The king smiled himself, a little ironically. "Why should I mind?" It was true that he had not always been able to stay long with Legolas back in Mirkwood, but back there he'd had other, and frequently more important, things to do. There was only so much time that could be spared when one was King of a realm like Mirkwood, which needed such constant and such vigilant defense.

"I do not see how that can be," he said, seeming somewhat unconcerned about it. He wasn't convinced that the darkness overshadowing Mirkwood could be so easily expunged. "Sauron has lain defeated for thousands of years." And what, exactly, were hobbits?