Chapter 30

Lilluil sipped the cool fruit juice and gazed sorrowfully at her mother. The older elven lady, although you couldn't tell, delicately created a frond down the sleeve of a shirt with her needle and thread. The slim light leaves steadily grew a faint shadow as she watched.

"It goes faster if you try to stitch, Lilluil."

With patient tolerance she bowed her head back to a weaving knotted ivy that seemed to stretch and curl before her fingers. In a moment another broad smooth leaf arched away from the vine and caught reflected a ray of the sun back at her.

"Mother…"

"Don't start Lilluil, you know it goes against the rules." Her mother reprimanded, cleanly slicing off the rest of her sentence.

"But Mother, he's the Prince Father could not find a better match!" She protested. That if anything should be able to reach her. Marriages were done for power and you couldn't get more than marrying into royalty.

"A northern Prince," her mother corrected. "I do believe at their status even the lowliest of southern elves could surpass him. Besides you're betrothed now, no more of this talk. Lord Rodariel will think you're not devoted as a wife."

She clenched her teeth and held her tongue. That solved her question if whether or not her mother could be persuaded to help her. As soon as she had stepped outside her room her father had put her under her mother's watch. There were guards outside the door! The ivy on her skirt twined around the wrist and merged back into itself, pale ivory flowers bowed their heads in defeat along the hem. Surprised, she flared their stems in a rebellious curling pattern. She had thought that just maybe, her mother would understand the situation, after all her mother's was an arranged marriage. One she hadn't particularly been willing to. But her attempts at rallying her to her cause weren't working as effectively as she had hoped. Every justification and argument had been dashed to pieces against her mother's stone hard reasoning.

However she wasn't totally without allies. Kirel had visited her almost as soon as she got back, with congratulations on her betrothal "You must be so happy" and help. One of the fire pits in the back of the forge would be free later that night with a load of steel by it. He would also keep an eye out for any unknown but not unexpected visitors. Apparently such a feat had happened before.

There were guards all over the city and the border had been restocked as well as a good number more elves being shifted from other areas to watch the north. After digesting the info he had brought she progressed onto other info. He was well, his reputation was not damaged due to her disappearance and no, he was still single.

"You should get yourself a wife Kirel, one who truly belongs to you." She scorned him.

He laughed lightly but without humor and ran a hand through his hair, "Nothing is as simple as said, Lady Lilluil."

Now Kirel was out in the city keeping watch and Vynel had disappeared as soon as her father had arrived and not been seen since. She was beginning to suspect a bit more had happened between her sister and her father since she left. They usually didn't talk to each other but not to the extent that where one completely avoided the other.

She had expected Aevonien to visit her too. Her friend and place to confide the excitable energetic elf had yet to show herself. She would visit her if she could but she was guarded to say the least. Walking across town was unheard of when getting a drink from the kitchen was out of the question. She scowled at the stitches under her fingers, the tamed short streaks of forest and deep green.

"Mother, why has Aevonien not visited yet?"

Her mother didn't even glance up from her work. "She's visiting later tonight."

Oh, good. She needed to talk to her immediately. Even through her trip north she had yet to meet someone quite like Aevonien, who was slightly smarter than her sister in the aspect that she didn't declare war on her father when they disagreed on things. Simvynel absolutely refused on some fronts, to their father's face. She was never hurt because of them though, only restricted, more and more. She glared at the flowers on the hem, pretty fragile and pointless, just like women. With renewed vigor she began embroidering the ivy up to the skirt's waist carefully sewing two layers of the fabric together to create a sheath for the sword she would be making that night.

Night didn't come fast enough, but it came all the same and when the slight draft from her open door filtered past her face she slipped out of her bed with every intention of taking out her anger on some undeserving piece of metal. However when Simvynel smiled she knew something else was up, she crept across the hall into her sister's room, the sword would have to wait until later.

The memories invoked by her sister's room were overwhelmed by the memories invoked by the person who was grumpily sitting on her sister's neatly made bed.

