Hello again! Sorry it took me sooo long to update, I was having some major problems with finding time for this. Well, here you meet my favorite original character (^_^), I tried to picture his physique best I could, more is coming up anyway ^_^.
Oh just to UNconfuse some of you:
*** - means change of point of view.
~*~ -means flashback
~~~ - maybe I will use this one – dream excerpt
Fortunately, I'm already half way through Chapter 3, so I hope that won't take me longer then a week to post up.
Ja ne and enjoy and (psst. – REVIEW) ^_~
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Chpt 2– leather and flame
She woke up with a gasp. She did not remember her dream and she did not seek to recall it. She looked at a small patch of the star covered sky peering through the window, then, she glanced at Imrahil.
He was lying on his stomach, sleeping, the thin blanket that had molded itself around his still figure slid down a little revealing the prince's powerfully built back. Lutilivien reached for the cover and pulled it up affectionately; The night is quite cool, she thought.
Not wanting for her nightmares to return, she threw a wooly, thick cloak around her bare shoulders and walked into the courtyard. As she now noticed, the night was still young.
She paused under a mighty oak tree that stood there for as long as she remembered, it had an aura wilderness around it, the aura that she always missed within the stone city of Dol Amroth. Hoping that nobody was there watching her, she swiftly climbed the tree and sat in a comfortable curve between two thick branches. But her mind was restless even there.
Oh, what is it with me? Why does my heart weigh me down so today? And why is it about Imrahil; I love him so. So many other men I could have been betrothed to, but fate had it, it was the Prince of Dol Amroth himself…and I learned in time to love him as if he were predestined to be the one whom I waited for since I have been but a child. I should thank Goddess for such a bless— What is it; that I smell? It is somewhat familiar. That ancient scent of leather, where do I remem—
"You are of the Tree-Folk indeed." the man's voice had a note of warmth and irony in it. Lutilivien jumped up startled out of her thoughts.
In an attempt to escape and wrap the cloak tighter around her, she lost her balance and fell backwards with a short scream. She heard a grunt as she hit something with her knee, then a dull thud and she collapsed into somebody full force knocking both of them to the ground. She felt pain rise up in her side, but she managed to open her eyes to examine the situation closely; the pleasant smell of leather became much more intense.
Glancing hastily at the situation, she noticed that she was half-sitting, half-laying on a man whose face she could not perceive well. Her own body was twisted in a less than virtuous position, considering that her cloak lay mangled a few yards away and that the straps of her somewhat translucent thigh-length slip were hanging loosely down her shoulders.
The man heavily opened his eyes and a faint smirk appeared in the corner of his lips. Lutilivien jumped up in panic, and crawling rather than walking backwards, grabbed hold of her cloak immediately hiding in its protective folds.
"Some adventure, my lady, you could have hurt yourself. How does it look; to become so frightened of an old friend?" the man's bright eyes sparkled mischievously. Feeling her cheeks burn, Lutilivien silently thanked the night for its shadows, but then gaped speechless as she sent the man a second look.
"Irean…"
"Aye." The man responded rubbing a great bump that was starting to form under his fire-colored bangs intertwined with a few silver threads.
"Wh-what are you doing here? We all thought th—"
He cut her off,
"I found it about time for a visit." He stood up, stretching. Only now did Lutilivien notice a large sack on the ground. As long as I remember he always took that bag everywhere; and as long as I remember he always carried that scent of leather with him. She hesitated only for a split-second,
"You should have announced your coming, Imrahil would surely have prepared a welcoming feast."
Irean chuckled sadly,
"Night is a traveler's best friend, besides, I am not convinced that my brother would have been overwhelmed with joy once he heard of my arrival."
"What are you trying to tell me…" she suspended her voice.
"I am not trying to tell you anything, Lutilivien. You know very well that my brother and I do not take a great liking of each other."
"Aye, I do know, but I do NOT comprehend." she shrugged, irritated, "That is not of matter at the moment. Let it be for I do not wish to stand on either side!"
