Kingsfoil [Thranduil] LOTR

Persuasive

Tiara by Nexogure on Deviantart

January, 3019

The dwarves had been given their own guest rooms, far on the opposite end of the palace from where the king resided, but Narylfiel did not mind the walk over there. Now that Prince Thorin was well enough to continue his convalescence out of the Healer's rooms, she was keen to check in and see how they fared. Surprisingly, they appeared all quite busy when she knocked on their door and gained admittance to their common sitting room. Thorin and Dwalin were immersed in some sort of strategy game, Bofur sat near the fire sharpening the blade of an ax, and Dori whittled away on a small object in his hand.

They all paused when they saw her in the doorway—a few even smiled.

"May I join you?" she asked evenly.

"You're here, aren't you?" Dwalin said gruffly.

"He means we'd be delighted," Bofur added quickly, gesturing to the chair near his by the fire.

Narylfiel took a seat and placed her basket on the floor. "I came straight from an appointment with Lord Rivenion," she told them conversationally, "but I hoped to spend the afternoon with you, so I brought my work with me. She pulled out a lump of yarn. "It's supposed to be a new tea cozy for the king," she told them despairingly. "His last one had a...mishap."

Thorin cleared his throat. "Who is Lord Rivenion?"

She straightened her project on her lap with a huff. "He's one of the king's advisors. Besides being one of the oldest elves in the realm, he's also the stuffiest." She looked up. "Oh, you probably don't want to hear about that."

A slight smile played across Thorin's face as he looked at Dwalin sitting across from him. "Oh, I think we have a few of those types in Erebor."

"Well," Narylfiel said as she jabbed a needle into her project, "Rivenion has been giving me lessons on how to be more queenly. I appreciate what he is trying to do, but does he have to be so insufferable? He spent an hour today making me practice using a more formal tone when I speak. He says I'll never amount to a respectable queen if I insist on speaking like a backwoods guard. His words" She jabbed the tea cozy lump again.

"This Rivenion, he is unkind to you? Perhaps he objects the king taking a new queen?" Dwalin spoke up.

Narylfiel looked up from her needlework. "Oh, I see what you're saying." She thought for a minute as she considered the possibility that Rivenion could have poisoned the tea cozy hat intended for Prince Thorin. "He does not approve of me, but I cannot see him attempting murder over it."

Dwalin moved a piece on his game board as Thorin looked on. "Watch him, miss. It's always the ones you don't suspect that are the ones you should."

Dori looked up from his whittling, sat the small object in his lap. It was a hare, wonderfully detailed. "Have you given any more thought to telling this to your king?"

"Yes, but..." Narylfiel artfully changed the subject, "tell me instead about your carving there, Dori. Is that a rabbit?"

Dori held it up sheepishly. "It's just something to keep busy with, my lady."

Bofur chuckled. "Aye, none of us like staying put, even if these rooms are nice than your king's dungeons."

"I understand more than you know," she commiserated. "I long to be out in the woods again with the Forest Guard." She sat down her lumpy project and moved next to Dori on the settee. "I would love to be able to make something like that."