Thank you to nathalieAlice, siso_sissan, fateclaws, Tiemna, Moon545, crystalily2003, and _-Yuki_Gyeoul-_ for commenting and voting on the previous chapter!

Thank you to floranocturna, mpoloCasey, ImagineSmaugs, and DionylenJoyceOcoy for adding this story to their reading lists! 

The Mirkwood archer drew his horse to a halt and turned in his saddle to look back the fur-clad elves behind him.

"My lord and lady, a blizzard is approaching and dark falls. We will stay at the Spirit Inn until it passes."

"Nothing would suit me better," Celeborn sighed. "I will be glad of a warm hearth."

In the cold dusk, the horses stopped at a low building. A fur clad elf emerged with a breath of warm air smelling of horse to take the animals to shelter as a frigid wind blew.

"Take our bags inside," Galadriel said though her veil as the Mirkwood archer opened the back door of the Inn and let them inside. Golden light lit a large center room with two fires blazing at opposite walls. Six birds spitted over one fire sizzled and gave the air a pleasant aroma.

A woman looked up with a young boy on her knee from a plush chair to the left of the cooking hearth and set him down on the floor. She rose and came to greet the guests as the elves shed their snowy robes.

"I am Nyala," she said as a young elf woman emerged to take the coats of the guests and hang them on hooks near the hearth to dry. "Welcome to Spirit's Inn. My husband and sons will take your bags up to your rooms. I assume you will be staying with us until the blizzards passes?"

"It brings me no joy to stay in Mirkwood as I am not wanted but yes," Galadriel answered, her voice as snapping and cold as the air outside.

Nyala gave her a curious look but said nothing. "Please, make yourself at home. Dinner will be served in half an hour."

Celeborn rubbed his hands together before the hearth and let the fire warm them. He thought about the two-day ride from the palace. The wide room was heated well by the two hearths. A long counter ran the length of the room to the right of Celeborn, with a door behind it leading into what Celeborn guessed to be the kitchens. A door opposite the kitchens was cracked to reveal stairs behind it. two comfortable chairs and a long sofa sat in front of the hearth not used for cooking while half a dozen chairs were arranged around the fire over which the birds sizzled. Two green rugs woven with dragons covered the floor in the center of the room and by the stairs. A door beside the fireplace was closed. Another door opposite the one he had entered by led to the front yard.

Three boys broke into the room through the front door, one with blood streaming down his face, one yelling, and the third silent. "Nana! Nana! Arim punched Lukel in the nose and made it bleed!"

Arim retired to stand in the corner with his head down as Nyala whipped out a handkerchief for Lukel's nose and led him into the kitchen.

Galadriel frowned at Arim. A tall elf entered the room from the kitchens still in hi snowy cloak, nodded to the guests, and crossed to face Arim. He took the boy by the hand and led him from the room. A door opposite the kitchen door opened onto a flight of stairs. Celeborn noticed the boy cringe as he slumped ahead of his father.

Lukel emerged with a clean face to sit in one of the chairs by the cooking fire. He stared hard at the guests. The Mirkwood archer was nowhere to be seen.

Arim emerged with his father behind him and his eyes still down. He looked at his father, received a stern glance, and slumped to face Lukel.

"I am sorry I hit you," he muttered.

"I guess I should not have teased you. I am sorry to."

Arim looked at his father. The elf smiled as he took off his cloak and hung it on a hook. Galadriel looked a little startled as she saw the green streaks in his hair, cut to fall over the left of his head and leave the right side bare.

"Dinner is served," Nyala said, leaving the kitchen with a dish in her hands, streaming with the smells of onions and meat. A flood of six children erupted behind her.

Nyala led the way into a large dining room, through the door beside the hearth, lit by a fireplace sharing the chimney of the one behind it. Candles lit the long table of dark wood covered in a white cloth.

"Are you native to Mirkwood?" Nyala asked as the meal began.

"We are the Lord and Lady of Lothlorien," Galadriel replied.

Nyala dipped her head. "It is an honor to meet you. This is my husband, Ajantys, and our children: Elsel, Calib, Anela, Violai, Dyana, Lukel, Josiah, and Arim. And, of course, this is Eleryn, our future son to be."

Galadriel's eye fell on the Mirkwood archer beside Elsel, almost accusing him for dragging her into his personal life for the sake of seeing his future wife.

"This really is an Inn," Eleryn objected. "This place is so big, Nyala and Ajantys decided to put the rooms to use."

You do not look as if you have had eight children, Galadriel thought, looking at Nyala. She almost jumped, as Nyala seemed to read her thoughts.

