Thranduil is often seen as a cold, hard, uncaring elf who is incapable of feeling love. In reality, he is broken inside from the loss of his wife, and never learned to deal with it properly, burying his emotions deep within himself and not allowing...
Vera had to force herself not to stomp from the room, she was so infuriated. How could Thranduil drink that much!? She thought to herself. She had a very low tolerance for alcohol, which was why she had drunk so little of it, but seeing the way he drank disgusted her. An incident had occurred years ago, when her people were nomads, that had cured her of ever wanting to drink, and led to the result of her hating when other people drank excessively as well.
She wasn't paying any attention to where she was going, just storming through hallways, letting her instinct guide her, so she was mildly surprised when she suddenly found herself in a part of the palace that she hadn't seen yet and seemed very unused. There was quite a bit of dust in places, with a few moss spots and lichen growth along the walls. There was an eerie silence to the place that unnerved her, as though she didn't have any right to be here, as though she was unwelcome.
The hallway she was in had only two doors: the one she came in and one directly across from it, at the other end of the hall. She walked forward hesitantly, nervous for some reason that she didn't really know.
She pushed up the door, slowly, muscles taught as she peeked around the edge of the door. She relaxed when she saw that it just lead to the outside, though there was a stone pathway leading into the trees. She started following it, closing the door behind her. It wound through the trees, but after only a minute's walk she came upon something that made her squeal with joy: a small, clear lake, obviously elf-made for swimming. She removed the outer part of her garments, along with her weapons, so that she was just in her breeches and tunic, and then shifted into her mountain lion form.
She nosed around carefully, using her improved senses of sight and smell to check the area over. The water seemed safe, and there were no spiders or orcs anywhere in the area, although she suspected that that was due to the strong feeling of magic in the area. Thranduil or Oropher must have cast spells of protection over this area, she thought, and then mentally shrugged. It didn't really matter to her why it was safe, as long as it stayed that way. She inched a paw into the water. It was pleasantly warm and perfect for swimming in.
She stepped in all the way, all four legs in, up to the bottom of her belly. After a minute of adjusting to the water, she took a flying leap and splashed into the exact middle of the lake, staying submerged and paddling around, eyes open. (a/n sorry about the text on the image)
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She popped her head back up and just paddled about, content to be back in the water again. She had always loved swimming, it was something that mountain lions naturally enjoyed and that love had been imparted to her human side as well. She splashed around and played for hours, as darkness fell and the stars came out, shining down with benevolence. Vera finally pulled herself up out of the water, shaking herself violently to get most of the water out of her pelt before laying down, stretching out to dry off quicker. Before she could realize what happened, however, she fell asleep by the side of the lake, her golden pelt looking silvery in the starlight, to the point where she looked like a fallen star herself.
