Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
Authors Note: Well, colour me surprised. It's reached the same number of chapters as 'Sightseeing in Middle-Earth'...
To answer jeffiner1127's question, since she didn't leave an email, Elisandra hasn't turned completely Elf. Her elvish heritage is simply showing more...until she decides whether she wants to be elf or human, she'll still have some attributes of both. That's what I'm assuming happened with Elrond and Elros, and will continue to assume so unless I reach that part in the Silmarillion and find out otherwise...
Ever notice that Elrond's family seems to have an infestation of male names starting with 'El'? Elrond, Elros, Elrohir, Elladan...Eldarion. O.o Rather creepy, if you think about it...
Anyways, as a side note, I just discovered YESTERDAY that I'm going on vacation for a week starting tommorrow. Parents give incredible ammounts of warning, don't they? So this will probably be the last chapter I post before going away, unless I get a writing bug and write like crazy.
------------------------------
-No Eyes Needed-
------------------------------
-Chapter XXVII-
-Never Mess With Elisandra-
------------------------------
When Elisandra finally felt well - and energetic - enough to get out of bed, she quickly found that her stomach was agreeing with Legolas' previous idea of breakfast. So she put on some clothes, neatened her hair, then headed for the kitchens, having no idea what time it was and knowing the kitchens were the surest place to find a meal at any time of the day. At the kitchens, she found Árahen, and managed to get a meal out of her.
"That was wonderful, I thank you." Elisandra said to Árahen with a smile once she finished. Árahen returned Elisandra's thanks with a smile and a nod.
"It was no trouble. Lunch is not long past, and not many showed up to eat it when it happened. There is plenty of food waiting to be eaten." Árahen replied. Elisandra arched an eyebrow at that.
"I thought I was the only one here to suffer from last night." she said, and Árahen chuckled.
"Aye, you are. But you also retired earlier than most - the bonfire was only put out when the sky began to lighten, and some did not go to bed until the sun was fully up in the sky." Árahen said, and then sighed almost dejectedly. "I, poor wretch that I am, had kitchen duty this morning and was one of the few that had to retire early."
"I'm sure you will have many chances to join in a bonfire later." Elisandra said dryly.
"True enough!" Árahen said brightly, her false sorrow discarded even quicker than it had been summoned. "But now, m'Lady, I am afraid I need return to my duties, else I be forced to do kitchen duty next bonfire as punishment for neglect."
"Then I shall leave you to it. Before you go, however, pray tell me if you have seen Legolas this morning?" Elisandra asked as she rose from the stool she had sat on to eat her meal.
"Aye, I have." Árahen said, suddenly grinning. There was a sparkle in her eyes that made Elisandra dread the worst. A dread that was soon confirmed as Árahen added, "All of Rivendell has seen him."
"Where?" Elisandra asked cautiously. Árahen pretended to be thoughtful for a moment before answering.
"The majority saw him first when he was brought through the corridors early this morning, but the remainder saw him later as he sped down the river." she said.
"WHAT?!" Árahen grinned at Elisandra's shocked face.
"Oh, he was in a boat, child. Blindfolded and bound, true enough, but in a boat nonetheless." Árahen said. Elisandra stared dumbly at the Elf for a few moments.
"Who -" she started to ask, but her mind made the connection before she could finish the question, the memory of Elladan and Elrohir suddenly coming upon her and Legolas as they were dancing the night before suddenly coming to the forefront of her mind.
"I am going to kill those two." Elisandra said, her eyes narrowing, and she whirled and stalked towards the door.
"Might as well get all three while you're at it!" Árahen called after Elisandra as she went, and Elisandra didn't even have to stop to ask who the other one was. Of those six in Rivendell that knew her well enough react in such a way, three already knew and had accepted it readily enough. Though with some hostility, on Gimli's part. So Elisandra stalked through the halls of Rivendell, and didn't even pause to knock on her uncles study door when she reached it.
To say that the four residing in the study were surprised would be an outright lie. They had expected her all morning, and the only surprise they felt was at how long she had taken to come. Instead, for three of them, upon seeing Elisandra's face, their surprise was replaced by a nervous fear. Elladan and Elrohir, particularly, feared Elisandra at that point, for the last time they had seen that look on a female, it was on their sister, not long after they had let slip to their father about her and Aragorn's relationship. The two twins considered bolting, much as Legolas had earlier that morning, but one look at their grandfather standing smugly between them and the only other exit in the room and they knew they would not get far.
