Burn Again

Chapter Six

The door of Legolas's chambers crashed open and bounced off the wall. Thranduil stood in the doorway, anger blazing in the depths of his eyes as he glared at his son.

"Who gave you permission to bring her back here?" he demanded. "Who gave you orders? I certainly did not, and as far as I am aware, my title and my status makes me the only one to give orders!"

The Prince didn't bat an eyelid. "I brought her back for her brother's sake," he said calmly, turning the page of the book he had been reading. "He appeared to be weakening without her."

A fist thumped off the door and slammed it closed as the King stepped further into the room. "I do not care about one pining ellon!" he roared. "I gave you specific instructions that I wanted her out of my palace and back in her own village. She chose to leave, and I granted her wish. You had no right to return with her!"

Legolas placed the book face down on the table and rose to his feet. "Her brother is what I consider to be a friend," he answered, looking his irate father straight in the eye. "I would not stand back and watch him suffer, or fall back in his recovery from his injuries. Elu is good for him, and he struggles to be away from her. She practically raised him, and she has always been there for him throughout his life."

"That is not my concern," Thranduil hissed as he leaned down closer to his son's face. "I do not involve myself in ridiculous family politics. I do not care about who needs who and the intricacies of relations. What I do care about is that my son has blatantly ignored an order which I gave!"

"I did not," he replied. "She returned of her own free will. I did not kidnap her, I did not drag her here, and I did not force her to come back. I merely informed her of Ealan's distress at her absence. Nothing more."

His father stood back to his full height, exhaling through his nose as he clasped his hands behind his back. "I have no desire to see the wretched female in my Halls," he said.

Legolas frowned. "What has happened between you both for you to carry such hostility?" he questioned. "One would think she was a dwarf or such ilk."

Thranduil paced restlessly across the room and back again. "She brings nothing but trouble," he answered after thinking over his response. "She will undo everything from the past if I allow her to remain here in these Halls. No good can come from her presence."

"I...I do not understand."

"No. You do not." He threw his weight down onto the luxuriously padded couch and stared out of the window. His fists clenched and unclenched, and he crossed one knee over the other.

"Father...talk to me," Legolas said softly. "Tell me what troubles you."

A long silence followed.

"I spoke to you once, many years ago," he said eventually. "I had been having a recurring dream which was giving me cause for concern."

It took his son a few moments to recall the event his parent spoke of. "The blue eyes," he said. "You dreamt of blue eyes. That must have been maybe two hundred and fifty years ago?"

Ice blue eyes swept in his direction. "Closer to three hundred," he replied. "And I still have the same dream."

Legolas's own eyes widened in astonishment. "You have dreamt of this for three centuries?"

Thranduil nodded slowly. "Yes." The affirmation was no more than a whisper. "Three hundred years. In the approach to every full moon. Without fail."

The Prince lowered himself to sit in the chair across from him. "You have said nothing all this time, save that one time you spoke to me of it," he said.