{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.}

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[spacegoat]

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

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[tauraran]

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

[spacegoat]

[ She gives him a soft look. ]

Would it be making you feeling better to speak about him? There are no distraction strong enough with this issue, or I would be offering such.

[tauraran]

I'm not sure about that.

You and I have yet to meet in person. I would like to know more about you and your race.

{And, yes, he will speak of Legolas. His little Greenleaf.}

[spacegoat]

Then I tell you some and you tell me some, yes?

My people, we have been traveling the planets and dimensions for many centuries, to escape the Burning Legion, a horde of the demons. They are very angry that many of us, we ran instead of joining. Our savior, he was one of three friends and leaders of our people that were offered power by these evil forces. Two, they accepted, but our Prophet, he saw the truth and tried to save as many of us as possible.

I myself, I was not born in these times, and it has been many millennia since.

[tauraran]

That sounds fair. {Her story sounds similar to another. "It all began with the forging of the Great Rings. Three were given to the Elves; immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. Seven, to the Dwarf Lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of Men, who above all else desire power. For within these rings was bound the strength and the will to govern over each race. But they were all of them deceived, for another ring was made. In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged in secret, a master ring, to control all others. And into this ring he poured all his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate all life. One ring to rule them all. One by one, the free peoples of Middle Earth fell to the power of the Ring. But there were some who resisted. A last alliance of men and elves marched against the armies of Mordor, and on the very slopes of Mount Doom, they fought for the freedom of Middle-Earth. Victory was near, but the power of the ring could not be undone. It was in this moment, when all hope had faded, that Isildur, son of the king, took up his father's sword. And Sauron, enemy of the free peoples of Middle-Earth, was defeated. The Ring passed to Isildur, who had this one chance to destroy evil forever, but the hearts of men are easily corrupted. And the ring of power has a will of its own. It betrayed Isildur, to his death. And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge. Until, when chance came, the ring ensnared a new bearer. The ring came to the creature Gollum, who took it deep into the tunnels under the Misty Mountains, and there it consumed him. The ring gave to Gollum unnatural long life. For five hundred years it poisoned his mind; and in the gloom of Gollum's cave, it waited. Darkness crept back into the forests of the world. Rumor grew of a shadow in the East, whispers of a nameless fear, and the Ring of Power perceived. Its time had now come. It abandoned Gollum. But then something happened that the Ring did not intend. It was picked up by the most unlikely creature imaginable. A Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, of the Shire."

Thranduil nods faintly.} Your Prophet must have been successful or else you would not be before me.

Legolas was born after my wife and I had been married for some time. He is our one and only and we cherished every milestone he reached and conquered. But Middle Earth has never known true peace. She was a warrior too and that was how we lost her.

[spacegoat]

[ The mention of his lost wife makes her glowing eyes widen a bit in shock, and Mina's expressive face turns sympathetic. ]

I am very sorry for your loss. Battle, it takes even the bravest.

[ She tries to come up with something to say after that, one tendril by her face playing with a lock of her hair. No information she could give would even slightly give him solace, so she just continues her story. ]

Our prophet, he is still a very good leader, despite the 25 millennia we were ran. The naaru, beings of light and wisdom, has guided us as well. It was one of them who helped him help us. The Legion, it never stops, and our planet was destroyed. Recently, it was brought over to the planet we are now on by godlike powers, and I saw the ruins for the first time.

So much lost. But we defeated the Legion for good, so we are free.

[tauraran]

She did not have to die. {But the Enemy has never cared. He sends out his armies with the simplest and cruelest of orders: kill all in sight.}

My father too should not have fallen. {Oropher had been struck down in battle as well. Is there any wonder why Thranduil avoids it?}

Twenty five millennia... {He breathes the number, in awe of it.} I admire your resiliency and I am relieved you had aid, however fighting a foe for so long...

It would be enough to cause madness.

[spacegoat]

Nobody has to. You have had many losses, so I am understanding your feelings more, now.

[ With being away from his son, a living person in all his lost family. ]

It is very long time. I am lucky to be personally so much younger and missing many of it. Not that I have not known the Legion far too well, but I am not near the prophet... and he has the Naaru to guide him. I do not think he will be mad with all the Light on his side.

[tauraran]

He is lucky to be so blessed. The Naaru remind me of the Valar. If I were accompanied by Manwë or Varda, I too would be protected from madness.

{Their Light is too strong for Darkness to penetrate.}

The rest of us must carry on as best as we can. Avoid heartache, my lady.

[spacegoat]

They are your gods, I am assuming?

[ The destruction of the Legion was proof that the Light would always prevail. ]

I am hoping for very little heartache in my life, but it is part of it, no? I have been losing people, and I will lose more.

[tauraran]

Eru is the Creator; the Valar are his servants and the Maiar serve them. Elves are the children of Eru, created to live in harmony with the Valar and Maiar, though our might and our power cannot match theirs.

{The Valar are more like angels.}

Losing is inescapable.

[spacegoat]

Your people are children of the gods, then?

[ Curious, but not impossible to imagine. There were the Lightforged, after all; people reborn into the Light with its power pulsing in their veins.

She pauses for a moment, thoughtful. ]

A wise, if unfortunate fact.

[tauraran]

You could say so. {Elves are meant to be strong and good; leaders of the other races in times of need. But pettiness has set in and not all races trust the Elves anymore.}

But you can withstand it. I sense strength in you.

[spacegoat]

It is a pity that it is a strength born of loss, but a strength nonetheless. For us both, I am being sure.

[tauraran]

I credit you more with that trait than myself. {There are many days he feels weak. He just hides it well.}

[spacegoat]

[ Don't they all? ]

Your majesty is proving his strength right now, to speak with someone when it is a bad day. It is shown in many different ways.

[tauraran]

If I ceased to speak on days where I felt poorly, my councilors would begin to worry.

{All the same...}

Thank you.

[spacegoat]

It is nothing to thank for. I am always happy to listen.

[tauraran]

Then you are a blessing.