Alex's This and That

Kitchen Wisdom
Author: alexcat
Type: Gen.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do own this original character but I do not own Middle Earth or Tolkien’s characters, nor do I profit from using them.
Warnings: None
Characters: Oropher, Thranduil, Legolas, Oropher’s wife, Thranduil’s wife, Legolas, Original female character, Bellothia
Archive: Ao3, OEAM, Alex’s Story Book
Author’s Note: Jenny wanted a story about Oropher and Cook, so I decided to give her a month’s worth of them.
Spoilers: For the stories of Oropher and Thranduil, yes.
Summary: Every day, I will tell a little of the story of Bellothia, cook for the house of Oropher.

~~~

Part Thirty-One

Legolas had built the small vessel that he and Gimli sailed west in. It was sturdy and dependable, like Gimli. Sometime in the years after the War of the Ring, Legolas had realized that he would never marry. He would, instead, spend his life with Gimli, who came with him because he said he wanted to see Lady Galadriel one more time. Legolas knew there was more to it than that and knowing was enough. Gimli didn’t need to say a word.

*

Thranduil and Bell had sailed some years before. When he’d told her he was sailing, she’d said, “I helped bring you into the world and wherever you go, I am going with you. I promised your mother that I’d take care of you.”

And so they lived in a little house by the shore. Every morning, they walked on the beach and talked of their lives. Every day, Thranduil looked to the sea, watching for his son.

He saw the small sailboat as soon as it was visible on the horizon. It had been years since any ship had come into port so many other elves saw it as well.

Thranduil and Bell made their way to the dock to wait and see who was coming so many years after almost all had sailed. They knew long before it docked that it was Legolas, his golden hair and his bearded companion giving him away.

Thranduil was waiting to catch the line to tie them off. He tied it quickly and was the first person to greet Legolas and Gimli.

“I have waited long for this day. I began to fear you’d never come.”

“Gimli said he wished to see Galadriel once again so I knew it was time to sail,” his son said to him as they embraced.

“Bell is sure to have some fresh baked pie for you. Let’s go home.”

They did, all walking arm in arm down the beach.

~end~

Kitchen Wisdom
Author: alexcat
Type: Gen.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do own this original character but I do not own Middle Earth or Tolkien’s characters, nor do I profit from using them.
Warnings: None
Characters: Oropher, Thranduil, Legolas, Oropher’s wife, Thranduil’s wife, Legolas, Original female character, Bellothia
Archive: Ao3, OEAM, Alex’s Story Book
Author’s Note: Jenny wanted a story about Oropher and Cook, so I decided to give her a month’s worth of them.
Spoilers: For the stories of Oropher and Thranduil, yes.


~~~

Part Twenty-eight

Thranduil had always been short of temper at times but now he was insufferable. He yelled at the house servants, he yelled at the stable boys, he yelled at his council. He simply yelled sometimes at no one. But even he did not have the nerve to yell at Bell.

Bell was worried about him. Thranduil had lost everything he ever loved except for his precious son. She knew that he feared Legolas would never come back. She sometimes had the same fear. She loved him as if he were her own child.

Late one night, she heard Thranduil in the kitchen. Her rooms were near the kitchen so she could hear the even the quietest visitor. He was not very quiet. He ran into a chair and Bell smiled to herself at the line of curses that spewed from his mouth.

She’d better check on him.

“What manner of lunatic is making a mess in my kitchen?” she said as she lit several of the candles about the room and stoked the fire in the stove to heat water for tea.

“I wanted pie. Do you have any?”

She suspected he was in his cups. She did have pie, though. She always had pie and she never turned anyone away who wanted food.

“I have a lovely blackberry pie. I’ll cut you a piece.”

He sat back and began to eat as soon as she set it in front of him. “Mmmm. This is good.”

He seemed to sober up a bit as he ate and drank a little of the strong tea she’d brewed. He also seemed to lose a little of his anger.

“He is an adult, you know,” she told him.

“He is my son.”

“He loves you and is doing what he feels is right.”

“Look where right got my father.”

“Had your father not done what he did, the war might have been lost.”

“Then what am I to do?” He looked so lost when he asked her the question.

“Take care of this land, these people. Trust that Legolas will make things right in that world.”

He looked thoughtful then smiled, a sad smile but still a smile. “When did you get so wise, my friend?”

She patted his shoulder. “Get yourself to bed when you finish your pie.” She blew out all but one candle and went back to her own bed.

