Instadrabbles by Kaylee Arafinwiel

A Midnight Tale

{Afternoon, old, midnight, temperature}

"Ada?"

"Yes, guren." Oropher returned from his reverie, remembering the shadows of that long-ago afternoon adventure, and realising the darkness of midnight now lay over the Greenwood. He was still in his office, face to face with his sleepy-eyed son. Thranduil had his stuffed rabbit Helvui under one arm, of course, but was fixing him with an accusing look. "Ada, you're supposed to be in bed."

So are you, laes-nin, Oropher thought with fond exasperation. He merely raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"The sun's asleep, so you should be asleep."

"That is what I tell you, my elfling," Oropher said with a wry look. "You are still young, sweetling; you need the sleep more than I."

"Does that make you old?"

I walked right into that one, Oropher sighed, but shook his head. "Old enough," he allowed, "not to need sleep every night. It is midnight; you ought to have been in bed long ago."

"I was in bed." Thranduil trotted into the office, closing the door behind him, and went to Oropher. He climbed into his father's lap. "But you never came for my story, even though you told Ivy you'd tell me." He reached up to feel his father's forehead. "Do you have a temperature? Ivy says if you do you're poorly and that makes you cross and not remember things."

"Ivoniel does know quite a bit about that," Oropher conceded. She had been his nurse, and his brother's, before she was Thranduil's. "I do not, I promise. I have been very busy with my work. I am sorry, sweetling."

"King things must be hard," Thranduil said, tightening his grip on Oropher. "But prince things are hard, too."

"Mmm. I am sure they must be," Oropher allowed, giving his son a fond kiss. "Come, I will put you back to bed and tell you a story."

"About Anor?" Thranduil suggested.

"About Anor," Oropher agreed, and on the way to the nursery, he began, "Once upon a time in the Kingdom of Doriath, the sky was lit only by stars..."