YIKES!!!! I made a HUGE mistake. I accidentally posted the next chapter
in the series. By mistake, you got the unfinished chapter that was
supposed to come after this one. If it didn't make any sense before, that
is the reason why. I am going to fix it though, so here you are:
Thanx to my reviewers so much, and since I'm such a selfish person and I get kicks while opening my inbox and seeing a new review, I will once more ask you to please REVIEW! Now that that's over with, I go to commemorate my faithful readers:
Me: thanx for liking my story so much. I definitely will keep writing if you keep reviewing. (I know it bugs, but hey, I didn't make up these rules) Thanx
If you want to have your name in my story, please review!!!
That's the Way Life Goes
Chapter four: This is Now.
Six years and 365 days later...
Practically skipping down the lane, Arianna hummed to herself in pure joy. Nothing could prevent her from having the best day of her life. It had been several years since the occurrence when everyone forgot her birthday, and she and her mother had gotten on better terms with her mother after that. They had cleared all misconceptions up, but life was still rough for a while. Her mother had even stopped talking to her for nearly three weeks. They all finally got over it and they were closer than ever. Arianna also began making more friends. It seemed that everyone had thought her aloof, and too perfect to be a good friend before, but someone had put in a good word for her, and suddenly everyone flocked to be her friend. Unfortunately, there were several people never became Arianna's friends. The prince and his pigeons were included in this minority. Arianna held nothing but contempt for them all, and they for her. Only so often did one venture out to speak with Arianna. Most of them were females who were angered at the amount of attention that was 'wasted' on her by the prince. They failed to acknowledge the fact that the attention the prince displayed on her was negative. However, this negativity was shown only when someone was near. However, if there was only the prince and Arianna in the room, the prince was as sweet as candy, and as soft as butter.
The prince had now become a young man and was learning, under his father's wing, how to govern a country. If his father were unavailable for any reason, Boromir's would take his place. Most evenings, he and his father and/or Boromir would spend hours pouring over various documents and articles in the library. Since she was ten, Arianna had spent most of her life among the various tomes. She had become a master of the library, and knew of nearly every book that was within its walls. That was the reason for why she was chosen to help the prince in his learning. Everyday, she would journey down to the great hall at noon, ask the King about the lesson for the day, then go to the library and prepare. She would gather all the books necessary and place them in a room at the end of the library. No longer was the library dark and forbidding, but was now bright and colorful. It attracted more than just the usual bookworms and accommodated more then forty people at one time. The increase in customers was largely due to the redecorating done by Arianna.
More and more people became regulars as they learned of the appeal of the written word and every day their number increased. Then one day, the prince began walking through the doors.
No one, Arianna least of all, could fathom what had driven the prince to retire from his continuous life of freedoms and enter the dark entrapment of the library. Of course, no one knew of its redecoration at that time. The first person, in fact, to see the redecorations was the prince. The prince spread the word, and from person to person, it went on until the point where just about everyone knew.
There were many suppositions about why the prince would become a regular at the library, and they all revolved around Arianna. Some believed that he had begun going to the library to continue harassing her. Others, most of whom were female, believed that Arianna had cast a spell over the prince, forcing him to go into the dreadful place known as the library.
The truth however was nowhere near the suspicions, or what one might call rumors. The truth was that the prince had obligations. He was steadily realizing his responsibilities towards his kingdom.
It was becoming increasingly important for him to learn how to govern a country, if his father was to give the throne to him one day, so he would be able to do so.
Therefore, a room was set-aside in order for him to study undisturbed. When his father learned of his actions, he decided to help his son out and teach him all he needed to know, from ruling a country, to being a good husband. Why exactly his father was teaching him to be a good husband, he did not know. However, he knew that he ought to listen up, or he might miss something that could save him a lot of pain when he was older.
For example, one time was when his father was talking to him about being giving gifts. He learned that if one is to give a gift to a woman, one must never give anything to do with housework. If a woman asks for a gift in particular, one must give another gift as well as that one in order to show that one has not taken the easy way out. The prince supposed that these lessons were important because everyday, he saw one of his friends mess up with women for giving them the wrong gift. It was all very funny until it happened to you.
