Thanks for the reviews. I hope all continue to enjoy the story and let me know what you think of this chapter. Sorry for taking so long to update.
Again, I am not good with elven names so, forgive me if they sound off.
Chapter 2 – Finally Meeting Naneth
Despite her promise to Thranduil, Adrianna still managed to avoid spending any time with Legolas. She had caught glimpses of him in the halls, but nothing more. She felt him unworthy of her time though she knew that she would have train him on how to behave properly before the celebration, since his father had every intention of making them appear to be a proper family. He was a blight on her otherwise perfect life and if she was going to be forced to acknowledge him, then she would do what necessary to ensure that at the very least he would not embarrass her.
She looked on this morning from a distance as Gredalia carried the disheveled child through the halls to his room. 'She spoils him too much.' she thought to herself. 'Thranduil as well. He spends much too much time with him when he should spend it with Andarion and me. All of this will change though. In keeping myself apart from the situation, I have lost control of it. I had hoped that Thranduil would finally come to the realization that the child was not going to be all that he hoped. Maybe even allow that woman and her husband to raise him as their own. But it was obvious that that was not going to happen. Time to make the best of a bad situation." She thought as she turned and made her way back to her sitting room.
Gredalia and Tharion was just returning Legolas to his room after a visit to see Maglion. He would check him over every so ofter to see how he was faring. Tharion was holding onto his mother's hand as they made the way back to Legolas' room. Gredalia carried Legolas in her arms as Maglion's examination usually taxed him greatly and where as his medication normally left him groggy, combined with the one of these sessions, he was absolutely exhausted.
Gredalia hated these examinations and was glad that they were only once a month. She had felt that Maglion's treatment of the youngster was harsh and did not believe that he was doing him any good. In fact, she felt it was just the opposite. Just when she felt that he was making some progress, a visit with Maglion caused what she considered to be a set back. More often than not she wound up carrying the child back to his rooms and restricting his activities for days like today when he would also suffer from horrible headaches. She had spoken to Thranduil once, but Maglion had managed to convince him that what he did was necessary and the only thing keeping his son from Mandos Halls.
Gredalia had laid Legolas down to rest on his bed. He was suffering from tremors, he was wheezing and she could tell by the way he grimaced that his head was hurting him terribly. She closed the windows, shut out the sunlight and started a fire in the fireplace to warm the chilled air. She had just gotten Legolas settled when a knock sounded at the door. "Tharion, get the door please."
Tharion opened the door and allowed Balithian, Queen Andarion's personal attendant, to enter. "My Lady." she greeted Gredalia. "Her highness wishes you to attend to her in her sitting chamber and she says that you are to bring Prince Legolas with you."
"I will come immediately, of course, but Prince Legolas is asleep and unable to come. Haslana is attending to her duties in the healing room this morning and will be coming shortly to sit with him while I take Tharion to his studies. Would it be possible for you to stay with the elflings as I attend to her highness?"
"If I must." She answered indignantly. "You should be aware that her Highness will be most upset if you do not bring the prince with you."
"I will explain my reasons to her. I'm sure she will understand." Gredalia turned her attention to her son, "Tharion, nana will be back shortly. Please play quietly until I return."
"Yes Nana." Tharion answered and walked to sit at the table. He pulled out some coal and paints and began to draw until his naneth returned.
Gredalia smiled at her son, and then turned back to Balithian, "Legolas will probably not awaken before I return and Tharion will give you no problems." Balithian gave a quick bow acknowledgment before Gredalia left the room and walked quickly to the Queen's sitting room. She was to have taken care of Legolas for only so long as he had needed to be nursed, but he had gotten so attached to her and to her son, that Thranduil had asked that she continue to be his caregiver. Not once over the years had the Queen visited her son and she had thought that once their new addition arrived, Legolas would all but be forgotten. She was pleased however, that since the second prince's birth, King Thranduil had not changed his routine at all. He still spent as much time with Legolas as was available and he had also told her that her highness would be starting to spend time with her son. But that was months ago.
