Happy reading! Have another chapter today! I have another plus the starts of a second ready to post whenever. Just trying to space them out a bit. Let me know what you think as always!
With the morning sun rising, Elrond rolled to see Thranduil still in his bed. He smiled as he leaned forward and kissed him gently before whispering good morning to him watching as he continued to sleep. He figured with everything that had happened recently, Thranduil needed to rest. Gently, he got out of bed and put on the traveling clothes he was wearing last night when Thranduil had arrived and started to pack up his things. This was probably going to be his second hardest goodbye yet, but he knew he had no choice in the matter. He knew that if he stayed, Oropher would never let him go with Thranduil and if Thranduil stayed with him, Oropher would hunt them down. No matter the situation, he would loose Thranduil and he would never be able to loose Thranduil for good. Last night was the eye opener that he needed to realize that Thranduil and he were meant to be together.
Picking up his books, he placed those with his herbs in his smaller bag. He flipped it closed when he turned around to see Thranduil sitting up and watching him silently.
"Good morning. I hope I did not wake you."
"You did not," Thranduil said softly before standing and moving across the room to his lover.
Elrond smiled, pushing Thranduil's silver hair back before leaning in and kissing him gently. Thranduil pushed right back into him as he kissed back, enjoying the feeling of being against him. Sadly the kiss ended sooner than they both wanted it to.
"I got to finish packing," Elrond said softly. "Afterwards, we can eat breakfast before I have to leave."
"I will go ahead and get breakfast to cut back on the wait," Thranduil offered as he grabbed his clothing that had been discarded and started to get dressed. "What would you prefer?"
"Fruit and bread," Elrond responded as he grabbed the few pieces of clothing that he had not packed yet. "Thank you."
"Not a problem," Thranduil smiled as he buttoned the last few buttons and went to the door.
Opening the door, he came face to face with Andreth who had a tray of food in his hands. Trying not to panic, he kept his eyes on the mentor.
"Thank you," he simply said as he took the tray in his hands.
"Not a problem," Andreth smiled. "Oh and Thranduil, it is going to be okay."
Thranduil looked at him in shock as Andreth closed the door. Turning to Elrond, he could not shake the feeling that Andreth knew what they did last night.
"Is Andreth always so strange?"
"What do you mean?" Elrond asked.
"He was outside the door when I went to get breakfast and then he told me 'it is going to be okay'," Thranduil explained.
"That sounds exactly like Andreth," Elrond nodded not shocked at all. "He has always been a little strange, even from the first day I met him. He seemed to know so much about everything."
"I wonder how."
"I have always wondered how he does it, but have always been too afraid to ask."
"I personally do not think he would tell you even if you were to ask him," Thranduil responded.
"I agree with you there," Elrond said as he made his way to sit down next to his lover. "Ready to eat?"
Thranduil nodded as he cut a slice of bread for each of them, watching the steam come off it it. Elrond on the other hand, was already putting jam on his slice before asking Thranduil if he wanted some who nodded. Handing the slice he had just finished to Thranduil, he picked up the second slice and put jam on it as well. Placing the knife on the tray, he took a bite of it before pouring two glasses of water for them and taking a sip of his own. The water was not as chilled as it was yesterday, but it was still cool. Thranduil ignored the water for a moment as he took a grape and ate it silently. They continued to eat as they watched each other. Elrond took a moment to slide his foot to rest against Thranduil's under the table, causing Thranduil to smile in response.
"You will write to me," Thranduil stated.
"Of course, and you will respond as you can."
"Every chance I can," he smiled. "Make sure to include any boring details in case Ada asks what is going on over there. He cannot deny me talking to you if he thinks that I am getting information for him."
"That is a very good point. I will make sure to include what I can. Maybe then your Ada will allow you to respond to me more often."
"That is my plan. Make him feel like it will benefit him for me to talk to you."
With a grin, Elrond nodded as he finished his bread. He knew he could not put off leaving much longer as he finished his water and stood to grab his bags. Thranduil stayed silent as he stood and helped grab a bag. Elrond smiled before kissing him on the lips for the last time in a while before heading to the door.
"Ready?"
"As ready as I will ever be," Thranduil admitted as he nodded.
Elrond opened the door and headed down the hallway silently with Thranduil close behind him. The walk to the stables was uneventful as always and Andreth had their horses already saddled and ready to leave when they arrived. Elrond did not say a word to him as he started to pack his bags on his horse before turning and taking his last bag from Thranduil. As he did, their hands brushed against each others ever so slightly causing them to both pause and keep their eyes locked for a moment. Andreth noticed this and said nothing as he simply lead his horse into the streets.
"I will see you on the edge of town. Be quick with your goodbyes," he said before leaving the young elves behind.
"Well, I guess I will be seeing you at a later date," Elrond said softly. "You better tell me what happens with this… arrangement of yours."
"I will and you better tell me of everything new. I can tell you now that this arrangement will not work. I will make sure it does not," Thranduil explained. "I know what arrangement I want and I am looking at that person now."
"Same," Elrond said with a slightly blush before giving him a light hug. "I will see you later."
Turning and leaving was the hardest thing Elrond had done since he watched his brother leave. He knew it would be, but he did not expect it to be this hard. The entire walk through the streets was silent and seemed to drag on until he reached Andreth waiting for him like he had said. Andreth simply nodded before mounting his horse, watching Elrond do the same. He did not need to do anything else as he started to head out and Elrond followed.
After what seemed like hours, Elrond finally decided to pay more attention to his surroundings, not realizing that they had traveled farther than he had expected.
"I am sorry for staying silent and to myself," Elrond admitted to Andreth.
