{Video; UN: elvenking}

[tauraran]

{He is a king without his elegant trappings - but, really, he doesn't need them. The robe he wears catches the light with the smallest of motions, glittering faintly as if precious jewels are woven in the fabric. His hair is bound into a single thick braid that lays against his back and his circlet is elsewhere - as are his rings.}

How many parents reside in Lunatia? Are you separated from your children if so? {The flickering light on the table before him is all the illumination he requires as he works on a sketch. The drawing depicts trees and a variety of animal life beneath their mighty boughs.}

My fear for my son increases by the day and I have found no relief for it. I hardly realized how helpless I could feel as a father.

{His attention shifts from the sketch of the forest to a second sketch of a face much like his own - yet different enough that it must be his son.}

Comments

video; un: high.priest

[hymnals]

[Another elf? Not like him, that's clear, but an elf all the same. The elegance of his bearing and the sumptuousness of his attire remind Adra of his own people, or at least of their taste.

Nevertheless, the question strikes home.]

I have a son, too. I've been apart from him for over a year at this point.

[A pause; a shake of the head.]

That worry never goes away.

video

[tauraran]

{Eru must have a grand plan for them - or so Thranduil presumes. He takes note of the differences, however it is their similarities that intrigue him most.

For a moment, his eyes are unfocused - his mind is elsewhere. Then he breathes out.}

I will be parted from mine for longer. {Much longer after Legolas Sails.}

Is there no way to soothe it?

video

[lioness_rampant]

I can't imagine what you must be feeling. I have a great many responsibilities back home, but no children of my own to care for.

[ She also has elfin features, her ears coming to a delicate point, but there are glowing markings on her cheek unlike any seen in Middle-earth. ]

If it helps to ease your mind, it is my understanding that no time passes while we ourselves are away. Several of my companions have experienced this.

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[tauraran]

{Those markings certainly set her apart and he takes a good long look, quietly admiring her beauty before he responds. He is, at his heart, an Elf who is quite decadent.}

Whether I am here or there, he is away from me. The only difference is: if I were there, I might be able to hear news of his travels.

{In Lunatia, he is blind and deaf to any and all of his son's perils.}

If you wish to forget - for a time - how do you go about it?

video; UN: Persephone

[ragingnature]

[ Given its currently Sanguis, Persephone is dealing with those complications so instead of receiving a small pink woman with flowers in her hair on the other end, Thranduil will find a small pink dragon. ]

I'm not a parent so I can only begin to imagine what you're feeling. But I do miss my mother.

[ She wonders if what he describes is how her mother feels with Persephone away in Olympus. Her head dips a little. ] We didn't part on the best terms.

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[tauraran]

{That is...problematic. However he manages to hold himself in check after a faint twitch of repulsion.}

Neither did I...with my son. {He regrets that deeply and will continue to do so until he holds Legolas in his arms again.}

What would you say to her?

video | un: druidic

[arrowroot]

Does raising a dragon from an egg count? I mean she ascended so it's not like I'm really caring for her anymore...

[Achem.]

I-if it's any consolation, my brother and a friend recently arrived here and no time had passed for them from the last time they saw me.

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[tauraran]

Dragons... {Do not count he wishes to say, but he tempers himself.} A child is a child.

{Even if he would personally strangle it the moment it hatched.}

Strangely, time can pass or not and that does nothing for my concern. I know that doesn't make much sense.

video; manacookies

[spacegoat]

I am very sorry, Your Majesty. It must be difficult, to not know.

video

[tauraran]

Thank you. {Seeing her brightens his mood.} It must be a curse all parents bear.

[Video]

[gremlinkeeper]

Yes.

My son is here. [ Adopted, but family in all but blood. But is that really a comfort? ]

[Video]

[tauraran]

What is your son like? {Family is family. Thranduil would not think less of a child he rescued and fostered, though they, of course, would be unlikely to inherit his throne.}

[Private Voice]

[seawanderer]

[ Have some music, Thranduil! Maglor's working, but as he plays music...he'll just...share it with his lover/mate/whatever the heck they are. No words, only the soft thrum of strings.

He also misses his children. Perhaps just a little more now, with Arwen's arrival. ]

[Private Voice]

[tauraran]

{The music earns a sigh and he relaxes back in his chair, closing his eyes. He doesn't need to see Maglor to know his gift, his talent...

Those fingers working on strings as beautifully as they had worked on him.}

I want to spend the evening with you.

video

[suspecteverything]

I've been told that they won't notice our absence as time stops at home, but I'm not sure I believe it.

[His glowing red eyes dart down to the two roughly done string bracelets tied on his wrist, one pink and one purple.]

It's about the only thing I'm holding onto for sanity sake. That and the fact that they have their mother who is infinitely better suited to raise them than I am.

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[tauraran]

Whether that is true or not, my concern remains. Logic has never dictated emotions.

{He wishes he could use logic to ease his fears, but alas. Thranduil observes the Man, startled, momentarily, by those red eyes.}

Yes, mothers often have a gift we lack. I was sorry my son lost his mother at such a tender age.

text | un: adler

[disasdeer]

I returned home briefly, and it was like I never left - picking right up where I left off. The only one who notices this absence is you.

Is your son pretty young?

text

[tauraran]

My tale is not that simple. He and I parted ways before I arrived and I do not know when I will see him next.