"Good morning, Elisandra!" Celeborn was the first to break the tense silence, and to the extreme relief of Elrohir, Elladan and Aragorn, Elisandra turned her gaze to him.
"It is not still morning, and even if it were, my morning has been anything but good." she said icily. She held Celeborn's gaze for a short while, and then he chuckled slightly, and she returned her gaze to the three she was truly interested in. To their great worry, she seemed to visibly calm before their eyes.
"I heard some interesting tales in the kitchens today when I went to eat." she said smoothly. The twins looked at each other, and then looked at Aragorn, silently telling him that they weren't going to respond, so he darn well better.
"There are often many interesting tales heard in the kitchen." Aragorn said carefully.
"Yes, and also many pieces of news of goings on in Rivendell." Elisandra replied, still so calm that one seeing her who had not seen her anger a moment before would assume she was carrying on a normal conversation. Aragorn, Elladan and Elrohir did not trust that calm exterior, but they knew she would only explode all the worse if they so much as thought about changing the subject.
"There are indeed." Elladan said.
"Do you know what most interesting piece of news I heard today when I went down to the kitchens to eat?" Elisandra asked casually, strolling over to the desk behind which Elladan sat. She absently glanced at the papers as she waited for an answer, but all in the room knew that her whole attention was focused on the twins and Aragorn.
"I could not imagine what you could have heard." Elrohir replied, his voice shaking slightly at the end. Unlike his brother, he had not managed to escape his sister's wrath those many years ago. Arwen still had but to remind him of that incident to get him to do what she wanted.
"I am sure you could imagine what I heard. Indeed, it concerned you, so I have no doubt you could imagine it." Elisandra said, the fire of her anger suddenly returning to her eyes as she whirled to give her foster uncle a hard stare.
"It concerned me? Why, whatever did you hear?" Elrohir asked, his voice little more than a squeak. At the edge of his senses, he could have sworn he heard a snigger, but he ignored it.
"I heard that you, your brother, and my foster father had been seen escorting a certain Elven prince to the docks. That certain Elven prince was later seen coasting down the river in a boat, bound and blindfolded." Elisandra replied, her voice growing in anger as she pieced together what she knew must have happened in her mind.
"Ah, then you are a cruel victim of kitchen gossip. We went no where near the docks." Elladan said cheerfully, and then shrunk back into his chair as Elisandra's gaze turned to him.
"Really." she said flatly. "Then I suppose you had a boat hidden farther upstream?" Elladan didn't reply until Elisandra arched an eyebrow, then he nodded vigorously.
"Well then." Elisandra said after a moment, turning and surveying the other occupants of the room. Her gaze finally settled on Celeborn, and after a moment, her eyes flicked to his blue hair, then the twins and Aragorn before returning to meet Celeborn's eyes. He, in turn, arched a questioning eyebrow, and Elisandra's barely perceptible nod was all he needed before he grinned wolfishly. Elladan and Elrohir, seeing the exchange and knowing that a pact had been formed, were out of their seats and bolting for the door Elisandra had left unguarded even as Celeborn's grin finished forming. Aragorn was only seconds behind.
---
It was not until evening, several hours before sunset, that Legolas returned, soaked and annoyed. He wasn't really annoyed at being bound, blindfolded, put in a boat, and told to make it back by sunset or Elladan, Elrohir and Aragorn would not leave him alone with Elisandra for as long as they lived. No, he was more annoyed at the fact that they hadn't let him eat before he did it. He was always up for a challenge, and they had certainly provided one, but he would have liked to approach it with a full stomach. With a snort, Legolas told himself he needed to stop spending so much time with dwarves and hobbits.
Try as he might, however, Legolas could not summon an ounce of even annoyance, let alone anger, at Elladan, Elrohir or Aragorn. It was just as well, he realized, as he walked to his room. His keen hearing caught a few snatches of whispered conversations between the elves he passed, and it was enough to let him know that something had happened while he was gone. Something involving Lord Celeborn, Elisandra, Elladan, Elrohir and Aragorn. He absently wondered what it was as he entered his room, and then discovered he need not wonder much longer, as Elisandra was waiting in his main room, sitting by the window reading, a plate of food beside her.
"I heard you never made it to the kitchens this morning." Elisandra said, looking up from her book as Legolas eyed the food. He nodded, then quickly strode over to where the food was and wolfed down a few bites to quiet his stomach. He disappeared into his bedchamber and came out with some dry clothes, which he put on a chair, then ate a few more bites before he spoke.
"Tell me what happened." Legolas said, and Elisandra grinned as she put down her book.