She stopped in front of the double doors which led to the Queen's personal sitting room. She knocked lightly on the door. "Enter." Came the voice from within.
"You wanted to see me your Highness." Gredalia bowed properly as she stood before the Queen.
"Yes, however, I am sure that my instructions were for you to bring the penneth with you." Adrianna had no real desire to do this at all, but now that the celebration was coming up it was necessary.
"I meant no disrespect my lady, but Prince Legolas was asleep. Today was his monthly visit with Healer Maglion, and it is a bit of an ordeal for him. If you wish, I will bring him to you once he has awakened."
Adrianna did not want to meet the child but she certainly was not going to be subject to his schedule.
"What I wish is for you to go and get him now and bring him to me."
Gredalia was not expecting that reaction. "But My Lady, the child is ill and..."
Adrianna cut her off. "The child is always ill." She snapped. "If you cannot do this, I can send someone to fetch him."
"No Madame. That will not be necessary. I will get him."
As Gredalia turned to leave, Adrianna called to her back. "Do not be long, as I have quite a busy schedule to keep today."
"Yes My Lady." Gredalia hurried back to Legolas' room and found him still deeply asleep. "Legolas, Legolas, wake up my sweet."
Balithian smiled knowingly at her as she pulled Legolas to a sitting position. "I told you that she would be angry if you did not bring him."
"And I should have heeded your words. Could you please get me a cold cloth so that I can try to revive him a bit more?"
Balithian walked to the small bath chamber and picked up a cloth. She poured some water from the pitcher into the basin, wet the cloth and took it over to Gredalia who had managed to get Legolas to open his eyes but he was still very groggy.
Gredalia washed his face quickly and picked him up. Settling him on her hip, she carried him to his naneth's sitting room. Once outside the door, she set him down and straightened his clothes.
"What is it Nana?" Legolas' words were slurred and his eyes were still unfocused.
"Your Naneth wishes to see you."
"Naneth never sees me." he said absently "My head hurts, can I go back to sleep now?" Legolas just knew he was dreaming and held up his arms for Gredalia to pick him up and return him to his bed.
"No my love. You have to stay awake." 'At least stay on your feet.' she thought to herself. She grabbed his hand and knocked again at the Queen's door. "I know that you do not feel well, but your naneth wishes to see you right now. Please just try to stay focused for a few minutes and then you can sleep for the rest of the day." 'Just wonderful, the day he finally gets to meet his naneth and he is not well enough to enjoy it. He may not even remember it much more than it being a dream.' She shook the thought out of her head and pushed the door open when she heard the Queen offer her admittance.
She brought Legolas before his naneth and positioned him to stand in front of her. The Queen got up from her writing desk and walked around to stand in front of him. "Do you know who I am penneth?" She glared down imposingly at him.
Legolas looked up at her, but when he did, a yawn escaped from his lips. He could feel his head pulse with every beat of his heart and kept his eyes closed to a slit to lessen the light from the brightly lit room. "I am sorry." he said to her.
Adrianna was instantly shocked. Not only had the child not offered her a proper greeting upon his arrival but to be blatantly rude was unacceptable.
Gredalia noticed the expression on her face. "My Lady, he is not normally like this. His monthly visit with Maglion was this morning and it is very hard on him. That was why I did not bring him when you first summoned us. I was hoping to allow him to sleep and recover a bit more before presenting him to you."
Adrianna looked closely at the elleth before her. She was not overly pretty, but she seemed of strong character. She was not at all impressed by Gredalia's explanation. In fact, she felt as if the elleth was trying to chastise her for insisting to see the child when she did. "And how does the master healer find him?"
"He considers that there is not much change in the condition of his lungs, but he finds him a happy elfling otherwise my lady."
Before his mother could say anything else Legolas spoke up. "I am sorry Naneth. I did not mean to be rude. Please forgive me." he was practically swaying on his feet now. "Nana, can I go back to my room now?" he asked looking to Gredalia.
