Everlong

41

The silence in the room was almost unbearable and absolute, in fact it would've been if it wasn't for the large fire raging in the hearth to one side; the chunky blocks of wood which had been thrown in were readily and quickly consumed by the flickering and dancing flames. Every so often a piece would chip and fall off, tumbling down into and amongst the ashes which were still presently there, as yet to be cleaned out it seemed. It also seemed it was used quite often, the darkened marks up the back of the equally dark stone of the chimney was evidence of that. Another spitting sound came from the flames, and another piece chipped off; the wafer thin segment wafted upwards in the ascension of the smoke, only to disappear within the smoggy cloud and not be seen again.

As grand as the fire was, and it truly was considering how much of the wall it took up, it also accentuated the details and expressions of those which were either seated around it, or were just stand closely. For one, the flames managed to pick up each minute detail of Thrór and his less than appeased expression. It was after dinner, and the talk about the details as to why the elves were here had yet to happen beforehand, so it was happening now. Only, Thrór - much like any other dwarf, let alone a king - did not take kindly to the almost bland, condescending and passively spoken words which came from a fellow king, elf or otherwise. But then what else was he meant to expect, Thrór was under no illusions that the aura and general disposition and mentality of Thranduil was that he was better than any and all, or at least that's what he gave off.

Regardless, Thranduil had sat with one leg crossed over the other with his hands resting in his lap as his eyes stared unblinkingly at Thrór, and simply he had spoken: "Your endless mining is going to bring ruin upon you all." The tone wasn't softly spoken from a friend, it was blunt and bored sounding; as if what he was saying was the blindingly obvious.

Thrór's reaction was silence, while Thráin had instantly exclaimed and took to aggressively giving Thranduil a piece of his mind, how could he accuse them of such a thing? Where was his place to even presume or suggest this situation? Did he honestly come all this way, just for that? Thranduil had just watched the dwarf-Prince with a minor air of curiosity before rather audibly sighing, that silenced Thráin then who just glared sharply at him. Thranduil's response was to simply raise an eyebrow and tilt his head a fraction, he was fed up already with this. He sat here knowing the dwarves were not going to listen to him, yet still he tried. They, well, Thráin openly insulted him and he still just sat here and took it silently, even if on the inside he was not all too happy at all.

The silence stretched on for too long, and it was only the fire which took over the void where their voices were moments ago. It seemed like Thrór was thinking, but that was hard to tell considering how he looked disdainfully down at the ground below his boots. The patterned caps on the top look slightly weathered from use and constant wear, but the intricate bands coiling around each other could still be seen in this low light. But still he remained silent, and the silence if anything was getting heavier with the more time that passed.

"It is a fair warning," Thrór's voice spoke up eventually, thick and heavy with thought as he ran a hand gently over his beard. The interlocked trinkets within didn't get disturbed by his fingers, strangely enough they remained perfectly in place.

Thranduil resisted rolling his eyes and just straightened up in his seat. Even Liruliniel, who was standing beside him silently staring at the fire shot a look from the corner of her eyes. Thranduil was surprised she'd been silent this long, but then glancing at her every now and then, it was clear her attention was elsewhere. That elsewhere was probably her thoughts, and he for one was not a fan of that. "It is," he responded, he tried not to sound annoyed really, what else was he meant to say to that? Thrór sounded thoughtful, yet sceptical at the same time. Did he honestly think Thranduil was trying to trick him? Probably, he wouldn't be surprised.