Weaving a Song

Chapter 78

November 20th 3018 TA

Thranduil and Haldir had continued to walk together. "Do you know why I granted your request?" Thranduil finally asked, they had walked in silence since the amusement they had gained from thinking about every other male in the realm. Haldir glanced at him.

"I suppose I could guess but the exact reason—no, Sire." Thranduil stopped and turned to face him.

"I told you long before, when we are alone there is no reason to use my title. After all, even in public your brothers continue to call me 'uncle' instead."

Haldir smiled somewhat wryly. "I shall try to remember better." A brief smile crossed Thranduil's face before it faded.

Thranduil turned again and continued walking. "Almiel has been different lately, since you were last here. If I did not know better I would say she was fading, or that the Sea was calling her. She spends hours meandering the Palace and surrounding area. The last time she ate was two days ago when we ate together, which, admittedly, was also the last time I have eaten. I have been informed by the Palace chef that we are insulting him as a family and if I wanted to fire him, I should have done so instead of avoiding his food. The point being taken, I decided we should probably eat though we have not done so since. In any case, besides all that, she admitted to me around two weeks ago that she may have overreached. Something she's never done before. She knows that, because I am a father- her father, I would be hurt by something like that, and usually she avoids telling me anything that would make me hurt for her. She's changed, and I know you must have too, for even before you came I was beginning to sense the bond between you because of my own bond with her." He stopped talking as they reached the same balcony he had found Almiel on not two days before.

"I understand that much, and though I do not know what she did, I do know she reached all the way to Imladris when she did… whatever she did." Thranduil nodded slightly.

"Two days ago I found her here. She was staring into the woods, the world a burden on her shoulders. All she could see was fear and pain and darkness. As much as I tried to comfort her, I could feel her stirring beneath the surface. She will leave, soon, and I will not stop her. She may die, yes, but I cannot stop her fate. I know that even if I were to keep her here, she might die anyway the way she has been acting."

Haldir looked out into the woods as well, his heart breaking for the young Princess. "So that's what Galadriel meant…" He said, speaking more to himself than to anyone. Thranduil glanced at him, but Haldir did not notice. He was continuing to stare, his shoulders now slightly slumped, his eyes pools of compassion for the Princess.

"Not to say that she's without hope." He said quietly. Haldir's eyes darted to his. Thranduil motioned to him, and led him down a flight of stairs. Throughout it all Haldir wondered what the King could possibly be doing. Then again, in all the time he had spent in Mirkwood he has stopped questioning it when Thranduil decided to lead him somewhere. The stairs then opened into the Royal family's garden where flowers of all shapes and sizes grew, a statue of Oiolairë resting in the middle. He walked to the statue.

"This was a long time ago." He said. "It was the first time you had to prove your bond with my daughter. I wondered after word if saving her might have been possible if I had sent for you instead of Elrond, but what was done was done. It hurt, but my children kept me from fading. Besides, my people needed me just as much. They were stunned, surprised, even scared that such a thing could happen within the Palace. The Palace is usually our place of refuge, where the nation gathers when all else has been trampled. For their Queen to die in her own bedchambers… it was… frightening. Almiel picked up on it, later after she was returned to herself, and I feared she would kill herself again. She was strong though, stronger than before, and she never gave as much of herself. That was partly Legolas' doing. I told him to follow her, and so he did. She knew, and it kept her from doing anything overly rash and stupid."