***

Kitchen Wisdom
Author: alexcat
Type: Gen.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do own this original character but I do not own Middle Earth or Tolkien’s characters, nor do I profit from using them.
Warnings: None
Characters: Oropher, Thranduil, Legolas, Oropher’s wife, Thranduil’s wife, Legolas, Original female character, Bellothia
Archive: Ao3, OEAM, Alex’s Story Book
Author’s Note: Jenny wanted a story about Oropher and Cook, so I decided to give her a month’s worth of them.
Spoilers: For the stories of Oropher and Thranduil, yes.
Summary: Every day, I will tell a little of the story of Bellothia, cook for the house of Oropher.

~~~

Part Twenty-six

“Father, we should go to the council in Imladris. We did manage to lose Gollum and Mithrandir and Lord Elrond need to know that.”

Thranduil was not agreeing to anything right now. He had no intentions of being blamed for the escape of that nasty little thing.

“I am not going there. I am not leaving this wood, not for Mithrandir, not for anyone.”

“Then I shall go. I’ll take Goweston with me,” Legolas told his father.

“I am not sure you’ll be welcomed back,” Thranduil threatened.

“Father, you do not mean that, I know. You are angry and I understand that as well. But I am going to this council. It is important. We know that evil is stirring and if no one acts, it will overcome us all.”

Thranduil said nothing, preferring to sulk and thinking that his son would come around to his way of thinking in a day or two.

Legolas said nothing either. Not to his father anyway.

“Bell, Goweston and I are going to a council in Imladris. Father says we should stay away and I disagree. I thought you should know where I am.”

He hugged her and was gone with the dawn.

***

Kitchen Wisdom
Author: alexcat
Type: Gen.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do own this original character but I do not own Middle Earth or Tolkien’s characters, nor do I profit from using them.
Warnings: None
Characters: Oropher, Thranduil, Legolas, Oropher’s wife, Thranduil’s wife, Legolas, Original female character, Bellothia
Archive: Ao3, OEAM, Alex’s Story Book
Author’s Note: Jenny wanted a story about Oropher and Cook, so I decided to give her a month’s worth of them.
Spoilers: For the stories of Oropher and Thranduil, yes.
Summary: Every day, I will tell a little of the story of Bellothia, cook for the house of Oropher.

~~~

Part Twenty-three

Thranduil was sitting in the kitchen as he often did, eating while he watched Bell bake. He poured honey onto a plate and dipped his bread into it. As he took a bite, he said, “Do you think it’s time we found Legolas a wife?”

“More importantly, does he think it’s time we found him a wife?” Bell asked as she put the last loaves in the oven and sat down with her tea to wait for them to bake.

“Well, I haven’t asked him,” Thranduil said as he poured himself a cup of tea.

“Why exactly does he need a wife?”

“Everyone needs a wife.”

“I don’t have one and you never took another,” Bell said as she added a little honey to her tea and sipped it slowly.

“I have never wanted another.”

“Maybe you should let him find his own wife. You found yours.”

“Remember some of the prospective wives my father had me meet?”

Bell burst out laughing. “Do you remember that one elf from somewhere near Gondor? She was some sort of princess?”

“The one who asked my father if I was a little off in the head?”

“Well, we did put a bag of bugs in her bed,” Bell reminded him. “I was afraid she might kill us when she found out who did it.”

Thranduil was laughing as hard as Bell was. “She’s lucky! It could have been spiders!”

“We did put spiders in the tent of the one that Gildor brought to meet you.”

Thranduil stopped for a moment and started laughing again. “Legolas’ mother and her sisters put a snake in my saddlebag when I first met her.”

“You never told me that! It’s no wonder I liked her so much!”

Thranduil grew almost serious. “Do you think it would be all right to hint to Legolas that he might be thinking about a bride? “

“As long as you warn him to keep a lookout for spiders and snakes as well. How about some more honey and bread?”

Thranduil nodded as she cut them both a slice of fresh bread.

