Love in a time of change - chapter 15 (story unfinished)
Sigrid awoke slowly from her rest before supper time, becoming aware of a voice nearby, chanting in Elvish. Opening her eyes, she became aware that Tauriel was sitting beside her bed, holding her hand, singing a healing chant, and Sigrid marvelled to hear the words, even though she did not understand them. Once she had finished, Tauriel smiled at Sigrid.
“I’m very relieved to say that I think you are more or less healed, but you may still have some residual headaches caused by Smaug’s mind control leaving you,” said Tauriel.
“I am very thankful to you, Tauriel,” said Sigrid.
“You don’t have to thank me, Sigrid, we are friends, aren’t we?” said Tauriel happily.
“Yes we are friends” Sigrid responded, sitting up to hug Tauriel, and Tauriel hugged her back a little awkwardly; she had rarely been hugged before this and was not used to it, but she found that rather liked it.
“I suspect that it won’t be long before supper is being served in the King’s dining hall,” said Tauriel; she had been surprised to receive the summons when Sigrid had been sleeping, for she still remembered when Thranduil had insisted on dining alone. Only recently had the Elven King started to open up and invite both Legolas and Tauriel to dine with him; and now that Bard and his family were staying in Mirkwood this openness seemed to be continuing. Tauriel welcomed the presence of her friends, and her King’s willingness to allow them close to him at last.
“I shall leave you to prepare for supper in some privacy,” said Tauriel, leaving Sigrid to her thoughts.
Meanwhile, Bard and Tilda were waiting for Bain to return from his newly arranged archery practice with Legolas. Bard and his daughter had got ready for supper in their own guest chambers within Thranduil’s halls.
“Da, are you happy staying here in Mirkwood?” Tilda asked.
“Yes, of course I am, I’ve just had something on my mind ever since the events of the ball” Bard answered.
“Da, do you mind me asking if it’s about Thranduil?” Tilda asked.
“Yes, it does concern him, you are right,” said Bard with a sigh.
Tilda remained silent for a few moments while her father prepared to answer his daughter’s worried concerns.
“You see, Tilda, I no longer view Thranduil as my friend,” Bard said.
“Has he done something wrong?” Tilda asked.
“No, Tilda, it’s not like that at all. I’ve grown far too fond of him for a little time now, and I don’t know how he feels about me.” Bard said.
Tilda understood what her father was saying.
“Then have you asked him how he feels about you?” Tilda asked.
“No” came Bard’s answer.
“I think that you should just kiss him and let Thranduil take the lead,” Tilda said with a wide grin.
“It’s not that simple,” Bard sighed.
“That’s a shame!” Tilda said with a grin, “I quite liked the thought of having two dads,” she continued.
Bard coughed to clear his throat. He could not be angry with Tilda’s cheekiness.
Bard shook his head slightly as his youngest daughter took her leave and went looking for Bain, leaving her father alone in the corridor. Luckily or perhaps not for Bard, Thranduil appeared in the hall at the same time.
“Bard” was all that Thranduil could manage in front of the man that he had grown more fond of.
“Thranduil” Bard murmured with rosy cheeks, that had not gone unnoticed by the Elven King.
“Are you feeling quite well?” Thranduil enquired.
“I’m fine” came Bard’s awkward response, still coming to terms with what Tilda had said.
“Let me be the judge of that,” came Thranduil’s worried response.
To Bard’s surprise, the Elven King took a step closer towards Bard, until they were inches apart. Thranduil raised a hand to Bard’s forehead to see if he had a temperature.
“You have reddened cheeks but you have no fever, it appears that my healing of you is coming into effect,” said Thranduil, who remained calm on the outside, yet his heart was beating quite fast being this close to Bard.
“Yes,” sighed Bard.
“Would you care to sit beside me at the table, when supper is served?” came Thranduil’s direct question.
“I…” Bard struggled to answer.
