Despite the rapidly fading light, Elluin and Thranduil walked leisurely as they left the waterfall, knowing that they would reach more familiar grounds before the night descended. They chatted lightly about the past summer festival and guessed at what Galion might have decided to do with the day's free time. Laughter once more echoed through the forest, as merry and natural as the bubbling creek they flanked.
When they caught sight of the first of the palace buildings through the darkness, identified by the lantern glowing above its door, Thranduil suddenly stopped. Elluin looked at him with questioning eyes.
"Elluin," Thranduil said, "I have enjoyed this afternoon immensely. I am eager to learn if something has happened at the palace while we were gone, but…" His eyes searched hers. "I wonder if you would indulge me a while longer. As my friend, you have shared with me how waterfalls remind you of your first home and help to heal your heartache. Now, I wish to show you what does so for me."
"Gladly, sire," she said with a smile.
"Has the walk not tired you?"
"No, sire. I make such walks fairly regularly." She omitted the comment that the reason she did so was to find flowers for him.
"Good." A mischievous glint entered his eyes and she became curious. She obeyed his gesture to abandon the satchel, then stepped close to her. Elluin fought to keep her heartbeat steady as he took her hand with a grin. "Let's run," he growled. Without any more warning, he took off, with her in tow.
She took a moment to find her feet, but then joined his spurts of breathless laughter as they dodged trees in their sprint around the perimeter of the palace grounds, hands still clasped tightly together, two mirthful shadows amid shadows.
At last, Thranduil brought them to a steady halt, less exerted than she was due to his extensive training, but still panting through his smile. He dropped her hand and sat near her, leaning back onto his hands, after she plopped jovially onto the forest floor.
"I would often have races around Menegroth with my friends in Doriath," Thranduil said once he caught his breath. "It was a happy time. There was nothing to fear in all our world… except tripping over a root," he added with a lopsided smile. "And the trees always whispered so happily, seeming to enjoy the air stirring as we flew past." His smile lingered as he retreated into memories.
The night was moonless and the sky had become slightly overcast, obscuring the stars. Night insects were sparse in this drier part of the forest, far from any creeks or streams. The occasional hoot of an owl and the slight wind in the leaves were the only sounds to break through the silence around them. Elluin glee faded with the light and she became increasingly uneasy, recalling a similarly dark and quiet night that had left her with scars that still lingered. She tried to distract herself by focusing on her surroundings, eyes darting to the treetops as if convincing herself that no threats were hidden there. She saw none, but still found their towering dark forms forbidding.
Thranduil had not noticed her distress. Nonchalantly, he leaned forward to pick a leaf from his boot. The sudden motion of his shadow towards her in the corner of her vision startled Elluin and she realized only after it occurred that she had whimpered and drawn back, knees to her chest. Just as quickly, the king was kneeling at her side.
"Elluin, what is it?"
She stared at him for a moment, her breathing still agitated, blinking until her thoughts reorganized. She breathed deeply to steady herself. "Forgive me, sire. The silence and darkness put me in mind of the night of the attack…"
Elluin saw understanding in Thranduil's eyes. He sat there and gingerly took her hand.
"Tell me what happened."
Elluin had no wish to relive the experience, but could not disobey. She took strength from the warmth of Thranduil's hand around hers and his powerful and soothing presence. Haltingly, she spoke of the desperate flight from her home with her parents, finding Maethon on the way, and their frantic attempts at defense with knife and dagger while Soronume's sword discouraged the worst. She spoke of her mother falling, and her attempt to reach her side. She felt tears on her cheek and her voice shook as her mind's eye conjured again the image of the Orc as it grabbed at her feet and jumped at her, brutal claws digging into her legs. Finally, she recalled how Maethon removed and killed the monster, then the Elven soldiers surrounding them, allowing them to escape to the palace.
She used her free hand to dry the few tears she had been unable to suppress and glanced sadly at the king. "It is a small matter, really," she said. "My dearest friends and family were spared, and my wounds have mended."
"Perhaps your physical wounds," he said. Thranduil's kind gaze was unwavering.
"And it is nothing compared to what all our soldiers have gone through," she continued.
"They are trained for it," the king said. "And even so, for some, the first battle leaves a mark on their spirit that is long in healing."
She looked dejectedly at her lap, futilely willing the lingering fear to subside.
"There is a way to accelerate your healing," he mentioned after a moment. "Do you wish to attempt it?"
Elluin looked at him questioningly. Seeing the determination in his face as he awaited her response, she nodded. He released her hand, stood, and took a few steps back. Elluin wrapped her arms around herself, feeling the loss of his warmth beside her. Turning his head up to the canopy, he whistled what sounded nearly like the call of a blackbird. Almost immediately, they heard an echoing call in a tree a stone's throw away. She had not even heard the king's guards take their places after their sprint through the trees, but she was not surprised they were there.
