Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
Authors Note: Why, yes, I am lazy about making up new names...thus, out of three names mentioned in this chapter, only one is new. The other two were shamelessly stolen from 'Sightseeing in Middle-Earth'.
Also, thank you to everybody who reviewed...please review again once you're done this chapter and tell me what you thought!
------------------------------
-No Eyes Needed-
------------------------------
-Chapter VIII-
-Dance As Though No One Is Watching-
------------------------------
Elisandra shifted in impatience as her handmaidens fussed about her. She'd been sitting for the past hour, patiently letting her handmaidens ready her for the feast. But now she was getting bored - and tired of being poked and prodded while having the handmaidens discuss her looks as if she wasn't even there. It was half the reason she didn't go to feasts normally, and was almost enough to make her change her mind about wanting to go to this one. Not that it would do any good, as both her parents and Prince Legolas were expecting to see her there, and she couldn't very well skip out on them.
"She looks fine!" Elisandra almost sighed in relief as Mersana, the eldest of her handmaidens, interrupted the other handmaidens discussion about her hair. "In fact, you possibly overdid it. Did any of you take into account that this is a welcoming feast for an Elvish Prince? With Elisandra's looks, she could pull off an Elvish dress and hairstyle quite nicely, and it would be a compliment to the Prince!" There was silence, and Elisandra watched the surprise and embarrassment flit through her handmaidens fëa's in exasperation.
"How long until the feast begins?" Elisandra asked.
"An hour, m'Lady." the closest handmaiden, a young Rohan girl named Geona, answered in her usual quiet manner.
"Mersana, is that enough time to change to an Elvish look?" Elisandra asked.
"More then enough, m'Lady." Mersana replied smoothly, getting over the surprise that flickered through both her and the handmaidens fëa's. Normally Elisandra would have just said that if Mersana thought she looked good enough, then that was it, and the handmaidens knew that. But the dress and hair she currently had was uncomfortable, and she knew that an Elvish outfit wouldn't be.
"Then get to work." Elisandra ordered, and after a moments pause, the handmaidens set to work. Half an hour later, Elisandra sat happily - and comfortably - listening to Geona read a Rohirrim's account of the War of the Ring, while the rest of her handmaidens readied themselves for the feast in a flurry of activity. They were interrupted by a knock on the door, and then they quickly made themselves ready as they followed Elisandra and her parents and brother to the feast hall.
The hall was already mostly full by the time the royal family got there, and Elisandra noted with amusement that most of the ones already there had eligible daughters. Legolas was not, of course, there yet. He would not come to the feast until after the royal family had arrived - to do otherwise would be rude. Elisandra once again mused to herself about the stupidity of Lords and Ladies - something she tended to do quite often. She quickly pulled herself out of her musings, however, as the trumpets of the herald announced Prince Legolas's arrival.
Elisandra clamped her jaw shut to keep it from dropping as she saw him, but she could do nothing about the slight widening of her eyes. He had decided to dress to full effect, apparently, and stood looking resplendent in sky blues and greens, his head topped with his crown for Erys Lasgalen. He looked, Elisandra thought, altogether Elvish, and very handsome. And from the appreciation and lust suddenly shooting through the fëa's of most of the females in the hall, married or not, Elisandra knew the rest of the court ladies agreed with her.
Turning her head slightly to look at her parents, Elisandra was amused to discover that her mother and father had amusement and pity most prominently in their fëa's. Arwen saw her daughter looking at her out of the corner of her eye, and she winked at her, nodding slightly towards the closest knot of young court Ladies, who had gotten over their shock and were now whispering furiously among themselves. Elisandra smiled as she saw the emotions skittering through the girls fëa's. They were having an argument, about the Prince, Elisandra was sure, and it seemed that some of them had decided to back off from him, having seen him in his full Elvish glory and knowing he was above them, but a few others seemed even more determined.
"I'm not sure if he's made things worse or better for himself." Elisandra whispered to her mother as Legolas was led to his seat beside Aragorn.
