There lies a comfort in knowing that someone else may gaze through him as if he were glass, see all his past grief and does not judge. For had pity of any sort now reached for him, sourness would have dripped from his tongue, regret planted bitterness. Thranduil believes her, knew the moment she appeared sans rousing the attention of trees and elves and fauna alike that she must be above all he had lain eyes on before. He failed even to question Cassandra’s presence, uncertain if she is real at all. And so long as her company sows seeds of contentment, he won’t care much if it is real for anyone else. Now they stand afore one another, her open hands offered and his wintry gaze dropping to those palms seeming to behave like magnets to light itself. As if the moon and stars shine just for her, onto her. And still shan’t the moonlit blessing woven into Thranduil’s silken mane dim in her vicinity, two beacons surrounded by forest, by dark.
❝ Mayhap I did call. Without voice, without letters on parchment ❞, musing tones sound underlined with uncertainty. An uncertainty which creases his brows in that otherwise nonchalant mien, whereas void of a second thought he lifts his hands to place them in hers. It is a subconscious action. The rings adorning his fingers are now catching starlight, shimmer so beautifully he can for a moment not peel his attention from them.
❝ A strange sickness has befallen numerous elves around me. Some trees ceased to whisper and sigh. ❞ Subtle negation shakes his fair head once, ere he aims to point up at the stars by glancing up. Sea longing, weariness of the fea, a great depression crept into this realm. ❝ Even the stars, it appears they are fewer. ❞ Neck craned, the elvenking watches said stars for another blink and feels his chest tighten at the idea that they all might one day die as do mortals, as do greens every fall. But this once to not return. ❝ Something within me seemed in need for assurance ❞, he speaks with firmness to his baritone again, still calm each slow-paced word pouring past pale lips. And his chin dips, unblinking eyne seeking that iridescent pair anew. ❝ Assurance that eternity itself is indeed deathless. ❞ That I am not falling prey to madness.
all possibilities played out before her eyes stars that lay dormant for thousands of years , suddenly erupted into great waves of light ---- scattering themselves across the universe in hopes that whatever remains , however small it may be , will become new life ( and is that not the thought of all living things ? from humans , to the seeds of a tree , to the pollen of a flower ; do we all not cast out the parts of us and pray that something will live on even after we are gone ? ) perhaps that worry seems naught for the immortal ---- what need have they to leave behind , when they themselves will forever remain , timeless as statues dug into the dirt ? ( but stars die , and statues crumble , and so is it not in your nature , too , to want to remain ? )
the trees sway , and as his fingertips fall against her palms , her eyes close . and the vibrant , glimmering , silver light of his falls against her gently ---- as graceful as the sweep of a swan’s wing against moonlit waters . her own fingers close around his , and behind her eyelids she watches a thousand eternities play like children around her . beams of light bursting , and rushing , and dancing around them . in her stilled chest , a breath shudders , like the cool wind against autumn leaves ( her head tips back , and the lights appear for him , too . to allow him to see the endlessness that she walks between , the thousands of paths she has tread by his side ---- and by the sides of his forefathers , and his kin , and all things that surround him ) the silver threads dim , and grow , and spin like a thousand dancers around his head
and when she speaks , it is with the voice of all things ---- each death , each life , each eternity echoing in the syllables of her tone ❝ all things have their time , from birth every living thing has a pact with death , and it is i who must keep the unspoken agreement ❞ her fingers lax slightly , thumb roving the back of his hand , as if searching for something there ❝ even the trees , even your kin , have their times . i must let death in eventually , when the call is too great , and the hounds howl too loudly ❞
finally , she sighs . and the lights around them fade into gentle nothingness , and her eyes open ---- no longer glowing , but a dull , silvery light that pierces like the call of steel blades ❝ but you must not have fear . this is not the end ---- the world moves in waves , and we all must wallow in the waters when they are calm , and learn to brave the storms when tragedy ruins the shores . the only question is ; do you have the strength to see this storm through ? ❞