To Live Again {Lord of the Rings/ThranduilXOC Fanfiction}

12. Pancakes & Gobdaws

Winter has come to Greenwood, and with it a quietness and a sleepiness, it is actually quite enjoyable. The days are lazy, and the nights filled with good company and cheer around warm fires with hot drinks and song.

I continue on with my life much like I did before, living and working within the King's halls and finding a great deal of joy caring for Legolas. Yet I am restless, I long to do something with my time, I miss my art and although I can put my skills to good use with Legolas it is not the same. But, my life has fallen into a joyful rhythm - which I am ecstatic about - Thranduil spends every spare hour he has with me and we have grown so close, it seems hard to believe that there was a time in which I didn't know him.

For the most part we have kept our relationship quiet, not wishing to draw attention to ourselves and to maintain normality for Legolas. The only other souls that know of our intentions are Oliel and Aradan, who are quite happy to maintain our privacy. In fact they quite enjoy being the only two that know, and I have caught them on more times than enough sharing knowing looks or raised eyebrows, when Thranduil and I behave a little too cosy in public. Yet that is the height of our familiarity; long walks, deep conversations and tender kisses with the occasional heated exchange. I know he is being respectful and careful but I long for the passionate and unpredictable prince that caught my attention all those months ago. I cannot believe I am thinking this, but I want temper and I want fire, though I know deep down this is not the customs of elves. They take love and courting seriously, but just one moment when he lets his control lapse is all I need. I need to know does he love me? Does he see me as a lover or a companion? Such a strange predicament to be in, but I'm patient I can bide my time and wait for him to take this a little further.

I am slowly growing my circle of friends too! Oliel took me to meet her family at a time of great celebration; her eldest brother had not long married a beautiful auburn haired elleth and they were expecting their first child together. This news brought Oliel to tears, I have never seen her so emotional over the prospect of becoming an Auntie. Oliel's family are equally as warm and affectionate as she is, all embracing me and making me feel like part of the family. I immediately bonded with her mother, who is the epitome of motherliness. Gilron, she is called and it means 'star-tree,' in their fair language. She is as tall as a tree, with willowy limbs and long silver hair, she is ageless but her eyes are as ancient as the mountains.

She came out of Doriath after its destruction many millennia ago, with Oropher and his kin; she was only a young hand maiden to his then wife Lassiel, who was carrying her first and only child. Gilron told how they came to settle in Greenwood, and how the silvan people embraced the rule of Oropher and Lassiel. Times were happy but the new Queen was anguished and deeply traumatised by Doriath's destruction and could not find peace. Though for a brief time she was happy when her son was born, she raised Thranduil and stayed only for him. Gilron explained that she too found happiness with a silvan elf, a scandalous thing for a sinda lady to love someone of lower status, but it was the Queen that encouraged the union. To her love was love and deserved to be honoured. And so Gilron had her family and maintained her duties to the Queen, though often cumbered with three excitable elflings, it only meant more playmates for the young Prince, and now I understand the almost sibling relationship Oliel has with Thranduil.

Gilron was a talented seamstress and barely had to touch fabric and it would turn into the most wonderful creations. Although she is far too humble to admit that. She made her fame as the royal seamstress and still to this day designs everything they wear, and to my awe I realise this is where my clothes have come from. Though now she chooses to work from home, after the departure of Lassiel it grieves her to not see her beloved Queen. Lassiel departed middle earth only a few centuries prior to my arrival, as Gilron put it; she had seen her son grow up proud and strong, her work was complete and she could leave knowing in her heart she had raised a noble ellon capable of shouldering the responsibilities of his title. I shed a few tears when I heard this tale because Thranduil never speaks of his Mother and barely mentions his Father; to know how important she must be to him is heart breaking. I understand now why he is so tender and involved with Legolas, he was raised that way.