"That is nothing to be sorry for. You needed this time to think through things, as to what, it does not matter. I know you have had a lot happen to you on this trip and I am here to support you in whatever way I can. Even if that means letting you travel silently so that you can think through things."
"I understand that, but I also understand that sometimes it is better to talk through things out loud. I do not know if this is one of those things though. Part of me feels as if it is something that I need to keep hidden from everyone."
"Then you do what you feel is right," Andreth replied.
"May I ask you something?"
"Anything."
"Why did Gil-Galad not marry? Did he not find someone special?"
"He did find someone, but that person did not return his feelings," Andreth explained. "Many others expressed their feelings for him, but he did not return any of their feelings. From what I understand, Gil-Galad said that if that one person would not return his feelings, then he was destined to be alone."
"Do you know who this person is… was?"
"I do, but it is not my place to say who it is. That would just like me betraying your trust to Gil-Galad on a matter you do not want to share with him."
"I understand and I do not want you to betray him."
"Thank you for understanding," Andreth replied. "Anything else I can answer for you?"
"Not that I know of," Elrond answered. "I just…. I do not know… Maybe I need to think some more."
"If you need to, I completely understand. I have done that many times to figure out things."
"Were you even unsure that you were making the correct decision on something?"
"All the time," he admitted.
"What helped you decide that you were making the correct decision?"
"Having trust in myself and the fact that I felt there was no other better decisions. Sometimes there is no correct decision, but the best decision… The one with the least amount of consequences are sometimes just as much the correct decision."
"And what if the decision that seems the correct one comes with probably the highest amount of consequences of them all?"
"Then in that case, you better be pretty sure that this decision is the one you want to pick. Sometimes those paths are the most rewarding."
"I really hope this one is," Elrond said with a grin. "Thank you so much, Andreth. I really needed to hear that."
Andreth grinned as he heard this. He stayed quiet again as he waited for Elrond to speak again, but he had a feeling he would not till it was time to set up camp. Elrond stayed silent again as he thought over the night before and what had happened between him and Thranduil. He knew deep down that he had made the correct decision and that no matter what, he would not regret it. He would take whatever consequences were ahead of him and knew that Thranduil would too.
When they stopped at night, Elrond dismounted and stretched his stiff muscles before turning to restrain his horse. Andreth was already restraining his horse and as soon as Elrond got to him, he took the reins from Elrond without saying a single word. Elrond nodded as he started to collect wood for the fire before getting on his knees and building a fire setup. He was getting better at traveling and survival with Andreth and times like these, he did not need to say anything to know what to do. He knew that Andreth would be setting up their tent behind him. Being very careful, he used a piece of flint to light the fire, watching the wood burn and start to build.
"You made a great fire this time," Andreth smiled at him.
"Thank you very much. And I do have one more thing I would like to ask you about."
"Go for it."
"Thranduil said his Ada was interested in an alliance through me so that he would get trades from Gil-Galad."
"That sounds exactly like Oropher."
"He also said that his Ada would also want to know about things happening here. To me that feels almost as if he wants me to spy for him. I want to continue writing to Thranduil, but I do not want Oropher to take advantage of me."
"We can come up with stuff that Oropher can know in order to allow you to write to Thranduil. I am sure that Gil-Galad would agree with me on this matter as well. Oropher is wanting to fish for information and figured that you were the best one to go through to get that information."
"Thank you, Andreth."
"You are welcome. Now are you hungry?"
"I am," Elrond admitted as he watched Andreth pull out food and hand some over to him. "Thank you."
Andreth sat silently as he started to eat the vegetables that he had packed for their dinner tonight as he watched Elrond enjoying his dinner as well. They listened carefully to the sounds of nature around them without saying a word. They knew that if either of them heard anything, it would be brought to the attention of the other quickly. They had gotten use to staying guard together while they were both up and letting each other switch off to rest. They knew tonight would be no different. What they hoped for was that trouble would not come their way while they traveled home. It was not as if they could not take care of it, but more of the fact they preferred not to. Tonight was no different as they relaxed.
"Do you want to sleep first?" Elrond asked Andreth.
"Only if you are okay with that."
"It will give me a bit more time to unwind and relax. If I was to try to sleep right now, I would never get any rest at all."
"Okay. If you need anything, wake me up. If we have any trouble, you know to wake me up."
"I already know, Andreth. Go rest while you have a chance," Elrond laughed knowing this was Andreth's way of caring.
Andreth nodded as he went to lay down in the tent alone leaving Elrond by the fire alone. He waited a moment before pulling out a piece of paper and writing down all his fears that could come from his relationship with Thranduil. He listed Oropher first and then all the things he thought Oropher would do, including sending someone to kill him. He listed that he feared Thranduil getting in a relationship with someone else and using him as well as Thranduil completely forgetting about him. This list continued with over a hundred fears as he thought about everything that could happen. Only one item included Gil-Galad and that was being disowned for loving someone of the same sex. He looked over the entire list as a whole to make sure he did not leave anything off of it. When he was satisfied with it, he folded it up before praying to the Valar that this relationship would not result in any of these items or anything else negative. He also prayed for this relationship to work out in the long run and result in many happy years together. Opening his eyes, he tossed the paper into the fire as he watched his fears burn and turn to ashes. He was hoping that in burning his fears, they would never come to be.
The rest of his watch went by uneventful and by the time Andreth came to take over, he knew he was relaxed enough to rest the rest of the night.
"Nothing happened, Andreth," he said softly.
"I figured," he replied. "You rest well."
"Thank you very much," Elrond said standing up and moving towards the tent without another word.
Entering the tent, he laid down on the sleep mat that Andreth had prepared before pulling the blanket over him. The crickets chirped all around him as he listened to the fire crackle outside the tent. The sound was peaceful and relaxing as he could feel himself start to drift off to sleep without much thought.