Broken (sequel to Caught)

Cure

Elrond tied off his last stitch and smiled, looking at Legolas, who had his eyes closed and was sleeping peacefully as he had been through the entire surgery. There had been no complications, thank the Valar, and with a lot of pain-numbing tea and a concoction to knock him out the entire thing had passed without Legolas even having felt a pang or pain.

"We're done. Thank the Valar, Elrohir, we're done," he said, turning to his youngest biological son. Elrohir smiled, weary. It had taken hours to perform the life-saving surgery, and every minute their nerves had been on edge. One false move and they'd send Legolas to his death. But they had succeeded. He would heal.

"We need to get these sheets cleaned up," Elrond said, and Elrohir came over and began to gather the blood-spattered sheets. He turned to his father.

"Go tell Thranduil that it's all good. He's probably ready to explode. I can take care of everything in here."

Elrond smiled and rubbed his son's hair affectionately, and Elrohir didn't even duck away like Aragorn or Elladan usually did and he just turned and gave his father a smile. Elrond loved all his sons equally, but Elrohir was just so much easier to get along with sometimes!

He walked out and nearly tripped over Thranduil's long legs, which were stretched across the doorway. The esteemed Elvenking was leaning against a wall near the door, an empty wine bottle by his feet and his head lolling on his shoulders. His robes were crumpled from sitting for so long, and his crown looked ready to topple from his head.

His eyes, somewhat dulled from the alcohol, sharpened when he saw Elrond, and he jolted so he was sitting with his back as straight and taut as it usually was.

"How is he?" he asked frantically, and Elrond replied as he held out a hand to help the taller elf stand.

"He's fine."

Thranduil breathed a sigh and took the offered hand, hauling himself to his feet. His hand latched onto the wall for support, and the world seemed to spin.

"Ai, maybe I shouldn't have had so much wine..." he said, and Elrond put his shoulders under Thranduil's arm to support him. He laughed good-naturedly.

"Now there's a sentence you should say more often, mellon-nin," he said. Thranduil only grunted in response, making the half-elf smile wider.

"Give me a break, Peredhil. I was stressed," Thranduil said, and Elrond turned and pushed the door to the king's chambers open leading him in sideways to make sure they could both fit. He led them to the large bed and put Thranduil on it, taking his crown off and placing it on the table by the bed and pulling the covers over him. Thranduil's next words came out slurred.

"You realize tha' takin' the crown off a king is ill-illegal?"

Elrond almost laughed at this new side of Thranduil. And perhaps this joking, silly side was his real self. It was hard to tell with someone who had been hurt so badly so many times.

"Yes, well, I guess we'll have to keep it as our secret then, won't we?"

"Let me take your circlet off. Den we'll be even."

Elrond grinned and leaned down so that Thranduil's clumsy fingers could pry the circlet off his face. The braids that it had been holding back fell to frame his face. He took the piece of mithril from Thranduil's hands.

"Alright, we're even. Now go to sleep, Thranduil."

"You sound like my ada," Thranduil said, and Elrond forced a smile through the wave or sadness that came over him. Thranduil continued.

"Or my nana, or my melleth. They all used to say that to me because I never wanted to go to sleep and they had to be all strict and stuff. Did you know that?"

Elrond smiled morosely and turned back to him, blowing out the candle that sat in a holster on the wall.

"Goodnight, mellon-nin."

Thranduil was already asleep.

O:o:O

Thranduil woke up the next day with a massive headache. The birds chirping merrily outside his window made his head pound and he groaned, shoving his head into the pillow.

A few minutes later he was woken again by a voice.

"King Thranduil!"

He moaned and looked up blearily, calling back in a hoarse voice. He was not a morning person, and this pounding in his brain certainly wasn't helping.

"What?"

"Elrohir has found something you really need to see! It's about Legolas!"

Hearing Legolas's name Thranduil forced himself to get up, and he stood, stumbling slightly as he went to get another robe from the closet and changing quickly. He ran his fingers through his hair as he stepped out. Aragorn was standing in the doorway.

"Good morning," he said, and Thranduil gave a small smile. It had been a while since he had looked carefully at the man, and he did so. Since the time with Cyras, his face had sunken slightly, and wrinkles had formed around his eyes and chin. But his eyes were still alive and bright, and Thranduil admired his never ending hope for which he had been named.

They went to Legolas's room in the healing wing and pushed the door open, revealing that Elladan, Elrohir, and Elrond were sitting there already. Thranduil pulled out a chair, plopping down in it gratefully. He felt like a dwarf was inside his skull and trying to escape with a very dull axe.

"What is it?" he croaked, and Elrond handed him a glass of water as he answered.

"Elrohir has found something very interesting that I think could benefit Legolas."

Thranduil quirked an eyebrow, and Elrohir took over.

"I was reading, and I found this!" Elrohir said, handing a parchment to Thranduil. He took it and tried to focus on the words on the page.

The sea-longing theoretically could be cured by the blocking of the emotions from the victim's mind. However it has never been attempted and could potentially be dangerous.

"What is that?" a sleepy voice asked, and all heads whipped to look at Legolas, who was looking at his father with a pair of rejuvenated blue eyes.

"It's about the sea-longing, ion-nin," Thranduil said, and he noticed the way Legolas winced when he said the condition out loud. "It speaks of a possible cure."

"What? Do it. Do it, please, Ada!"

The desperate edge to Legolas's voice was sharp and it pierced Thranduil's heart like a dagger. How had he not noticed when his son had been at home that something was wrong? Now that he knew it, it was so apparent, and he couldn't believe had been so blind to his son's suffering.

"I don't know how. Elrond could, perhaps."

Elrond sighed.

"Let's try it."