A Royal Gift

Summary: When Thranduil made a claim that he could train any beast that lived under trees, Elrond decided to take him up for the challenge.

Disclaimer: Not one antler.

Rating: T just for safety.

All of my stories are interconnected unless stated otherwise but you do not need to read one to understand the other.

When I first saw the Hobbit, I jokingly said that Thranduil would have had a fine time training an elk if it were actually canon. Some of the readers wanted me to elaborate on that. So here it is!

Enjoy!

~S~

Greenwood the Great,

Third Age,

Thranduil eyed the magnificent beast puffing through its nostrils and pawing the ground.

"If Lord Elrond thinks that he is being amusing by sending me an elk in place of a steed, then his sense of humour is poorer than I imagined." He said finally. Thorontur, his advisor looked up from the open letter in his hand. He was a serious Elf, with hawkish features, pitch-black hair falling freely and neatly over the expanse of his back. His face was generally expressionless, but Thranduil knew him well enough to catch the tell-tale twitch of his lips.

"It says here that Lord Elrond commends you for personally training five of the ten hounds you traded with him. But he would also like to take up your claim of training any beast for a challenge. As King of the Forest, you must also be able to calm and command any beast living under trees."

"I change my mind," Thranduil muttered. "The Noldorin half-breed lost his mind entirely." Thorontur gave him a disapproving look for his insult but held his tongue. Elrond and Thranduil were close friends and shared more than a few insults each time they met, but at the same time they were strongly bonded. Thranduil did not pay him any attention. Instead, he kept his attention on the animal.

"So he sent me a moose-"

"An elk, actually," Thorontur interrupted. He looked down at the letter and laughed. "Elrond also says here that if you do not recognise the kind then he seems you a terrible King of the Forest."

"I will bruise him the next time we meet." Thranduil quipped. The elk tilted his head and eyed him with one dark, oval eye. The King had to admit, the beast was magnificent. He stood as tall as any horse, was chestnut in colour, with impressively large antlers that would have dwarfed the stables if the roof was not so high.

"I do not think it is wise to keep him in the stables." Thorontur said, worried.

"It is cold outside," Thranduil defended. "He will stay here until I know what to do with him."

"And what will you do?" Thorontur asked. "You cannot possibly of training this beast as your mount!" Thranduil glanced at him with a baleful look.

"Do you doubt me?"

"I think even your teachings have their shortcomings." Thorontur huffed and rolled the letter into a makeshift scroll. Thranduil said nothing, except he pressed his hand on the middle of his chest as if he were both shocked and offended by his words. Thorontur's lips twitched upwards again.

"I do not like to be doubted." Thranduil said finally.

"Clearly," Thorontur was smiling openly now. "Elrond certainly knows how to prick your skin and your pride. No doubt he is laughing about it back in his home!"

"I am going to train him after all." Thranduil said, chin held high. He turned on his heel and walked away, his robes making a trail behind him.

"How?" Thorontur demanded, still rooted to the spot. "You never trained an elk before!"

Reaching the door, Thranduil waved a dismissive hand.

"Oh, I can always ask and say please!" He said cheerfully.

oOo

"Ha!"

Thranduil scrambled up a tree hastily and flopped on a branch. The tree shook and he grabbed onto a branch for dear life. The shaking stopped and he looked down. The elk's brown eyes met his. Bits of dried leaves, fresh soft bark and earth clung to his antlers. From the way he shook his head side to side and he called in his queer voice, he was sure the elk was laughing at him.

The Ellyn across the clearing certainly were.

"Splendid teaching skills, Sire," one of them called out, his voice raised to make himself heard over the echoing laughter. "I am impressed by your superior and vast knowledge!"

"You know, the more exaggerated words you use with sarcasm, the more of a fool you turn out to be, Halion," Thranduil retorted, still holding on to the tree with both legs tucked solidly around its branch. The tree rumbled and the bark bent, and Thranduil realised on mute horror that even the tree was laughing at him.

~Not you too!~ Thranduil snapped.

~The weathered saplings are right,~ It referred to the experienced, full-grown Warriors watching him and the elk. The tree's voice was lively and echoed in his mind like thunder. It also sounded very amused. ~How will you train this beast when it is as free as the forest?~

~Oh, please. Do not say that. It deserves a higher being to be compared with!~ Thranduil retorted. Just then, the branch shook and dipped so fast that Thranduil clung for dear life. The elk stood on his hind legs and playfully nipped Thranduil's boot. The King of Greenwood yelped. ~I change my mind! I change my mind! You are certainly a high being! Do not feed me to that deranged animal!~ He cried.

The tree laughed and slowly straightened itself. The elk comically pranced forward on his hind legs, still biting into Thranduil's boot. His forelegs kicked in the air. He let go when the branch was too high. The Warriors laughed until tears ran over their cheeks.

~I will take an axe and turn you into a pile of firewood.~ He mumbled. The tree's trunk shook in silent laughter and the branch Thranduil was perched on suddenly dipped. Thranduil fell on the ground with a dull thud.

The King groaned and sat up, rubbing his aching back and sides. The elk practically hopped around him, high-pitched voice whinnying like a horse. He lowered its antlers and one leg pawed the ground.

"Not now," he told him. "I am battered and bruised and I crave water before I give in to more games."

Surprisingly the young elk actually listened. He padded forward and ran his head over Thranduil's chest. He kept his head slanted in a way to make sure his antlers did not smack the King on his face. Thranduil smiled and stroked his muzzle.

