This is the second chapter! So exciting! We are going to be covering a lot of Rivendell today and then at the very end we are going to leave in (sad face [lol]). Hang in here with me – I just woke up so the story might be a little out of whack, so if I did something wrong please comment and tell me right away (I'm doing this whole thing on a rickety old computer and it is so super frustrating!). Thank you guys so much!
BTW: Estaliel's name belongs to one of my good friends, a whole bunch of stuff belongs to Tolkien, and Amithriel and Estaliel's personality belongs to me;).
Estaliel shut the door tightly and noticed how heavy her breathing was getting as she leaned against her door. That was a disaster! Now Amithriel knew she was spying on him!
She got changed for breakfast, and braided her hair before hurrying down the stairs. To make matters worse, when she had gotten to the bottom of the stairs and into the dining room, she noticed that the place cards had been moved so now she had to sit next to Amithriel. It was better than sitting across from him where he could stare deeply into her eyes with those piercing blue eyes. Legolas's eyes were a soft, kind blue, but his were a deep, deep blue, and they seemed to go on forever.
Legolas and Gimli sat on the other side, Legolas's blue eyes laughing with delight the whole time. She could've kicked him under the table, but decided that if she did she would probably have to go in a shooting contest against him, and as everyone knew, he always won.
Both Amithriel and Estaliel tried to scoot their chairs away from each other, and they succeeded by an inch both, but could get no farther if they wanted to stay at the table.
Elrond saw this and quietly smiled to himself. They would be easy to work with.
Legolas and Gimli were having a game of thumb war under the table, and whoever lost had to scream and then dip their face in food. Legolas had a very cunning trick and that was to get Gimli's thumb lodged under his index finger and then Gimli would be hooting and howling. Gimli thought that he had lost, so he startled most all of Rivendell with a loud scream, and then mashed his face in food. Legolas howled when he saw the whole thing, and then Gimli got up and looked at their hands and saw Legolas's trick.
"Why you pointy eared princess! I'll not forget this one yet!" he yelled, and then picked up a breakfast pie and hurled it at Legolas. Legolas ducked and it hit Lord Elrond in the face.
Legolas picked up another breakfast crème pie and hurled it at Gimli's beard. "That'll be a tough one to wash out!" he cried with delight.
Gimli fumed and picked up another breakfast pie (the table was completely loaded with breakfast pies), and hurled it at Legolas's face. He ducked again, and this time it hit Amithriel! Estaliel fell out of her chair laughing until one hit her in the back! She turned around to see who had thrown it, and found out that Amithriel had thrown it at her!
"Look who's laughing now!" he exclaimed as he doubled over laughing.
She smiled as he turned around, and threw one right into his long amber hair. He turned around as she threw another one right at his face!
"Oops!" she said. Legolas stopped throwing pies at Gimli, and turned to see Amithriel who was absolutely covered in pies. He started laughing and Gimli looked at him with a confused look on his face.
"What now, you long haired little boy?" Gimli asked, and then followed Legolas's eyes to where Amithriel was sitting, absolutely drenched in pies. Gimli laughed, and then threw the one he had in his hand at Amithriel. Amithriel flinched the slightest bit, which sent Legolas and Gimli into a laughing fit.
All this time, Elrond had been trying to stop the breakfast crème pie fight and he had gotten hit with about three pies. Everyone stopped as he stood up, and hollered "Stop this at once!" Estaliel was still going, so he took a breakfast crème pie and hurled it at her. "I said enough!" he yelled, and she stopped right in her tracks. "I want each and every one of you to get cleaned up upstairs in your rooms. Immediately!"
As soon as he said immediately, everyone scampered away from the table and to their rooms to get dressed in proper attire. They all knew that he would be expecting them at the council room, so that was where they all went.
"You are grown up elves and dwarf!" he exclaimed. "You have no right to completely ruin my breakfast table with your crème pies. I expect that when we leave tomorrow I will find better behavior. You shall all sit in the parlor until then." He pointed, and everyone walked away with their heads down.
Gimli glared at Legolas, who glared at Gimli. Estaliel glared at Amithriel, but surprisingly enough, he didn't return it. He looked at her with a wondering eye, and the deep blue didn't seem to pierce right through her anymore. It seemed to be softer and more lighthearted. She didn't know why he was staring at her this way, but it made her feel uncomfortable.
"Do you want to play thumb war?" Legolas asked her. It pulled her out of her daze and she looked up, realizing that she had really not been glaring at Amithriel at all, but instead she was glaring at the floor.
"What?" she asked, surprised he would ever ask such a question.
"Would you like to play thumb war to pass the time?"
"Certainly," she said as she got up and moved next to him. At least Amithriel wasn't staring anymore.
Legolas beat her for the first round, but she beat him the next two rounds. Suddenly on the fourth round, Lord Elrond walked into the room with a group of elvish musicians.
"I am going to teach you how to be productive with your time," he said. "Amithriel and Estaliel you shall be partners and Arielas and Legolas shall be partners. I am going to teach you how to dance respectably."
This made her blood boil. She would have to be in Amithriel's arms, he would have to hold her while they danced. She stood up none the less and took Amithriel's offered hand. It was warm, and the way his other arm wrapped around her waist made her want to faint. She pushed those feelings away, and saw Arielas in Legolas's arms. She gritted her teeth and put her hand on Amithriel's shoulder. He pulled her in until his face was a breath away from her face and this made her feel as if she really would go unconscious. She hated this elf, so why was she feeling this way now?
Amithriel proved to be an excellent dancer and the way he looked into her eyes as they danced made her want to swoon. Wait. She needed to stay focused. She could not fall in love with this elf. She hated him so much so she could never be in love with him.
