Chapter 7

"You are not paying attention."

Almárëa pulled herself out of her thoughts to stare blankly at her father. They were sitting at one of the many tables in Narmo Rilli's great library. The table was practically overflowing with books; Almárëa had to move a couple onto her chair and sit on them so that she could see over the mountain and be able to listen to her father. Although, in fact, she wasn't actually listening anyway so it was a slightly pointless feat. Erynion waited for her to say something, but she remained as she was until finally he sighed.

"Almárëa, I do not sit here with you every morning for you to daydream and completely ignore my teachings."

"I do not 'completely' ignore them," she retorted.

He just looked at her, and she sighed, almost mirroring him.

"Ada, you know that I cannot learn from books. I need to feel and think and do, not sit and blindly absorb information I cannot relate to in the real world. I do not live off of a page, I am not a scholar."

"No, you are not," her father agreed. "But you are a princess, and you will need to get used to it if you hope to rule the kingdom one day."

Almárëa pouted. "You say that as though it will happen. You are not going to relinquish your throne and you are not going to die unless I poison you."

Erynion raised one of his eyebrows with a slight smirk and questioned, "Are you telling me your future plans of getting rid of me?"

Almárëa giggled. "Yes, Ada, it will happen when you least expect it. I will pour liquidized Wolf's Bane in your wine one night when you are too tired to catch it."

Erynion's amusement suddenly disappeared off of his face.

"Do not speak of things you do not know," he reprimanded. Almárëa's laughter also disappeared and her eyes widened in a bit of shock when she realized what her father was speaking of. She was often told of her mother's death, but when it happened she was too young to remember it. It was not rare for her to mention something that brought the memory of Anira's death to her father.

"Ada, I am sorry, I did not mean to - "

Erynion held his hand up to silence her.

"It is alright," he said quietly with a small smile. Still, Almárëa could not shake her guilt. She did not like to see her father so heartbroken, especially when she was the cause of it. Or at least, she was the cause of the memory of it. Though she was not yet a quarter of a century old she was not blind to the way that he often looked at her. His hair was ebony, as most of the narmo-nosse, and his eyes were a deep green like the needles on the pines surrounding their home. Yet, her hair was a fair shade of brown, and her eyes were a silvery gray like the pale light of the moon. She had not seen another wolfkin with such color, but she was told her mother and her mother's family all had the same when they were alive. Every time her father looked at her, he saw the love of his life.

"Ada, what was she like?" Almárëa asked quietly. Erynion looked surprised that she would ask this; she had never questioned about her mother before. He thought for a moment, and smiled gently at his daughter.

"She was a lot like you," he said. "She was a free spirit, and refused to be tied down by her duties as queen."

Almárëa's eyes lit up at this, and Erynion seemed to catch himself.

"But that does not mean that she did not act like one when it was needed, and she never neglected her duties as you seem quite willing to do."

Almárëa scowled. "Thank you very much for the vote of confidence."

"You are quite welcome," her father said with a smile. Before she could respond, he closed the book he had been reading to her and stood. He held out his hand and Almárëa happily leapt off of the chair and ran up to him. She reached up and grabbed onto his hand as he led her out of the library.

Lorelei recalled that after they left the library, she and her father went out into the forest and sat by a river for a good portion of the day. He told her about the water, and the plants, and the important events that took place on the river. She knew that was supposed to happen, but as soon as she took one step outside the door of the library, the halls of Narmo Rilli vanished.

She was plunged into darkness, and her father's warm touch turned into ice. With surprise and fear, she tried to pull free and reach for her swords, but she had no weapons. Not at that age. She was still trapped in her younger body. She looked around wide-eyed, until she spotted a soft light in the distance. She would have tried to run toward it if her hand was not still trapped, but soon she noticed that the light was coming closer, and as it came closer its color became more clear.

Its light was not that of the sun, nor the stars, nor the moon. Instead, it was a dark light that was filtered through some shapeless shadow. It glowed menacingly in obscure hues of purple and blue, and from it resonated quiet, ominous voices that spoke in an ancient tongue she could not understand, nor did she recognize.

