So I have some writing to do before I post another chapter. Probably won't take as long to get the next chapter of this out as for some of my other stories. Lucky for you! Enjoy!
Saelhir hoped that by starting guard training again, he would no longer have Breigel plaguing his thoughts during his waking hours. But two days after her arrival, she was still the primary topic of conversation. And when he arrived at the training field early as usual, he found that there was already a large gathering of young recruits, all talking about the one subject he did not want to think about.
"I saw her out riding yesterday with some elf lord. Do you think they're a couple?"
"I hope not. I would like to think I at least have a chance."
"Please, like a refined princess would look twice at you."
"She's not that refined. I heard she was out shooting on the archery range at dawn this morning, in a tunic and leggings."
"Has anyone actually seen her in a dress? I saw her when she arrived and she was in riding gear, looking disheveled but magnificent."
"I saw her in one the night she got here. I happened to be in the palace kitchens grabbing a snack when she walked by with her parents. I couldn't stop staring."
"Saelhir used to know her," one of the elves said, much to Saelhir's chagrin. Immediately, all eyes swerved to him as he slowly joined the group, doing his best to put on a disinterested look.
"What are we talking about?" he asked evenly, crossing his arms as he met the eyes of the elf that had called him out.
"Princess Breigel," the elf said quickly. "You grew up with her in Taurost, didn't you?"
"Yes I did. Our parents were good friends so I knew her fairly well as a child."
"Please," said another elf, making Saelhir's eyes shift over onto him. "I heard that you were inseparable. I also heard that's the reason you left Taurost. She almost killed you once."
"I left Taurost because my brother married Merilwen," Saelhir said flatly. The elf wasn't entirely wrong, but he wasn't eager to be interrogated further. In reality, Breigel had nearly gotten him killed on multiple occasions, and that was a contributing factor to Icaria's decision to move to Idhrenodol. Despite her claims otherwise, Saelhir knew better.
"So you can introduce me?" one eager elf said enthusiastically. "Maybe put in a good word?"
"I haven't talked to her in forty years, I am sure my opinion means little to her," Saelhir said, scowling. Whatever happened, he was not going to start introducing the princess to the other young elves in town. He had enough to worry about with Faelon and Elladan.
"Can you at least tell us if she is promised to the lord she was with yesterday?" the elf persisted.
"Do you think any of us has a chance?"
"I am fairly certain that they are not engaged, but that doesn't mean any of you have a realistic chance," Saelhir replied. It was unlikely Breigel and Faelon would have gotten engaged without Icaria talking about it repeatedly, and judging by the conversation he had overheard the day before, they were still just close friends. At least for the moment. As for the rest of the elves around him, he hoped to deter at least the majority of them from pursuing her, for her sake and his own sanity.
"What makes you think none of us have a chance?" one elf said with a frown. "Do you have inside information, or do you just want her for yourself?" There were a number of accusatory looks at that comment, and Saelhir fought to maintain his calm façade.
"I happen to know she is rather attached to Lord Faelon, even if they are not betrothed," he said, fighting to admit it out loud. "Lord Elladan has also shown interest in the past, and let's face it, none of you have a chance against him." There was a lot of mumbling at this, but most grudgingly realized the truth of his words. Saelhir felt enormous relief when the Captain arrived at that point to begin drilling them. He wasn't sure how much longer he could have kept acting as if he was unaffected by the conversation.
While Saelhir spent several days suffering through interrogation from his peers, Breigel was happily oblivious as she pranced around the palace grounds, rain or shine, cheerfully greeting the elves around her and trying her best to entertain Faelon. But for some reason, she found he disappeared for long periods of time, and she was unable to determine his whereabouts. She asked him about it after her third fruitless hunt, but he just shrugged it off.
"I have secrets even you don't know about," he had said with a smirk, winking at her. "You can't blame me for wanting some peace and quiet after your rambunctious attempts to drag me off into the wild for hours on end."
His secrecy bothered her, but she found other ways to entertain herself. Lord Elladan was always willing to humor her if she came across him in her wandering, and he helped her pull off some pranks on subjects of his own choosing, which Breigel hoped her mother would not hear about. She enjoyed his company, and pestered him multiple times about his offer to go out sailing.