"I would say worse." Arwen replied with a half-grin. "A few determined ladies can be worse then a handful of half-trying ones." Elisandra returned her mother's half-grin and nodded, remembering the time King Eomer had come to visit. He'd done the same as Legolas just had, and had ended out leaving Minas Tirith because of several Ladies that were pursuing him rather persistently, even after he made it clear he had no interest in them. Those Ladies had later retired to country estates when he'd married the Prince of Dol Amroth's daughter.
Elisandra pulled her mind back to the present as the feast began, and she forced herself to listen to her brother's tales of riding and his school with at least half an ear, so she could reply appropriately. He was too young to really realize it, but his stories always made Elisandra a little sad - sad for something she could never have, as it was impossible for her to do most of the things he did without endangering herself or others. So Elisandra was grateful when her brother fell silent to finish eating and her mother took the opportunity to strike up a conversation that lasted the rest of the meal.
Then the court retired to another hall for dancing, and Elisandra stood back along the wall, watching fëa's swirl about in the center of the room bitterly. Of all the things in the world she wished that she could do, even with her lack of eyesight, she wished she could dance. She had tried, once, but dancing required being able to see your partners body, so you could follow their movements and anticipate what they would do next, which Elisandra could not. It was the reason she avoided most formal social gatherings.
"Lady Elisandra." Elisandra smiled as she turned her gaze from the dancers to Prince Legolas where he stood beside her.
"Prince Legolas." Elisandra replied with a small curtsey.
"Are you enjoying the feast?" Legolas asked.
"I believe that is my line." Elisandra replied with amusement.
"It is the line of whoever wants to say it." Legolas replied promptly.
"I suppose it is." Elisandra said after a moments pause.
"Now that we are in agreement, are you?" Legolas asked, and Elisandra took a moment before replying.
"Mm, it's nice." Elisandra replied.
"Only nice?" Legolas asked, and Elisandra saw a twinkle in his eye and amusement skittering around his fëa.
"Well, as I cannot see any of the decorations I helped plan, all I have to go on is the company, which was superb for dinner, but for the dance is horrible." Elisandra replied, her mouth twitching slightly as it tried to smile. Prince Legolas seemed to wait, and then adopted a hurt look.
"What, present company is not excluded?" he asked.
"Oh, I suppose it could be." Elisandra replied airily, then grinned. Legolas grinned back.
"I am glad you came. Your father said you have a tendency to avoid formal gatherings as much as I do." he said.
"My father talks a lot." Elisandra replied dryly. "But I do tend to avoid all the formal gatherings like this that I can. However, I had both my mother and you pointedly tell me to come." Elisandra smiled.
"I was only suggesting, Lady," Legolas said with a slight bow.
"I know. I wanted to come, anyways." Elisandra replied.
"Oh, you did?" Legolas asked, arching his eyebrow elegantly.
"Yes, to see all the maidens make fools of themselves." Elisandra replied with a grin. "As one is about to do right now." Elisandra nodded in the direction of the approaching fëa of a lady, and Legolas groaned lightly as he looked over.
"Come, dance with me." Legolas said, and before Elisandra could protest, grabbed her hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor. "Lady Atora has been following me all evening." Legolas said quietly as he settled into a basic dance.
"That's all very well, but I can't dance!" Elisandra hissed in his ear. Legolas looked at her in surprise. "It's impossible to dance without being able to see your partner, which I cannot!"
"You seem to be doing fine to me." Legolas replied calmly, and Elisandra realized with a start that she had slipped into the moves of a dance without even noticing. And she was doing fine. Realizing this, she stiffened and almost tripped over her own feet, and would have stumbled if Legolas had not shifted her grip to hold her upright.
"Do not think about it, just do it." he said softly in her ear. "Let the music guide you." Elisandra hesitated, then slowly relaxed. She kept stiffening, however, and faltering.
"You should see your parents faces." Legolas said suddenly, and Elisandra looked up to see that he was trying hard not to break out into a grin.
"Oh, are they in shock yet?" she asked.
