Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with Lord of the Rings or anything else that J.R.R Tolkien may have written.



Chapter 26: The Ball

Some years passed and Celebfaer found herself longing for the presence of Elves, because not many Fairies wanted to be her friend and she was getting rather lonely. Not only that, but she was tired of being treated as though she were just a child. She knew a lot more than they thought and she wished that they would just listen to her and answer her questions instead of telling her she was getting ahead of herself. The Elves had never held her back and all had respected her, treating her like the age that she was. But seeing as the fairies thought she was still 500 years old, her training was rather intense and she was only allowed one day to herself every two weeks.

Her mother watched her sitting in the gardens by herself on one of these days off and saw just how lonely Celebfaer was and so she started to organize a ball in honor of her daughter. She knew that Celebfaer needed to have something to keep her mind from thinking about how she did not fit in. And it was far past her time to be getting married and so she would have to choose a potential husband soon.

Celebfaer was coming back from one of her walks two weeks later, on one of her treasured days off when she ran into her mother, who told her that there would be a ball in a few days time. What her mother didn't tell her was that the ball was also going to be to try and find a husband for Celebfaer.

In fact, her mother suspended her training for the next two days after that so that the best tailor in all of the City would be able to measure Celebfaer and make her a dress, specifically for the ball.

The material that her mother chose was silver with splashes of gold through it to show that she was in fact the first-daughter of the Queen. But when Celebfaer tried to complain, and explain that she could not accept that she was first-daughter yet, her mother just shook her head and told her be to quiet before she could get half of her argument out.

Elysa did not take it well either. She could be heard all through the castle as she headed towards the gardens where Celebfaer was being fitted into the dress. But the Queen merely told Elysa to be quiet as well, except that Elysa was threatened that if she complained then Elysa would not be invited to the ball and would be told to stay in her room like a young child. Celebfaer was not that lucky, she had to go to the ball, complaints or not as she was the guest of honor.

When the day of the ball arrived, Queen Asura spent the day with Celebfaer, instructing and supervising how her servants were making her daughter look.

Eventually the Queen was asked to leave the room, and the servants helped Celebfaer into her dress before leaving themselves. So for the first time in two days, Celebfaer was allowed a few minutes to herself to think and look at what they had done to her.

Her hair had been left out but there were small braids throughout her hair and small Diamonds and Carnelian's were threaded into the parts of her hair that had not been braided. Seeing the Carnelian's tore her heart in two as she remembered that she had given Legolas one the last time she had seen him in a hope to remind him of their love and to give him energy on his long journey. The servants had told her that because Carnelian's evoked love they would be needed that night as she was to find a husband.

The hair she didn't mind because they had spent so much time on it - half the day - and she liked the look of it. It was just the dress that made her stare at her reflection, wondering if it was indeed her. The dress she was wearing was showing more of her skin than she was used to. Being with the Elves had made her more conservative but her mother and the rest of the Fairies would not understand that as all fairies wore dresses much the same as the one she wore now. All the dresses that she was allowed to wear since she came to dwell with her people, did show a fair amount of skin, but she tried to choose the ones that covered most of her, much to her sister's disgust. The dress that she wore now was cut quite low that she had called it indecent, but her mother had just laughed then insisted that she wear it. The material felt almost silk-like on her skin yet at the same time it felt as though it was merely her skin. Celebfaer had to keep looking down to remind herself that there was indeed a dress surrounding her body.

Altogether though, she knew she looked good. Her mother would not have had it any other way, but she was still tempted to try and find one of her cloaks that had magically disappeared since she came to the City to cover herself properly.

She had no idea how long she stood staring at her reflection in the mirror, but soon there came a knock on the door and without looking from her reflection, she told them to come in.

"Rydia, you look amazing and worthy of being a princess, the first-daughter of the Queen." Her mother's voice said and then Celebfaer turned to look at her mother.

The Queen was dressed in a dress that had an even lower neckline, but to her that was normal. And the colour of the dress was a gold that shimmered every time the Queen moved.

"Mother I feel too exposed in this dress, could I not just wear another of my gowns? People will be looking at me!" Celebfaer said a little scared. She was so scared that she had not even noticed that her mother had once again called her the first-daughter. Celebfaer was afterall starting to accept it now.

"Which is exactly why you shall wear it my daughter. Come, you shall be my escort, as I believe the guests are waiting."

"Yes mother." Celebfaer said reluctantly, bowing her head slightly before she linked arms with her mother and the two walked off in the direction of the dining hall.

When they got there, they had to wait to be announced before they could walk in, so every pair of eyes were watching the Queen and her daughter when they entered the dinning hall. All bowed when they walked past and took their seats at the head of the table. Celebfaer sat to the left of her mother and Elysa sat on the right, Sabin next to her. The two were already there when Celebfaer and the Queen arrived and Elysa was glaring at Celebfaer because she had received such a warm welcome.

So they ate and then the music started and people begun to dance. Watching the Fairies dance was weird at first because they did not hold each other as closely as the Elves and Mortals did, simply because the wings were there. But their wings that were part of the dance too, so they appeared as though they floated across the floor instead of dancing like the mortals and the elves did.

