Author's note:
Me again. It's HOLIDAYS! Two weeks and a half weeks without school! Wooo! Love end of term. And GUESS WHAT?! I'm going up to Auckland at the end of August for Choral Festival finals (we were the first reserve choir. A choir pulled out so we got through. It's so awesome. We get a trip up the other end of the country. It's the first year I've gotten to get to go, and I'm looking so forward to it)!! The only bad thing that's happened so far is that fanfiction.net is being a bastard with a capital B. Anyway Disclaimer: Do I LOOK like I own LOTR? I mean c'mon. If I did I'd be sending this to my publisher, not fanfiction.net.
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Chapter 17
It was late that night when Alice felt unease dawning once again. It had to be around midnight when that unfortunate thing happened to Alice. The thing where your eyes just snap open and you can't get them closed again. Alice however, still holding on to a part of being a teenager in the 21st century, still wanted to sleep. Except it was very difficult because no matter how hard she tried she just COULDN'T.
The night was actually quite silent and pretty so Alice didn't know what had woken her up. She walked over to her window and looked out it. Her ears picked up horse hooves beating in the distance. Who in their right mind would be riding in the middle of the night? Everyone in Middle Earth was meant to be in their beds. They didn't seem like the type who'd spend all night shimmying to techno dance music.
Suddenly a party, one of them riding a horse, came into view. One was wearing a cloak and held an object, one that Alice couldn't see, there were 3 small figures and a tall stately human Alice guessed to be Aragorn. She also couldn't see what colour the horse was. It would have been a dead give away if the horse were black, she'd know instantly that the rider was evil. Elrond had told her of Black Riders, servants of the Dark Lord.
Out of severe curiosity and fear for Rivendell, she took the light lavender-coloured cloak, trimmed with a white material that felt like fur and looked like fur, but wasn't fur, given to her by her maternal grandparents. Alice let the material wash over her as she slid on a tiny bejewelled pair of slippers and made her way soundlessly through the corridors to the door that let her out of the house of Elrond. She made her way down the steps to the gate where she waited for the rider. The rider galloped closer and closer toward her.
"Halt!" She commanded. "Who goes there?"
"Glorfindel, my lady Lindelë," The one on the horse said. "I bear the hobbit Frodo, a ringbearer. My other companions, Aragorn son of Arathorn, Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Perigin Took have come a long way. Frodo has been stabbed by one of the Nazgûl." Glorfindel motioned Alice to see. Frodo's eyes were rolled back into his skull and looked to be in a lot of pain. The wound looked black and very ugly. Alice's blood ran cold.
"A Black Rider Gash," She whispered, her feet glued to the spot. She took a deep breath in. "I'll go wake up my grandfather. Follow me, hopefully I can be helpful." She led them inside through halls of the house of Elrond. Elrond met them halfway to his room.
"Lindelë!" He exclaimed. "What is going on?"
"The ringbearer, Frodo," Alice informed him. "He's been stabbed by a Black Rider." Elrond, Aragorn and Glorfindel escorted Frodo away and Alice didn't get to see what more happened to Frodo. Even though she wasn't religious, she said a silent prayer for him. The poor little creature deserved it. She was instructed to take care of the smaller hobbits Peregin and Meriadoc, who preferred to be called Pippin and Merry. They were quite young for hobbits she was informed. Pippin wasn't even of hobbit adulthood, despite being in his twenties.
"Who are you?" Merry demanded.
"I'm Lindelë, daughter of Elrohir, one of the sons of Elrond," Alice replied with a smile. "Or that's what they call me here. My other name from this other world was Alice, but that name is buried, along with my former life."
"What other world was that?" Pippin asked curiously.
"Another dimension Master Pippin," Alice explained. "Hard to understand. Anyway, I've been told to give you two a room each in the house of Elrond, my grandfather."
It was a few days before Frodo was rendered conscious again. Alice was awoken to be told this at 10 am by Elrond.
"Oh good," Alice chirped. "He's going to be ok! Can I go see him?"
"Of course," Elrond replied.
"Excellent," Alice remarked bounding out of bed. Her maids came directly to her side and lead her down to the bathing chambers. Down there she saw Nimithil and Carenmeril, who were also being attended.
"Greetings Lindelë," Nimithil said. "Have you heard? The Ring of Power and the one who bears it have entered our realm."
"I was there when he came," Alice replied. "He awoke from his coma this morning."
"May you give us details of his appearance?" Carenmeril asked, her eyes shining.
"He didn't look too good," Alice told them. "He was stabbed by a Morgul blade." Both elf maidens gasped in shock.
"Is he well presently?" Nimithil demanded. Alice nodded. Nimithil and Carenmeril both sighed with relief. They all chattered readily and drew details from Alice about her trip to Mirkwood.
"Legolas has been pining for your company," Carenmeril said slyly.