"I would say so...but take a look for yourself." Legolas said, and twirled so that Elisandra could now glance sideways and see her parents. Elisandra laughed before she could stop herself, then quickly suppressed it into a giggle. Her parent's fëa's were chaotic messes, and it was hilarious.
"Ah, I think I'll settle for seeing their fëa's. They're probably more amusing then their faces, anyways." Elisandra told the Prince, grinning.
"Says the one who has not seen their faces." Legolas replied.
"Says the one who hasn't seen their fëa's." Elisandra retorted. Legolas chuckled, then his eyes seemed to light up with mischieviousness.
"Oh look, Aragorn and Arwen have decided to dance." he said.
"Don't you DARE pass me off! I'm quite sure the only reason I'm dancing this well is because of your Elvish fëa, which father does not have." Elisandra said in alarm.
"Actually, I was thinking of trying a more elaborate dance, if you're up for it." Legolas said, looking all innocence. His fëa was still tinted with mischieviousness, however, and Elisandra eyed him warily.
"You ARE aware this is my first time dancing EVER?" she asked, and Legolas nodded, glancing over her shoulder with a touch of impatience to where her parents were presumably dancing.
"You are a natural, however, especially when you're distracted by having someone talk to you." Legolas said with a grin. Elisandra blinked, then shook her head and chuckled. She hadn't even noticed that he'd been distracting her on purpose - something unheard of for her.
"Fine, but if I trip over my own feet and we both end out in a heap on the floor, I hold you entirely responsible." she said.
"That is a responsibility I will gladly take." Legolas said with a grin, and then swept her into the first moves of the new dance.
---
Arwen was surprised, to say the least, when she saw her daughter on the dance floor with Prince Legolas. Turning to Aragorn, who was currently talking to Lord Farqua, she impatiently waited until they were at a good breaking point in their conversation, then quickly pulled her husband away.
"What is it, Arwen?" he asked curiously, and she turned to the dance floor and pointed. Aragorn's jaw dropped open in shock, as did Arwen's, as she recognized the dance Legolas and Elisandra were doing as one of the most complicated human dances around. Legolas, looking over Elisandra's head, caught Arwen's gaze and suppressed a grin. She saw him say something to Elisandra, and then twirl so Elisandra could see them. She did not miss Elisandra's laugh - nor did Aragorn.
"Would m'Lady care to dance?" Aragorn asked, holding his hand out to his wife, and Arwen smiled and took his hand, allowing herself to be led onto the dance floor. Once there, they slipped into an Elvish dance that, though one of the simpler Elvish ones, was more complicated than the human one Elisandra and Legolas were currently doing.
"Perhaps we shouldn't..." Aragorn murmured as he eyed Legolas, knowing that the Prince would take it as a challenge to try a more complicated dance with Elisandra.
"She won't let him unless she thinks she can do it." Arwen replied, watching Legolas and Elisandra talk from the corner of her eye. She wished she could hear what they were saying, but the music, low as it was, easily blocked out their voices in the crowded hall.
"Is he even aware of Elisandra's history in dance?" Aragorn asked in alarm as he saw Legolas and Elisandra slip into the moves of a new dance, a complicated Elvish one that even some Elves couldn't master.
"I'm sure she's made him well aware." Arwen said, but worry tinged her voice as she watched the Prince and her daughter flow through the moves. Over Elisandra's head, Legolas caught Arwen's gaze and grinned, challenge clearly shining in his eyes. Arwen turned her gaze back to Aragorn. He looked back steadily.
"Oh, all right." he said in exasperation after a moment, and led Arwen into the most complicated Elvish dance he knew - one with many twirls, spins, throws and complicated footwork. As Arwen fell into the steps of the dance, she was only vaguely aware that the dance floor was clearing of everyone but her, Aragorn, Legolas and Elisandra. Instead, she lived in the dance, letting the music flow through her and guide her steps, following Aragorn's lead, and it wasn't until a brief lull in the dance that she was able to look over at Legolas and Elisandra again. And then she almost tripped over her feet as she saw the dance they were doing.
