Note to the story: I took the freedom to follow a more realistic time-line
with this story. The distance between Khazad-dum and Lothlorien is simply
too great to take in a few hours and I am sure that they skipped these
parts normally in the movie for reasons of continuing with the story.
However, these extra days barely give me enough chance to build the story
inch by inch. And it occurred to me the other day, if we continue with this
pace, this will be a very long story indeed. A bit TOO long, probably.
Sigh...better to get on with it.
The next day was not better at all. The air of defeat and loss hung in the air like a sharp scent. She looked from one face to the other and could not decide who looked worse. Some showed it less than others, true, but having traveled with these men for so long now, she knew that even those who seemed to be better off were in immense pain and probably feeling very much guilty as well. It was common to blame yourself more and more over an incident like this as time passed. The mind would reel back to that instant, always finding other options that could have saved the day.
'This torment ends here,' she thought all of a sudden. 'We can not keep this up and hope to fulfill this quest!' The truth was, she was frightened that the most powerful men in Middle Earth, chosen for the most challenging quest, looked so weak and lost. 'If they feel that way.....than what the hell am I supposed to feel?' she thought bitterly, 'I am a woman, damn it! They are supposed to be the stronger gender! Isn't that what they have been bragging about for ages?' Her inner voice, of course, never missed the chance: 'Oh now Irulan is a woman? Will wonders never cease?!'
Irulan ignored it completely. She took a look around. They would reach Lothlorien today towards the afternoon. That was still a long time ahead and it was about time that the mood changed.
"Did you know that once Gandalf and I traveled for a whole week together when I was 9?" she said suddenly.
The silence at that moment had been so deep, she almost winced hearing her own voice searing it. Everyone looked around, more to the sound of her voice than to what she said. She looked at the tired frowns on their faces. "I tried to convince him to adopt me......or something like that, throughout that whole week. If not that, at least to accept me as an apprentice," she added dreamily.
Aragorn grinned and Boromir laughed softly. She felt as if the clouds had parted and the sun had shone on her face when she saw their mild joy.
"And?" asked Pippin, too glad to finally be able to talk out loud after such a long silence.
"Do I look like an apprentice wizard to you?"
"No, I meant the adopting part."
Everyone stared at him silently for a long time and he began to squirm under their inspections, until Merry hit him on the head. And suddenly they were laughing. First it was a nervous laughter, but soon became sincere and sounded more like relief than anything else.
"I remember him and Bilbo -my uncle- causing all kinds of trouble in the Shire," said Frodo, still laughing softly.
"Yes indeed," added Sam with enthusiasm, "many folk grew quite wary of him after that."
"I met your uncle in Rivendell," said Irulan, "he seemed to be a very interesting person."
"Oh he is!" said Frodo. "But he is far more than that for a hobbit. Now that I think about it.....he is very much like Gandalf. He did quite a bit traveling himself. You see.....hobbits don't leave the Shire too willingly."
"So I heard. Unfortunately I have never been to the Shire. But Gandalf used to muse about it. He loved it there," she said and another short, sad silence set in when his name was mentioned.
"I met him in the woods close to Rivendell when I was much younger," Aragorn said suddenly. He seemed to be lost in the memory. "I was so naive.....and he was so different from what I thought an Istari would look like......."
"Yes......Mithrandir always preferred the company of others -humans, elves and dwarves alike- more than any other Istari as far as I know," sad Legolas softly.
"He was a good man," mumbled Gimli. Irulan knew only too well that he had been constantly blaming himself over his death, for he had been the one who insisted on going through Moria.
"Not always, I assure you," she said, mocking displeasure. "That staff HURT, I tell you!"
They looked at her with pure surprise. Irulan grinned back, nodding. "And he had this nasty habit of pulling ears. Damn, that hurt too!" she said.
"Oh yes!" chirped Pippin in excitement. "That truly DID hurt."
Legolas was laughing softly now, along with Aragorn and Boromir. Gimli too chuckled ever so slightly. Sam and Frodo were exchanging amused looks, shaking their heads.
"Tell me about it!" she said, "Not to mention the PUNISHMENTS!" She threw up her hands in despair. "The dark clouds of my childhood!"
"Did he make you wash thousands of dishes, too?" asked Merry.
"I wish!" said Irulan. "He had more devious ideas when it came to me, I think."
"And what did the innocent little princess do to deserve those punishments?" said Aragorn with obvious amusement.
