Title: TH Thranduil's Promise

Chapter 1: Dispatch

Spoiler Alert: The Hobbit and LOTR (books, maps and movies)

Warnings: at some point…Language, Sexual Situations, Violence, AU

Pairing: Thranduil/Unnamed Elfmaiden in Rivendell

Summary: Ship AU – Thranduil must allow one of Elrond's Elfmaidens into his realm to assist him with a mutual foe. He does not want her aid nor does he desire the feelings that her arrival stirs inside him.

A/N: I always wondered why they (and by they…you know of whom I speak) didn't name a lot of the women, so I have given the Elfmaiden a name and back story to go with the pretty face from the journey of Arwen. And in keeping with the tradition, I will delay naming her till the next chapter. I'm also playing loose with canon timeframes and facts in this AU. Update: I did a little rewriting on these first 4 chapters.

Elrond mentally raised an eyebrow at Thranduil. "Need I remind you of your promise?"

Thranduil did not respond, and instead he froze holding a jug of wine. They had been talking using Elrond's renowned abilities at telepathic communication and now Thranduil knew he came to his point.

Elrond continued. "My people died in the keeping of the promise and now they die again from the lack of you keeping yours."

The words dug deep into Thranduil's mind causing a flash of memory. Thranduil's hand slackened causing the jug to drop from his hand. It was something that had not happened in thousands of years. Thranduil was definitely not known for being clumsy or easily shaken.

The splash of red liquid that covered the floor and sprinkled on his silver boots reminded him of the bloody war that he almost lost…so long ago.

Images of the Great Fire Serpents of the North assaulted him in flickering dizzying procession – the smell of ash then that of flame that mercilessly consumed the world he knew and loved.

Thranduil clenched his teeth pulling back from the inferno and waited a minute to respond. "Not a lack, but a mere pause."

Instead of replying this time, Elrond held back and let Thranduil have some mental room. If he wanted a pause then he would give him one to punctuate it. He knew it would work better than yelling. But, Elrond hoped he did not overdo it with the mental prompt because he had no wish to push his old ally too far. And so he waited knowing that Thranduil was patient and might decide to wait days or years before responding to spite him if he lost his temper.

Thranduil kicked his boot to get the last few drops of red wine off and stepped back so his lavish trailing robe would not be spoiled. "Very well. One and only one may enter my realm."

Elrond nodded. "She has already been dispatched and has been ridding the lands in between mine and yours of the giant spiders. I will signal her to enter Mirkwood."

Elrond thought he heard teeth grinding and knew that response in person usually meant death. Elrond would have preferred hearing one of his explosive rants. He had actually expected it then thought it would be followed with being told that Thranduil would pick the time.

"I will meet with her first." Thranduil punctuated the words like daggers in Elrond's mind.

Elrond felt the snap of the communication a moment later and now both of his eyebrows went up as he held his head that felt as if it had been chopped off. Elrond chanted healing, but stopped when the pain did not dissipate.

He had no idea that Thranduil held telepathic abilities, and he knew that even Galadriel and Celeborn did not know this information either. From the force of the separation, it was obvious Thranduil was rather gifted. Elrond didn't understand why Thranduil would hide such power then he remembered who he was thinking about and how he savored an advantage. Elrond wondered if Thranduil had more subtle mental gifts and if he could have been gently probing his mind because Elrond had not put protection in place because he had always believed Thranduil did not posses this gift. He would not make that mistake in the future.

Elrond gripped the rail not even seeing the breathtaking view from his personal terrace. "Stay where you are just out of Mirkwood. I believe he is coming to you. I fear he is very unhappy about this and just revealed to me his telepathic abilities may surpass my own." He shifted his stance. "No king likes to have it pointed out that they cannot handle their own affairs. I will send another to replace you. Tell him you are leaving and that I send another. A Great Eagle can carry someone there by the end of the day." Elrond had held back issuing it as a formal order and kept it more casual.

A female voice floated back to Elrond. "I am not leaving. He needs assistance, and I will supply it. My mother died helping him defeat the dragons. In the moments before her death, she gave his people their future."