"They slipped into it a few moments ago." Aragorn said softly in Arwen's ear.
"She's going to get hurt! I can barely manage the Linta Rusco, and no human has ever managed it successfully!" Arwen hissed back.
"She seems to be doing fine to me, and I doubt Legolas would push her into a dance he knew would hurt her - he must think she can handle it. And may I remind you, it was you who started the challenge." Aragorn retorted. Arwen sighed, knowing her husband was right. For the rest of the dance, she kept half her mind on dancing, and half for worrying about Elisandra. She was grateful when the music stopped, and even more grateful when she looked over to Legolas and Elisandra to find that they had stopped, as well, and besides being a little out of breath, Elisandra was fine. Both her and Legolas were grinning like idiots as they looked triumphantly over at Arwen and Aragorn. Then the Lords and Ladies started applauding, and Elisandra gave a visible start, while Legolas's grin only grew wider.
"It seems we have been out-danced." Aragorn said with a smile as her strode over to the Prince.
"That you have." Legolas replied, still grinning.
"And by what a pair." a Lord commented from the crowd, and Arwen watched her foster daughter with concern as she seemed to shrink into Legolas. She was definitely not liking the attention, but Legolas didn't seem to notice.
"Yes, the Lady Elisandra has been hiding a true talent from us these past years, it seems." Lord Farqua agreed, coming forward in the crowd. "And to think you had us all convinced you were a horrible dancer."
"I am a horrible dancer, Lord Farqua, it is Prince Legolas with the talent." Elisandra replied quietly.
"I can hardly believe that His Highness is the only one with talent when you just danced the Linta Rusco." Lord Farqua said speculatively, and Elisandra's eyes widened as she heard the name of the dance. Even if she wasn't able to dance, she'd learned the names of many dances, including the Linta Rusco, and it's history of ending in disaster for any human that attempted it. She glanced at Legolas, who simply smiled cheekily at her. Elisandra's glance then turned into a glare, much to Legolas's confusion, and then dissolved into a neutral expression.
"Believe what you wish, Lord Farqua." she said calmly, turning back to the Lord. "But now, if you'll excuse me, the dance seems to have tired me out. I shall return to my chambers." With a few sharp glances, she gathered her handmaidens to her and swept out of the hall. Legolas watched her go with curiosity. And as the Lords and Ladies slowly began to break up and go back to their little groups, or start dancing as the musicians started up again, Aragorn and Arwen went over to him.
"You didn't tell her what dance you were attempting?" Arwen asked, and then inwardly winced as her voice came out more icily then she had intended it to, causing Legolas to look at her in surprise.
"I asked her if she was up for a more complicated dance, and she consented." he said with a shrug. "I did not think that she would know what the dance was even if I named it, as she had told me that she had never danced before."
"You did not have to lead her into the Linta Rusco. You KNOW that dances history with humans, Legolas. She could have easily been injured." Arwen said sharply, and once again Legolas looked at her in surprise. Then he turned thoughtful.
"But she was not, nor was she ever in any danger of it." he said slowly. Arwen opened her mouth to snap at him that that was not the point, but Aragorn waved her to silence, and she saw that the Prince was staring thoughtfully off in the direction Elisandra had come from. He had not been trying to defend himself, he had been thinking out loud. Arwen waited while he continued to think, and just when she began to get impatient, he turned his attention back to the royal couple.
"When I was dancing with her, I completely forgot that she was human and blind. She danced as though she had been dancing all her life." he said quietly. "Arwen, I know her mother is from Minas Tirith, but who was her father?"
"We do not know." Arwen replied softly.
"I think it is time we did, however." Aragorn said, and Legolas nodded solemnly.
"It is indeed." he said. "And I will wager you anything that there is Elvish blood in her background." With that, he turned and strode out of the hall, following the route Elisandra had so recently taken. Aragorn and Arwen looked at each other after the Prince's departure, then, noticing that many Lords and Ladies were watching them, they adopted neutral faces and fell into a simple dance.
