A Man Who Flies From His Fear May Find He Has Only Taken A Shortcut To Meet It by LadySternchen  

Floods- Thranduil

“Has anyone seen to the water-levels?”

His voice is sharper than he intends it to be, but he cannot help it. Not with the heavy rain and sudden melting of ice up in the mountains that makes their mellow little river overflow and threaten his halls.

“All night, Sire. The water still rises, though at a much slower rate now. I doubt it will put us in any real danger.”

Thranduil nods. He cannot admit before his people how scared he is, nor why a little flooding frightens him so. They would never understand, and how could they. They have lived with seasonal flooding forever, with nothing worse ever happening than them having to retreat up the trees.

They have not seen it, not like he has.

Water swallowing the lands, water ever rising, trees cracking under its weight, ancient beeches bobbing on the waves like sticks, their mighty roots still clinging to the rocks they ripped out of the ground in their fall.

By and large, he has made his peace with the loss of his first home. But not with floods. Not ever with floods.