"I am aware." He leaned more heavily on the rail remembering that her mother had died and so had his own wife just a day before that.

"The Elvenking was wounded holding them back giving her those last few moments. Even then after she succeeded and her life was all but gone, he still tried to protect her. He carried her body back to the healers and demanded they save her. She was mostly intact, so there was a faint chance." She tried to hold back tears.

Elrond felt the impact of her words and could not reply. He still carried guilt knowing that his promise had sealed her fate causing her to be orphaned. His daughter was her best friend and so he raised her from that point forward as his own daughter. Smaug being slain a couple of years ago had started her nightmares again. He wondered what impact it had upon the Elvenking to have had a dragon so close to his current home.

The feminine voice continued. "She was intact, and that was more than I could say for him. His skin and muscles were melted off of almost half his body. But, he wouldn't let them spend one moment on him. He made them all focus on her, and it was almost enough. Almost." Her mental words weakened only becoming a whisper at the end, so she pulled herself back from the heartache to strengthen her words. "It is only fitting that I was dispatched to assist him with the spider nests that keep flourishing for some reason. It is a way of repaying what he tried and did do for me. He gave me a second. To say goodbye."

Elrond lowered his head knowing that she was not speaking about facts that had been relayed to her. She had hidden in a shipment of fruit for the troops and had watched the things of which she now spoke. She was nothing more than a little girl who could do nothing but cry as she watched the valiant king who by all accounts shouldn't have been even able to stand…but he managed to remove her mother from the battle. And Elrond knew from looking into her memory that for a moment just a moment her eyes locked with her mother's just before they closed for the last time.

And in that second of time between mother and daughter, he felt the push that her mother had sent into her mind. It was love. Complete and unwavering love. It had wrapped around her like a warm hug and seeped away as her life dwindled.

Elrond felt even more regret and anxiety about his choice to send her to Mirkwood even though she was the best he had. He knew she revered Thranduil and if he acted against her that she might not defend herself. He knew the Elvenking was in no mood to be merciful. He never was, but especially not now. "I should not have sent you. He is angry."

"When is he not?" She pulled her black cloak more securely around herself. "I want to be here, and I know how he is. I have not been that innocent little child that played hide and seek the fireflies with Arwen for quite some time now. I know that he is capable of almost anything, but kindness. Her sacrifice and death broke my heart ripping me out of my childish mind, but it hardened his to the point that he has lost himself. I shall wait for him and assume he wants to kill me. Does that make you feel better my Lord?"

Elrond pulled back from the connection, so she would not get an impression of his feelings. He blinked out at the morning light knowing that she was right that he often thought of her and Arwen as little girls giggling and twirling their dresses. He knew both were capable women, but his paternal instincts always kicked in wanting to protect.

That was part of the reason he resisted letting her learn the craft that had been her mothers. He remembered getting a report after she had been in training for only twenty years that she had already rose to a level that took most adults a thousand.

She was a natural, and with that came quick advancement. He knew that also caused her skills to be wilder as she strayed from the taught paths finding new ones. Sometimes her experiments were deadly, but mostly they resulted in things that drew scholars. They would write about how she accomplished the tasks then altered them for how a more normal one of her kind could use it.

Elrond reestablished a full connection with her. He then folded his hands issuing a phrase that meant they would meet again. "Tenna' ento lye omenta."

She repeated it back to him knowing both of them preferred that phrasing instead of a formal farewell that felt final. "Tenna' ento lye omenta."

Thranduil quickly changed into one of his many combat uniforms. He had decided on one that was less ostentatious. In reality, it was the only one that was designed more toward function instead of pomp. He tugged on a dark brown vest that had protective spells on it then boots that were spelled to lessen the sound and trace of his passing. He didn't think he needed the later, but considering what kind of Elf he was dealing with the Elvenking decided it was practical.

He had just finished braiding his long lustrous hair back when Tauriel strode down stairs into his chamber. His hands paused a moment as he only just now realized that he had tied his hair back in the fashion he did when he had dealt one on one with the fire serpents. It was too late to shake it out because she was watching him.

