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A liaison in the Great Greenwood	By : Azukiel Category: +Third Age > Het - Male/Female Views: 7956 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own any copyright to the Tolkien/ Middle-Earth fandom, nor to any of his canon characters or languages. I do not make any money from this fanfiction. Original characters however, are my property.

Chapter List
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Adlanniel stared down at Thranduil, her mouth slightly agape yet unable to speak. Her eyes were wide in shock and she was only brought back to reality by the tightening grip on her wrist.
   “Where is he?” Thranduil repeated with urgency, his eyes searching hers for an answer.
   Calmly and gently she released his hand from her wrist, and cupped her hands around his in reassurance. “Do not fret, aran nin, for Legolas is well. He has a few injuries, but he will recover swiftly. He is still at the war camp, overseeing the surrender of the Easterlings.”
   Thranduil fell back against the pillows and let out a breath of relief. His mind felt so muddled, like he had lost all sense of place and time. He looked back at her then. His vision was partially impaired, and distant voices echoed in his ears, making it difficult to comprehend who she was. “Adlanniel?”
   She smiled, relieved, and gently stroked his hand that she was still holding. “It is I, aran nin.” She confirmed. “We are back at the palace.”
   “Back at the palace?” He repeated, then looking out towards the entrance door. “How long have we been here?”
   “We only just arrived here this morning, aran nin. But you have been mostly unconscious for quite a few days.”
   “Mostly?”
   “The poison caused your mind darkness and caused hallucinations…” She replied, her eyes saddening. She remembered the apparition they had both seen. Had that really been a hallucination?
   He thought upon it for a moment, then looked to her once more. “Have you been caring for me for all this time?”
   “I have, aran nin.” She replied. She could not help the stray tears that began falling from her eyes once more, so joyful was she that he was awake and his mind lucid. Yet he did not seem so happy to see her. His face was rather one of sadness.
    “It should not have been your burden to bear.” He said solemnly. “I did not want you to ever have to see me like this…the thing of your nightmares.”
   There was a silence between them, for Adlanniel did not know how to respond - so mixed were her feelings. Yet, the emotions in her heart held true and she tightened her hold on his hand due to pure affection and adoration. “It had been my choice Thranduil. Legolas had asked it of me, to care for you, and I chose to do so. I would trust no one else with such a task. And besides…” She paused for a moment. “Now I have seen all faces of you.”
   He looked at her, trying to read the deeper meaning of what she had said, but his head ached.
   “Now rest, aran nin, and let me replace these bandages.”
   He looked away from her again and gave a slight nod. He could not bare to look at her while he was in such a horrible and vulnerable state. With every bandage she peeled off him, he was reminded of the pain of having his skin melt away. He could not show her the agony he was feeling, despite how gentle she was, and with every bandage she replaced his heart darkened further.
“This will be the last time you do this.” He voice was cold, reminding her of all those times he had been so foreboding. “Next time, send someone else.” And without a second thought, he waved her off. “Now leave.”
His words stung at her like a thousand hornets. She was only trying to help him, only trying to show that she still cared so deeply for him and yet he was so dismissive of her efforts and her feelings.
She didn’t know if her heart could break any further than it already had. Stifling a sob, she curtsied and without another word she turned and left his chambers.When the great oaken doors closed behind her, she slid down to the marble floor in front them and wept into her hands. How could he be so cruel to her again, especially now out of all times? Had he remembered the apparition and the ominous message his wife had given him? Are her words the reason why he was being so dismissive again? If it were indeed the case, she knew she had to get through it for the sake of her children regardless of how much it pained her. Standing then, she hastily wiped her eyes and took in a deep breath, composing herself.
   “Have prepared food and drink for the king. He is awakened. Also he has ordered that I not take care of him, so send another healer in my stead next time his bandages need changing.” She said sternly to the Elvenking’s butler when she came across him in the halls.
   “Yes, hiril vuin.” He replied politely, but a little surprised at how straightforward - and annoyed she sounded.

