They made it to the gate in fairly good time, mostly due to Tauriel, and to an extent Legolas, who seemed to know their way around the airport like a second home. In all honesty, he didn't know how long it would have taken them to navigate the huge airport on their own, but he didn't really need to worry about it.
"Can we go shopping now?" Tilda asked, once they'd found a place to sit in the busy airport lounge,
"Okay, Just check you've got passports and boarding passes and then you can go- leave any hand luggage with me, and try not to buy too much. We've got an hour til boarding so be back before then."
"Thanks Da," Tilda replied, happily, and rushed off, Bain and Sigrid in tow.
""Oh, and Sigrid," he called out, "buy some snacks for the three of you," he said to his eldest, handing her a few $10 bills.
"Why don't you go join them Legolas," Tauriel prompted, and Legolas practically leapt out of his seat and ran off, causing Tauriel considerable amusement. From watching them interact he would never have guessed that Legolas was older, but then again, Legolas seemed to be enjoying himself, and Bard suspected he was far more independent than he was making out, and just enjoyed irritating Tauriel- not that Tauriel seemed to mind.
"Are you not going with them?" he asked Tauriel, slightly surprised that she had remained.
"When you go through here as often as I do, the shops start to feel a bit boring," she laughed a little."I come out here every few months to visit my grandparents, and I'll do the whole shopping thing when Legolas occasionally comes with me, but that's not hugely often given they aren't exactly his family- generally I get to the gate about ten minutes before boarding."
"Do you go completely alone?" he asked surprised, as she was only seventeen.
"Ada comes with me when he can, but it's not like he can fly commercial safely, and he tries not to fly private too much when he's not on tour, so we came to this arrangement about two years ago, and it's fairly efficient."
It was strange how one minute he could be having a perfectly normal conversation with the girl, and the next moment he would be reminded just how big their differences were- his children had never been on a plane before today, and here she was talking about flying multiple times a year and private jets- he didn't hold it against her, it was just startling. What was stranger still was Tauriel's apparent understanding of this difference- he would have expected someone that grew up like she did to be much more- not like Tauriel. The girl was friendly and down to earth, and while her earrings probably cost more than Bard's old house, you wouldn't know it to talk to her. A part of him was glad to have someone like that going on the tour in Sigrid's circles- It would be a lie to say he hadn't been worried about the kind of friends his daughter would make when she was brought onto the project.
When the group of kids (well, teenagers) got back to the lounge, it was only a few minutes until boarding.
"Cutting it a bit close," he joked, but he hadn't really been worried. Looking around the group, he was hardly surprised to see Legolas holding 3 cans of pringles and a bag of spicy doritos the size of his head, gaining him an exasperated glare from Tauriel. His children had a much more reasonable collection- a few bags of sweets and some goldfish crackers.
"Legs we've been over this, there's food on the plane," Tauriel said, only annoyed because legolas proceeded to hand her 2 of the cans of pringles so he could pick up his hand luggage.
"Not good food," he complained, leading Tauriel to just give up the argument, leaving the impression it wasn't the first time they had had this exact conversation.
They all started to get up upon hearing their boarding announcement, and while he and no doubt his children were a little nervous about flying, due to its unfamiliarity, it was helpful to be with Tauriel and Legolas, who were completely accustomed to the process, and pretty good at distractions. After fairly little hassle, they were all in their seats- Tilda next to him; Sigrid and Bain together across the aisle; and Legolas and Tauriel a row behind them, and after sharing out the snacks, the flight was fairly uneventful as a result of the wonders of inflight television, which appeared to keep them all fairly distracted for the 2 and a half hour flight.
"How many bags do you guys have?" Tauriel asked, as they headed to grab a trolley before going to baggage collection.
"About 2 each, we probably need a second trolley."
"Okay I'll grab one, someone else can get the second, and then hopefully the bags don't take too long," Tauriel decided, organising them all very efficiently.
"Are we going to drive to the hotel together or separately," Tilda asked Tauriel, as they continued the walk to baggage collection.
"I made a few calls and got the arrangements changed, so we'll all go together, as long as you guys don't mind stopping at the house first to drop off some of these bags?" she directed the question at him.
"Sure, no problem," he replied, given that it didn't make a huge difference to their timeline (as they had reserved the whole day to travel). Besides, it would be a lie to say he wasn't curious about the house (and meeting a certain popstar- not that he would admit that to anybody).
It didn't take long for their bags to appear on the belt, and between the six of them they had quickly loaded them onto the trolleys, and headed for the doors that led to the pick-up zone. While the weather in Denver had been nice, it didn't compare to the sub-tropical climate of Los Angeles. It was warm, for May, and the sun seemed much brighter than it did before, although that might not be strictly weather related. His children's earlier excitement seemed to reemerge with full force, as Tilda gawked at the tall palm trees, and Bain and Sigrid were grinning, but holding back from displaying their eagerness. Tauriel and Legolas had both donned sunglasses (he wasn't sure whether that was an identity thing, or a weather thing), and led them over to a man standing by a black 7-seater 4x4.
