Unlikely Rescue

Chapter 6 - A Meeting Gone Wrong

Thank you EstelElfstone and Jaya-Avendel for voting on the last chapter! You both said it was short though so I'm writing this fast and I'll try to make it longer!

Estel awoke early, but still later than the elves, who woke at the crack of dawn and rose with the sun. He felt a growing apprehension and worry as he contemplated the meeting he would be attending today. It was the first of a series of three meetings which would occur throughout the week, the aim being that by the third they would reach a peace agreement between the three elven realms.

Aragorn didn't really understand the point of having three meetings. Really, couldn't they just have one short meeting which went something along the lines of:

"Shall we have peace?"
"Yes"
"Agreed"
"Meeting over."
And that would be it. Simple, easy...

Estel was jerked from his thoughts of quick and easy meetings by a servant who, it appeared, had come to escort him to the meeting room.

It appeared so, but he couldn't be sure because the servant didn't utter a single word, instead scurrying timidly along the passageway to what he hoped was the meeting room, pausing every so often to make sure Aragorn was following, and bowed wordlessly, leaving the human standing awkwardly before the wooden doors.

Taking a deep breath, Aragorn knocked on the doors and was half-relieved, half-terrified, when he heard the slightly irritated voice of the king.

"Come in."

Uttering a silent prayer to Ilúvatar, Aragorn pushed open the doors and walked quietly into the now silent room.

Before him was a semi-circle of chairs, one empty, and all facing the King's throne. Aragorn wondered numbly if there was a throne in every room of the palace, or if he simply moved the same one around.

"You're late." Thranduil stated blankly.

"Sorry My Lord, I was not aware that the meeting had started..." Aragorn's voice trailed off weakly.

"Do not waste my time with apologies! Sit down and listen, will you? Stars, why must Elrond send the most incompetent, incompetent mortal of all things, to represent him?"

Aragorn sat down without a word, silently questioning Thranduil's right to the throne. Was he even sane?

Aragorn tried to focus his attention on the meeting going in around him, picking up a now full-on argument between Thranduil and the elves of Lothlórien, led by an elf named Haldir, debating the terms of an agreement.

From what Aragorn could tell, Haldir was pressing for aid in any wars which may come to either realm, but Thranduil was refusing, shouting that he wanted only not to be attacked, and had not the armies to support Lothlórien. One line of the argument in particular caught Estel's attention.

"You ask for my aid only because you know you can't support your own filthy realm!" Thranduil spat.

Aragorn surprised himself by speaking up for the first time.

"That's not true."

Silence fell and all eyes turned to the human, who was now shifting self-consciously.

"What did you say, mortal?" Thranduil asked after the pause had stretched out for what he deemed long enough.

"I said, that's not true. Haldir wants support and safety for his realm, which is what you would want for your realm if you actually cared about your kingdom, which I can see you don't! You only care about yourself."