Disclaimer: Anything recognisable as Tolkien's is not mine, but any OCs belong to me and my co-writer Kaylee. We are not making any money from this.
Warnings: This story contains spanking of a child in both chapters. I respectfully ask that you please do not read if this is likely to offend you, and if you do choose to read and it still offends you, that you do not send a flame.
A/N: This is a continuation of The Greenwood Chronicles, though its current focus is still the Doriathrin characters. Neldiel is now eighteen, the human equivalent of seven, nearly eight.
...
Clad in a silk gown of palest rose, with a silver-blue sash around her waist and matching ribbons in her dark hair, Neldiel slipped unseen through clusters of mingling and dancing elves. Satin and velvet and silk brushed her arms as she passed, and perfume tickled her nose; lavender, rose, citrus and lily. Nobody noticed her, not really, and those few who did soon dismissed her from their thoughts. She was an elfling, just a little girl, and soon enough she would be sent off to bed with the other children whilst the adults danced and laughed and drank their way into the night.
Neldiel was very sure that was so, but it wasn't time for bed just yet. Part of her was a little annoyed by that. It had been some hours since the feast had started, and the novelty of the exquisite food and the lovely gowns and the sparkling jewels had worn off. There was only so much of each that an eighteen year old elfling could take, and this eighteen year old elfling was going to make her own fun.
She disappeared through a small side door that was unguarded, and once out of the ballroom, she broke into a run and darted through the brightly lit caverns of Aran Elu's subterranean palace. It was easy to get lost there. Not for nothing was it called The Thousand Caves. But Neldiel knew her way around the main halls well enough, having visited her father at work and dined with the royal family and accompanied her family to feasts and dances just like the one they had been invited to that night. She had figured out where was guarded and where was not, and she had even been clever enough to memorise the easiest and fastest ways to get outside. Though there was only one doorway into the palace, there were plenty of roofless caverns, open to the starry skies, where flowers bloomed and trees reached for the heavens.
Neldiel made her way to the one she knew was nearest, and stood on her tiptoes to unlatch the gate. The latch lifted easily and she slipped through, biting her lip in excitement as she saw it was raining outside. The smooth steps that led down into the garden were mostly dry, protected by overhanging stone, though the night breeze had spattered them with a few rain droplets here and there. She stopped on the bottom step and closed her eyes, before drawing a deep breath and jumping out onto the grass.
It was slippery with rain, but she kept her balance and spun around in delight. Her skirt flared out, skimming the scarlet poppies that grew in abundance. The smooth walls of the open aired cavern were slick and glistening wetly, and the elfling stopped to stick her tongue out and catch rainwater on her tongue. Some of it slipped down inside her dress and trickled down the back of her neck, but she didn't really mind all that much. She just giggled and danced again, twirling happily.
Suddenly a hand caught hers from behind, an elleth's delicate hand, and she found herself being lightly spun around. Her eyes widened as she supposed her mother or one of her elder sisters had come for her. But it was none of them, and instead she gazed up into the merrily sparkling eyes of the King and Queen's daughter. "You will be missed ere long, little one," Lúthien said, her lips curving into a smile.
Neldiel held Lúthien's hand and twirled herself beneath the older elleth's arm. "Did you get bored too, Princess?"
The half Maia-half elven woman made a non-committal sound, her below waist-length black hair flying out behind her as she spun the elfling again. "It is rather crowded in there," she admitted. "I prefer the open air. Dancing in the rain is nice, is it not?" She lifted Neldiel and whirled with effortless grace, her silk slippers barely touching the wet ground. As she danced, silver-white niphredil sprang from the earth she passed over, thirstily drinking in the rain.
Neldiel gasped softly, and as she was lowered back to her feet, she went to her knees in the soaked grass, running her fingers over the velvet petals. Smiling, Lúthien stopped and watched. "You like them, little one? I think they like you." She knelt and whispered to the flowers, and her smile widened as the petals nodded toward Neldiel. "Oh, yes, they like you very much."
"They're so pretty," Neldiel whispered.
"So are you," Lúthien replied. "Like a little flower yourself."
The elfling smiled and straightened, her gown swirling out around her and her hair sending droplets of water everywhere as she spun again. Lúthien laughed, a sound like silver bells, and she lifted Neldiel into her arms, twirling around with her. "Do Brandir and Siliveth know you are here?" she asked, dropping a kiss on the little girl's brow as more niphredil blossomed in the wake of her dancing.
With her arms wrapped around Lúthien's neck, Neldiel smiled mischievously, her turquoise eyes sparkling. "No."
"Then they shall be mad with worry as soon as they realise you are gone. And you know my little brother does not like it when you make him worry." Lúthien tossed Neldiel into the air and caught her again. "He'll be very upset, little one."