She tried to step back, and the pressure on her hand suddenly intensified. She could see Erynion now, and he was cloaked in blood and darkness. He turned to her, his eyes no longer green, but glowing red. He pulled her closer, and spoke in Narinos, so soft at first that she could hardly hear him, but soon his voice grew into a thundering shout that deafened her. His voice seemed to blend with those coming from the light until they were one, and Lorelei still could not understand either. Lorelei tried again to pull away but Erynion's fingers dug sharply into her arm. He pulled her even closer to him and leaned down so that she could feel his breath pouring out of his mouth as he rambled on in whatever language he was.

He reached into his robes and pulled out his dagger: the dagger he gave her. The one she still carried. He held it up, and her eyes widened in terror, for she knew she was too small to overpower him. Just before he brought the dagger down, his words became clear to her.

"Like your mother before you, I will extinguish the light you are host to. I will smother it, until only darkness is left. Your people, your kin; they will all perish in the shadows, nothing but a memory. You will rue the day you came to light."

Then, he plunged his dagger toward her heart.

Lorelei awoke with a jolt, and she took a gasping breath in. She remained quiet, for what reason she could not say, and slowly came to realization. She was clutching the white sheets of the bed she was in, and above her were curved ceilings of carved marble that were some of the most elegant arches she'd ever seen. She was fully grown, and she did not feel the pain of any wounds, although she was rather sore. She soon recognized two voices speaking to one another: from outside, it seemed.

She slowly released her death-grip on the covers, and closed her eyes to focus on listening to the voices. It was Elrond and Glorfindel… That's right, she was in Rivendell. She was not a child held captive in her own home. She was on her own, on a journey to Greenwood the Great. And now she lay in bed after falling unconscious from the strain of a hard battle. She again concentrated on listening, in the hopes to find out what was happening. The two ellyn were speaking in hushed voices, but with an urgency that rang through her ears.

"Yes, it arrived just yesterday," Elrond confirmed some question Glorfindel had asked.

"And what did it say?"

"He asked for his daughter's whereabouts."

"After sending those beasts after her?" Glorfindel demanded angrily. Elrond responded in a gentler tone, as if to remind his friend that someone could be listening.

"Yes, he must have written it within a day after the incident. Some wolf tracks were found inside our borders; I assume it was a Scout sent to see that the job was finished."

Glorfindel huffed with what sounded like triumph. "And to his utter disappointment, the Scout reported his plan had failed. I can honestly say that I am not surprised, although I would have thought he would at least have the sense for some subtlety."

"I do not imagine he expected his daughter to have the strength to defeat the draugrim. Her mother's blood flows more strongly through her veins than the blood of the wolfkin her father passed to her. He probably did not think this to be so, since she so heavily refuses to use the magic she has."

There was a slight pause as if Glorfindel was contemplating Elrond's observation. Lorelei used that time to puzzle what Elrond had said about her mother. Her mother's blood? She thought her mother was a wolfkin. She thought her family had been killed during the Great Journey. What was Elrond saying?

"Lorelei refuses to use her magic?" Glorfindel asked.

"Yes," Elrond responded slowly. There was another pause. Lorelei thought of the time he had sparred with her, and she had used the excuse of practicing her magic to try and get away from it.

"And you know this how?" Glorfindel asked. Lorelei was surprised he didn't mention the conversation.

"We were close once, you forget."

"Right," Glorfindel retorted with sarcasm, "and I assume Erynion just shared all of his frustrations with you about his daughter."

"Well, considering I am a father myself, it is not so farfetched an idea."

"No, I suppose not. But that still begs the question: why did he wait until now? He could have asked for our assistance earlier, and we might have granted it. We knew hardly anything of Lorelei."

"Wolfkin are often just as stubborn as dwarves, especially Erynion. I suspect his pride did not allow him to ask for the aid of others. This was a last resort."

"And deadly wolves summoned from darkness aren't?"

"He cannot afford to lose his daughter; the draugrim were probably a safer course of action in his mind. If she is lost to him then their people's chance of returning to their homeland is shattered."