Quickly she returned to her rooms and closed the doors, sliding the bolts in place as if in an attempt to keep all darkness out. Yet she could feel it still seeping in, through every crack and crevice, wrapping its way around her heart and mind, driving her mad. She fell to her bed again and continued to cry relentlessly, begging the Valar to allow warm arms to wrap around her and hold her close to heart - she did not care whose. She thought then that even the embrace of Mandos himself would have been enough. Anything to get her away from the pain and the guilt that choked her, and the lust that still ravaged her relentlessly. Oh, why would none of it ever stop? Even as the days went by, and she kept herself relatively secluded in her room, did the pain not abate. Even when letters from her beloved prince arrived did she still feel so weighed and broken. How could she continue like this? The gwannûn too were giving her grief now with their constant kicking and tumbling about.
“Calm yourselves.” She begged them as she lay under the fur blankets of her bed, refusing to face the outside world.
  Gwendalyn was becoming increasingly worried about her self-inflicted seclusion, despite being reassured by her lady that the cold weather was simply making her pregnancy more difficult to cope with. The young handmaiden constantly begged her lady to resurface, at least when she was well enough to do so, for the entire palace was worried about her.
‘The entire palace?’ Adlanniel would think to herself. The only one there who she truly wanted to care obviously did not. Not once did he come to personally see her. Her rationality told her that perhaps he was still too weak and thus was still relatively bed ridden himself, but the darkness within her would not agree.

   “I feel that you are the only one I can truly confide in…” She sighed as she stroked Maeglir’s face. The stallion let out a low whinny and nuzzled her stomach. After many days in her own seclusion, she had decided to make it her new task to regularly visit the stables, to tend to those steeds that had been injured during the battles which already seemed to have been so long ago. She adored animals, particularly horses, and they brought her some form of comfort from all the recent misery. “Maeglir, do you understand how I feel?” She asked, after having spoken to him at length of what was going on in her mind. The white steed snuffed, and nodded. Maeglir was a descendant from a line of the great Mearas, the most revered horses in all of Arda; horses which could understand common speech as well as the languages of the elves. They were majestic beasts, Maeglir being counted as one of the most out of all those that had allowed themselves to be domesticated.
“I wish he would understand…” She began to weep again, and put her forehead to the stallion’s strong, warm neck. Maeglir brought his head around to embrace her.

   “I do understand.” Came his voice near her. Maeglir pricked up his ears and whinnied. Adlanniel spun around, almost tripping on her own feet, to see that Thranduil had entered the stall and was standing on the other side of his steed. How did she not notice his entrance? It mattered not for he was there, petting his stallion’s neck.
   Adlanniel composed herself and took in a deep breath. “How long had you been listening for?” She asked, a dissatisfied frown strewn across her face.
    “Long enough…” He replied simply before he continued. “But I do understand Adlanniel. I suffer the same pain and mental agony of it all.”
   “Then why do you treat me with so much disdain?” Her voice was angered now, making Maeglir shift uneasily.
Thranduil looked to the straw of the stable floor before looking back up at her. His expression full of pain and suffering. “I do not mean to.” He replied honestly.
   “You do not like others to see you vulnerable.” Adlanniel stated, the scorn still written on her face. “At least your wounds have mostly healed.” She muttered then. “But it does not detract from you being a monster.”
Thranduil looked at her both shocked and hurt, but he could not blame her for feeling the way she did, or saying such biting words that were so very true. He did not want to fight with her, not now, and his expression turned to one of sadness. “Adlanniel….please…”
   “You are torturous!” And picking up the box of grooming brushes, she stormed out of the stall and headed towards the tack room.
   Maeglir whinnied after her, and then snorted at Thranduil.
   “I know Maeglir.” Thranduil sighed dolefully. “I am sure you already know this is all my fault.”
   The steed used his head to push Thranduil towards the stall’s door. Thranduil knew that Maeglir meant for him to follow her. He contemplated for a long moment on whether or not he should. She would only try to burn him with her harsh words, though well deserved. Yet, he was far too tired for hostility, and he wanted to end it between them once and for all.