"Well.......so alright, maybe I deserved some of those......Like the time I wrote a love letter to my master Chemarit pretending it came from him and convinced him that Gandalf was in love with him."
They all gasped and turned around to look at her. "You did WHAT?" said Boromir and this time Gimli was howling with laughter.
"Well.....I had written a love letter from him to every woman I knew in the kingdom....and then.....naturally there were only the men left." Legolas looked like he could stumble and fall any moment, unable to walk while laughing so hard; and even Aragorn was beyond himself. Frodo and Sam were baffled and looked from her to each other, then back to her again. Merry and Pippin were wiping tears from their eyes.
"So what happened?" said Pippin, finally finding the voice to speak.
"I can only tell you this.....you'll never believe how monstrous, fast and cruel old men can become in an INSTANT! I could not sit for a whole week!"
So they kept on talking about Gandalf, about the good times, sometimes about grave and sad times. They talked about home and their families, what normal life for them had been like before this quest. They talked about all the places some of them had been to and the things they had seen. A gasp ran through the group when Legolas revealed his age and a silent admiration followed when he told them about the misty and damp mornings in the mountains of Emyn Duil in Mirkwood. Gimli told them how Khazad-dûm really looked like when dwarves where still living there and all were more or less mesmerized by the images that floated in their heads. Boromir and Irulan talked about the battles they had with orcs. Aragorn obviously had been almost everywhere and although not an eager talker, he still shared some of the oddities he had seen in Middle Earth. The hobbits talked about the Shire and everyone seemed to be more interested in that than anything else, for none of the others had been to the Shire before.
The memories slowly engulfed them, becoming some odd common history and binding them to each other. Irulan knew the power of such sharing. It was her experience that sharing was the strongest bond between people. Once you truly opened your heart and allowed someone else to take a look at it, it became a moment of no return - something that bound both sides and made them remember that moment forever. She did not have many such moments in her life - much less in the past five years. It felt more than good. For the first time since they had met, she felt like they were a part of her and she a part of them. For the first time, she felt that they were a Fellowship indeed - and that no matter what happened from now on, they would stay so, each taking this experience to their graves sooner or later.
***
Finally they reached the woods of Lothlorien as a group of strangers no more. They glimpsed the golden woods from a hill first and Irulan was amazed by the thick array of trees, all in beautiful colors of gold, brown, red, yellow and pale green. She even thought that she could see the famous golden mallorn trees further in the distance. The realm of Lorien elves - of the infamous Lady Galadhriel! She had longed to come here for many years now, but her training and the following years in Gondor had made it rather hard to ride past these woods. She came close only once, but met no elves. Maybe they had seen her and realizing that she was no orc, let her pass at a safe distance.
Before long they were walking among the first trees - the light was much softer here and there was an odd stagnancy in the air. She had felt the same tinge in Rivendell - as if time had stopped or slowed and there was a sort of "deepness" to the place. It was obviously the typical aura of the places elves resided in.
Gimli was quite nervous about the whole trip into Lothlorien. Actually he seemed to be much more comfortable around orcs rather than elves. The enmity and the cold war between the two races were very well known in Middle Earth and neither Gimli nor Legolas seemed to be untainted by it. He kept telling scary stories about the so-called "Elf Witch" of terrible power living here. The hobbits looked quite affected by his tales and Irulan was about to tell him to save his horrible stories for some other time, when she felt the tip of an arrow on her throat.
Her eyes widened slightly and she quickly risked a glance around to see that the rest of the company was not in a different situation. 'I had almost forgotten about the sinister ways of the elves,' she thought bitterly, her annoyance more due to being caught so swiftly and so unknowingly than anything else. She thought about shifting for a second. She looked up at Aragorn who was looking at her, as if he had sensed her line of thought. Irulan raised her eyebrows, but Aragorn faintly shook his head.
Just at that moment a soft voice spoke up: "The dwarf was making so much noise, we could have shot him in the dark," it said and Irulan slightly turned her head to see another elf -this one without bow or arrow- join the company. He had long, straight blonde hair as did the others, but was clad a bit more glamorously. Irulan guessed him to be some sort of captain or leader. His delicate elven features revealed neither warmness, nor hostility.
