Chapter 11

That evening, Turi throat was dry as she peeked out from under the large curtains in the palace hallway and watched the many elves flock in front of the throne room. She tried to swallow but that only seemed to result in a blocked nose. 

She was to present an update to the assembly so, predictably, she felt anxious. This was her first appearance in front of a mass in her new role as head of the internal surveys office. And a lot was at stake.

She'd been practicing her brief all day, rehearsing with the Dirs. Just then, Baimeldir stuck his head around the curtain and gave her a goofy smile. 'The doors just opened. You'll be ok, boss.'

Turi straightened her emerald green tunic and pushed her braided blonde hair back. She reminded herself that she was a dedicated professional. She was smart, and she knew what she was going to say. With as much confidence as she could muster she pushed the curtain aside and strode towards the throne room.

The air was filled with anxious murmuring and the shuffling of feet as the members of the high council and assorted dignitaries filed in. They were here to be briefed on the situation and to discuss what was to be done. For Turi, the pressure was on.

Flickering candles all around the room cast a warm glow on the shelves with books, the drapes and art in the room. Thranduil was already on his throne, and the crowd was whispering and waiting.

Rumours had been flying across the realm about the incidents and deaths, and the gathered elves were worried things were spiraling out of control. Turi knew this to be so – things were definitely out of control.

Yet it was up to her to put her best foot forward. Dazzle and reassure, she muttered to herself as she was nodding and smiling stiffly to the elves still entering the room.

She could make out important traders, healers, and elves high up in the armed forces and border patrol. She was almost grateful when she noticed commander Coamenel give her a curt nod.

Turi saw the council members huddle closest to the throne. There was Areurion, in charge of holistic affairs and festivals, Rhaidmir, who was her and Coamenel's boss and the head of the armed forces, Agorthrail for trade, Voronian for the diplomatic mission. Halaniel, who was in charge of the healers and therefore the deceased Rusgan's former boss, was also present. Finally, Mýlill was there too. She looked marginally less shaken now, and Turi made a mental note to check once again if she recalled any more details about the incident now.

Darn, they were really all here. But there was someone else there too. 

A tall and waif-like elf sat on the steps to the throne. Turi had never seen her before. She wore a strikingly beautiful silver gown with feather-like brocades off the sides. It was impressive, to say the least.

Her face was long and pale, framed by long brown hair that cascaded into waves down to her middle. Turi ogled her suspiciously. Who was she? And why was she sitting there?

Turi's eyes widened when the elf leaned backwards, her shoulders informally touching Thranduil's legs. They exchanged a whisper, and the elf giggled as if the king had said something immensely funny and clever. Turi could feel her blood pounding against her temples. What was this?!

Thranduil straightened up and immediately the murmuring of the assembly quieted down. He raised his hand in a sign of collective greeting and then spoke, clearly and steadily, but making no effort to raise his voice. It wasn't necessary. His power was absolute, and you could hear a pin drop.

'Welcome here tonight. Thank you for gathering on such short notice. I know everyone is worried, and we are all eager to hear about the findings of our investigative teams. Our best and brightest are working on this' he paused, scanning the crowd 'and things are well under control.' He found Turi and gave her a smirk, nodding slightly.

Right, that was her signal to start. All eyes were on her.

Turi felt feint, wishing Taryan was here, or alternatively that she was somewhere else entirely. As a little bead of cold sweat rolled down her neck, she took a step forward and cleared her throat.

With as steady a voice as she could manage, Turi took the gathered assembly through her findings and observations of the past two weeks. She could just make out the Dirs at the back of the room. It looked like they were nodding and smiling encouragingly, giving her the thumbs up. Somehow, that didn't help.

She seemed to be doing a reasonable job as elves in the crowd were nodding and exchanging a whisper here and there. She daren't even look at Thranduil, afraid she might lose her train of thought.

After laying out the investigation's main tenets, her suspicions about a political motivation, and the points that they were still working on, she stopped. Collecting her thoughts, she took a deep breath and faced the crowd once again.

'I know you have all either heard about or seen this.' With a dramatic gesture she produced a large, third scroll. There was a collective intake of breath, and the elves mumbled audibly.

She raised her voice to overcome the talking. 'This is the scroll that was found this morning, pinned to the large oaken tree in the square of the whispering wind.' Thranduil shifted in his throne and immediately all went quite again.

'Yeah, ok thanks.' Turi mumbled shyly. Then she straightened her back again and continued.