Legolas looked over at them, and smiled. They made a lovely couple. He looked down at Arielas who wasn't half as pretty as his sister or other women elves but made up for beauty in sensibility.
When the song was over, Amithriel waited five seconds to release her from his hold. She looked up at him when he did release her, and swallowed the lump that was ominously forming in her throat. His eyes were the softest she had ever seen them, perhaps even softer than Legolas's. When he looked back at Lord Elrond again, they quickly sharpened again. It was her! He must've liked something about her! She had no idea what, but it shocked her now.
She stepped back, turned, and ran out of the room.
"What did you do to the poor girl?" Lord Elrond asked.
"Nothing at all, my lord," came Amithriel's firm reply.
Lord Elrond hurried away to see if she was alright and Legolas came up to him. "You have her in quite a tizzy my friend, I must say," he said before running after Lord Elrond.
Amithriel smiled to himself. "Indeed I have."
A soft knock came on Estaliel's door. She was lying on her bed crying, and she buried her face in the pillows. Lord Elrond opened the door, came in, and then closed it behind him.
Elrond had always been like a second father to her. Thranduil (her birth father) never wanted anything to do with her, so when Lady Galadriel took her to Rivendell for a visit, Elrond was completely taken with her, and sort of adopted her as her father. She always loved him more than Lady Galadriel (she understood this) because he was the only person that could make her feel as if she was loved at times.
He sat down on the bed next to her and stroked her cheek. "My dear Estaliel, what is the matter?"
She took a breath in. "Amithriel is the matter. Oh, the way he looks at me makes me feel as if I can barely breathe at times."
"Do you love him?"
"Love him? Of course I do not love him. I'm just afraid that – that -"
"That he loves you?"
"Precisely! I'm terrified of the fact because I hate him!"
Legolas rushed into the room, almost panting. "Could we have a moment, Legolas?" asked Lord Elrond.
Legolas grasped his chest and nodded, closing the door behind him.
"You couldn't possibly hate Amithriel. He is such a good elf and he has a high regard for you."
"I don't care what regard he has for me, I've never been so uncomfortable in my entire life."
Elrond smiled and nodded. "I understand. We shall see you at dinner." With that, he stood up, and left the room.
Legolas came in and sat down next to her. She sat up and dried her eyes. He held out his arms, which she gladly took refuge in.
"What is the matter?"
"Amithriel is the matter. Did you see the way he looked at me when we danced, his blue eyes all soft and affectionate?"
"Estaliel, I think that you are afraid to love him."
"How dare -"
"I want you to admit it to yourself. You are afraid to love him."
"Never!"
"I will tell him that you love him if you don't admit it."
"Fine. I am afraid to love him."
Legolas fingered the braid on the back of her head. "Thank you. Now I will see you at dinner." He stood up, and started to walk out the door when she stopped him.
"Legolas, you won't tell anyone of this conversation, will you?" she asked, her eyes pleading with him.
He stepped over to her and stroked her cheek. "I wouldn't dream of it," he whispered.
Estaliel woke up and looked at the position of the sun in the sky. "Rhach i lû!" she exclaimed as she got up and hurried downstairs.
"Ias gar cin been?" asked Lord Elrond.
"Im gar been ne nín haust. My most sincerest apologies, Lord Elrond."
"All is forgiven," came the soft reply.
After dinner, Lord Elrond stood up. "My friends, I told you yesterday that we would be going on a journey with someone very special. I would like you to meet him."
A little man with a black hood stepped forward and took off his hood to reveal an old Meriadoc Brandybuck. The four cheered in delight, and Merry smiled.
"Merry has lost his voice completely," said Elrond.
"What do you mean, lost my voice?" Merry yelled. "I just told you that so I wouldn't get into any trouble!"
The company laughed and soon enough everyone had been introduced and he could call everyone by their first names.
"Let me review names one more time. Now, let's see, there's Legolas, Gimli, Estelle, and I don't remember your name – is it Marithal?"
Amithriel laughed in his melodious voice. "No, it is Amithriel."
"Aha! Amithriel! I knew I had that name tucked in my brain somewhere. Now I shall start over again."
The company groaned because it had been Merry's sixth time at trying to list their names. He had gotten everyone except Amithriel's name, and he was absolutely determined to figure it out.
"There is Legolas, Gimli the dwarf, Estaliel the sister of Legolas and your name is Namithal."
For the sake of the entire group, Amithriel acknowledged it as his name.
The next day, the seven people set out. Estaliel had picked out a horse named Edlothia. She was a beautiful white and grey stallion and she was very tall (even taller than Amithriel's horse). Merry had a Shetland pony named Bruno and he was short enough to go under Edlothia. Amithriel had the same horse he had brought to Lothlorien, Elrond had a noble steed named Arod, and Legolas and Gimli shared a horse named Randir.
Within the next few weeks, they had reached the Shire. As they went through it, Merry was looked down upon because of his frequent adventures.
"Elrond," he said, "let us leave this place. There is a slight chill in the air."
Elrond nodded and leaded the company away from the Shire. Estaliel noticed that as they left, a tear slid down Bilbo's cheek. She reached down and patted his head and he rubbed his tear away, and smiled up at her.
"Look not back, Merry, but only to what is ahead," she said in a calm, soothing voice.
Merry nodded and looked ahead to the Golden City of the Rivermaids. The smile on his face reassured her that everything would be fine there. Or at least, she hoped.
Rhach i lû: Curse the time!
Ias gar cin been: Where have you been?
Im gar been ne nín haust: I have been in my room.
Edlothia: Blossom.
Arod: Noble.
Randir: Pilgrim.
