Notice: Due to a mix up, this chapter should have been published after I See Dusk and before I Heard Laughter. I apologize for the confusion and invite you to enjoy this chapter. 

Thranduil tossed in his bed, one arm thrown across his face. He knew Legolas was lying alone in bed, his hot tears soaking into his pillow. He wanted to go and hug his son but he could not bring himself to forgive Legolas's actions. Because of Legolas, he would have to face a tableful of council members without his papers and somehow explain their destruction. There was no time to rewrite them.

Thranduil frowned as he rolled over, clenching his pillow under his head. His thoughts drifted to Legolas and he kicked off the blankets. Legolas had no right to destroy official property, no matter how upset he was! Absolutely no right!

Thranduil felt a father's sympathy for his son as he thought of Legolas alone in his room, sad and sorry, but forced himself not to leave his bed. Legolas had to learn his lesson. His apologizes were worthless unless he understood the wrong he had done.

Thranduil rolled onto his stomach and fell into a disturbed night's sleep. He dreamed of Legolas's face, covered in bruises, and the wails of an abandoned child.

The king of Mirkwood awoke with a heavy heart, guilt over his treatment of Legolas's weighing him down. He dressed and combed his hair, prepared for his meeting without the papers not worth the love of his son. He knew breakfast would have to be rushed and he would need to be ready to leave dressed for the meeting. In the folds of his silver robe, he slipped an emerald ring onto one finger, a sapphire onto another, both of gigantic but graceful proportions set in mithril, and lifted a crown entwined with sparkling green stones from its velvet lined box. Setting the crown on his head, he settled it into his hair, admired the effect of the smooth lines, and looked with indecision over two mantles; one of blue silk lined with gold and the other of black silk lined with silver.

Draping both over his arm, he went in search of Harune. He found his father in the living room with Landion, the twins, Elrond, and Glorfindel.

"Another meeting?" Landion asked, looking over Thranduil's silver robe of rustling silk and the twinkling jewels.

"Indeed," Thranduil said. "Ada—"

"Your treatment of Legolas is utterly disgraceful," Harune interrupted, holding up a hand with accusing eyes. "You cannot treat him like a beast much longer, Thranduil. You have already hurt him."

"I know," Thranduil said softly. "I awoke and knew I needed to apologize."

"Have you?"

"No. I mean to go up and say I am sorry in a minute. But first—"

The door opened and Thranduil turned, his regretful features sharpening into lines of sternness as Legolas came into the room with his hands behind his back and his eyes down.

Thranduil bit his lip. "Legolas, I told you to stay in your room until I gave you permission to leave."

A shudder ran through Legolas and Harune half stepped forward as the elfling burst into tears.

"Please do not hit me again, please do not hit me again. Please do not. I am sorry, I am sorry."

A flash of worry crossed Thranduil's features and he knelt to hug Legolas to his chest. "I am the one who is sorry, my little lead; sorry I hurt you and refused to accept your apology."

Legolas sniffled and clutched at his shirt. "I-I know I should not have left my room, ada, and I will return to it—I will—but I wanted to give you these first and—and I thought you might not come to see me . . ."

Thranduil took the file Legolas put into his hands and laid it aside. He ran a hand over Legolas's hair and looked into his tired eyes. "You have left your room without permission so you will stay there until I come and say you may leave. Tomorrow you will spend the entire day with Master Elemil."

Legolas's face fell. "Must it be him? He makes me do all the nasty work."

"What you have done is not what I will call nice," Thranduil said sternly. "You will clean the cellars with him."

Legolas nodded. Thranduil knelt in front of him and lifted his chin. "But, Legolas, you will not enter my office again without me there. And, no matter angry you are or how wronged you feel, you will not destroy property of any kind."

Legolas's face flushed red. He tried to look away, cringing in shame, but Thranduil held his face straight.

"I will help you find another way to let go of your anger," Thranduil said. "But destroying things is not acceptable."

"Yes, ada," Legolas said. "I understand why you had to say no to me but I was unwilling to accept it at the time—I wanted to go on the Stag Hunt for so long and it was hard to let my disappointment go but I know you did not refuse to hurt me."

He gave a weak smile and his eyes dropped to the floor.

"Before you return to your room, I want you to explain to me why you destroyed my documents."

Legolas fidgeted. "I did mean to do it. I wanted to show you how I felt. I guess I felt as if the documents on your desk were responsible for the work you have to do and the time it takes. I suppose I wanted to hurt the documents for taking your time away more than I wanted to hurt you. I cannot hurt you, ada, I love you."

Legolas twisted his hands in his robe. "I knew after I emptied the ink I had done a bad thing. I knew . . . destroying documents would not alter the present. I wanted you hide; I was scared of what you would do, but I could not cower so I came to you. I kept hoping you would listen—that you would let me explain—but then you hit me and . . ."

Legolas swallowed and lowered his eyes.

"I could have made you listen," he whispered. "And you would have given me the chance to explain. I know you would have."

"Oh?" Thranduil asked.

"But you hit me," Legolas blurted. "You were screaming and you hit really hard. I have never seen you so angry and—and you turned into Lord Katar just for a moment. I could not think how to say what I meant; all I could do was what I used to do when Lord Katar was beating me. I kept apologizing; my mind would do nothing else. It never made him stop hitting me but he hit harder when I said anything else and my body must have remembered my old response to—to his abuse and mimicked it . . ." His voice trailed off and he shrugged.