“Bard?” Thranduil asked with concern. “Earlier you wished to dine with me, what on earth has changed since then?” he continued.
“I am not hungry,” said Bard with a lie.
“I do not believe you” came the astonished response when Thranduil heard Bard’s rumbling stomach.
Bard had to admit that Thranduil’s offer to share supper with himself, Legolas, and Tauriel was starting to sound even more inviting. He placed his hands onto his stomach and laughed a little awkwardly, to which Thranduil raised an eyebrow.
“I guess that you are right in this instance,” said Bard with a slight sigh.
Thranduil simply offered his arm to Bard as a gesture of their growing closeness, which surprised Bard. “Shall we?” came Thranduil’s direct question.
The two walked into the dining hall, followed by a grinning Tilda was loving every moment of their new closeness, although she wished for more interaction between them. Thranduil pulled out a chair from the table, for Bard to become seated beside him. Bard was once again surprised by the action. He wondered whether Thranduil was acting out of friendship or possibly something more. Bard seated himself on the offered chair, and then Thranduil seated himself right beside Bard. Tilda was seated to her father’s left.
The next guests to arrive in the dining hall were Bain and Legolas, who had been briefly active in the archery field, testing out Bain’s aim with the bow, Legolas turned to face Bain.
“I reckon that you have a lot of potential to become a very talented archer,” said Legolas.
“Does that mean that you will teach me and be my archery mentor?” asked Bain hopefully.
“It does, and I would be honoured to do that for you,” said Legolas.
“One day I hope to become as good an archer as da!” said Bain with a smile.
“I’m sure that you will surpass your father’s skills with the bow one day, just as long as you keep up with your archery practice,” said Legolas.
“I would like that a lot,” Bain responded.
Legolas and Bain came to be seated at the dining table, with Legolas sitting opposite his father, and Bain sitting on a chair away from Legolas, as there was a chair for Sigrid right beside Legolas. It appeared that Thranduil had planned their seating arrangements for the supper being served.
Sigrid and Tauriel were the last ones to enter the dining hall after Tauriel had been helping Sigrid to braid her hair in the Elvish style. Legolas caught sight of Sigrid and smiled widely. He immediately got up from his seat and pulled out the chair that was right beside him, just as Thranduil had done for Bard. Sigrid’s cheeks became quite rosy as she approached the table with Tauriel. She wondered where Tauriel was going to sit, then she saw that her friend had seated herself beside Tilda on the opposite side. Sigrid seated herself upon the offered chair, and then Legolas returned to his chair beside her. Tauriel smiled, and Tilda grinned the whole time.
Once the supper was served by Feren, and the wine served by Galion, the guests started to eat their respective meal of the lembas bread and berries. Thranduil poured himself some of his own Dorwinion wine then turned to face Bard who was fiddling with his food.
“Are you not hungry?” asked Thranduil.
Bard nodded, “Yes, I am very hungry, it’s just that I’ve never tasted Elven food before.”
“I think that you will approve of the berries, for they are the finest fruits that Mirkwood has to offer,” stated Thranduil.
“In that case, I shall try it,” said Bard after hearing his stomach starting to rumble again.
Bard tried a couple of the berries on his plate and found that he quite liked them. The berries themselves reminded him of the blackberries that Mira would put into her pies.
When it came to Mira, Bard realised that she had no idea of what had happened to them ever since the ball had ended. He thought to himself that he should write her a letter to explain about Sigrid being held captive by Smaug, the following events that led to the death of the dragon, and Bard’s family now having to stay with the Elves until Bard recovered from his injury. As it stood, Bard’s physical injury had almost healed, but he was still having nightmares about it, just as Sigrid was having her own issues to contend with.
Legolas turned to face Sigrid, who smiled at him as she ate some of her lembas bread.
“How are you finding your stay here in Mirkwood?” Legolas asked.
“I find it to be quite peaceful, apart from the threat of the spiders,” Sigrid said with honesty.
