Disclaimer: I don't own LOTR, Dr. T does! Anyone read these things anyway?
I own everything else.
I STAND ALONE
The stay at Lothlorien was much better, to Naurglahad's preference, in comparison the Rivendell. There weren't any ivy laced stone statues of elves that no one really knew, or irritating moss covered fountains that kept trickling water even when it was supposed to be turned off, or a random choir of elves that constantly danced in and out between the dark trees and kept singing "Come back to the valley! Tra-la-la-la-la!" They were like cats to Naurglahad. Cats that sang too much and deserved to have a boot thrown at them. Unfortunately for both the Rivendell choir and Naurglahad, she didn't have any boots she wanted to sacrifice, so instead she hauled a wooden stool out the window. It silenced them momentarily. She would have rid her dorm of the fine mahogany table that was positioned neatly in the corner where the stool used to be if Glorfindel hadn't barged in telling her to cease.
In Lothlorien, the Elves didn't sing "Come back to the valley! Tra-la-la-la-la!" They sang about Nimrodel, Tinuviel, or Luithen; people that really did exist. And if she didn't want to hear them, she found wooden panels that she could slam shut on her window whenever she wanted. Of course, she slammed it shut so loud that the elves would stop midway through their melody and the visiting hobbits would jump or shriek.
Remembering her progress report, she burst out of her dorm and flopped under a mallorn tree by the River Nimrodel. Taking her brush and ink tray, (she couldn't stand the scratchy noises a quill made) and wrote a brief description of their escapade with the Giant Spider. She paused at the end of that unusually long paragraph, which was full of descriptions and exclamation points, and wondered what the likeliness of that rock falling directly on that Spider without injuring anyone else. Uncanny destruction.
She finished her report and sent it off with a white feathered swan this time. As she watched the last of its fluffy tail fade to a flapping silhouette in the orange and red light, she realized it was sunset.
"Crap I'm gonna' be late!" she squealed, racing back to her dormitory, "I won't be on time to dump the beverages on someone's head!"
As soon as she skidded through her doors, she was yanked into the dressing room and immediately attended to by hand-maidens. They hardly spoke a word to her as they flipped her into a warm bath, scrubbed her hastily until she was rid of every grain of dirt, threw her into another elf gown, and slammed her in front of a mirror where they checked to see if the hemming were right and brushed and dried her hair. They gave her a touch of make-up and slapped a silver necklace on her throat. Naurglahad gagged a bit as one of the maidens laced up something tightly on her back.
"Put on your shoes." ordered one of them, pointing to Naurglahad's original brown leather, knee-high lace up boots. They were almost sparkling with leather polish that the elves must have rubbed on. She sighed in relief. She wouldn't have to wear those silver heels that were near impossible to walk quickly with. As soon as she had tied the last strings, she was thrust out of her dorm. "Now hurry!" they hollered. Then they slammed the doors shut.
Naurglahad wobbled in her place for a few moments, dizzy from the attack she had just been ambushed with. The necklace seemed to be a choker. She wasn't fond of chokers, but she feared that the maidens might assault her again if she took it off. "Now where to again?" she thought, trying to remember where she was supposed to meet Elenwe and Legolas. "Oh yeah! The front of the dorms!"
She sped off in that direction, bypassing several hobbits dressed in their "Sunday Best", a dwarf wearing something shiny and a group of wing headed and mustached Gondorian men that were laughing heartily. They spun with a "woah!" as Naurglahad sprinted to the entrance of the guest dorms. "I always seem to be running every time I come to an elf city...I wonder why." she thought as she skidded to another halt in front of the two elves that were waiting on the side. Legolas in his green and silver robes, and Elenwe with navy blue. They stared at her even wider eyed than they did in Rivendell.
"I assume that the elf maidens helped you with that look?" inquired Legolas, eyeing her dress and silver choker.
"Helped? Helped?" she said, breaking out into a ranting position, "I wasn't helped! I was attacked!"
"Well the elf maidens should attack you more often then." said Elenwe, smiling at Naurglahad's outraged reaction. "Have you seen a mirror?" He pointed to an empty bird bath a few yards away from them.
