✓ | Forget-Me-Not ~ Fili FanFiction / Hobbit FanFiction / Fili FF

「 Chapter 23 」

Ilèyn walked quietly after the tall, fair-haired elf.
She didn't say a word. The palace seemed to have been enveloped in an ominous silence.
Just like back then.
The same way. The same silence.
Only there were no guards behind her today.
The way was long. She knew it well. The uncomfortable silence between her and the Elf spread in her head and soul and weighed heavily on her mind.
She wasn't used to such emotions. She didn't know that, she didn't know how to deal with it.
"Why did you come back?" the Elf asked suddenly in his soft, yet serious voice.
"I don't see what this has something to do with you, Legolas." Ilèyn replied dryly.
Legolas stopped and turned to her.
"You have changed, Ilèyn." he said and looked at her.
"Don't pretend like you know me!" she replied grimly and glared at the elf.
Legolas looked down at the dwarf with his piercing blue eyes.
"Answer my question." he just said.
"Ohh... come on." Ilèyn grumbled, deeply sarcastic, "I'm coming back after hundreds of years and you're trying to raise me right now? You should know better, my dear." The dwarf strolled slowly past him.
Legolas sighed and walked forward again.
"I'll take you to father. He will decide what should happen to you."
"Thranduil is unlikely to be in my favor." Ilèyn replied in astonishment and hurried after Legolas. "What do you hope for, recognition?" she called.
"I have my father's recognition." the woodland prince replied without stopping, "Your arrogance will bring you to the grave someday."
"Well, I've been doing pretty well so far, you know?" Ilèyn said uppish.
Legolas turned to her.
"You cannot make the whole world your enemy, Ilèyn." he said gloomily.
"I can't do that, you're right." she replied and slowly stepped up to him. "But I do not reach for the whole world as an enemy." She stopped right in front of him and looked at him calculatingly.
"Just for my family."

The two warriors had not exchanged another word until they came to a throne with a winding staircase on the winding long paths through the gloomy great palace. A round plateau at the foot of the throne was guarded by several elven warriors.
The ornate wood curled up elegantly and formed a kind of ornament over the head of the throne.
Cross-legged, with an silver-gray robe and a wiry crown, Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm, sat high in the center of his palace, already awaiting the arrival of his son.
When the latter appeared in the company of a blonde dwarf dressed in an elf-like warrior's outfit, the elf king frowned.
He waited until Ilèyn and Legolas arrived in the middle of the plateau, then after a few moments he began to speak.
"Look, look..." the soft voice of Thranduil was so full of treachery and arrogance that it crept like the air of the forest into every corner of the body and slowly spread its poison.
"You survived." Thranduil said with mock astonishment.
"Surprised?" Ilèyn asked coldly.
"Not at all." the king replied tersely and rose. He calmly straightened his robe, then went on.
"No, I always knew that you were not easy to kill, Ilèyn." The king began to descend the steps from his throne.
"So you were picked up with... a horde of dwarves in the middle of the forest?"
Ilèyn snorted in amusement.
"Whatever happens, the great king is the first who knows, doesn't he?" the dwarf asked aggressively.
Thranduil didn't change his face.
"Impertinent like back then." he said ignorantly "I see you haven't lost your malicious tongue."
"What do you want from me, uncle?" Ilèyn asked impatiently.
Thranduil had reached the plateau and was some distance ahead of her. He gave her a look as if she had just asked the most ridiculous question of all.
"Information, Ilèyn. Information." he said seriously.
"Oakenshield..." Ilèyn mumbled "You were never interested in the fate of any dwarf, uncle."
"And that won't change either." Thranduil added "My only interest is in what this daring venture pursues, which I see you have also joined. It is interesting that you ultimately have so much belonging to these backwoodsmen."
"Sense of belonging?" Ilèyn put her hands on her hips, "Whatever you think you know, Uncle, let me tell you that it's not true. I joined for private reasons, I don't know Oakenshield's goals and I'm not interested in any of them or in getting involved in disputes. " Ilèyn turned away.
"I think you're already in the middle of it." Thranduil said warningly "You have no idea what you are getting yourself into. Going on this adventure blindly was a mistake on your part and you will feel its effects soon enough!"