The Prince would go to the room every day at noon, after spending time with his friends, and study. He would spend hours in that room. With windows overlooking the courtyard and gardens, he would study in the sunlight until an hour before his father and Boromir would recommence teaching. Then, he would rest outside on the balcony over looking the courtyard. Sometimes he would sleep, sometimes just watch the scenery, and sometimes he would daydream.
When he was studying before his break, though, he permitted no one to come in. No one, that is, except for Arianna who had to bring in books for the upcoming lesson. On this particular day, the Prince was deeply engrossed in his book on the history of the Stewards of Gondor. (While he thought that general history was boring, history of his 'uncle' Boromir was quite enthralling to him.) Arianna was in a rush. Because she had been quite busy helping the other librarians to check out books on the exceptionally busy day, she didn't have much time to do anything and her schedule was messed up. She was running all over the place, trying to finish everything. Then, because she was in such a hurry, she forgot to knock on the door before entering when she brought the first stack of books for the lessons.
The prince had a very specific rule. You must always knock before entering his room. If you do not, he has the right to assume you are a threat, and attack you. And so, as soon as she swung open the door, she heard quick footsteps and felt the point of a sword at her neck. She gasped, and swallowed thickly. Licking her lips in unease, she took her eyes off the sword and they met with two silver ones.
They looked at her with slight fury. She took a deep breath, looked down away, and then met those eyes again coolly. "Would you mind removing your sword," she asked calmly. Prince Eldarion's eyes smiled mischievously.
"First, you must knock," he responded with the same amount of calm. He stared her down. "Knock, then I will let you in."
Arianna looked around in exasperation. "I haven't the time, Prince Eldarion. Please, let me finish my task," she pleaded.
"No," was his only response.
Looking around, she said, "fine, I will knock, but only if you remove the sword."
"No."
She stared him in the eye. "No you won't remove your sword, or you won't let me knock, because I thought that was the point."
A group of females chose that exact moment to pass by, giggling hard and blushing furiously. "Oh, look Prince, your admirers have arrived. I see that they have chosen this particular moment, when your door is open, to pass by. What a coincidence."
The prince smiled slyly and responded suavely, "I thought you didn't believe in coincidence."
She answered him evenly, "I don't."
One of the braver females ventured closer to look at the prince, and asked curiously, "is everything alright over there?" Her voice had a suspicious tone as she asked, "what are you doing?"
The prince answered her carefully, "I'm just inspecting intruders. Would you care to join me in my inspection?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. It was a cheesy way to flirt, but it worked.
The maiden giggled and looked back at her friends with an expression that said, "I knew I would get him." She stepped forward to join the prince.
On a side, Arianna whispered to the prince, "you just won't miss your chance to flirt, will you?"
He grinned at her infuriatingly, "jealous?"
She made a face and said, "hah! Never. You can only wish." He just grinned knowingly, irritating her.
The maiden came closer, and the prince began talking with her. Arianna used that as an advantage, and moved out of sword range. She spun around and faced the giggling women.
The one who was steadily, but surely approaching gasped in horror and shrieked, "you!"
Arianna raised her eyebrows and said sarcastically, "me! Any problems?"
The maiden stuttered, "you're the one who casts spells on the prince and spends hours with him in his room!"
"Excuse me!?!!" Arianna growled. "And where, might I ask, did you get that idea?"
The maiden was looking at her in contempt. "Saranine. She says that you couldn't get the prince to come within twenty feet of you without some kind of spell."
Arianna rolled her eyes. "I would respond to that with some kind of sarcastic remark, but that would drop me to your level. That is something I am sorely against. So, if you will excuse me, I have better things to do than discuss these things with you," and she stalked away into the room.
The worst fears of the maidens' were confirmed as the prince followed her into the room and closed the door behind him. They stared in complete shock as they realized that the prince was not coming back.
Prince Eldarion walked behind Arianna as she stacked books on top of each other, shuffled paper, and set up the desks entirely. He was laughing so hard that Arianna wondered when he would explode. She voiced this concern and only made him laugh harder.