Naurglahad grunted as she strode the distance and glanced in the still water. She glanced, but she looked again. She stared even closer. "Hey..." she spoke to herself, narrowing her eyes at her reflection, "I...I look good!" She touched the layer of cloudburst shaded eye shadow on her eyelids and ran a finger on the silver choker that lined her neck. Upon further inspection, she saw delicately decorated silver mallorn leaves engraved on it. Turning around, she saw that a v-cut portion of the back of her dress was bare, but it had two laces crossing back and forth over each other where they ended in a neat tie up by her neck and under her hair, which was once again, unusually shiny. The gown was white with wide rimmed sleeves and the cut on her neck was three-sided. But at least this time, she didn't have any Elanor flowers tucked behind her ear. When she had come out of her trance, she found Elenwe and Legolas standing beside her.
"Done admiring yourself yet?" said Legolas as he started to make his way along the lantern lit pathway to the courtyards. With one last glance, Naurglahad nodded and took Elenwe's offered arm and continued walking off to the banquet.
~*~
The music they played was much better in Lothlorien too. There weren't just plain lyres and harps, but dwarves and hobbits brought fiddles and drums and clarinets. There was a much larger variety of music, and you could dance to each one differently. There were of course, simple waltzes and things, but fiddles brought jigs and the band instruments made group melodies. Naurglahad danced with Elenwe a few times and of course didn't miss a single chance to watch a charming young elf lady shock herself at the sight of Legolas. She counted nine that giggled uncontrollably, four that stuttered, five that talked too much, six that turned away in spite of their shyness, and three had fainted.
At the food tables, she found a quarreling Meridoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, bantering over whether to take red elven wine or white elven wine. After she had given them proper greetings, she suggested that they have a good old brandy. They parted her with thanks, and soon began to argue whether to get them in pints or bottles. Admiring mallorn trees, Samwise Gamgee and a very weak and weary Master Frodo Baggins were found. Frodo was silent for most of the while as he watched the gold leaves upon the branches fall one by one. Sam said he was thinking deeply so best not be disturbed. Finding news of Aragorn and Arwen wasn't hard, as Gondorians were easily spotted among these types of crowds. Simply look for the men with wings on their heads.
Midway through the night, she went to the bar to scavenge for a nice flask of sake. Unfortunately, Middle Earth didn't stock the Japanese rice wine, so she had to settle for a glass of white elf wine. As she lingered at the table, she spotted three men clunking their wooden tankards together and drinking thirstily. They were laughing loudly a deeply. Obviously, they were drunk. She eyed them suspiciously as their disoriented antics frightened a few ladies and aggravated the dwarves.
The men, noticing that she was staring at them, parted their way through the dancing crowds and lingered about a yard away from her. As she tried to casually avoid them by walking away, one of them stepped up to her.
"Well we have a pretty little miss here, don't we?" he said loud enough for her and his fellows to hear. They nodded as they took another gulp of their liquor. Naurglahad was disgusted and her eyes narrowed. "Would you care to have some real elf wine?" He offered his own glass. Naurglahad nearly blanched, but she took a whiff of the stuff.
"Have you any idea what wine this is?" she asked, her eyes still narrowed. Then men looked at each other, slightly baffled, "This is wine imported from Mirkwood. One tankard of it is strong enough to knock out even an elf. I suggest that you be cautious with it."
"Ah!" he replied, not taking his eyes off Naurglahad, "So gorgeous here isn't just pretty." He paced around her, "She's smart and fiery!" He stopped behind her and murmured in her ear, "That's the way I like 'em!"
"Excuse me," said an only too familiar voice. Naurglahad recognized it of course, and whipped around to face Legolas with a look of rage. She felt that he underestimated her, after all he knew she was capable of. Legolas ignored her glare and continued speaking, "I believe you are distressing her to her annoyance. Could you please leave her alone?"
The man grunted. "And who are you to believe such a thing, elf?" His two companions drifted to his side, forcing Naurglahad in a triangle. "Are you two friends? Or, ho! Are you with her?"
"Clarify that, please." said Legolas, starting to get a little impatient.
