A Better Place - The Hobbit Fanfiction

Alternate Entry Thirty-Four - The Ruse

I suspected the answer lay in the displeased expressions Thranduil sometimes shared with his son; Legolas hadn't come here to protect me from the people of Rhȗn. But that was the way it always went, wasn't it? Those we loved were by far the most capable of hurting us, though this was not, I suspected, the kind of hurting that Legolas feared.

I rode one of the elves' smaller horses on my own today, since we were traveling neither far nor swiftly, though unfortunately my legs weren't long enough to give any real commands. Horses are great followers though, so once we started off she stayed where the elves had started her-nestled in between Thranduil's and Legolas's taller mounts. I had said that it would be more proper for me to ride on an outer edge-even if Thranduil was still in the center, the arrangement between the three of us was wrong with me between them.

They had overridden my protest, rationalizing that it would not ruin our ruse to position the royal family's youngest supposed member in one of the places most protected.

As we covered the last half-league into the city I quietly asked, "What particular attitude should I follow for our game?"

When Thranduil didn't respond Legolas spoke for him. "You are the expert, are you not?"

When I snuck a sideways glance at him he was nearly smiling, the sort of gesture one only saw in the others' eyes.

People lined the streets to watch us pass once our entourage was noticed, eyes round in their heads, lips often parted. When my small horse edged a touch closer to Legolas'sI whispered, as quietly as I could while still having faith that he'd hear, "Why do they stare like that?"

"There are very few elven settlements near here," he murmured back. "They are not accustomed."

And Thranduil had gone out of his way to appear as royal as possible today, his clothes glimmering with starry threads, the very guards surrounding us perching upon their steeds as though each were a queen or king in their own right. It wasn't until I made this observation that I also took notice of how Legolas had made no attempt to clarify his status among us-he wore the same plain, efficient, durable clothes and leather guards he always wore. This too would explain why my position next to Thranduil now appeared less remarkable. Legolas didn't want to be noticed; he was not here as a prince.

I absorbed the awe of these townsfolk, dressed so similarly to the humans I knew from Dale, and thought about how foreign and strange and ethereal we must appear to them, as elves had appeared to me when first they beset upon us in their forest. I could use their awe. It was a very simple emotion to make a tool out of.

Despite the sidelong glance Legolas gave me the moment I leaned forward, I fluidly stood upon my black and white-embroidered saddle, balancing for a moment as the townsfolk watched me even closer, smiled, and leaped lightly onto the rump of Thranduil's horse. Perhaps not the wisest decision, as Thranduil's horse was trained to fight the unexpected, but at a word from Thranduil the stallion relaxed. I made short work of the swaying of the horse's back half and leaned into Thranduil's back, running my fingers through the ends of his hair as though detangling the knots that in truth did not exist.

Thranduil murmured something in his own language that had the tone of, "Peculiar creature, what on earth are you doing?"

I responded in kind, with a tone to tell him what I couldn't say in his words. "Fixing your hair." I leaned in a bit to whisper closer to his ear, "People automatically want to like those they think are happy and entertaining. They better remember those who catch their interest. In the event of unfortunate events, if I can make a good impression on people who mean us no harm, I'll be the better for it if they see something happening that they don't agree with." I lightly pecked his cheek, laughing as I imagined the face he would make at me if he weren't making a face specifically designed for our spectators instead.