Frostbound love

Chapter 19

Authors note: my general idea of Navea's looks if it doesn't suit you guys idea then just strike it. I am like that sometimes when i read. I put it on the last chapter. If it doesn't work for you guys then just forget about it and go with how you imagine her to be. She will be average height and lean but with an athletic build. Her face is catlike with high cheek bones kinda elven if you want to call it that but not so ethreal looking. She has a certain mortal quality to her features. Beautiful but mortally so. Her eyes are also cat like in their shape and color. Her pupils are normal.

Upon a Winter's Eve

She sat down to enjoy her stew after a quite day of entertaining her nieces and nephew. They had shifted recently and were finally used to their human bodies. They had been keeping her and their parents on their toes. She was showing them the beginings of hunting and tracking. Using their senses mostly while playing hide and seek. They enjoyed it and gave her something to do in the lazy season that winter was. She would patrol every now and again but the valley and thier village was secure.

She was just taking her first bite when a knock came to her door. Odd no one here knocked and she wasn't expecting anyone who would knock to come by tonight. She opened her door a dagger behind her back to find . . . to her absoulote shock Thranduil. He was dressed in his silver armoured robe along with sword and over robe to ward off the chill.

"I see that you are dressed and I came to discuss the more detailed parts of sending scouts." he said almost as if he was unsure of how to ask to be granted entrance to her humble home.

"I am dressed and shall remain so to protect your sensitive virgin eyes." she winked and motioned him on in.

"You have the oddest sense of humor I have ever heard. Do you find a king's desire to be a civilized being so hilarious?" he asked as she motioned him to a stool.

"Do you want soup and prehaps some meade to ward off the cold?" she asked and procured it at his nod.

"So tell me what issues you wish to talk about witht he scouts." she asked. sitting at her original spot.

"I will get to that as soon as you ask my previous question." he tried the stew and it seemed to pass his scrutiny.

"My people shift and at times will end up nude eventually. We find it funny how many other cultures deem it offensive and nasty to be so. I'm not saying we run around nude all the time. From time to time though it happens. It is the huge diffrences in views we find funny." she explained.

"very well I can understand that. Now I have arranged rooms in my palace for the rotating scouts. Any reason why we must wait to send them until mid spring?" he asked.

"Ah that is simply because our mating season is coming up. No male or female will miss out on it." she said

At  his confused expression she chuckled and began to explain it to him. " Females will go into heat near the same time. Unmated females will be finding their mates as will the unmated males. Mated males and females will go off to be alone with one another during that time."

"What of you have you set your eye on a male to. . . um spend time with?" he asked trying to keep his tone the same as asking what was going to be cooked for dinner.

"No you see it's not just any male and female. Some explore their sexuality during this time. Others are searching for their mates as in mates for life. It is a phenomena that happens every now and again. Mates aren't so much perfect for one another but they improve each other and keep in check the bad qualities of each other. Some will not partake in this for they are waiting for their mates. As I am, and since I don't like any male good enought to bother with it I will remain out of it." she explained.

"Well understood. I agree with waiting to send them until mid spring. Now would you indulge me in something?" he asked

"Your racking up quite the tally with the favors your asking of me. But yes what may i indulge you in?" she smiled at the commradrie she felt between them.

"Would you indulge me in conversation." he asked.

"Could I ask why a king needs someone like me to socalize with." she asked motioning him over to her hearth where two chairs sat.

"Even a king needs conversation. Distraction from his burdens. A king is the better form of a slave. We are enslaved to our people. Something I think you can understand. Conversation with you is easier because you never monitor your thoughts. You are the closest i can get to true conversation. You are niether intimidated by me nor are you scared of me. So i ask this of you because you may be some odd sort . . . slightly a friend of mine."

His nervous glance was what made her chuckle. His eyes hardened during her chuckles but they soon dried up.

"If that is your odd way of asking me if I think we are friends. then yes I think we may be some odd sort of friends. And if you are also asking me to allow you to talk with me to help distract you from your burdens as king then yes I will. And if you are also wondering if i mind that you came to my home for such a menial purpose then I don't mind at all." she took a breath noting his face had relaxed slightly. " I don't mind any of these things simply because I respect you and I have come to enjoy in a small way our debats and conversations. I also realize that even kings need a odd sort of friend. Someone that treats them normally instead of treating them like a king."

She saw his lips form into a smile as he nodded. And what a sight worth seeing it was. She was glad his heart was eased at being able to be treated normally. And have something other than ridgid formalithy in his life.

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And the night passed on as they talked of their pasts. Not deeply mind you. Just a general exploring of their pasts. A time where their stations could be forgotten. As the winter wind blew outside they sipped meade and enjoyed light conversation before the warm fire in the hearth. The normallacy of it was odd to any looking in the home. Thranduil would never be mistaken for anything other than a King. He sat upon his wooden chair as if it were made of gold. Navea would never be thought of as the queen that she was. She choose a more relaxed pose on her chair. Odd the differences and complexities of the two.

And yet for a short time they could converse easily about menial things. Even nobility needed normallcy in their lives. Even nobility needed to have some sort of friend to converse with. In order to forget for but a moment the burdens and stress of being a royal. In each other they found this. He showed her how to be a noble and she showed him how to relax. Checks and balances were made on this winters eve.

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Thranduil lay upon the small cot near the hearth and was happier for it. At first he thought himself a fool for coming to her door just to talk. And yet now at the end of the night he felt more relaxed than he had been in a while. She was like a slowly creeping mold eventually she grew on you. He smiled into the dim light of the humble home. He needed more time to relax he had been far too easily frustrated and bored before he had taken his walk that night. Why he reasoned he should go and discuss the scouting issue he didn't know. He didn't realize that unconsiously he had just wanted a bit of normallcy. She had seen it though. He doubted if there was much she didn't see.

'I am happier for this. Who would have thought a king could have a friend. Who would have thought all those long months ago that I would develop an odd friendship of sorts with the girl in his dungeon. The girl that had infuriated me so much. the girl that had fought at my side and had eased my mind.'

And he drifted off to sleep in the quiteness of the winters night. However odd it would seem in the morning. He was gratful for it tonight.