Thranduil x Bard

Learning

Bard spend time with his children as much as he could. He would go outside with them and tried to move as much as he could. He would also tell how he fought the spiders with Legolas. His youngest, Tilda, was in amaze how brave her father was. To Bard it was good to be with his children.

 After two days his children had to leave to go back to Dale with a message saying that he would be staying in Mirkwood a bit longer and not to worry. His son Bain had protested but quickly shut up after Bard gave him a hard stare. His youngest daughter Tilda was worried but Bard assured her that everything would be alright and he would be back in no time.

********

Bard woke up in his assigned room, it was the first time he woke up in this room after spending four in the hospitals room.

Bard took a bath and ate the food that was bought to him and went out to find a library. He was never too keen on reading even if he did enjoy it from time to time. But now that he had permission from Thranduil himself he couldn't pass on the opportunity.

When he was walking in the castles halls a few elves stopped and bowed to him. Bard felt weird about it and didn't really know why the elves were doing that.

Bard was looking for Legolas and soon he found him in one of the many hallways speaking with three other elves. As soon as Legolas noticed Bard walking towards them he asked the elves to leave.

"Good morning king of Dale, are you feeling alright?"

"Stop with the tittle Legolas it makes me feel uneasy, but I am alright."

"That is good to hear."

"Yes, and if I may ask what were you talking about earlier? Those elves seemed to leave in a hurry." Bard asked

"When the attack was in full notion some of our building were damaged and it takes a while to build either new ones or repair the old ones. Those three are architects and they will be in charge of making Mirkwood whole again."

"That is nice to hear. I am waiting eagerly to see how Mirkwood will look like after it is done."

"Yes, but i also do have a question." Legolas said

"Ask away."

"What are you doing here? Your family was here for a few days and you could have left. I heard that you had some kind of deal with my father about the trading, so why stay here?"

"Thranduil has given me permission to study everything except elvish." Bard explained. "I will stay for a month to study your ways, your story's and how you fight. I am specially keen to see how you fight with a bow."

"My father gave you a permission to study, in here?"

"Yes, he did indeed." Bard nodded.

"How?"

Since Legolas didn't know why he was allowed to study their ways Bard also guessed that Thranduil hadn't told anyone how he had killed the spider. "It is something between the two of us."

"I see..." It didn't seem like Legolas was convinced. "And you came to look for me so that i could teach you how to fight like we do?" He asked

"Yes, and no. If you have the time could you show me where the library is? I have no clue you see." Bard said

Legolas agreed to help Bard. "I can show you where the library is, I also have about an hour to teach you some fighting but no more."

"Great, that is good enough for me. Shall we get going then?" Bard asked

Bard and Legolas walked towards the library and when they got there Bard was amazed how big and magnificent it was. Legolas explained that some of the books were from time even before Thranduil had been born but that there weren't many of them. Mainly because things from those times haven't been written down.

After Bard knew where the library was they headed towards the training grounds.

Bard and Legolas walked to an arena like place. There were trees covering the view to everywhere else giving the ones who were training privacy.

They saw that few elves were training with each other. "Their forms look amazing, and they are so fast." Bard commented in amazement.

"That's how we elves are, now do you want me to show you how we do it?" Legolas asked proudly

"I would be honored to." Bard responted

As they walked to wards an empty spot all the elves stopped training and walked towards Legolas and Bard.

"My prince! How are you doing?" Asked a male elf

"I am doing okay, the rebuilding is going good as you have probably already seen."

"You must be the new king of Dale?" A female elf said

"Yes, i am." Bard answered

"I do understand that you are a king however i don't understand what are you doing in our training grounds." another male elf asked, his voice was a little belittling

"He has permission from my father. Now if you don't mind us we are going to train."

The elf who had asked the question turned a bit pink. "Yes, your highness, wee will let you be." And so all three elves left in a hurry. 

"I guess they don't question Thranduil's authority and not yours either." Bard staited

"How could they? My father is a really strong king and he is wise, well apart from having no trust to other races. That has made things more complicated for us in the past."

"Yes, but i guess that is just how he is." Bard said

"Yes, but i am still curious how did my father let you stay here for another 30 days and to learn from us on top of that?" Legolas was now prying from information even after Bard had told him to leave it.

"As I said, it is between me and him." Bard said ending Legolas's need for information.

He sighed. "I guess it is just that he, for some reason, has a soft spot for you."

"A soft spot? Really Legolas? You are older than me, grow up will you." 

"Fine, fine... " He raised his hands in defeat and promising not to ask anymore. 

"Anyway we were supposed to be training, right?" Legolas said while walking towards the wooden weapons that were made for practice. He grabbed two long sticks and threw one to Bard. "Let's start now instead of talking shall we?"

"I was hoping you would say that." Bard responded. 

*******

Thranduil looked outside from a window. He was reading through some important documents, well that was until he saw Bard and Legolas in the training grounds. Of course Bard wasn't as fast and accurate as Legolas was but still Thranduil hadn't seen any of the other humans move like he did, even when he knew Bard wasn't still wasn't fully healed.

Thranduil was looking at Bard and how he moved. He didn't even notice the librarian entering.

"Your Majesty?" She spoke.

Thranduil jumped a little from surprise and turned to look at the librarian. "What?" He asked bluntly.

"I came here to offer my help if you need it." She said quietly.

"No thank you, you can just go." Thranduil answered and it took the librarian by surprise since she had never heard the elf king talk like that especially after he had been surprised by someone, and that it self was already a really rare occurrence.

"Yes, your Majesty." The librarian bowed and hurried away closing the door after.

Thranduil on the other hand looked once more at Bard and turned away.

To be continued