Disclaimer: I'm watching Jay Leno, go away.
Chapter Four: Magic
It was Legolas. He looked triumphantly over his fallen foe and was about to laugh in her face when two feet connected with his ribs. Stumbling back, and clutching his stomach, Legolas tried to regroup in time, having had the wind knocked out of him, but Elorelei moved swiftly. He found himself on the ground, arms lifted to protect himself from her blows. As soon as he saw an opening, he lunged for her, hitting her backwards and they both toppled into the stream.
Iledian pranced back and forth in distress as the two elves fought, water flying everywhere. She turned on her tail and ran off towards the village. Too caught up to notice, Elorelei lunged at Legolas again, who side-stepped her, shoving her harder into the stony stream bottom. Before he could take off, she caught his ankles with her legs and he smacked into the water again.
"Stop that! STOP THAT!" shouted a far off voice. Legolas stood up but Elorelei shoved him down again. "STOP IT! STOP IT!" The voice was closer but the anger was still coursing through the veins of the fighters. Legolas wrapped his arm around her throat and briefly thought he'd win before her elbow slammed into his stomach. Another shove followed by a tackle. "YOU TWO STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" A strong arm wrenched them apart, both dripping wet with some part of their faces swollen and some part of their body bruised.
The elf was limber but his arms were amazingly powerful. He glared at Legolas then at Elorelei before his eyes widened. "A princess? A princess fighting like a commoner?"
She smiled. Elorelei had seen commoners fight and took that as a great compliment.
"Well... You two come with me... A princess, indeed... Are you from the North?" The elf asked, Elorelei almost blushed at the comparision. He held Legolas stiffly by his upper arm but Elorelei not so much.
They reached town in a short while and recieved as many stares as the elves had eyes. Two sopping wet royals, one a princess, glaring at each other with a tall elf with strong, veiny arms holding them apart and a white horse that had beads and flowers fairly dropping off it's mane and tail trotting along behind them all.
"Well, aren't we the travelling freak show?" mused Elorelei. She recieved blank stares all around. "Would it kill you people to learn a mortal word or two?"
*~*~*~*
Celidia peered out through her doorway. She heard shouting coming from the private room, one door over. Insanely curious, she leaned in closer and peeked into the door.
"I just caught them! Fighting like warlocks and witches in the stream out there!" said a strong-armed elf. He was looking at another elf, this one was on the plumper side and was staring down at the two. Elorelei's hair had stayed tied back but looked as if it would explode at any second. Legolas's smooth hair did quite the opposite and clung tightly to his face and neck.
"Fighting, Jayik?" The plump one said. Legolas tried to repress a laugh and failed utterly.
"Do you think my name is funny?" asked Jayik defensively, his arms and hands were more powerful than they looked, and they looked like they could crush a skull. Legolas stopped laughing at once. Elorelei successfully repressed her snort of satisfaction and waited for their punishment to be decided while, unknown to them all, Celidia looked on.
She only caught snatches of conversation after that.
"Whitecloud?"
"Yes... Lumaeus the Wise... granddaughter..."
"Prince.... West... both.... punish..."
Celidia waited for more but now the grown elves were wrapping up the issue. She crept back into her room.
"THAT'S our punishment?" Elorelei blinked. The plump elf and Jayik Suntinwe (called Jay by some, but I'm going to call him Jayik cuz I feel like it) had settled on a punishment. The two were not permitted to speak, look at, or talk to each other until they were on the carriage the next day. Legolas mumbled quietly that it was more of a reward than a punishment. Elorelei mumbled that she grudgingly agreed, followed by something very rude. Jayik grabbed Legolas by his arms again before he could get to Elorelei, who snickered and stood up. The plumper elf led her away, grumbling about over-excitable children.
That evening, a dinner was held in celebration of the three going to the renowned Castle. No one appeared to notice Elorelei trying in vain to murder her food and Celidia scooting as close to Legolas as her chair would go. Jayik had placed her in between the royals in hopes of preventing an argument. Celidia, however, was encouraging them to argue, making remarks on Elorelei's dress (since that seemed to be the only thing Celidia could insult about her) and then asking Legolas's opinion.
"It's such a drab dress after all. Blue is not fashionable for Princess's these days." She remarked carelessly, touching Legolas's arm and giggling (again...). He smiled at her. She kept on. "Also, what does it show of the talents one posesses? Surely not color sense. And her grandfather is called "the Wise"? Ridiculous."
Legolas did not smile at this. It was an dishonorable thing to insult royal blood in the presence of the heirs and relations. It was their duty to defend the family member but he didn't say so to Elorelei, who winced as Celidia said this about Lumaeus. Her face expressionless and as calm as an ocean, Elorelei poked at her food.