“Yes, we are handling the ongoing issues with the spiders, and Tauriel has been leading a daily patrol of the woodland realm to handle the issue,” Legolas answered.
“You are fond of her, aren’t you?” asked Sigrid with a sigh.
“Yes, but it’s not like that, she is like a sister to me!” said Legolas.
“I see,” said Sigrid with some relief. Although she was starting to feel something for him, she felt that it was too soon to ask him how he felt about her.
She reached for her the Dorwinion wine at the same time that Legolas had done, their hands met and they glanced at each other for a moment. Sigrid smiled again, as did Legolas.
“Would you like to try some of the wine?” asked Legolas.
“I would love to,” Sigrid answered, “It looks very tasty,” she added.
“Yes, yes it is. But seeing as this is your first time trying Dorwinion, I’d advise that you only have a small amount and sip it slowly, don’t drink it too fast. It is quite potent,” said Legolas.
“I shall follow your advice,” said Sigrid.
Legolas poured himself and Sigrid a quarter of a glass each of the Dorwinion wine. Thranduil in addition had done the same for himself and Bard.
Tilda noticed that Tauriel had not touched her food at all. She turned to face her friend, with a sympathetic expression, finding that her former grin was no longer there.
“Tauriel?” Tilda asked her friend.
“Yes, Tilda?” came Tauriel’s thoughtful response.
“Is something wrong with the food?” Tilda asked.
“I am missing my Kili, and I worry about how his injury from his encounter with Smaug is healing. The food is lovely, these berries are the finest in the forest, but I just don’t feel like eating. I wish that our King would have allowed me to bring Kili back to Mirkwood.” said Tauriel.
“Does Thranduil have a problem with you courting Kili?” asked Tilda.
“No, he has given his blessing for me to court Kili,” said Tauriel, playing with her food.
“Then I think you need to talk to your King about it at some point,” Tilda pointed out.
“You are right, I should,” said Tauriel.
The rest of the supper went by in relative silence. Then the time came for the guests to return to their respective chambers.
“I would like to dine with you tomorrow, Bard, just you and I,” said Thranduil, hoping that Bard would guess the reasons behind him wanting them to be alone.
“Alone?” Bard gulped with awkwardness.
“Yes, I prefer it that way and you are very good company if I may say so,” Thranduil said.
This was the most forward that Thranduil had been with Bard, and for Bard, it was something that he had not expected.
“I shall have to give it some thought. I quite liked sharing supper between our two families today.” Bard tried to reason.
“Yes, it was pleasant enough, and I am pleased to see that my son and Sigrid are getting along quite well,” stated Thranduil.
“Well, I shall agree with the point about Sigrid and Legolas. They seem to suit each other” said Bard.
Then Bard extended his hand towards Thranduil and the Elven King’s fingers met with his own.
“Sleep well, Bard,” came Thranduil’s calm yet tender tone.
“Thank you,” answered Bard, as they stood in the doorway glancing at each other for a moment. Their fingers parted and then they bowed in respect of one another.
Tauriel, Tilda and Bain left the dining hall in silence. Leaving Legolas alone with Sigrid.
“Well, I suppose this is where I bid you goodnight!” said Legolas, his hand reaching for Sigrid’s fingers. She turned to face him and stood in front of him.
“Goodnight, Legolas,” said Sigrid. Feeling a little bolder for a moment, she closed the gap between them and placed a kiss on his cheek. Legolas gave her a slight bow before walking her with her to the chamber door.
“Legolas” she blushed.
“Yes?” Legolas asked, noticing that their hands were still joined.
“I hope to see you tomorrow,” Sigrid said happily.
“I would like that,” Legolas said with a smile.
Legolas closed the distance between them and placed a kiss on Sigrid’s cheek in return. Once Sigrid was inside her chambers, she closed the door and leaned back against its solid frame. Her fingers slowly traced the very spot where Legolas had kissed her on the cheek.