Elysa went to dance for the whole night, sometimes with Sabin, sometimes with other male Fairies, but Celebfaer stayed where her mother was. Her mother asked her to sit by her, so that she could introduce Celebfaer to some of the fairies that were present. Celebfaer talked to them, merely to be polite and when most of the introductions had occurred, Celebfaer went to talk to the people that were not dancing.

She noticed Mildred a few times dancing and laughing with some fairy- maidens, but she saw that his eyes weren't really interested in having fun or what the maidens were saying. He was still dressed as though he were from the Queen's guard and the look in his eyes showed that although he laughed, he would never be truly happy unless he was slaying Orcs.

When Sabin wasn't dancing with her sister, he would come and talk to Celebfaer to keep her company, but when the Queen came near with yet another male to introduce to Celebfaer, he normally went to find someone else to talk to. The Queen did not approve of Sabin talking to Celebfaer because he was once promised to her, yet now he was married to Elysa. Queen Asura simply did not want Sabin to be unfaithful to her second-daughter or he would have to be thrown from the castle and exiled from the Realm also.

The Queen was in fact introducing Celebfaer to all the male fairies that were about her age and Celebfaer caught on very quickly to what her mother wanted, so she talked politely to them before excusing herself to go off elsewhere. She tried not to stand too long in the same place and managed to avoid her mother and the potential suitors quite well after that.

Mildred also came to see her once or twice and they talked mainly of training and how long it takes a male Fairy before he is able to join the guard. Mildred she knew had been accepted at a very young age, because his foster-father had thought that it would be a way to stop him from journeying alone outside the borders of the realm, seeking Orcs to slay and hence chasing his own death. So, Mildred had joined the guard when he had been 1534 years old. But most young males could not join until they were at least 2000 years old. But his foster-father had been the head of the Guard and as long as he said a young male was ready, then they were ready.

As the night wore on Celebfaer grew tired and she excused herself to retire an hour before most. She went to her rooms and as soon as she was there, she removed her dress and changed into one that was more suitable and had a higher neckline. Then once she was comfortable she headed out into the woods, taking her bow with her, glad that the Fairies had let her keep her weapons.

She found a small place out in the woods and started practicing her aim, which had deteriorated over the years. She had never been excellent at it but she was able to shoot things from 100 paces away. Even the youngest Elves had been able to shoot that and they could shoot something that was 200 paces away. But archery was not her specialty.

After about an hour of practice, she started to head back to the City glad that she had been able to relax for a while. When she got back, she went straight to bed, tired and glad that the ball was over.

*********************************

The next day her training in the spells continued and she went back to her normal routine, so it was a few days until the Queen was able to speak to Celebfaer.

Celebfaer was sitting in the gardens, by a pool that she had found, thinking about Rivendell and wondering how Arwen was, when the Queen approached her.

"Rydia, my daughter you seemed to enjoy yourself at the ball. All that met you complimented me on having such a polite and wonderful daughter." The Queen said and Celebfaer laughed a sad laugh.

"Mother, I will find no suitor here." She said, a tinge of sadness in her voice as she thought once more of Legolas. The pain in her heart had gradually been reduced to merely a dull ache but thinking of him tended to make her feel sad. The Queen smiled at her daughter's words, knowing that Celebfaer would have realised what game she had been playing by organizing the ball.

"Well then if you wish not to choose, then I shall choose for you." The Queen said throwing Celebfaer a stubborn look and Celebfaer just shrugged.

"Mother I will honor whoever you choose and get to know him, but I cannot guarantee that I shall fall in love with him." She replied sadly and her mother sighed.

"My child, I see the pain and sadness in your eyes that you have had since you came back to us and though you do not speak of it I know that your heart aches. I only wish to see you happy and not so lonely as you seem all the time. It is not proper for the Queen's first-daughter to hide herself away in the gardens, or wander around the city and surrounding forest without company."

"I have no other choice......"

"Daughter!" The Queen said firmly and Celebfaer looked up at her, knowing that this was a command, not a choice. Her mother would chose her a suitor whether she wanted to be wedded or not and if Celebfaer did not try her mother would chose another one until Celebfaer agreed to let one of them take on a challenge to prove themselves worthy of her love. "You are a princess and although not many people talk to you, it is simply because you do not wish to talk to them. I have already made my decision on who I shall let court you and I do hope that you will honor my wishes and let him get close to you for hopefully one day I can issue him a challenge and then he can be allowed to marry you." She said and Celebfaer sighed.

"Yes mother." She said, knowing it was pointless to argue and so the Queen nodded.

"I have chosen for you one of my guards for it is not healthy for him to go to battle all the time. I fear that over the years his heart has shrunk and he needs someone to help him regain love for life and not for battle and death." She said. "He is called Mildred."

Celebfaer looked up at her mother with surprise. "He is your best warrior mother and you wish for him to court me?"

"It is reassurement that you will be well protected and it will be good for you both to have somebody in your life so that you do not try and throw it away."

"Mother he will never be ready to settle down, he loves his students and the battle too much."

"Then it should be interesting to watch. The head of the guard is telling him that he does not have to take on so much and passing on the message that he is to court you as we speak." The Queen said and Celebfaer bowed.

"Yes mother." She said and then the Queen got up and walked away.

Her heart still ached with the pain of losing Legolas and she had hoped that her mother would not put so much pressure on her to marry. But her mother wanted to see her married and she had learnt that whatever her mother wanted, as a Queen she would always get it one way or another.