It had several holes in it before she spoke.
"I can do magic." she said abruptly.
Jayik, sitting on her right, turned to look at her. "Really?" Celidia tried to keep her conversation going with the Prince, but she was interested as well. "What kind of magic?" he asked again.
"Real magic," came the monotone answer. Elorelei heard a giggle to her left and jabbed her food once more, twisting it with the utensil and imagining Celidia's face there.
Jayik was incredibly curious. "Let's see some then." Everything stopped. The sound of silver chinking against the plates of the eaters filled the hall before all was silent. Most Elven magic was widely regarded as the "healing" magic, but even without knowing the bad temper of the Princess, they knew it would hardly have anything to do with healing.
Elorelei looked at her plate. "Bring me something. Something thick." She stated calmly. Jay snapped his fingers and a servant came in, bearing a large hunk of meat. "Try to cut it." She handed him a long knife and he began to saw through it with much difficulty.
Sighing, he pulled his hand away, the meat was just too thick. The room held it's breath. "Consecio." Came the low, hissing voice of Elorelei. The meat began slicing into pieces. It was as if someone has rushed in and attacked it with a super sharp machete. Everyone watched as the meat diced away into smaller and smaller pieces. With every slice the face of Elorelei grew more angry and terrible until it finally subsided into calm and confidence again. Celidia was quaking and white and it was all over and Legolas could do very little to keep from becoming the same way.
The display was not done yet. No one said a single word as Elorelei whispered more words and the meat seperated itself into small heaps. The platter of copper they were seated on floated up into the air. More words from Elorelei. "Inflamare." The meat cooked and sizzled before their eyes, suspended in air. With these actions, a peace seemed to come over Elorelei and she put out the fire and set the plate back down with relish in her eyes. A small smattering of claps came and soon the table had erupted into tumultuous applause.
"Take this, season it and serve it. I have done no harm to it... sort of." said Elorelei, happy to admit she felt a lot better. She turned to Celidia and gave her an unspoken warning.
"Insult my family, and I can do worse... I will do worse." said an invisible voice that echoed through Celidia's mind. It might as well have been said out loud, the look on Elorelei's face was read so plainly; anyone could see it. Even Legolas, thinking back on how she had fought on the stream. If he had known she could to that to him, he wouldn't have come within a mile of her. From then on, he may not have liked her, but Legolas held a certain respect for the Princess of East Valley.
"Well," Elorelei smiled after the table had quieted into pure silence. "Anyone else have an opinion on my family?" she asked cheerfully. Everyone launched into praises, Celidia's voice lost amongst the noise.
*~*~*~*
The three tired nobles awoke the next morning to a soft flute-sound playing on a breeze. Elorelei rolled over on her comfortable bed and slammed the pillow over her ears. The sun was not yet visible in the sky. Legolas stretched his arms wide before looking for a proper tunic. He had always been a morning elf and was happily exploring before the sun peeked over to have a look at the day. Celidia spent half of her morning brushing and combing her hair. She momentarily forgot about the dinner that previous evening but remebered immediately when she saw Elorelei in the hall way, playing a tune on her pipe.
Legolas came back late in the morning. The sun was beaming on the village and somewhere lively music weas playing. He was reminded strongly of his home and wished he were there now, running through the forests, alone and happy. Celidia was waiting by the carriage, frowning at something and muttering under her breath. He saw Jayik, waiting alonger their means of transportation, a smile on his lips.
"Are you quite done?" He asked jovially.
"Oh, one more song!" a clear voice rang and pipe struck up a tune, but it stopped as Jayik approached. Elorelei was playing on the same wood pipe she had made on the day when Legolas attacked her. Some village children were crowded around her and she was playing every song she knew and playing along with some others she didn't. The children looked sadly at her as she followed Jayik to the carriage and climbed in.
The strong elf took his place at the head of the small caravan of luggage carriages, fancy horses, and a the small carriages that held the soon-to-be students.
"Ah, so you are going, too, Jay?" said an older elf. He had a faded look about him and Elorelei wondered if that was Jayik's father.
"It is a perfect oppurtunity to find work. And besides, they need all the help they can get, especially with that one." Jayik smirked at the princess. The faded elf looked at Elorelei and she offered him a somewhat rare smile.
One of the children actually burst into sobs that Jayik was leaving, but quieted when Elorelei began playing a calming tune on her pipe. Legolas did not fail to notice Celidia rolling her eyes.
The children waved and sang goodbyes to Jayik and then skipped off into the heart of the village, the embodiment of youth and innocence, resembling a purity that they all felt they would never see the likes of again.