The prophecy of the elvish warrior

Keeping up the play

When we had finished, Haldir and Thranduil got up from their seats, excusing themselves for a walk. Legolas got up as well, rounding the table and holding out his arm for me. "May I lead you back to your quarters, my lady?" He asked, a smug smile on his lips. I rolled my eyes, but gave in to his request. Whispering, so that nobody would hear my question, I asked: "How many times do I need to tell you not to call me my lady?" 

Legolas held up his act, pointing towards the elven guards and servants on the side of the small grass patch the table was set upon. "It is expected to address a foreign princess by her title or at least with my lady. I am aware you are the wife of my very good friend, but to honor him and your marriage, I will not overstep my welcome."

Still holding my ground but remaining in the same wording as he did, I retorted: "My husband does not call you by your title nor do you. Is it too much to ask for the same treatment?" Sighting deeply, Legolas waited until a guard opened the garden door. "I have known Haldir for over two and a half thousand years. At some point we stopped. If you stay as long, I might refrain from your titles as well."

I just groaned at his words, shaking my head. "Fine, my prince." I spat out, letting go of his arm immediately. He followed me with a slight chuckle in his voice, steering me through the kingdom. Strained of the day, I let him, but when we passed a high path on the outsides, I heard horses snort and neighs, so I stopped. Looking down, I could see a barn and a big grass patch filled with several different horses. Legolas stepped beside me: "I will make sure you get a horse the next day." But I shook my head. "No. Its alright. I will find one by myself when we are back in Lorien."

"And how do you expect to ride back?" He asked, his usual smugness present in his words. "You need a horse and my father has many riderless horses. He surely does not mind gifting one to you."

I turned to look at him. "Legolas, please. Its alright." But based on the look in his eyes, he had already set his mind. Grabbing my arm, he pulled me back the path we came on, only several stunned elves staring at us made him realize his actions. Immediately he switched back to leading me with his arm rather than yanking me through the realm.

Minutes later I found myself in the barn surrounded by horses. Legolas was talking to one of the stable boys asking him which horses were unused. After the boy had pointed out those horses, Legolas made him bring them all out on a separate pasture. Then he slightly pushed me into the barn as well. "Go on. Pick one."

"Legolas, I cant. That's not right. They belong to your father." I tried to argue with him, but he crossed his arms in front of me, raising an eyebrow. "And? I am his son. I have a right to handle his property as well. And given the fact he has affronted you, I decided that this is his way of paying his apology. I know he wont mind and will even find it relieving as he would not have to openly apologize in person." A harsh smile scurred across his features.

Sighting deeply, I gave in, turning around to look at the horses. Unbeknownst to me, another two pairs of eyes watched from afar as I walked between the horses...

Pov Haldir:

Thranduil and I had walked for some time, when the voice of my wife caught my attention. Turning to look, I saw her arguing with Legolas. Without even realizing it, I stopped walking, watching from a high path as the two fought. Thranduil stopped next to me, clasping his hands behind his back. "I am starting to understand, what Legolas meant with her being a fiery character."

A smile plastered on my face and I ripped my eyes away to look at the elven king. "She is. It was and still is what strikes me about her every day. There is no sunrise without her challenging me at least once. I never thought to say this, but the last 60 years felt so much longer, but at the same time they passed in mere seconds."

Thranduil tilted his head, not letting his eyes wander from his son and Visha. "It was the same with my late wife. She was the only one brave enough to stand up against me. Some days she forced me into sheer madness, but I never stopped loving her. She was the center of my world..." He stopped talking, pressing his eyes shut as if he needed to force down tears. Then he took a deep breath, his voice without the usual confidence he normally talked with. "I hope you will never have to feel what I feel. For all your sakes."

Turning my head, I looked at the elven king, the pain now very obvious in hi face. "I am very grateful for you words, my king. If there is anything I can do..." But he raised his hand, interrupting my speech. "Nonsense. I have had a very happy life with her and I will see her in Valinor one day. All I ask, is that you take in Legolas as an equal. He may not admit it, but he is a very sensitive ellon. The death of his mother hit him hard and me pulling back from him afterwards did not help the cause. My bitterness has started to fill him as well. He was such a fine cheerful ellon back in the day... And now I see so many parallels between me and him."

He paused for another moment. Clearly thinking about the past. I gave him his time, not wanting to interrupt his openness, as it was a very rare occurrence of the elven king to speak this openly. After a while he kept on talking: "Visha seems to break out that part of him again. Even though I admit it is still different. He acts so freely around her, but at the same time he never lets the surroundings out of his eyes. Just look at it. Even now in the middle of my kingdom, he is watching out for danger."

"It is normal for elven men to feel the need to protect their mates." I threw in, now also taking a deeper look at what Thranduil described. He was indeed right. Legolas as free as he might seem to the untrained eye, always kept a short distance to Visha, never letting anything between him and her. The right hand softly resting on the handle of one of his daggers. Thranduil speaking up, snapped me out of my observation: "It is, that's why I cant seem to understand how you can let all of this happen without the slightest outburst."

I couldn't help but chuckle. "That's not entirely true. The first time Visha told me, I literally hunted down your son. It was the day before Aragons coronation. Legolas wanted to talk to Visha about his feelings and theories, but ended up kissing her. She came running to me, crying and I saw red. I beat the living shit out of him an he didn't even defend himself. Only Lord Elrond and Aragon pulling us apart saved him from my wrath." I didn't dare to look at the king, confessing that I nearly killed his son. But Thranduil starting to laugh, made me snap my head around. "Ah, that's why he looked so beaten up... I asked him what happened, but he refused to tell me, arguing it was a trainings mistake."

Forcing a smile on my lips, I averted my gaze back to my wife and Legolas. Thranduil doing the same. "Don't misunderstand me, I am not appreciating you beating up my son, however given the circumstances I can forgive you, as I myself would not have been able to hold back my anger either." Was all he said and I let out a long breath, the relief falling from my shoulders in big rocks. "We have talked it out and are making efforts to make it work."

"I sure hope you do."The king murmured and I wasn't sure if the words were meant for my ears.  I didn't answer and kept on watching the pair to my feet. Legolas was trying to convince Visha that it would be no problem to pick a horse and I couldn't help but smile. After a while she gave in, starting to walk between the horses. She walked slowly, taking her time to inspect every horse. Then she stopped next to a tall black horse.