Work Text:
Your mother loved you
It was the truth, perhaps the most honest words that Thranduil had spoken to his son in a very long time. But it was not the whole truth.
Legolas' mother had loved him, yes, but so did his father.
Thranduil had learned over the course of centuries to keep his feelings close. His own mother, his father, his wife. Even his former mounts whose antlers decorated his throne after their passing.
All those loved are eventually lost.
So Thranduil may be forgiven for his detached, sometimes cold demeanor towards his son. Indeed, towards anyone he may feel for, because there was nothing like the bone-numbing fear of losing someone to keep emotions reined.
more than anyone
The words ‘more than me’ had been on his tongue as well. Yet he had swallowed those back down, refusing to give them voice. By all accounts a mother’s love for her child should be greater than her love for her husband.
He sat now in his own chambers in Mirkwood before a banked fire, spilling silent tears into his wine, his son leagues away and likely sleeping under the stars that night.
As least with the Rangers he would be safe and not alone.
more than life.
Thranduil never spoke of her, because he could not bring himself to reveal the truth.
Legolas’ mother had died protecting her son.