Chapter One:
Celeborn glanced from his wife to the tiny, pink-faced thing, wailing, in the cradle.
It stretched up its tiny arms to him.
Celeborn suddenly felt uncomfortable, as Galadriel lifted the child gently out of the tiny cradle and placed it in his arms, saying all the while that the baby loved him, and as if to confirm her words the infant ceased its sobs.
He sat on the bed. O Elbereth, how could this have happened? He never meant for Galadriel to bear any child of his. He knew he would be such a terrible father... adult elves disliked him, why should a child love him?
Galadriel's look of pure love for her little daughter made Celeborn felt guilty. Galadriel had lived for so many thousands of years, many of those years spent alone, and childless. The First Age had been filled with such hate, distrust, and malice. He also knew she had expressed her want for a child for some time, and remembered steadfastly refusing, each and every time. But this time... the clever, impish woman... she had played on his emotions, asking not for a child but for one simple night of lovemaking. It was probably the influence many years before of that impudent mortal woman Elwing.
Well, in any case, her happiness was worth future torment of raising a child he had never truly wanted. He could learn to love his daughter.
"What shall we name her?" Galadriel asked, taking the child's warm, wriggling body from his arms into her own. Tiny fists batted the air. "I think Celebrian would be perfect."
"Whatever you want." he found himself saying. He didn't mean for it to sound so apathetic, so devoid of emotion, but his wife and child seemed to be unaware. Standing, he added, "Shall I see if Eriol can come to take measurements?" Lovely and fair as the child was, her parents could not allow her to go around naked.
"Of course, love. How thoughtful of you." She was trying to help ease his irritability, at having to be around something he feared and dreaded.
He was glad to have an excuse to leave.
Lothlorien had always been filled with an air of apathy similar to Celeborn's. Noldor elves waited for their chance to go to the Grey Havens with more enthusiasm than they gave anything else, even orc hunting. A happy, youthful, active child added a more relaxed air to these tense elves, and sometimes even her presence alone could distill a brewing argument as both parties would reach down to pet her and encourage her along in her playtime.
"Mama! Papa! Watch me!" Celebrian would cry, leaping over a fallen tree or jump over a babbling brook with all the dexterity of an elf. The rare times she tripped and fell, she just picked herself up and continued as if nothing had happened.
Celeborn was beginning to warm up to his daughter, realizing that he too enjoyed her presence. She was completely unlike the image he had pictured of any child he would ever have -- an image of a hateful, sullen child, who saw him the way he saw himself. He was grateful that her mother was Galadriel.
At that moment Celeborn and Galadriel sat on a blanket, watching their daughter shoot arrows at a target circle many yards away. For a five-year-old Noldor, she never missed her target, not even when the captain of the Lorien guards offered to pick up the target and move it around as she shot it.
"She's good with the bow." Galadriel remarked to her husband. "If she gets any better Calaglin will beg for her to join the guard!"
"She couldn't." Celeborn said firmly, almost immediately. "It's too dangerous for a child."
"She wouldn't enlist now, of course!" Galadriel smiled. "When she is an adult she will most certainly be one of the best fighting elves Lothlorien has ever seen."
As Celebrian grew, so did her skills. She was an excellent horse rider, she could shoot a bow perfectly from two hundred yards away, and bested all of Calaglin's guardsmen with the sword. Celeborn had found himself more involved with her training than he'd thought, as he gave her archery tips and offered to be her opponent in swordplay. Having led elves to battle more than once, he still considered himself a warrior, although his own equipment had not seen use in at least a hundred years.
And not only was she strong, but beautiful. Many Lorien elves boasted of being defeated in battle by the stunning warrior princess.
Yet, for all the attention she gained from her skills and beauty, she had never once expressed interest in anything but her activities, and her studies.
One afternoon, Galadriel could not help but notice her daughter's apathy, as Celebrian draped herself over the rail, looking sadly into the forest.
"What troubles you, my child?" she asked.
"Mother, what is beyond the forest?" Celebrian asked, moving, so that Galadriel could see the thick book on the seat next to her. It was one Celeborn had found in the library for her, full of tales of the First Age and the War of the Ring her father had recently taken part in. Among her mathematics and Elven study books, this one was clearly her favorite -- whenever she was not practicing her fighting, she was reading it, over and over again.