"We threw them in the river, for one." she said as Legolas stripped off his wet tunic. She paused then, letting her eyes wander of Legolas' chest as he ate a few more bites, then pouted slightly and continued when Legolas put on the dry tunic he had just retrieved from his bedroom. Legolas, noticing Elisandra's distraction, grinned. "Of course, they were in nothing but their underclothes at the time. And while they were still trying to get out - we had tied all their legs together rather securely - their entire wardrobes mysteriously went missing." Legolas chuckled as he changed into dry leggings, pausing every now and then to eat some food. Elisandra, momentarily distracted by his changing, started up again after he got his new leggings on. "After that, they discovered a patch of previously unknown thorny bushes on the northern side of Rivendell, which, to everyone's utter surprise, contained three chests with their clothes in it." Elisandra was smirking as she finished.
"And Lord Celeborn helped you with all of that?" Legolas asked in surprise, now sitting by Elisandra and just finishing off the plate of food.
"Yes. I'm going to have to help him get back at Haldir - who Celeborn, amazingly enough, still hasn't managed to catch for turning his hair blue - but it will be worth it." Elisandra replied cheerily.
"You are going to help Celeborn get back at Haldir? How?" Legolas asked. "And is that not slightly dangerous, as he IS your father?"
"Oh, I'll explain it to him." Elisandra replied dismissively. Legolas arched an eyebrow.
"Somehow I do not think that will make it any safer." he said.
"Then I shall hide behind you." Elisandra said without a pause. Legolas sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I knew I was going to get pulled in somewhere." he said.
"Actually, you already have been." Elisandra said with a grin, nodding towards Legolas' soaking clothes.
"That is from jumping in." Legolas replied.
"You jumped in?" Elisandra asked with an arched eyebrow.
"Well, they did not deign to leave me a paddle." Legolas replied, rolling his eyes. "So I had to swim back to shore."
"The more I hear, the more I wish they had waited until I could watch." Elisandra mumbled.
"Now I see your true feelings!" Legolas cried in mock hurt, and then started tickling Elisandra. Within moments, they were in a full-fledged tickle fight, which rapidly turned into a full-fledged make-out session, which resulted in their clothes also going missing and them ending out on Legolas' bed.
\/---Reviews are nice! So press the button and review!---\/
Authors Note: Well, colour me surprised. It's reached the same number of chapters as 'Sightseeing in Middle-Earth'...
To answer jeffiner1127's question, since she didn't leave an email, Elisandra hasn't turned completely Elf. Her elvish heritage is simply showing more...until she decides whether she wants to be elf or human, she'll still have some attributes of both. That's what I'm assuming happened with Elrond and Elros, and will continue to assume so unless I reach that part in the Silmarillion and find out otherwise...
Ever notice that Elrond's family seems to have an infestation of male names starting with 'El'? Elrond, Elros, Elrohir, Elladan...Eldarion. O.o Rather creepy, if you think about it...
Anyways, as a side note, I just discovered YESTERDAY that I'm going on vacation for a week starting tommorrow. Parents give incredible ammounts of warning, don't they? So this will probably be the last chapter I post before going away, unless I get a writing bug and write like crazy.
------------------------------
-No Eyes Needed-
------------------------------
-Chapter XXVII-
-Never Mess With Elisandra-
------------------------------
When Elisandra finally felt well - and energetic - enough to get out of bed, she quickly found that her stomach was agreeing with Legolas' previous idea of breakfast. So she put on some clothes, neatened her hair, then headed for the kitchens, having no idea what time it was and knowing the kitchens were the surest place to find a meal at any time of the day. At the kitchens, she found Árahen, and managed to get a meal out of her.
"That was wonderful, I thank you." Elisandra said to Árahen with a smile once she finished. Árahen returned Elisandra's thanks with a smile and a nod.
"It was no trouble. Lunch is not long past, and not many showed up to eat it when it happened. There is plenty of food waiting to be eaten." Árahen replied. Elisandra arched an eyebrow at that.
"I thought I was the only one here to suffer from last night." she said, and Árahen chuckled.
"Aye, you are. But you also retired earlier than most - the bonfire was only put out when the sky began to lighten, and some did not go to bed until the sun was fully up in the sky." Árahen said, and then sighed almost dejectedly. "I, poor wretch that I am, had kitchen duty this morning and was one of the few that had to retire early."
"I'm sure you will have many chances to join in a bonfire later." Elisandra said dryly.