In the middle of replacing "The Origins of Gondor" with "The Line of Kings", she looked up at the nearly hysterical prince. He was practically rolling on the ground with his laughter.
She thought about how good he looked when he laughed. His black hair matched perfect with his lightly tan skin. His laugh was light, and merry. It was so joyous that she felt like laughing herself. She found herself smiling, and staring into thin air.
Unawares to her, Prince Eldarion had come up behind her and stood quite close. She only realized this when she felt his breath on her back and heard him whisper, "your hair smells like flowers."
She rolled her eyes playfully, but shrieked suddenly when he poked her in the stomach. The only place where she was ticklish was her stomach. If anyone ever even touched her very lightly, she would burst out laughing. Or, in this case, shriek.
She gasped for air, as she spun around. "Don't do that," she cried. "I hate it when people do that."
The prince grinned in response. "Then don't force me to."
Arianna's eyebrows rose. "I forced you? How?"
The prince shrugged. "I don't know. Look it up in your spell book. I didn't realize that was the reason you spent time with me. Perhaps I should watch my things more carefully. Maybe you are doing voodoo spells. I seem to have lost my-"
Arianna snorted, "me, me, I, I, me, I, me, I, me. It's all about you, isn't it?" Arianna leaned back against the table. "You really need to practice. Perhaps I should recommend it to the King."
Prince Eldarion frowned. "Recommend what?"
Arianna looked at him innocently, "recommend humility lessons. The ones on history and former kings are going quite smoothly. Perhaps we should move on to 'how to be humble', and maybe 'kindness is a virtue'," she stated sarcastically.
The prince growled and advanced on her. His advantage in height allowed him to tower over her. She stared up at him as he came closer up to the point where her eyes were right at the bridge of his nose.
He looked down at her to see that there was just enough room between them for air to pass through. Deciding to destroy any means of passage between them, he took a tiny step closer.
Arianna stared into Prince Eldarion's fiery eyes. The silver orbs penetrated her thoughts, and she could no longer think of anything but him.
The prince smiled slightly as practically heard her thoughts trail off while looking at him. I have that kind of effect on people, he thought. He began slowly moving his face downwards and getting closer to hers while she began tilting her face up. His eyes had the look of a hunter who knew he had caught his prey.
Frowning, he took a step away from her. He looked down in shock to see a dagger pointed at his stomach. He looked at her in confusion and saw her looking at him with an expression of amusement.
"Don't tell me you actually thought that I would let you kiss me?" she asked dryly. When he didn't answer, she laughed shortly. "Please tell me that you are jesting. I don't believe it. That's quite a laugh."
"Actually, I though you-"
"You thought I was enjoying it, didn't you?" she asked slowly as she raised herself and sat on the table. He nodded. "Well, everyone thinks I enjoy it. The only part that I really enjoy is the part where they are surprised to find my handy little dagger pointing at them."
He gave a short laugh, "I'm sure that must break many hearts."
Arianna raised an eyebrow. "That is not of my concern. All that matters to me is that egotistical men realize that the way to get a lady is not to overpower them, because it will certainly not work with me."
"Ahem," a voice said from near the door. Arianna and the Prince's heads swiveled around at the same time to look at the two people near the door. Arianna jumped off the table quickly as she realized that her father and the King were standing at the door with amused looks.
Boromir, Steward of Gondor, walked slowly towards the two as the prince stepped away from Arianna suddenly. The King smirked as he saw the uncomfortable look on the prince's face. "Hello, father," Arianna said smoothly as though nothing had happened.
The Steward looked from Arianna to the prince. "What was going on between you two?" he asked suspiciously.
Arianna threw back her head and laughed, "father, why do you ask when you already know?"
Her father raised his eyebrows. "I just wanted to see your side of the story," he responded flatly. Arianna smiled knowingly.
"What? Do you mean that our fathers were standing there, watching me try and kiss you and you never said anything?!?" Prince Eldarion cried feeling scandalized. Arianna smiled sweetly at him and he gaped with his mouth wide open. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Well, for several reasons. One, because I wanted to see what you would do if someone wasn't around. Two, I wanted to see your expression when you found out that they were there. Three, you should have known anyways. You keep boasting about the fact that you are half elven, but if you don't use your elven abilities, then you have nothing to boast about," she responded matter-of-factly.