***

Kitchen Wisdom
Author: alexcat
Type: Gen.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do own this original character but I do not own Middle Earth or Tolkien’s characters, nor do I profit from using them.
Warnings: None
Characters: Oropher, Thranduil, Legolas, Oropher’s wife, Thranduil’s wife, Legolas, Original female character, Bellothia
Archive: Ao3, OEAM, Alex’s Story Book
Author’s Note: Jenny wanted a story about Oropher and Cook, so I decided to give her a month’s worth of them.
Spoilers: For the stories of Oropher and Thranduil, yes.
Summary: Every day, I will tell a little of the story of Bellothia, cook for the house of Oropher.

~~~

Part Twenty-one

It wasn’t long before they found out exactly where the dwarves had gone. They’d gone to the Lonely Mountain and stirred up the dragon, Smaug, who’d gone on a rampage and destroyed Laketown before being killed by Bard the Bowman.

Thranduil, in a rage over what the dwarves had done, came storming into the kitchen. Bell was kneading bread.

“Get your bow, woman. We’re going to the Lonely Mountain. I will have my part of that damnable dragon’s loot and we must give aid to those who fled the town when the dragon laid waste to it.”

“Aren’t you being a little hasty?” She had not stopped her kneading nor changed the expression on her face.

“Indeed I am not! If I find them, I will skewer every last one of them alive!”

“They must be dead if they were in the mountain with old Smaug.”

“I hope not because I want to kill them!” Thranduil was in fine form.

“Calm down. Eat your dinner then pack up some supplies and set out at dawn. I’ll get the other women to help me pack extra food and medical supplies for the people of Laketown. I will ride with the healer.

Thranduil stopped and looked at her. “As usual, you are right. We will wait until morning. But I am still going to kill that dwarf!”

***

Kitchen Wisdom
Author: alexcat
Type: Gen.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do own this original character but I do not own Middle Earth or Tolkien’s characters, nor do I profit from using them.
Warnings: None
Characters: Oropher, Thranduil, Legolas, Oropher’s wife, Thranduil’s wife, Legolas, Original female character, Bellothia
Archive: Ao3, OEAM, Alex’s Story Book
Author’s Note: Jenny wanted a story about Oropher and Cook, so I decided to give her a month’s worth of them.
Spoilers: For the stories of Oropher and Thranduil, yes.
Summary: Every day, I will tell a little of the story of Bellothia, cook for the house of Oropher.

~~~


Part Nineteen

Bell watched with amusement as the handsome dwarf king refused to answer any of Trhanduil’s questions. This was a stubborn one, as stubborn as the elf king himself. While Thranduil had no love for any outsiders, Bell found the dwarvish folk to be an interesting lot, with their beards and their bravado. She admired them for their loyalty to their king even when Thranduil sent them all to the ‘dungeon’ without any food.

She slipped into the kitchen and filled a basket with fruit, bread and cheese. She carried it in one hand and a skin of water in the other and headed for the dungeon. Thranduil could be as mean as he pleased but no one was going without food as long as she ran the kitchen!

When she stepped into the dungeon’s main hall, she was certain that she heard someone breathing beside her but no one was there. The guards weren’t even at their posts. Thranduil would be furious if he knew, but she wasn’t telling him.

“Hello?” she called out. “I have some food and water for you all.”

The dwarves called out to her then, asking her to free them.

She smiled. “I cannot do that but you’ll not go hungry. The king is not an evil man. He will release you all.”

She visited each cell and handed a portion of each food through to each one. Thorin, the king, refused the food, but he did drink a bit of water. He was very much like Thranduil, she thought to herself as she tidied up the basket and headed out of the dungeon.

She stopped to talk to the youngest dwarves and set her basket down. When she looked back at it, the towel was opened and an apple was missing. Maybe they had some huge mice down here because she certainly hadn’t seen anyone else.

The next day, all of the dwarves were mysteriously gone. The next she heard of them was when they holed up in the Lonely Mountain, trying to steal Thorin’s kingdom back from Smaug, the dragon who lived there.

***

Kitchen Wisdom
Author: alexcat
Type: Gen.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do own this original character but I do not own Middle Earth or Tolkien’s characters, nor do I profit from using them.
Warnings: None
Characters: Oropher, Thranduil, Legolas, Oropher’s wife, Thranduil’s wife, Legolas, Original female character, Bellothia
Archive: Ao3, OEAM, Alex’s Story Book
Author’s Note: Jenny wanted a story about Oropher and Cook, so I decided to give her a month’s worth of them.
Spoilers: For the stories of Oropher and Thranduil, yes.
Summary: Every day, I will tell a little of the story of Bellothia, cook for the house of Oropher.


~~~

Part Seventeen

Legolas had been hanging around the kitchen a lot the last few days, looking all moony-eyed and sighing a lot. That could only mean one thing. He was in love.

The stone cutter’s daughter, Merien, was a cute little thing with her mop of dark hair and her huge blue eyes. Legolas had been following her around for weeks. He was bothering her so much that her father came to to Bell.

“He’s a sweet lad but he’s proposed marriage to her and her only ten years old. I think she’d like to stay single for a few more years.”

Bell smiled. “If she can be patient for a few weeks, I think her problems will be over.”

“Is Legolas going away?”

“Oh, no.. His father is giving him his first horse. He sent all the way to Rivendell for a pony from Lord Elrond’s horse master.”

Mirien’s father smiled. “Not even the prettiest little girl in the world can compete with a boy’s first horse.”

“You’re safe for a few more years then, until they hit puberty,” Bell said.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. No use in us borrowing trouble, is there?”

Bell agreed thoroughly.

***

Kitchen Wisdom
Author: alexcat
Type: Gen.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do own this original character but I do not own Middle Earth or Tolkien’s characters, nor do I profit from using them.
Warnings: None
Characters: Oropher, Thranduil, Legolas, Oropher’s wife, Thranduil’s wife, Legolas, Original female character, Bellothia
Archive: Ao3, OEAM, Alex’s Story Book
Author’s Note: Jenny wanted a story about Oropher and Cook, so I decided to give her a month’s worth of them.
Spoilers: For the stories of Oropher and Thranduil, yes.
Summary: Every day, I will tell a little of the story of Bellothia, cook for the house of Oropher.


