The House of the Golden Flower

Disclaimer:
I do not own any of it, nor do I claim to. The only part of it that is in any way mine is the personality of the character Laurind. The rest belongs to JRR Tolkien – or, more specifically, his estate. No copyright infringement is intended. (So please don't sue.)

Author's Note:
Mwaha. I like this chapter. Just because. And this time, I didn't accidentally use 'Orophin' instead of 'Oropher'. Not once! I really do know the difference between the two of them, dear readers...I was just, erm, testing to see if you were awake? hopefully looks around Yeah, alright, it completely slipped by me, especially since 'Orophin' is already in my computer's spellcheck, so the spellcheck didn't catch it.

Anyways. Enjoy the chapter. There's probably only going to be a few more.

Chapter 11: You Can't Keep A Good Elf Down – Or In His Room

Later, much later, Laurind found herself alone in her bedroom. Almost alone - her maids could be heard just beyond the door, speaking quietly with one another as they went about their various tasks. They would be retiring themselves, shortly, but Laurind herself had retired somewhat early, meaning that for once her maids were up when she wasn't. It was actually rather soothing, to lie in bed and listen to the quiet, undecipherable murmuring of her maids. Made up for the distinctly bothersome day.

It wouldn't have been bad, Laurind supposed, if it wasn't for the fact that Gil-galad had, inexplicably, sided with Glorfindel in the matter of Laurind not going to the Greenwood by herself, even if it meant he would have to lose his best military advisor or do without an envoy to the Greenwood. But even that could have been managed if it wasn't for the fact that Thranduil had disappeared - Laurind hadn't seen him since she had let Oropher into her rooms for their talk. Not like this made much of a difference to Laurind - she was still stubbornly insisting that she be the one to go, and no argument Glorfindel and Gil-galad had made yet had managed to sway her even a little bit. She was still confident she could win the argument, and end up being the envoy to the Greenwood.

It was just so much more difficult to do without any allies or the support of Thranduil.

Laurind sighed to herself in the darkness, closing her eyes as she wished, for once, that she could fall asleep with them closed, like a human. It seemed so much more reassuring to close your eyes and shut out the world before going to sleep. Reassuring - and somewhat depressing. Laurind had slept with her eyes closed once or twice, right after Glorfindel had died and Gondolin had fallen and she was close to fading. Memories of that time caused her to open her eyes with a shudder, and she found herself staring into green eyes. She opened her mouth to let out a yelp, but a hand over her mouth quickly stifled the sound. Then more besides just green eyes registered, and Laurind relaxed, smiling underneath the hand as she recognized who both hand and eyes belonged to.

"I was going to wait for your maids to retire to their own rooms, but they seem set and determined to stay up late tonight." Thranduil whispered.

"Well, they have lots to gossip about. What are you doing here? And where have you been all day?" Laurind asked just as quietly, sitting up in bed. Thranduil sat down on the edge of her bed, casually holding one of her hands as he did.

"My dear father decided that it was best if I remain in my rooms for the rest of the visit." Thranduil said with a roll of his eyes. "He seems to think I'm an elfling again."

"Well, you have been bad." Laurind said with amusement. "What about an answer to my first question?"

"I should think the answer was obvious." Thranduil said, arching an eyebrow, running an only partially teasing, appreciative look over what he could see of Laurind. She instinctively blushed, suddenly distinctly aware that she was in only her nightdress. "Plus I was going stir crazy." Thranduil said with a grin.

"You just came back from breaking a siege! How can you be going stir crazy already?" Laurind demanded.

"You will remember that the only actual fighting done during the breaking of that siege/occupation was done by your brother. Therefore, I had all the anticipation of a battle, but none of the actual battle. Anticipation with no action. It tends to hasten one to become stir crazy – even the soldiers are feeling it. If you'd looked out to the practice yards today, you would have seen them crowded as the soldiers fought mock-battles against each other to relieve the tension." Thranduil pointed out. Laurind let out a quiet laugh.

"I suppose you are right. So what did you have in mind? Simply hiding out for the night?" Laurind asked, tilting her head to one side.

"I should think you would know me better than that." Thranduil replied with a grin.

"You're right, I do know you better than that. Exactly how strenuously shall we have to work to get to our destination?" Laurind asked as she climbed out of bed.