Gredalia bent down and picked him up and she whispered into his ear as she rubbed his back. "Soon dear. Your naneth wants to talk to you. I know you have wanted to meet her for some time. Please be strong for just a few minutes more."
Adrianna was beside herself with anger. "Put him down!" she ordered and Gredalia obeyed immediately. "You allow him to call you Nana and then you presume to give the impression that you have some say as to when this visit will end!" Adrianna let her displeasure show.
"His Highness took no issue with his calling me nana as it is not uncommon for elflings to call their caregivers by this title."
"It is not uncommon for orphaned elflings you mean! And now you would use my husband as if to gain some of leverage with me!" Adrianna was at the end of her temperance.
Gredalia knew she was treading on thin ice. She was caught off guard by the Queen's summoning and had no time to think of the things she should go over with her charge. Still, she was not so sure that she would have told him not to call her nana in front of his mother. "No My lady, I did not mean it that way. I was speaking of the fact that while I care for Legolas, I also care for my own son. Legolas has taken to calling me Nana as my son does and I sought to use no leverage against you. I only wanted you to know that His Highness was aware of his son's actions."
'Nice try.' Adrianna thought. She turned her attention back to the child who was looking at them now with wide eyes.
"My husband is quite ingratiated to you and your family for the time you spend with our child and now it is time that I too become aware of my son's actions." Gredalia had feared this moment would come. She knew that the Queen couldn't release her from her services as she was hired by Thranduil directly, but it would only be a matter of time. She was going to miss Legolas terribly.
Adrianna took a moment to calm herself before speaking again. "You may go now, I wish to speak to my son alone." She noticed Gredialia's sigh of relief, but she truly was thankful for her, because of her good care of Thranduil's son, he had not felt the need to push her harder on her promise and though she knew that she would have to be rid of the woman eventually, she served her purposes for now. You are dismissed. I will have Balithian bring him to you when we are done."
Gredalia bowed to the Queen, then bent down on one knee to speak to Legolas, "You will stay with your Naneth for a while. I will see you later." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and prepared to leave the room. The Queen walked her to the door to escort her out. Before she closed the door, she called out, "and Gredalia.."
She turned to face the Queen. "Yes Your Highness."
"This child has but one Naneth. He will not call you Nana from this moment forth. Do you understand?"
She paused before answering, "Yes, Your Highness." Again she bowed and walked down the corridor this time with a heavy heart knowing that her time with the child she had helped to raise for the past 13 years was coming to an end.
Legolas heard the door close behind him. He had been forgotten during the conversations with his Nana and Naneth, but now the Queen's attention was focused solely on him. He was much more nervous now without Nana there, but he knew he had to stay calm. He was not at his best right now and he did not want to do anything to further anger his naneth.
As the Queen came to stand in front of him again, he finally took a good look at his mother. He had never been this close to her before only glimpses of her from afar. 'She is beautiful' he thought as he looked upon her face. Her eyes were a pale blue and she had dark hair, like most of the other elves he knew. It braided in a single thick braid hanging down her back and ended just past her waist. She had a smaller frame then Gredalia and she looked very delicate, but the way she carried her shoulders high and the intensity in her ice cold stare showed that she was anything but delicate. In fact, to the little elfling, she was quite scary. Not at all what he imagined his Naneth would be.
"Let us start with why I wanted to speak with you today." She began, "There is to be a celebration in a few months to introduce you and your brother to all of Greenwood."
"I have a brother!" Legolas was overjoyed his headache pushed to the background. He had not been told about a brother. "Can I meet him?"
She took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. "As I was saying?" She continued as if Legolas had not asked a question. "There is to be a celebration in a few months to introduce you and your brother to all of the Greenwood. It is my job to ensure that this event occurs without incident. Do you know what that means?"