   When he appeared in the tack room door, he could see her sitting on a box, crying. He cautiously approached her, but she was too distraught to move.
Crouching before her, he gently placed a hand on hers. “Goheno nin Adlanniel…. It breaks my heart to see you weep so, to see all the pain I have rendered in you.”
   She looked up at him then, her eyes reddened and swollen with tears. He reached up to her face and gently wiped her tears away with his thumbs. She leaned her head to his touch; his sweet, soft, gentle touch - something she had been craving for for so long.
   “I wish you could erase it all.” She whimpered, his hand now stroking her face.
“If only it were that easy…” He sighed. After a short silence he stood to walk over to the ladder which led up to a great loft. “Such darkness has come over us now…” He began solemnly.
   “Fill the Chalice of Truth. Without the Chalice to be filled, no Light can be spread again…”
   Thranduil’s eyes widened as he turned back to Adlanniel, surprised. Those words were so familiar, yet he could not fathom where he had heard them. They were like they had been whispered on a distant breeze.
   “And yet I cannot bear the pain of the truth.” She continued as she slowly approached him. “For I love two so deeply, yet the one whom I crave for so desperately has no sliver of love within him for me.”
   Thranduil’s cerulean eyes turned contrite and deeply saddened. He knew the truth deep within his heart. “What do you want me to say?”
   “That you love me!” She spat out, the words rolling off her tongue so naturally. But those words were unexpected, even for her. Was that truly what she wanted to hear?
   Thranduil gazed into her eyes as he took her by the shoulders. “I cannot love you the way you wish me to Adlanniel.” He said firmly, but with great heartache. “Perhaps in another life I could, but it is not this life. Regardless, it does not mean I have no feelings for you. I hold a great affection for you.”
   “Such sweet lies...like your Dorwinion wine.”
   Again, such familiar words she spoke. He took her face in his hands and gazed into her eyes, searching them. “I do not lie on this Adlanniel.”
“I hate you.” She spat bitterly. Yet why she said those words too even she could not understand.

   Her harsh words were as spontaneous as the kiss he suddenly planted on her lips, and the sharp slap that then landed on his cheek. They both stared at each other in shock for what seemed like an eternity, a great and insufferable heat filling every crevice of their bodies and souls. One could not possibly tell who jumped on who first, but their bodies were as entwined as vines of ivy, their mouths locked in a deep and insatiable passion as they clawed desperately at each other’s clothes. The fire which burned within took off like a wildfire as their tongues lashed and twisted within their mouths, Thranduil pushing Adlanniel almost harshly against the nearby wall where bridles hung.


   Hitching up the folds of her dress, Thranduil pushed his hips against hers, his hardened member threatening to tear through his leggings. Pulling them down hastily he entered her, a satisfied moan passing through their love-locked mouths. She was sultry and nothing but wanting his equally fervent lust, pushing her hips to meet his with every thrust. So hungry for her forbidden lover was she, she almost bit him again, just as she had when they had first joined in coitus in the Garden of the Brook all those moons ago.
  Whilst one was entwined in her luscious raven hair, Thranduil’s other hand traced its way up and down the length of her torso; teasing her taught nipples between his fingertips, tracing his touch up and down the pearls of her spine, coveting her every inch of delectable flesh. She too did the same, clawing at him to bring him as close as they could manage, wanting to feel all of him over her.
   Promises that had been made were now broken and the vicious cycle they had begun was set to start spinning again. Yet the passion and bliss they were in drowned out all else, including the guilt that had been drowning them. Perhaps their passion now was spurred from the treacherous guilt that had been plaguing them, the guilt which only caused their need for each other to grow more; Like the vines of the ivy which could not survive without each other for nourishment…

   Suddenly came a great, painful kick from the gwannûn. It sent such a sharp pain through her pelvis she cried out and shoved Thranduil away from her. He looked at her in surprise, but dazed like he had just been snapped out of a dream.
   “What is wrong? Are you alright?” He asked when he came to his senses.
“The gwannûn...they are restless…they kicked me hard. Even they disapprove of what we have done.”
   “What we have done…” He repeated, feeling a sudden burning where she had slapped him previously. “Adlanniel….I…” For the first time in an age, he was rendered almost speechless, not knowing how to react and what to make of what had just happened. He had just gone against everything he had promised to her, and to himself; he had betrayed his precious son again. How could this need for Adlanniel not abate after all they had gone through, after all he had done to try to keep it at bay? He had hurt her, so why would she too still want him? Why would she still love him?
   “What are we doing Thranduil?” Adlanniel wept in a desperate frustration. “Why are we doing this?” She broke down then and fell to the floor beneath them. Thranduil, quickly fixing his clothing, went down to her, and pulled her dress back up over her shoulders. Yet, she pushed him away again angrily. “Your touch is poison!” She yelled as she pulled back, her voice causing the horses nearby to shift and bray.
   “Calm yourself Adlanniel! You will bring unneeded attention.” He warned her.
   “To the abyss with you!” She cried as she lunged forward to hit him again. Yet the suddenness of her movements made her slip on her dress and fall face-forward.
   Thranduil scrambled to catch her, and she clung to him as if her life depended upon it, and continued to wail on him. The banks of the dam that had held all of her deeper emotions were finally broken, and they spilt out onto the king’s shoulder. But he held her tightly, feeling the emotional torment that ran through her, and was himself rendered helpless.