He is 2,871.

un: shiliu

[shiliu]

I located somebody's son on the Iris moon, and he later was able to reunite with his father here in Lunatia. My own adopted son I found there as well.

Your fortune might be similar.

[tauraran]

I must visit the Iris moon in that case! I am governed by it; perhaps it will do me this favor.

Though wishing him here may not be a blessing.

video; un: Wrynn

[shalamayne]

[ Anduin isn't a parent but he can't resist replying to this. Thranduil looks similar to an elf but is unlike any he has ever spoken to back home.]

I believe there are many parents here, though I will admit I am not one of them. If it helps, I have heard time that passes here does not do so back home.

video

[tauraran]

{He is a Sindarin Elf - or one of the Elves of the Twilight. He along with Cirdan and Celeborn all possess silver hair, which makes them stand out from their kin that, for the most part, have brown or black hair.}

Time may pass or not, but my heart longs to see him all the same. I dream of him falling into traps or being injured by some foul beast. I do not know how to quiet my nerves.

Video | Un: Star-Lord

[spacedisaster]

I helped raise a baby tree, if that counts. I think I might have mentioned Groot to you before. He was a teenager the last I saw him, before waking in this city, and way too prone to swear for his own good. I miss him too.

What's your son like? Is he very young?

Video

[tauraran]

Yes, you did mention him. From the way you described him, he seemed more like an Ent to me. {Or a Tree Herder.}

He is 2,871. My race reaches adulthood after their first century. I would not call him young and yet...

{The worry remains.}

video; un: pidgey

[pidgeypidge]

I know how it feels to be separated from someone you care about.

[She's obviously too young to have any children of her own. Gunther, the dragon hatchling she'd helped raise with Ren a while back, probably doesn't count, though she misses him every day.]

If it helps, I've gone home for a period of time, and time seems to work differently here than it does other places.

[Pidge is debating on whether or not she should tell him about her theory after discovering that other people she'd seen here had also been back at home while she was there.

Would it help? She honestly has no idea.]

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[tauraran]

It isn't easy, is it.

{A child is a child, though her experience is not quite like his. He has spent thousands of years with his son.}

Yes, however he and I parted ways before I came to Lunatia. Time has little to do with the distance between us.

{There are mistakes he wishes to rectify and he can't with Legolas going off on his own. In a way, time for him, as a father, has run out.}

Audio - UN: pumpaction

[angelshot]

[ Cue wolf whistle. Forget the kingly dad angst act, Panty's got her eyes on a completely different prize altogether. ]

Yeah, cool, whatever. Your boy single?

Audio

[tauraran]

{This is a first! He has never been wolf whistled at before. The sound has him puzzled.}

Do you mean "does he have a mate"?

[hisman]

[ Incoming daddy issues. ]

did your son know you loved him before you left?

[tauraran]

My heart says yes, but I did not tell him.

{So there's a large chance that...no, Legolas doesn't know.}

text; un: teacupprincess

[porcelainandblood]

I do not have any children, per se. That is, not in the way you speak of.

[Although she considers her gaelikitten as close to a child as she is ever going to get. He is almost like her son, she supposes, though she wouldn't have thought it until Thranduil made mention of things as they are.]

It must be very difficult to be separated from your son. I am sorry that you have need to endure that. I am certain you may have heard this already, but the rumour is that time stops in the world you were plucked from. When you return, it will be as though you never left.

Mayhap that will provide you some relief.

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[tauraran]

You have those you consider your responsibility, I take it?

{It isn't quite the same, no. Thranduil can't explain the joy and the terror of holding a baby for the first time and knowing they depend wholly on you.}

I have been given that reassurance often, but that is precisely the problem. He and I did not part on good terms and I would very much like to see him to amend my words.

video, un: hexadin

[halforc]

[ WHAT'S UP, SPARKLES. ]

You know what you need to do? Get absolutely shitfaced on the cheapest ale around and stop thinking so much.

video

[tauraran]

{My how he has fallen to be called Sparkles!}

I cannot. {No, seriously. He can't.} The ale is not strong enough.

video; un: laurea

[wearingguess]

I am perhaps more like a brother than a father to her, but... I too am apart from a child who is dear to me. When I first arrived here, I was often consumed by my fears... The fact that I had abandoned her with no explanation, however involuntarily, was almost more than I could bear. I knew that my friends were trustworthy and would surely look after her in my absence, but nonetheless, I spent many nights lost and terrified, dwelling on all the worst and cruelest possibilities...

It was not until one of my trusted friends arrived here that I was saved. He was from three years in the future, relative to me, and he assured me that Marga was well and happy.

And now...
Well, now I am as consumed as ever by how desperately I miss her... but still, nothing has brought me as much relief in all the time I've been here as the assurance that she is safe.

video

[tauraran]

I have not had that reassurance. {Who could reassure him about Legolas's fate? His son ventured off alone and unless he meets up with Aragorn - as he suggested - there is no one who knows.}

May I ask the age of your Marga? {Compared to him, Legolas will always be young. He has a father's bias.} I must warn you that your concern will not decrease as she grows.

voice; un: oceanqueen

[freshtilapia]

[ Unfortunately Fish’s attention to the elven king’s angst is completely sidetracked by one thing: ]

... did you get that robe here?

voice

[tauraran]

{Well he can't blame her. The robe is lovely and soft on his perfect Elven skin.}

I did. I found it in one of the shops.