"Yes Naneth, it means without problems." He felt a bit insulted by the way she was speaking to him. He knew that everyone thought of him as being a dullard, but he was not. When there were a lot of things going on around him at once, things tended to get a big jumbled, but this was just she and him. There was no need for her to talk down to him.
"Good. So I will be making sure that you know how to behave properly and will not cause any problems." She clasped her hands in front of her.
"I would not cause problems. Nana and Ada has taught me to behave in front of others." He said very proudly.
She shook her head. "I can see that you indeed do not know how to behave. Three times since you have entered this room have you spoken without being addressed. That is not proper behavior. You will not speak unless you have been given leave to."
Legolas almost spoke up again but stopped himself. He did not talk very much, and his adar had been encouraging to him to speak more often. He was not allowed to be disrespectful, and he had not thought he had been now.
She nodded at his silence and began to walk around him. "You should be seen and not heard. Which brings us to our next problem. Your clothes and hair are a mess. You will not appear in front of me, or anyone else in this state again. Before you leave your room you are to be clean, properly dressed, and your hair properly in one braid like this." She turned so that he may see how her hair was braided.
Legolas studied the braid closely before she turned back around. He remembered that Gredalia had once braided his hair and Tharion's in this fashion when they had asked to have their hair like his adar and Regalis, but she explained that warriors braids had to earned and until then, this was acceptable.
"You will do this yourself under Gredalia's supervision." she continued. "You are not an infant and I will not allow anyone to continue to treat you as such. Your father would have you be a Prince in his kingdom, and though I feel that you are unworthy of the title, you will at least look and act the part. Do you understand?"
"Yes Naneth." He answered now feeling very sad. He did not understand what he had done to be unworthy. That must be why his Naneth had not wanted to see him before. He did not know what it meant to be worthy of being a Prince, but if it would earn him his mother's love, he would do what ever was required.
"Our final lesson of the day, I have already told Gredalia, and now I tell you. You have one Naneth and that is I. You will not call Gredalia nana again. I bore the pain of your birth, no other. I have earned the title and your respect by doing no more than that. Which is more than you have done to earn the title of being my son."
"But Ada said that it was fine that I call Gredalia Nana." Legolas was dismayed. Gredalia was the only mother he had known. He felt a deep connection to her whereas he felt no connection at all to the elleth before him though he knew her to be his Naneth by his father's admission. He watched as his mother walked coolly towards him with her hand clasped behind her back. When she stood before him again she bent down on one knee and put her hands on his shoulders as if to console him. The suddenly, her hand flew back and slapped him harshly across the face snapping his head to one side. Shocked eyes met with cool ones as he turned back with tears flowing down his now burning cheek.
"Apparently you forgot already our first lesson. You were not given leave to speak and you certainly were not given permission to be insolent. You will respect and obey me. That means you will follow my instructions without question. Understand?!"
Legolas began to cry. No one had ever struck him before. He had been scolded for misbehavior, but never struck.
"Answer me!"
"Yes My Lady." he answered through his tears. His headache now returned with a vengeance and his chest was tightening. He wanted to go to his room, he wanted his nana!
"Be quiet! You have been coddled long enough, but not any longer. Wipe your face." she spat. She stood up and composed herself once again. "That will be all for now. You will remember what we have discussed. I expect to see you at mid-day meal penneth. Do not be late and know that I will be watching you." The Queen walked to her chamber doors and opened them to find Balithian waiting outside as she had expected. "Balithian, walk the princeling back to his room." She pushed him gently towards the waiting elleth.
When Legolas arrived back at his room, he found it empty. He walked into the dark room and climbed up on his bed. "Gredalia went to take Tharion to his lessons. Either she or Haslana will return shortly. I cannot stay with you and your naneth has need of me." He nodded to her and she closed the door behind her. Once she was gone, Legolas laid down and curled up into a ball and cried. Thirteen years, he had waited thirteen years to find out that his mother hated him. The thought of it made him cry even harder. He head pounded relentlessly and his cheek was still stinging. Finally, he cried himself to sleep.