Hail to you all! I hope you Enjoyed chapter 20 ('lolz' indeed! haha) ..o yeah..Harlette once again behaved like an arse...!

Now, here goes...the chapter where Harlette gets a lill explanation about everything...

Chapter 21

Explanations

'You fool! You troll!' Bernard yelled. 'Why did you speak to him so horribly!'

'Because he is cocky, and he judges me, treating me with such content when he doesn't even know me!'

'And who do you think you are to speak like such a princess? What makes you so special? Because what I just heard right now were the words of a dumb and arrogant baboon!'

'Ah!' she exclaimed, flinging her arms in the air. 'Thank you very much! Always nice to have some hate from a talking cat!'

Bernard's gaze softened, but her voice remained determined. 'What I mean is that, you misjudge him when claiming him to be so cold hearted, because if his heart was made of such ice, he would have let you die instead of saving your life!

'From these spiders? O, big deal! He threw me in dungeons after and_'

'No! Not the goddamned spiders! Forget the spiders!'

Pause.

'You were very ill, and in deep sleep for six days,' a calm and unfamiliar voice suddenly joined in the conversation.

Harlette's ears followed the sound, and she smiled at the beautiful golden-haired elf walking towards her, her step soundless, her long green dress swaying around her legs. 'My name is Earwin, miss Harlette. I have been appointed by our king to attend to your every need.'

'By the king…so I've heard...Nice to meet you…' Harlette's tone faded in shameful silence. 'So… I was asleep for six days, without waking up, you say?'

Bernard nodded, and so did the elf. Harlette shifted on her feet, grimacing and scratching her head pensively. 'So I must look really ugly right now: bags under my eyes, grey and dry skin, and greasy hair?'

Gently taking Harlette's hands in hers, Earwin guided the latter towards a large mirror.

When the human girl found her reflection, she stood dumbfounded before the glass.

Earwin smiled, and so did Bernard.

Thick and glossy, Harlette's hair had grown so long. Running her hands through it, she thought it an odd sight, for how could her shoulder-length locks now be kissing her lower-back after only a week? Her rosy cheeks and full red lips were ripe on her doll-like face, and her body had regained vigour. It was magic, right?

Finally, Harlette gathered her voice, which rasped, when daring to utter a sound. 'Asleep for six days…'

'You were so sick. I think you caught pneumonia; you had been worn out, in the cold with no food. I'm sure it came from there. Your body couldn't take it anymore,' Bernard explained.

'But now, by the look of things, I'm dazzlin',' she stated, her smile buoyant, her arms extended at her side, in ways befitting a god. 'But, tell me all in detail. So, I was sick and asleep, and basically dying…is there something else I missed?'

'You missed the most important bit of information…' Bernard groaned.

'Healers worked on you day and night. But still, you were fading fast,' Earwin continued. 'If it was not for Bernard's insistence in finding further help, you would have died,' the elf paused, and walking closer to the human girl, she knelt down. Harlette's eyes rounded, and before she could force Earwin back to her feet, this one had spoken: 'I should apologise to you, for despite it not having been in my intention, I had underestimated the price of your life in his majesty's eyes. With a mind immersed in ignorance, I allowed myself to be foolishly judgmental. I still have much to learn, and I hope to earn your forgiveness in due time.'

Harlette stood mute for a moment. She sighed.

'I'm a lost little human in a world belonging to godly creatures.' She shrugged, her expression desolated. 'It is of no wonder why you would think my life meaningless, especially with your mighty king labeling me as a little mortal girl... It might not be by mine, but by Elven standards, your judgment was not foolish, only too damn adequate.'

'No it was not. Do not judge us with such content,' Earwin retorted with vehemence. 'Elves have still much to learn, but we do not think human lives meaningless. And our king, he is proof of that,' she assured. 'You were fading fast,' she began, 'and our healers were not strong enough. Only a more powerful magic could save you.'

'So we called King Thranduil. And he saved your life,' Bernard finished. 'So don't judge him with such cruelty, for he saved you twice: from the spiders and from illness!' Earwin completed.

'Think of his reaction when seeing you worship spiders, and hearing you claim he would let you die the first chance he gets, when he saved your bottom this very morning. He even gave you a complete makeover!' Bernard finished, grinning at Earwin who nodded contently.

Harlette looked back at her fair reflection, her heart skipping a beat. Damn! She yelled in her mind, chiding herself for behaving like a complete nutter!

She wished to run after him, to apologise, but both Earwin and Bernard discouraged her plan of action. There would be plenty of time for that later. Moreover, the king was most probably in a stormy mood, and he had business elsewhere.

Night had fallen on Mirkwood at last.

It did not take long for Harlette to get washed. She slipped into clean sleeping attires, and despite her refusal to sleep any longer, she was nonetheless forced to do so, since resting was primordial for her complete recovery. Outside, there echoed songs and laughter; Earwin told Harlette that merry making was quite a habit among elves. Upon hearing that bit of information, from Harlette's lips, flooded more than one question. She inquired about this strange place called Mirkwood and its inhabitants. Earwin explained.

Elves were immortal beings with leaf-shaped ears. Birthed under starlight, and before the moon and sun came to exist, Elves had once been a great and mighty race. However, during the Third age of Middle Earth, the race of men took over the world, and therefore, the influence of Elves over the earth began to fade, and so did the elves themselves, for they sailed westward, to the undying Lands, a human version of paradise.

Some elves still wish to remain in Middle earth, but they are bound to sail west one day, for in due time, the call of the sea is stronger than their will to remain in a world which is no longer theirs.

Harlette wanted to know more, but there was so much-too much- to tell, so Earwin simply went on with telling a little about Mirkwood;

'We are in the east of Auduin, and these woods_'

'What's Auduin?' Harlette interjected. Earwin opened her mouth to speak, but Bernard stopped her. 'Don't bother Earwin, just carry on…'

'Well…' she started, laughing when Harlette glared at the earnest cat. 'The Woodland Realm was not always known as Mirkwood, but as Greenwood the Great. But the name changed when it fell under the shadow of Dol Guldur, of the Dark Lord Sauron, who was defeated eighteen years ago. Mirkwood was rid of all evil things and was called Eryn Lasgalen, the Wood of Greenleaves.' She sighed, dismay in her bright blue eyes. 'Nevertheless, the name Mirkwood never falls out of use, especially now, for it seems darkness has returned.'

This subject brought along that of the spiders, and Harlette was told they descended from the first great spider named Ungoliant, and her daughter, Shelob, who bred with other great spiders. The descendants of those foul creatures flooded Mirkwood when Sauron's shadow rose in the skies, and still now it seemed they could not be exterminated. Nevertheless, Earwin did not linger on this subject and ushered Harlette to bed, tucking her under the covers. It was time to sleep, again.

'Earwin, what's Thranduil's age?'

The maid laughed. 'Why don't you ask him yourself!'

Grinning broadly, Harlette nodded and closed her eyes.

Earwin and Bernard smiled at her sleeping frame.

Their smiles faded at the sight of bits of spider straying webs on the floor, and on the covers.

They looked at each other, their expression bespeaking their terrified confusion when recalling the dream and Sheliad's infamous gift; that dress made of white threads, of spider webs.

Something evil was afoot, and this something was growing, and beyond their control.