Element of the Heart - A Lord of the Rings/Legolas Fanfiction

Chapter 46: The Truth

Legolas stared at his father, unblinking. He knew his father better than anyone. He turned to the guards, nodding at them to leave. They left without any hesitation. The doors closed, the sound of metal against wood echoing Thranduil faced his son, unblinking. "I can tell you nothing more than what you already know."

"The dead refuse to speak of her as one of their own. Is she alive?"

"She will never to walk upon this earth, and that is all that you must know."

"No. For centuries, all I had known is that she died in Gundabad. That she was taken, tortured, and-"

"And you think it easy for me to say? You think it easy for me to have others believe that I had abandoned her?" Thranduil's voice broke, centuries of hurt finding their way through the cracks in his mask.

Legolas froze. "You went back for her?"

"Of course I did! How could anyone think a king would not go back to save his queen? She is my wife, Legolas, and your mother. There is nothing, no kingdom or rule that was more important than my duty to her." Thranduil turned away, facing his throne, but seeing something entirely different. "The night after we received word of her capture, I closed the doors to this room, telling the guards that their presence would not be required for the next few days. I left in secret, using the starless night to conceal my presence. She was, as they said, in Gundabad." His voice trembled with rage. "The monsters that held her were slain before they knew what was upon them. I took her from that accursed place, but she had been there too long. She was dying. We reached the edge of Mirkwood, when I felt the life leaving her body." A single tear fell from his right eye. "As I held her, she told me she was leaving, but I did not let her go."

"I do not understand," Legolas said.

"Our love, our marriage, had bound our souls. She could not leave us to join the stars unless I willingly allowed her."

Legolas took a step back. How can it be? He is not lying, I know that much. But how? He shook his head. "Then where does she dwell?" He followed his father's gaze towards the doors. The trees. Legolas stood at a loss. His mother had passed, yet her spirit could not rest. Instead, it was bound to Mirkwood, bound to the forests, bound to her element: earth.

Thranduil noticed his son's face harden. "Speak freely, Legolas. Are you going to shout and condemn me for what you do not understand?"

Legolas turned away, his voice cold. "I leave for the Black Gates. It is what she would have wanted."

"Why do you continue to help them?"

"Middle Earth is in peril. I find it hard not to see that."

"The race of men is in peril, not the elves as of now. We will fight this darkness when we are ready."

"Long ago, the elves forged an alliance with the race of men. Adar, you have seen Aragorn. You know that there is still hope for them!"

Thranduil began to walk away. "We can no more cling to the wishes of the past than grasp the wind in our hands."

"It is not I who clings to the past. I look to the matters of the present, something you have been refusing to do for centuries."

Thranduil matched his son's stare.

"I take my leave." Legolas turned away, his steps silent and swift.

After Legolas walked out, the room was filled with silence.

A different kind of darkness came over Thranduil. The air was no longer still. The ground beneath his feet no longer seemed steady. Thranduil was afraid. Afraid that he had failed his wife in doing the last thing she told him to do before she had left, before she had been captured. He was to love and protect their son, to keep him close in spirit, even if he had to travel far.

Thranduil sank into his throne. She will never forgive me.