Part Ten

"Thranduil? Thranduil, can you hear me?"

The Elvenking opened his eyes but could not focus them. He saw the blurry, nervous shape of Lord Elrond hovering over him and smiled slightly. Elrond was so kind to worry about him so. When was the last time someone had worried over him? Even Legolas never worried – he thought his father as too strong to need such a thing.

It was nice, though, in a way. Nice that someone cared. He lifted his hand to his lover's face. Elrond's skin felt so cool against his hot fingertips. Thranduil licked his lips. They were dry, cracked. His throat was parched and his head ached. Something had happened to him, but he could not quite recall what at the moment.

He was lying in a soft, white bed, and the room was filled with thousands of tiny white lights. Ah, yes, they had come to Lothlórien for… for…

"Elrond," he said. "Something happened."

"Yes," Elrond said.

"I can not remember."

"I shall remind you, in a little while. For now, just rest. You must be thirsty. I have some water for you."

"Thank you." Thranduil rubbed his eyes with his fists and Elrond appeared less blurry. He took the cup from the Lord of Imladris, shooing his hand away when he tried to hold it to Thranduil's lips. "It will spill. I can manage it. I am not an invalid, I just…" he trailed off. His memory began to clear with the water. It soothed his throat and lips, awakened him.

"Celeborn gave you an herb to help you relax," Elrond said, a hint of irony in his tone.

"Legolas!" It all came rushing back now. "My son. That bastard Celeborn, he--"

"Shh, calm down, love," Elrond said. "Legolas is fine. Galadriel has rectified the situation. Legolas is free, and Saelbeth is free."

It felt good to be called love. Elrond took the water away and Thranduil took his hand, Elrond squeezed his fingers.

"Truly? Legolas is not in Celeborn's hands?"

"He is in Haldir's hands," Elrond said.

Thranduil chuckled. "Then I shall not worry about him."

"Thranduil, Galadriel wishes the wedding to go forward. She will announce the engagement of Arwen and Legolas tonight at the banquet."

Thranduil sighed heavily. "Might it not be postponed for a bit? Give the children a chance to get to know each other."

"I am willing to cancel it entirely. Arwen is being completely unreasonable about the entire affair. She refuses to even consider it."

"That sounds more reasonable than unreasonable to me."

"Please, Thranduil, do not tease me."

"Am I?"

"I should hope so. In any case, my reason for wanting them married has fled."

"What do you mean?"

"I no longer wish to leave for Valinor."

Thranduil felt his heart beat a bit faster. "And why is that?"

"You know why."

"Do I?"

"Do not force me to say it."

"Perhaps I want simply to hear it."

"All right then," Elrond sighed. "It is you. I wish to stay in Middle-earth because I do not wish to leave you."

"I knew it."

"Hmph."

Thranduil sat up and wrapped his arms around the Lord of Imladris, feeling much better. Elrond turned towards him, sighing, and Thranduil kissed him. His lips moved over Elrond's tenderly at first, then more roughly. Thranduil reached for the front clasp of Elrond's robe, but the other elf stopped him.

"You are distracting me, Thranduil."

"Perhaps I need a distraction, myself, to stop me from getting up and attempting to kill Celeborn. You will agree that this is a bad idea."

"Indeed. I fear you must simply forgive him."

"How can I do that?" Thranduil asked with frustration. "He would have raped my son. And Saelbeth... as one of my people, do I not owe him my protection as well?"

Elrond bowed his head. "You do. And yet, Celeborn is lord here. This is his realm, and his arguments for what he did were not entirely without reason."

"If you could forgive me to what happened to Elladan and Glorfindel, why could he not?"

"I cannot say, Thranduil. But for me, let this matter go. We have more important things to worry about."

"This wedding that no one wants except Galadriel and Celeborn."

"I was foolish to initiate this."

"Yet I am glad you did, for had you not we might not have found this connection between us."

Elrond smiled. "How docile you have become. I almost miss our old arguments. Almost."

Thranduil chuckled. "Do not challenge me. I will give you an argument you will never forget."

"I would like that. It would be more pleasant than arguing with Arwen."

Thranduil ran a hand through his hair. "I should speak with Galadriel."

"I am here, Thranduil," came the gentle voice of the Lady of Light from the doorway. She was beautiful, he thought. There was no female elf as beautiful as she was. He wanted to tear his gaze away from her, so bright was this vision. "You wish to dissolve the alliance between Legolas and Arwen."

Thranduil nodded. "I had always hoped Legolas would find love on his own. Now he has, and--"

"You feel that his involvement with Haldir is a better match than with Arwen?"

"If it makes him happy."

"Thranduil, you have much to learn. Leave this matter in my hands. I promise you that neither Legolas nor Arwen will be unhappy in the end."

Thranduil looked helplessly at Elrond. What could they do but agree?