Heart Like Yours

Chapter 2: Little

"Ada? Why do you look sad?"

The King immediately attempted to bring himself back to the present, looking down at the wide and curious eyes of the elfling beside him with a small smile. It was forced, of course, but being young the Prince could not tell the difference between a genuine form of happiness and one used to stop him from worrying. He was content to see that his ada was not, in fact, upset, and broke out into an immediate grin after having his hair tousled lightly.

"I'm not, ion nin. Ada is just tired, that's all. Now, get on with eating your breakfast. You have a long day of lessons ahead and strong princes need all the food they can get" he hummed softly, a genuine smile finally breaking through at how quickly the young ellon's grin fell when lessons were mentioned.

"But ada~" he whined "I hate lessons! Can't I come with you and do interesting stuff?" The complaints were cut short when Legolas found himself the victim of one of his father's incredibly stern glares, wordlessly warning him that he should be quiet and do as he was told, else the look would hire the help of a verbal scolding too.

"... Sorry." he mumbled under his breath, waiting until the weight of the glare had left him before turning back to face forwards and beginning to eat.

The table fell into a comfortable silence with the two of them. Thranduil had been distracted by Legolas' questions and complaints, finding himself thinking of ways he could make the boring lessons up to him rather than being swamped by thoughts of the past, and he was incredibly grateful for that.

The Prince, on the other hand, still had some pressing questions on his mind. He managed about five minutes before getting shifty in his seat and squirming around a little bit too much, and shortly after that began to give his father some searching sideways glances.

It turned out to be quite effective, as Thranduil immediately put his glass down and shifted in his seat to face his son, keeping a small smile as he cocked his head slightly to the side. "Yes, Legolas? What is it?" The Elfling stared up at his father's face for a few moments, then turned away with a hum and another awkward shuffle, not wanting to properly look at him as he spoke. "I was playing with some of the other elflings yesterday," he began, his voice hardly anything more than a mumble.

"Ada, why do all of them have an ada and a nana? I thought everyone only got one! And– If they get both, Why don't I have a nana too?"

Had the Prince turned his head to look at his father while he had been speaking, he would have seen the horrified expression on his face. The look that spoke a thousand words, his eyes teary and lips barely parted, brows knitted tightly.

...

Legolas had been left alone at the table after asking a question he now thought could have been one step too far. He had noticed his father wasn't happy when he first arrived at the table, so perhaps his comment could have waited for another day or two? Whatever conclusion the elfling came to, it was far too late now to do anything about it. So, he focused on eating his breakfast like his ada told him to before he thanked the maid who removed his plate, and reluctantly made his way to his tutor's room for his long, dull day of lessons.

Thranduil had immediately gone to the gardens to seek out comfort amongst the low-hanging branches of the willow. Sitting beneath them with his back against the firm trunk -his eyes closed tightly as if he wished he could block out the world around him and reside solely in his mind- was the one thing that seemed to bring him peace.

The tree had been a common retreat for him these past few years. It couldn't bring the same comfort as another's arms, but the wood warmed by the light of the sun and leaves dancing in the breeze were almost as good. It made him feel grounded, less like the world was running and leaving him behind in it's muddied trail.

Still, despite the warmth and comfort of the tree easing his mind and helping him to relax, it took several hours before he felt at all ready to see another person again. And when they had passed and his mind became far less foggy, he could think of only two things. He was starving hungry, and he felt awful for leaving Legolas with such an important question unanswered.

It took some doing, but Thranduil eventually managed to track down the elfling training with a handful of the guards, thoroughly entertaining all of them with his feeble -yet impressive for his age- attempts at archery. He stood off to one side for a few moments to watch as his son drew back the string and, with the intensively guiding hand of one of the guards, aimed at the target. The arrow was let loose seconds later and flew straight to the bullseye, causing Legolas to squeal with delight and the guards around him to burst into applause for their Prince. 

The King couldn't deny, he was incredibly proud to have seen such a moment, and joined in. "Ada! Did you see? I shot it! I shot the middle!" Little Legolas squealed. "You certainly did, ion nin. You're leaning incredibly quickly. I won't be surprised if you become the best archer in the Kingdom" he hummed softly in praise, giving Legolas' hair an affectionate stroke. Then, once his leg was released by the elfling, Thranduil began to walk towards the stables with his hand held down so that his son could hold onto it and be alongside him.

"Now, why don't the two of us go for a meal? I can't have my best archer-in-training going hungry."