The ElvenKing [A thranduil fanfiction]

Chapter 1

This also caused me to lift my weapon again, unsure if he would keep seeing me as a treat. I sucked in a deep breath and expanded my chest to accommodate the new strain. He was not about to relent. Nor was I.

Then other steps, hurriedly running towards us. A familiar voice then cut through the hostile energy between us before he dropped down between us. "Dartho!(Stop)." The command was shouted with an authority neither of us could resist. The figure hit the ground in a controlled crouch but was forced to put one hand down onto the ground for support, the other he held up towards my pursuer.

Despite the figure now between us, neither of us even flinched or lowered the weapons. Not until the newcomer uncurled to his feet and placed a hand on my pursuers arrow, forcing him to lower it. "Voronwë, she is not a threat." He snapped, the voice painfully familiar. "Where is your manners."

Within seconds, I had my own bow lowered and the arrow returned to the quiver on my back. I knew exactly who it was standing now between us. I didn't even have to assess him when seeing the long braid hanging down his back. I knew from the voice alone who he was. He smiled brightly when turning his head, eyes finding mine. Those brown eyes had not changed at all.

Tears swelled and I yanked my hood down. "Rüdhon—" I breathed out in relief. The edges of his lips crept even further upward, his smile widening into a grin because he had already recognized me long ago. I cried out in happiness and uncurled to my feet, faster than he could embrace me. How I had missed that smile of his.

The embrace was extremely tight and exactly what I needed. He laughed when holding me, his arms tightly wrapped around my shoulders and a hand on the back of my head. When he retracted, both his hands shifted to my cheeks, cradling my face as he lent his forehead against my own. The gesture familiar and extremely intimate. "Elarinya—" He exhaled deeply and pressed a kiss to my temple before once more embracing me.

Tears were still blurring my sight when he released me again. He seemed a bit besides himself when looking me over. "I thought you had left for the undying lands." He whispered and raked a hand through his hair, pushing some of the loose strands back into the safety of his braid.

At first gaze it seemed that he had barely aged since last I saw him, but when I started to truly look at him it wasn't hard to notice the grey streaks on his temples. They had become even more visible, and his hair had gained quite a bit of length. He had gotten older; my first assumption had been wrong. When I thought about it, he had seemed thinner as well, paler even. Worry flooded me but I wasn't allowed to feel it for long before Rüdhon turned to the other guard.

"I ordered you to remain by the border, Adlanna is on her way there to relieve you—the king seems to need you and your brother. For what, I do not know." Rüdhon sighed and placed a hand on the other guard's shoulder. The guard were not one I recognized from my own time, he had to be younger than me.

"I will depart immediately—lest not keep the king waiting. His mood is not about to become any less foul with her return." Voronwë sighed and inclined his head towards me after he had pulled down his own hood. Rüdhon arched a brow in annoyance and Voronwë lowered his head in submission before turning away. He was unlike most other elves.

Voronwë had revealed uncommonly short hair. It was jet black and straight, barely even reaching below his ears. The front of his hair on either side of his head had been intricately braided back. The braids kept together in the back with silver hair clips and the green eyes that settled on me moments after weren't completely green either, bits of brown were embedded in the bottom of his iris on his right eye. "Captain." Voronwë lowered his head again to Rüdhon before he turned away.

I kept a nervous smile when the guard frowned at me and secured my bow on my back. Rüdhon had properly recognized my father's weapon before understanding it was me. It was decorated in a way that was unlike most woodland elves. And seeing as he had spent many hours next to him, it was only natural. "I see that the guards of Greenwood have not lost their stealth." I complimented when Voronwë had left us.