Chapter Nineteen
What should have been a glorious day just went sour as it became closer to nightfall. The king learned as well of what was spreading throughout his palace walls. He wanted to take care of their deceit immediately. However, Legolas stopped him, saying he wanted to deal with it his own way. Legolas thought by the time he finished with the two, they will be begging the king for banishment. Angel had calmed down considerably; she was no longer seeking blood from a certain Elf. Even her own behavior frightened her; she knew it was not accustomed to the Elves to show so much emotion. Maybe bits of her past were coming back to her or never left her. With those thoughts she quickly went to find Mithrandir. She needed to know if he knew something of the photographs she found.
"Mithrandir, can you take a look at these?" She ran up to him.
"My dear, please call me Gandalf as I am called everywhere else but with the Elves. As much as Legolas hates formalities, I hate them even more. So between us…please my dear?" He gave her a pleading look.
"Alright Gandalf, but I really need for you to look at these, I found them in my belongings." Angel handed them over to him so he could examine them. "As you can see that is the prince, Nelenial, and Parin. As well as myself included. However, we do not look Elven, what can this possibly mean?"
"It is obvious this is from your realm, the world you once lived in."
"But I do not understand. You said that my mother is from here, why would I be from another world?" Every answer led to more questions for Angel.
"I do not know the answers you want to know, I am positive your mother can tell you all that you seek. I do know that, for your protection a spell was placed on you. If something was to happen to you, instead of dying, you would be reborn into a new world."
"Then how did I come back to be here?" Then she thought back. "I do remember having an accident and then ending up here. Are you saying that it is because of this spell that, when I should have died, I came here instead?"
"That could be the very reason. But as I have told you, I do not know all the answers. These are things you should be asking your mother!" As much as he wanted to just tell her everything, he made a promise to the one person who will fill her in.
"Well can you tell me this at least?" She showed him the picture of what looked to be Legolas and herself. "What does this mean, is this someone I was once involved with?"
"It looks that way to me. Is something wrong with that?" He gave her a peculiar grin.
"I just wonder if it has anything to do with the lives here. The picture of Nelenial and I makes it look like we are friends, but she hates me!"
"Well, both realms do coexist together, whether you are in it or not. I would not be surprised if some things from that world start happening in our world. I would not worry your self too much about it. Let nature take its course. All things work out for the greater good."
"You sound so philosophical!" She gave him a sly grin.
"Always my dear, it is the way of the Istari." And he gave her one back.
"So when shall we journey to see my mother?"
"In a day or two we shall leave. I suggest that until we do, you read up on your history and your background."
"How am I supposed to do that? Everything written here is in Elvish, believe me I have tried."
"I am sure the young prince would not mind helping you get acquainted with your background!"
"Young…right, unfortunately you are correct!"
"As usual!" He laughed as they carried on walking down the hall.
As those two carried on, Legolas went to find the two that he was going to make pay for Angel's embarrassment. He decided to start with Parin first. He knew it would be an easy task to get him to come clean about what he and Nelenial were up too. He found Parin out on the archery field. He could tell that he was having a poor day because as he watched him, none of his arrows came close to the target. He knew now would be a good time to get the elf to talk.
"Your aiming is off!" He said from behind.
"Oh be quiet!" Parin said before turning around. "Oh I apologize your highness; I seem to be in a foul mood today."
"I cannot for the life of me understand why. The entire kingdom is aware of what you were up to last night. I thought after a night like that you are suppose to be happy." Legolas sarcastically replied.
"I am not sure I know what you are referring to." Parin went back to archery.
"See that is where you are wrong. You know exactly what I am referring to. Your little night rendezvous with Angel!"
"Then if you already spoke to Angel you would know nothing happened." Parin was getting irritated.
"Then why does the kingdom think otherwise." Legolas was raised his voiced slightly.
"Why do not you ask Nelenial, she is the master mind behind everything?"
"I will deal with her next, but I am asking you. Come clean now, because my father is already aware of your deceit and would like nothing more then to see his punishment for you carried out."
"Alright I will tell you what you want to know. Nelenial came to me some time ago asking me to speed up my progress with Angel. She thought that since bedding her was something I was eventually going to do, I should do it sooner then later. She thought that if she disgraced her in front of you, your interest in her will go away!"