\/---Review pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!---\/
Authors Note: Why, yes, I am lazy about making up new names...thus, out of three names mentioned in this chapter, only one is new. The other two were shamelessly stolen from 'Sightseeing in Middle-Earth'.
Also, thank you to everybody who reviewed...please review again once you're done this chapter and tell me what you thought!
------------------------------
-No Eyes Needed-
------------------------------
-Chapter VIII-
-Dance As Though No One Is Watching-
------------------------------
Elisandra shifted in impatience as her handmaidens fussed about her. She'd been sitting for the past hour, patiently letting her handmaidens ready her for the feast. But now she was getting bored - and tired of being poked and prodded while having the handmaidens discuss her looks as if she wasn't even there. It was half the reason she didn't go to feasts normally, and was almost enough to make her change her mind about wanting to go to this one. Not that it would do any good, as both her parents and Prince Legolas were expecting to see her there, and she couldn't very well skip out on them.
"She looks fine!" Elisandra almost sighed in relief as Mersana, the eldest of her handmaidens, interrupted the other handmaidens discussion about her hair. "In fact, you possibly overdid it. Did any of you take into account that this is a welcoming feast for an Elvish Prince? With Elisandra's looks, she could pull off an Elvish dress and hairstyle quite nicely, and it would be a compliment to the Prince!" There was silence, and Elisandra watched the surprise and embarrassment flit through her handmaidens fëa's in exasperation.
"How long until the feast begins?" Elisandra asked.
"An hour, m'Lady." the closest handmaiden, a young Rohan girl named Geona, answered in her usual quiet manner.
"Mersana, is that enough time to change to an Elvish look?" Elisandra asked.
"More then enough, m'Lady." Mersana replied smoothly, getting over the surprise that flickered through both her and the handmaidens fëa's. Normally Elisandra would have just said that if Mersana thought she looked good enough, then that was it, and the handmaidens knew that. But the dress and hair she currently had was uncomfortable, and she knew that an Elvish outfit wouldn't be.
"Then get to work." Elisandra ordered, and after a moments pause, the handmaidens set to work. Half an hour later, Elisandra sat happily - and comfortably - listening to Geona read a Rohirrim's account of the War of the Ring, while the rest of her handmaidens readied themselves for the feast in a flurry of activity. They were interrupted by a knock on the door, and then they quickly made themselves ready as they followed Elisandra and her parents and brother to the feast hall.
The hall was already mostly full by the time the royal family got there, and Elisandra noted with amusement that most of the ones already there had eligible daughters. Legolas was not, of course, there yet. He would not come to the feast until after the royal family had arrived - to do otherwise would be rude. Elisandra once again mused to herself about the stupidity of Lords and Ladies - something she tended to do quite often. She quickly pulled herself out of her musings, however, as the trumpets of the herald announced Prince Legolas's arrival.
Elisandra clamped her jaw shut to keep it from dropping as she saw him, but she could do nothing about the slight widening of her eyes. He had decided to dress to full effect, apparently, and stood looking resplendent in sky blues and greens, his head topped with his crown for Erys Lasgalen. He looked, Elisandra thought, altogether Elvish, and very handsome. And from the appreciation and lust suddenly shooting through the fëa's of most of the females in the hall, married or not, Elisandra knew the rest of the court ladies agreed with her.
Turning her head slightly to look at her parents, Elisandra was amused to discover that her mother and father had amusement and pity most prominently in their fëa's. Arwen saw her daughter looking at her out of the corner of her eye, and she winked at her, nodding slightly towards the closest knot of young court Ladies, who had gotten over their shock and were now whispering furiously among themselves. Elisandra smiled as she saw the emotions skittering through the girls fëa's. They were having an argument, about the Prince, Elisandra was sure, and it seemed that some of them had decided to back off from him, having seen him in his full Elvish glory and knowing he was above them, but a few others seemed even more determined.
"I'm not sure if he's made things worse or better for himself." Elisandra whispered to her mother as Legolas was led to his seat beside Aragorn.