Lorelei opened her eyes and frowned. Her people's chance of returning to their homeland? What was that supposed to mean? There was nowhere to return to; they were already home. Unless while she was gone they were driven out, but that was next to impossible. Though they were only two-hundred strong, the walls of Narmo Rilli were nearly impenetrable and her people were warriors – they would not give up without a fight.

The soft scrape of fabric on stone alerted her to another elf passing through the door to the room she was in. Her steel gaze flew to the left and her eyes met those of Erestor, who seemed surprised.

"Lorelei," he greeted as he came quickly to the bedside. "You are awake. I did not expect you would be for another day or so."

The voices outside ceased as soon as Erestor spoke, to Lorelei's annoyance. She had wanted to learn more; she did not understand most of Elrond and Glorfindel's conversation.

She ignored it however, and huffed in response to Erestor.

"You should know by now that I cannot stand to remain in one place."

Erestor smiled. "I suppose so."

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Almost three days."

That was certainly longer than she had expected. She could understand sleeping through the night, and then maybe halfway into the next day, but three? She did not think she had spent so much energy. Unwilling to puzzle on it any longer than needed, Lorelei tried to sit up. She was glad when Erestor didn't stop her from doing so. When she was fully upright, she looked at him.

"Where is Ishta?" she asked. She did not feel her partner in pain; that was a relief. She was alive and well, although currently not in the immediate vicinity.

"I believe she left this morning to search the area," Erestor informed. "She wanted to be certain the road was safe before you tried to leave."

Lorelei paused. Ishta would not do that unless she knew that there was something to be worried about. Elrond did say that his people had found wolf tracks close to the city. Perhaps she was searching for whatever Scout had made them. Normally Lorelei might reprimand Ishta for going out on her own, but after the stunt Erynion pulled even he would not be so bold as to send another group of draugrim for her. And Ishta could easily win in a fight against another wolf; Thandraug did not raise her lightly.

So instead of worrying about her, her mind wandered to Aragorn. Though she pulled him out of the Sleep, he could still be hurt or drained from the experience. If there was one thing Lorelei knew about the Sleep: it wasn't pleasant. Since it was induced by creatures of shadow, once the spell took hold only a being's darkest thoughts amassed as one horrifying nightmare. Aragorn luckily wasn't trapped in it too long, but still the effects would have taken their toll.

"How is Aragorn?" she asked. Before Erestor could reply, Glorfindel and Elrond entered into the room.

"You can ask him yourself," Glorfindel said. "He will return shortly; he only left because Erestor tied him up and carried him away."

Erestor frowned. "I do believe that is a bit extravagant. He left when I threatened to do that."

Glorfindel sighed and pouted in mock disappointment. "Really, Erestor, you are no fun. Have you not even the slightest bone for games anymore?"

"I did until I met you."

Glorfindel looked horrified at the statement. "That simply cannot be true, I have only ever instilled jokes; I have never shut them down."

"That would be my point."

Elrond, who had been waiting patiently until that point, raised his hand for silence.

"As much as I enjoy listening to your infantile bickering, I must speak with our guest alone," he said with regal sarcasm; if such a thing was possible.

Erestor shot a short glare at Glorfindel before he turned to his Lord and bowed. Glorfindel ignored him and simply left the room with a pleased smirk on his face; Erestor not far behind. When the two had disappeared, Elrond sat on a chair next to the bed so he could be on more level ground with Lorelei.

"How are you feeling, child?" he asked.

He had called her that once before; upon their first meeting in his kingdom. At the time, Lorelei was slightly offended at the statement, but for some reason this time it did not bother her. She answered honestly, aside from leaving out her dream. Her stomach was still churning from the experience.

"A little weary, but certainly much better than I had been."

Elrond nodded. "That is good. You worried the others; they thought you had been further harmed by the draugrim when you lost consciousness."

Lorelei paused to scrutinize the lord's expression. "But you did not?"

Elrond simply smiled. Lorelei would have questioned him further, but she heard the unmistakable sound of Aragorn's boots tapping on the stone floor. She looked up just as he appeared in the doorway, and he paused before a look of relief spread over his figure.