"True enough!" Árahen said brightly, her false sorrow discarded even quicker than it had been summoned. "But now, m'Lady, I am afraid I need return to my duties, else I be forced to do kitchen duty next bonfire as punishment for neglect."
"Then I shall leave you to it. Before you go, however, pray tell me if you have seen Legolas this morning?" Elisandra asked as she rose from the stool she had sat on to eat her meal.
"Aye, I have." Árahen said, suddenly grinning. There was a sparkle in her eyes that made Elisandra dread the worst. A dread that was soon confirmed as Árahen added, "All of Rivendell has seen him."
"Where?" Elisandra asked cautiously. Árahen pretended to be thoughtful for a moment before answering.
"The majority saw him first when he was brought through the corridors early this morning, but the remainder saw him later as he sped down the river." she said.
"WHAT?!" Árahen grinned at Elisandra's shocked face.
"Oh, he was in a boat, child. Blindfolded and bound, true enough, but in a boat nonetheless." Árahen said. Elisandra stared dumbly at the Elf for a few moments.
"Who -" she started to ask, but her mind made the connection before she could finish the question, the memory of Elladan and Elrohir suddenly coming upon her and Legolas as they were dancing the night before suddenly coming to the forefront of her mind.
"I am going to kill those two." Elisandra said, her eyes narrowing, and she whirled and stalked towards the door.
"Might as well get all three while you're at it!" Árahen called after Elisandra as she went, and Elisandra didn't even have to stop to ask who the other one was. Of those six in Rivendell that knew her well enough react in such a way, three already knew and had accepted it readily enough. Though with some hostility, on Gimli's part. So Elisandra stalked through the halls of Rivendell, and didn't even pause to knock on her uncles study door when she reached it.
To say that the four residing in the study were surprised would be an outright lie. They had expected her all morning, and the only surprise they felt was at how long she had taken to come. Instead, for three of them, upon seeing Elisandra's face, their surprise was replaced by a nervous fear. Elladan and Elrohir, particularly, feared Elisandra at that point, for the last time they had seen that look on a female, it was on their sister, not long after they had let slip to their father about her and Aragorn's relationship. The two twins considered bolting, much as Legolas had earlier that morning, but one look at their grandfather standing smugly between them and the only other exit in the room and they knew they would not get far.
"Good morning, Elisandra!" Celeborn was the first to break the tense silence, and to the extreme relief of Elrohir, Elladan and Aragorn, Elisandra turned her gaze to him.
"It is not still morning, and even if it were, my morning has been anything but good." she said icily. She held Celeborn's gaze for a short while, and then he chuckled slightly, and she returned her gaze to the three she was truly interested in. To their great worry, she seemed to visibly calm before their eyes.
"I heard some interesting tales in the kitchens today when I went to eat." she said smoothly. The twins looked at each other, and then looked at Aragorn, silently telling him that they weren't going to respond, so he darn well better.
"There are often many interesting tales heard in the kitchen." Aragorn said carefully.
"Yes, and also many pieces of news of goings on in Rivendell." Elisandra replied, still so calm that one seeing her who had not seen her anger a moment before would assume she was carrying on a normal conversation. Aragorn, Elladan and Elrohir did not trust that calm exterior, but they knew she would only explode all the worse if they so much as thought about changing the subject.
"There are indeed." Elladan said.
"Do you know what most interesting piece of news I heard today when I went down to the kitchens to eat?" Elisandra asked casually, strolling over to the desk behind which Elladan sat. She absently glanced at the papers as she waited for an answer, but all in the room knew that her whole attention was focused on the twins and Aragorn.
"I could not imagine what you could have heard." Elrohir replied, his voice shaking slightly at the end. Unlike his brother, he had not managed to escape his sister's wrath those many years ago. Arwen still had but to remind him of that incident to get him to do what she wanted.
"I am sure you could imagine what I heard. Indeed, it concerned you, so I have no doubt you could imagine it." Elisandra said, the fire of her anger suddenly returning to her eyes as she whirled to give her foster uncle a hard stare.
"It concerned me? Why, whatever did you hear?" Elrohir asked, his voice little more than a squeak. At the edge of his senses, he could have sworn he heard a snigger, but he ignored it.
"I heard that you, your brother, and my foster father had been seen escorting a certain Elven prince to the docks. That certain Elven prince was later seen coasting down the river in a boat, bound and blindfolded." Elisandra replied, her voice growing in anger as she pieced together what she knew must have happened in her mind.
"Ah, then you are a cruel victim of kitchen gossip. We went no where near the docks." Elladan said cheerfully, and then shrunk back into his chair as Elisandra's gaze turned to him.