   “Why??” She continued to weep relentlessly against him. “Why can I not stop wanting you? Why can I not stop needing you. I just want Mandos to come smite me now!” She cried in despair.
   Thranduil held her tighter at those words. “No, oh no, pinig, do not say such things. I could not bear to lose you. Legolas could not survive without you. You know that.”
   “And now you decide to think about Legolas, you bastard.” She punched him hard in the shoulder but still was unable to let him go.
   “Illicit affairs are always initiated by two people.” He frowned, instantly regretting those words. He did not want to aggravate the hornet’s nest further, though he already had from laying with her.
  She wailed then at his words, knowing them to be utterly true. She had always known it - that she too was to blame just as much as he. In such despair was she, she did not even notice the two guards that had run to the door after having heard cries from the stable entrance. Luckily for her, Thranduil was shielding her with his body. Her dress, though now around her shoulders, was still loose from the undone ties.
   Thranduil gave a simple nod, and the guards, bowing, rushed back to their posts.
“Adlanniel, pinig, we made another mistake. We have made many these past months. Our whole affair is one big, disastrous mistake. But there is still time, there is still hope. We can still fix this!”
    “Fill the Chalice of Truth. Without the Chalice to be filled, no Light can be spread again…” Adlanniel said slowly once more.
   “I have heard that before….”
   “I know you did...I was there…”
   Thranduil looked down at her in utter confusion.
   “You, my grandmother and father are not the only ones who can see things… visions… apparitions… things of that ilk.”
   “What did you see?”
   Adlanniel’s eyes gazed off into the corner of the room where she stared into nothingness.
“Queen Silveth, as bright and as beautiful as the stars in the night sky…”
   Thranduil turned a sickly pale, and his stomach lurched with sudden nausea. He suddenly felt the burning sting of tears in his eyes. “Silveth…”