"Do you love her?"
I STAND ALONE
The stay at Lothlorien was much better, to Naurglahad's preference, in comparison the Rivendell. There weren't any ivy laced stone statues of elves that no one really knew, or irritating moss covered fountains that kept trickling water even when it was supposed to be turned off, or a random choir of elves that constantly danced in and out between the dark trees and kept singing "Come back to the valley! Tra-la-la-la-la!" They were like cats to Naurglahad. Cats that sang too much and deserved to have a boot thrown at them. Unfortunately for both the Rivendell choir and Naurglahad, she didn't have any boots she wanted to sacrifice, so instead she hauled a wooden stool out the window. It silenced them momentarily. She would have rid her dorm of the fine mahogany table that was positioned neatly in the corner where the stool used to be if Glorfindel hadn't barged in telling her to cease.
In Lothlorien, the Elves didn't sing "Come back to the valley! Tra-la-la-la-la!" They sang about Nimrodel, Tinuviel, or Luithen; people that really did exist. And if she didn't want to hear them, she found wooden panels that she could slam shut on her window whenever she wanted. Of course, she slammed it shut so loud that the elves would stop midway through their melody and the visiting hobbits would jump or shriek.
Remembering her progress report, she burst out of her dorm and flopped under a mallorn tree by the River Nimrodel. Taking her brush and ink tray, (she couldn't stand the scratchy noises a quill made) and wrote a brief description of their escapade with the Giant Spider. She paused at the end of that unusually long paragraph, which was full of descriptions and exclamation points, and wondered what the likeliness of that rock falling directly on that Spider without injuring anyone else. Uncanny destruction.
She finished her report and sent it off with a white feathered swan this time. As she watched the last of its fluffy tail fade to a flapping silhouette in the orange and red light, she realized it was sunset.
"Crap I'm gonna' be late!" she squealed, racing back to her dormitory, "I won't be on time to dump the beverages on someone's head!"
As soon as she skidded through her doors, she was yanked into the dressing room and immediately attended to by hand-maidens. They hardly spoke a word to her as they flipped her into a warm bath, scrubbed her hastily until she was rid of every grain of dirt, threw her into another elf gown, and slammed her in front of a mirror where they checked to see if the hemming were right and brushed and dried her hair. They gave her a touch of make-up and slapped a silver necklace on her throat. Naurglahad gagged a bit as one of the maidens laced up something tightly on her back.
"Put on your shoes." ordered one of them, pointing to Naurglahad's original brown leather, knee-high lace up boots. They were almost sparkling with leather polish that the elves must have rubbed on. She sighed in relief. She wouldn't have to wear those silver heels that were near impossible to walk quickly with. As soon as she had tied the last strings, she was thrust out of her dorm. "Now hurry!" they hollered. Then they slammed the doors shut.
Naurglahad wobbled in her place for a few moments, dizzy from the attack she had just been ambushed with. The necklace seemed to be a choker. She wasn't fond of chokers, but she feared that the maidens might assault her again if she took it off. "Now where to again?" she thought, trying to remember where she was supposed to meet Elenwe and Legolas. "Oh yeah! The front of the dorms!"
She sped off in that direction, bypassing several hobbits dressed in their "Sunday Best", a dwarf wearing something shiny and a group of wing headed and mustached Gondorian men that were laughing heartily. They spun with a "woah!" as Naurglahad sprinted to the entrance of the guest dorms. "I always seem to be running every time I come to an elf city...I wonder why." she thought as she skidded to another halt in front of the two elves that were waiting on the side. Legolas in his green and silver robes, and Elenwe with navy blue. They stared at her even wider eyed than they did in Rivendell.
"I assume that the elf maidens helped you with that look?" inquired Legolas, eyeing her dress and silver choker.
"Helped? Helped?" she said, breaking out into a ranting position, "I wasn't helped! I was attacked!"
"Well the elf maidens should attack you more often then." said Elenwe, smiling at Naurglahad's outraged reaction. "Have you seen a mirror?" He pointed to an empty bird bath a few yards away from them.