"Not very. I was thinking of going to that stream that we found before, but then I realized it would be to far. Now I am thinking perhaps we could find a nice spot along that stream somewhat closer, or we go forego leaving the city and just find one of the Taverns to sequester ourselves in." Thranduil suggested, courteously turning his back to Laurind as she selected some clothes and changed into them.

"I'm not sure that it would be all that easy to get out of the city this late at night - a Tavern might be a better bet. We'd have to be very careful what one we picked, however. We cannot go to one whose main clientele are humans, for fear of being noticed as a rare type of client, and we cannot pick one frequented mainly by Elves, either, as there is too much risk we could be recognized." Laurind said as she changed, watching very carefully to make sure Thranduil didn't peek while she did so.

"Anything I can think of is somewhat risky, to tell the truth." Thranduil said with a shrug of his shoulders, smiling as Laurind came around his side, fully dressed. "I'm open to any suggestions you might have." he said, standing and motioning to the window with an over-elegant bow.

"A Tavern sounds like a fine idea." Laurind said as she made for the window. Then she cast an amused look at Thranduil. "I'm not to sure it would be a wise idea for us to be alone together around now, or I might be tempted to take some decisions out of my brother's hands."

"Only tempted?" Thranduil said, his eyes glittering.

"Yes - only tempted." Laurind said with a mischievous grin, then slipped out the window. It was a little hard to climb out her window in a dress, and even more difficult to get out of the palace (which involved climbing no few walls) in the same attire, but Thranduil was always there to help when Laurind had troubles, and so she made it without much trouble.

The only close call came when, just as Laurind was about to jump down from a wall, she felt the familiar touch on her mind that meant Glorfindel was checking in on her - something he habitually did, even before he died, right before he went to sleep. Laurind wasn't even sure that he consciously decided to do it anymore. Laurind was quite startled by the touch, however, and almost lost her balance as she quickly blanked her mind and let the random drifting thoughts that only a sleeping person could have slip through her head. Apparently, the deception worked, as the touch withdrew, and there was no sense of alarm or worry from Glorfindel.

After that, it was actually amazingly easy to get out of the palace. Laurind suspected that Thranduil might have taken a roundabout route getting to her chambers, one that involved taking him by the barracks of the night guard so he could hand out some Greenwood gold, but she didn't bother to confirm her suspicions. Either way, they still managed to make it out of the palace and down into the city.

It took them somewhat longer to find a suitable Tavern, but find one they did, called The Glimmering Hilt of all things, and they soon found a nice corner to settle down in and talk. There was some interest over the fact that Thranduil had Greenwood money to pay for their drinks, of course, but Thranduil just claimed to be one of the newer Sylvan elves to have arrived, one with more tolerance than most, and everyone left it at that. Laurind doubted anyone in the Tavern had ever been inside the palace gates here, anyways, despite the fact that around a third of the patrons of the Tavern were elves.

"So, here we are in a Tavern in the city, having escaped from the rigidly boring confines of the palace." Laurind said quietly once they were settled and had their drinks. "What shall we do now?"

"I thought we might discuss ways to help you win your argument against your brother and his new ally." Thranduil replied with a smile, and Laurind giggled lightly.

"Perfect." she said, and so they set to planning. Most of their 'planning' consisted of entirely outrageous things like forging letters, using Laurind's mind-link with Glorfindel to aide in hypnotizing him into agreeing, and so on and so forth. There really wasn't much intention to actually come up with a way to solve the argument, and both Laurind and Thranduil knew it. They were just having a good time, enjoying each other's company, and finding a way to make fun of the one thing that was scaring them both – their impending separation.

Laurind and Thranduil stayed at the Tavern until it closed, they being the last customers besides one drunk human, who Thranduil helped the tavern keeper carry outside. Thranduil offered to see the man home, as well, but the tavern keeper replied something the effect of the only way for drunks to learn not to be drunks is to spend a night or too on the cold cobblestones. So Thranduil and Laurind, themselves having drunk more than the drunk had, but barely feeling the effects, left the drunk where he was and headed back to the palace. They got in as easily as they had gotten out, and soon they were standing beneath Laurind's window.

"Farewell until tomorrow night, then?" Thranduil asked softly, taking one of Laurind's hands and kissing it lightly, keeping his eyes on hers as he did so.

"As long as your father doesn't decide to leave before then." Laurind said with a sad smile, then, to Thranduil's surprise, pulled him into a hug before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and scurrying up the wall to her window, where she looked back down at Thranduil once – choosing to ignore the fact that he was most likely looking up her skirts as she climbed – before disappearing back inside.

