ok, here we are again sorry this has taken forever to write I just have been under mountains of work and even when I want to I just have a hard time finding the time to write so I apologize if this chapter seems a little shorter or choppier than in the past.


Sunal had been unnerved by just how uneventful the past few weeks had been, there were few who tried her patience, and she had access to everything she needed, but the severe lack of protein and the ever-present heat of eyes on her added to any uneasiness she felt. She was not used to being watched like this, the humans didn't care and the Dwarves only cared that they had not only a person to spar with, but also a new competitive drinker among them. Doronien had procured books and scrolls for teaching and learning elvish, and though she was a good teacher, she missed her father's lessons, and it reminded her of home. She often ending lessons short and with a feeling of unsatisfied no matter how much they covered. She thought that the training grounds would be more entertaining than they were, there seemed to be different tiers of fighters and training. There were those who trained for fighting in the armies and guarding the kingdom. Then there were those who were the king's guard and trained with nobles and other younger highborn elves who had some of the best training in the lands, or so they had told her. This was where she was. It was not the fighting itself that left her unsatisfied, in fact, that part was astounding to her, the way they glided in the air feet barely touching the ground and their precision, was like none she had ever seen before. The grace with which they move was wonderful to watch and interesting to fight, well at first.

What she did know was that she was being watched more at the training grounds. Not to say she was not also being watched when she was studying or resting, now and then she would notice the same guard make around under her window, but time after time she would feel the stare of a colder eye on the training grounds. She always saw him out of the corner of her eye, his presence to grand to ever be truly hidden. She did not want to look directly at the guards or their king, though they probably already knew that she was aware of them. She didn't want to give them more of a reason to follow her, more than she already had.

Most of the elves had heard of the conversation she had had with their king, it did not lead to a peaceful transition into life daily life under the roots of the Greenwood and making connections was difficult when friendships were based on time and shared experiences. Her presence had offended the majority of the elves, and she had not even met many. It lead to a lot of slow days, she had to say the beauty of it all was growing dull with the lack of interaction. She missed the aggressiveness of the dwarves and their social structure of drinking until you pass out fighting to figure out the social ladder, making crude jokes to offset any tension. None of the social skills she had learned from humans or dwarves applied here and it made her desperately angry.

Which brought her back to the training grounds. She enjoyed the art of the fighting style the elves were using, but it was putting her into a more frustrated state at times to restrain her strength. She could not hit with too much force and she could not fight to her strengths. It felt more like art to her, or dancing and her body simply wanted to attack and not learn the steps. Refocusing her style was time-consuming and laborious with hurdles from muscle memory to grappling with different weapons, her heavy dwarven sword to devastating to use in any elven fight. She would have enjoyed twisting their smirking face if she was not certain that she would come under question for it. The lighter elven weapons were long and thin. Much too light to be durable, was what she initially thought, though she eventually found that their design led them to be used for long-term combat.

Doronien had shown her to the blacksmiths, and she was in shock, the streamlined forms coming out of the fire were not like any dwarven blades she had seen, some glowed others sung with each hammer, but again the smiths themselves were not what she was expecting, classically beautiful and holding a grace that she would never have imagined crafting smiths like this to have.

As weeks went by she could feel her body getting more and more accustomed to the rootlike halls and their grand designs and the warmth of the underground system so different from the damp chill of the caves she had half expected to follow her around. One thing she had noticed more and more was the ever lingering gaze of a certain elf she had foolishly spoken out to. She began to notice his presence more and more, even when the guards followed her, he would appear near the training grounds or above her on one of the balconies while she was studying, more often than not she couldn't place where he was, she simply could feel his cold eyes on her.