Thranduil seemed to know that turning his back on Elluin would increase her anxiety, so he walked backwards toward the tree where his guard was, keeping his eyes on her. Shadows threatened to conceal him completely in the dark night, but the weak glint of stars escaping through the shivering canopy flitted over his hair every now and then. He easily caught the sheathed sword that fell from one of the branches when he stopped beneath it, then jogged back to her.
He held the weapon up for her to see and fluidly removed the sheath. "This is my sword, Gaelang." He said in a straightforward tone. "It has been recently sharpened." He took Elluin's hand and wrapped it around the grip, releasing slowly as he let her take its substantial weight.
Once she stabilized her hold, Elluin looked at the king expectantly.
"Elluin," Thranduil said earnestly, "I want you to remember that night again, and imagine that I am the Orc that attacked you."
"What? I cannot —"
"Try," he insisted, and moved from his place by her side to crouch on the ground an arm's length beyond her feet.
Her heart raced as she obeyed, in contradiction to all her instincts, but trusting her king. She wondered distantly if he had done the same exercise with his new soldiers.
"Prepare yourself," he said quietly, and started to creep closer at a glacially slow pace.
It took Elluin a moment to orient her mind. At this distance, the crowns of the surrounding trees absorbing any light from above in their spreading leaves, the king was an unclear figure of shadow. It was all too easy for her to replace the darkness with the face of the beast from her memories. Her breath quickened again and she started trying to back away, but free movement was prevented by the heavy weapon in her hand.
Her grasp tightened as the shadow drew closer and her heart pounded, and she resolved in that moment to give no more ground. She held the sword of the Elvenking — she had no reason to retreat. The shadow was now right at her feet, and slowly reaching a hand towards her. With a fortifying breath, she raised the king's sword, moving forward with it to rise to her knees, the point at the shadow's chest, forcing it back.
She held that position, fury at the monster from her memories finally allowed to surface past the dissipating fear. Then she rose to her feet and took a step forward, feeling power course through her as the shadow moved even further back. Slowly she felt the fury fade along with the fear, recognizing that the shadow was now at her mercy and powerless.
Silence reigned for a long moment and she realized that her arm had started to shake with the unfamiliar weight of the sword she held in a suffocating grip. Elluin released a breath and slowly dropped her arm.
She heard another bird call—an oriole—and soon, lights sprang up in a denser part of the canopy. Three burning torches were tossed the impressive distance into the dirt close by where Ellluin stood, partially illuminating Thranduil, who sat cross-legged on the ground looking up at her with a soft smile.
Elluin felt she awoke from a trance and stared at him numbly. He held out his hand to accept the hilt of his sword, which he quickly resheathed and reverently set aside. Then he stood, slowly, as if assuring himself that she no longer felt him a dark threat, and took a step towards her. The flickering golden light allowed him to search Elluin's eyes. Finding what he sought in their depths, he bent to pick up one of the torches and silently offered her his arm. She took it gratefully and they fell into step.
Their Elven sight did not require the torchlight to successfully walk the winding final stretch back to the palace together, but Thranduil knew the merry flame would prevent her old fears returning. However, he did believe that she had now sufficiently healed so the memories no longer held such power over her.
"How do you feel?" he asked as they walked, coaxing her out of her thoughtful silence.
Elluin gazed at her companion. "You are truly a mighty king," she said. Her eyes glittered with a torrent of emotions. Squeezing his arm lightly, she said, "Thank you, sire. You have set me free."
"I will not have my housekeeper afraid of shadows," Thranduil said lightly. His voice became tender. "Much less my friend."
Elluin beamed at him.
Thranduil wondered again at the love that shone so obviously in her face. She seemed happy to be with him, despite the limits he had imposed on their relationship. She had strength in her, as he had suspected, to face her fears and emerge victorious. He just hoped that she would be strong enough to continue bearing her unrequited love.
"I will remember that waterfall," he said, "next time I find myself missing the ocean."
They walked in companionable silence for a while before Elluin turned to him again.
"Sire, the guards…" she began uncertainly.
"They have taken oaths of secrecy," Thranduil said smoothly, anticipating her awkward question. "They are part of a selected score of warriors that have done so and form my personal guard. Whatever they may see or hear while in my service will never be repeated."
"Oh," she said. The management of Greenwood's army was one of the few aspects of the kingdom of which Elluin barely knew anything. But she could appreciate the difficulty of keeping up with, but staying out of sight of, the two Elves even as they sprinted through the trees. "They are very skilled."
"Yes," the king agreed. Then his voice took on a melancholy tone. "And each has bled for me."
Elluin's heart ached to see Thranduil's long-suppressed pain. She knew he did not wish anyone to suffer for his sake, preferring to be his people's defense himself.
"My king, as long as we stay on the Hither Shores, there is a risk of danger."
He looked at her, curious. "Would you have us all sail away to escape?"
"No, sire. Those of us who remain are conscious of the danger and we stay willingly."
Thranduil's strides remained steady as her words sank in.
"And the king is certainly not careless," she added.
He smiled down at her. "Even in the darkest night, Elluin, you seek to lift my spirits."
She merely closed her fingers on his arm more tightly in response.