Book II: The Saga of Thranduil

Chapter X: The King Under the Mountain

Dawn had come, yet the sun hid behind grey clouds that would grow darker as the day wore on. I rose from bed, put on my robe, and waited for the dressers. Êlúriel lay still. She looked over at me, then got up. She put on her robe. She sat down at the end of the bed and looked at me. She did not have to say a word. I knew what she was thinking.

"I already miss you, Êlúriel," I said. "No need to ask."

"I know," she said. "But I missed you before you left our bed."

"I missed you upon our return last evening."

She walked over to me and kissed me.

"I missed you before I met you," she said.

We kissed again.

"Êlúriel, that is impossible. You cannot miss someone you did not know. I do not care how many times you saw them in a vision."

"Of course it is possible," she began.  "You see a face you can never get out of your mind and every time it fades away, you want to see it again."

"You are telling me, you saw me more than once," I asked.

"Yes," she said embracing me. "And my visions stopped the moment I saw you. But until that day, I missed your face when I did not see it."

"Well, me and my face are humbled," I said. "But you will never miss me more than I will miss you. Ever."

"Now that, my love," she whispered. "That is an impossibility."

"No," I said. "You are wrong. And you want to know how I know this?"

"How, Thranduil," she asked smiling. "I must hear this."

"Because, for as many visions of me you had, they were never as wonderful as the incredible reality of kissing your lips, looking into your eyes, holding you in my arms, and loving you every night."

"I do not know what to say."

"Finally," I said.

We kissed until the knock came, and it seemed longer than usual, for which we were eternally grateful.

"Enter," she said. Her gaze never left me, even through the clanking of mail and armor. No sooner than I was dressed we were left alone again.

"I must leave now," I said. "I shall see you again shortly."

"I know," she said, looking down. "I know."

I lifted her chin and kissed her one more time. I left quickly, my heart breaking with every step I took out of our room and down the hall. I saw Amroth above, looking out the tower window. I walked up the stairs to see what he watching. It was Nimrodel riding away.

"She leaves me again," he said. "You are very fortunate, Thranduil. You can love your wife. I cannot. I want nothing more in this world than to love Nimrodel. Nothing. I have kept her waiting too long for many cowardly reasons. None so minuscule as fear of what others would have thought. I will return if only for her."

I began to feel guilty for my good fortune. I did not say anything until he turned and looked at me.

"We must leave now," I said slowly. "You have my sympathy."

"I know," he said. "You have my sympathy as well, Thranduil. For you and I share a very special commonality."

"What might that be, Amroth," I asked as we began walking down the staircase.

"We are both completely and totally without question deeply in love with someone with such passion, it is all-consuming. Wonderful, is it not?"

"Do not remind me," I said, laughing. "Until I met Êlúriel, I do not think I lived a day."