DISCLAIMER: We've written this purely for our own and our readers' entertainment. We make no money whatsoever and we don't own anything (apart from the plot and our student debts, and you're more than welcome to take the latter if you so wish).
A/N: I was going to publish this tomorrow, but then I thought it could be a little New Year present for all you lovely people who've kept with us for the past 10 weeks, as well as any of you who are coming to this story for the first time! Happy New Year and I hope you continue to enjoy 'Forbidden Fruit' :)
CHAPTER 10
Adindel stood by his brother as they said their, mostly ceremonial and with little real sentiment, farewells. The talks may have gone well, but these were Sindar and Noldor and neither party was entirely happy with the other. Thankfully, however, Thranduil was doing most of the talking, as Adindel was fuming from the way that it was clear that every Elf in Imladris still found his stint in the trees highly amusing. Just then, he noticed all three Elf-lords in front of him go pale and focus on something behind him, he also heard their escort shuffling aside as the sound of approaching horses grew louder. He turned. Well, think of Morgoth.
Just the last Adan he wanted the see riding up in a dress that covered little more than the tiny outfit she had worn when first in Arda. It was beautiful, though it barely covered her bosom. Between the elegant, floaty, and very revealing gown and her waist-length, red-gold hair, adorned with a garland of flowers, she looked like a lovely wood-nymph that he suddenly wished to take off into the forest and take that stunning, delicate body under him. Oh, how he desired her! He wanted to shoot himself for that thought, he was a Sindar prince, he should not desire women, for they were below him. Why could she not be an elleth?
Just then, his darling niece, who was also part of the party, broke the tense silence with the prize winner for dangerous repartee. 'Suilaid, Ada'. Adindel closed his eyes as if that would prevent the impending explosion. Some hope.
His brother and the blonde Princess then had a rather large argument and with every comeback Miriel sent, Adindel and many other members of the party winced. He wasn't sure which was her worst comment, the 'go kiss an Orc' or the 'my dog ate it'. Both were pretty bad; though, considering the huge white animal Miriel had beside her, 'my cat ate it' might have been a more accurate comment. The thing that nearly caused them all to throw fits was when Miriel drew a knife on her own father as he tried to get her onto his horse. Eventually, though, she escaped her father and stalked off, at which point the Dawnstar made the mistake of commenting, even if Adindel did agree with it. Thranduil promptly rounded on the pair, who brushed off his anger and walked away after their retreating friend.
As they uttered their brush-offs, Adindel absently wondered what part of Ginny he was welcome to. He then noticed, as she moved down the corridor, that she had these black marks down her back and, unprompted, the image of kissing them jumped into his mind; tracing them with his fingers, then kissing them as he slid the dress off her shoulders, watching it pool on the floor, leaving her...
Thankfully, Thranduil started yelling orders at that point, drawing his brother away from that slippery path to insanity and beyond. Too annoyed with himself to notice, he just nodded and agreed to whatever it was his brother was telling him to do. It wasn't until much later that he noted that Thranduil had sent his entire escort with his brother, leaving no-one to ensure that their King got home safely.
XXX
As soon as the Prince got home and had finished his duties involving his escort, he took a trip to his brother's alcohol cellar and got the strongest bottle of booze he could find before returning to his room.
The next morning, he could not remember very much beyond that point. Groaning at the parched feeling in his mouth and the rather heavy feeling in his bladder, he opened his eyes unwillingly, and then stifled an even more heartfelt moan.
Sitting opposite him was his nephew, looking at several sheets of parchment, with an expression that suggested he was rather amused.
"These are wonderful drawings, Uncle, when did Virginia get those markings on her back?" the younger ellon asked innocently. Weakly, Adindel tried to engage his muscles to move his body forward and take the sheaf of parchment off Legolas, who promptly moved away from his uncle. "Was Eleanor also wearing a dress like that?" Glad of the direction change, Adindel nodded. "Hmm, I guess I would like her dress to fall off almost as much as you seem to want Virginia's to fall off her, though I would prefer it if the Dawnstar's fell off in private. Preferably in a bedroom, as it would make the after-effects so much more comfortable." With that parting shot, the Crown-Prince of the realm left the room, after putting down the pictures and stopping to flash his uncle a mischievous grin.
Adindel was too busy dying of embarrassment to ask what the Mordor Legolas had been doing in his room at that hour of the morning.
XXX
In retaliation for the comments, Adindel made sure that his nephew had a long patrol out on the borders and, thus, Legolas missed the return of his sister and the Dawnstar, with their darling Adan friend. By the time he returned to the palace, they had gone with his father to Lake-town for the negotiations with the Men of Rhûn.
Though Adindel was singularly glad that his niece and her detestable friends had left shortly after having arrived, Legolas was clearly disappointed. Adindel then remembered that the boy was utterly in love with the Dawnstar for some reason, probably because she was both exotic and the first elleth in a long time not to fall to the floor and start licking his boots. As Adindel was wondering about his nephew's taste in ellyth, he remembered his own excursions in the area of love and decided that apparently, the whole blighted-love story-thing ran in the family.
Eventually, Thranduil returned from the negotiations, without the three girls that were the source of the Princes' consternations. At the expectant looks on both ellyn's faces, he explained.
"They apparently did manage to make friends with those Dwarves while the Naugrim were in Imladris. They wanted to go visit them, and so my daughter, the Dawnstar, and the Lady Virginia are running round the Lonely Mountain driving the Dwarves insane, instead. I almost pity the Naugrim that fate." Though the words were humorous, everyone could hear the exasperation in the King's tone. Apparently, Thranduil had not yet given up on being annoyed with his daughter's behaviour.
"Do you know if and when they are coming back, Ada?" Legolas asked eagerly.
"Damned if I know, though Miriel has promised to return at some point." The younger Prince of Mirkwood sagged slightly in disappointment at that answer; he had obviously been hoping to see her again soon, though which 'her' he wanted to see, was the question. Adindel suspected he was more bothered about the darker-haired her than his baby sister.
As luck would have it, just after the youngest Prince had left for another patrol, the three in question returned and promptly went about annoying the elder, who was beginning to wish he had gone with his nephew. Mostly they were okay, as long as they stayed away from him, but whenever they were on the practice field at the same time as him, there would be an excess of stray arrows that nearly hit him. It was the Adan, he was sure of it.
XXX
Adindel sighed in relief as he leant back in his favourite tree, relaxing. This was one place that the annoying Adan could not get him. He closed his eyes in contentment as the presence of the ancient tree surrounded him in its comforting nature.
Half-an-hour later, he let out another sign, this time in frustration. Even when he came here to relax, he could not get a certain female out of his head. Every time he closed his eyes, he would see her, as under-clad as she had been in Imladris and that 'tattoo' of hers. He frequently had fantasies about running his hands over the markings, or kissing them, or...
It wasn't that they were attractive per se, but there was something singularly erotic about them. Now that was definitely a thought that made him want to smash his head against a tree. Well, bar the fact that the trees were his friends and he would never hurt the stately plants, even in this frustration. Even worse, he realised that other parts of his body were also reacting to his musings.
In absolute defeat, he decided to return to the palace a find another way to deal with his problems, when he discovered a whole new one a couple of branches downwards. Well, three new ones to be precise, all large, fluffy, and purring with malice aforethought. The three felines that followed his niece, the Dawnstar, and that Adan around were splayed across the lower branches of his tree, completely blocking the route down.
As he tried to move, the black and grey one just looked up at him and let out a malevolent growl.
It was going to be one of those days.
TBC.