She did not once acknowledge his presence, she convinced herself it was the safest option. After her initial encounter with him Sunal believed it was best to keep any interaction to a minimum, he obviously did not trust her and she was not going to push her luck in trying his patience. She had heard stories of his impatience and that he, more than others elves from any other realms, found himself drawn to anger faster, but any rumor or whisper was always adjourned with great respect. The elves here acknowledged and respected their king and his flaws, they truly held him in a category of its own. Which was even more of a reason to keep her distance, the elves do not forget things easily, and most still based their perceptions of her off of her rudeness to their king. She was not looked upon with favor, to say the least. A few of the young elves she had seen scurrying around would up to her now and again, but mostly to meet a 'human' and not to truly speak with her. Doronien would speak with her at lessons, but even those were becoming more sporadic throughout the weeks.

Sunal was noticing she was getting a tad stir crazy, and though she was doing her best not to let these elves at the training grounds push her too far with their high born superiority complexes, whispering to one another as though she could not hear them or understand their elvish. Yes, the past weeks have certainly perturbed her, she looked down to the sword she was given from the armory, its sleek form almost glowing in the warm lights. She tried to focus on memorizing the carvings in it than listen to the tittle-tattle of the self-glorifying elves. It was something she realized many of them did, it was not uncommon among the humans as well, or the dwarves, but there was something that irked her about how consumed the elves were with their own superiority, that truly made her want to distort it.

"She has such a vulgar fighting style." one brunette elf mused to another,

"Strong though."

"Well didn't you hear not only is she human but she learned a lot of techniques from the dwarves."

"Well then that explains the fighting style." the other said snickering

"Do you think she will stay here much longer, it is a waste to teach her anything especially someone so young who will probably die before she can even apply her knowledge."

"Humans do live very short lives don't they."

"I still do not know when it became acceptable to allow them into this kingdom." one of them let out an annoyed sigh.

Sunal could feel herself tensing, she did her best to control her face and not show that she could understand them as they kept prattling on. She focused more on the new sword on her lap and she carefully wiped it down shining it and making sure that it stayed in perfect condition. She wished she could reprimand them, she wanted to, or at least fight them, but she had to keep reminding herself that they were probably much older than her. These were not children of men that she could put in their place and not have to worry about the repercussions or dwarves who would at least enjoy her spunk. It was stifling, having to hold herself back all the time.

And there was another problem she was having that no amount of fighting was helping; Sunal never thought of herself as a great beauty, but among the dwarves and humans she could at least be assured of getting a second look and a good lay. But here, everything was so beautiful but also so pure, she wasn't even sure if elves had sex, and she was beginning to believe the rumors the dwarves told her, that elves were born from the trees because they were too prudish to fornicate, and above actually enjoy pleasure.

Sunal, on the other hand, was not, it was easy to bed men they were simple and their lives were so short that she could almost feel the urgency of their want to fully enjoy what time they had. She had only ever bed a few dwarves, and even though she had found the experience more fun than pleasurable it was still better than none at all. Maybe they were all just too old and the appeal of copulation had long passed them by, but Sunal had a hard time believing that. She decided that she would ask Doronien at their next lesson. Holding her sword up she admired her work as she could see a glimpse of her morphed face eyes darker than they normally were with frustration and hunger, she briefly wondered if this type of hunger was remnants of the human in her or the animal to rut, but then she couldn't recall any stories of dragons being borne in middle earth only created or birthed from the magic of the Valar.

"What kind of human ever traveled alone like this she is a trader, not a ranger." the elves continued prattling on, as she tried to turn her mind away from it.

"Perhaps there are not a lot of other humans who wanted to be in her company, perhaps she was some sort of deviant." the last one let his elvish bleed into the common tongue. He was taunting her. She cracked her neck trying to relieve some of the tension that had been building in it.

She wanted to find it funny, and some days she did, but today, there was just something about today that irked her. She just was in a foul mood, she felt stuck, and there was an ache in her that manifested in more ways than one. It was the kind of feeling when the whole of her body trembled in anticipation like it needed to thrash and lash out, the kind she usually indulged in. She could not do that, she should have some restraint by now. Sunal reminded her self that she was no child, that she could control her emotions. She kept doing so as the two males continued in their slandering, and as others in the arena clearly became uncomfortable, a thick unsettling heat filled the room.