"But I'm not lost, Princess Lúthien," the elfling pointed out. "We know where I am, don't we?"
"Ah, we do. You are in the poppy garden, dancing in the rain," Lúthien replied. "But they don't know that. What does your adar say when he doesn't know where you are?"
"He doesn't say very much," Neldiel admitted.
Lúthien laughed softly and stopped dancing, rocking the elfling a little. The rain came down harder, making Neldiel shiver, and the princess glanced involuntarily skywards. "It is going to get worse. Come, we shall have to swim back inside if we stay out any longer."
Giggling at the image, Neldiel wriggled out of Lúthien's arms and ran back up the steps and through the gate. She waited inside the well-lit hallway for her father's foster sister to join her, water sliding off her gown and her hair to make a little puddle on the floor around her. Lúthien came through the gate a moment later, pausing to close and lock it, and when she turned to face the elfling, she smiled serenely. She was dry from head to foot, as though the rain had not touched her. Her rippling hair with the pearls strung through was immaculate and smooth, and her indigo gown with its pearl-trimmed silver and pale blue floral bodice was dry.
Lúthien unnecessarily straightened her silver circlet, before folding her hands in her wide sleeves and regarding Neldiel. "I ought to get you dried, and I'll need to brush your hair. I shall take you to my chamber." She drew breath to say somewhat more, but then she hesitated, her grey eyes lifting and going past the elfling.
Oblivious, Neldiel spun around, water spraying everywhere, and immediately collided with an ellon striding towards them from the other direction. She took a step back, startled. "Lúthien, go and find Brandir," the ellon snapped.
Neldiel blinked, wondering who would have the audacity to speak so rudely to the princess of all people. As Lúthien passed her with eyes glinting in wry amusement and a slightly sympathetic expression on her lovely face, Neldiel dared to look up. Oh. Oh. The King stared down at her, his arms folded over his broad chest. His grey eyes, a shade lighter than his daughter's, were icy, and his handsome face was as stern as she had ever seen it. Oh. She curtseyed to him. It was a very nice curtsey, although as she was wet from head to foot, it wasn't a particularly impressive one.
"I'm very sorry, Your Majesty," she said.
"You will be," Elu said shortly, glaring down at the child. "Such unmannerly behaviour ill becomes you, Brandiriel."
Neldiel squirmed for a moment, before her attention was caught by a smear of wet dirt on the King's otherwise immaculate white robes. She used her sash, which didn't have any dirt on it, just water, to try and rub the mud off. Elu wasn't appeased by her trying to make it better though, for he took an abrupt step back and spoke sharply to her. "Enough. Be still."
Quickly withdrawing her hand and holding both of them behind her back, Neldiel studied the floor. Water from her gown had made a good-sized puddle on it, and she resisted the temptation to put the toe of her slipper in it and draw patterns. She was fairly sure that Aran Elu would be most unhappy with her if she did that. She stood quietly and as still as she could manage, even though she really did want to squirm uncomfortably beneath the King's severe gaze, and though it felt like hours, it wasn't long before Lúthien returned with Queen Melian, Brandir and Siliveth.
Siliveth looked dismayed and Brandir thoroughly disapproving, whilst Melian had the hints of amusement playing at the corners of her mouth. As Lúthien danced away again, Brandir bowed stiffly to his King and foster father, before turning a stern look on his youngest daughter. "Where have you been, elfling?"
"I was in the poppy garden, Ada," Neldiel explained. "I was dancing, like everyone else, but I wasn't doing it inside."
"You know better than to run off alone," Brandir scolded. "You know better than to play outside in your fine clothes when it is raining. Look at the mess you have made, and look at what you have done to the King's robes."
"Getting rain and dirt on the King was an accident. I didn't mean to do that," Neldiel replied. "He was just…there. And even if I'd not been wet and muddy, I still would have run into him and he'd still be cross with me even if he was dry and clean. I did say I was very sorry."
"Even so, you should not have done it. I am ashamed of your behaviour, acting so in front of the King and Queen, and you ought to be too," Brandir said sharply.
Sighing softly, Neldiel idly drew her foot back and forth across the floor a couple of times. "I am sorry," she repeated, not sure what else she could say.
Melian shook her head and glanced at Siliveth as if to say 'ellyn…', though Siliveth only managed an uncertain smile in return, conscious of the King standing there. The Queen placed her hand briefly on Elu's shoulder, and the mud and damp patches vanished from his robes. After drying and cleaning Neldiel the same way, with a single thought, Melian leaned down and gently lifted the elfling's chin. "Next time, ask your adar and naneth's permission before leaving their sight, little one. If they say no, do not leave them."
