A shadow lies on Thranduil and his forest, and only a power stronger than the darkness of old can save them.
Grief and loss have turned him into a king with a heart of ice, and if he is ever to find redemption, the chains of guilt and remorse holdin...
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THANK YOU so much Jenny (areychan on Instagram) for this lovely drawing of Faeldir and Amardir! They are totally adorable and gorgeous! What a COOL and beautiful gift!
Things were different in the palace now. There was a sense of tension and alert premonition permeating the halls of Thranduil that kept Anna on her toes most of the days. The biggest change she noticed was the absence of Legolas and Tauriel who, as she had been told, had gone on a head over heels chase after the dwarves. It turned out that the escape of the dwarves did not go as smoothly as Bilbo had wished for, because they soon had an orc-pack following their trail. What exactly drove the two to follow them was not clear to her, but she strongly suspected that it had something to do with Tauriel's feelings for one of the dwarves.
The fact that both his son and his head of guard had left without his consent put Thranduil in a sour mood and it was best not to tangle with him. Although he never openly showed her any resentment there was a remnant of polite aloofness he displayed towards her. It was not really the fact that he thought her guilty of the dwarves' escape. He knew that they could have possibly managed quite well without her help. It was the bitter aftertaste of the breach of trust that still lay like a thin veil of discomfort in between them both. So she tried her best not to give him another reason to fuel any possible distrust and remained in a position of quiet watchfulness and silent obedience.
The weeks dragged on in days of endless uniformity and even the slow change from autumn to early winter in the Woodland Realm went almost unnoticed as she only caught brief glimpses of the outside world when the gates were opened. The deep red and flaming orange had turned a sickly brown and a dreary grey mist enshrouded the woods that lay beyond the palace. Although the forest did not really look inviting, she had never longed more for a breath of fresh air, even if it were only for a short while.
But now with both Tauriel and Legolas gone her life was even more restricted to the palace. Under the impending danger of war Thranduil surely would not allow her to venture into the forest alone and apparently he only entrusted her safety to those two alone. No one else was allowed to accompany her and if they would they could be sure to incur the king's wrath which under the given circumstances no one was willing to risk, much less for someone who was not one of their own. The only distractions left were her visits to the library which had lessened as of late, Brethilwen, who continued to be her loyal servant and the brothers Amardir and Faeldir, who kept their good-natured spirits even in times of gloomy anticipation.
"If you are in need of a remedy against dull afternoons we are ever at your service my lady." With those words Amardir approached her, his younger brother beside him bowing low and joining in "May we offer you some refreshment of the mind with music that also delights the heart?" An exited gleam was in Faeldir's eyes as he went on: "There is a new tune my brother and I have devised and it would be our pleasure if you could be the first one to hear it."
"We named it 'The Lady of the Forest' and it is dedicated to you," Amardir added with a distinct layer of pride in his voice.
A smile spread across her face. "Now you make me blush like a little girl." She linked arms with both of them as she headed towards the small hall she knew was their favourite and said: "I am very honoured and cannot wait to hear it."