Nyala smiled. "Five of them are adopted. With the orcs in the forest at times, unexpected tragedies leave some in need of homes."

Elsel escorted Galadriel and Celeborn up to their bedroom at the close of dinner. A green bedspread of silk covered the large bed and white curtains covered the two windows in the room.

"Are you coming to bed?" Galadriel asked as she removed her nightgown from one of her bags.

Celeborn paused at the door. "I feel a bit restless. I think I will wait a bit so as not to disturb you later with my tossing and turning."

"Unconventional sort of place," Galadriel remarked. "I cannot say I like it as much as traditional Inns. My only comfort is at least Ajantys knows how to discipline his unruly bunch."

Celeborn left her and wandered down the hall, hearing a door shut and Elsel giggling. He passed the stairs leading down and the floor opened up into a wide room at the end of the hall. The stone chimney running up to the roof heated the comfortable space. A low bed in one corner was covered with a red quilt and he wondered if this was a bedroom. A bookcase, several chairs, and a tall stand covered in glass ornaments seemed to say otherwise.

"I am sorry I hit Lukel," a small voice said from the bed.

Celeborn stepped away, not wanting to eavesdrop, but he could not help listening, half tempted to see for himself if the boy had been spanked.

Ajantys sat up on the bed and put a hand on the curled up form beside him. "I know you are. You have only been here a little while and we do not expect you to grow used to it at once."

Arim moved closer to his father. "I tried to stop myself. You have all shown me how to be kind and gentle and I know you are even when you are angry and you have to punish me but—I could not be gentle. I did what my parents did to me when I made them mad. I hit him."

Ajantys sat the boy in his lap. "I know you are struggling. If I had suffered the pain you did, I would to. But we are all here to help you."

Arim rested his head on Ajantys's shoulder. "I like the Circle of Safety."

"Do you feel safe now?"

Arim nodded and Ajantys picked his son up. "Then come and I will tuck you into bed beside Calib."

"He does not tease me."

"Well, he has been here a lot longer then you and has adapted to this life. You and Lukel and Josiah came to live with us around the same time. You will grow use to it to, I promise."

Celeborn stepped aside as Ajantys passed him in the hall. He came back minutes later with his arms empty.

"Circle of Safety?" Celeborn asked.

Ajantys grinned and gestured toward the stairs. The two descended to sit in front of the hearth. "Yes. Calib came from a home where he was not loved and it was hard for him to grow used to being loved. He felt vulnerable and afraid. So Nyala and I created the Circle of Safety. When he felt threatened or overworked or he needed to be alone, he could go to the Circle of Safety and be on his own. No one was allowed to bother him or talk to him or ask him to do anything while he was there. It helped."

"And the rest of your adopted children?"

"Anela was working for us in the kitchens when her parents died so we arranged for her to stay here. She never had a need for the Circle unless she felt overworked. Josiah and Lukel are brothers whose parents spanked them. And Arim was abused. Not as badly as Prince Legolas, on a scale of things, but badly enough he has nightmares and he is having a lot of trouble growing used to a normal life. I hate it when he cringes in front of me," Ajantys said, almost to himself.

"Do you spank him?"

"I saw the look in your wife's eyes when I led Arim upstairs after he hit Lukel but all I did was talk . . . and I do not treat him differently because he was abused. I do not spank any of my children."

"We have heard quite a bit of what has occupied the palace for the last few years," Nyala said, joining her husband. "But we do not judge you for your view on child discipline. You may speak freely here."

Ajantys lit his pipe. Celeborn clasped his hands in his lap. "My daughter and her family are changing their views on child discipline. It is difficult for my wife to accept change after years of living by one belief."

"It is easier to talk to strangers about troubles then family," Nyala said.

"Were you spanked?" Celeborn asked.

Nyala shook her head. Ajantys answered, "I was. But one night when my father was spanking me for breaking a window, I fell and split my head open trying to wriggle off his lap. I wear my hair like this to cover the scar. After I recovered, my father apologized for the past and he never spanked my siblings or me again. It was not easy for him to let go of his most potent threat but he did it for us because he saw in the blood of my near death the harm he was doing."

"Does it work?" Celeborn asked.

Nyala raised her eyebrows. "What?"

"Not spanking."

"Of course it works. It was the hardest thing in the world for Josiah and Lukel to accept we would not spank them. The boys spent their first day with us pushing to see how far they could go before they were spanked."