"My King, you sent for me." Tauriel tried to keep her expression stoic even as she took note of his hair. Her mind instantly brought up the fact that Legolas had told her that his father had stopped restraining his hair back the day after the dragons of the North had been defeated. She stood even straighter if that was possible and waited to hear the news that dragons were about to descend upon their realm.

"You will pull back the guard. Open up the reserve chambers farther below that are in place in case of invasion. There are plenty of rations. Keep everyone inside the mountain and have them put the added protective runes in place on all points of entry." He paused and looked over to her. "All points of entry."

"Yes, my King." Her cheeks slightly pinked as she knew he was talking about the Dwarven Barrel Incident as it had been termed by many of the guard.

He opened a chest and pulled out a sword he had not worn in ages…literally. He strapped it on and rested his hand on the black enchanted handle that only he could touch without paralysis. The metal was warm with magic, and he turned for the steps remembering the Elfmaiden who had spelled it. Unknowing he touched the left side of his face.

Tauriel followed seeing that everyone they passed stepped back in shock at the sight of him wearing dark drab attire and a black sword.

She thought it probably stunned them even more once they noticed that he did not have even the simplest battle crown on his head or the broach on his chest that the late Elvenqueen gave him. It was beyond unusual he was dressed this way in public. He didn't wear anything that shined save the one elaborate gold ring that he wore on his right hand's ring finder. No silver cape, flowing robe or even shimmering metallic armor. His hair was pulled back and his clothing appeared old and well worn. It was a scandal that would be talked of for ages.

She guessed the passersbys would have had similar reactions if another Elf strode by completely naked with his hair shaved off while singing like a Dwarf.

Tauriel tried not to think of Kili and signaled to her second in command to catch up to her. When he did, she quickly relayed the Elvenking's wishes. She watched him nod then forgot about him trusting that he would issue the orders as he was trained.

When they were at the exit to the mountain, Tauriel risked one question. "My King, what army or evil is coming for us?"

When he didn't respond, she risked her life yet again. "Dragons?"

"No. Something or I should actually say someone much worse." Thranduil stared out and tossed his long thick braid over his shoulder. To him, one of the Sect was much worse because they brought on the memories of the dragons and his failure.

Tauriel swallowed knowing of nothing and no one, not even Sauron himself, that Thranduil considered worse than a dragon. She thought over his words. He did not say worse. He had said much worse. She further thought of how her scouts said that some of the spiders were shifting moving Southeast instead of Northwest. That meant the spiders were moving from Rivendell toward Mordor for protection from something that was headed their way. She tried to think of a common enemy that they shared with the spiders and came up empty. Who is an enemy to the peoples of Middle Earth and Sauron and also much worse than dragons?

Thranduil told himself that he had to go out and meet the one Elrond sent, and he hated that he felt a stirring in his heart. Grief. Loss. Failure.

Thranduil shifted his stance gripping his sword pommel again allowing himself a moment in his memories thinking of one particular member of the Sect. Everyone knew the Sect hid their identities; all research of their findings and experimenting were written simply saying Sect Member instead of using names. Thranduil had come to think of her as she who spelled his sword and gave her life for his people. Now, he thought of her courage that resulted in her death because he failed to rescue her.

Even now he still marveled at her abilities that put all others of the Sect to shame and how she threw off her cloak revealing herself even as the battle raged around her. It was in order to soak in as much power as she could – taking in the rays of starlight that illuminated her hair giving her power.

In that moment, Thranduil knew she was forfeiting her life by taking the power she needed; she had to know it would draw the enemy's attention. He fought with all his strength and ability to shield her. Hundreds of his men and women had died, but it had not been enough to protect her while she conjured.