"I would say worse." Arwen replied with a half-grin. "A few determined ladies can be worse then a handful of half-trying ones." Elisandra returned her mother's half-grin and nodded, remembering the time King Eomer had come to visit. He'd done the same as Legolas just had, and had ended out leaving Minas Tirith because of several Ladies that were pursuing him rather persistently, even after he made it clear he had no interest in them. Those Ladies had later retired to country estates when he'd married the Prince of Dol Amroth's daughter.
Elisandra pulled her mind back to the present as the feast began, and she forced herself to listen to her brother's tales of riding and his school with at least half an ear, so she could reply appropriately. He was too young to really realize it, but his stories always made Elisandra a little sad - sad for something she could never have, as it was impossible for her to do most of the things he did without endangering herself or others. So Elisandra was grateful when her brother fell silent to finish eating and her mother took the opportunity to strike up a conversation that lasted the rest of the meal.
Then the court retired to another hall for dancing, and Elisandra stood back along the wall, watching fëa's swirl about in the center of the room bitterly. Of all the things in the world she wished that she could do, even with her lack of eyesight, she wished she could dance. She had tried, once, but dancing required being able to see your partners body, so you could follow their movements and anticipate what they would do next, which Elisandra could not. It was the reason she avoided most formal social gatherings.
"Lady Elisandra." Elisandra smiled as she turned her gaze from the dancers to Prince Legolas where he stood beside her.
"Prince Legolas." Elisandra replied with a small curtsey.
"Are you enjoying the feast?" Legolas asked.
"I believe that is my line." Elisandra replied with amusement.
"It is the line of whoever wants to say it." Legolas replied promptly.
"I suppose it is." Elisandra said after a moments pause.
"Now that we are in agreement, are you?" Legolas asked, and Elisandra took a moment before replying.
"Mm, it's nice." Elisandra replied.
"Only nice?" Legolas asked, and Elisandra saw a twinkle in his eye and amusement skittering around his fëa.
"Well, as I cannot see any of the decorations I helped plan, all I have to go on is the company, which was superb for dinner, but for the dance is horrible." Elisandra replied, her mouth twitching slightly as it tried to smile. Prince Legolas seemed to wait, and then adopted a hurt look.
"What, present company is not excluded?" he asked.
"Oh, I suppose it could be." Elisandra replied airily, then grinned. Legolas grinned back.
"I am glad you came. Your father said you have a tendency to avoid formal gatherings as much as I do." he said.
"My father talks a lot." Elisandra replied dryly. "But I do tend to avoid all the formal gatherings like this that I can. However, I had both my mother and you pointedly tell me to come." Elisandra smiled.
"I was only suggesting, Lady," Legolas said with a slight bow.
"I know. I wanted to come, anyways." Elisandra replied.
"Oh, you did?" Legolas asked, arching his eyebrow elegantly.
"Yes, to see all the maidens make fools of themselves." Elisandra replied with a grin. "As one is about to do right now." Elisandra nodded in the direction of the approaching fëa of a lady, and Legolas groaned lightly as he looked over.
"Come, dance with me." Legolas said, and before Elisandra could protest, grabbed her hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor. "Lady Atora has been following me all evening." Legolas said quietly as he settled into a basic dance.
"That's all very well, but I can't dance!" Elisandra hissed in his ear. Legolas looked at her in surprise. "It's impossible to dance without being able to see your partner, which I cannot!"
"You seem to be doing fine to me." Legolas replied calmly, and Elisandra realized with a start that she had slipped into the moves of a dance without even noticing. And she was doing fine. Realizing this, she stiffened and almost tripped over her own feet, and would have stumbled if Legolas had not shifted her grip to hold her upright.
"Do not think about it, just do it." he said softly in her ear. "Let the music guide you." Elisandra hesitated, then slowly relaxed. She kept stiffening, however, and faltering.
"You should see your parents faces." Legolas said suddenly, and Elisandra looked up to see that he was trying hard not to break out into a grin.
"Oh, are they in shock yet?" she asked.