"Good to see you again Tauriel," the man greeted with a grin, showing that they were clearly friends- maybe her regular driver?
"Nice to be back, Gallion," she replied, hugging the man (who seemed to be called Gallion), and was about 25, standing just taller than Tauriel.
"You too Legolas," he greeted in a similar fashion, and received a similar hug in exchange, making it clear that both teens were pretty close with him.
"This is Bard, Sigrid, Bain and Tilda," Tauriel went on to introduce, gesturing at each of them as she said their names.
"Nice to meet you," Gallion grinned, seeming like he was genuinely enjoying his job. "Give me a few minutes to put your bags in the back, and then the drive should be about half an hour," he explained, starting to grab bags and neatly stacking them in the back of the car. Initially he tried to help, but when it became apparent that he was getting in the way more than being useful, he got in the car with the others, taking the passenger seat, with Tauriel, Sigrid and Tilda across the middle row, and Bain and Legolas in the back.
The drive passed fairly quickly, with very little talking as they were mostly admiring the scenery along the route. Legolas and Tauriel were probably used to it, having made the drive many times before, but he hadn't been out of state in about a decade, and his children had never been out of state, so to them it was incredible. Saying that, the scenery didn't even compare to the beauty of the house they stopped outside. The car had pulled into the tiled driveway of a mediterranean-style villa, which felt like its own world compared to the road they had just left, and he smiled to himself at his children's awe at the place. Eventually they had to get out of the car, as all their bags had been unloaded and Gallion appeared to be waiting for them, while Legolas and Tauriel were already standing by the door, leaving him to get his children out the car and make sure they had all their things. Halfway through the process, he heard the door open, and quick excited chatter of both Tauriel and Legolas talking over each other, trying to fill the person on the other side, who they couldn't see and who hadn't got a word in since the door opened, in on all the events of the last few days. After a few minutes he couldn't hold back his curiosity, and left his kids to sort out their own things while he walked towards the doorway where Tauriel and Legolas were still standing, animatedly chatting.
On a later occasion he would notice how beautiful the entryway to the house was, but at that moment he didn't notice much other than the stunning man standing just inside the hallway. Yes he had seen Thranduil in pictures before, but he hoped it wasn't too cliche to say they didn't do him justice. He tried not to stare in one place for too long as he took in the way the man's dark jeans accentuated his endless legs, or his ice blue eyes, but he was under no illusion that he was being discreet as the man in front of him caught and held direct eye contact for several seconds before stepping forwards to introduce himself. He could feel his cheeks heating up at getting caught staring, and had never felt so nervous for simple introductions in his entire life.
"Hi, I'm Thranduil, nice to meet you," the man introduced, holding out his hand to shake.
At that exact moment every bit of social etiquette left his body, as he stared at the beautiful person in front of him for far longer than acceptable, before remembering how to act like a functioning adult again, and introducing himself.
"Bard, Bard Bowman, nice to meet you," he managed to reply without going too red, accepting the handshake. Thranduil had extraordinarily soft hands for a guitarist- without a single callus, and Bard was reluctant to let go, however he had already held on for far longer than respectable, and Thranduil pulled away, dragging his delicate fingers over Bard's callused ones, and letting his arm fall back to his side.
"I'm sure you've already met Sigrid, and these are my other two children, Bain and Tilda," he continued the introductions once his kids arrived, and he had regained his senses. Thranduil greeted all three of his kids politely, before inviting them all inside, even helping with a few of their bags, which they piled neatly into a short hallway, leading directly into an expansive living area- probably bigger than their entire whole house, upstairs included.
Legolas and Tauriel walked slightly ahead, claiming their spots on one of the long grey sofas surrounding a widescreen t.v, and Thranduil followed.
"I apologise for the mess, If I'd known we'd have visitors I would have tidied up a bit more," the man said slightly embarrassed, which made Bard have to stop for a second to restrain laughter, as Thranduil's idea of mess appeared to be a few notebooks and a guitar on one of the sofas, which was still no less tidy than a showroom.
"Not a problem," he reassured, although he doubted Thranduil really cared what he thought, as he moved the notebooks onto the elegant glass coffee table, and put the guitar (a Gibson Hummingbird that he couldn't help but admire) in a rack next to the wall.
"Coffee?" Thranduil asked.
"That would be great if it's not too much trouble," he accepted with a small smile, as Thranduil headed out towards the kitchen, which appeared to be a room over, although the house seemed to be fairly open plan. Bard couldn't help but notice the man's gorgeous platinum blonde hair that fell flawlessly just below his waist, before pinching himself, and wondering how he was going to make it through the year, if he couldn't keep it together for less than half an hour.