Dragon Fire (Thranduil Fan-fiction) #Wattys2016

Chapter 20: Choices

MANTHENIEL

I stare at the light ripples of water before me. Covering my whole body with its warmth. When I got in the palace, I excused myself from Lord Elrond leaving him staring at my retreating figure with eyes that knew too much. The memory of the forest fire was now forgotten, like ashes carried by the wind. My mind did not refuse to stop thinking about a certain Elf King. The way he had looked at me.

I got in my chambers to find Turwaithiel, a book in hand. When she saw me, she did not ask anything, just offered to draw my bath. And she did, I was now gladly escaping the world in it.

She comes in, a cloth to use for drying in her hand and the white dress that I had worn the first time I... I banish the thoughts away as Turwaithiel takes a chair and places herself beside my bath. I did not look at her nor made a sound. She is silent for a while before I feel her hands on my head, gently stroking the strands of my hair, which were now free of their braids. She combs through them, and I was thankful for the silence that surrounded us. I let out a heavy sigh before she spoke.

"Are you not going to tell me what happened?" She asks her voice soft and kind. It was then I realized how much I missed it. I think for a moment, not really knowing where to start when the image of the king's scar appeared in my hand. His anger, his voice. The way he looked at me. And to think we were having a good time during dinner. The first time I ever heard him laugh. I think it was quite unusual too for Legolas had looked at his father with a surprised look on his face.

"What is it?" She asks and I realized I was sighing too much. I find her eyes, a light shade of blue orbs filled with sincerity and innocence. I find myself smiling up at her; she wrinkles her nose at me making soft spills of laughter come out of my mouth.

"Mantheniel." She says, her voice still soft but more serious this time. I gave in, telling her the events that have happened during my stay in Mirkwood. After I finish my story, she goes quiet, her mind already trying to figure out a solution or an answer for the problem.

"You and I both know there is no denying that the king feels something." She says after a while, I watch her her words echoing in my head bouncing on all corners.

"Yes, pure aggravating dislike." I say with a soft nod. Agreeing with myself to let my heart know what it denies.

To my surprise, Turwaithiel rolls her eyes pulling on a strand of my hair a little too forcefully.

"Ow!" I scream in pain, I glare at her with disbelief. Did she just hurt me?

"If you keep on denying, I will keep on pulling." She says flatly, strands of my hair already trapped inside her grasp.

"I do not know what to do." I finally admit, sinking lower into the bath.

"It is all so very confusing."

Turwaithiel thinks for a moment, now brushing my hair with her fingers again. She massages my scalp, making me realize how deep in thought she was.

"Would you not want to see it through?" She asks after a while, I watch her reflection in the tub. She was not facing me; instead, she was looking at her hands a blank expression on her face.

"It is not something I should see through." I say with a hint of sadness I had not realized I had felt.

"Why? Do you not like him?"

"I do not know what I feel, Turwaithiel."

"Then" she starts, pulling her hand away and drying them off with the cloth.

"What are you planning to do?" Her question catches me off guard, I had not really thought about it but now as if the reality of the situation had just slapped me in the face I, myself, had to ask. What do I do now?