Heart Like Yours

Chapter 3: Picnic

The young Prince immediately grabbed a hold of his father's hand, grinning from ear to ear and practically skipping alongside him, his excitement growing as he saw a building come into view ahead of them. "Where are we going, ada? The dining room isn't in the stables! You're going the wrong way!" he exclaimed, giving his hand a firm tug to try and steer him in the right direction.

"I'm taking you on a picnic, Legolas. I had the cooks get all our favourites in a basket, and it's waiting with Círdan. He's going to take us to a very special clearing deep in the forest~" He said, deliberately deepening his voice at the end to add a sense of mystery for the elfling. It brought the King immense joy to see how the prospect of eating food in a secret clearing made his son light up, bouncing even more at his side and now trying to urge him forwards much faster. Just like his wife Aredhel did.

"Come on then, ada! Círdan is waiting! He might leave without us if we don't hurry! What if he eats all the food?! Go faster!"

Thranduil couldn't help but laugh, indulging Legolas with a slightly faster paced walk to make sure that his elk did not eat their food before they got there. Needless to say, when they finally opened the stable door and came up to the saddled Círdan, their food was perfectly in-tact and carefully nestled in a wicker basket which had been fastened securely onto the elk's saddle.

The King mounted him first, and a stable-hand assisted in lifting the young Prince up to sit in front of his father and rest against his chest. He was already beyond excited, wriggling ceaselessly in the saddle and constantly glancing up to Thranduil impatiently. He was trying to rock forwards and urge the elk to move and cried out in delight when, with a nudge from Thranduil's heels, he finally did set off at a walk. Despite that, Legolas did not settle until they were clear of the bridge into the forest.

The ride took them thirty minutes but by the time their destination was before them, the two of them were both starving hungry. It was a quiet spot, of five or six metres in diameter at the most, the trees all around it reaching such heights that it was dark even at this time, a few hours after mid-day. 

He elegantly jumped up to perch on the edge of the boulder before clearing his throat to make sure he had his attention. When he spoke, he kept his voice quiet and calm, a tone that could easily be identified as something serious so that Legolas knew not to speak over him or mess around while he was talking. And it worked. The second the first syllable left his lips, the elfling had turned to face him with curious eyes.

"You asked why you didn't have a nana this morning," he began, immediately having to stop for a few moments to separate his emotions from his voice to a degree where he wouldn't worry the child.

"I am sorry you had to wait this long, but now I want you to know. You did have one once, just like everyone else" That alone had enough of Legolas' attention. He had shuffled closer, and was now nestled against his father's leg looking up at him, though his eyes were not met in return.

"She loved you very much, and did everything in her power to protect you. She was very good at it, too. Protecting was her special skill."

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The clearing had been quiet for a few moments now while the King reminisced on his past days as a young Prince newly in love. The only thing disturbing the tranquillity were the quiet sounds of breaking pastry and content munching.

Thranduil sighed deeply and carefully stood up from his reclining position to walk over to his jam-covered child and hold out a pale handkerchief that he could take, still fixing the elfling with a slight glare for managing to cause such a mess. "Here, make sure you clean your fingers when you're finished with that one, ion nin. You won't be going anywhere near Círdan with fingers as sticky as that" He warned, earning a soft gasp from the prince as he grabbed the fabric at the same time as shoving the last bit of the food into his mouth, then furiously getting to work wiping all the jam off his fingers.

The clearing was quiet once again, and Thranduil returned to sitting against the tree with another couple of neatly wrapped snacks, enjoying the peace as the two of them came to the last few bits of the food. But, inevitably, Legolas broke the silence with a further question. "Ada... If nana was so good at protecting stuff, why isn't she still here protecting us? Did she have to go and protect other things?"

Thranduil had been waiting for that question. He was deliberately taking it slowly for his own sake more than Legolas', knowing that if he were to tell the whole story in one go he would never be able to finish it without having some kind of breakdown in the middle.

"You know that some evil creatures don't like elves don't you, Legolas? Like the spiders? Well... Orc are much worse than spiders, and they hate elves and nice things more, especially important elves" He paused for a moment to look at his son's face, managing a small smile when he was met with an expression of pure curiosity.

"Your nana was married to me, so she was the most important elf there was, and the orc knew that. One day, when she was busy protecting the kingdom with me, the orc took her away, and she couldn't get back"

His breath began to get caught in his throat, and though he had stopped speaking his mind refused to put a stop to the memories which came flooding back. That, he couldn't hide no matter how much he tried. Legolas knew that his father was struggling to talk about it, and he knew that he could be of some help.

"Legolas, what are you doing?" Thranduil questioned quietly, looking down at his son through blurry eyes with the faintest of smiles.

"Cuddling! I like snuggles when I'm not happy, and you're not happy, so I'm cuddling you!" he exclaimed proudly, wrapping his arms as far around him as they could get and putting even more effort into the snuggle, breaking into a grin when he both heard and felt his father chuckle lightly.

"You know, ada, if I saw any nasty orc who hated elves, I'd make sure that they didn't come anywhere near you or anyone else!" he stated, looking up at Thranduil with a bright smile and patting his chest a few times to try and cheer him up more. "And what would you fight those orc with? You might miss with your bow, and you can't use your daggers just yet. Perhaps you should leave the protecting to me, hmm?"

"No! I can protect you! I don't need my bow or daggers, I can use these pastries! You said orc don't like nice things, and these pastries are really nice, so if I use these, the orc will be too scared to come closer!" he exclaimed proudly, his expression showing that he clearly thought his idea was incredibly smart. Therefore, when his father burst into laughter, the young prince took it to heart.

"Hey! No~ Don't laugh! It works!" he argued, putting his hands on his hips and fixing his father with a glare and a pout, a view that only made Thranduil laugh harder.

"Ion nin, you cannot fight orc with pastry! They dislike nice things, but they are not scared of them," he tried to reason, patting his son's head when his glare did not ease up one bit.

"It will work, Ada. Trust me." Little Legolas laughed.