Light and Shadows (Thranduil's story post BOTFA)

There and back again

The video, song and lyrics aren't mine. This is the Lay of Nimrodel, a poem by J.R.R. Tolkien which is very fitting for this chapter. 

A drop of water fell from the cave walls into a clear pool, its sound more acute than it should have been in the perfectly still silence. Above, there was a single round opening in the rock where the moon and the stars shone their light upon the water, reflecting onto it. A few torches were burning around the basin, making the cave crystals glitter in the playful light. 

Thranduil and Tauriel were inside the water. Thranduil's eyes were closed, his head relaxing upon the edge of the basin while Tauriel's eyes were looking up at the moon and the stars, still and silent as the night itself. 

'It's strange', she spoke softly after a while, her eyes still looking up. 'Being here, in this place, makes me miss your halls. It makes me miss Greenwood...'

Thranduil gently opened his eyes and turned his head with a little smile.

'We will be home soon.', he said with a deep, soothing voice. 'But first, we will pass through Fangorn.'

He closed his eyes again, thinking of his own pools back in the Woodland Realm, clear and refreshing. Perhaps he could even make some larger openings in the cave walls now that the war was over so that the stars would shine just as brightly upon the water as they did here.

Tauriel moved closer to him silently, through the water, until her body was now next to his. He kept his eyes closed and felt her breath come close to his neck and her hand touch his chest. Her lips tasted his skin with desire and he felt a thousand sensations arise inside his body.

Then, their moment was ruined by a loud noise. They turned their heads only to see a dwarven maid, with the typical beard and rough features, open the heavy door and come inside, without a word and without even looking at them, with a pile of fresh towels. She left them inside the room, near the pool, then turned around with a grumpy expression and, without a word, just as she came in, left the room. 

Tauriel looked at him as if she knew what he was thinking.

'Don't they know privacy?', he asked, turning his head now a little annoyed towards the large pool. 

'I think a few days here have been quite enough. We shouldn't abuse their hospitality.', she said. 'I don't want something to happen and to blow up the newly good relations with the dwarves.'

'My thoughts exactly.', Thranduil answered. 'Perhaps we should leave tomorrow. I think I have had enough of their beer and loud songs. I will tell Feren to prepare for it.'

'Still, I'm glad we came.', Tauriel said gently, placing a strand of his hair behind his ear. 'It is a beautiful place. And I know it meant a lot to Legolas.'

'I know.', Thranduil whispered. 'And I also am glad to have come. Gimli's dwarves are, to be fair, not as bad as the ones I've known before. There, I have said it.'

He smiled cheekily and Tauriel looked at him a little amused.

'So you're saying you changed your mind about dwarves?'

'I said they are not as bad.', he clarified but still kept a smile. 'Doesn't mean I'm overly fond of them.'

'I suppose that will never change...', she said, rolling her eyes and then coming closer to him again with a smile.

He looked into her honey-green eyes and then kissed her softly. How many more such moments they could have had back in the Woodland Realm halls if he made up his mind sooner about being with Tauriel, he thought. Now it felt so natural, so easy to be with her. He should have surrendered sooner to his feelings and made their relationship known before all the mess that happened in the past, but time was not truly lost. They were immortal so they still had time for many such moments ahead of them.