Well, I would like to thank those people who reviewed the first chapter! I am glad people are liking it…so I will write more! I have decided there will be a few little adventures, maybe even a big one later on in the story…If you like what I am doing enough, then I will go and write more about the childhood of the other companions. Caramon's and Raistlin's were mentioned in Soulforge, but it was not as in-depth as I would have liked it to be, so that may be an upcoming project for me. But enough of that for now, on to the story!
The hall of the speaker was a large, dome-shaped room that looked too big for the slender tower of the Sun to hold. There were windows designed to reflect sunlight, no matter what time of day it was and the ceiling was a large mosaic of coloured glass portraying a picture of the sun and stars.
Sitting at the throne at the front of the room was the Speaker. He was a splendid sight in his yellow robes, his blue eyes sharp and his face smooth. Porthios took after him when it came to the dark hair, but Lauralanthalasa had his big luminous eyes. Gilthanas, on the other hand, was an image of his mother, with blonde hair and brown eyes.
Standing side by side, the three children waited to see what the reason was for disrupting their play.
The Speaker cleared his throat.
"I would like to ask the three of you a favour," he said in his deep rumbling voice. He always went straight to the point with the children, so as not to confuse them with long lengthly speeches.
Tanthalas, Gilthanas and Lauralanthalasa exchanged a quick look between them and Tanthalas raised an eyebrow when Lauralanthalasa and Gilthanas furrowed their brows at him. Their looks were the way of saying that he had been elected as their representative for the day.
"Yes Speaker?" he asked tentatively.
"We are having visitors from Silvanesti and I would like to ask that the three of you be on your best behaviour…goodness knows what would happen if there is an occurrence like the last mishap…"
Tanthalas and Gilthanas gazed at eachother knowingly. The last time had been just the two of them and there had been, in fact, several mishaps.
"Of course Speaker," Tanthalas replied, looking suddenly serious. The Speaker stared at him hard and Tanthalas tried his very best to keep his gaze from faltering.
Then the Speaker chuckled. "I know that I can count on the three of you to …and Porthios! Why are you wet?"
Porthios was about to reply, but never got the chance to speak over the laughter from his three siblings.
"You can go now," The Speaker said with a wave of his hand, trying to keep a straight face.
"So, what did happen last time?" Lauralanthalasa asked as the three of them walked back out of the tower. She could not remember, probably because she had been babied up until only a few years ago.
"Well," Gilthanas began, "We made several door traps with molasses-,"
"And stuck things in the guest chambers!" Tanthalas interrupted.
Lauralanthalasa laughed as the two of them told her the specifics of one of the things they had done.
"You should have seen father," Gilthanas bragged.
"He looked ready to explode!" Tanthalas finished. All three of them giggled and entered their play area.
"So what shall we do?" Tanthalas asked. The three of them lay on the ground and began thinking up an activity.
After several suggestions, they came up with the best idea yet…
"A tree fort!" Gilthanas exclaimed.
"It will be great!" Tanthalas added eagerly.
The three of them began to gather branches and twigs from the surrounding area. They found brush and leaves as well.
When it came time to putting it in the tree however, there was a small problem.
"We're too short," Lauralanthalasa complained. There was a hint of a whine in her usually sweet voice.
"Well, we will just have to put it on the ground," Tanthalas said. He generally solved the difficulties they ran into.
So they piled branches against the best tree they could find, then proceeded to conceal the entrance and hide holes with leaves and brush.
When the last leaf had been tossed on top, they brushed off their hands and admired their handy-work.
It looked like a big pile of sticks and leaves, but it was actually a cleverly concealed fort. By entering the door hidden near the back, you could enter into the small covered area between the sturdy tree and the pile of branches.
They would have all gone in and stayed there for several hours, but the sun was setting and they had to go home for dinner and to meet the guests that would be there soon.
Arriving at the tower led to a complicated cleansing process so that they would look acceptable to the Silvanesti elves. The servants had the three of them ready fairly quickly.
The three of them were rather unhappy at being in fancy clothing and were even more surprised to see one another in the elaborate garb.
Dinner was to be held outside under the stars at the table outside in the garden behind the castle.
There were several elves from Silvanesti and they all looked serious, pale faced and (as Tanthalas would later describe it) cranky.
Conversation flowed for the first little while…The Speaker and the others talking about the prosperity of the kingdom and so forth.
Tanis and Gilthanas, bored with the conversation began making faces at Lauralanthalasa who was sitting across from them. She began to giggle, but quickly put her hand over her mouth so they wouldn't get into trouble.
Gilthanas picked up a spoon, put a grape on it and flung it at Tanthalas. It smacked Tanthalas in the side of the face. Tanthalas quick as a flash, flung water back.
Lauralanthalasa was sure she had cracked a rib from trying not too laugh at the trouble the other two were causing. They were still flinging things at eachother, now switching to larger pieces of fruit. The Speaker had not seemed to notice yet.
Eventually, Lauralanthalasa joined in, firing an occasional piece of fruit across the table.
Suddenly, things went bad. Gilthanas flung a piece of apple at Tanthalas. He missed and Tanthalas made a lunge for it. Gilthanas lunged after him and the two of them landed on the table, sending a platter of potatoes sailing through the air…
Only to land on top of one of the Silvanesti's elves heads.
There was silence for a moment as they all stared in horror at the elf with potatoes in his hair and on his face. A moment later, he stood up with an angry exclamation and marched off, his companions following close behind.
The Speaker was silent for a moment more, then he turned and faced Tanthalas and Gilthanas who were still sprawled across the top of the table. The worst part was, there was no anger in his eyes, just disappointment.
"I am very disappointed in the three of you," was all he said before walking away.
Well, did we like that? Uh-oh, in trouble again…when are they going to learn to behave better? Will they be punished? All these questions and more to be answered in the next chapter, so for now, please REVIEW!