"If you keep asking me, I will just have to take your mother out instead of you!" Elladan teased. "Provided I can peel her away from your father, which admittedly seems unlikely."
Breigel was also grateful for Elladan because having him around deterred young elves from trying to talk to her. She was so tired of their inability to talk properly when they addressed her, and the way they always treated her like a delicate flower. She had no doubt that half the lords that had approached her she could beat in a sword fight, despite her limited skills. They seemed to be good for little more than sitting in a committee, discussing dreadfully dull matters of state.
As she hung upside-down from a tree branch in one of the gardens in boredom, wondering where everyone was, she noticed a group of elves walking towards the practice fields with bows in their hands. She righted herself, climbing further up into the tree where she had a decent view of the archery range over the hedges, where she settled herself to watch.
She couldn't really hear what they were saying over the rustling of the leaves and noise of elves nearby, tending the gardens, so she settled with judging them on their shooting skills.
"Too high," she said as the first made to release an arrow at the target.
"More to the left," she muttered to the second.
"You have the worst stance I have ever seen in an adult elf," she said to the third, shaking her head as his arrow buried itself in the third ring around the center. She was just about to turn away when a fourth elf arrived with his own bow. She paused as he turned in her direction, recognizing the familiar features of her former best friend. One of the elves must have said something funny, because they all started laughing. Seeing the cheer on Saelhir's face made her smile as she settled back into place to watch him shoot.
She had seen him several times over the last few days, mostly when she wandered by the training fields, where he was apparently learning to be a palace guard. If he had noticed her presence at the time, he had ignored her, unlike the rest of them. It was rather amusing to see some of the elves get smacked in the back of the head by their instructor for watching her instead of paying attention to their lessons.
Breigel wondered if her indifference to Saelhir at dinner the night she arrived had been the reason he had avoided her since then. It hadn't been her plan to alienate him. Granted, she had glared at him across the table, but that was because she wished she could switch seats with him and talk to Faelon. It was nothing personal. Now that she thought about it, she could have made more of an effort to speak to him then, but she let it go. He had new friends and apparently did not care one way or the other that she was in Idhrenodol now.
Eyes on the archers, she watched Saelhir pull an arrow from his quiver and nock it to his bow. She smiled at his perfect form, remembering all the lessons Faelon and Legolas had given them in their youth.
"Just a tick higher," she murmured, watching him aim closely. As if he heard her, he raised his bow slightly before letting it go, the arrow hitting dead center. "Good shot," she said softly, her smile widening at the smug look on his face as he gloated to his friends. She felt a slight pang in her heart, wishing she could be down there with them, laughing along with Saelhir like she used to. Feeling slightly down as she thought of all the good times they had missed out on because of his departure from Taurost, Breigel descended from the tree, a melancholy look on her face as she started meandering through the gardens, back towards the palace.
She found herself navigating towards the library, thinking that perhaps she could find a book to read to help cope with the sudden wave of loneliness that passed over her. She stared at the ground in front of her feet as she walked, deep in thought. It took her several moments after entering the library and standing in front of a random shelf before she heard her name, snapping her back to reality.
"Breigel, would you come here a moment?" She looked around at her mother's voice, and was surprised to see not only Tinwe, but her father and Faelon there as well. As she moved around the bookshelf towards the corner where they sat, her eyes fell on another elleth, who sat curled up on a couch beside Faelon, her dark golden hair falling in waves down to her waist.
"Breigel, this is Aerlinniel," Legolas said, gesturing at the elleth. "She lived in Greenwood many years ago. Aerlinniel, this is our daughter, Breigel."
"It is a pleasure," Aerlinniel said in a gentle voice, barely above a whisper. Breigel couldn't tell if it was her natural voice or if she was being quiet in acknowledgement of the other library patrons. "I have known your parents for many, many years."
"It is wonderful to meet you," Breigel said, folding her hands behind her back as she met the elleth's moss-green eyes. There was something odd about her that Breigel couldn't quite place. Something in her eyes did not sit right with her.
"What are you doing in the library?" Faelon interrupted, raising an eyebrow at her. "Shouldn't you be out wreaking havoc?"
