My Lady Dís

Chapter 5

Thranduil sat at his desk, staring at the elf before him, and tried to suppress his rising irritation. In the two months since Princess Dís and her household had been in Mirkwood, the number of petty complaints that he was getting daily had risen ten-fold. As far as he could tell, the dwarves weren't doing anything. Everyone was just complaining because they were there.

This elf, however, was currently upset because Princess Dís had been down at his forge with her granddaughter for several hours and had made the child some small trinket.

"Did she actually damage anything?" Thranduil asked, trying to keep his tone neutral.

The smith shook his head. "But I wasn't there and I don't like my tools being bothered with. Especially my precision tools."

"So . . . your grievance is what? Princess Dís used your forge, borrowed a few tools, and put them back where she found them?" Thranduil's voice was flat, but he couldn't stop his eyebrow from sliding up.

The smith shifted. "Well . . ."

"If this about the ore, how much did she use exactly?"

"She . . . didn't use any of my ore." The smith was clearly becoming uncomfortable, and was starting to mutter.

"So, was she smelting . . . water?"

"No—I think she melted down a piece of her own jewelry."

'Holy Valar,' Thranduil thought, keeping his face expressionless. 'You cheap, petty bastard.'

"You clearly do not have enough work to do if you were away from your forge long enough for her to melt down an existing piece of jewelry, work it, and leave before you got back. How did you even know she was there?"

The smith handed Tauriel a piece of paper. She glanced at it, and placed it on the desk before the king. In her sharp, angular hand, Dís had written:

I needed to borrow the forge for a

few minutes. I put everything back. I would have asked,

but you weren't here and when inspiration strikes, you

have to go for it. Sorry for any trouble.

—Lady Dís

Thranduil stared at the paper for a moment, then fixed the smith with a cold, hard look. "Get. Out."

The smith fled and the king balled up the note and tossed it onto the fire. Tauriel cleared her throat to swallow a laugh and Thranduil glared at her.