"Lorelei," he greeted. He looked a lot better than Lorelei would have thought – for a mortal. Not for the first time she wondered if there was more to him than what he allowed others to see; aside from his royal bloodline, of course.

"Ranger," she said with a smirk, "I see you have somehow managed to keep yourself out of trouble for the past couple of days. How ever did you manage it?"

Aragorn shook his head as he came forward to stand beside the bed. "I didn't have you to influence me."

Lorelei ignored his jab and asked, "How do you fair?"

"Quite well, thanks to you." He placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it firmly. "Thank you, Lorelei."

Lorelei smiled, but shook her head. "If it were not for you, I would have been the one under their spell. Thank you."

Aragorn looked as though he wanted to say something else, but Elrond spoke before he could.

"While we are on the subject, how did you manage to defeat them in the end?"

Lorelei paused, and sent a suspicious glance in the peredhel's direction. He said that as though he knew the clouds would still be blanketing the moon where the stone was. As though he knew she would have to resort to another method to banish them from this world. She decided to leave it be, however, and answered with a simplified version.

"Sáralondë brought me to the stone swiftly; the wolves hardly kept pace. Once I reached the stone, I realized the clouds still covered it. The draugrim were not far behind, and they closed off any path to escape. They charged at me, and I used my swords to defend myself as best I could, but it did not last long. In the end I was weaponless, standing atop the stone with the hope that Isilmë would grant me a wind to remove the clouds. That did not happen. Yet, when the wolves took their final leap at me, the stone began to glow with soft blue light. It was not a very strong light, but it was enough to send the beasts back to where they came. It was only after they had fallen that the wind picked up and the clouds moved aside."

Elrond nodded, and Lorelei saw something hidden behind his eyes. She did not ask of it, for Aragorn spoke then.

"If the clouds did not move, then where did the light come from?" he asked.

Lorelei looked at him but did not answer straight away. She could not say for certain, but earlier when the draugrim had been chasing her she recalled that the spell she had been practicing earlier had worked. She did not call upon it, but it came all the same. Her best guess was that the same thing happened there; she had called forth the spell without realizing it.

"I do have magic, you know," she retorted. "Though I may choose not to wield it."

Aragorn looked skeptical. "Why did you not use it earlier?"

Lorelei looked away with irritation – not at him, but at herself.

"If I could have, then I would have."

That was all the explanation that she would offer. Aragorn seemed to realize this, and he resisted the urge to ask any more of her. Instead, he informed her that Ishta told him she would return before the sun was at its peak. Lorelei glanced out the windows to determine where the sun was, and decided Ishta would return within an hour, hopefully no more.

"When did she leave?" Lorelei asked, her eyes still on the citadel outside.

"Just before the dawn."

Lorelei looked back at him with surprise. She certainly was taking her time; it should not take that long to simply sniff out the area around Rivendell, especially for one of the wolves of Narmo Rilli.

"And what did she tell you that she was doing?"

"Scouting," Aragorn replied slowly, not sure the reason of Lorelei's suspicion. She did nothing to put his mind at ease, merely folded the sheets away from her body as she turned to stand. Elrond and Aragorn shared a curious glance, but did nothing to stop her. Which, again, she was grateful for. If she had to remain in that bed another instant she would have to rip her own hair out.

She found that she was not wearing her outermost layer of clothing, and that her boots stood next to the bed quite conveniently. She pulled them on and easily found the rest of her attire laid out on an armchair located toward the corner of the room. As she pulled on her clothes and fastened her belts, Elrond cleared his throat. Lorelei glanced at him but did not pause.

"Might I ask where you are going?"

"Nowhere in particular," she replied casually. "Although I had hoped to speak with you."

Elrond nodded. "Of course."

When Lorelei had finished preparing herself for the journey she evidently intended to take later that day, Elrond stood from the chair and followed as she left the room. In the hall, Aragorn excused himself and the princess and lord were left to themselves aside from the elves that passed them. Neither of them spoke until they were outside and away from most of the others. It was Elrond who spoke first, despite Lorelei initiating the meeting in the first place.