"I was feeling a tad melancholy," Breigel admitted with a sigh. "And since I didn't know where any of you were, I thought I could find a book to take out into the gardens and read. Is this where you've been hiding the last few days?"
"Perhaps," Faelon said with a smirk. Breigel did not fail to notice his eyes flicker towards Aerlinniel. "Though I have other secret spots where I can hide, now that this one has been compromised. But why are you melancholy?"
"Because I can't find anyone to cause havoc with," she said with a sigh, rolling her eyes.
"I thought Elladan was helping you with that," Tinwe said calmly. "I do believe there are still a few lords that have not been drenched with unexpected showers or seeded with crawling insects."
"I have only been acting on Elladan's orders," Breigel said, the corner of her mouth twitching as she remembered the centipede that had been dropped down the back of a particularly stern elf's tunic.
"I shall have to have a word with him, I think," Tinwe said, shaking her head. "I wish I could say we rarely have these conversations, Aerlinniel, but I do believe this is how most of our conversations go."
"It is quite alright, Tinwe," the elleth responded with the same soft voice. "Faelon has told me of her antics. As long as they do not do any lasting harm, then I do not see a problem with them."
Breigel got several pieces of information from this statement. First, Aerlinniel must have been quite a good friend of her mother, to address her by her given name. Second, Faelon had apparently spent some additional time with the elleth over the last few days, if not weeks, since he had said he had arrived before them, and had spent time in the library. Third, she was being judged by this strange elleth, and Breigel did not like it.
"The only true damage she ever does is to herself," Tinwe said, smiling at her daughter. "I think my mother spent more time with her in the infirmary than on social visits while she was growing up."
"I do hope nothing serious," Aerlinniel said, looking worried.
"Generally only minor cuts and scrapes. As you can see, she is quite healthy now, so I cannot complain."
"I am glad to hear it."
"Since we are all here now, would you like to go visit the graves?" Tinwe asked, her voice taking on a solemn tone as she looked down at Legolas.
"I would," he said in an equally solemn voice as he rose from his chair. "Do excuse us, Aerlinniel, but we have yet to pay our respects to our departed friends."
"Of course," Aerlinniel replied, getting to her feet slowly. "And thank you, Legolas, for the gift."
"Certainly," he said, kissing her cheek. Tinwe gave the elleth a swift hug before turning to Breigel and gesturing for her to accompany them. Breigel obeyed, but before exiting the library, she glanced back at Aerlinniel, who was speaking softly with Faelon. She had never heard either of her parents speak of the lady before, but they obviously knew her very well. She felt the sting of resentment as Faelon smiled at her gently, speaking too softly for her to hear.
With a sigh, she let go of those feelings for the moment. It was not the time or place for such thoughts, as the three elves made for a secluded garden to the east of the palace. It was here that the bodies of the hobbits and Gimli were buried, so their headstones could be greeting each morning by the rising sun. It had been a long time since she'd made the pilgrimage to the grave site, but she remembered it well.
"I miss Gimli," she said softly as the three of them stood in front of the graves, eyes cast down on the flowers that grew upon the site.
"We all do," Legolas said, eyes on the headstone where both Sindarin and Khazdul were written in memory of the late dwarf. "I am just grateful that I was able to fulfill his last request. He shall never be forgotten."
"Nor will the hobbits," Tinwe added, kneeling beside Sam's grave. "You were all among the most courageous beings I ever met, my friends. The greatest of us all are sometimes the smallest. With hearts much larger than any elf or human. Be at peace, friends."
They remained together in silent reverence, each in their own thoughts and memories of the departed. Breigel had not had the privilege of meeting the hobbits, but she felt like she knew them all the same. Her mother had read from Bilbo and Frodo's stories when she was little, and she knew the tales by heart. She knew of Sam from her mother and father's personal accounts, and from the letters they had saved from correspondences between the Shire and the Ithilien.
While her desires to see the shores of Middle Earth once more returned in her heart, at that moment, it was not to find glory and adventure. She wished to meet the quaint folk that had done so much good for the world, to see their lives and drink in their simple wonder. She wished to visit the great halls of the dwarves and meet Gimli's kin. A tear fell from her eye, thinking of those wondrous beings across the sea whom she would never meet.