She could tell herself that she would not let her emotions get the better of her, and she had done her best to hold them in, but her anger was heating the room and she could feel her skin tickle with the static of her vexation. She really had been so upstanding, really if she thought about it she had been irreproachable, and other than a brief slip or two of the tongue she had been truly an exemplary visitor. It was really such a shame.

-80808-

Thranduil sat again at the head of a large conference table as he waited for Fanion to arrive for their meeting, he looked down at the carvings on the table and he elegantly followed the designs with his fingers slowly feeling the dips and curves of the intricate designs. There was something about this human that had been putting him on edge since their meeting. It was beyond the gift she brought, and beyond her less than plausible story, there was something familiar in the air around her. Something in her eyes that he simply could not place. There were few things that he could not place in this world and yet not one of them had bothered him in the same way her eyes had. It pestered him as though it was a word on the tip of his tongue, a thought that he could not develop enough to take flight, stuck in the nest refusing leap towards something. He thought that if he observed her he might find that missing piece, anything to connect the dots. But so far the only thing that had come to light was from Fanion. Apparently, the only truly odd thing that Doronien had noticed was that the temperature of the girls bath water was hotter when she got out than when she got in. For a while, after she tested the water for magic or anything of that sort, yet nothing. He was sure there was something there, he just could not figure out what it was, something in her eyes they flashed in his mind, big dark hazel eyes alive with gold and green. He closed his eyes and craned his neck back then forward again trying to place them, they were so alive so, so, his hand went into a fist as he slammed it to the table opening his eyes now simmering with the rage of frustration.

"I have not seen you so vexed since the time you discovered Legolas had been hunting on his own." Fanion said gracefully entering the room.

"No new information. I supposed as much since you are so attentive to my disposition Fanion." Thranduil said going back to tracing the lines elegantly on the table.

Fanion raised a brow, "No... nothing, as you presumed. Doronien's lesions with her go smoothly, and she seems to be able to understand more and more of our language every day. Uncommonly bright for a human."

"Uncommon, yes, that is a word I could associate with that human." Lodrieil said not far behind Fanion. "Look at what she is doing to us, disrupting the order of things here, we should send her on her way. She is surrounded by oddities and strange auras that none of us have answers to. And Fanion you simply wish to observe her? I fail to see the point in that." Lodrieil gracefully sat at the table a few seats from Thranduil, and Fanion kept standing, just looking out the large window.

"You are always so keen to push away things you do not understand, Malo." Fanion said with a slight chuckle.

"And you are too keen to pull that which you do not understand closer, that eagerness has led to danger one too many times." Lodrieil hunched her over placing her hand over her eyes and face, painful memories flooding in as her nerves grew frantic and cold, "So many dangers plague this world. And here you are seeking more, long after you know you should have moved on" her voice lower and vibrating through the room.

Fanion turned to her sympathy in his eyes with a deep sadness bubbling underneath, "I know you wished to return to the undying lands with your brother malo, but that does not mean that you must linger in this land that you so desperately wish to leave. All of us can see that you have been ready for the long journey for some time."

"How can I? When you host a snake in our halls." she sternly whispered almost tired of arguing her point, feeling that her words were falling on deaf ears she got back up turning to Thranduil, "I know you can sense it, there is a power in that human. I have seen your eye on her every few days, there is something that we can not place about her, do not be drawn in by it." she paused to emphasize her point and as though an afterthought she mused, "At least she is staying away from most of the other elves."

"That is only because of you, do not think we are not unaccustomed to your lingering whispers in the air by now." Fanion keenly smiled as she walked passed him.

Thranduil interjected, "Let us not get into more pettiness now shall we."

"Pettiness? There is no point in having these meetings, Thranduil. Even when something odd is seen about her it is either gone in an instant or dismissed by Fanion. If only I had the talent of Lady Galadriel." she took a great breath in trying to quell her frustrations, "I shall take my leave, these days seem so much longer than they used to." and with those final whispers, Lodrieil flowed from the room.