Irulan winced at his remark but could not keep herself from smiling slightly. "Well...you deserved that one, my friend Gimli," she thought with amusement. The elf looked from one to the other and lingered on her a moment longer. Being in the same company for some time now and having discarded her disguise, she had forgotten what the effect of her appearance had to strangers. The elf's delicate eyebrows arched, taking in the garbs and weapon of this mortal woman. But other than that, he gave no indication of surprise.
Aragorn began to speak to him softly in elvish and he listened intently. Until once again Gimli broke in: "Aragorn! These woods are perilous! We should go back!" The captain of the elves, however, already had something else in mind. "You have entered the realm of the Lady of the Woods. You can not go back." And casting a glance at Frodo, he added "Come, she is expecting you."
Irulan sighed with relief when the arrows disappeared and the company, although a bit uneasy, continued with their journey ever deeper into the woods. Aragorn and Legolas had taken the front lead and being too curious about the whole matter (especially since it concerned elves) she gained on them and began walking closer to the lead as well. Legolas looked down at her as if he meant to grab her and pull her closer to himself for protection. She shot back a 'don't-you-dare!' look and resumed her walk.
"You look odd for a mortal woman," she heard the captain elf say. He was walking a few steps ahead, but cast a glance at her over his shoulder now.
"Odd in a good way, or in a bad way?" asked Irulan with another smile. What could she do...she could not help being enchanted around these creatures.
He gave her another unreadable look. "I was not expecting a mortal woman," he added after a moment.
'So he knew about the rest? But how? Could Elrond have sent emissaries? But surely they could not have reached these woods before us..unless they have another way of communicating with each other?' she thought with mild surprise.
"What can I say? They always leave me out," she said playfully. "My name is Irulan," she said a moment later and made no attempt to reveal her father's name - just in case. "Would it be disrespectful to ask yours, master elf? For I fear we have not been introduced properly," she said with as much softness to her voice as she could, and at the same time threw a bleak glance at Aragorn and Legolas. She felt Legolas stiffen beside her. 'I hope that was not a breech in protocol!' she thought a bit nervous.
He turned to look at her again. "I am Haldir, captain guard of the Lothlorien elves," he said a moment later.
Irulan smiled softly "A mighty title, Master Haldir." His eyebrows knitted ever so slightly, but he did not express any other feeling and once again turned his back to the company, continuing the journey.
Elves! She simply was besotted with elves. Not always of course..and true enough, there had been times when she had believed quite the contrary on this quest. But..ah what the heck..they were a beautiful sight, after all.
The truth was, she hated the fact that the elves were leaving Middle Earth for good. She had often tried to imagine this world without them, and even though elves were not an every-day sight for her or most of the other mortals, she shared the mutual relief most humans felt from their presence here. But more than that, she could not imagine an entire race disappearing forever. Once again she wished that this would only happen after her lifetime. Elves would become fables and myth! There would be day when they would be completely forgotten. She hastily looked at the elven company around them. As real as they were now, one day they would become fictional characters in stories.
She knew only too well about the short memory of humans. Even though the number of elves in Middle Earth was still promising, she had met many humans here and there who vigorously denied the existence of elves. The short-sightedness and arrogance of these people had made her furious - though she knew that their jealousy was partly reason for this rather hostile attitude. 'Everything that is interesting and magical in this world is leaving us,' she thought with a deep sadness enveloping her. 'Everything that makes this world a place worthy to live in, everything that stirs the soul is disappearing. What shall this world be like without the many races and cultures that we have now? What shall it be without the mighty forests and the dark mountains? Without the dragons and elves, the dwarves and hobbits?' She thought about a deserted Mirkwood forest - the very forest that she had looked upon countless times from her window. The silence that would prevail there after the departure of the last elves would be unbearable.
She dared another step that brought her closer to Haldir. He did not turn but Irulan had no doubt that he was aware of her actions. 'We must be very much like oxen to them,' she thought with amusement.
"Captain Haldir," she tried again, "I have never been in your infamous woods. Nor have I ever been honored with an acquaintance of any of your people. There is much I would wish to ask about your ways, but I fear that you would find me disturbing for doing so," she said, adding a slight tinge of a question to her voice and waited for a reply.
Haldir said nothing for a while, but when he spoke a few moments later, his voice seemed to be warmer indeed. "A mortal woman who wishes to learn more about elves...these are strange times indeed. Pray ask Lady Irulan. Being the object of such curiosity is most pleasant for us."
