Walking in the Woods by daughterofshadows

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Walking in the Woods

A Sci-Fi AU?
Yes indeed
And boi has it proven to be inspiring! Join me during Gen Week as we meet with many different people all throughout this planetary system, with its space stations and spaceships big and small.
Today's cast included:

Alcarinna: Those more familiar with my work may remember her from Presentation Day. The genderfluid spouse of Thranduil loves the trees and their family. They grew up with their father Galdor and met Thranduil at a political meeting. Together, the couple has three children: Beriathal, Legolas and Gladhirneth. In this fic Alcarinna uses she/her pronouns.

Beriathal: Thranduil's and Alcarinna's oldest son. He's got an interest for politics and his diplomatic skills serve him well when he has to negotiate with his younger siblings. Truly, he doesn't mind watching them, but could they please, please listen, every now and again? Please? He'll even give them cookies.

Ethuilass: Thranduil's father is a slim man with a silver tongue. His diplomatic accolades include the negotiation of the Sirion Treaty which established the off-planet colonies of former Doriath. He's also trans.

Oropher: A tall man with an unfortunate resting bitch face, he may be, but underneath the harsh exterior, Thranduil's other father hides a soft core. He would follow his husband anywhere, even if it means not seeing his grandchildren for months on end.

Tauriel: The daughter of Alphenion, a merchant, and Mirhaweth, a security guard, met the bane of her existence when her mother decided it was Bring your child to work day. Just kidding, usually she like Beriathal well enough. Unless he's trying to introduce her to his scary grandparents.

Honorary mentions to Legolas, whose current goal in life is to set height records on the swing set, and Gladhirneth, who likes nothing more than driving her oldest brother bonkers

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Eryn Lasgalen Station was the first time Alcarinna had ever seen trees. Despite being born on Doriath, with its beautiful and lush forests, she had left the planet shortly after to live on the VSS Gondolin with her father and never returned before most of its forests had been consumed by terrible fires. It hadn’t been until she followed her boyfriend home to this very space station that she had gotten a glimpse of the stories her mother told her when she couldn’t fall asleep.

And under these green giants she had fallen in love, first with the station and its people, and then years later, with the three children her marriage had been blessed with.

Alcarinna froze. The children had joined her on her walk, but now it was suspiciously quiet. A look around confirmed her fears. The children were nowhere to be seen.

She cursed under her breath.

There was blessedly little danger they could find here, and she knew Beriathal and Tauriel would keep an eye on the younger two, especially Gladhirneth, but they also shouldn’t have to. Teenagers should get into trouble, not spend all their time babysitting younger siblings.

Alcarinna picked up the pace. Knowing her children, they had likely just run ahead to the other end of the trees where a small play area was located. Gladhirneth absolutely loved it, and Legolas might pretend that he was too old for it now, but she was almost certain she would find him on the swing set, trying to set new height records.

 

It was a wonderful day for a walk beneath the trees, Oropher thought as he entered the park arm in arm with his husband.

“There’s nothing quite like home, is there?” Ethuilass sighed happily and Oropher nodded in agreement.

They had spent most of the last decade travelling across the system, helping with a variety of different conflicts.

Ethuilass especially had made a name for himself as diplomat when Doriath was first evacuated, helping many of the different factions to come to peaceful agreements. Without his work, they likely wouldn’t have lasted for even half as long as they did.

But no matter how proud Oropher was of his husband, it still meant they had spent long years away from Eryn Lasgalen.

He sighed.

The years just flew by too fast.

Beriathal was almost an adult now. He had already lost most of the baby fat in his cheeks and last time Oropher had seen him, he’d been almost as tall as his father.

Legolas, too, was shooting up like a weed. For now, only Gladhirneth remained their little girl, but even she would outgrow her childhood sooner than Oropher and Ethuilass liked.

 

A small body colliding with his legs abruptly dragged Oropher out of his daydreams.

“Grandpa! You’re back!”

He looked down at his granddaughter, smiling up at him with a toothy grin.

She reached out and he lifted her up.

“Hello, my darling little watcher! Have you been good for your parents? What adventures have you gone on since we last saw you, hm?”

He pressed their foreheads together, and she snuggled closer into his arms, babbling at a mile a minute.

Oropher smiled contently.

 

“Where have they gone! They were here just a moment ago!” Beriathal cursed and sprang up from the bench he and Tauriel had settled on to watch his younger siblings. His mother would skin him if anything happened to them.

Tauriel put a soothing hand on his arm.

“Come on, they can’t have gone far. And they both know they shouldn’t leave the park without one of us. Let’s check behind the—Wait. Isn’t that your grandfather over there? And that blond boy with him is definitely Legolas!”

Beriathal followed Tauriel’s outstretched arm pointing towards the exit and a grin grew on his face.

“Yes! That’s Granddad! Oh, and there’s Grandpa and Gladhirneth! I didn’t know they’d be back already! Come on! Let’s go over and say hi!”

But Tauriel dragged her feet.

“You go on and say hi, you haven’t seen them in ages. I’ll just wait right here.” She plopped down on the bench again.

Beriathal sighed. “Is this about how you don’t think you should talk to my grandfathers again, because they’re the…”

“Kings. They’re the kings of this station and the daughter of a merchant and a security guard has no business talking to the likes of them”, Tauriel hissed, blushing furiously. Oh, why had her mother ever introduced them? Befriending Beriathal was clearly the worst decision she’d ever made. He would get her into so much trouble!

Beriathal spluttered.

“They’re NOT kings! This space station is led by an elected body of government! You know that!”

“And still the council values your father’s and grandfathers’ input more than anything! They might not hold the title, but that doesn’t change the facts!”

Beriathal huffed and looked around trying to find a good response. Instead, he saw his mother entering the playground area.

“Ammë!” he shouted, waving his hands. Immediately, Alcarinna made a beeline towards them.

“Beriathal! Tauriel! I’m so glad I found you again. Where are your siblings, Beri? Please tell me you didn’t lose them.”

Beriathal pouted. “Of course not, Ammë. They’re over there with Granddad and Grandpa.” He pointed over to where the two men were standing, their grandchildren in their arms. Then he turned to his mother again.

“Could you please convince Tauriel that it is not some sort of political slip-up if she comes and says hi to them? She seems to think it the height of rudeness.”

He side-eyed Tauriel, who stuck her tongue out at him and crossed her arms.

Alcarinna looked between the two for a moment, then she sat down next to Tauriel.

“Sweetheart, I promise, whatever you think the problem is, Ethuilass and Oropher won’t mind. They’re two of the most wonderful people I have ever met, and I know they would love to meet you. You and your parents are incredibly important to me, and that makes you important to them, too.”

Tauriel looked at her sceptically.

“Are you sure? He always looks so terrifying. Like nothing ever makes him happy!”

“Who?”

Tauriel threw a quick glance at the two men who were now slowly wandering over to them and hissed, “Oropher!”

Alcarinna had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing out loud. “Oh sweetheart. I promise, he isn’t half as scary as he looks. Come on. We’ll introduce you and you’ll see.”

And with that, she stood up and tucked the younger girl towards her fathers-in-law.

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Chapter End Notes

I have shared custody over all of these OCs with XirinofArvada.

Written for Tolkien Gen Week Day 1 - Family