The prince glared at her. "Arrogant, aren't you? What made you so sure that I was going to do anything if someone wasn't around?" he asked in a dubious tone. "Huh? Answer that."
Arianna rolled her eyes, and the two fathers were forgotten, to their amusement. They watched in enjoyment as the two children argued with each other. They nodded at each other knowingly.
"I don't have to answer that. It answers itself," she scoffed. "Unless I am mistaken, you did try something with me." She looked at him pointedly.
He took a deep breath, irritated. "That means that you lied."
She looked at him oddly. "Huh?"
"You said that you wanted to see what I would do, but you couldn't have wanted to see that if you didn't know what you were going to see. Common sense," he crowed.
Arianna smirked and shook her head. "You are more dense than I thought." He looked at her, affronted. "That made no sense whatsoever. Either way," she began, changing the topic, "I have to go. Mother wants to continue my Lady Lessons. Today is the special day. I am being tested, and that is why I cannot remain here for your lessons."
Prince Eldarion nodded, understandingly. The Lady Lessons were for Arianna. While the prince was training to become a King, Arianna trained to be a perfect lady. Her mother was training her, and she was forced to spend an incredible amount of time in those lessons.
She would be trained in the art of dress, dancing, talking, walking, and eating. You name it she was learning it. The only problem was that she didn't want these lessons.
She sighed, forlornly. "And off I go. Remember to dig me up after mother is finished with me. I shall be dead before my birthday tomorrow. If mother doesn't drive me crazy and destroy me with her lessons, I will go crazy meeting all of those men asking for my hand in marriage," she said while fixing her dress and hair.
"Arianna, if you were trying to be funny, it didn't work," the prince called to her as she walked out the door. She said nothing as she continued walking, but raised a hand to acknowledge him.
In the next chapter, you will see the reactions of Boromir and Eldarion's father. You will also find out more about Lady Lessons, and how an audience gathers behind doors and windows to watch the entertainment.
Thanx for reading, Wannabe
Thanx to my reviewers so much, and since I'm such a selfish person and I get kicks while opening my inbox and seeing a new review, I will once more ask you to please REVIEW! Now that that's over with, I go to commemorate my faithful readers:
Me: thanx for liking my story so much. I definitely will keep writing if you keep reviewing. (I know it bugs, but hey, I didn't make up these rules) Thanx
If you want to have your name in my story, please review!!!
That's the Way Life Goes
Chapter four: This is Now.
Six years and 365 days later...
Practically skipping down the lane, Arianna hummed to herself in pure joy. Nothing could prevent her from having the best day of her life. It had been several years since the occurrence when everyone forgot her birthday, and she and her mother had gotten on better terms with her mother after that. They had cleared all misconceptions up, but life was still rough for a while. Her mother had even stopped talking to her for nearly three weeks. They all finally got over it and they were closer than ever. Arianna also began making more friends. It seemed that everyone had thought her aloof, and too perfect to be a good friend before, but someone had put in a good word for her, and suddenly everyone flocked to be her friend. Unfortunately, there were several people never became Arianna's friends. The prince and his pigeons were included in this minority. Arianna held nothing but contempt for them all, and they for her. Only so often did one venture out to speak with Arianna. Most of them were females who were angered at the amount of attention that was 'wasted' on her by the prince. They failed to acknowledge the fact that the attention the prince displayed on her was negative. However, this negativity was shown only when someone was near. However, if there was only the prince and Arianna in the room, the prince was as sweet as candy, and as soft as butter.
The prince had now become a young man and was learning, under his father's wing, how to govern a country. If his father were unavailable for any reason, Boromir's would take his place. Most evenings, he and his father and/or Boromir would spend hours pouring over various documents and articles in the library. Since she was ten, Arianna had spent most of her life among the various tomes. She had become a master of the library, and knew of nearly every book that was within its walls. That was the reason for why she was chosen to help the prince in his learning. Everyday, she would journey down to the great hall at noon, ask the King about the lesson for the day, then go to the library and prepare. She would gather all the books necessary and place them in a room at the end of the library. No longer was the library dark and forbidding, but was now bright and colorful. It attracted more than just the usual bookworms and accommodated more then forty people at one time. The increase in customers was largely due to the redecorating done by Arianna.