Irulan glanced back and saw the rest of the company staring back at her with a mixture of many feelings that she did not want to waste time on deciphering. She quickly strode ahead and resumed her walk next to Haldir, who now ever so slightly turned his head and looked at her with a milder expression. The poor elf had no idea how curious a mortal woman could be and how many questions she could come up with. But he would find out soon enough!
The next day was not better at all. The air of defeat and loss hung in the air like a sharp scent. She looked from one face to the other and could not decide who looked worse. Some showed it less than others, true, but having traveled with these men for so long now, she knew that even those who seemed to be better off were in immense pain and probably feeling very much guilty as well. It was common to blame yourself more and more over an incident like this as time passed. The mind would reel back to that instant, always finding other options that could have saved the day.
'This torment ends here,' she thought all of a sudden. 'We can not keep this up and hope to fulfill this quest!' The truth was, she was frightened that the most powerful men in Middle Earth, chosen for the most challenging quest, looked so weak and lost. 'If they feel that way.....than what the hell am I supposed to feel?' she thought bitterly, 'I am a woman, damn it! They are supposed to be the stronger gender! Isn't that what they have been bragging about for ages?' Her inner voice, of course, never missed the chance: 'Oh now Irulan is a woman? Will wonders never cease?!'
Irulan ignored it completely. She took a look around. They would reach Lothlorien today towards the afternoon. That was still a long time ahead and it was about time that the mood changed.
"Did you know that once Gandalf and I traveled for a whole week together when I was 9?" she said suddenly.
The silence at that moment had been so deep, she almost winced hearing her own voice searing it. Everyone looked around, more to the sound of her voice than to what she said. She looked at the tired frowns on their faces. "I tried to convince him to adopt me......or something like that, throughout that whole week. If not that, at least to accept me as an apprentice," she added dreamily.
Aragorn grinned and Boromir laughed softly. She felt as if the clouds had parted and the sun had shone on her face when she saw their mild joy.
"And?" asked Pippin, too glad to finally be able to talk out loud after such a long silence.
"Do I look like an apprentice wizard to you?"
"No, I meant the adopting part."
Everyone stared at him silently for a long time and he began to squirm under their inspections, until Merry hit him on the head. And suddenly they were laughing. First it was a nervous laughter, but soon became sincere and sounded more like relief than anything else.
"I remember him and Bilbo -my uncle- causing all kinds of trouble in the Shire," said Frodo, still laughing softly.
"Yes indeed," added Sam with enthusiasm, "many folk grew quite wary of him after that."
"I met your uncle in Rivendell," said Irulan, "he seemed to be a very interesting person."
"Oh he is!" said Frodo. "But he is far more than that for a hobbit. Now that I think about it.....he is very much like Gandalf. He did quite a bit traveling himself. You see.....hobbits don't leave the Shire too willingly."
"So I heard. Unfortunately I have never been to the Shire. But Gandalf used to muse about it. He loved it there," she said and another short, sad silence set in when his name was mentioned.
"I met him in the woods close to Rivendell when I was much younger," Aragorn said suddenly. He seemed to be lost in the memory. "I was so naive.....and he was so different from what I thought an Istari would look like......."
"Yes......Mithrandir always preferred the company of others -humans, elves and dwarves alike- more than any other Istari as far as I know," sad Legolas softly.
"He was a good man," mumbled Gimli. Irulan knew only too well that he had been constantly blaming himself over his death, for he had been the one who insisted on going through Moria.
"Not always, I assure you," she said, mocking displeasure. "That staff HURT, I tell you!"
They looked at her with pure surprise. Irulan grinned back, nodding. "And he had this nasty habit of pulling ears. Damn, that hurt too!" she said.
"Oh yes!" chirped Pippin in excitement. "That truly DID hurt."
Legolas was laughing softly now, along with Aragorn and Boromir. Gimli too chuckled ever so slightly. Sam and Frodo were exchanging amused looks, shaking their heads.
"Tell me about it!" she said, "Not to mention the PUNISHMENTS!" She threw up her hands in despair. "The dark clouds of my childhood!"
"Did he make you wash thousands of dishes, too?" asked Merry.
"I wish!" said Irulan. "He had more devious ideas when it came to me, I think."
"And what did the innocent little princess do to deserve those punishments?" said Aragorn with obvious amusement.
"Well.......so alright, maybe I deserved some of those......Like the time I wrote a love letter to my master Chemarit pretending it came from him and convinced him that Gandalf was in love with him."