"I assume you wish to inquire about the sword," he said. Lorelei almost denied that was the reason, but there was little point in doing so.

"Yes. I had hoped you came to a decision."

Elrond nodded. "I have."

Lorelei looked at him as they turned onto a garden path. It was the same place the draugrim had held Ishta and placed Aragorn under their spell. The peaceful trees and soft ground revealed nothing of the turmoil past.

"I could not help but notice," Elrond said eventually, "that you carry a weapon not forged by the living. Might I inquire as to how you came by it?"

Lorelei was a little put-off by the sudden change in topic, but she figured that he would not tell her about the sword until he wanted to. She feared pushing him would only draw him away from willingness to talk.

"A few bandits attacked me as I was traveling. I merely took what should not have been theirs to begin with."

"And you are keeping it?"

Lorelei wondered just how much Elrond knew of her people. She could tell him her reason for keeping the Morgul blade, yes, but that would reveal a secret that was best kept within the pine needles of Wolfwood.

"I would rather hold onto it than see it in any other pair of hands," she said instead, "and I would not trust hiding it. If someone found it before, it would be easy for someone to stumble upon it again."

Elrond frowned in thought. "I do not believe someone can simply stumble upon such a thing. Those blades are dangerous and are kept close by the hands of the dead. Are you sure it was only bandits who pursued you?"

"Yes," Lorelei confirmed. "There were only ten of them, although none of them were keen on revealing the one who gave them the blade."

Elrond stopped and turned to her with astonishment. "They were given the blade?"

Lorelei also stopped walking so she did not leave the lord behind. "Yes, that is what they claimed. Or, one of them. Unfortunately the one who spoke was not the one who knew all of the answers."

"And what happened to that one?"

Lorelei thought back on how readily she threw her knife into the man's throat and decided better than to tell Elrond directly what happened. She replied cryptically, "Nothing that wasn't deserved."

She said nothing more, and turned to continue farther into the garden. Elrond followed, easily noting the darkness in her expression when she had said that.

"Tell me," Elrond said to keep the flow of conversation, "What had you planned on doing before you learned of Blood Whistler?"

"I do recall mentioning the first day of my visit, my Lord, that I was heading toward Greenwood."

Elrond paused before he replied with surprise. "Greenwood?"

"Yes," Lorelei glanced at him doubtfully. "Did I not say that I was making way to Thranduil's kingdom?"

"You mentioned Thranduil's kingdom, yes, but you did not say Greenwood."

Lorelei frowned with thought. "I do not think I understand."

Elrond smiled a little and looked up at the trees as he said, "It is just that I have not heard it called by that name for quite some time."

"No?" This left Lorelei even more puzzled.

Elrond shook his head. "It has been renamed Mirkwood for many years now, after the fortress of Dol Guldur was taken by the Necromancer. A sickness spread from his evil, and overtook the forest."

"Did it?" Lorelei asked without expectation of an answer. She had not been told any of this by her father, and he confided in her a great many things, if only for the hopes to turn her interests more toward politics than the point of the blade. She wondered if he had spared her the knowledge with the suspicion that she would automatically seek to aid Thranduil, or if Erynion even knew about the change at all.

"It did indeed," Elrond answered her anyway. "I would have thought you might have known, I myself had not heard of it until recently. But relations between us are not as strong as yours."

"Yes, we have certainly kept better contact with Thranduil than others," Lorelei agreed. By that, she meant that the elves of …Mirkwood… were the only elves Erynion had bothered to keep contact with at all. He disliked Elrond along with most any other creature that wasn't a pure-bred elf, and practically despised Galadriel and all her kin. The only allies they appeared to have were in Mirkwood, although this new piece of knowledge she had not even had a glimpse of, and she read most of the letters exchanged between her father and King Thranduil. (That, she could admit, was not something Erynion actually gave her permission to do). A simple change of name would not be cause to alert the whole of Narmo Rilli, however such a person as the Necromancer would.

Lorelei knew little of the Necromancer, just what she had heard from rumors amongst her people. She had not been aware just how close he came to their greatest ally's kingdom. Was Thranduil reluctant to share the events of the past century, or was Erynion hiding it for his own twisted reasons?

