Week Without Thranduil 2/?

[sivanshemesh.livejournal.com]

Word Count: 505 (Chapter 2)






Disclaimer, Summary and Warning could be found in 1st chapter.
Beta: Aranel

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2.

The next day...

Thranduil stood outside the Hall of Fire, noticing something disturbing that caught his attention at once: there was a mob of dwarves with elves near the door.

The king wondered what it meant and was about to open the door, when Galdor came to his side.

"What is it, Galdor?" the king asked without looking at his guard.

"I have no idea if you like this change, though I know that I do," Galdor teased his friend.

"Is there anything I should worry about?" Thranduil asked suspiciously.

"It depends," Galdor replied, staring at the king for a moment. "It is up to you. I do wonder how you will react to it…" With that, he left with a wink.

Thranduil sighed heavily before he opened the door.

Surprised to see elves nursing little dwarves, reading them stories from his books - those books he had painstakingly collected all those years.

The king hurried over quickly, fearing that those menaces would destroy and rip apart his delicate treasures.

"They will not do anything that’d destroy your books." A familiar voice sounded suddenly.

Thranduil spun around, his mouth open in surprise when he noticed the figure that approached.

"G… Glóin?" Thranduil asked, recovering quickly, "What are you doing here?"

"My son, Gimli, has asked me to come. Besides, I had received an invitation from King Legolas himself," Glóin replied, grinning at Thranduil as he continued, "Imagine my surprise when I read it! I could not believe my own eyes; I would have thought that Gandalf had something to do with it."

Thranduil could feel that wave of rage surging within him, but before he could do anything, he felt the dwarf's grip on his wrist.

"I would not advise you to do that," Glóin spoke, looking fixedly at the king, "I do not know what came upon your son to make these changes, but one thing I know: war changes everything; war opened his eyes."

Thranduil had no answer to that much as he searched for something to break the stiff silence.

"Have you not noticed something different about your son?" Glóin asked.

Thranduil stared at the dwarf, not knowing what he was expecting. Was there anything different about Legolas?

Glóin opened the door into the inner room, wanting the king to see what his son had being doing in his short capacity as king.

Thranduil observed how the warm light filled the entire hall. Little groups of elves and dwarves were sitting contentedly on the ground, reading the stories one to another.

He gasped in surprise. "It is so beautiful and…" he continued, "He did a good job in the hall; I never thought that he would do this."

"Neither did I guess that this would happen," Glóin agreed, sighing as he continued, "We both did not handle things right but now times have changed."

"You are right, Master Glóin, times have indeed changed," Thranduil nodded thoughtfully. Kneeling beside the dwarf, he bowed to him.

As Thranduil rose, Glóin returned the bow respectfully.