They all gasped and turned around to look at her. "You did WHAT?" said Boromir and this time Gimli was howling with laughter.
"Well.....I had written a love letter from him to every woman I knew in the kingdom....and then.....naturally there were only the men left." Legolas looked like he could stumble and fall any moment, unable to walk while laughing so hard; and even Aragorn was beyond himself. Frodo and Sam were baffled and looked from her to each other, then back to her again. Merry and Pippin were wiping tears from their eyes.
"So what happened?" said Pippin, finally finding the voice to speak.
"I can only tell you this.....you'll never believe how monstrous, fast and cruel old men can become in an INSTANT! I could not sit for a whole week!"
So they kept on talking about Gandalf, about the good times, sometimes about grave and sad times. They talked about home and their families, what normal life for them had been like before this quest. They talked about all the places some of them had been to and the things they had seen. A gasp ran through the group when Legolas revealed his age and a silent admiration followed when he told them about the misty and damp mornings in the mountains of Emyn Duil in Mirkwood. Gimli told them how Khazad-dûm really looked like when dwarves where still living there and all were more or less mesmerized by the images that floated in their heads. Boromir and Irulan talked about the battles they had with orcs. Aragorn obviously had been almost everywhere and although not an eager talker, he still shared some of the oddities he had seen in Middle Earth. The hobbits talked about the Shire and everyone seemed to be more interested in that than anything else, for none of the others had been to the Shire before.
The memories slowly engulfed them, becoming some odd common history and binding them to each other. Irulan knew the power of such sharing. It was her experience that sharing was the strongest bond between people. Once you truly opened your heart and allowed someone else to take a look at it, it became a moment of no return - something that bound both sides and made them remember that moment forever. She did not have many such moments in her life - much less in the past five years. It felt more than good. For the first time since they had met, she felt like they were a part of her and she a part of them. For the first time, she felt that they were a Fellowship indeed - and that no matter what happened from now on, they would stay so, each taking this experience to their graves sooner or later.
***
Finally they reached the woods of Lothlorien as a group of strangers no more. They glimpsed the golden woods from a hill first and Irulan was amazed by the thick array of trees, all in beautiful colors of gold, brown, red, yellow and pale green. She even thought that she could see the famous golden mallorn trees further in the distance. The realm of Lorien elves - of the infamous Lady Galadhriel! She had longed to come here for many years now, but her training and the following years in Gondor had made it rather hard to ride past these woods. She came close only once, but met no elves. Maybe they had seen her and realizing that she was no orc, let her pass at a safe distance.
Before long they were walking among the first trees - the light was much softer here and there was an odd stagnancy in the air. She had felt the same tinge in Rivendell - as if time had stopped or slowed and there was a sort of "deepness" to the place. It was obviously the typical aura of the places elves resided in.
Gimli was quite nervous about the whole trip into Lothlorien. Actually he seemed to be much more comfortable around orcs rather than elves. The enmity and the cold war between the two races were very well known in Middle Earth and neither Gimli nor Legolas seemed to be untainted by it. He kept telling scary stories about the so-called "Elf Witch" of terrible power living here. The hobbits looked quite affected by his tales and Irulan was about to tell him to save his horrible stories for some other time, when she felt the tip of an arrow on her throat.
Her eyes widened slightly and she quickly risked a glance around to see that the rest of the company was not in a different situation. 'I had almost forgotten about the sinister ways of the elves,' she thought bitterly, her annoyance more due to being caught so swiftly and so unknowingly than anything else. She thought about shifting for a second. She looked up at Aragorn who was looking at her, as if he had sensed her line of thought. Irulan raised her eyebrows, but Aragorn faintly shook his head.
Just at that moment a soft voice spoke up: "The dwarf was making so much noise, we could have shot him in the dark," it said and Irulan slightly turned her head to see another elf -this one without bow or arrow- join the company. He had long, straight blonde hair as did the others, but was clad a bit more glamorously. Irulan guessed him to be some sort of captain or leader. His delicate elven features revealed neither warmness, nor hostility.
Irulan winced at his remark but could not keep herself from smiling slightly. "Well...you deserved that one, my friend Gimli," she thought with amusement. The elf looked from one to the other and lingered on her a moment longer. Being in the same company for some time now and having discarded her disguise, she had forgotten what the effect of her appearance had to strangers. The elf's delicate eyebrows arched, taking in the garbs and weapon of this mortal woman. But other than that, he gave no indication of surprise.
