{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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[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.

[suspecteverything]

[He's not a man, technically, and would even take some offense to the word. Granted he's used to being demeaned, and being mistaken as human when that's only half true barely even makes the list of things that would bother him.]

Zeritui. A friend of mine lost his wife, and I've seen his pain. I couldn't imagine how I would function without Shara. Probably wouldn't, really.

[tauraran]

{He doesn't know how else to define him. Those eyes scream inhuman and yet...}

I didn't for a long time. I shut myself in my palace and built the walls high to keep out the world. I raised my son close to my side and never took unnecessary risks.

But the world burst through my walls and my doors anyway.

[suspecteverything]

[He barely manages not to visibly cringe at the mention of a palace. Sure, he would have put money on the fact that Thranduil had royal blood just by looking at him on the video, but still... Palace is a reminder he does not want to have.]

The world does tend to destroy the best laid plans, and it has a particular penchant for targeting ruling bodies.

Your son manage after her death? Even if it took awhile, like mine?

[tauraran]

{His palace might change his mind. Instead of some lofty building made out of stone, the Woodland Realm boasts a palace that fits in with the forest seamlessly. The walls are tree trunks intermixed with stone and there is fresh water running right through the palace's interior in the form of a stream.}

He is stronger than I am; I tried to remind him of her love as he grew, but I was remiss.

{Thranduil always had difficulty expressing himself, but maybe Legolas knew that both of his parents adored him?}

[suspecteverything]

[Yeah, it's more just the whole palace thing. He was traumatized his entire youth and most of his early adulthood in one. Not such a fan.]

Kind of amazes me how strong kids are. They bounce back from things that in all rational reasoning should destroy them.

[tauraran]

{That's understandable and Thranduil isn't exactly known for treating outsiders well. He does keep the prison cells clean?}

I won't let him be destroyed. What better reason for a father to live?

[suspecteverything]

[Jules would have given his right arm to be in lock up Mirkwood instead of the lovely private prison under his grandmother's palace.

A brilliant smile flashes across Jules' face, revealing his fangs.]

None that I can think of other than perhaps seeing the success your children become as they grow up.

[tauraran]

{Mirkwood is a nicer place over-all and it's not as if Thranduil is completely unreasonable. Just mostly!

Fangs. He catches sight of them and takes note. Red eyes and fangs. What sort of being has both?}

That would be his doing; not mine.

[suspecteverything]

[Andarions with a specific genetic mutation do.

Jules cocks an eyebrow at that odd answer, but it's the only physical indication of his disagreement. He is court trained and can be very expressionless and formal when he wants to be.]

Well, sure. Upbringing isn't everything. Still, an important job of a parent is to provide the tools needed for their child's success. It's something I find quite a bit of pleasure in.

[tauraran]

{He is relentlessly curious about other races. The variety that walks on Arda have long since bored him.

Yes, in many ways, he is a spoiled King.}

I taught him how to fight, how to fire an arrow, how to survive in extreme elements and a thousand other lessons. What he does with them is his choice; I hope he uses them well.

[suspecteverything]

I take it he's older then. Young adult or fully grown?

[Because he's currently dealing with not wanting to let go of the noose he has around his eldest's neck. It's not an easy thing to do.]

[tauraran]

Young adult, I would say. {With an innocent mind. Thranduil has sheltered him and it shows.} He has never left home before now.

[suspecteverything]

Sounds like my son. The only time he's left the station was when he was kidnapped.

[And that kidnapping was what had brought them together.]

[tauraran]

I take it you did not treat said kidnapper kindly?

{He would torture them for years if it were him.}

[suspecteverything]

Minsid hell, no! And I didn't even know the kid then. That was the first time we'd met. His mother did me the incredible honor of allowing me to claim him as mine after we married.

[tauraran]

Do you need to know a child to understand the effect a kidnapping could have on them? {Years. of. torture. At least. Thranduil has no mercy for those who harm little ones.}

I assume they healed?

[suspecteverything]

[Jules snorts.]

Hardly.

Surprisingly fast. Apparently he healed from previous trauma he'd been carrying the weight of for years after he was kidnapped too.

[tauraran]

It takes great strength to overcome trauma of that nature. He may be destined for great things.

{Empathetic leaders can be molded from said circumstances. Or the child could grow to be the opposite.}

[suspecteverything]

I'd just prefer those great things didn't involve becoming a Tavali pilot, but that's a fool's hope and I know it.

[tauraran]

What does he pilot? {Don't tell him the kid is riding dragons.}

[suspecteverything]

Nothing yet, thank the gods. Eventually I'm sure he'll end up piloting his own ship.

[tauraran]

Yes, the ships. I wondered what they are like.

[suspecteverything]

Depends on the ship I guess... Mine is an old girl, but I prefer her that way. The electronics and coding are easier to upgrade and alter than the newer ones. They're equipped to live on for some extended periods of time. Sometimes our runs go through multiple star systems and planets before we get back home. Almost all of them are equipped with some kind of defensive and offensive systems.

[Yes, he's talking about space ships.]

Anything in particular you want to know?