"They broke every window in the house," Ajantys said, leaning back with a twinkle in his eyes. "I spent the afternoon chasing them around the house until I cornered them upstairs and Lukel punched me in the eye. I spent another hour with cold meat on my face while the boys sat in their room. When Nyala called them down . . . Lukel came and lay across my knees. It broke my heart."

"Galadriel and I were with our daughter in Rivendell after Elrond left for Mirkwood. We saw her choose not to spank Arwen; she defended her from my wife. It did not seem like a struggle for her to lay aside the form of punishment she is most used to but Elrond's letters from Mirkwood to her were full of frustration. I do not want to see Celebrian struggle for the rest of her life to keep two wild boys in hand."

"We parents want the best for our children," Ajantys said. "But what most people do not understand is children do not have to be kept in hand or under law. It is best to let them be free. Children appreciate freedom. And when it is given to them they do not feel as if they have to fight to be let out of their cage."

Celeborn thought of Galadriel trying to spank Elrohir for breaking the frame of a painting at the palace. He remembered the held-back tears and fear in the boy's eyes as he fought like an animal to escape.

"Some children do not fight," Ajantys said. "Lukel and Josiah never ran from their father when he came to spank them. They said they used to but when he caught them, the punishment was worst so they stopped. Fear works differently on children. It made me fight and it made Lukel and Josiah cower."

"Elladan and Elrohir fought," Celeborn said. "But, tell me, how much does the whole of Mirkwood know about what goes in the palace?"

"King Thranduil is an open King," Nyala said. "He does not try to bury undesirable moments under rocks but rather lets them be. Because we know and hear of clashes between him and Prince Legolas and of every disastrous meeting, he is more relatable. He is a King, yes, but he is also another elven being who has a child and a family. It is as Prince Legolas said at Tarnin Austa; we are all family."

"This is the first time I have seen a Kingdom so open and yet so close," Celeborn admitted.

Josiah came into the room, rubbing his eyes and complaining, "Elsel and Eleryn have shut themselves into their room and they are making so much racket no one can sleep."

"Knock on her door and tell her to be quiet," Ajantys said.

Josiah turned red. "No one wants to. The noises make everyone cringe. It is sort of like they are kissing and—"

Nyala looked at her husband and waggled her eyebrows as Ajantys coughed and put out his pipe. He herded Josiah back to the stairs. "I will send your sister out to the barn."

"The barn?" Celeborn said.

Nyala nodded. "There is a room in the upper level heated by the stovepipe from the woodstove we use to keep the animals warm. We do not mind if Elsel and Eleryn want to have some fun but not in the children's hearing. As you can see, Josiah already wants to die."

Elsel and Eleryn exploded off the stairs, hand in hand and giggling to make their way across the floor and plunge into the kitchen. Ajantys returned to his seat holding Josiah.

"Lukel is pinching him," Ajantys explained. "And he refuses to sleep in Elsel's bed after hearing what went on in there."

Nyala chuckled. "You can sleep on the sofa, Josiah. Take a blanket from Lukel."

"But I do not want to."

"Well, you cannot sleep with us. I have had a long day and you kick at night. I know you do not mean to but I need my bed with only two people in it tonight."

"I do not see why Lukel has to pinch me," Josiah complained.

Nyala yawned and rose from her chair. "Come up with me, Josiah."

Celeborn followed her, the warm heat of the fire still on his face making him drowsy. He stopped to listen as Nyala plunged into Lukel's room and routed him out of bed.

"You will sleep in Elsel's bed tonight, young elf."

"No-oo!" Lukel protested.

"Will you stop pinching your brother if I let you stay here?"

"I hate it when he tries to hug me."

Celeborn heard the bed creak. Nyala asked, "Do you like it when I hug you?"

"Yes," Lukel said.

"What is wrong with your brother wanting to hug you at night? You make him feel safe, Lukel. He is scared of the dark. You protected him from your old father in the past."

"Only because he hit less hard when he spanked me first," Lukel said in a small voice.

"How would you feel if you needed me to hold you and I said no? Ajantys and I hold you all when you need us. Can you not hold your brother for one night when he needs you?"

A long silence followed. Finally Lukel said, "I am sorry I pinched you, Josiah. I will not do it again."

Nyala closed the door as the brothers burrowed into bed. She said goodnight to Celeborn. Humming a tune, she descended the stairs.

Celeborn's thoughts may be gentle but they are still clashing, and he always was a slow thinker to me. What do you think he will learn in Spirit's Inn?

Thank you so much for reading; as always I cannot wait to here from you!

Next Chapter: Celeborn makes a choice his wife disagrees with . . .