Are We Done Yet?
So I failed. I forgot I posted this chapter so I've been revising and adding to it instead of writing a new chapter. I'm posting this new version because I like the changes I made (they are all very small, and do not affect the plot at all) and then I will immediately go work on the new chapter! Look for it by Monday at the latest! Pinkie swear!
When she finally found the courage to open her eyes, Emily found herself in a bright, noisy room. A year ago, before she'd spent so much time in danger, she would have said that she felt like she was going to die. She slowly brought her good arm up to her head, laying a hand on her pounding forehead. It was covered in sweat and her hair was knotted.
"What were you thinking? You could have killed yourself!" The woman who had been taking care of her, whose name Emily realized she still didn't know, was scolding her. She looked pissed.
"Wha-?"
"I give you permission to go out for a walk, not to drink yourself silly and come back in worse shape than you left! And what kind of woman are you, drinking like that and going on like that? You are lucky you have no family, or they may disown you!"
"Stop yelling at me!" Emily shouted back, trying not to cry. She could barely remember last night, her head hurt, she felt like she was going to throw up, her back was burning and some woman was telling her that her family was going to disown her.
"You showed up here," the woman said. "Your stitches were torn and you could not walk for all the wine you had. To top it all off, you were too close for any reputable lady to be to any male, elf or man or whatever you may chose."
"What? Who? Please tell me it wasn't Legolas." Emily suddenly felt very embarrassed at the thought of making a fool of herself in front of him. He seemed like such a silly prick, that to look stupid to him meant to look about as smart as a goldfish.
"No, but you know it would to you a world of good to just marry him. If you keep up with the spectacles like that, soon no one will want you. You should-"
"Yeah, yeah," Emily cut in. "I'm going to be a lonely spinster until the day I die."
"How did you even carry on for so long in the shape you are in? You are not to even think about getting out of bed until you are well enough to do so. Someone will bring you your meals, and be in to check on you later. I have fixed your stitches, lucky you had so much to drink you slept through it. You have new bandages, and I will be beyond cross if I need to fix them again before tomorrow."
"I get it," Emily mumbled. "I'm in big trouble."
"I will have some soup sent to you later. You are not to leave this room under any circumstances. Do you understand me?"
"Yes," Emily said eventually, looking anywhere but at the woman who, seeming satisfied with Emily's response, quickly turned and left the room.
She knew that she should have taken a long time to think about what she had done, to reflect on how wrong she was, but Emily could only think of going back to sleep. And that is what she did.
It wasn't until a few hours later that she was interrupted by a young girl trying to wake her.
"What?" Emily asked, pushing the girl's hand off of her shoulder.
"Your lunch," she said in a quiet voice. "I know you are quite ill, so I brought you some soup."
"Hmph," Emily huffed. "Well, thanks, but I'm not very hungry. You know, I feel like my stomach is going to jump out my throat and all."
"No, I do not know," the girl said. "I do not... um... have adventures like you do."
"Oh," Emily said. "What's your name?"
"Meril," the girl replied. "It's not that I'm boring, I just never had the opportunity that you did."
"You're lucky!' Emily said. "I never wanted all of these things to happen to me! I'm sure you've seen the scars I have, every last one of them hurt like hell. I've been shot with an arrow, had a concussion, sliced at with swords, none of it was fun."
"But, to spend your evening with the elves and to come back here in the arms of one, it must be like a dream. And he was so handsome!" Meril sighed, staring off out the window.
"What? Was it Legolas? I thought I threw him off. Please don't tell me anything happened," Emily said.
"No, no, Gwen said what's what and took care of you. He said that he would come back later to see if you were okay."
"Please tell me it wasn't Legolas..."
"No, no," Meril said. "You do not remember? Actually, I am not surprised. He had dark hair, I do not remember much, it was dark and I only saw him briefly before Gwen sent me off for bandages and water."
"One of the twins?" Emily asked. They would have helped her, Emily was sure.
"Perhaps," Meril said.
"Emily," came a soft voice from the door. It was Sparkle, looking rather down. Her messy hair was hastily tied up, and her eyes seemed to have lost some of their abnormal shine. She was dressed in a simple linen dress, which didn't look bad, but was a far cry from the outlandish outfits she was usually in.
"What is it?" Emily asked, not even looking up.
"Can I come in?"
"Sure," Emily replied, staring at the bowl of soup. It was starting to get cold. It wasn't a big deal, she felt too sick to eat, anyways.
"I wanted to come ask you about last night." Sparkle slowly approached her, sitting on the edge of her bed. "How'd it go?"
Meril made as if she was going to leave, but Emily grabbed her arm.
"Stay for a while... Don't leave me alone with her," Emily said. Then she turned to Sparkle. "I can't remember everything, but I think he hates me now. I may have almost thrown up on him."
"Hm," Sparkle said, staring off into space. "He hasn't come to see me yet... Eat your soup."
"I'm not hungry," Emily said. "Plus I have the hangover from hell. I really don't feel like eating."
"Too bad, you need to regain your strength," Sparkle said. Emily rolled her eyes.
"She is right," Meril said. "You need to eat, just a little bit."
"Have you never had a bad hangover?" Emily asked.
"Well... no..." Meril said quietly.
"I'm magic I don't get sick." Sparkle huffed.
"And just when it seemed like you were getting normal, out pops the magic comments." Emily rolled her eyes.
