Anastasia | Thranduil

Secrets and Betrayal

Winter had come to visit every evening for the past week, always wary of Eclipse. Eclipse never did anything other than growl but Winter still did not trust her. I have no idea why I am starting to believe a random shapeshifter about Lauren being evil. I guess it might be because Lauren and I have not spoken in a while and I could hear her sneaking out at night. Not only that, sometimes I would hear strange chants coming from her room. 

I was made aware of the fate of the dwarves by Winter, and remained a bit pissed that Thranduil had not told me that Kili, Fili, and Thorin himself had all fallen in battle. Phantom is aware of my indecision about Lauren and apparently agrees with the bird. Still, I do not wish to believe that she's plotting against me.

"What am I going to do?" I sighed.

Eclipse whimpered softly before licking my hand, sensing my distress. A few moments later, she was growling in the direction of the door. I had gotten so caught up in my thoughts that I never noticed someone enter the room.

"Hello Anastasia."

It was the king. More thoughts reeled through my head. Should I talk to him about Lauren? But what if he banishes her and she's innocent. He often overreacts to things like that. No. I won't tell him, not yet at least.

"Good morning Thranduil," I smiled, turning to face him.

For once, the king looked nervous. He was shuffling his feet around and looking at his hands.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No... I was just wondering if you'd like to do something today. My schedule is empty so I wanted to know if you wished to do anything together."

"I would love to."

"Meet me in the stables in about an hour?" he asked.

I nodded and gave him a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek before releasing his arm. The king was then shoved out the door by Eclipse. I laughed as the wolf carefully grabbed my sleeve with her teeth and pulled me to my closet, looking at me expectantly. Deciding just to go along with it, I opened the door and grabbed an outfit that I could ride in. Looking at Eclipse now, she honestly could be ridden, not that I would want to. I thought of her as a good companion and wasn't going to burden her with extra weight unless necessary. 

The outfit was a light green and was comfortable enough to do just about anything in. Eclipse trotted over with my hairbrush in her jaws, glaring at the rats nest that was my hair. I laughed and took it from her before brushing the knots out of my hair completely. By then it was time to head to the stables. I let Eclipse out of my room so she would not get bored and ran to meet Thranduil. My breathing was a bit ragged by the time I got there. I guess I was starting to get lazy now that I had not done much in the past few weeks. That has to change. Maybe I could take Eclipse out more often and run around with her for some exercise. In any case, a few less pounds wouldn't hurt.

"Wow I'm getting out of shape," I murmured.