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Thranduil looked out to the sea watching the boat fade from his view. His son did not know that he had heard of his passing and traveled to watch his final departure to the sea. His heart filled with the gloominess of being the last of his line to remain on these lands. Many of his own wild elves had departed as well, leaving his palace echoing with the sounds of their phantoms. Now, the last piece of his world had departed. He knew he could follow, build a ship and depart to the West as well, but he had long decided he would not.
He waved his hand to his guards as the last of the his son's ship slipped into the horizon, and turned from the sea. Time to return to his woodland domain. He climbed on his horse, his grand elk long slain and it's replacement far too young and green to ride, and spurred the reins to home. Home...
Days passed and finally, they reached the entrance to his realm. Night had long fallen, but his eyes were no less keen. His eyesight was immediately drawn to the statue of his dead wife. A forgotten memorial that he had long not visited. If he sailed West she would not be there. She never would. She had forgone the desire to be reborn, and chose to move on to the Valar. Again, leaving him here... He stopped just as they passed it, but bid his company to continue on to their mates and lives.
He turned around and stopped in front of the monument looking at it remorsefully. Once the company of elves were out of sight and earshot he swung down from his mount and approached the statue. It was overgrown with vines and lichen. How had he ever let it become so discarded? He cleared away the debris with slow precision and stood back from it to peer at it.
It looked much like her, but did not fit the elf he had known and loved. The cold stone and the shroud over her head. She had been full of life, until one day... she was not. The sorrow of the forest grew large in her, and with it so did his concern. She only held on to Legolas as her last thread of life towards the end. Until finally, a host of orcs and great spiders banded together, found her and his son in the forest where Legolas liked to play, and she was kept alive by the sadistic desire of an orc general who wished to take her to their dark master as a trophy. The rest slain aside from Legolas and two guards. Realizing they had his queen, the orcs knew it made it a bigger taunt to the elven king. They knew he would come for her. But it had been too late by the time he had gotten there, and though the orcs were dead, he could not erase the image of the broken, bloody body of his wife. It haunted every day of his life.
He had promised her that he would take care of their son. He promised that he would never let him be driven away into the dark as she had. He promised so much... and now his son was gone too.
He approached the statue once more, and reached up, hesitated, then caressed the cold cheek of the woman.
"He is gone now my love, but he will have peace, as I hope you have finally found. Forgive me for not coming in time... not just that day, but before when the darkness entered your heart. That is my one prayer."
He bid the statue a formal farewell as he would a living being, got on his horse and rode to a secluded spot in the forest. He came to an oak tree and took his reprieve there, for his soul was tired and his heart heavy.
In the centuries that followed man would come to dominate the earth, even his own realm. He and his people faded, and became far from the sight of man. The statue a thing of mystery and tales. But every now and then someone would enter the forest of the elvenking and would leave swearing they had seen him shining in the light of the stars, a picture of beauty, strength, and fairness - but also regret.
END