More and more people became regulars as they learned of the appeal of the written word and every day their number increased. Then one day, the prince began walking through the doors.
No one, Arianna least of all, could fathom what had driven the prince to retire from his continuous life of freedoms and enter the dark entrapment of the library. Of course, no one knew of its redecoration at that time. The first person, in fact, to see the redecorations was the prince. The prince spread the word, and from person to person, it went on until the point where just about everyone knew.
There were many suppositions about why the prince would become a regular at the library, and they all revolved around Arianna. Some believed that he had begun going to the library to continue harassing her. Others, most of whom were female, believed that Arianna had cast a spell over the prince, forcing him to go into the dreadful place known as the library.
The truth however was nowhere near the suspicions, or what one might call rumors. The truth was that the prince had obligations. He was steadily realizing his responsibilities towards his kingdom.
It was becoming increasingly important for him to learn how to govern a country, if his father was to give the throne to him one day, so he would be able to do so.
Therefore, a room was set-aside in order for him to study undisturbed. When his father learned of his actions, he decided to help his son out and teach him all he needed to know, from ruling a country, to being a good husband. Why exactly his father was teaching him to be a good husband, he did not know. However, he knew that he ought to listen up, or he might miss something that could save him a lot of pain when he was older.
For example, one time was when his father was talking to him about being giving gifts. He learned that if one is to give a gift to a woman, one must never give anything to do with housework. If a woman asks for a gift in particular, one must give another gift as well as that one in order to show that one has not taken the easy way out. The prince supposed that these lessons were important because everyday, he saw one of his friends mess up with women for giving them the wrong gift. It was all very funny until it happened to you.
The Prince would go to the room every day at noon, after spending time with his friends, and study. He would spend hours in that room. With windows overlooking the courtyard and gardens, he would study in the sunlight until an hour before his father and Boromir would recommence teaching. Then, he would rest outside on the balcony over looking the courtyard. Sometimes he would sleep, sometimes just watch the scenery, and sometimes he would daydream.
When he was studying before his break, though, he permitted no one to come in. No one, that is, except for Arianna who had to bring in books for the upcoming lesson. On this particular day, the Prince was deeply engrossed in his book on the history of the Stewards of Gondor. (While he thought that general history was boring, history of his 'uncle' Boromir was quite enthralling to him.) Arianna was in a rush. Because she had been quite busy helping the other librarians to check out books on the exceptionally busy day, she didn't have much time to do anything and her schedule was messed up. She was running all over the place, trying to finish everything. Then, because she was in such a hurry, she forgot to knock on the door before entering when she brought the first stack of books for the lessons.
The prince had a very specific rule. You must always knock before entering his room. If you do not, he has the right to assume you are a threat, and attack you. And so, as soon as she swung open the door, she heard quick footsteps and felt the point of a sword at her neck. She gasped, and swallowed thickly. Licking her lips in unease, she took her eyes off the sword and they met with two silver ones.
They looked at her with slight fury. She took a deep breath, looked down away, and then met those eyes again coolly. "Would you mind removing your sword," she asked calmly. Prince Eldarion's eyes smiled mischievously.
"First, you must knock," he responded with the same amount of calm. He stared her down. "Knock, then I will let you in."
Arianna looked around in exasperation. "I haven't the time, Prince Eldarion. Please, let me finish my task," she pleaded.
"No," was his only response.
Looking around, she said, "fine, I will knock, but only if you remove the sword."
"No."
She stared him in the eye. "No you won't remove your sword, or you won't let me knock, because I thought that was the point."
A group of females chose that exact moment to pass by, giggling hard and blushing furiously. "Oh, look Prince, your admirers have arrived. I see that they have chosen this particular moment, when your door is open, to pass by. What a coincidence."