"There is the Misty Mountains, and beyond that Imladris." The Queen of Lothlorien seated herself carefully beside her daughter, and looked into her eyes. There was a pause before Galadriel added, in a voice barely audible, "You desire to leave Lothlorien."
"I--" Celebrian knew well her mother's talent for telepathy, but was not expecting this. "I have seen only trees, Mother. Only this forest. It is beautiful only because you tell me it is. I have seen nothing else to compare it with, and these stories make me wish I were indeed somewhere else." She sighed, and asked, "Mother, the trip you and Father are taking, to Imladris, to see Lord Elrond... may I not also go?"
"Your father will refuse."
"I will ask him." Celebrian rose and left to seek Celeborn.
"Absolutely not. It's too dangerous. It takes days to cross the Misty Mountains!" Celeborn told his daughter, as she begged to be taken along.
"You and Mother have done it, many times! I am an elf, not a mortal, and I do not freeze easily! If we encountered trouble I could fight them off!" Celebrian argued.
"Celeborn, let her go." Galadriel spoke softly. "She expresses a desire to see the outside world. You cannot lock her up here forever. Beautiful as Lorien is, it is her prison."
Celeborn could not look at either elf for some time, before he replied, "What would you do for a week, Celebrian? You have never loved council meetings before." Celebrian gave him a wry face, before replying, "Of course not! Thranduil is the only non-Lorien elf I have ever met, besides King Gil-galad, and neither was very interesting."
"What makes you think Elrond is that interesting?"
"Because he isn't Thranduil!"
"Elrond knows quite a bit that even I do not." Galadriel added. "He is half-elven, and has been collecting information on the histories of both elves and men for thousands of years."
"See?"
Celeborn was beaten. "All right, all right." he sighed. "If it means this much to you. And when we return please do not complain that we never take you anywhere." He gave her a wry smile at this little joke before leaving to pack. Galadriel and Celebrian did the same.
Celeborn glanced from his wife to the tiny, pink-faced thing, wailing, in the cradle.
It stretched up its tiny arms to him.
Celeborn suddenly felt uncomfortable, as Galadriel lifted the child gently out of the tiny cradle and placed it in his arms, saying all the while that the baby loved him, and as if to confirm her words the infant ceased its sobs.
He sat on the bed. O Elbereth, how could this have happened? He never meant for Galadriel to bear any child of his. He knew he would be such a terrible father... adult elves disliked him, why should a child love him?
Galadriel's look of pure love for her little daughter made Celeborn felt guilty. Galadriel had lived for so many thousands of years, many of those years spent alone, and childless. The First Age had been filled with such hate, distrust, and malice. He also knew she had expressed her want for a child for some time, and remembered steadfastly refusing, each and every time. But this time... the clever, impish woman... she had played on his emotions, asking not for a child but for one simple night of lovemaking. It was probably the influence many years before of that impudent mortal woman Elwing.
Well, in any case, her happiness was worth future torment of raising a child he had never truly wanted. He could learn to love his daughter.
"What shall we name her?" Galadriel asked, taking the child's warm, wriggling body from his arms into her own. Tiny fists batted the air. "I think Celebrian would be perfect."
"Whatever you want." he found himself saying. He didn't mean for it to sound so apathetic, so devoid of emotion, but his wife and child seemed to be unaware. Standing, he added, "Shall I see if Eriol can come to take measurements?" Lovely and fair as the child was, her parents could not allow her to go around naked.
"Of course, love. How thoughtful of you." She was trying to help ease his irritability, at having to be around something he feared and dreaded.
He was glad to have an excuse to leave.
Lothlorien had always been filled with an air of apathy similar to Celeborn's. Noldor elves waited for their chance to go to the Grey Havens with more enthusiasm than they gave anything else, even orc hunting. A happy, youthful, active child added a more relaxed air to these tense elves, and sometimes even her presence alone could distill a brewing argument as both parties would reach down to pet her and encourage her along in her playtime.