Neldiel curtseyed to the Queen. It looked better now she wasn't dripping with rain. "Yes, Your Grace," she said politely, and a touch shyly.
"Good girl," Melian said fondly.
When Brandir was alone with Siliveth and Neldiel, Elu having curtly dismissed them and swept away whilst his Maia wife smiled benevolently and calmly followed, he drew a deep breath. "Beloved," he said quietly. "I am taking Neldiel home. I will send the carriage back for you and the girls."
"Very well, meleth," Siliveth replied. "We will not be home late. Neldiel, be good for your father."
She left to return to the feast and her older daughters, and Neldiel slipped her hand into Brandir's, looking up at him through thick lashes. "I'm sorry that I was naughty, Ada."
"I daresay," Brandir said drily, holding his daughter's hand firmly as he led her through the palace, "you will be sorrier when I get you home."
"The King said I would be sorry, too," Neldiel muttered.
"Indeed," Brandir murmured. "He is quite good at keeping his promises."
"Well, he isn't keeping any promises, because he isn't dealing with me," the elfling pointed out. "You are."
"Did he say he would be the one to deal with you?" Brandir asked. "He may plan on dealing with you as well."
Neldiel stopped so suddenly that her father had to stop as well, or else risk hurting her arm. "What?" she demanded. "Why?"
"Because he is the King, and my foster-father, and it would be his right," Brandir said quietly, looking down at his daughter with a grave expression on his handsome face. "If he so chose."
"But Ada," Neldiel protested softly. She gripped her father's hand tightly as they walked on, taking the swiftest route to leave the palace. They passed the feasting hall, sounds of music and dancing and laughter floating out. "Ada, I said a very nice sorry to the King, and I tried to clean his robes for him."
"I said, he may plan on it," Brandir repeated. "I do not know."
Neldiel sighed quietly, and when they reached the great door that led out of the subterranean palace, she put her arms up for her father to lift her. "The King is always cross," she observed.
"He is greatly burdened," Brandir said quietly, picking the elfling up and carrying her outside, past the guards. The carriage was already there waiting for them, the matched bay horses covered with rain-specked blankets. Brandir spoke briefly to the driver, his hand cradling Neldiel's head against his shoulder, before climbing into the carriage and settling on the forward facing padded seat. He set his daughter down next to him, though she promptly climbed into his lap. He sighed softly, but didn't move her.
"Maybe the King ought to try baking a cake," Neldiel said wisely. "It might cheer him up."
Though Brandir smiled faintly, he stayed silent. It was a quiet ride home, the wind and rain that lashed the windows drowning out even the sound of the horses' hooves. Neldiel sat with her head against her father's chest, watching the raindrops making intricate patterns on the window, watching the trees eerily shaking their branches. When the carriage passed through the double gates of Lord Brandir's estate, and the lights of the manor came into view, Neldiel stirred and looked up. "Are you going to smack me?"
The loremaster softly hushed his daughter as they drew up outside the house. He got out and thanked the carriage driver, before sweeping inside the house and carrying Neldiel up to her bedroom. A servant, having anticipated that the littlest lady of the household would be brought home soon to be put to bed, had lit the lamps and set a nightgown out on the bed. Brandir sat next to it and stood Neldiel in front of him, his hands resting on her shoulders.
"What rules did you break tonight?" he asked, finally answering her question with a question of his own.
"Going away without asking and playing in the rain and…well, I suppose running inside," Neldiel admitted reluctantly. "But I didn't run far, only a few steps."
"Do you remember why you are not to leave us without asking permission?"
"Because…I might get lost and you won't know where to find me."
Brandir nodded grimly, his sea green eyes hard. "If you run off and I do not know where you are, I would not be able to help you if you were lying hurt or sick somewhere," he said quietly. "You are only little. Anything could happen to you." He looked sternly at his youngest elfling. "You know that for breaking rules such as that one, safety rules, you will be smacked. As for the rest of it…playing in a light rain is not so naughty if you ask and receive permission, and if you are dressed correctly for it, and if you come inside before the rain falls too heavily – none of those things happened, did they?"
"No," Neldiel said quietly, twirling a lock of dark hair around her finger.
"No, so that too was naughty. Thirdly, running in the halls," Brandir continued firmly. "What have you been told about that?"
"That it's not proper behaviour for a lady," Neldiel replied, with a soft sigh. She didn't like to point out that she wasn't a lady, just a girl elfling who didn't want to be a lady when she grew up anyway. "And that I might fall and hurt myself."
Brandir gave a brief nod. "Getting the King wet was an accident, yes, but an avoidable one, and if Aran Elu chooses to discuss that with you, then you will behave for him and accept your punishment with good grace."
