Feigning Diamonds (A Thranduil Fanfic)

Chapter 20: Hessonite

"Majesty and love do not consort well together, nor do they dwell in the same place." -Ovid

***

Thranduil is getting tired, not physically, but he wants this foolish fighting to stop. As far as he's concerned, Treyt is fighting for nothing, but he knows if he runs from this, it will only come back in the near future.

"Tell me what you want," Thranduil manages to say between strokes. "I'm sure I can provide for you." Treyt only scowls. "Gold? A kingdom of your own?"

"The only thing I want cannot come back even by the darkest magic!" he exclaims. "Unless you can bring back the dead, you have nothing that interests me."

Thranduil sidesteps a swing. "Who are you grieving for? Who is that man?" He is talking about the painting on the wall that Treyt was admiring when he arrived. The elf in the picture only looks vaguely familiar.

Treyt laughs. "Wow! You don't even recognize your love's family."

The fighting halts for a moment. The brothers stare at the painting of Idriel's father, and Thranduil recognizes him now. The painting isn't very well done; he's sure even Idriel would have trouble identifying it.

"You were friends," Thranduil says.

"More than that. We were soulmates."

Thranduil raises an eyebrow. "Soulmates? So you not only lost a friend but a lover as well?"

Treyt scoffs, his stance still defensive. "Of course. Why do you think Idriel was never allowed to see him? He couldn't risk her finding out, and she would have. His face was like an open book."

"She wouldn't've cared--"

"But she would have told others. And they would care. We'd both be burned at the stake."

"Oh, please--"

"You don't know what it's like," Treyt is shouting now, "to have to hide your love for somebody!"

Thranduil clenches his jaw. "I do. Do you think people would have approved of Idriel and I after I had a child with someone else?" Treyt is silent. "Maybe we're not so different."

"I still have to kill you," Treyt mutters.

Thranduil shakes his head and lunges forward before he loses his only chance. His sword pierces Treyt's abdomen and he convulses in pain, his eyes rolling back in his head and a groan of pain escaping his lips. With the last bit of energy he possesses, he casts a spell and throws it out the window, straight for Aeldyn.

***

Idriel opens her eyes once the voice in her head is silent and sees a gold shield rising over Aeldyn. She smiles broadly; she did it.

The shield is almost over the top when it stops all of the sudden and retracts towards the ground. The floor shakes, and Idriel has to grip a tree to keep herself upright. Everything is still again, and she looks around, wondering what just happened.

Glancing around, she starts towards Aeldyn, convincing herself that the shaking was part of the spell. She barely reaches the path to the gates before an earsplitting shattering reaches her ears. She stumbles back, shocked, and watches Aeldyn completely shatter into a million pieces. At the same time, a blinding blue light illuminates the forest, and that's all she remembers.

***

Waking up, she feels considerably...lighter. Almost like all the blood in her body has been replaced with feathers. An overall lightness.

It takes her a moment to recognize that she is in Thranduil's bedroom in Mirkwood. She sits up carefully, scanning the vacant room that is bringing back memories that make her head hurt. Standing is strange because of the lightness, and she wonders if she's dreaming.

"Idriel!" Thranduil calls her name from the doorway. "You are awake."

"Why do I feel like I am drunk?" she asks slowly.

Thranduil's smile is either sympathetic or sad. "Sit back down."

She does so as he crosses the room to her. He sits next to her and grips her hand lightly. He tells her everything that happened from the moment he left: Treyt, her father, the fight, the end result, and the spell.

"Before he died, he cast a converting spell," Thranduil explains. "It hit Aeldyn right after it shattered, and you were the closest living thing nearby, so the glass that once held up Aeldyn replaced your bones' material."

At first, she thinks he's kidding and laughs softly. When he only gives her a concerned glance, she frowns. "Are you serious?"

He nods solemnly. "I've been researching how to fix this all night, but I haven't found a thing. I am sorry."

"That's why I feel light." Idriel looks down at her arms and imagines the bones that are now one hundred times more fragile. "You'd think glass would be heavier."

"Not Aeldyn glass."

Idriel forces a smile, but the thought of her new condition and the fact that her kingdom is nothing but ruins makes it a mere grimace. "It's alright. We just have to be careful now, right? And I can build another kingdom?"

Thranduil's eyes are shiny. "Idriel, if you as much as trip and fall, you would break whatever came in contact with the floor. Your organs are more vulnerable now, and you can bleed out in minutes if the injury is bad enough. Even I could hurt you."

"Not easily." Thranduil strokes her cheek. "You've always been gentle. Why is this now different?"

"Because I could break you."

Idriel leans in to kiss him. She can tell he's scared to touch her, but eventually his hands find her waist and he pulls her against him slowly and carefully.

"See? You won't hurt me."

"Perhaps not, but I still worry so grandly for you, especially now because your body is accommodating for the change. We are lucky that elves are so resilient."

"This is a burden I'm willing to carry--not that I have a choice. I'll make the best of it."

Thranduil grins, his eyes still sad, and kisses her again. "That's my girl."