~ Lúthien's secret is discovered and Thingol is not happy. Beren is sent on a quest and Lúthien imprisoned.~

oOo

Lúthien Tinúviel, by Jenny Dolfen

Tree Prison

Thranduil and Aerneth were fast asleep, exhausted after a long night's experimenting with new uses for their mouths and tongues on one another's bodies, when a knock woke them up.

"A messenger from the king was here, Thranduil," said Eiriendîs through the door. "You are summoned to the palace."

He quickly rose and got ready, kissing a sleepy Aerneth goodbye before hurrying out. What did Thingol want at this early hour?

At the palace he met more fellow march-wardens. Only a select few had been summoned, it seemed, and Thranduil saw Amroth and Beleg Cúthalion among them. Soon the king entered, followed by Lúthien and Daeron, the minstrel. Lúthien looked absolutely wretched, her face was sickly pale and her eyes red from crying.

"I have some disturbing news and an unusual request for you, march-wardens," the king began. He too looked troubled, tired and with ruffled clothes like he had slept in them. "It seems my wife and daughter have gone behind my back, but thankfully my faithful friend Daeron intervened before a disaster came about."

King Thingol had them all promise to keep silent of what they were about to hear, for he was anxious to avoid unrest in the city. Then he told them everything.

It had all begun yesterday, when Lúthien had felt a precognition of ill tidings, a heavy weight on her chest. She asked her mother to use her Maia powers and find out what had happened with her lover on his quest. Melian had complied. First she saw Beren, Finrod and the other ten walking through the Pass of Sirion, cleverly disguised as orcs to evade notice on their way to Angband. Then she saw Sauron, Morgoth's lieutenant, when he discovered the intruders from his watchtower on an island in the middle of the river. He saw through their guise and had them brought before him.

Now followed a battle of magic, where Sauron and Finrod Felagund sang spells and enchantments, seeking to outpower each other. However, Sauron was much stronger – he had once been one of the Maiar like Melian – and thus Finrod was defeated despite his valiant attempts.

Terrible werewolves roamed in the tower, and Sauron threatened his captives that the monsters would devour them unless they told him who they were and what their mission was, but none talked. Then he threw them into the werewolf pit, and there they now awaited a gruesome death.

As soon Melian had told Lúthien this, she decided she would hasten to the tower and aid her beloved. She asked Daeron to help her, but thankfully the minstrel told the king about it before she could go.

The reason Thingol had now gathered his most trusted march-wardens was that he needed them to guard Lúthien.

"It is clear to me that my daughter needs to be restrained, for she tells me she will leave at first opportunity. I do not allow this!" He was talking about her like she was not present. "She is not going to throw her life away to save a mortal from a disaster he brought upon himself. It is bad enough that this human has risked the life of my ally in Nargothrond, one of the few decent Noldor in the world!" He rose from his throne, angrily walking to and fro as he kept talking, reminding Thranduil very much of his father. "No, Lúthien must be confined here, but I do not wish to lock her up in a dungeon; one so used to roaming the forest needs light and air. Instead, you shall build her a secure prison in a tree of great height with no other trees nearby she could escape to. There you must guard her well and never once leave her alone."

Thranduil and the others spent the better part of the day building the prison. The tree they had chosen was one of the famous beeches a bit north of the city, which had three huge branches on which they could build the house, and to reach it they made a tall ladder.

Lúthien was then escorted up to her new home and the ladder removed, effectively trapping her there.

It felt strange to lock away the elleth Thranduil had formerly courted, and he was sorry for her to be so harshly treated. Still, he could well understand the king, should his daughter be allowed to leave Doriath she would meet with certain death. What father would not try to stop that?

When Thranduil returned home in the evening, Aerneth was very curious about what Thingol had wanted, and naturally would not accept his refusal to reveal anything. During supper she did not say much, their family meals were still a very quiet affair, but later in bed she was all the more persistent.

"I'm your wife, you can tell me."

"Nay."

"I'm sure the king meant you cannot tell anyone outside family. Wives do not count."

"Let us speak of something else. How was your first water magic lesson with Galadriel?"

"It went well, she is a fast learner. I like her. Anyway, about the king's summon, I will die of curiosity if you do not say what he wanted. And you were gone all day too, what were you doing?"

"I cannot tell." He moved in to kiss her but she turned her face away.

"Yes you can."

"I can but I am not going to."

"Hm." She frowned and tapped her chin thoughtfully.

He tried to kiss her again and this time she responded, deepening it. After a while she left his lips to kiss her way down his chest, and Thranduil forgot all about kings and locked up princesses. He closed his eyes and ground his teeth together to not make a sound as he felt her soft lips caress him. It was clear Aerneth had learned well yesterday what he liked.

And then she stopped. She bloody stopped.

"Can't you tell, though... I think about it so much I get distracted." The expression in her eyes as she looked up at him was downright evil.

"Valar, wife... this is not fair!"