Thranduil rose to his feet and whirled away to face the wall. Elrond saw his hands clenched tight at his sides as the elf king faced the wall, his eyes squeezed shut and his lower lip trembling. Silver tears escaped from under his lashes.

"Ada?" Legolas said.

Harune put a hand on Thranduil's shoulder and Elrond saw him make a visible effort to wrestle his face under control. Thranduil turned to face his son. He knelt and touched Legolas's shoulder. "I am not patient by nature, ion nin, and I have fought for years to control my temper and not hurt the people I love but I have only succeeded in taming a small part of it."

Thranduil drew in a deep breath and put his hands on Legolas's shoulders. "Ion nin, I am angry nearly every day. With every broken vase and spilled cup and meeting gone wrong, I wanted to explode. But I control myself for you, for me, for the whole of Mirkwood. I am sorry I am so flawed; if I could change myself to be perfect, I would. I am sorry that, when you needed it most, I failed to control myself. Deeply, deeply sorry."

"But it is not your fault. I am the one who emptied—"

"There is no one to blame," Thranduil said, cutting him off gently and using the back of his sleeve to wipe a tear from his face. "We both made mistakes. Please forgive mine."

Legolas bit his lip as it trembled and leaned forward to bury himself in Thranduil's embrace. "I forgive you, ada, and I accept your apology. Can you accept mine?"

"I already have. I should not have turned the loss of my papers into the end of the world. In the future, I promise to make more of an effort to control myself, especially when you do something wrong. I do not want to turn into Lord Katar to you again. Ever."

"I promise to try to not make you so angry," Legolas said. "I-I do not like it when someone I love makes me feel afraid."

Thranduil kissed the top of his head. He glanced at the clock and asked, "Are you afraid now?"

Legolas shook his head. Thranduil stood. "I must hurry to my meeting now. Now, before you return to your room, I want you to do something. Go to the library and ask Master Eire to give you a scroll with the words "I will remember to understand my emotions before making decisions". Pin it beside your mirror and read it every morning."

Thranduil flipped through the file Legolas had given him. He frowned at the top page, his eyes widening and quickly riffled through the rest of the stack. He looked up and demanded, "Legolas, where did you get these?"

"You said you threw out your only other copies yesterday so I tracked the rubbish from your office down to the kitchens and dug the papers out of the fire starter to be used today. I-I know I should have stayed in my room like you said but I could not sleep and—I wanted you not to hate me anymore."

"Legolas, I never hated you. Never. I was angry and disappointed but I never hated you. And I do not say that because you returned these papers to me. I say it because I mean it; from the bottom of my heart."

"Good," Thranduil said. "I am sorry I hit you; I will do better next time. Which cheek did I slap you on?"

As Legolas touched it, Thranduil leaned forward to kiss the abused cheek several times. When Legolas sat back, his eyes were tired but happy.

"You look tired," Thranduil said.

"Two of the papers I found were crumpled," Legolas explained. "I stayed up all night remaking them for you." He yawned. "I hope I found them all and did it right."

Thranduil led Legolas to the door. "Fetch your scroll from Master Eire and stay in your room until I call you. Sleep; you are tired."

The door shut on father and son.

"We should send him some breakfast," Elladan said, looking after Thranduil. "He will not have time to eat with us."

"The meeting is four hours," Harune answered. "There will be plenty of refreshments for all the members of the High Council to indulge in. Come, let us leave Legolas to sleep."

Harune closed the door on the elfling. Landion took his hand. "Ada, we do not have these relationship problems, do we?"

Harune patted his head. "Legolas and Thranduil have been father and son for five years while we have been together only four. It takes time for parents and their children to reach the stage where frightful issues arise, especially when the parents have not raised them since birth."

Landion looked down as if remembering his past life. "I suppose you are right."

"Besides, I have raised several elflings," Harune said. "I have a lot of patience. I doubt I would explode if you spilled ink over anything of mine." He winked.

"I do not think I want to test it," Landion said with a grin.

Thranduil knocked on Legolas's door. "You may come out now, Legolas.

Legolas bounded to freedom, a smile restored to his eyes.

Thranduil hugged him. "Dinner is in half an hour."

Legolas hesitated. "Ada, I feel—I feel ashamed to be with you after what I did."

"Ion nin, I promise when I look at you, I am not ashamed. You have no need to be ashamed."

"What do you see when you look at me?" Legolas asked.

"I see my son. And no, I do not immediately think of every time you drive me to wit's end. I see the elfling I love and who brings a smile to my face and meaning to my day. Do you know how often I wish I did not have meetings to attend to so I could spend the time with you? I wish it every day."

Legolas flushed. "I feel a bit guilty for asking for more time with you. I know you are with me whenever you can be."

"This all comes with being king," Thranduil said. "And you must experience it so, as the King's son. Now, come, let us eat, and not repeat the mistakes we made today."

OoOoO

"I wonder what the baby will look like," Ariel said suddenly, her arm under her head.

Erestor turned his head to look at her in the cool night air. He looked back at the stars. "I do not know."

"Nyril had very dark hair," Ariel said. She rolled onto her stomach. "I hope it looks like us in some way."

Erestor pressed her hand. "Even if it does not, we will still love it."

Ariel felt her belly. "I cannot wait for it to be born."

Thank you for reading! I love hearing your thoughts at the close of each chapter, no matter what you have to say!

Next Chapter: Elrond puts the twins to bed again and receives a complaint. How will he take it?