If Glorfindel wondered why, the next day, Laurind was even more determined that she be allowed to go with Oropher and Thranduil as an envoy of the Noldor, he didn't ask – nor did Gil-galad.

---

Late the next day, Laurind found herself smirking at her twin as he finally, grudgingly, gave her permission to go to the Greenwood as the Vanyar envoy. Glorfindel glared when he saw her smirking, and heard her mental comment that she knew he'd say yes eventually, but Laurind didn't stick around long enough to rub in Glorfindel's defeat in the matter, instead excusing herself from her twin's company as quickly as possible and making for the rooms of the Sylvan elves.

Security around the rooms had been tightened since Oropher arrived, so Laurind found herself explaining her name and business to a Sylvan guard before she even came within sight of Oropher or Thranduil's door. And once she had explained her business, she was supplied with another guard as an escort, to make sure she did, actually, go to speak with Oropher - which ruined Laurind's half-formed plan to get in a visit to Thranduil, which made it a good thing that she hadn't really counted on being able to get into see him. Apparently not even servants were being allowed into Thranduil's rooms - Oropher's orders.

"Ah, I had a feeling you would win the argument." Oropher said with a smile when Laurind explained why she was there.

"Of course I did. I'm the elder twin, now." Laurind said with a light smirk, and Oropher let out a bark of laughter.

"Not to mention you have a foothold on the royalty of the Greenwood." he said.

"Glorfindel has as much of one as I do." Laurind said with a shrug. "He is friends with Thranduil, and to some extent, with you."

"True, true." Oropher said. "Very well then, now that you've decided, we shall leave tomorrow." The King stood up and called for his aide as soon as he announced that, and Laurind, after passing the comment to Glorfindel, quickly made her excuses and went to pack.

Of course, winning the argument with Glorfindel - and, by extension, Gil-galad - caused a whole new set of troubles, as the court soon found out, via Laurind's maids, about the new envoy arrangement. The maids were shocked that Laurind was going alone, some demanded to be brought along, but Laurind crisply - though not unkindly - informed them that, as Noldor, they were not welcome. The Lords and Ladies seemed to find this a disturbing turn of events, and by the time Laurind retired for bed, her maids were reporting all sorts of wild rumors that were shooting around the palace nobility - some of which were decidedly uncomplimentary to Sylvan Elves, and some of which were amusing enough to be repeated to Thranduil when he showed up in Laurind's room later.

With the new topic of discussion, Laurind's maids were, once again, staying up later than her, but it hadn't stopped Thranduil from sneaking in the night before, and didn't stop him that night. For quite awhile, they simply stayed in Laurind's room, by the window, talking in hushed voices, keeping half an ear open for the maids, reveling in the fact that Laurind had succeeding in getting permission to go to the Greenwood. Laurind thought, in fact, that a short talk might be all they had, as there was no longer an impending separation hanging over their head. Thranduil, however, apparently had other ideas, and Laurind soon found herself sneaking through the palace gardens, being towed along by Thranduil, who apparently had a destination in mind.

"Where are we going, anyways?" Laurind asked quietly a few minutes after they left her rooms.

"You'll see." was Thranduil's response. Which meant that it was a surprise – and Laurind had trouble with just letting surprises happen. She was silent for about one minute before she started asking questions and trying to guess where they were headed, much to the amusement – and annoyance – of Thranduil. In the end, however, her guesses were for naught, and so she was suitably surprised when they turned the corner and arrived at the little garden that she had tended, cultivating the Ilaurëalótë, before Glorfindel had been reborn and returned from Valinor.

"Now if you'd kept quieter and paid attention to where we were going, you might have actually been able to guess where we were heading." Thranduil said, half grumpily and half teasingly. Laurind chuckled.

"I have insatiable curiosity. Ask Glorfindel. He'll tell you all sorts of stories about me ending up where I wasn't supposed to when I was an elfling." she said with an impish grin.

"I have no doubt he would." Thranduil said, smiling and shaking his head. "And he'd probably include tales of how you dragged him along."