She suddenly realized just how sheltered she had been in her own kingdom. She knew very little of the events that took place in the rest of the world, and wondered if perhaps she made a mistake leaving her forest. The reasons for her leaving were just, but perhaps Erynion's reasons for demanding her to stay also had some merit. He naturally did not speak of his reasons to her, and at the time she had assumed that he was only trying to put reins on her. Now she wondered if there was something happening that Erynion had tried to protect her from.

Lorelei was debating whether or not she should inquire Elrond as to the current events in Middle Earth, to see if there was anything else Erynion kept from her, when her ears alerted her to light but quick paw steps heading in her and Elrond's direction. At first she tensed, the memory of the draugrim all too near, but when she did not hear any animalistic breathing or haunting howls, she deduced that it was Ishta. She stopped and waited. Elrond turned to her with confusion as to why she did so, but then Ishta stepped through the bushes and greeted Lorelei with a low growl.

"You are the most foolish elf I have ever met."

Lorelei frowned. "And you are worse than my father with your incessant whining. What did I do this time?"

"You were going to let them take you," Ishta responded and pulled her lips back just enough for the tips of her fangs to show.

"And so were you; I fail to see your point."

Ishta just growled and suddenly sprinted the short distance between her and her kin. She jumped up, it looked like to tackle Lorelei, but the princess caught her weight and held it easily. Ishta stood on her hind legs and rested her paws on Lorelei's shoulders. Lorelei tangled her fingers in the mane around Ishta's neck, and she bent her head so that both of their foreheads were pressed against each other.

"I abhor you," Ishta grumbled.

"I know."

"I should kill you now to spare you from the torturous death you will undoubtedly bring unto yourself."

Lorelei huffed and held onto Ishta tighter for a moment. "I expect you to remember that if I need a good killing."

"You do not need to worry about that one."

Lorelei just smiled and the two remained there a moment longer before they separated and Ishta dropped down on all fours.

"What did you find?" Lorelei asked, all seriousness restored.

"Nothing significant," Ishta responded. "Erynion sent a scout to see how his spell worked; the scout left long ago. I would have caught him sooner, however Erestor forced me to rest until this morning."

Lorelei smirked. "Not surprised." She looked up at Elrond then and asked, "Has my father contacted you at all?"

She only wanted to see what Elrond's response would be. Would he tell her the truth? She knew the answer whether he told her or not, so it would change nothing of her reaction to the situation at hand. She merely wanted to know if Elrond still saw it fit to hold back information from her.

Elrond paused for a split second before he nodded. "He sent a letter imploring me to send you home."

Ishta turned to Elrond and stood protectively between him and Lorelei, mostly out of habit.

"What did you tell him?" Ishta inquired.

"I have not replied yet. I only received the letter this morning."

Lorelei frowned. "Who delivered it?" Ishta had not said there was another wolf in Imladris. Unless her nose had been thrown off by a mountain of parsley she doubted Ishta could have missed something like that.

"A falcon," Elrond responded.

Lorelei nodded with realization. Of course Erynion was too lazy or in too much of a rush for it to be delivered by land.

"Then I suggest you respond right away," Lorelei said. "He will not wait for an answer for long, and as it happens I will be leaving before the sun sets tonight. I have lingered here too long."

Elrond seemed to narrow his eyes in thought. "What may you mean by that?"

Lorelei paused for a long moment. Though she said it, she never truly thought about it. She was always worried of staying in one place too long because sooner or later the bad rumors of her people would catch up to her, but his was not such a place. Elrond knew that her people were not blood-thirsty demons. There was truly only one reason she might have said that.

"Erynion knows where I am now," she answered slowly. "He will not stop until he brings me home, and I suspect that he won't care who gets in the way. You'd do best to tell him I left as soon as I defeated the wolves."

A small smile seemed to twitch at Elrond's lips which only confused Lorelei. Instead of giving the reason for this, he turned and began to walk back to the citadel.

"I suspect you are hungry; come and join me for a meal."