The prince smiled slyly and responded suavely, "I thought you didn't believe in coincidence."
She answered him evenly, "I don't."
One of the braver females ventured closer to look at the prince, and asked curiously, "is everything alright over there?" Her voice had a suspicious tone as she asked, "what are you doing?"
The prince answered her carefully, "I'm just inspecting intruders. Would you care to join me in my inspection?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. It was a cheesy way to flirt, but it worked.
The maiden giggled and looked back at her friends with an expression that said, "I knew I would get him." She stepped forward to join the prince.
On a side, Arianna whispered to the prince, "you just won't miss your chance to flirt, will you?"
He grinned at her infuriatingly, "jealous?"
She made a face and said, "hah! Never. You can only wish." He just grinned knowingly, irritating her.
The maiden came closer, and the prince began talking with her. Arianna used that as an advantage, and moved out of sword range. She spun around and faced the giggling women.
The one who was steadily, but surely approaching gasped in horror and shrieked, "you!"
Arianna raised her eyebrows and said sarcastically, "me! Any problems?"
The maiden stuttered, "you're the one who casts spells on the prince and spends hours with him in his room!"
"Excuse me!?!!" Arianna growled. "And where, might I ask, did you get that idea?"
The maiden was looking at her in contempt. "Saranine. She says that you couldn't get the prince to come within twenty feet of you without some kind of spell."
Arianna rolled her eyes. "I would respond to that with some kind of sarcastic remark, but that would drop me to your level. That is something I am sorely against. So, if you will excuse me, I have better things to do than discuss these things with you," and she stalked away into the room.
The worst fears of the maidens' were confirmed as the prince followed her into the room and closed the door behind him. They stared in complete shock as they realized that the prince was not coming back.
Prince Eldarion walked behind Arianna as she stacked books on top of each other, shuffled paper, and set up the desks entirely. He was laughing so hard that Arianna wondered when he would explode. She voiced this concern and only made him laugh harder.
In the middle of replacing "The Origins of Gondor" with "The Line of Kings", she looked up at the nearly hysterical prince. He was practically rolling on the ground with his laughter.
She thought about how good he looked when he laughed. His black hair matched perfect with his lightly tan skin. His laugh was light, and merry. It was so joyous that she felt like laughing herself. She found herself smiling, and staring into thin air.
Unawares to her, Prince Eldarion had come up behind her and stood quite close. She only realized this when she felt his breath on her back and heard him whisper, "your hair smells like flowers."
She rolled her eyes playfully, but shrieked suddenly when he poked her in the stomach. The only place where she was ticklish was her stomach. If anyone ever even touched her very lightly, she would burst out laughing. Or, in this case, shriek.
She gasped for air, as she spun around. "Don't do that," she cried. "I hate it when people do that."
The prince grinned in response. "Then don't force me to."
Arianna's eyebrows rose. "I forced you? How?"
The prince shrugged. "I don't know. Look it up in your spell book. I didn't realize that was the reason you spent time with me. Perhaps I should watch my things more carefully. Maybe you are doing voodoo spells. I seem to have lost my-"
Arianna snorted, "me, me, I, I, me, I, me, I, me. It's all about you, isn't it?" Arianna leaned back against the table. "You really need to practice. Perhaps I should recommend it to the King."
Prince Eldarion frowned. "Recommend what?"
Arianna looked at him innocently, "recommend humility lessons. The ones on history and former kings are going quite smoothly. Perhaps we should move on to 'how to be humble', and maybe 'kindness is a virtue'," she stated sarcastically.
The prince growled and advanced on her. His advantage in height allowed him to tower over her. She stared up at him as he came closer up to the point where her eyes were right at the bridge of his nose.
He looked down at her to see that there was just enough room between them for air to pass through. Deciding to destroy any means of passage between them, he took a tiny step closer.
Arianna stared into Prince Eldarion's fiery eyes. The silver orbs penetrated her thoughts, and she could no longer think of anything but him.
The prince smiled slightly as practically heard her thoughts trail off while looking at him. I have that kind of effect on people, he thought. He began slowly moving his face downwards and getting closer to hers while she began tilting her face up. His eyes had the look of a hunter who knew he had caught his prey.
