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

Chapter 20- Practice

"You're getting confident." Thranduil noted as she practiced, a small smile on his face as he watched.

Caledra didn't respond immediately, instead finishing the attack and sheathing her sword, facing him with a proud grin. "Is it that noticeable?"

He gave a slight nod, eyebrows raised but didn't look up from the book he was reading as he flipped a page. It had been over a fortnight since Caledra had started training and she had improved tremendously. Thranduil hardly corrected her on the basics anymore, save a few small details occasionally.

She brought her sword up as she moved into an offensive stance and struck the practice target, the clear cut sinking into it. She peeked at the King out of the corner of her eye, thinking as she practiced.

Legolas was gone.

The news was all over the kingdom. He had left explicitly after Thranduil gave the command that no one was to leave or enter Mirkwood. At first the King had been furious. The very next day however he seemed to calm down, his icy exterior taking over and masking whatever sort of emotions lay underneath. He hadn't spoken to her of Legolas at all, never mind where he had gone off to.

She thought back to when she had first briefly encountered him over dinner many years ago, one of the very first nights she had been enlisted in the Kings service. Save the brief encounters witnessed between him and his father, she hardly knew anything of the Prince, never mind why he would do something as brash as leave the realm.

She tried to turn her thoughts away from him as she struck the target more fiercely than before. Thinking about Legolas always made her feel awkward, simply because he was Thranduils' son and she herself was not too much older than him, and that statement always left her with strange thoughts about how much distance there really was between herself and the King. There was practically a whole lifetime he had experienced that she didn't know about. It bothered her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud snap as the king quickly closed his book shut. She jumped slightly, standing up straight as he stood up from his seat.

"I suppose its time," he sighed, approaching her.

"Time for what?"

A teasing smirk appeared on his face as he slowly made his way over to her, bending down to become eye level with her as he cheerfully spoke. "To destroy whatever confidence you have left, of course."

Caledra glared at him, scratching the back of her head as she looked away sullenly from him. "You don't have to sound so happy about it." She grumbled. "How exactly do you intend to do that?"

He let out a chuckle as his right hand moved up to his hip, pushing aside the part of his robe that obscured the sheathe from view. Pulling up on the hilt, the King unsheathed the sword and held it out, the sharp end of the blade almost reaching Caledra's nose as he laughed again. "We'll spar, of course."

She narrowed her eyes at the tip of the blade, thwacking it away with the back of her hand. She grinned suddenly, coming up with an idea. "Fine. But whoever wins gets to demand one thing from the loser, to make it interesting."

He snorted. "That really is quite a lousy reward. I could have you groveling at my feet without even bothering with this."

Caledra felt her face turn red as she glared at him, deciding to ignore his statement as she continued. "If I win," she said slowly as she drew her own sword, "you have to apologize for every awful thing you've ever done to me."

He looked at her skeptically. "What terrible things have I done to you?"

Caledra felt her mouth fall open incredulously. "You made me lick your damn boot one of the first days we ever met!"