January T.A. 1982
She sat quietly eating a tart and flipped the page of the book she was reading. After a moment she lifted her head and pealed back a cloth to check the bread that rose wistfully in the wicker basket on her table. She poked it, and the dough sprung back excitedly towards her. She raised an eye brow wiped a floured hand on her apron and sat down again heavily in the chair.
Unede had arrived back in the elven mountain kingdom only the evening before, and had hoped to find her friends baking in the kitchens this morning. They would be a welcome distraction for her nerves, she always found herself anxious when she arrived home from watch first. However, the sisters had been unexpectedly absent from the Kitchens, and she wondered what delayed them so late into the morning.
She turned the page of the book again, and thought to start some tea, but was interrupted by a fluster of movement, and swift whispers as the ladies entered the castles kitchens in a flurry. Their cheeks where flushed, and their hands clasped together as they looked from one another to Unede. The captain smiled at them and wondered what had them in such a state.
At last they could not hold their tongues, and Amarie spoke with a broad smile. "His Majesty and His Highness have gone to your Aunt and Uncles house and a messenger is coming for you now." She said breathlessly and held her sister's hand.
Unede sat still in her seat, and remembered quietly. Had it already been a century since that night in the tree? Her hand came to her breast and she remembered the pendant that lay under the folds of her dress, given in desperation, worn in secret. She wondered if she was prepared for what came next in this stage of life. If she was able to lead in a different way. But her thoughts were quickly interrupted.
"He was dressed finely, Unede, the bread has worked! All our work and toil has not been wasted! This could be the moment, he plans for courtship, I am certain of it." Anaire leaned forward on the table and took the captains hand into an excited grasp.
She could not find words, her heart swelled, her stomach turned, she thought at least they would wait for peace. She knew they were far from it, and in her heart she knew that the next years would bring unknown tests of bravery. She sat at the table biting her lips and staring at her friends before her, wondering if this was wise at all. What would she even say?
"Unede come now, take off your apron and wipe the flour from your face. Important things are afoot." Anaire strode next to her and pulled her to her feet and quickly began to pat her hair and wipe the grains from her hands and nose. Her rush was not unneeded, for just as she finished a messenger came into the room, heaving breaths of haste.
"Captain, my ladies, His Majesty the King has requested your presence at the house of the Marchwarden Olwe your Uncle." He gave slight bow and lowered his head, and with nervous steps Unede led him out of the room, and they walked together through the great stone halls, and through ancient carved pillars, and down wide winding staircases. They passed the castle gates, and followed the cobbled streets through the city, until at last their feet met the dirt paths that ran past cottages and gardens. Then they came to it, her Uncle's house, settled the trees, and rimmed in flowers, and bathed in warm sunlight, and she gathered her courage and wondered if she was prepared for what was behind that door. Or if she even could be.
The messenger coughed a little, and she offered him a gentle smile before thanking him and walking nervously towards the door she had entered a thousand times over a hundred lifetimes. She had expected to find behind the door, a warm dinner, a smiling King, a nervous Prince, a blushing Indis, a drunken Miriel, a joyous Olwe. But when she opened it, she found instead, a room waiting in silence. Her family sitting round a table, tea cold and undrunk before them, and a stern silent King. Her heart sank, but lifted again when she saw that Legolas sat slumped by the window, no worse for wear than when she had last seen him two moons ago. But it was sadness, and worry, and grief in the room, not the joyous occasion she had anticipated.
Thranduil lifted his arm and beckoned her to sit, and she followed suit nervously. She had not seen him this serious since she first came to the woodland realm nearly two millennia before. "Child." He whispered quietly, and the heavy sadness on his tongue washed over Unede like a cold spring shower. She gripped the edge of her seat. "Child, a letter has come, it bears much ill news."
Unede nodded but did not speak. Her family was quiet and fear had settled onto them and the air hung thick between them. She glanced towards Legolas, but his eyes did not leave the floor, and she felt her stomach drop and her heart beat heavily in her chest.
"The King Amroth is dead, he has drowned." She felt her heart grow cold and the taste of bile coated the back of her throat, but the King continued. "Nimrodel has been lost, her whereabouts are unknown and she is presumed to be dead as well." The room around her seemed to become hazy and she felt the blood drain from her face and her stomach became sick and heavy. "Unede, Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn have come to Lothlorien, and she has bid you go there." She tried to find her tongue she searched her mind for words but none came. Unede looked desperately to Legolas but he did not return her gaze and she felt her vision blur as she blinked away hot tears, and wrung her hands desperately.
Olwe spoke for her though. "Why does she call for her to go to Lothlorien? Will you send her there?"
But Unede did not wait for the King to speak, and found her voice through shock and grief, and in a hollow voice she spoke quickly, for he knew Galadriels heart and her desires. "She wants to be Queen." She breathed as she met the Kings eyes. "Galadriels desire has always been to rule. Now her desire has come and behold, her heir and her spare are absent. Her daughters will not bear a crown in Arda or Endor."
Indis said waving off her nieces words, then turned desperately to the King "Will you send her away back to Lothlorien?"
"The question is not if he will send me away." Unede spoke again. "The question is if you intend to punish me for my Grandmother usurping a throne that is your blood right."
"Perhaps these conversations are better held in private." Legolas said quickly at her revelation shifting in his chair. "The news has only just come, let us take time to think on this a while."
The King looked at Unede and his eyes bore into her, searching her soul and through thin lips he hissed. "What does my captain say to this, what would she do in my stead."
"I…" She started and trailed off. "I am…..I am worth only my words and deeds, I took a vow, and so my allegiance lies here. Therefore, I will not go, lest by the command of the King. And I shall take whatever punishment he see's fit, for my heart is shamed by my grandmothers actions."
Unede bowed her head and continued. "This I know too, that this is an ill start for Galadriels rule, for she has made enemies swiftly with her Kin in the north. She see's me as both an heir and an ally, and I wonder if she desires for me to quell your temper your Majesty. But that is not my right, for I would be angry if I sat in your chair and wore your crown. I would not wish to be the cause of any strife, and I would not blame you, your Majesty, were you to send me away for the sake of our peoples good relations."
And they were silent for a time and hardly a breath could be heard until the King spoke again and said "I will think on this a while, and give you my answer tomorrow." And he rose, and took his leave from the house of Olwe and Indis.