"Here," Meril said. She began rearranging the pillows and helped Emily sit up. "I will brush your hair, it is a mess. No girl wants messy hair."
"Thanks," Emily said, trying to make it sound genuine.
"You need to look good, people are asking to see you, you know."Sparkle moved so that she could watch Meril's work. "That cranky old lady told me you're not allowed to have any company until you eat, though. So you may want to re-evaluate your refusal of your soup."
"So what are you doing here if I can't have company? And who wants to see me in this state?" Emily asked, finally taking a small sip of the broth. It tasted good, but her stomach started flip-flopping. Meril took the bowl from her when she saw the pained look on her face.
"I'm a helper, not a guest," Sparkle replied. "And I don't know them, but don't worry it's not like people are lined up out there, they've just been asking. It's all your elf friends. Why they care so much about you and not me is beyond me, but they do. At least Legolas hasn't been around."
"Hm, I can't see why they aren't falling head over heels for you," Emily quipped. Meril snickered, but returned to her work. "But seriously, you look like crap today."
"I didn't sleep well last night, for your information."
"Is she any better?" Emily asked eventually.
"No," Sparkle said. "She's still out cold. Last night she had another nightmare. It was weird, she was tossing and turning in bed and then all of a sudden, there were elves here. Like, more than before, lots more."
Emily closed her eyes, an image from the previous night popped into her head. She was in the garden with Legolas, no, it wasn't Legolas, and there were elves walking around everywhere, it seemed. So many of them had looked confused. She was leaning on someone, her legs were wobbly, and they were holding her up.
"Emily, are you okay?" Meril asked, putting the brush down. "Your hair is done."
"Yeah I'm fine; I just thought I was remembering some of last night. I remember seeing confused elves."
"Yes, Mary-Sue brought them here in her sleep." Sparkle said. "You should have seen maids and housekeepers running around trying to get rooms ready for them. It was chaos! And then you and your friend come waltzing in here, setting a bad reputation for us. I mean, how am I supposed to find a man when my cousin is the girl who's stumbling home with someone she can't even remember?"
"I was drunk!" Emily protested. "And it's not like anything happened! You're the one who's out to get some, not me! I just want to get home, thank you very much!"
"I do not just want some; I want Legolas because I love him." Sparkle retorted.
"Meril says that nothing happened. He brought me here, Gwen took care of me."
"Yeah," Sparkle said. "You know that, he knows that, and Meril and Gwen know that. What about everyone else? As far as anyone important is concerned, my cousin is a whore!"
"Anyone important in my eyes would be the people who are decent enough to believe me!"
"There was so much going on last night," Meril said. "I doubt anyone would have noticed or paid too much attention."
"Well, even so, did you see the look on his face?" Sparkle asked. "He looked like he expected as much from her, he even seemed amused with her antics!"
"Wait," Emily said, grabbing Sparkle's arm. "Why are the elves here?"
"It's Elrond and all them; they're here for the wedding, but shhh..." Sparkle gave both of them a meaningful look. "I think it's supposed to be a surprise. I love surprise parties. I hope Mary-Sue's better by then so she can magic me up a beautiful dress..."
Sparkle continued on, but Emily wasn't listening. She'd started laughing.
"Help me up," she said to Meril.
"Why? Gwen said that you are not to leave this room for anything today! Lie down, you will hurt yourself!"
"Sparkle?" Emily asked, extending a hand and nudging her cousin.
"No way, I might not like you very much, but I won't help you hurt yourself." And with that she turned and left the room.
"Whatever," Emily said, slowly swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.
"Please, lay down," Meril said. She grabbed Emily's legs and swung them back up on the bed. Emily gasped and swore and shouted as the bruises all over her body throbbed. Meril jumped away, apologizing profusely.
"I am so sorry, I did not even think of your injuries!"
"I'm fine," Emily said. "I've been through worse."
"You may be cranky, but you keep a good outlook," Meril said.
"Oh, my life is shit right now, Meril. My home is a million miles away, I can't sleep because I have nightmares,I just know that complaining won't get me anywhere."
"Well, for what is may be worth, thank you," Meril said quietly.
"Thanks," Emily said. "Now can you please help me up? I believe I have someone very important to see."
"May it go on record that I do not approve," Meril said, handing her a housecoat. "But in interest of you not getting hurt, I will help where I must."
"I like you," Emily said, slipping her arms into the housecoat and wrapping it around herself.
Both girls jumped and looked up when the door was opened. Sparkle had returned with a pleased look on her face and her arms crossed over her chest.
"This is my good deed to you for the year. Like I said, I don't like you, but I don't want you to get hurt. I figure you staying here would be the best. Plus I kinda owe you for last night." She walked over and whispered something to Meril.
"Is that really such a good idea?"
"It's fine," Sparkle said. "Look, she even finished her soup so Gwen can't complain." Sparkle picked up the bowl and slurped up the soup. She opened the door and peeked out, motioning for the guest to follow her. Emily wondered why she was being so nice, but decided to let it go without questioning.
Sparkle opened the door and let the visitor enter the room.
"Sorry I got so drunk on you," Emily said with a laugh.
"An apology for drinking too much? Coming from the girl who got me locked in a cellar with nothing better to do than drink wine? I thought I would never see the day!"
"Oh, shut up, Erestor!" Emily said. She laughed and threw her good arm around him in a hug.