Chapter 2: The Move

"Crazy is what crazy do"

-The Black Eyed Peas

The rest of my life began a month before my one hundred and fortieth birthday, when Dad told me that we were moving. I was quite surprised, of course. Not to mention annoyed. Dad never told me anything until it was too late for me to do anything about it.

"Where are we going?" I asked. "Why are we going? How will we get there? How will we avoid being noticed?"

Dad laughed. "Good heavens, all these questions! We're going to a new city I've just completed. We're going because I think it'd be good for us. We'll get there by riding, I suppose. As for how we'll avoid being noticed, well, we'll just be careful. I'm sure we'll be fine. Is that everything?"

I looked at him and frowned. "You're not at all sure about that."

"Never you mind," replied Dad, looking a bit embarrassed that, once again, I had managed to guess exactly what he was thinking. "Go up and tell Meleth, and then start packing. We leave in two days."

"TWO DAYS? Isn't that a bit soon?"

"Stop asking me all these questions and get to it, Idril."

I ran upstairs, slightly ticked off. Dad never listened to me. I think this may be because I'm a girl. See, according to the customs of our people, girls are unfit to rule, and Dad thought this meant that girls are idiots. Which of course is not true.

"Meleth!" I called, entering my room. "Dad says we're moving!"

"Good heavens!" said Meleth, looking up from her embroidery. "Why on earth are we doing that?"

Meleth was officially my maid, though I never thought of her as a servant. She was pretty much my best friend. Dad had hired her when I was a teenager and, since Eru knows I had absolutely no use for a servant at the time, we'd ignored the fact that we were from different social classes and acted like crazy undignified tomboys together. Now that we were sophisticated young ladies, we were still inseparable.

"Search me," I said. "He says it'll be good for us. What that means, I have no idea."

"Hmm," said Meleth, and sighed. "I suppose we'd best get packing, then. When are we leaving?"

"Two days." I unearthed my trunk from my closet. "He won't even tell me where we're going. Normally Dad's not this secretive."

Meleth started helping me pack my clothes into the trunk. "I suppose the best thing to do is to not worry about it. Your father's smart, even if he's a bit stubborn." She was right. Dad was brilliant in his way. He was also an idiot, but that's not really important at the moment.

Late that evening, I ran into my Aunt Aredhel's room without knocking. She and I never knocked when we went into each other's rooms. Aunt Aredhel always said that we're both girls, so privacy isn't' really a concern. I loved Aunt Aredhel. She'd been practically my mother since Mom drowned, but she still remembered what it's like to be young, so she wasn't always telling me what to do (That was more Dad's job anyway).

"Oh, hello, Idril," said Aunt Aredhel when I entered. She was brushing her hair in front of the mirror and didn't bother to look at me. "What's up?"

"Did Dad tell you we're moving?" I asked, sitting down on her bed. "Are you worried about it?"

Aunt Aredhel looked a bit surprised. "Why, of course, honey. He wouldn't forget to tell me something important like that. And no, I'm not much worried."

"Did he tell you where we were going? He didn't tell me. Why is he being so secretive?"

"I wonder if it's possible for you to just ask one question at a time?" said Aunt Aredhel, turning to me and smiling. "All he told me was that we were going to a city up North. And I think he's being secretive because…well, he told me that he didn't want to tell anyone the exact location of the city, because he's afraid that Morgoth's forces will discover it."

"Well, that seems sensible," I said. "But why couldn't he tell me?"

"Because your father is very overprotective of you and he doesn't want you to worry. It's silly, I know, and you ARE smart enough to handle stress, but to Turgon you're still something of a little girl and he wants to watch out for you. Also, he is a bit prejudiced towards women." She grimaced. "Don't tell him I said that."

I sighed. "Aunt Aredhel, do you think I'm crazy?"

"Good heavens, my girl, whatever makes you ask that?"

"Dad thinks I am, just because sometimes…I can sometimes tell what people are thinking. He's never said so, but I know he thinks there's something wrong with me. Do you agree with him?"

"Idril." Aunt Aredhel looked me straight in the eyes, her tone serious. "You arenot crazy, by any means. You're a very smart and sane girl. You're just…perceptive. And a lot of people don't understand that."

"I wish I wasn't," I sighed. "Aren't I different enough already?"

"You can't be too different," said Aunt Aredhel wisely. "Don't let Turgon get to you. He's just afraid that you'll make him look bad."

"Thanks, Aunt Aredhel," I said, getting up. "I'm getting pretty tired. Think I'll go to bed now."

"That's a good girl. You've got a lot of packing to do tomorrow."