Summary: When Oropher brought some of the Sindar under Gil-galad's protection, he sought sanctuary.

Sanctuary...

He gave us a home, once our home was lost.

Sanctuary...

He protected us from the Kinslayers.

Sanctuary?

He could not protect us from his own people.

Sanctuary?

Was it, truly? Sanctuary means safety. We were not safe from taunts, from prejudices, however petty they seemed.

Sanctuary...

We must seek sanctuary elsewhere. My son has been hurt by the Noldor elves' poison. I do not blame my cousin, but I will not let my son fall further into danger.

Sanctuary...

We will find sanctuary in the Greenwood, if all goes as I hope. In three days' time, we depart.

Belain help us all.

A/N: In Emma's and my series, Thranduil was born in 2445 of the Second Age, and Oropher did not remove to Greenwood until 2456. There is little enough in canon about this journey, but our story deviates a bit from what little we do know...there's reasons for that. In any case, this takes place after the hateful actions of the Noldor in Lindon come to a head and the conspiracy among the Noldorin advisors to discredit and ruin the Sindar is brought into the open; it is then, in our story, that Oropher tells his distant cousin that he is taking his people and leaving.

Oropher, in our-verse, is the great-grandson of Elmo, who was the younger brother of Elu Thingol and Olwe Lindaran. Olwe is the great-great-grandfather of Ereinion (following the genealogy thusly: Olwe, father to Earwen (wife of Arafinwe/Finarfin) who are the parents of Finrod, Angrod, Aegnor, and Galadriel. Angrod (following what Christopher Tolkien said about the Silm's error) is the father of Orodreth, the father of Ereinion Gil-galad and Finduilas.)