"Of course," Alice replied. "I'm surprised he hasn't told you. We're in love."
"I knew it!" Nimithil said with conviction. "When is the wedding?"
Alice face faulted. "What wedding?" Both the girls giggled helplessly and to Alice's relief she was saved by one of her maids. After she was dressed Alice went to go and see the ringbearer. She knocked lightly on the door.
"Come in," Said a voice. Alice took that liberty.
"Is he awake?" She whispered.
"No," Gandalf replied. "He sleeps yet. You are kind to call on him."
"I just wanted to see if he was all right," Alice whispered. She swept a mass of unruly curls of the ringbearer's forehead.
"Who may you be?" Asked another hobbit.
"I'm Lady Lindelë daughter of Elrohir as they call me," Alice replied. "And you are?"
"Samwise Gamgee at your service," He replied. Alice smiled his way.
"May I call you Sam?" She asked. Samwise nodded fervently. Alice stood up. "I might as well go and leave you all in peace in search of a certain someone."
"Ah," Gandalf said in reply. "Legolas?" Alice nodded. "Farewell then. I might as well seek counsel with Elrond."
"I'll stay here, Gandalf," Sam volunteered. So both Elf and wizard left the room of the ring bearer.
She found Legolas some time later in the afternoon sitting in the courtyard garden tree reading. Alice, climbed the tree from behind quietly and placed her hands over Legolas's eyes.
"Guess who," She whispered in his ear.
"Bain nín!" He exclaimed gleefully, wrapping her in an embrace. "Im gar-annan an cen-le." Alice returned the embrace, clinging on to Legolas for dear life. Native Elvish spoken by Legolas definitely surpassed all Romance Languages (French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese) spoken by Casanova wannabes.
"I've missed you so much!" Alice murmured. They released each other from the embrace.
"Did you enjoy your stay in Mirkwood?" He wanted to know, his eyes shining. Alice nodded in that happy, enthusiastic way only blondes can.
"It was awesome," Alice began. "My grandparents are the best a girl could wish for. They spoilt me rotten while I was there."
"I suspected," Legolas said. "For you are their only sane granddaughter."
"Do grandma and grandpa have grandchildren I'm not aware of?" Alice demanded to know in surprise.
"Yes, did not you know of this?" He responded to Alice's surprised expression. "Elwaeglos is one of your cousins."
"You're kidding!" Alice gasped. "How can I be... that's not... I'm not related to Devon am I?"
"No bain nín," Replied Legolas chuckling. "Nwalya and Elwaeglos are half sisters. They do not share the same father. Elwaeglos' father is your uncle."
"Good god," Alice mumbled. "Next thing you'll be telling me I have a mutated sister in law and I'm a fairy queen. Middle Earth is more complicated than the twenty first century."
"Heard a quote on the object you call a telly-vision," Legolas began. "And I recall it as 'You can choose your friends but you cannot choose your relatives',"
"So true," Alice sighed. "But I can't complain. I like my new family."
"Did you enjoy the company of my kin?" Legolas wanted to know. Alice nodded.
"Your mother and sister were absolutely gorgeous," Alice said. "I could imagine being part of your family."
Legolas grinned wickedly. "I could suggest means on making you a part of my family." This made Alice stare at him aghast. Marriage?! At her age?! To a guy about 1300 years older than her?!
"Are you thinking about marriage?" Alice demanded. "Well don't even think about it."
"Why bain nín?" Legolas asked plaintively.
"I'm not ready!" Alice protested. "I'm still young. Very young."
"I shall wait an eternity," Legolas reassured her.
"What if I don't want to get married?" She flared. "Marriage is pointless and stupid! It always ends in divorce anyway!"
"I would never dream of leaving you," Legolas said.
"That's what you say now," Alice retorted. "What about when some sex goddess comes along? What if you can't resist her?" He was silent. "See? You don't know if you're true to me." Alice began climbing down from the tree.
"Alice!" he called after her. "Where are you going?"
"Don't worry," She mumbled and stalked away.
Arwen was the one that found Alice, in her room, bawling her eyes out.
"Niece, festivities are going to commence downstairs fairly shortly," Arwen said, concerned. "My father and the younger hobbits noticed you were not present."
"I don't want to come," came the muffled reply. Arwen sat down on the bed next to Alice, smoothing her hair.
"What troubles you?" Arwen wondered aloud.
"Legolas," Said the same muffled tones. "He brought up marriage."
"But niece, that is fantastic news!" She exclaimed. Alice sat up.
"I'm scared Auntie Arwen," Alice mumbled wiping tears away from her eyes. "I'm too young. Too young for marriage. I'm not ready."
"Ssshh child," She soothed the conflicted girl in calming tones. "Your upbringing would say that you were not prepared. Listen not to your head, but listen to what your heart has to voice. You will find an answer within yourself. Be patient."