"Legolas?" She stammered. He stood slowly. Almost ethereal in the faint light that reflected off the sea to shimmering endlessly against the ceiling. The same iridescence surrounded him until he seemed almost as divine as the powers the north claimed formed the bond. She crushed him in her arms, disregarding her sister's presence and perhaps even her father's in the house. He was here! That was quick.

"How did you get here?" She finally asked into his tunic.

"On foot, with help. Iiten and the others were captured. Fathiel and I were the only ones to make it to the city." Her brows furrowed and she spotted another elf, dressed northern style in the corner, grinning. She hid her face, and more importantly the embarrassment it would reveal.

"What now?"

"Now? We go north again." He answered plainly.

"I do hate to burst your bubble but how…" Simvynel spun to face the door and then jerked her out of Legolas's grasp and thrust her across the hallway into her own room, nearly slamming the door shut behind her. She stood in shock for a moment and then started towards the door to ask what it had all been about. It swung open in front of her, omitting her father, Luineroth. He stepped in without asking and shut the door behind him.

"Sit."

Meekly she folded her skirt against her and sank to the bed. She folded her hands in her lap and waited to be told whatever it was he wanted to tell her.

"You are to be married in six days to Giesran Rodarial, he is the nephew of the King I'm sure you know. You will be expected to act courteously and proper. Your time in the north is irrelevant your manners should not be any less…"

Simvynel watched Legolas carefully, particularly his right hand which was rubbing the hilt of one of his daggers that sat unsheathed in his hands. Fathiel also lurked cautiously next to where he sat on the bed.

"That is all."

Lilluil bit back the sigh until after her father could be heard downstairs quietly discussing something with her mother. She crossed to the door and walked into the tense room. Legolas slipped his knife away, whatever he had been doing with it finished and stood to embrace her. After a moment though, Vynel pulled them apart and pushed them towards the bed.

"Sit, we need to plan escape not fantasize, even if it's less interesting." She commanded. Seating herself in a hanging swing that was dangling from the ceiling she sent them a look that would crack stone. "First of all is your entire group, whatever possessed you to bring them all I don't know but they're in the sea caves. Second is getting you all out of the country and third is soothing the war that might break out. We'll also need to sharpen your knives while we're here. That's duller than what we use in the kitchens."

Legolas looked incredulous.

Vynel rolled her eyes. "Sea caves, there's a constant watch split four ways, the main entrance is heavily guarded thanks to the recent reports of northies in the area…" she shot a glance at the two. "However the sea exit entrance which is barred is well, only barred. Since bars don't stand too well against sword strikes from our weaponsmith's works that's an easy problem to solve. I hope the lot of you can swim because the easiest way back north is straight upstream. No tracks no trackers. Any questions?"

"Yes," Legolas spoke up, "what about Lilluil?"

Lilluil shrugged. "I could get out much easier than you, I know the terrain. Once you're out it'll be an easy matter to slip out in the unwatched direction, we've got six days after all."

"Five now." Vynel corrected bending to watch the sun slant through the window. "But she's right, getting her out will be substantially easier. Planning done, let's sleep. We've got three hours left Lilluil goes back to her room and the two of you…"

Lilluil noted with intense amusement Legolas's determined expression. "He can stay with me Vynel, we've missed each other…" she told her smiling slightly.

"Fine, stay in my room though, if we should be intruded on they won't know at first glance and it no one cares if there's an extra elf in my room." With a sigh her sister swept through their doors, Fathiel cheerfully following her. "We wouldn't want to disturb them now would we?" The doors shut with soft clicks and he turned to look at her again.

"You're exactly the same." He whispered.

She blinked and smiled. "How much could I have changed in…"

"Four days."

Four days? She must have been unconscious for an entire day! "Four days…" she echoed softly. "It's not a long period of time…"

He grinned knowingly. "You changed a lot in three weeks. From completely refusing to believe to acknowledging and accepting. I wasn't sure what going back would do to you." He fell upon her, holding her tightly his head buried in the veil of her hair. Lying on her back she held him, reassuringly stroking his back. After a few silent moments they scooted up until they were completely on the bed and slept.