Brightest Stars | Love of Royals: Book I

VIII: Prince and Captain

I'm incredibly proud of Thranduil for still helping me heal after our conversation.  Almost any other ellon would have given up on me straight away after I refused such a romance.  He didn't, which makes it even harder for me to maintain a normal friendship and not sink into kissing him again.

Thranduil's son, an ellon named Legolas, returned from Rivendell this morning.  I had watched as he was sent by Thranduil to find the son of the Dúnadan Arathorn after the Battle of the Five Armies.  I had watched as he got to know the young boy known as Estel in under the care of Lord Elrond.  Today, I peered through my window in the early dawn hours as the Prince, bearing striking resemblance to his father, rode his horse through the gardens with a bow slung over his shoulder.

On hearing the news of his son's return, Thranduil took me out into the far reaches of the gardens to be with Gelya while he went to meet his son.  For nearly three hours, the sweet elleth and I conversed happily—I would listen to Gelya's stories of life in the Woodland Realm and she would listen to mine about life as a Star.  We're currently up to the part where Gelya explains to me her entire family tree, which is becoming far more interesting than I'd expected.

'And my grandmother on my mother's side is called Lairwen, and she lives next door to me.  You should meet her one day,' Gelya says, tapping her feet on the grass rhythmically, 'and her husband, my grandfather, was called Athanwë, but he was killed by orcs before I was born.  That same raid killed my grandmother's brother Dalron.  Oh, and you know Tauriel?'

'Captain of the Guard?' I ask, mentally crossing my fingers I got it right.

'Yes, her.  Well, Dalron's wife's cousin was her grandfather.  Even though we're related, we were never really that close.  She's always too busy on guard.  You want to know something not many of us know?' She rubs her hands cheekily.

'Of course,' I grin.

'You know how there was all of that fighting between King Thranduil and her after the Battle of the Five Armies and she ended up banished?  Well, it was Legolas who persuaded him into letting her come back.' 

'Oh, really?  Do you think he still likes her?'

'If he ever really did, he's certainly stopped now.  I think the incident with Kíli made him think twice about it.'

As we gossip intently, I notice how much Gelya's manner has changed since when we first met a few days ago.  Her confidence is soaring and the trademark Silvan informality is really starting to show through in her speech.  She is only a few hundred years old, after all.  Youthful elves do tend to speak less formally than their elders, and Silvan elves in general speak less formally than the Sindar.

Suddenly, I catch the sound of voices on the wind, drifting from back in the copse of trees behind where Gelya and I are sat on the lush green bank.  Curious, I tap Gelya to silence her and listen carefully as the voices move over to where a large log juts out from the trees and hangs over the bank.  Then two shapes emerge from the shadows—an ellon and an elleth.

Gelya gasps softly.  'It's Tauriel and Legolas... shouldn't he be with his father right now?'

'I was thinking the same thing,' I say truthfully, staring up at the log as the Prince and Captain sit down and let their legs dangle over the edge, 'but what are the chances that they come here just after we talked about them?'