The King of Starlight and Lullabies (Thranduil x OC fanfic)

Chapter 13- Dwarves?

Caledra never knew she would miss being a servant so much. But she did, with every fiber in her being. She missed the luxury of the palace and all that came with it.

She missed the King.

It irked her to admit it, but she did. What began as borderline sadistic requests of her soon became inane teasing and jokes. Prior to when the king began getting bored with her, there was a time where she would have called him her friend. Although he made those first years of her work rather hellish, it evolved into an unspoken companionship that she dearly missed.

And she craved life beyond the docks once more. She felt as though she had no one to confide to in all of this. Auric who although (bless his soul) was thrilled to have her back, didn't offer much conversationally.

As time went on, she tried to forget the King and the life she lived. Her muscles came back as she lifted crates all day, and the harsh sun weathered her skin once more. He hands had grown soft during that time, and now were filled with painful splinters and blisters, her callouses returning. She no longer made deliveries to the great hall, and let Auric instead tend to them. The thought of returning to that place, or starlight forbid seeing him there was too much to think about. Not that the odds of that were very high it seemed.

The King had been more elusive than ever, so she had heard through the grapevine. He seemed to have hardly anytime for anyone so it seemed, even other high status Sindar elves. It had gotten to the point where he hardly bothered to attend his own feasts and parties anymore, just an opening welcome speech and he was gone. So she heard. She tried not to think about these matters.

All these thoughts and more stirred through her head one particular afternoon as Auric and her brought barrels and crates into the great hold. He had been gone for a moment, and came sprinting back in, sounding excited.

"Caledra!" Auric exclaimed, "Dwarves!"

She blinked. "What is that supposed to mean?"

He sighed, seeming exasperated as he pulled her away from their work. "I had been wondering where everyone was. Apparently a band of dwarves had been traveling through the forest, if you'd believe it. The Prince and members of the guard managed to bring them into custody. They're on their way here now!"

By now he was dragging her down halls and through doors. "Why are you so excited?" Caledra laughed. She had never seen him this worked up before about something so trivial.

"Well," he said, suddenly seeming a bit shy. "I've just never seen one before! I would've thought you'd be equally interested," he said, a bit downtrodden from her mood. "We don't have to go see if you don't want to."

"No, let's go, it'll be fun!" Caledra said, tugging on his arm and putting as much cheer into her voice as she could. He grinned, taking it for truth as they continued.

The truth was, the old Caledra would have been positively ecstatic over an opportunity like this. However nowadays, she hardly had enough life in her to get to work every morning. She wasn't going to let that ruin it for Auric however, who seemed to be genuinely excited over the intruders. And dwarves? What would dwarves be doing in the forest? That seemed to be a mystery worth checking into itself.

Finally, they turned a corner that rounded them to the center of the kingdom. Small groups of elves waited on the outskirts as they did now, undoubtedly waiting for a chance to look at the dwarves quite like themselves. It was then that the doors opened.

She nearly choked.

It was not the King, but features he and the prince shared were so strikingly similar she had to take a moment and process that it wasn't him. Seeing prince Legolas brought with it a rush of memories she had been attempting to suppress.

"Make way!" A woman in front shouted, and Caledra took her to be the captain of the guard. They walked directly past them, neither even sparing Auric and her a glance. And then she saw the dwarves.

The whole lot was flanked by a dozen guards. They were short and stout with long beards on most of them, as to be expected. She had thought seeing them was going to be more exciting. But that's all they were. Small little men with beards. She supposed they looked as though they had a lot more muscle than most common men did, and they certainly had more spirit. Although they were unarmed and taken captive, they were still cursing and glaring at the elves surrounding them. It was quite amusing to watch but just as quickly as they walked in they had already walked on, up the large staircase leading to the throne room.

The crowd quickly dispersed and Auric returned to the docks, Caledra returning to the hold to sort out the cargo they had already brought in.

She had liked to guess what was inside each box in her earlier days, and where it was going, for who and for what. But tonight that game wasn't very fun, as it was obvious what everything here was for. Merethen Gilith, the Feast of Starlight. There would be two separate festivals, the feast in the great hall which only select few could attend, and the all night romping, drinking, and storytelling that would be on the streets. Although she would like to avoid the event entirely, it was inevitable. The celebration would be literally everywhere and that meant unavoidable.

She had celebrated many of these by Thranduil's side of course. It was always a spectacular evening. The finest wines and delicacies were drawn out, and it was one of the only evenings where the King himself seemed to be in a relatively good mood. And by that, she could phrase it as a mood that wasn't entirely rotten. She felt a pang of sadness in her chest.

Why did she have to care so much about what was clearly just a game of cat and mouse? Why did it still hurt so much?

It was as she mulled over these thoughts and then she felt something tugging at her keyring.