Lorelei and Ishta shared a glance. Lorelei thought she made herself clear when she said she needed to leave, but apparently not. She was about to call out to Elrond and reiterate her need for haste, however Ishta stopped her.

"He knows something we do not," Ishta said quietly. "Follow him."

Lorelei hesitated a moment longer, but she nodded and with Ishta followed Elrond back to his halls. For the first part of the walk, everything was silent. Lorelei knew Elrond well enough by now that she knew if she asked what he was thinking, he wouldn't tell her until he thought it the right time to do so. She had no intention of pushing him only to risk him becoming tired of her ceaseless advances, but Ishta was a different case entirely. The wolf was not interested in what Elrond was hiding, however. She was more concerned with her partner.

"Do you truly intend to leave today?" she asked in Narinos; she didn't want Lorelei to feel the need to hold back information simply because Elrond could hear. In their own language there was no chance of anyone understanding the content of their conversation, so it was less likely that Lorelei would give cryptic or unrevealing answers. Elrond seemed to pay her no heed, and she was grateful for his perception.

Lorelei glanced down at Ishta with suspicion when she replied, "Yes. Why?"

Ishta paused, not entirely sure if she should be bringing this up at the current moment. But if Lorelei was going to leave that day, then she really had no choice.

"It has been three months since you left Narmo Rilli. I believe you have forgotten the reason you left in the first place."

Lorelei huffed. "Nonsense, of course I remember why I left."

"You don't show it," Ishta grumbled, and then said quickly, "The quest for Blood Whistler has taken up your thoughts for a while now. I am simply trying to remind you that, though you vented a long time about your father, your anger at him was not why you departed without permission. I let you take your time sorting your feelings out, but I will not let you pass up the opportunity to strengthen relations with Imladris."

Lorelei glanced at the ground in front of her as she recalled the day she left her forest. She had first left Narmo Rilli not to spite her father, but to reestablish a strong connection with Thranduil. She had realized their friendliness had been slowly retreating the more that time passed by. At first she thought her father was doing everything he could to fix it, but it was not long until she realized that wasn't the case. When she left her home three months ago she had been fed up with Erynion's negligence; she had set it upon herself to restore relations. As she traveled with Ishta and didn't have to hide her anger, she let it all out. She forgot her original mission for a time and substituted it for her long suppressed rage. She could see now why Ishta was reminding her what she was trying to do in the first place. She had met nearly every elf in Elrond's kingdom, and as far as she knew she hadn't offended any of them. She didn't try to attack any of them either, which was a miracle, and none of them showed her any disrespect. Though she might have had many ill feelings toward them before, and sometimes even now, her stay in Rivendell actually helped to repair some of the broken bonds between her kingdom and Elrond. Or at the least, she hoped this was the case. Erynion had spat venom at Elrond for a long time.

"Two months among his people cannot cure six centuries of hatred," Lorelei pointed out.

"It was your father who showed ill will; not Elrond, not his people, and not you."

Lorelei huffed. "I had plenty of ill will toward him."

Ishta took silent note of Lorelei's use of past tense before she responded.

"You might have felt it, but you did not show it. At least not obviously. It has only been two months and the alliance cannot be repaired in such short a time, I know that. But if you want to rebuild Narmo Rilli's presence and reputation then you are going to have to start somewhere. Why not here while you have the chance?"

Lorelei stared ahead at Elrond. She would never admit it, but the thought that perhaps she was wrong to ever hold him in suspicion had crossed her mind quite a few times. If Erynion was the only one to harbor any loathing, then the relationship was only held back by his stubbornness. If Lorelei could reestablish their alliance then perhaps Erynion might finally be cured of the blindness he had to the world around them. In a land so disrupted by evil they could not afford to stand on their own anymore. Erynion refused to believe that. There was a chance she could get through to him… She frowned. No, there wasn't. She tried to convince him to strengthen their ties with Thranduil and he refused to do even that. There was no way he would agree to befriending the peredhel.

"Even if I take diplomatic action, my father will not do anything to finalize an alliance. What good would it do?"

Ishta growled. "You are the future queen of Narmo Rilli, it does not matter what Erynion does or does not do."