Aragorn began to speak to him softly in elvish and he listened intently. Until once again Gimli broke in: "Aragorn! These woods are perilous! We should go back!" The captain of the elves, however, already had something else in mind. "You have entered the realm of the Lady of the Woods. You can not go back." And casting a glance at Frodo, he added "Come, she is expecting you."
Irulan sighed with relief when the arrows disappeared and the company, although a bit uneasy, continued with their journey ever deeper into the woods. Aragorn and Legolas had taken the front lead and being too curious about the whole matter (especially since it concerned elves) she gained on them and began walking closer to the lead as well. Legolas looked down at her as if he meant to grab her and pull her closer to himself for protection. She shot back a 'don't-you-dare!' look and resumed her walk.
"You look odd for a mortal woman," she heard the captain elf say. He was walking a few steps ahead, but cast a glance at her over his shoulder now.
"Odd in a good way, or in a bad way?" asked Irulan with another smile. What could she do...she could not help being enchanted around these creatures.
He gave her another unreadable look. "I was not expecting a mortal woman," he added after a moment.
'So he knew about the rest? But how? Could Elrond have sent emissaries? But surely they could not have reached these woods before us..unless they have another way of communicating with each other?' she thought with mild surprise.
"What can I say? They always leave me out," she said playfully. "My name is Irulan," she said a moment later and made no attempt to reveal her father's name - just in case. "Would it be disrespectful to ask yours, master elf? For I fear we have not been introduced properly," she said with as much softness to her voice as she could, and at the same time threw a bleak glance at Aragorn and Legolas. She felt Legolas stiffen beside her. 'I hope that was not a breech in protocol!' she thought a bit nervous.
He turned to look at her again. "I am Haldir, captain guard of the Lothlorien elves," he said a moment later.
Irulan smiled softly "A mighty title, Master Haldir." His eyebrows knitted ever so slightly, but he did not express any other feeling and once again turned his back to the company, continuing the journey.
Elves! She simply was besotted with elves. Not always of course..and true enough, there had been times when she had believed quite the contrary on this quest. But..ah what the heck..they were a beautiful sight, after all.
The truth was, she hated the fact that the elves were leaving Middle Earth for good. She had often tried to imagine this world without them, and even though elves were not an every-day sight for her or most of the other mortals, she shared the mutual relief most humans felt from their presence here. But more than that, she could not imagine an entire race disappearing forever. Once again she wished that this would only happen after her lifetime. Elves would become fables and myth! There would be day when they would be completely forgotten. She hastily looked at the elven company around them. As real as they were now, one day they would become fictional characters in stories.
She knew only too well about the short memory of humans. Even though the number of elves in Middle Earth was still promising, she had met many humans here and there who vigorously denied the existence of elves. The short-sightedness and arrogance of these people had made her furious - though she knew that their jealousy was partly reason for this rather hostile attitude. 'Everything that is interesting and magical in this world is leaving us,' she thought with a deep sadness enveloping her. 'Everything that makes this world a place worthy to live in, everything that stirs the soul is disappearing. What shall this world be like without the many races and cultures that we have now? What shall it be without the mighty forests and the dark mountains? Without the dragons and elves, the dwarves and hobbits?' She thought about a deserted Mirkwood forest - the very forest that she had looked upon countless times from her window. The silence that would prevail there after the departure of the last elves would be unbearable.
She dared another step that brought her closer to Haldir. He did not turn but Irulan had no doubt that he was aware of her actions. 'We must be very much like oxen to them,' she thought with amusement.
"Captain Haldir," she tried again, "I have never been in your infamous woods. Nor have I ever been honored with an acquaintance of any of your people. There is much I would wish to ask about your ways, but I fear that you would find me disturbing for doing so," she said, adding a slight tinge of a question to her voice and waited for a reply.
Haldir said nothing for a while, but when he spoke a few moments later, his voice seemed to be warmer indeed. "A mortal woman who wishes to learn more about elves...these are strange times indeed. Pray ask Lady Irulan. Being the object of such curiosity is most pleasant for us."
Irulan glanced back and saw the rest of the company staring back at her with a mixture of many feelings that she did not want to waste time on deciphering. She quickly strode ahead and resumed her walk next to Haldir, who now ever so slightly turned his head and looked at her with a milder expression. The poor elf had no idea how curious a mortal woman could be and how many questions she could come up with. But he would find out soon enough!