Now standing at his gate, he glanced down at the intricate golden ring on his finger remembering that her hair held the exact same metallic gold hue. The ring he wore had been on a chain around her neck. Later, Elrond told him it was her father's, and he had given the ring to Elrond to return it because even in death the Sect member's name and family could not be revealed…not even to a king. Elrond assured him that he would personally hand the ring to her father. Lenenar, the dead Sect member's father, rejected the ring and wrote a letter in response to the Elvenking. The letter conveyed that is was only half his and that when he gave it to his daughter she had enchanted it with her own ring to form one that would protect against poison and alleviate physical pain from injuries.

Thranduil knew that her father had been told about the state that he ended up being in because he protected her. He held himself upright and tried not to show his torment when in public, and he used his glamour to hide the wounds that were still healing at the time. The elder Elf's letter only bid him vow that he would wear it and protect his people so that her death would not be in vain.

Thranduil had vowed and worn it from that day to this and never once in did it leave his hand.

Thranduil's thoughts returned to the present. He let go of the sword and ran his fingers over the ring that had fuelled his isolationist obsession, which was an attempt to keep his vow.

"Keep all inside the mountain. We are going to deal with the spiders then I will return and things will go back as they were. Hopefully."

Tauriel whispered. "The one they run from…the one who is worse than dragons is going to assist with ridding the realm of the spiders." She made it a statement and contemplated then that she had been wrong to think they were under siege by an enemy. She then tried to think of a non-enemy who he wouldn't even want his guard coming into contact with that was also an enemy of Mordor, but more feared than dragons.

Tauriel's mind iced over realizing who terrorizes even Kings in their sleep and who could take care of the thousands of spiders who were overrunning their lands. She whispered only barely enough so that he could hear her and all the while she feared the one of whom she spoke might have a way to hear her. "He is sending one of them?"

Tauriel knew them to be the thing of nightmares and were only dispatched when all hope of survival was lost because they sometimes became unstable. In ancient times she knew they had accidently swallowed up entire armies and realms into deep canyons killing hundreds of thousands by accident. It was even recorded one had lost focus trying to stop a volcano and petrified the village they were sent to protect. A group working together became distracted and all those around them twisted together like vines wrapping around trees and they fused together in nightmarish blood squirting gardens of horror. As far as anyone knew, there were only a dozen or so alive today and even Sauron when he was in full power would not risk a confrontation with a group of them. It was rumored that Galadriel was one, but Tauriel did not believe that because it was said they remained cloaked to hide their scared and mutated bodies that were the result of practice gone wrong.

Tauriel clenched her hands hoping she was wrong. In doing so, she noticed her hands had broken out into a sweat. She rubbed them together remembering the story about the last time their services were used in open combat. Thranduil had been there. He fought alongside one that soaked up starlight to infuse the spirits of the fallen Elves into the bodies of dead dragons.

The possessed dragon bodies then turned on the living dragons killing them all even as the one who did the spell died. As the one died, the souls were released from the dragon's bodies so that they could be free. Even to this day, there was talk about what would have happened if the one had died before releasing them. It was speculated that the vengeful souls could have turned on everyone without the one to control them and could have destroyed all life in Middle Earth even down to the last blade of grass. Yes, she reminded herself there was a reason why even the Dark Lord did not allow them anywhere near him. Surely, Thranduil would not allow one of their kind here.

"He has already sent one. The most powerful one." Thranduil pushed back his emotions and tried to clear his mind. "I go to meet a Necromage Elfmaiden…a Sect Member."

Thranduil stepped toward the gate and did not hear Tauriel moving with him as she always did. He paused to peer over his shoulder.

Tauriel was staring at him. She wasn't breathing, blinking, and all color visibly drained from her face.

Thranduil believed it was because he spoke her deepest fear out loud. He nodded to her. "If I do not return, relay to Legolas he is the new Elvenking. Crowns are in my chambers."

A/N: "Tenna' ento lye omenta." = "Until next we meet." … I want to throw an Elfmaiden of power at Thrandy and see how he reacts to her. I created a back story for how her family knows the Elvenking. I think it works. She is the Elfmaiden that was close to Arwen when she almost left for the Undying Lands in the LOTR movie. I only slept 4 hours last night then jumped up and started writing this. I'm not going to be able to function today, but I just had to get this down.