Not particularly liking the thought of being smacked by the King himself, Neldiel shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. She didn't think that Aran Elu would give hugs after. Not that Brandir often gave big cuddles after a spanking, unless it had been a bad one, but he did usually give her a brief hug or a kiss at the very least. She didn't think the King would do even that. Still, she was in trouble enough as it was, so she sighed quietly and gave her father an obedient nod. "Yes, Ada."
"Good girl." Brandir paused and looked at his daughter, his hand briefly tightening on her small shoulder. "It will be the brush from me. You risked yourself, and that I cannot have."
"Ada, the hairbrush really hurts," Neldiel whispered, leaning forward and twining her arms around Brandir's neck.
"I am not going to use it the entire time," Brandir replied quietly. "You know I would not. Now, get ready for bed then bring the brush to me."
Neldiel undressed, with some help from her father when she couldn't manage the silk covered buttons at the back of her gown. When she was clad in her clean, warm nightgown, she glanced at Brandir, wondering if he had forgotten about the hairbrush. He hadn't, for he nodded meaningfully to it, saying nothing. Exhaling, her heart heavy and thrumming with nervous anticipation, Neldiel retrieved it from the dressing table and carried it back to the bed.
When Brandir had his child settled in position, he bared her bottom easily, flipping up the back of her nightgown. He put his left hand on her back to keep her from wriggling. After a quiet word to warn her that it was time, he began, his hand rising and falling repeatedly on the upturned bottom over his lap. Neldiel's cheeks turned pink quickly under the onslaught of smacks, and she whimpered softly, tightly gripping a fistful of Brandir's robes.
When the elfling's bottom was bright pink all over, the lord paused and picked up the hairbrush. Neldiel stirred, and rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand. "Ada? Can I have m-my doll, please?" Her favourite doll was resting against the pillows, and she couldn't reach her without wriggling halfway off her father's lap.
Brandir reached the doll easily and gave her to Neldiel, who softly thanked him and cuddled Akachi close. After giving his little daughter's back a light rub, he began with the hairbrush. The swats weren't anywhere near as hard as he could have made them, but they were firm enough for Neldiel, young as she was. Still, Brandir intended to make an impression, so he shared out half a dozen sharp smacks between her cheeks, turning them dark pink, before moving on to her more sensitive spots.
Clutching her doll with one hand and clinging to Brandir's robes with the other, Neldiel sobbed as her little bottom burned all over. She cried out incoherent words meant to be apologies and promises to be a good girl, and when Brandir gathered her and her doll up into his arms, she curled herself against his chest. "Ada," she wept, pressing her hand to her stinging bottom. "Ada, sorry I was n-naughty, sorry…"
"I forgive you, iel-laes," Brandir soothed quietly. "It is done with now."
Neldiel heaved a heavy sigh laden with tears, and she hid her face in the soft watered silk of her father's robes. She cried for a while longer, cuddling her doll and methodically carding her fingers through Akachi's black hair for her own comfort. When she was calm enough, she looked up, scrubbing at the tear trails on her cheeks. "Princess Lúthien made flowers," she told Brandir in a whisper.
"Did she?" Brandir smiled faintly, recalling all the times his elder foster sister had done the very same thing for him when he had been a boy. "Yes, she likes to do that."
"I liked them," Neldiel sniffled, rubbing her eyes. "I thought they were pretty. Princess Lúthien said I was like a flower."
"You are," Brandir said softly. "Flowers are pretty, and so are you. You will grow up to be just as beautiful as your nana."
Neldiel turned her face against her upper arm, drying the tears still lingering on her lashes. "Miniel and Tadiel will be prettiest."
"No, iel-laes. You will all be," the lord murmured, cuddling his youngest close. "My beautiful girls."
Though the elfling was fairly sure she would never be beautiful like statuesque Siliveth or elegant Miniel, or even adolescent Tadiel who carried her beauty with careless grace, she liked that her father thought otherwise, so she pressed a bit closer to him and suppressed a yawn. Brandir smiled and gave her a last embrace before tucking her and Akachi into bed. "It is time for elflings to sleep," he said, his voice low and soothing, his hand stroking Neldiel's hair. "Goodnight, iel-laes."
"Goodnight, Ada," Neldiel whispered.
She was aware of the lamp being turned down as she closed her eyes, darkness settling in all around her save for a thin strip of light that streamed in from the hallway through the slightly ajar door. Neldiel yawned again and cuddled her doll. It hurt. It hurt a fair bit, for she wasn't accustomed to her parents making their displeasure known with her maple-backed hairbrush. But as she thought of the fresh rain, of the poppies and fragrant niphredil, of laughter, of Princess Lúthien…she smiled sleepily. It had been worth it.