"Really." she said flatly. "Then I suppose you had a boat hidden farther upstream?" Elladan didn't reply until Elisandra arched an eyebrow, then he nodded vigorously.
"Well then." Elisandra said after a moment, turning and surveying the other occupants of the room. Her gaze finally settled on Celeborn, and after a moment, her eyes flicked to his blue hair, then the twins and Aragorn before returning to meet Celeborn's eyes. He, in turn, arched a questioning eyebrow, and Elisandra's barely perceptible nod was all he needed before he grinned wolfishly. Elladan and Elrohir, seeing the exchange and knowing that a pact had been formed, were out of their seats and bolting for the door Elisandra had left unguarded even as Celeborn's grin finished forming. Aragorn was only seconds behind.
---
It was not until evening, several hours before sunset, that Legolas returned, soaked and annoyed. He wasn't really annoyed at being bound, blindfolded, put in a boat, and told to make it back by sunset or Elladan, Elrohir and Aragorn would not leave him alone with Elisandra for as long as they lived. No, he was more annoyed at the fact that they hadn't let him eat before he did it. He was always up for a challenge, and they had certainly provided one, but he would have liked to approach it with a full stomach. With a snort, Legolas told himself he needed to stop spending so much time with dwarves and hobbits.
Try as he might, however, Legolas could not summon an ounce of even annoyance, let alone anger, at Elladan, Elrohir or Aragorn. It was just as well, he realized, as he walked to his room. His keen hearing caught a few snatches of whispered conversations between the elves he passed, and it was enough to let him know that something had happened while he was gone. Something involving Lord Celeborn, Elisandra, Elladan, Elrohir and Aragorn. He absently wondered what it was as he entered his room, and then discovered he need not wonder much longer, as Elisandra was waiting in his main room, sitting by the window reading, a plate of food beside her.
"I heard you never made it to the kitchens this morning." Elisandra said, looking up from her book as Legolas eyed the food. He nodded, then quickly strode over to where the food was and wolfed down a few bites to quiet his stomach. He disappeared into his bedchamber and came out with some dry clothes, which he put on a chair, then ate a few more bites before he spoke.
"Tell me what happened." Legolas said, and Elisandra grinned as she put down her book.
"We threw them in the river, for one." she said as Legolas stripped off his wet tunic. She paused then, letting her eyes wander of Legolas' chest as he ate a few more bites, then pouted slightly and continued when Legolas put on the dry tunic he had just retrieved from his bedroom. Legolas, noticing Elisandra's distraction, grinned. "Of course, they were in nothing but their underclothes at the time. And while they were still trying to get out - we had tied all their legs together rather securely - their entire wardrobes mysteriously went missing." Legolas chuckled as he changed into dry leggings, pausing every now and then to eat some food. Elisandra, momentarily distracted by his changing, started up again after he got his new leggings on. "After that, they discovered a patch of previously unknown thorny bushes on the northern side of Rivendell, which, to everyone's utter surprise, contained three chests with their clothes in it." Elisandra was smirking as she finished.
"And Lord Celeborn helped you with all of that?" Legolas asked in surprise, now sitting by Elisandra and just finishing off the plate of food.
"Yes. I'm going to have to help him get back at Haldir - who Celeborn, amazingly enough, still hasn't managed to catch for turning his hair blue - but it will be worth it." Elisandra replied cheerily.
"You are going to help Celeborn get back at Haldir? How?" Legolas asked. "And is that not slightly dangerous, as he IS your father?"
"Oh, I'll explain it to him." Elisandra replied dismissively. Legolas arched an eyebrow.
"Somehow I do not think that will make it any safer." he said.
"Then I shall hide behind you." Elisandra said without a pause. Legolas sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I knew I was going to get pulled in somewhere." he said.
"Actually, you already have been." Elisandra said with a grin, nodding towards Legolas' soaking clothes.
"That is from jumping in." Legolas replied.
"You jumped in?" Elisandra asked with an arched eyebrow.
"Well, they did not deign to leave me a paddle." Legolas replied, rolling his eyes. "So I had to swim back to shore."
"The more I hear, the more I wish they had waited until I could watch." Elisandra mumbled.
"Now I see your true feelings!" Legolas cried in mock hurt, and then started tickling Elisandra. Within moments, they were in a full-fledged tickle fight, which rapidly turned into a full-fledged make-out session, which resulted in their clothes also going missing and them ending out on Legolas' bed.
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