Naurglahad grunted as she strode the distance and glanced in the still water. She glanced, but she looked again. She stared even closer. "Hey..." she spoke to herself, narrowing her eyes at her reflection, "I...I look good!" She touched the layer of cloudburst shaded eye shadow on her eyelids and ran a finger on the silver choker that lined her neck. Upon further inspection, she saw delicately decorated silver mallorn leaves engraved on it. Turning around, she saw that a v-cut portion of the back of her dress was bare, but it had two laces crossing back and forth over each other where they ended in a neat tie up by her neck and under her hair, which was once again, unusually shiny. The gown was white with wide rimmed sleeves and the cut on her neck was three-sided. But at least this time, she didn't have any Elanor flowers tucked behind her ear. When she had come out of her trance, she found Elenwe and Legolas standing beside her.
"Done admiring yourself yet?" said Legolas as he started to make his way along the lantern lit pathway to the courtyards. With one last glance, Naurglahad nodded and took Elenwe's offered arm and continued walking off to the banquet.
~*~
The music they played was much better in Lothlorien too. There weren't just plain lyres and harps, but dwarves and hobbits brought fiddles and drums and clarinets. There was a much larger variety of music, and you could dance to each one differently. There were of course, simple waltzes and things, but fiddles brought jigs and the band instruments made group melodies. Naurglahad danced with Elenwe a few times and of course didn't miss a single chance to watch a charming young elf lady shock herself at the sight of Legolas. She counted nine that giggled uncontrollably, four that stuttered, five that talked too much, six that turned away in spite of their shyness, and three had fainted.
At the food tables, she found a quarreling Meridoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, bantering over whether to take red elven wine or white elven wine. After she had given them proper greetings, she suggested that they have a good old brandy. They parted her with thanks, and soon began to argue whether to get them in pints or bottles. Admiring mallorn trees, Samwise Gamgee and a very weak and weary Master Frodo Baggins were found. Frodo was silent for most of the while as he watched the gold leaves upon the branches fall one by one. Sam said he was thinking deeply so best not be disturbed. Finding news of Aragorn and Arwen wasn't hard, as Gondorians were easily spotted among these types of crowds. Simply look for the men with wings on their heads.
Midway through the night, she went to the bar to scavenge for a nice flask of sake. Unfortunately, Middle Earth didn't stock the Japanese rice wine, so she had to settle for a glass of white elf wine. As she lingered at the table, she spotted three men clunking their wooden tankards together and drinking thirstily. They were laughing loudly a deeply. Obviously, they were drunk. She eyed them suspiciously as their disoriented antics frightened a few ladies and aggravated the dwarves.
The men, noticing that she was staring at them, parted their way through the dancing crowds and lingered about a yard away from her. As she tried to casually avoid them by walking away, one of them stepped up to her.
"Well we have a pretty little miss here, don't we?" he said loud enough for her and his fellows to hear. They nodded as they took another gulp of their liquor. Naurglahad was disgusted and her eyes narrowed. "Would you care to have some real elf wine?" He offered his own glass. Naurglahad nearly blanched, but she took a whiff of the stuff.
"Have you any idea what wine this is?" she asked, her eyes still narrowed. Then men looked at each other, slightly baffled, "This is wine imported from Mirkwood. One tankard of it is strong enough to knock out even an elf. I suggest that you be cautious with it."
"Ah!" he replied, not taking his eyes off Naurglahad, "So gorgeous here isn't just pretty." He paced around her, "She's smart and fiery!" He stopped behind her and murmured in her ear, "That's the way I like 'em!"
"Excuse me," said an only too familiar voice. Naurglahad recognized it of course, and whipped around to face Legolas with a look of rage. She felt that he underestimated her, after all he knew she was capable of. Legolas ignored her glare and continued speaking, "I believe you are distressing her to her annoyance. Could you please leave her alone?"
The man grunted. "And who are you to believe such a thing, elf?" His two companions drifted to his side, forcing Naurglahad in a triangle. "Are you two friends? Or, ho! Are you with her?"
"Clarify that, please." said Legolas, starting to get a little impatient.
"Do you love her?"