"I would say so...but take a look for yourself." Legolas said, and twirled so that Elisandra could now glance sideways and see her parents. Elisandra laughed before she could stop herself, then quickly suppressed it into a giggle. Her parent's fëa's were chaotic messes, and it was hilarious.
"Ah, I think I'll settle for seeing their fëa's. They're probably more amusing then their faces, anyways." Elisandra told the Prince, grinning.
"Says the one who has not seen their faces." Legolas replied.
"Says the one who hasn't seen their fëa's." Elisandra retorted. Legolas chuckled, then his eyes seemed to light up with mischieviousness.
"Oh look, Aragorn and Arwen have decided to dance." he said.
"Don't you DARE pass me off! I'm quite sure the only reason I'm dancing this well is because of your Elvish fëa, which father does not have." Elisandra said in alarm.
"Actually, I was thinking of trying a more elaborate dance, if you're up for it." Legolas said, looking all innocence. His fëa was still tinted with mischieviousness, however, and Elisandra eyed him warily.
"You ARE aware this is my first time dancing EVER?" she asked, and Legolas nodded, glancing over her shoulder with a touch of impatience to where her parents were presumably dancing.
"You are a natural, however, especially when you're distracted by having someone talk to you." Legolas said with a grin. Elisandra blinked, then shook her head and chuckled. She hadn't even noticed that he'd been distracting her on purpose - something unheard of for her.
"Fine, but if I trip over my own feet and we both end out in a heap on the floor, I hold you entirely responsible." she said.
"That is a responsibility I will gladly take." Legolas said with a grin, and then swept her into the first moves of the new dance.
---
Arwen was surprised, to say the least, when she saw her daughter on the dance floor with Prince Legolas. Turning to Aragorn, who was currently talking to Lord Farqua, she impatiently waited until they were at a good breaking point in their conversation, then quickly pulled her husband away.
"What is it, Arwen?" he asked curiously, and she turned to the dance floor and pointed. Aragorn's jaw dropped open in shock, as did Arwen's, as she recognized the dance Legolas and Elisandra were doing as one of the most complicated human dances around. Legolas, looking over Elisandra's head, caught Arwen's gaze and suppressed a grin. She saw him say something to Elisandra, and then twirl so Elisandra could see them. She did not miss Elisandra's laugh - nor did Aragorn.
"Would m'Lady care to dance?" Aragorn asked, holding his hand out to his wife, and Arwen smiled and took his hand, allowing herself to be led onto the dance floor. Once there, they slipped into an Elvish dance that, though one of the simpler Elvish ones, was more complicated than the human one Elisandra and Legolas were currently doing.
"Perhaps we shouldn't..." Aragorn murmured as he eyed Legolas, knowing that the Prince would take it as a challenge to try a more complicated dance with Elisandra.
"She won't let him unless she thinks she can do it." Arwen replied, watching Legolas and Elisandra talk from the corner of her eye. She wished she could hear what they were saying, but the music, low as it was, easily blocked out their voices in the crowded hall.
"Is he even aware of Elisandra's history in dance?" Aragorn asked in alarm as he saw Legolas and Elisandra slip into the moves of a new dance, a complicated Elvish one that even some Elves couldn't master.
"I'm sure she's made him well aware." Arwen said, but worry tinged her voice as she watched the Prince and her daughter flow through the moves. Over Elisandra's head, Legolas caught Arwen's gaze and grinned, challenge clearly shining in his eyes. Arwen turned her gaze back to Aragorn. He looked back steadily.
"Oh, all right." he said in exasperation after a moment, and led Arwen into the most complicated Elvish dance he knew - one with many twirls, spins, throws and complicated footwork. As Arwen fell into the steps of the dance, she was only vaguely aware that the dance floor was clearing of everyone but her, Aragorn, Legolas and Elisandra. Instead, she lived in the dance, letting the music flow through her and guide her steps, following Aragorn's lead, and it wasn't until a brief lull in the dance that she was able to look over at Legolas and Elisandra again. And then she almost tripped over her feet as she saw the dance they were doing.
