Legolas laughed, and Tauriel beside him giggled. They stood shoulder to shoulder with their backs to the throne room doors.

Thranduil entered, but stilled when he saw them chuckling over something that appeared to have all their attention while at the same time keep them so highly amused as to be ignorant of their surroundings.

Silently he approached from behind, wondering what they were looking at. For a moment he allowed himself a small smile at how fortunate he was that his son had inherited his mother's height. The Elvenking had no difficulty gazing over his shoulder at the object the two young Elves were enthralled with.

A phone from the Real World.

One of those flat little things that was apparently encased in smooth metal and a strange type of glass. People from the Real World seemed to adore them, and were constantly tapping the glass and changing the pictures beneath it. Thranduil kept himself as far from them as possible, highly unamused and uninterested in the strange contraptions.

However, Legolas, Tauriel, and several of the young Elves found great fascination with them, and had secret brought several home with them after a highly illegal journey to the Real World.

"And what, pray, is so amusing?" Thranduil asked, lifting a silvering eyebrow as he spoke, watching them jump in front of him with a vanishing half-smile.

"Oh, Ada! We, I, That is. . ." Legolas trailed off, and Tauriel clasped her hands in front of her, shifting her booted feet and gazing intently at the floor as if it bore the answers to the universe.

"I wish to see what on that device has captured your interest so dearly." Thranduil extended his tapered fingers, the sleeves of his midnight-blue robe swishing hollowly in the vast room.

Legolas gazed from his hand to his father's, and appeared to be warring internally with himself. Thranduil swallowed and closed his eyes for but a moment. Opening them once again, he focused his attentions and thoughts fully upon the two characters before him.

"Legolas, I asked you to give it to me, but I have few qualms regarding removing it from your grasp forcefully."

With a large sigh from Tauriel and a grimace from Legolas, the Prince gave his father the phone.

Taking the cool, smooth thing in his hand, Thranduil tapped the glass, illuminating the pictures again. Brushing his fingertip crosswise on the screen, he managed to change the picture. He admired the way the artist had attempted to incorporate himself with several of the other Arda inhabitants, King Bard being one of the main focuses in the collection of art.

Smiling to himself as he scanned the pictures, Thranduil finally held out the phone to Legolas, who blinked twice, staring at his father. "Ada?" It was so faint that one might not have heard it, but Thranduil did, and he suspected Tauriel did too.

He brushed passed them to the stairs leading to his throne. Abruptly, he paused.

"Legolas, the words beneath that first portrait. Read them aloud, please," he requested casually, almost absently. He regarded the two Elves with a slightly tilted head, pale locks slipping over his shoulder.

"Y-you mean the caption?" Legolas glanced from the phone to his father, and Thranduil thought for a moment.

"Yes, if that is what it is called, do read it to me."

"O-of course." Legolas, for the first time, seemed to be highly embarrassed, and it made his father smile a ghost of a smile before regaining his serious composure.

"King Thranduil looks fabulous with Bard, I gotta admit." Legolas' face turned a rosy shade of pink, and Tauriel looked as if she wished to die where she stood. Thranduil merely nodded, strode back to the two, leaned down a fraction, and spoke in a low voice.

"Legolas, I look fabulous with everyone."

Abruptly he whirled and resumed his walk to the stairs.

"Did- did I hear him correctly?" Tauriel asked weakly. Legolas nodded, mute. "Your dad is so weird, Leggy." Tauriel looked over at him.

Legolas smacked a hand over his face, slowly pulling it down to his chin. "I know, I know. . ." he groaned miserably, the words slightly muffled by his hand.