Extremely backdated to Jan 12th | Nelchaen-a-can

[inafadingcrown]

[Those to whom she spoke as Artanis]

For the second time in my stay here, I was recently returned to an earlier period of my life- a time before I was known as ‘Galadriel.’ I apologize for the confusion I must have caused and I assure you that no deceit was intended.

[A pause]

I am aware, also, that I may have been...trying at times. I thank you all for your patience with me and I pray that I have not damaged our relations beyond repair with my pride and arrogance.

[Dairine Callahan]

I would apologize to you in particular, pinig.

Comments

[inafadingcrown]

Years in which He gathered his strength, preparing. [She frowns, her brow furrowing. In hindsight, it was clear where their eyes should have been all along. But they had been diverted and they had not thought to look for treachery among the Istari...]

The White Council will drive Him from Dol Guldor, but too late. He will only flee to Mordor, where he sits, once again, on his Dark Throne.

[She turns to him.] You know of whom I speak.

[woodking]

[The mask he is holding does not break, it freezes, and Thranduil can feel the air go cold around him. He does not breathe for a moment, and goes paler as he holds his breath, but manages to speak perfectly calmly, catching with numb fingers back the defense he had built.]

The Dark Lord.

I admit that I had suspected matters had not ended so neatly as it seemed.

[inafadingcrown]

[She simply nods, either not noticing (unlikely) or not acknowledging the change in him.]

There is more. [A pause and she no longer speaks aloud, but rather in his mind.]

The One Ring has been found. A fellowship set forth to destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom. [There's another little hesitation here- this one for an entirely different reason.] Your son is among them.

[woodking]

[His lips feel frozen, so perhaps it is just as well that he has no need to use them, for she is not speaking aloud.]

To Mordor.

[His thought is quite steady and very quiet - it's not exactly a question, a confirmation of what he already knows.]

[inafadingcrown]

[She simply nods, her expression grave. There's not much more to say, really.]

[woodking]

Legolas is going to Mordor.

[A confirmation where no confirmation is needed, once again. He's gone numb.]

[inafadingcrown]

I would I could tell you otherwise. [Perhaps she could- she could tell him, at least, that she suspects the Fellowship will break before then. But no, it would be cruel to give him hope that may yet prove to be false.]

[woodking]

[Another thought, not intended for her, but which she may hear anyway, entangled in his thoughts as she is.]

Legolas is going to die.

When?

[inafadingcrown]

He passed through my woods not a month before I was brought here. [And she had already told him when that was. Now, though, she reaches over and places a hand on his.]

I know not what lies in his path, Thranduil, but I may, at least, assure you of his survival.

[woodking]

People do not simply return from that land.

[His voice is a hiss - he's lashing out at her, which is not entirely fair, and he knows it, but it is difficult to consider the matter in a way entirely fair, especially with those words. When he's been to Mordor, knows what waits.]

[inafadingcrown]

Yet he does. [Her hand goes back in her lap.] This is your son's second visit to this castle during my time here. During his first, he spoke of his journey's end, and of victory in war.

[He can lash out at her all he wants; it doesn't change what she knows. What is.]

[woodking]

[He stood - there was no reason to, he had nowhere to go, but at the same time it seemed impossible to remain still. He had failed. Failed to protect him; it was one more person he would lose.

His eyes do flicker down to Galadriel again at those words, which were unexpected enough.]

He-

But not without scar.

[Alive, but still not as he had been. The better option, certainly - but he could not, could not, simply escape that land unchanged.

What would happen to him? What would have? And what did it matter, if nothing could be done?]

[inafadingcrown]

None of us will be without scar before the end. Yet when I saw him, he seemed well and whole; there was joy in his heart still. [Casually not mentioning any inkling she might have about Sea-longing...]

[woodking]

[He's struggling not to break down and struggling not to show it - and despite what she said it was far too easy to imagine Legolas, bloody and broken, hewn by sword or felled by arrow, Legolas dead in the pits. Een coming home, with a shadow always in his eyes forever after.]

How can that be possible?

[He's trying, oh he's trying, but despite all his efforts there is something wretched in his voice, pain which he cannot show, must not, and yet how now could he conceal it?

[inafadingcrown]

I was not on the quest myself, Thranduil. I can tell you no more. [There's no sharpness in her voice, despite the finality of her words. She understands his struggle, even if she does not know how to help him with it.] You should speak to Legolas on this. He is from closer to my time on this visit, but still he will be able to tell you more than I.

[woodking]

[He almost wants to blame her, but is not so ungenerous as to do so - she had elected to tell him at his request, and he had no hold on her. But he is struggling.]

It is easier far to enter that place than to leave it, and....

How would he know when you do not?

[He knows and respects her powers, after all. That Legolas had been here before was strange, that he should be fine unheard of. And that meant it was possible he would have lied, or at the least that the optimism that he shone with had forseen a conclusion which had not been drawn. Because he could not, could not, have entered and fought the Dark Lord and left without scar - the endless wastes of that land were hateful enough, even if he had escaped alive. But how could so small a company have challenged his might and lived? For thousands of years, it seemed, all the elves of Mirkwood had been unable to contend with even the smallest fraction of his power, unsupported by his armies and machines of war. How then this? For Sauron was not so blind.]

[inafadingcrown]

I do not see all, Thranduil. He may tell you of the details of the quest- of the reasoning and plans of the Fellowship; I may not.

[woodking]

The Lady has grown modest.

[There is bitterness in his voice, but he forces himself to stop, and holds perfectly still. His eyes close, his hands clench into fists at his sides, and he focuses on breathing. When he turns to her, his expression is calm again, perfectly so, like a mask of ice.]

I thank you for your information.

[inafadingcrown]

[It's not modesty, just a simple truth, she thinks. But she doesn't say anything to it. She just nods her head.]

You need not thank me. I would wish to know, were our positions reversed.

[woodking]

[He would probably know that, under normal circumstances, but these circumstances are not normal and he is not feeling generous. But his eyes close at that, for this had been her position once, had it not? After a manner, at least - something close enough. Her child-

He turned to her and bowed politely, and then turned to walk away. To the forest, he thought.]