With a secret mission to marry an elf, Wynne must join Legolas' and Elvenking Thranduil's new quest as a horsekeeper. She begins an adventurous journey, encountering orcs and monsters, friendly uruk-hai, a lady dwarf and many Fellowship heroes - but...
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~ Thranduil is wary about Wynne's mother and receives a proposal that fuels his suspicions. He confronts Wynne and demands to be told the truth. ~
56. Pride and Vanity
That day's meeting was held in King Elessar's throne room and Thranduil looked around him with appreciation. It was a large room, with high pillars similar to the ones in the feast hall Merethrond. The floor was tiled stone, smooth after centuries of feet walking on it, and the walls had several large tapestries between the arched windows. Chairs were placed in a semicircle before the throne and Elessar already sat on one.
So typical of that man, to sit among his inferiors like an equal rather than using his throne. Thranduil had to hold back a smile at the thought of himself doing something of that ilk back home.
While waiting for the meeting to begin, he slowly walked from one tapestry to the other, admiring the colors and materials and trying to figure out what part of history each pictured.
That one was easy; the Battle of the Pelennor Fields – the oliphaunts were a telltale clue. They had made his son a lot taller than he really was, he noticed. And had he killed an oliphaunt single-handedly like that? He certainly had not mentioned it when he recounted his adventures. Probably artistic license.
It was time to begin the meeting and Thranduil took his place next to Nugu and Sidra, curiously eyening the others. There was the Rohan king, who Thranduil had changed a few words with yesterday; he had seemed coarse and uncouth. Beside him Elessar and Arwen, and at his other side Faramir, Éowyn, Legolas and his dwarf friend. Then followed a row of Gondorian lords, and a similar row of Rohirrim lords, with the addition of Lady Morwen, the horrible woman who was Wynne's mother.
Everybody stared at the uruk-hai couple beside Thranduil and he could tell from Nugu's nervous fidgeting with the hem of his tunic that it unsettled him. No wonder. Thranduil was thankful to not be in his situation.
The council began and very soon turned into a heated argument. The Gondorians seemed mostly positive to the suggested peace treaty but the Rohirrim took an opposite stance. Morwen was clearly the most averse of the lot. Though Nugu sat right in front of her she unabashedly compared him to a horse and described how a stallion with bad traits would pass them on to all his offspring. Many of the other nobles seemed to take her side, but Thranduil couldn't discern whether it was because they shared her opinion or if they just didn't dare oppose her.
As the discussion droned on at length without really getting anywhere, he found his thoughts drift.
That woman. Why did he feel a slight chill everytime she opened her mouth – which was often – and every time he looked at her? She was beautiful for a human, with well chiseled, regular features and dark hair in an intricate updo, she dressed elegantly and moved gracefully. Her manners were polite of sorts, albeit unrefined, but that went for most of the other Rohirrim nobility he had spoken to.
