ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪɢʜᴛ [ᴀ ᴛʜʀᴀɴᴅᴜɪʟ x ᴏᴄ]

Chapter 3- A New Friend

I woke up sprawled out on the bed. I wiped the sleep out of my eyes and got out of bed. I brushed my black and white hair and braided it neatly to keep it out of my face. I grabbed my cloak and put it on so I could keep some daggers underneath it. I knew Thranduil did not wish for me to be harmed unless I disobeyed his rules but I know many of the guards would want to harm me no matter what I did. I opened the door to my room and a stern-looking guard greeted me with a look of disgust.
"Where is the library?" I inquire monotonously.  
"Towards the other side of the palace," he replied looking down at me.
"Well, would you mind taking me there," I asked
" No I would rather stay here, " he replied slightly irritated
"Well as much as you may want to stay your King said I was free to roam and that I had to supervised by a guard at all times. So that means you have no choice, " I conclude smirking and crossing my arms. The guard glared at me clearly annoyed but he started walking in the direction I assumed the library was in and I followed smirking the whole way. I followed him through some nicely decorated corridors and then through another large oak door. I gasped at the interior there were walls lined with brown bookshelves with an assortment of books filling every shelf. There was a fire on one wall and a couple of cosy looking chairs. I walked around the bookshelves for a little while tracing the spines with my finger as I read the various titles and pondered which one I wanted to read. Once I had finally made up my mind I sat down in a chair by the fire and read. After an annoyingly short about of time, my mind wandered elsewhere. Thoughts clouded my mind and prevented me from being able to pay attention to a single word on the page. These thoughts were only of one elf in particular. Thranduil. I simply could not understand how he had interacted with me. He was not afraid of me nor did he seem disgusted by my presence. That was weird enough and then when he was actually polite even kind to me I was confused. No one had ever shown me kindness. Not even my own mother.
"Why were you so nice to me?" I asked out loud to no one in particular. 
"I was nice to you because I believe that I see something in you that no one else sees not even you, " A calm voice said from behind me startling me slightly but I did not let it show whatsoever. I stood up and placed the book down carefully on the chair before looking up to see King Thranduil starting at me.
"You know it's rude to sneak up on people, " I remarked.
"It was not my intention to startle you, " he replied
" Who said I was startled, " I said defensively.
"I merely assumed you were, " he smirked
"Well, I was not, " I crossed my arms.
"Now what is it that you supposedly see in me that no one else does, " I asked raising an eyebrow.
He smirked
"That is for me to know and for you to find out, " he turned around and left "You will find out eventually but for now enjoy trying to read your book, " he said waving his hand around. 
"Arse, " I said quietly to myself. Before I grabbed my book and sat back down to read but to no avail. I gave up on reading put the book back on the shelf and returned to my room. I sprawled out on the bed bored. There was a knock at the door so I heaved myself off of the bed and opened to be greater by a polite young elleth around my age.
"Hello, " I said curiously.
"Forgive me. My name is Laeanna I am a member of the guard. I was told that when you arrived at our borders you had a rather impressive collection of weapons and I was wondering if you wanted to train with me. I am the only elleth in the guard and no one will train with me so I figured you may want to?" She asked. I smiled.

"Well Laeanna I would be honoured and yes it does beat being bored out of my mind. Let me just grab more weapons if I may. You can come inside for a moment if you like, " I said.

"More weapons. Meaning you are already carrying some even if you are likely not supposed to be carrying them, " she smiled.

"What? You can't blame me, can you? I swear the only people that don't want me dead are you and Thranduil!" I laughed. So did Laeanna.

"I can't blame you besides I am always carrying around my bow even if i do not need to, " She admitted. I smiled then frowned.

"Do you know who I am?" I asked.
"You are Araniel. Or are you referring to the fact you are a dark elf? Yes, I do know and I am not afraid. You are different from the dark elves I have met before although I cannot say why. That is part of the reason I have come to see if you are really different from the others. To see if you can be brought back to light and good of the world, " she said. I smiled.
"Well, I hope you shall find out for both our sakes, " I removed my cloak and revealed the various daggers in their holsters and put my dual swords in their holster on my back before I turned to Laeanna.
"So do you still want to train with me?"
She smiled "Yes. Yes, I do,"