Fanion waited a moment for Lodrieil to leave giving her a courteous bow before he turned towards Thranduil, "You are so quiet my old friend."

"Were you not also contemplating the great journey back over the great sea? Was that not the reason for your travels to retrieve Lodrieil and her brother?"

"Plans change."

"The call to the sea does not change, its pull is ever stronger on all of us, it is simply a matter of how much strength we have left to fight it."

"And here you are, my King, the pillar of strength to all in your woodland realm…. Please, I have known you too long, you still have much fight left in you. You may have tried to sever your love for battle and adventure after Legolas was born and … and.. we both know that her death did not quench that thirst wither Thranduil."

"Must you bring her up every moment you want something from me? Fanion I know she was your sister, but she was my wife."

"And I see now you use my own words against me," Fanion let out a chuckle, "Have you truly been keeping your eye on Sunal?"

Thranduil stopped tracing the carvings on the table slowly bringing his hand back to his lap reclining in the regal position he was so known for. "She troubles me." his face revealing the frustration of his hours of trying to fit pieces together about her. It was as though he was working with puzzle yet none of the pieces fit together.

"She troubles you?" Fanion said incredulously, "Thranduil as much as I enjoy her presence, I would truly tell you if there was something you needed to be troubled over." Fannion sat himself down near Thranduil, "What about the human girl troubles you?"

Thranduil arched his head up so that he had the angle to look down his nose at Fanion as he was accustomed to when he felt half-truths were being told to him, "Do not lie to me, there is something in her eyes Fanion, something old there. I recognize it from long ago... I simply cannot tell what it is."

"Perhaps she is a descendant of the riders or some distant kin of an old house, these humans live and die and reproduce so quickly; it would be hard to try and place her. I did notice her eyes were unusually bright for a human but she is trying to gather an understanding for this place, and I have seen a spark in others with a hunger for more than most humans look for. She has not tried to be disruptive, in fact, I am nonplussed by how quiet she has become after her initial arrival." Fanion chuckled enjoying the memory of her first few days, she was so quiet, yet bright and sharp a combination that made him wistful of his own passion for learning "not that she was particularly loud before, just young…. It could be that it is that youthful spirit that attracted your attention?"

Thranduil's eyes were cold, could it be that this was some sort of joke to Fanion? He was not some idle thinker like Lord Elrond, who often spent years studying the same subject, he had seen what dangers lurked in middle earth, and defended it form more enemies than he could count. Fanion used to be, just as…. almost as eager as he had been to be on the battlefield. Time and loss had taken a lot of the bite from him, but none of his brains, and he was used to relying on him as an advisor. But, her eyes, there was something in them, he could feel his muscles tense when he was around her as though he needed to be prepared for something.

Fanion, what was he thinking, his old friend had clearly faded in the last few years. Was his judgment clouded by the fact that she was a new element here, a mystery he felt he could watch unfold, or just something to break the monotony he so clearly felt, that spurred his need to leave? The call was hard to resist, the urge to go to the sea, to go to the undying lands. He was torn, there was something off with this girl; he was put on edge with the idea that an unknown was in his kingdom, but he was also grateful to see a spark of interest back in his old friend. Peace, it was good for a kingdom, giving time to grow and prepare for the inevitable next battle, no matter how mundane it may be. Sunal's eyes flashed again before him sending an uneasy chill up his spine.

There was a feeling in the air. His eyes flashed as he promptly stood, moving with an elegant swiftness. There was an urgency in his step yet his elegant demeanor and billowing robes only made him seem more ethereal at his quickened pace. He could tell that Fanion had not felt the change in the air, for if he had he would have followed his king. There were more important things to dwell on though other than his old friends assumptions. His mind was focused, trained in on the source of where he felt the disturbance in his land, the training grounds.


What did you think please let me know! I really thrive off of support and constructive criticism!

Note: I will most likely come through an edit this chapter in the future, I'm not a fan of it, it feels choppy to me and in need of organization that I just do not want to do at this time :)