"Are you serious, who said I ever had an interest in Angel?" Legolas tried to deny the accusations.
"Come on your highness, everyone can see it. It is a plain as the nose on your face."
"Either way, that is beside the point. Why would you ever agree to this, I thought you truly cared for her?"
"I do, but Nelenial has some information about me she was going to tell to the king, I could not have her talking to the king! Besides like I said, nothing happened. I never told Nelenial that I succeeded, she went telling everyone on her own."
"Very well, but you still need to suffer the consequences of your actions. Therefore, I am placing you on a seasonal long border patrol. You leave tonight, and with this I hope you think about the next time you want to shame a guest of my father's."
Legolas gave him a final warning look before he went to find the next elf that was in trouble. He did not even give Parin the chance to complain about his punishment. In an hour or so, Parin along with some other guards were heading out to the far eastern boarders of Mirkwood. Legolas was still trying to come up with a suitable punishment for Nelenial as he looked for her. He knew it had to be something she would not be keen with. Something to make her think twice the next time she wanted to do this again. He asked a servant if they knew where Nelenial was located. They told him he would find her in her chambers, so that is where he went.
"Nelenial, it is I, prince Legolas to see you. May I come in?" He said in a sweet voice.
"Your highness, of course you may. You may anytime, you know that!" She quickly checked her appearance before the prince walked in.
The minute he walked into her room, he wanted to drop his sweet act. The moment his eyes laid upon her, he felt his anger rise. He needed to be calm while he did what he had to do, but looking at her, and thinking about what she had done was causing him to forget his temper.
"How are you today Nelenial. I hope all is well with you." He smiled sweetly.
"I am doing fine your highness. I hope all is well with you?" Nelenial kept up her innocent act.
"For the most part you can say that." He mumbled in reply.
"So to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"
"I just wanted to have a little chat with you, you know catch up on the palace news, if I may." He calmly stated.
"Of course sire. Have you heard the latest news about Mirkwood newest couple?" She eagerly brought up.
"I apologize; I do not keep up with the latest gossip." Feigning ignorance, he pretended.
"I am simply talking about Parin and Celebriän. It seems those two were up to some naughty things last night!" She made the story sound so intriguing.
"It is funny that you should mention that." He gave a little chuckle before continuing. "I find it very ironic that she was up to naughty things with Parin, when she was with me the entire night." He finally dropped his act.
"What do you mean your highness?" She asked slightly scared of the answer.
"Drop the innocent act Nelenial, your whole scheme has been discovered. I can not believe you would sink this low for your chance to marry into royalty. Here is the reality for you, I will never marry you." He was now yelling and pacing about the room.
"I am not sure I know what you are talking about." She tried to keep her innocent persona.
"Just stop already. I was not born yesterday. It is quite obvious to me and to everyone else what motives you. I just did not know getting a crown was worth what you tried to do to Angel. And for that, as much as I would like you see you banished from my fathers kingdom."
"No sire, you cannot do that to me. I will apologize to her, I will do anything, just please do not banish me!" She dropped to her knees to plead with the prince.
"Do not worry, that was only my father's idea." He saw the panic rise in her eyes when she learned that the king already knew. "However, I would much rather see you reap the consequences of your actions doing something else." It was then that he finally thought of a suitable punishment for Nelenial. It was something she was surely going to despise but she should learn something from it.
"Oh yes, anything sire, anything!" At this point she was willing to agree to whatever he said.
"Good, then starting tomorrow and for a year's time, I want you to report to the head servant in charge, so you can be issued your duties. Because starting tomorrow you will be living the very life you loath, for your new status will be a common servant. If there are any complaints about your work behavior, I will just add on an extra year. But cheer up; at least you are not banished." He turned and walked away.
As he did with Parin, he left her speechless, but she was also silently weeping. She her self would have never expected to the prince to bestow this kind of punishment. He was right though; she was about to become the very thing she detested, a common servant. Legolas was smiling as he walked away. He was hoping that Angel will be please with how he handled the matter. He was actually quite pleased with himself as well, so with his new attitude he went to search for Angel. Tonight, he will be the one to escort her to dinner.