"Or used him to get where I was going." Laurind said, grinning fondly as she recalled all the times she'd coerced her twin into sneaking her into places. The most memorable, by far, was the time she got him to sneak her into the barracks, dressed as a male, so she could spar all their House Guard. And that had been in Gondolin, when both of them were past their first millennia. She was still slightly amazed that such a plan had worked, actually…

"So, why are we here, or did you have any reason besides it being a pretty place to sit and talk where there's little chance of anyone overhearing and/or discovering us?" Laurind asked with a start, pulling herself out of her memories. She and Glorfindel had both developed a tendency to drift away on particularly fond memories ever since he'd regained all of his. Everyone at court, fortunately, seemed to be understanding.

"There was a specific reason, actually." Thranduil said, resting his hands on Laurind's hips as he drew her closer, looking at her intently.

"And what is this specific reason?" Laurind asked curiously, tilting her head to one side.

"Well, I was wondering if you might be willing, now that you've gone and won the argument about going to the Greenwood with me, to actually concede and let your brother win. At least for a year." Thranduil said, sounding remarkably calm, though Laurind could see him tense up as he spoke, his hands almost convulsively tightening and then loosening again on her hips. It was a curious sensation, which Laurind would have commented on if she hadn't been puzzling over what Thranduil meant, and why it had made him uncertain and nervous all of the sudden.

Thranduil did, of course, have every reason to be nervous when asking Laurind to concede an argument, especially such a major one as this that was with her brother. Laurind hated conceding over anything major, and even if she was in love with the elf, that wouldn't save him. Except Laurind doubted that simply knowing how much she disliked to concede was the reason Thranduil was nervous. She frowned as she thought over his words, the last five tugging at her as having some special meaning. Then it hit her, and her eyes widened.

"You don't mean –" Laurind stopped, gaping slightly, as Thranduil produced, from somewhere, a golden ring, inlaid with mithril representations of the Ilaurëalótë, and held it out to her in his right hand.

"I do, actually." Thranduil said, and this time his calm voice quavered somewhat at the end, showing his nervousness. Laurind glanced up at Thranduil, her face blank, then down at the ring, thought refusing to process in her mind.

::Laur?:: Glorfindel's somewhat worried, questioning thought came her way as he felt the total lack of thought occuring in her mind. Then there came the mental equivalent of a sucked in breath as Laurind, having no other thoughts to reply with, simply showed him what she was seeing.

::It would have been nice if he'd asked my permission first.:: Glorfindel muttered. Laurind remained silent, even as she felt the light touch in her mind that meant Glorfindel was looking through her memories. ::Ah.:: Glorfindel seemed to understand. Then he gave a mental shove to Laurind, which caused her to blink, but little else. Glorfindel mentally sighed, and then Laurind started as she received a mental picture of Glorfindel kissing Thranduil. She sent a growl to her brother.

::Well, it worked.:: Glorfindel quipped in reply. ::Though he hasn't sought it, Thranduil has my permission, and you both have my blessing if you decide to go through with this.:: Then his touch on Laurind's mind withdrew, and Laurind turned her attention back to Thranduil, who was only now starting to get worried. Laurind smiled with light amusement as she looked up at him.

"Glorfindel is slightly peeved that you didn't ask his permission as my closest male kin AND the head of my House." she said conversationally. Thranduil blinked, then grimaced lightly.

"It didn't occur to me." he said. "I was a little wrapped up thinking about other things. And somewhat busy being locked in my room."

"Well, either way, Glorfindel's decided that he doesn't mind." Laurind said. "Which is somewhat disappointing, since I would have loved to have another argument to replace the one that I'm now conceding to him." Thranduil jerked slightly, looking at Laurind in surprise. "What, don't tell me you expected me to say no?" she teased. "When the whole argument was really about getting to stay with you?"

"Well I wasn't absolutely sure…" Thranduil said, somewhat sheepishly, as he slipped the engagement ring on Laurind's finger when she offered her hand.

"Hence why you actually asked, instead of just assuming." Laurind said dryly, then pulled Thranduil down for a kiss. "One year is a small sacrifice to make for an eternity together." she said quietly when the kiss ended, and Thranduil smiled slightly.

"I thought you might see it that way." he said lightly, then kissed her again.

::Glory, pack your bags.:: Laurind told her twin as she kissed her betrothed.

::I already am.:: Glorfindel stated. ::It didn't take a genius to guess what your answer was going to be.::

::A good thing, I guess, since if it had, you wouldn't have been able to guess rightly.:: Laurind said.

::Oh, go back to kissing Thranduil.:: Glorfindel muttered, and Laurind, giggling, complied.