She sniggered and gave him a teasing lick, making him shudder. He knew he was defeated.

"Alright, I... maybe I can tell some of it. But promise you spread it no further."

"Of course!" Her triumphant smile was dazzling.

She dragged everything out of him eventually, and unsurprisingly did not at all agree with the king's decision, calling him a cruel tyrant and a bad father. Thranduil did not mind that her opinion differed from his, but it was disconcerting that she held such power over him, and worse, that she knew how to use it to her advantage.

oOo

Thranduil leaned his back against the trunk of the prison tree, Hírilorn – Tree of the Lady – as they had begun calling it. It was only the second day, but already he loathed this place, and the sobs they occasionally heard from above did not help. Since so few of the march-wardens knew about the situation, they would be working long hours nearly every day.

"At least being out of doors is nicer than guarding the boring throne room," said Amroth.

"I like the throne room," he objected. Not that he disliked the beech wood, especially this time of year when the ground was covered in crispy leaves and the air smelled lovely fresh, but he enjoyed the beauty of King Thingol's halls, the designs and patterns, the choices of metals and gems – there was so much thought gone into it.

"You are a strange elf." Amroth smiled fondly.

"I suppose I am."

Then he spotted someone approaching at a distance and his stomach plummeted. Damn his obnoxious wife, what on Arda was she doing?

As she caught sight of them, Aerneth clasped her hands over her mouth theatrically. "Thranduil! I was just taking a nice evening walk. Fancy finding you here!"

Thranduil noticed Amroth raising his eyebrows. Clearly he had seen through her ruse.

"It is late, you ought to return home," Thranduil said sharply, scowling angrily at her.

"Alright, alright." She turned to leave. "I will see you tonight... in bed."

Thranduil groaned as she left, glancing guiltily at his friend.

"You told her."

"I... yes. She can be quite persuasive." His shoulders slumped.

"I am amazed. What did she do to make you speak? I mean, silence is kind of your signum. I doubt even a balrog with a burning whip could loosen your tongue if you chose to hold it."

He must have blushed, because Amroth peered closely at him. "Now I am even more intrigued."

"I don't think you want to know."

"No, I think I do. I dare say it would be... educational. From a more experienced ellon to another, so to speak."

Thranduil grinned then. His physical experiences with Aerneth was just about the only positive thing in his life right now and the fact she liked it so much made him proud. He did not really mind telling, and did so without further prompting.

Very soon it was Amroth's turn to colour. "Why, I... the notion one could do that had never occured to me. Maybe this marriage thing has its upsides."

"It does." Thranduil smiled smugly.

"Still not worth it though, considering you get a nagging wife and the loss of your freedom in the bargain. I shall stay single forever."

oOo

There were advantages with Aerneth's knowing about the tree prison. Following that day, she came to keep them company whenever it was Thranduil's and Amroth's turn to guard it, which made the task a lot more pleasant.

Amroth, who had been so against their relationship at first, had to grudgingly admit she was nice company, easy to speak with and had a good sense of humour. Thranduil for his part felt slightly ambivalent. As much as he liked having his wife there, the growing camaraderie between her and his friend unsettled him. It reminded him too much of his walks with Lúthien and Daeron, and how the minstrel always would take over the conversation leaving Thranduil out, feeling dull and stupid.

Tonight Aerneth spoke of her recent meeting with Galadriel while they shared a bottle of wine.

"She is amazing with the water now, she has learned to do things even I cannot, although she has no control over what images she gets. Like today, when she was opening a connection with me, she began to see things that had already happened. She saw me and Thranduil walking along the beach in Eglarest on our wedding day."

Thranduil winced. How had she known it was their wedding day, unless she had seen what they did after that walk?

Aerneth laughed at his expression, reading his thoughts. "Obviously she did not know it was that day before I told her. I doubt she would want to look at us doing..." She glanced at Amroth. "... things."

He grinned widely. "What things? No need to be shy."

"Well, you see, when an ellon really loves an elleth..." She winked.

"Aye? What happens then?" He smirked. "I wonder why people always stop when they get that far into their explanation."

"Oh, I am not shy. I can continue."

This she did, and very soon Thranduil fled, not wanting his friend to see his physical response to her descriptions. Aerneth really had a way with words.

When he returned, the topic thankfully had changed to more mundane things, but later that night Thranduil made Aerneth pay for the discomfort she had caused him by having her act out everything she had spoken of. Not that she seemed to mind – quite the opposite.

❈ ❦ ❈

A/N:

Poor Lúthien. :( She is an adult elleth of several hundred years, half-maia and extremely powerful, yet Thingol puts her in prison for wanting to rescue the man she loves...

I don't know about you, but to me it's a rather horrible thing to do to one's daughter. Oropher is not the only messed-up father in Doriath...

Image Credits:

Lúthien Tinúviel, watercolor painting by Jenny Dolfen, source: https://goldseven.wordpress.com/2017/01/01/luthien/