She stood hurriedly and went straight to her backpack. "Just give me a moment to get dressed and I'll be right with you." She disappeared into the bathing room and nearly threw on her clothes. When she was dressed, she briefly looked in the mirror and saw her untied hair. She dragged one hand through it. What to do? she silently asked herself. She looked in the bag again and found exactly what she had wished for, she then exited after tying her hair into a ponytail,. "Ready!" she said happily.

The king did not answer her; instead he turned his back towards her and walked out the door. One guard held it open and seemed to wait for her to exit as well. Remembering that she could actually follow without being stopped she hurried after the king.

"You seem rather impressed with these halls," he suddenly said.

"Yeah…I mean, how did you even manage to build this place? Aren't you supposed to live in the woods?" She was fishing, and he knew it.

"In other words you want to know why I do not live in the forest." She nodded. His face had hardened and a shadow seemed to cross, but as fast as it had been there, it went away again. "This is the safer place," he muttered.

"But still you try to protect your people that chose to stay out there. And then there's the spider problem." She was almost careless when uttering the words, but she had prepared for the kings' glare and did not even flinch when he turned towards her. "If you had taken them out by their source-"

"Enough!"

It was enough to keep her silent but her eyes narrowed and she glared at the king in turn. Two could play this time around. They were out in the open and no guards were even close.

"Enough with your games! What are you playing at? What do you want? Why did you come here?" he asked, anger lacing his voice, but underneath it all was a small vulnerability.

"I did not choose to be in here," she answered. "You are the one keeping me here."

"And with right!"

"What right? Just that we are mates? It means nothing as long as you try to rule over me! I did not ask for you! I wanted a mate who would care about me and treat me as an equal. Not this… Not this at all. I came here with the dwarves for I have my own quest to complete. There is a dragon out there, waiting to wake up. Darkness is coming, Thranduil, and I do not even know if I will be able to save myself." The last part was but a whisper, but the message was clear enough and seemed to pain the king more than he would admit.

"I won't let you leave this place," was his only answer, and then he turned and walked away from her.

She screamed after him. "I who finally thought we had come to an understanding!" No more fights, she thought. She fell to her knees while fresh and angry tears fell. Some turning into silver pearls. I must find a way out, she then thought and sniffed.

Taenil came walking towards her and surprise filled the female. "Silver, what are you doing here, alone?" she asked.

Calithilel wiped her eyes and arose. "It seems I am a bit lost." She chuckled. "I am allowed to roam around, am I not?" Taenil nodded. "But somehow I did not pay attention to where I went."

"Oh! It's alright! I'll show you the way back," Taenil said happily.

Calithilel nodded grateful to the other female and together they started walking in silence. The silence did not last for long though, for Taenil seemed happy to talk to her about the escape from the dwarves and the scandal that Legolas and Tauriel had gone after them. She also expressed her worry over the future, for if the dragon was awakened and not killed, how would it go with them all?

Back in the room she shared with Thranduil she sat down on the floor while leaning her head on the bed. Yes, how would it all play out? Although, she knew the dragon would be killed. The dwarves and Bilbo would be ok. The question was how would she get to them?

The next two days was spent in silence when it came to Calithilel and Thranduil, neither said a word to each other, and they barely spent time together, except when they slept, and even then she made it hard for him. Sometimes she pretended that she was dreaming and twisted and turned and once kicked an angry king out of the bed, but of course, to her defense, she had been `asleep´. If the king saw through her those times, he did not tell her on it.

Enough was enough, she had decided. She could not bear to not talk with him, and that said something. She silently scolded herself already for feeling too deeply for him, when she in one way barely knew him at all. They sat together, eating in the endless silence and she betted that if anyone dropped a needle, it would have been heard. She could hear herself breathing, that was almost too much… She shook her head and stared into the kings' eyes. He stared back, but he did not seem affected. She sighed and stuffed her mouth one more time and then put the fork away. "Thranduil," she started.

"King Thranduil, Lord Thranduil would of course work as well," he interrupted.