Once more her ethereal image was before him, looking down at him with saddened yet sympathetic eyes. Her vision was spliced with past memories of what they once had - a perfect love. How could he explain to Adlanniel how conflicted all this made him feel?
    “The Queen and I had been together for over a millennium. Over that time our love for each other had grown and developed into something worthy of the Valar themselves; unwavering and unbreakable. She bore me my first and only legitimate child and cared for us with utmost devotion till the very day she died. Can you imagine what it feels like, losing so much and then having the love of your life cruelly stripped away from you…again?”
   Adlanniel shook her head solemnly.
   “You have already told me how it would feel for you to lose Legolas. Imagine what it must feel like for me…a millennium of unequivocal love gone due to one horribly wrong and tragic decision. The mother of my child, gone. The child she was yet to bear, gone. Everything I held dear, crumbled into ash.” Tears now trickled down his face and over the skin of his cheeks, flowing over the remnants of healed scars that remained as his magic began returning.
“Then after many centuries, when you have finally learned to cope with the pain of her loss, she is before you again, yet it is not only her but the first love that you lost combined. How can one deal with that after having been alone, devoid of an elleth’s touch for so long? How can you deal with it not actually being her, but her embodied in someone you cannot have, that someone being the lover of your own child?” His embrace of her loosened, and he looked away. “There is no excuse for what I have done to the both of you, and I will live the rest of my days feeling the weight of the guilt caused by it. But to have been able to feel even but a remnant of what I had once had with Silveth… What would you have done in my situation?” He looked into Adlanniel's eyes. She too was weeping relentlessly and could barely find her voice to reply.
   “I would do anything to feel Legolas’ love again if I were to lose him.” She sniffed. “Anything. I understand how conflicted you must feel. But you know I feel just as tortured.”
“I do know.” Thranduil nodded.
“Though he may not be here now, Legolas still lives. You will see him again soon. But when will I see my wife again? I will never know…I often wonder if I should just sail to the West in a hope that she will be there waiting for me. But what if she is not there? I will be left in my own ruin again.”
   “No Thranduil, that cannot be true! Surely your ancestors will be there. Perhaps your own parents, to help ease the wait of her return.”
   “Perhaps.” He sighed. “But a darkness is returning to these lands. You can feel it too. And so, I cannot leave it to its peril yet.”
“And I do not want you to leave,” Adlanniel said in a small, tear-choked voice.
“We have discussed so many times how to end this.” She sobbed. “But I can't. I don't know why. I don't know how many times I have to remind myself of how much I love Legolas, because you know that I do! The scope of my love for him is endless! Yet I cannot help but still remain so drawn to you. You are my poisonous addiction. No amount of trying to stay away from each other has helped; we've both been drawn back like a moth to the flame. I should have just done as you asked and returned to Imladris. But even if I had gone back, I would not have gotten over you.”
    “I would have sent Legolas to you, to love and cherish you as he always has. It may have taken centuries, but eventually, your feelings for me would have abated. Your true love is Legolas, not I.” Came Thranduil’s reply as he sat her up straight.
   “I know this.” Adlanniel frowned, still frustrated; still wanting. “So send me back to the camp so I can be with only him.”
   “You know I cannot allow that, for your safety and that of the children inside you.”
   “Then what are we to do? Continue to avoid each other and continue to be hostile to one another? If we continue that, I am sure suspicions will circulate. Already Legolas himself suspects something and has demanded answers of me when he returns.”
   “Then it is your choice to give him those answers,” Thranduil replied. “Fill the Chalice of Truth. That is what you told me Silveth said. Without the Chalice to be filled, light cannot spread again. Whether or not she truly had appeared to us, I do not know, but her words hold true.”
   “But are you not the one who once told me that the truth would tear Legolas apart? That the truth would destroy all of us? How can we do that, especially now that I am with child?” Adlanniel stroked the bulge of her stomach. “I do not care what happens to me, but what if Legolas hates them? One of them is not his after all…”
   “He could never hate them, and you do not need to tell him of their parentage - you do not need to bring the gwannûn into the fray. It is your choice if you wish to tell Legolas the truth by heeding Silveth’s words. As I have told you before, I will support you no matter what your decision is.”
   “Then why can you not tell him?” Her voice was small.
“Don’t you think it would hurt him more not coming from you?” Thranduil replied. “But if you truly wish for me to be the one to tell him, then I will.”
“No!” Adlanniel said quickly as she shook her head. “I will be the one to tell him if either of us does.” She paused for a long moment then before continuing. “I just cannot bear to break his poor heart.”
“Well…” Thranduil began with a sigh. “Some secrets are meant to go to our graves. It is up to us on whether or not we choose to bury them with us. But doing so means we must carry a heavy burden for the rest of our lives. We are both already experiencing the horridness of it. Also to withhold the truth is dishonest and as cruel as what we have already done. Think upon it Adlanniel, for it is your relationship and your future that is most at stake. But remember, and you already know this, Legolas will go through the abyss and back for you. His heart will shatter from the truth, but the love he holds for you will mend it eventually.”
   “But what of the love I hold for you?” She sobbed.
   Thranduil gazed at her sympathetically. “It is not true love, but a lust that has engulfed us both.”
   “Will this lust be the demise of us both?” She murmured.

  Suddenly Thranduil pushed Adlanniel from his lap and bolted upright, looking around the room almost frantically. He looked towards the ladder before he scaled its length quickly, and glanced about the loft. He knew it was not his emotions or his illness playing tricks on him.
   She stood now and properly fixed her dress. “What is the matter, aran nin?”
   Thranduil, sighing, looked back down at her before descending the ladder. He looked almost defeated which sent Adlanniel’s heart racing.
“I fear that someone may have been watching us…”
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A liaison in the Great Greenwood