~~~

Part Fifteen

Bell was kneading a huge mound of dough for the morning bread when Thranduil came into the kitchen. It was still dark out and would be for several more hours.

He grabbed an apple out of the bowl on the table and sat down.

“Being a king is easier than being a father.”

Bell hid her grin. What had Legolas done now?

“He told me that I smell like old people!”

Bell laughed out loud. “You’re younger than me and he tells me I smell like a party!”

Thranduil stuck his tongue out at her. “That’s only because you always smell like baking. Any day Legolas gets pie is a party to him.”

“Maybe we should all take a lesson from him then.”

“How come you’re so wise?”

“Because I am older than you are.”

Bell divided the dough into five loaves and covered them with a towel to rise. There would be hot bread to eat with butter and honey when everyone came to the dining room for breakfast.

She opened one of the ovens and lifted out a large baked ham, which she set up on the carving table to cool a few minutes before she sliced it.

“I have some bread already done. Would you like a bit of ham on hot bread?”

Thranduil sighed with happiness. “I thought you’d never ask.”

***

Part Thirteen
Kitchen Wisdom
Author: alexcat
Type: Gen.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do own this original character but I do not own Middle Earth or Tolkien’s characters, nor do I profit from using them.
Warnings: None
Characters: Oropher, Thranduil, Legolas, Oropher’s wife, Thranduil’s wife, Legolas, Original female character, Bellothia
Archive: Ao3, OEAM, Alex’s Story Book
Author’s Note: Jenny wanted a story about Oropher and Cook, so I decided to give her a month’s worth of them.
Spoilers: For the stories of Oropher and Thranduil, yes.
Summary: Every day, I will tell a little of the story of Bellothia, cook for the house of Oropher.

~~~


No one but Oropher and Gil-galad knew that the army of the Green Wood would attack early on purpose. They were the diversion that allowed the other armies to go for Sauron himself.

The plan worked brilliantly but all would still have been lost had Isildur not cut the One Ring from the hand of the Sauron. Gil-galad fell. Elendil fell. Elves, men and dwarves fell.

None of that mattered to Thranduil.

His father died as well. A single wound to his heart felled him. Thranduil fell to his knees in the dirt and cried out in anguish. He had lost his wife and his father. He gathered what was left of their army, retrieved his father’s body and left the plain for the Green wood.
Bell was among the survivors but her husband was not. He had died beside his king. She found his horse and put him across its back, leading the horse as she followed her king from the field. The elves of the Green Wood carried as many of their dead home as they could find.

It was solemn procession that left that day, not to be seen in Middle Earth for many years to come.

***

Kitchen Wisdom
Author: alexcat
Type: Gen.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do own this original character but I do not own Middle Earth or Tolkien’s characters, nor do I profit from using them.
Warnings: None
Characters: Oropher, Thranduil, Legolas, Oropher’s wife, Thranduil’s wife, Legolas, Original female character, Bellothia
Archive: Ao3, OEAM, Alex’s Story Book
Author’s Note: Jenny wanted a story about Oropher and Cook, so I decided to give her a month’s worth of them.
Spoilers: For the stories of Oropher and Thranduil, yes.
Summary: Every day, I will tell a little of the story of Bellothia, cook for the house of Oropher.

~~~

Part Eleven

Oropher had known for a long time that he would not leave this hellish plain alive. He had felt it in his heart when he’d agreed to come here with the Noldor king. The Noldor king would not leave here either. It would take their all to defeat Sauron.

He did not mind. His son would be a fine king and he already had a son to follow him. He did regret that he would never see the child. Bell would take care of them both. It’s a pity his son had not married the cook. She was as fine a woman as his wife was.

He pulled his long sword out of its ornate scabbard and looked at it. It was polished to a mirror finish and razor sharp. He sharpened it again, oiled the blade and put it away. His armor was polished and his horse was clean and fed, ready.

He left his tent after all were abed and slipped into Gil-galad’s.

“What on earth are you doing here?” Gil-galad was sitting at his desk, looking at some maps.

“I have an idea on how to end this. Let me tell you about it…”

And he did.