Wanderlust (Legolas LOTR)

Best Morning Ever

Narylfiel panicked. The last time she had seen her sister had been at the feast, but that had been hours ago. She had briefly entertained the glad thought that Legolas and her sister were together, but that notion had been upended the moment the guards had shown up at her door on the prince's behalf, searching for Thaliniel. Now Narylfiel could only guess that something had gone horribly wrong, for Thaliniel was no where to be found-if the palace guards could not even locate her, then who could?

Now the sun shone brightly through the skylights along the corridor that Narylfiel raced down, eager to find the king, hoping that he could help her.

She skidded to a halt in front of Thranduil's council chamber. The young elleth did not wait to be admitted, but rather charged ahead of the sentinels posted outside, ignoring their surprised protests and shot into the room. The aged council members blinked at her owlishly, and then looked expectantly toward their stern king to put this young interloper in her place or at least to have her escorted promptly from the room!

Thranduil did neither but rather rose slowly from his seat at the end of the long table. To his credit, he looked completely unfazed by the intrusion as he waved off the guards with a dismissive gesture.

"Council members, pray continue. There seems to be a matter of some urgency requiring my immediate attention," Thranduil announced softly and excused himself from the chambers, steering his young guest from the room with a gentle hand to her shoulder.

He led her to the nearest sitting room and advised Galion to bring a tray from the kitchen.

"I don't want any treats!" Narylfiel huffed indignantly. "I want to find my sister! She's been missing since last night!"

Thranduil, who had been smoothing out the creases from his robes, looked up sharply. "What did you say?"

Narylfiel narrowed her eyes at the king, hardly appreciating what she perceived to be a fairly cavalier attitude toward her sisters' disappearance. Tray from the kitchen, indeed!

"Your majesty, Thaliniel is missing. None of the guards can find her, and I have not seen her since the banquet last night when she was in the company of Prince Legolas."

"Narylfiel," Thranduil countered kindly, 'of course, your sister shall be found. I sure the Royal Guard will be able to locate her whereabouts with relative ease."

"They won't," she insisted with a sob. "Prince Legolas sent them looking for her last night-and they never found her."

"You say the prince sent the guards? You are sure of this?" the king asked incredulously.

At Narylfiel's brief nod in affirmation, Thranduil pushed his hair back over his shoulder and stood, abruptly leaving his chair for the hall where he summoned his nearest guard to inquire about what his young guest had just told him.

Narylfiel sighed and looked up at the ceiling. Of course, she was telling the truth! She watched as Thranduil stood in quiet conversation with the guard, and the king folded his arms with a most displeased expression upon his face. She could only make out snatches of the king's words-"...oath...safety of our kingdom...due diligence..."-with Thranduil apparently giving the guard quite the set-down, judging by the stricken expression on the warrior's face. As soon as Thranduil finished his last word to the guard, the king turned on his heel and strode the opposite direction down the hall.

Narylfiel was up out of her seat in the next second, hurrying to catch up to him. "Your majesty," she cried persistently. "King Thranduil, please wait! My sister!"

Thranduil slowed only enough that she might catch him, but he did not stop, and Narylfiel had to jog to keep in time with his long gait. "Narylfiel, you should go back to your room. I will send your sister to you."