Frowning, he took a step away from her. He looked down in shock to see a dagger pointed at his stomach. He looked at her in confusion and saw her looking at him with an expression of amusement.
"Don't tell me you actually thought that I would let you kiss me?" she asked dryly. When he didn't answer, she laughed shortly. "Please tell me that you are jesting. I don't believe it. That's quite a laugh."
"Actually, I though you-"
"You thought I was enjoying it, didn't you?" she asked slowly as she raised herself and sat on the table. He nodded. "Well, everyone thinks I enjoy it. The only part that I really enjoy is the part where they are surprised to find my handy little dagger pointing at them."
He gave a short laugh, "I'm sure that must break many hearts."
Arianna raised an eyebrow. "That is not of my concern. All that matters to me is that egotistical men realize that the way to get a lady is not to overpower them, because it will certainly not work with me."
"Ahem," a voice said from near the door. Arianna and the Prince's heads swiveled around at the same time to look at the two people near the door. Arianna jumped off the table quickly as she realized that her father and the King were standing at the door with amused looks.
Boromir, Steward of Gondor, walked slowly towards the two as the prince stepped away from Arianna suddenly. The King smirked as he saw the uncomfortable look on the prince's face. "Hello, father," Arianna said smoothly as though nothing had happened.
The Steward looked from Arianna to the prince. "What was going on between you two?" he asked suspiciously.
Arianna threw back her head and laughed, "father, why do you ask when you already know?"
Her father raised his eyebrows. "I just wanted to see your side of the story," he responded flatly. Arianna smiled knowingly.
"What? Do you mean that our fathers were standing there, watching me try and kiss you and you never said anything?!?" Prince Eldarion cried feeling scandalized. Arianna smiled sweetly at him and he gaped with his mouth wide open. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Well, for several reasons. One, because I wanted to see what you would do if someone wasn't around. Two, I wanted to see your expression when you found out that they were there. Three, you should have known anyways. You keep boasting about the fact that you are half elven, but if you don't use your elven abilities, then you have nothing to boast about," she responded matter-of-factly.
The prince glared at her. "Arrogant, aren't you? What made you so sure that I was going to do anything if someone wasn't around?" he asked in a dubious tone. "Huh? Answer that."
Arianna rolled her eyes, and the two fathers were forgotten, to their amusement. They watched in enjoyment as the two children argued with each other. They nodded at each other knowingly.
"I don't have to answer that. It answers itself," she scoffed. "Unless I am mistaken, you did try something with me." She looked at him pointedly.
He took a deep breath, irritated. "That means that you lied."
She looked at him oddly. "Huh?"
"You said that you wanted to see what I would do, but you couldn't have wanted to see that if you didn't know what you were going to see. Common sense," he crowed.
Arianna smirked and shook her head. "You are more dense than I thought." He looked at her, affronted. "That made no sense whatsoever. Either way," she began, changing the topic, "I have to go. Mother wants to continue my Lady Lessons. Today is the special day. I am being tested, and that is why I cannot remain here for your lessons."
Prince Eldarion nodded, understandingly. The Lady Lessons were for Arianna. While the prince was training to become a King, Arianna trained to be a perfect lady. Her mother was training her, and she was forced to spend an incredible amount of time in those lessons.
She would be trained in the art of dress, dancing, talking, walking, and eating. You name it she was learning it. The only problem was that she didn't want these lessons.
She sighed, forlornly. "And off I go. Remember to dig me up after mother is finished with me. I shall be dead before my birthday tomorrow. If mother doesn't drive me crazy and destroy me with her lessons, I will go crazy meeting all of those men asking for my hand in marriage," she said while fixing her dress and hair.
"Arianna, if you were trying to be funny, it didn't work," the prince called to her as she walked out the door. She said nothing as she continued walking, but raised a hand to acknowledge him.
In the next chapter, you will see the reactions of Boromir and Eldarion's father. You will also find out more about Lady Lessons, and how an audience gathers behind doors and windows to watch the entertainment.
Thanx for reading, Wannabe