"But what if I fall out of love with him?" Alice complained. "What if suddenly it's gone?" She put her head into her hands. "I'm sorry. I haven't been this crazy about a guy ever. It's totally out of those romance novels. My heart does the whole beating and levitating thing every time he comes within a 100-metre radius. I'm taken with this guy, really."
"Then you have found your answer," Arwen replied, smiling. "Come. We must prepare you for the feast. You cannot go downstairs with a tear stained face."
Several minutes later Alice emerged from the confines of her bedroom in a gown that surpassed all gowns she had worn before in her life. This time it was pale, sky blue with silver threads sailing through it making it look like it was made of a thin platinum sheet of metal instead of material, much like her first dress she had worn in Rivendell.
It was lined with thicker silver threads in an intricate basket weave. Unlike the first dress she had worn in Rivendell, the v shaped neckline was lower and showed quite enough cleavage in Alice's opinion. She wore her pendant of immortality that she was to wear all her life unless she chose to give it up. She selected a pair of dangling silver thread earrings with dimante at the top to stick in her pierced ears from the twenty first century. She took the silver tiara encrusted with tiny pale blue jewels and put it in her hair, which looked simple but was intricately twisted in combs and plaited at the top held in place by lots of hair pins with blue jewels. Once again, it was a hairstyle she would never be able to replicate in a million years.
On Alice's feet were the cutest pair of shoes she had ever seen. They were a translucent, pale blue and looked as if they were made of glass. Like most Elven shoes, they had no heels, and Alice was grateful for it. Better to keep her ankles in tact than to risk it. She just hoped that Legolas was glad they'd gone to all this trouble to look nice. After all, she hardly ever wore her hair down. She'd always insisted it was tied back. She was also handed a pale blue wrap encrusted with similar jewels to her tiara for warmth. She and Arwen glided through the passageways of the house of Elrond chatting readily to the hall where festivities were held. There was a lavish feast set out to mark the coming of the ringbearer but Alice felt, intuitively in the pit of her stomach, that something was going to happen, something unwanted and despised. Elrond was sitting at the head of the table, being the lord of Rivendell and beside him sat Glorfindel on his left and Gandalf on his right. It was not long before the ringbearer and his hobbit companions arrived. Alice viewed the ringbearer to be quite short from her 5 foot 10 stance. To her he didn't look much different from his companions, except for differences caused by DNA, she guessed
"Hullo Lindelë!" Chirped Pippin happily.
"Hey there Pippin," Alice said smiling bending down to reach the young hobbit's height. "And how are you?"
"I'm good," Replied Pippin, who seemed to be in a good mood. His eyes gazed over the food. "I've never seen a feast this big before!"
"Oh I have," Alice told him. Pippin's eyes widened.
"You have?!" He exclaimed. "Count yourself lucky then."
"Don't hobbits have six meals a day?" Alice asked. Pippin nodded.
"But this feast is bigger than all hobbit meals piled together!" Pippin retorted. "I can't wait no longer, I'm starving." Alice stifled a giggle as Pippin bounced away to the food. He was one hyper hobbit. Pippin reminded her of Gina at fourteen and on a sugar/caffeine/Sparkle high when strawberry doughnuts were around. While she was talking to Pippin, Arwen had drifted away to her seat beneath a canopy of white cloth. Alice admired her aunt. Tonight her head was wound with intricate braids and held in place with a net of little white gems that caressed her brow. Her tiara was a silver girdle that looked like olive leaves wrought in silver. Alice strolled over and sat next to Arwen, who suddenly looked troubled.
"What's wrong?" Alice asked.
"Estel is not here," Arwen murmured. "He should be. He arrived with the hobbits..."
"Maybe he's been caught up with business or something," Alice suggested. "Or maybe Dad and Uncle Elladan are giving him the 'Hurt our sister and we'll stab you with a Morgul blade' speech." Arwen giggled.
"Most likely," Arwen replied. Alice viewed the room. Pippin, Merry and Sam were sitting at a clothed table near the dais while Frodo was sitting atop many cushions so he could view the table. She grinned. It was such a cute sight. At one point of the evening, she caught Legolas's gaze. She knew that she would have to apologise to him sooner or later. Preferably tonight, while she had the chance.
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Woah. Sorry for the lo-o-o-o-ng chapter. That's successfully the longest chapter I've written so far. If you enjoy it good on you. Well. Fanfiction.net is DOWN again, so this won't be up until it's up. By the time it's up again, I'll have to post 2 or 3 chapters FYE. Anyway, it's holidays now so I have heaps of time to write, although Matt, my bro and computer whiz needs to snag the computer for a couple of days to re-format it or something (he doesn't live at home) which will take 5 days tops so yeah. This'll hopefully be while Fanfiction.net is still down. Anyway, that's it from me. Toodles noodles!