Lorelei looked down at her wolf with astonishment. "What exactly are you suggesting?"

"Nothing," Ishta huffed. "But Erynion's people do not trust him like they used to. If he falls then there is only one that they will turn to."

Lorelei nearly stopped walking. The thought of her father dying, or being betrayed… as much as she didn't want to admit it, it scared her. She had never thought there would be a time that she would need to take the crown. Elves were eternal and wolfkin were especially tethered to the earth through their wolves, so they would not fade from grief. If they could, Erynion might have faded once her mother died. Ishta's suggestion upset her greatly, and she had to focus very hard not to let it show. Nonetheless, Ishta could feel it.

"Lorelei, I merely caution to a possible future. It could be centuries until –"

"No," Lorelei interrupted. This time, she did stop walking and turned on Ishta with fire blazing in her eyes. "What is it that you are trying to say, Ishta?"

Ishta looked up and was about to tell Lorelei a lie, but the look in her kin's eyes told her not to. She glanced at the ground when she replied.

"I have heard rumors," she whispered quietly. Lorelei took a step closer.

"Rumors, Ishta?"

Ishta bared her fangs as she looked up into Lorelei's eyes.

"The narmo-nosse are not pleased with Erynion's recent choices. That is all I know. I merely want you to be ready in case of… in case things do not go well."

Lorelei stared down at Ishta for a long moment before she turned away and noticed that Elrond had not stopped walking. She would have followed him, but memories started flashing through her mind. Memories of others murmuring secrets, casting admonishing glances at her father when he wasn't looking and they thought she wasn't paying attention. Memories she thought of as inconsequential. She remembered every time one of her people had offered to help her with something, and she wondered if they did it because they genuinely wished to help, or because they felt sorry that her father had to be such a terrible king. Perhaps they only wanted to win her over for when they took Erynion off his throne and threw her atop it instead.

"Lorelei," Ishta barked suddenly. Lorelei looked down at her. "They are only rumors. I doubt anything will happen. You need to be ready for anything, but even if you do not take the crown in the future, our kingdom cannot thrive alone anymore. Our resources are nearly nothing, and the evil at our borders is only growing by the day. You can't only think about Thranduil anymore; this is bigger than that."

Lorelei took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"You are right," she said finally. "Whether or not I get the throne at all, I have a duty as Narmo Rilli's heir. I should at least try."

Relief flooded through Ishta. She honestly had no idea where the conversation would go; Lorelei was unpredictable nowadays. She apparently caught her kin in a negotiable mood, or perhaps she was finally healing. Well, as much as she could. She still rarely got a night's sleep due to restlessness or nightmares. Ishta doubted Lorelei would recover from Randir so easily, but at the least her anger at her father seemed to finally be subsiding.

"We should go," Lorelei said as she again started walking toward Rivendell's halls. Ishta easily kept up with her kin's quick pace. It was not long before they were again right behind Elrond. The Lord remained silent for a moment, and at first Lorelei wondered if he had even noticed they were gone.

"I presume you have everything sorted out," Elrond said.

Lorelei almost responded in Narinos. She was not used to transitioning between languages so quickly.

"Yes," she finally said in the proper language. "Ishta merely wished to inquire me a few things."

"Indeed," Elrond said. It was obvious he knew there was more to it than that, but Lorelei was not inclined to say anything if he wasn't going to ask. The group remained silent even when they reached Rivendell. The only words Lord Elrond spoke were to an ellon not much older than Lorelei – he asked the lad to find Glorfindel and Erestor and send them to the dining hall. When they were all seated, Elrond could practically feel the anticipation leaping from Lorelei. Some evil side of him seemed to take over, because he still made her wait.

"We have some important things to discuss tonight," he said with a smile at the elves around him. "But first, we dine."


A/N: Well, then, its been like five months since I last posted in this. Bad me. I recall that last chapter I said there would be even more action in this one. But, well, there isn't. Why? Because apparently this story is going to be even longer than I first thought. Which, for me, is not a surprise. XD Anywho, thank you to all those lovely readers out there who are still following this story even though I haven't posted in such a long time. I apologize for my horrible updating habits.

-KC