Back To You (Thranduil Fanfic)

Part Five

"You're not going to say goodbye?" Elros asked

"There's no point in saying goodbye. She'll return eventually. Besides, I wouldn't do that to her."

"Don't you mean yourself?"

"I don't need you here to patronize me Elros, now leave."

"You know you're really going to hurt her by not joining me downstairs right now, to say our goodbyes."

"I said leave." The King sighed with a lazy wave of his hand

Elros had obeyed his King's wishes and left Lúthien's chambers to say goodbye to her. He knew deep down that Thranduil was in pain, but he felt even worse about it. With the knowledge that she had no intention of returning, Elros knew that it'd break him. As of now, all he could do was walk away.

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Thranduil had made his way over to Lúthien's chambers to say goodbye, but by the time he had arrived, she was already downstairs. He didn't want to make a scene by following her there, so he chose to remain where he was.

She had left the curtains open, the sunlight shone throughout the entire room, it was warm. Similar to her presence, warm and inviting. And that warm and inviting trait of hers had vanished, Thranduil could begin to feel the emptiness growing inside of him.

He looked over at her bed, it had been made, not a single crease or wrinkle. It was perfect, and there sat her little stuffed rabbit, right in front of her pillows. The more Thranduil looked at it the more it depressed him, it's left ear was folded and the poor thing was hunched over. It looked lonely without Lúthien, something he could relate to. Thranduil had made it for her and if he was completely honest with himself, the fact that she didn't take it with her hurt him.

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"Dear one, come out. There's no need to be afraid."  The young King pleaded with the small elven child who currently hid beneath the covers

It had been weeks since she was rescued from the river and still she refused to speak to anyone besides Elros. Nobody else could get her to talk, not even when Thranduil attempted to bribe her with sweet bread. Even though he had a short temper and hardly any patience, he seemed to be quite capable of handling her so far.

Thranduil couldn't understand why she was so apprehensive. He searched high and low for anything that might be considered frightening.

"My good friend Elros informed that your name is Lúthien, is that true child?" Thranduil sat there collectively, awaiting a response. Slowly, she lowered the comforter, revealing the most cautious look he had ever seen. But soon enough, he got the confirmation he was hoping for.

Lúthien only lowered the cover enough for him to see her eyes before nodding a few times.

"Lúthien? Hmmm." Thranduil hummed at the magnificence of her name "It is a beautiful name, a beautiful name indeed." He couldn't see but she had been smiling behind the cloth.

"You're quite the reckless spirit Lúthien. I heard you jumped off the bridge at the front gate. You had come running in the middle of the night because you were being chased by spiders." But as he said the word 'spiders' Lúthien retreated behind the covers and began trembling in fear

"Don't fret Lurielním, they won't harm you here. You're protected inside these walls." Thranduil said sincerely, attempting to reassure the apprehensive child. "You know I brought you something today, but I'm not so sure that you'll be able to see it through that comforter."