"Mama! Papa! Watch me!" Celebrian would cry, leaping over a fallen tree or jump over a babbling brook with all the dexterity of an elf. The rare times she tripped and fell, she just picked herself up and continued as if nothing had happened.
Celeborn was beginning to warm up to his daughter, realizing that he too enjoyed her presence. She was completely unlike the image he had pictured of any child he would ever have -- an image of a hateful, sullen child, who saw him the way he saw himself. He was grateful that her mother was Galadriel.
At that moment Celeborn and Galadriel sat on a blanket, watching their daughter shoot arrows at a target circle many yards away. For a five-year-old Noldor, she never missed her target, not even when the captain of the Lorien guards offered to pick up the target and move it around as she shot it.
"She's good with the bow." Galadriel remarked to her husband. "If she gets any better Calaglin will beg for her to join the guard!"
"She couldn't." Celeborn said firmly, almost immediately. "It's too dangerous for a child."
"She wouldn't enlist now, of course!" Galadriel smiled. "When she is an adult she will most certainly be one of the best fighting elves Lothlorien has ever seen."
As Celebrian grew, so did her skills. She was an excellent horse rider, she could shoot a bow perfectly from two hundred yards away, and bested all of Calaglin's guardsmen with the sword. Celeborn had found himself more involved with her training than he'd thought, as he gave her archery tips and offered to be her opponent in swordplay. Having led elves to battle more than once, he still considered himself a warrior, although his own equipment had not seen use in at least a hundred years.
And not only was she strong, but beautiful. Many Lorien elves boasted of being defeated in battle by the stunning warrior princess.
Yet, for all the attention she gained from her skills and beauty, she had never once expressed interest in anything but her activities, and her studies.
One afternoon, Galadriel could not help but notice her daughter's apathy, as Celebrian draped herself over the rail, looking sadly into the forest.
"What troubles you, my child?" she asked.
"Mother, what is beyond the forest?" Celebrian asked, moving, so that Galadriel could see the thick book on the seat next to her. It was one Celeborn had found in the library for her, full of tales of the First Age and the War of the Ring her father had recently taken part in. Among her mathematics and Elven study books, this one was clearly her favorite -- whenever she was not practicing her fighting, she was reading it, over and over again.
"There is the Misty Mountains, and beyond that Imladris." The Queen of Lothlorien seated herself carefully beside her daughter, and looked into her eyes. There was a pause before Galadriel added, in a voice barely audible, "You desire to leave Lothlorien."
"I--" Celebrian knew well her mother's talent for telepathy, but was not expecting this. "I have seen only trees, Mother. Only this forest. It is beautiful only because you tell me it is. I have seen nothing else to compare it with, and these stories make me wish I were indeed somewhere else." She sighed, and asked, "Mother, the trip you and Father are taking, to Imladris, to see Lord Elrond... may I not also go?"
"Your father will refuse."
"I will ask him." Celebrian rose and left to seek Celeborn.
"Absolutely not. It's too dangerous. It takes days to cross the Misty Mountains!" Celeborn told his daughter, as she begged to be taken along.
"You and Mother have done it, many times! I am an elf, not a mortal, and I do not freeze easily! If we encountered trouble I could fight them off!" Celebrian argued.
"Celeborn, let her go." Galadriel spoke softly. "She expresses a desire to see the outside world. You cannot lock her up here forever. Beautiful as Lorien is, it is her prison."
Celeborn could not look at either elf for some time, before he replied, "What would you do for a week, Celebrian? You have never loved council meetings before." Celebrian gave him a wry face, before replying, "Of course not! Thranduil is the only non-Lorien elf I have ever met, besides King Gil-galad, and neither was very interesting."
"What makes you think Elrond is that interesting?"
"Because he isn't Thranduil!"
"Elrond knows quite a bit that even I do not." Galadriel added. "He is half-elven, and has been collecting information on the histories of both elves and men for thousands of years."
"See?"
Celeborn was beaten. "All right, all right." he sighed. "If it means this much to you. And when we return please do not complain that we never take you anywhere." He gave her a wry smile at this little joke before leaving to pack. Galadriel and Celebrian did the same.