"They slipped into it a few moments ago." Aragorn said softly in Arwen's ear.
"She's going to get hurt! I can barely manage the Linta Rusco, and no human has ever managed it successfully!" Arwen hissed back.
"She seems to be doing fine to me, and I doubt Legolas would push her into a dance he knew would hurt her - he must think she can handle it. And may I remind you, it was you who started the challenge." Aragorn retorted. Arwen sighed, knowing her husband was right. For the rest of the dance, she kept half her mind on dancing, and half for worrying about Elisandra. She was grateful when the music stopped, and even more grateful when she looked over to Legolas and Elisandra to find that they had stopped, as well, and besides being a little out of breath, Elisandra was fine. Both her and Legolas were grinning like idiots as they looked triumphantly over at Arwen and Aragorn. Then the Lords and Ladies started applauding, and Elisandra gave a visible start, while Legolas's grin only grew wider.
"It seems we have been out-danced." Aragorn said with a smile as her strode over to the Prince.
"That you have." Legolas replied, still grinning.
"And by what a pair." a Lord commented from the crowd, and Arwen watched her foster daughter with concern as she seemed to shrink into Legolas. She was definitely not liking the attention, but Legolas didn't seem to notice.
"Yes, the Lady Elisandra has been hiding a true talent from us these past years, it seems." Lord Farqua agreed, coming forward in the crowd. "And to think you had us all convinced you were a horrible dancer."
"I am a horrible dancer, Lord Farqua, it is Prince Legolas with the talent." Elisandra replied quietly.
"I can hardly believe that His Highness is the only one with talent when you just danced the Linta Rusco." Lord Farqua said speculatively, and Elisandra's eyes widened as she heard the name of the dance. Even if she wasn't able to dance, she'd learned the names of many dances, including the Linta Rusco, and it's history of ending in disaster for any human that attempted it. She glanced at Legolas, who simply smiled cheekily at her. Elisandra's glance then turned into a glare, much to Legolas's confusion, and then dissolved into a neutral expression.
"Believe what you wish, Lord Farqua." she said calmly, turning back to the Lord. "But now, if you'll excuse me, the dance seems to have tired me out. I shall return to my chambers." With a few sharp glances, she gathered her handmaidens to her and swept out of the hall. Legolas watched her go with curiosity. And as the Lords and Ladies slowly began to break up and go back to their little groups, or start dancing as the musicians started up again, Aragorn and Arwen went over to him.
"You didn't tell her what dance you were attempting?" Arwen asked, and then inwardly winced as her voice came out more icily then she had intended it to, causing Legolas to look at her in surprise.
"I asked her if she was up for a more complicated dance, and she consented." he said with a shrug. "I did not think that she would know what the dance was even if I named it, as she had told me that she had never danced before."
"You did not have to lead her into the Linta Rusco. You KNOW that dances history with humans, Legolas. She could have easily been injured." Arwen said sharply, and once again Legolas looked at her in surprise. Then he turned thoughtful.
"But she was not, nor was she ever in any danger of it." he said slowly. Arwen opened her mouth to snap at him that that was not the point, but Aragorn waved her to silence, and she saw that the Prince was staring thoughtfully off in the direction Elisandra had come from. He had not been trying to defend himself, he had been thinking out loud. Arwen waited while he continued to think, and just when she began to get impatient, he turned his attention back to the royal couple.
"When I was dancing with her, I completely forgot that she was human and blind. She danced as though she had been dancing all her life." he said quietly. "Arwen, I know her mother is from Minas Tirith, but who was her father?"
"We do not know." Arwen replied softly.
"I think it is time we did, however." Aragorn said, and Legolas nodded solemnly.
"It is indeed." he said. "And I will wager you anything that there is Elvish blood in her background." With that, he turned and strode out of the hall, following the route Elisandra had so recently taken. Aragorn and Arwen looked at each other after the Prince's departure, then, noticing that many Lords and Ladies were watching them, they adopted neutral faces and fell into a simple dance.
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