'It carries a message that declares, in summary, that the, er, establishment' involuntarily her eyes shifted to Thranduil 'is letting our society down and' she paused, checking the message again 'and deplores the excessive use of wine and a loss of the values of old.'

'My lords and ladies, this declaration is greatly in line with similar messages found at the site of the first two incidents. It is also signed by the cat' she added, doing her best to keep a neutral face. If any of you know who this cat persona may be, please contact the internal surveys office or any member of border patrol. Immediately.'

She nodded, relieved, to commander Coamenel who seemed to be hopping on the spot by now. Here's someone who relishes the opportunity of having the collective eyes of the community trained on him, Turi though.

The Dirs had pushed their way over to her side now things were safe again, and they listened together to a Coamenel special – a speech delivered with gusto.

Indeed, the animated talk that followed taught the gathered elves nothing new, but contained an array of manic gestures, shifting eyebrows, winking and high pitched laughing.

'The elf is genial' Bragoldir whispered to Baimeldir who nodded and raised his shoulders in agreement. The elf's an idiot, Turi thought.

Her attention was drawn again to the brown haired beauty who was now casually leaning back against the throne. She seemed to find this all amusing, Turi thought. Thranduil's expression was neutral, though he appeared to be bored with Coamenel's longwinded talk. Turi smiled at that.

Now the time had come to open the floor to a discussion on the matter. Areurion, who was often unofficially considered the head of the high council, spoke first. 'So we have learned, my lords and ladies, that there is no real progress from either of the struggling security teams.' He paused and looked around the room. 'Is this what good leadership is? Isn't this a deficit in the guarding of our collective safety?'

There was an intake of breath around the room. Indeed, Turi was also taken aback by the sharp reproach. Though it was the council's task to be critical, bearing that much criticism on Thranduil's leadership, and only slightly veiled criticism for that matter, was highly unusual.

She frowned and glanced over at Thranduil, whose face was blank and who sat immovable on his throne.

'Are we to bear this continuing terror, and... wait?' Areurion shrugged his shoulders dramatically, as if this was what Turi and Coamenel had suggested.

Suddenly, the female elf in the lavish silver robes stood up, showering the room with a confident and brilliant smile. 'Indeed' she laughed 'this seems a good point. Two deaths and an attack, is it open season for manic killers in Greenwood?'

She seemed to be casting a self-assured smirk in Turi's general direction. Turi instantly felt her cheeks redden and wanted to sink through the floor.

Some whispering followed as elves seemed unsure of who she was. 'Allow me to introduce lady Reinilian' Thranduil spoke. 'She comes to us from the land of the green elves in the realm of the seven rivers. A visitor from an old line of friends, and family, you could say.' He smiled kindly down at her and she beamed at him, then once again cast a dazzling smile across the room that read your gathering is so cute to Turi.

Turi crossed her arms and issued a challenging glare to the feathered elf, trying to control her breathing and come up with a retort, like, pronto.

Before she could speak, Rhaidmir cut in. As head of the so-called struggling security teams he felt the pressure too. He focused on needing more means and more elves as part of said teams, critically addressing the policies ruling the armed forces in the realm ('stranglehold on our potential').

This was pure politics, and Turi's attention was waning fast. But when she caught the lady Reinilian exchanging another giggly whisper with Thranduil, something boiled over inside of her.

She inhaled sharply and spoke over the ongoing discussion, saying 'Much way has been made on this case and we are collectively analysing the historical background linked to these attacks.' She hoped Thranduil would appreciate her support of him. Then she looked straight at Reinilien and added 'Of course a limited view is to be expected from visitors. Especially perhaps from one so secretive as the Laegrim?'

Reinilien's eyes widened and her smirk disappeared. She stood up at once, the feathers on her dress bouncing up and down. She spat at Turi 'Well I know a travesty of military work when I see it.'

Thranduil raised his hand but it was too late. Many elves were now shouting at once, including Rhaidmir, Coamenel, and some elves high up in the military.

Turi smiled and said 'Well that's a remarkable insight' but it was mostly lost in the conflagration that was consuming the throne room. She looked around the room well pleased, knowing such generalizing criticism was a slap in the face of anyone related to said shoddy military.

Reinilien was looking from one elf to the other, taken aback by the massive blowback to her remark. Turi stood smiling among the shouting crowd with her hands clasped in front of her, hoping the disturbance would rage on. At least she'd put a dent in the lady green elf's snooty demeanour.

High on his throne, Thranduil rubbed his eyes and sighed.