"You never corrected me before," she challenged and raised a brow while showing a small smile.

"I should have," he mumbled, but she heard.

"Anyway, as I was saying… Thranduil, no no, wait, My Lord Thranduil."

"Now you're mocking me."

Yes, clearly annoyed, she thought. But better than silence. "I was wondering if you please could take me out to see the trees?"

"No."

"But I can heal more of the forest!" she protested.

"So you can run away?" he asked, his expression full of anger but also worry.

"I won't run, I swear. I can even swear on my life! I just want to see the condition, aaaaaand maybe a little of the forest village."

He sighed and seemed to think on it, then he breathed out heavily. "If I let you see a little of the sick forest now, can you bear with that for now?" he asked.

"Really?" Her eyebrows rose. One part of her wanted to argue and refuse that little offer, but at the same time that was unreasonable, he was stretching towards a `yes´. He nodded. "I can live with that," she said excited and grinned.

It seemed to startle the king and a small smile slipped past him as well. He quickly recovered and straightened up. "We may go soon, let me just call some guards."

She nodded and stood.

The gates opened and Calithilel stared out in wonder, well aware that several guards kept their eyes closely on her. Thranduil too, stood close, so close that she could feel him breathe. She stretched and breathed in the fresh air. The part in front of her looked peaceful and quiet. Healthy. Birds chirped close and she smiled.

"Let us walk," Thranduil said quietly, but she heard and took the first step.

While walking forward she soon understood that the forest was worse off than she first imagined. She stopped by a tree and closed her eyes. She felt the sickening energy and her other hand shot out and held onto the tree. Not good, she thought while a hand landed on her shoulder. She opened her eyes again and looked into Thranduil's eyes. "They should start healing now," she whispered. She regained her balance and took off into another direction, away from the path they currently were on, but she could not only heal the pathway. Not even ten minutes had passed when she fell to her knees in exhaustion.

I wonder, she thought and braced herself for the pain. She let healing energy shoot out from her like the day when Sparkles had died. She felt it like a wave coming from within, spreading, healing. Gasps. She focused harder, but she knew, it was too much and she fell over, panting.

"Silver, stay with me!" She barely heard Thranduil, but it was his voice, no doubt. "You pushed yourself too hard, you stupid child," he scolded.

"I'm not a child," she managed to mumble out.

"That is for me to decide, not you."

"Noooo," she dragged out tiredly. "Not."

"You cannot see my people like this," he told her.

"I know," she sighed. But I had to help.

And she had. The healing energy of the earth had already begun to spread around them. As the king carried her, they saw changes. The range was big, but very exhausting on her. He could see that. He shook his head. For in the days following, she would push on and keep helping the forest. And to the healthy parts the spiders would not come back. It took time though before Calithilel managed to reach the little village without exhausting herself on the way, for the king had agreed to let her out every day. But as the days passed it was clear how strong-willed she was, though in this matter he did not stop her, for he was also very curious about what she could do.

The day came when Calithilel entered one of the trees close to the village, and she was unsure of what to say. It was just a small part of it, but the trees were healthy. Guards were everywhere. There were barely any roofs!

"What do you do when it rains?" she wondered.

"Half is covered and half is not, for we like the stars the most," Thranduil simply answered.

What? she thought and then looked at the rope bridges between the houses in the trees. Or well, more like half houses and then flat wood. "So they just take their beds onto the free space and then sleep?"

Thranduil rolled his eyes, it was not very revealing, but she had noticed. "I might show you sometime," was all he answered.

"Really?"

The return made it all more interesting. Thranduil seemed less on guard around her when they now were out and she wondered if that was how she could plan her escape, even if the thought made a piercing pain in her chest, for he could not know and she did everything in her power to block him when she thought about it. She could not be careless. She had to reach the dwarves, especially before the battle started. However, it was one question standing. Would her standing with the dwarves…? She shuddered. She did not want to think how he would see her, or how the dwarves eventually would see her. What if they all would think of her as an actress? She had not lied, just not told the whole truth, right? Nevertheless, the fury would come. From which sides and from whom she could easily imagine. Would they thank her in the end or be mad at her. Would she have to go lonely back to Lórien for the rest of her days, or would she simply be gone again?