"I am fine." He assured him. "I just need a bit of water."

There was a shallow, crystal clear stream that ran from the mountains rivers and separated near the entrance of Thranduil's Halls. He went there and slaked his thirst. His Warriors were quiet, after seeing the affection the elk showered on him.

He suddenly felt something press against his backside and pushed hard. Thranduil lost his balance and he hurtled forward. Arms flailing in search of some purchase and finding none, Thranduil landed into the water with a terrific splash.

At first he heard the dull gurgle of water rushing to ears. He saw the blue-green sheen of water before he surfaced again. Thranduil choked and sputtered.

"You are a pain," he told his elk. He cupped his hand and flicked water at him. The beast ducked and dodged as many droplets as he could and bent his antlers into the stream. Water pooled into his antlers like water-filled bowls and he threw it at the King. Thranduil glared at him, dripping wet from head to toe. He heard his Warriors laughing again.

The elk turned around and Thranduil saw the dangerous gleam in his eyes. He pawed the ground furiously before lowering his head and galloping in the direction of the Elves. His Warriors scattered with alarmed shouts and climbed up trees with such speed that Thranduil was impressed. The elk turned and skipped up to him. He could have sworn the elk passed him a conspiratorial wink.

Thranduil climbed out of the stream and laughed.

oOo

"This is like feeding a babe," Thranduil muttered. "Only babes make far less of a mess than this!"

The elk bent his neck and filled his mouth with more grass, chewed it a few times before spraying it on Thranduil. The King closed his eyes briefly before looking down at his tunic. Pieces of saliva-sodden and half-chewed grass clung to his clothes.

"Now you are only doing this on purpose," Thranduil told him. A week and Thranduil began to have a suspicious feeling that the elk was enjoying this immensely and did it only to keep the King present for longer periods of time.

Thranduil turned on his heel and stalked to the far side of the stables. He ignored the elk, which was obviously snickering at him. He found the numerous ceramic pots, all of them as high as an Elf and filled with water. He uncovered one and dipped a bucket in before emptying it on top of himself. He did it enough time to run the pot half-empty before covering the lid and setting the bucket to the side.

"This is the second time you got me drenched." Thranduil told him. The elk looked keenly towards the stables' wide open doors.

"You want to leave the stables?" Thranduil asked. The longing look in the elk's eyes was unmistakeable. Thranduil nodded and pulled back the door to his stall. "There. Go." The elk's eyes brightened. He bounded outside so fast that Elves scrambled to get out of his way. Thranduil ran after him but it was hopeless. He lost sight of him when he took a sharp turn right. He only caught a passing blur of him between trees. For a long while, he ran after him only to be eluded. He found him again, rubbing his antlers furiously against the bark of a tree.

~My bark! My bark!~ The tree wailed. Bits of wood fell from its trunk. Thranduil slowed down to a walk. ~Stop him, Sire!~

~Now, now,~ Thranduil soothed it. ~We all have a part to play in nature. Let him be. He will be finished before you know it.~ Thranduil watched the elk work feverishly, the tree swaying slightly by his force.

"You are strong," Thranduil murmured. At last the elk was done and he shook his antlers to free the bits and pieces clinging to them. One piece was still stubbornly lodged between an arch. Thranduil laughed and shook his head before reaching up and tugging it free. "There," he told him. "We wouldn't want an intimidating beast like yourself be reduced to a laughing stock because of something stuck in your antlers, now would we?" He placed his fists on his hips and squared his shoulders.

"I am stuck in a predicament, you see." He confessed to the elk. "My friend, Lord Elrond, and I am sure you have made his acquaintance, challenges me to tame you in the duration of the time it will take for him to meet me. That means I have another week to go before he decides to welcome himself to my forest. Now, I wish to strike a deal with you, my good friend, as you seem to have great intelligence. Pretend to be a compliant steed when he appears so that I may have the satisfaction of seeing his face when I ride you to greet him and I will let you roam free under these trees, untouched and unharmed." He glanced around. "You may butt any of these trees for as long as you like." He ignored the chorus of pleading and begging from the trees filling his mind.

"So, my friend," Thranduil ran his hand over the elk's flanks. "Do we have a bargain?"

The elk raised his right hoof up and Thranduil shook it with a merry laugh.

oOo

The shocked look on Elrond's face was satisfying.

"How d-did you-" Elrond stuttered. Thranduil grinned and patted his mount. The elk blew out from his nostrils and stayed as still as any steed Thranduil trained before.

"You really should not doubt the King of the Forest." Thranduil said smugly.

"But how?"

"The King of the Forest must never reveal his secrets," Thranduil said graciously. Thorontur unexpectedly appeared beside the King.

"But we can always share the stories that led him here." Thorontur announced. Thranduil glared at him warningly but the advisor did not notice. "Come inside, Lord Elrond. We will tell you how the King fared while teaching this magnificent beast."

The elk gave a loud, long whinny that sounded much like a laugh and Thranduil shifted his glare to him.

"Oh, shut up, you." The elk reared and Thranduil slid off his rump. He sat on the ground stunned. The elk placed his head on top of his and nuzzled him. Thranduil smiled.

"Well, I must admit you are the one beast I cannot tame," Thranduil said, stroking his hand through his short fur. "I rather like you as a friend." He paused.

"But do not tell Elrond I said that."

~S~

Author's Note:

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