"You are right." he nodded, grabbed hold of his bag, and threw it over his shoulder, "I shall go to my old chamber, if I may, and refresh a bit."
"Of course." She looked after him as he departed into the shadows. Of all the things—"Irean! Wait! Do not go there now. Come in officially tomorrow at dawn."
He slowly turned around and stared at her for a long time.
"Very well then, but I need somewhere to stay for the night."
Lutilivien looked around as if in search of an inspiration, then, she pointed at the oak with pure triumph reflected in her face,
"I shall allow you to stay up in that tree. It is very tall and its leaves will shelter you from any unwanted passerbies."
"Comfortable room for a weary traveler…" A mutter came out of Irean's lips as he eyed the coarse surface of the trunk and the multiple intertwining branches."
"Do you not age twice slower than an ordinary man, are you not superior to him mentally and physically, do you not have a better understanding of the world?! Is not a part of you Elven?!" Lutilivien flipped her astonishing hair in irritation. Irean's sincere, deep laughter resembled the sound of bells.
"My dear lady, how about a bargain?" he turned to her, gray eyes twinkling with amusement. She ogled at him suspiciously. "Well, I shall remain here if you will stay with me a while and talk."
***
"On the tree?"
"On the tree." he was still laughing, "After you." He then bowed in a manner worthy of a prince, but Lutilivien only smirked at him pulling her cloak closer to her body.
"No, after you"
Now that never even crossed my mind, he smirked at the thought. Within five seconds, he was looking down at her from a high branch, but she took no longer herself. The place he chose was wide and comfortable, but suspended very high within the crown of the gigantic tree.
"What a beautiful view of the stars." A large patch of sky was right above their heads. Oh I forgot I have—At that moment he noticed that Lutilivien barely glanced at it, lost in some troublesome thoughts. He eyed her discretely, but said nothing.
"Perfect timing you have chosen for arrival." Lutilivien spoke up smiling.
He raised his eyebrows,
"How so?"
"Six full days until Imrahil's birthday and our anniversary."
Irean frowned but so that she did not notice.
"Which ones?"
"Seventieth and twentieth."
"I even forgot by how much he was younger than me…" Irean murmured to himself, but Lutilivien picked up on it.
"How much?"
"Oh, ten years." Irean's thoughts drifted away for a while. 'I cannot believe it has already been twenty years…How old were you?"
"One hundred and eighty."
"Hmm…young, very young."
"My birthday was just three weeks prior. I had to be mature by law." Irean sighed, but did not interrupt her. "I have never had seen Imrahil before…They told me I was 'chosen'. They told me it was 'great honor'. They put me in a confining dress, weighed my hair with jewels—"
"Aye…I remember the ceremony." And you, the most beautiful and sad woman I have ever seen.
"I was so frightened. A wild child who was about to become a wife. I remember it so well. I was trembling, I could not even speak." She suddenly turned her exotic, beautiful face to him.
"But why am I telling you all this?!"
"You trust me perhaps…"
"I do very much, Irean." a faint smile played on her lips. "I never said a word before. That night…" she stuttered, hesitated, then continued on, voice shaking slightly, "That night Imrahil took me as his. Gently, caressingly. I did not say anything, but I felt like an object passed on hastily from the hands of my guardians to the hands of a stranger, with whom, all of the sudden I was sharing my bed and my life." His eyes staring at the ground, Irean ran his fingers through his slightly disheveled hair. "Then, slowly, day by day, week by week, month by month – I learned to love him with all my heart." All of the sudden, something intruded her thoughts and she dropped her head slightly, sighing. Nothing ever escaped Irean's hawk-like attention.
"Yes?" he said.
"I still cannot forget a friend I had in y young years. We were inseparable, our souls often acted as one. Of course, when I was to be married, any man was regarded upon as a hazard; I was kept from seeing him. For a while, I heard of him, then, the boy with lavender eyes disappeared from my life."
Irean gasped quietly at the last words she uttered. 'The boy with lavender eyes'. That boy?