"I want to call you out on something," Thranduil suddenly said, while they walked in his halls.

"And what is that?"

"You knowledge, or should I say lack of it when it comes to Khuzdul, how is that? I would have thought that the Lady of Light would have taught you, especially since she thinks of you as her daughter."

Calithilel grimaced. This was not something she enjoyed talking about, for indeed Galadriel had tried.

"You really don't know?" he asked surprised.

"No, I mean yes! But, er…it's complicated."

He raised a brow. "How so?"

"My brain won't take it?" she tried to joke, but the king looked at her seriously. She shrugged. "She tried, but even if I heard her and tried to learn it, it just wouldn't stick. A higher power probably meant I was not supposed to know. I can't know everything you know." The last part she tried to joke, but the king did not seem to take it. She shrugged again. "I don't mind though. Not too many are supposed to know it."

"Yet you speak like us."

"I'm an elf, am I not?" she replied.

"Though once human."

He turned away from her and started walking. What? she kept thinking. She had not expected that. Was her being previous human suddenly a problem? There had to be more to these secrets and these questions.

"Do not forget your true path, Calithilel," Manwë's voice rung in her head.

"Right," she whispered.

She escaped. She had managed to escape! And while running through the forest she felt the pain when separating herself from Thranduil. They had managed to become civil and even some questions answered, there were still a lot she wondered about, for she truly wanted to know him. Not just be his mate and that was it.

The thrill was there as she heard guards in the distance but the wind was with her and pushing her faster forward. She was quick. Plus she had managed to steal a sword and a bow when getting away. It wasn't completely planned, but Thranduil had been busy and she had convinced Taenil to come with her on her little walk. Even with six guards she took them out. She first knocked Taenil unconscious, for she did not want her to get any blame, but she had been the first to awake and sound the alarm. So here she was, but eventually she did lose the other guards and only rage could be felt within her, though not her own.

Evening fell upon the lands and in the distance she heard a gruesome sound. She stood high enough to see flames engulf a city and then the dragon fall.

She breathed hard, knowing she would have to hurry and find one of the dwarves, so they then could go together to Erebor.

Thranduil was not happy. He thought he had started to understand this Silver. That he could trust her a little more to be on her own, but how wrong had he been. He did not know how she had managed to block him off from her scheming to get away. She had managed, and in that moment he swore he had heard a voice telling him `What did I say?´ He was certain he imagined it, but at the same time he started to doubt. Was someone talking to him inside his head? As the Lady Galadriel could? This voice was male, so maybe… No, he did not have time to ponder over this. His mate, his second chance at happiness had managed to get away. How could he get her back? He thought they had come to an understanding. Of course it could be wishful thinking on his part, but he had hoped so strongly. Hope. It seemed such a strong word to use.

He had called on his guards to go after her, but eventually they returned with news. She had escaped faster than they could imagine and eventually they had to stop just to see flames. The dragon had awakened. Then so came other news as well. The dragon had fallen. While sitting on his throne waiting for things to play out, waiting for earth shattering news that his kingdom was more in danger than ever, things had worked out. Now a mountain with treasure, especially one treasure he wanted, was open for the taking. And now, he could not just let it stay unprotected, could he? Then it was his mate. She was there somewhere. What she wanted with the dwarves and the treasure remained to be seen.

Calithilel saw in early dawn the fire dying down on the water. The screaming was worse than she could imagine. Thranduil had managed to close off his emotions and she was not sure what to think. She tried not to wrinkle her nose every time she smelled burnt flesh or the smoke from the fire. It was all too real, and she had not been there to help. A trace of blonde hair made hope fill her and other emotions opened up in her. She felt relieved. Legolas was safe.

How absurd to feel this way, she thought.

He turned towards her, surprise clear in his blue eyes, but they seemed to understand each other. With one nod her way he disappeared from her reach, and she could go on.

Tell me what you think ;)

- Moonlight Starlove