It's nice when they can afford to be father and son though, each moment cherished. He knows that he is loved but he likes the brief, gentle reminders. And he knows that Thranduil's being a king must come first, it's something he's always respected and knows that, with the condition of Mirkwood and the ever growing presence of spiders, that's what his people need most.

"She is though she claims that she has been here at least two years when it had only been fifteen days prior to my own arrival that I'd seen her last."