Home Soon, Love (Book 1)

16 I May Be Kicked Out Of Mirkwood For This

Akita and I were now wearing finely made blonde wigs and pointed ears, hiding our identities with dark grey cloaks. I could not believe it, but Akita had agreed to both of us dressing up as sexy elves to tease Thranduil. Of course since I am with Legolas, Akita would be the one flirting with Thranduil. "Okay by now since it is a relax type day for him, he should be on his fourth glass of wine by now" he informed me as we made our way to his throne room. And then we went with our plan, trying to convince Thranduil to take time with us in his chambers without showing our identity.

"Oh your highness, I can show you what my family of elves are known for" Akita let some of his fake blonde curls fall from his cloak as he walked and slowly opened the king's chamber doors. Thranduil truly was intrigued, which I found unbelievable. But then again, he was pretty intoxicated and we informed the nearby guards not to speak of our joke.

AKITA'S POV

After a few more minutes of persuading Thranduil and Latalia holding back laughs, I finally convinced him to take me into his chamber. As I walked into the familiar space, I took a seat on the sofa, slowly letting my hood down. I was not worried about showing my face now that the prank was mostly accomplished and that Latalia applied makeup to our face to make us look as angelic like elves as possible.

"What does a young beautiful elvish woman like yourself want with the king?" he took a seat very close to me, stroking my hair with one hand, wine in the other. "I just wanted to see if you are as handsome and gentleman like as people say. And they are all right" I put on my best flirty expression, seeing that I seem to be a good actor when it comes to mocking Latalia. He placed his right arm around my waist, pulling me even closer to him. I tried so hard not to laugh and reveal who I was, I almost lost it.

"You do seem familiar I must say" he moved some ringlets of blonde hair behind my ear, causing it to fall off. I slowly turned to face him, seeing his face in horror. "Oh my goodness, I am so sorry. I-I don't know how I just made your ear come off" he began to panic a little bit, being a little too intoxicated to realize that it was a fake pointed ear. "Okay, I give up. I cannot continue, otherwise I shall burst into laughter" I stood up and began removing the wig and other fake ear. Thranduil's expression changed from fear to a murderous glare. It was in this moment I knew I needed to run.

Without thinking twice, I dashed to the door, grabbing Latalia's hand just outside and we just ran for the Palace entrance which was pretty far. "Akita Durin, you shall pay for the game you have played" Thranduil threatened but I did not dare look back to glance at the stare he must've been giving me.

For a long time we had ran until we now made it to the getaway. I felt I may pass out as we made it in and collapsed on the grass.

LATALIA'S POV

I was so tired from running for so long. I looked around at my favorite place to escape to, noticing my bag of belongings laying up on one of the boulders at the edge of the pond. "I brought that here in the middle of the night, hoping you would show me how you work your magic" I laughed as Akita made weird hand gestures, pretending to do some weird spell.

I walked to my bag, running my fingers over every vial. I pulled out the book I learned from many years ago, showing him the basics. "So now a demonstration" I bowed to the impressed Akita sitting on the ground. I whistled the well known tune to myself, calling a fox to my side. "This is Bandle, a fox I tend to cure quite a bit" I nealt down to pet him. "Bandle was abandoned when I found him one late night. And just like I have told you of my relative Radagast, I too speak to these animals. But not in a way you would imagine like a short haired, high note singing princess."(Ha, Snow White) Bandle nudged my leg, letting me know he was comfortable with me helping him.

I pulled out vials of rosemary, alkanet, and crushed benzoin. As Akita watched closely, I pulled out a pestle and mortar, crushing and mixing the ingredients together. I began chanting an old folk spell as I lit a fire to the herbs. After only ash remain in the bowl, I added a small amount of water and honey before mixing the concoction together. "That does not look appetizing in the slightest" Akita began to pretend to gag. "Well this is specifically made for Bandle, to keep him from the negativity of his past memories. He has trouble sleeping sometimes from it." I slowly fed Bandle the drink, who didn't seem to mind since he would prefer the help.

This process was catered to many other called animals, every spell done differently for ever different animal. I had Akita assist me with quite a few of them, having him feed the concoctions and even guess what herbs were needed. He navigated through my book on what animal may need what for their problem. "I never thought I would be feeding a black snake from a bowl" Akita said, looking uneasy from the snake just inches from him as he made sure it ingested all of the bowl's contents.

"Okay now that we are done with that, we can do the next thing on our checklist" he pulled the paper from his pocket again and scanned the list for our next task. "Okay now we have to talk about that girl you were with" I stopped him before he could read off any items. I received a glare at my comment. "Alright Latalia, as long as you tell me why I had to take you from Legolas' chambers this morning." he smirked, receiving the same glare that he had given me. I rolled my eyes in defeat "alright but you go first". He thought about the deal for a moment before starting with the story.

"Well she's an elven woman here obviously, she is absolutely gorgeous and kind. We met just after you went on your trip. That is when she had taken a break from her job here at the palace for about a week. We spent everyday together, getting to know everything about each other." he smiled, reminiscing the time he shared with her. "Not even kidding Latalia, she seems like the one. She even told me about what she loves more than anything and even about what scares her.". "Just curious, what scares her?" I asked, leaning back against a rock along the pond.

"She is afraid of a new power rising from the past and taking over. And something about this new rising of people destroying the plans and civilization of her own people who she loves dearly." I assumed she was worrying about Sauron taking over. "Well maybe she will feel at peace soon if what she worries of is the Necromancer" we both looked down, for we knew the rumors.

"Well I hope she will soon feel better, I hate to see her feeling down" Akita laid back onto the grass, as I followed. Small clouds danced in the sky above us, pulling apart from each other and reconnecting with other clouds. "My father told me many years ago, when I am to come across love, that I shall not know it at first. He said that once you have confirmed the feeling is real, you forget how things were perceived before the love." I turned my head in his direction, just watching him go on how he wanted to find the same love his parents did.

"Their love is well known in my hometown. I have read a few stories on their time in Laketown and how she saved his life with healing. Bard the Bowman's older daughter Sigrid wrote about her witnessing of it." he returned the same look to me as I did him when he story told. "I may have to pick up some of those books if I visit" I chuckled at his thought and reached for my bag. I pulled out one of my favorite books, the one containing the story he seeked. Knowing it by heart, I flipped through the pages and opened to the specific chapter like muscle memory.

"This story gave me hope. Hope that I would be able to find that same kind of love one day." I handed him the book and there he sat for almost an hour, just reading the lengthy love story. While I waited for him, I dipped my feet into the pond and made the water travel like many snakes up my legs at the command of my melody. "Wow, it is much better hearing it from this woman's point of view" he got up and handed the book back, but I stopped him. "Keep it. Find hope in it like I once did" we exchanged smiles as he placed it down and joined me by the water.

"Hold out your hands and keep them cupped" Akita did as I said as I began to levitate water into his hands. His eyes grew wide with amazement at what just happened before his eyes. To impress him further, I whistled gracefully and over came a small rabbit. "This is Della" I pet her and lifted her into Akita's hands. She was small enough that she still had plenty of room to move around in the small pool he held. "She loves it when I do this" he smiled, joy radiating off of him as he held the cute animal.