Chapter Forty-Five: Elven Princesses
A/N: Oh my god, I am so sorry for not updating in such a long time. It's so unlike me! I've been terribly busy. The TITAN drill competition is just around the corner (exactly a week away) and I need to get so many things done. School really sucks at the moment. Have no fear, this story isn't going to be over for a while. I won't be at a rest until all of the elves are happily living in the Grey Havens. Plus, I love writing war fictions better than just this weird romance trash. Enjoy the respite when it comes. (Ha ha, when mind walkers attack!)
…
Aila woke up the next morning, snuggled deep underneath the red comforter, and next to her, she felt Legolas' body warmth. She was aware of his wraiths walking freely in her mind. Both of their head Wraiths walked hand in hand, interchanging through each of the minds, overseeing the processes in each. Aila was spooned against Legolas, and she twisted around, underneath his arm, to look up at his face. What she saw surprised her. In all of the time that she had known Legolas, he had always slept with his eyes open, his blue eyes watching intently as he dreamed simultaneously, but now his deep eyes were closed. A look of content smothered his face.
Her heart sunk with joy, jumping back up lightly, and she stretched her neck to kiss his chin, and he shifted lightly in his sleep, but she did not wake him. She leaned her head against his chest and she felt his arm instinctively tighten around her waist. Again, she kissed his lower neck, and fell asleep against his bare chest, suppressing small laughs as his golden hair fell from his shoulders and tickled her cheeks and ears, but she didn't mind.
When she woke up again, it was to light kisses that planted themselves at the crown of her head and she looked up and saw Legolas smiling down at her. She bit her lip slightly and he pulled her tighter. The door creaked open and Aila's eyes shot up and saw a maid enter the room, walk into the spacious closet, while many other maids followed her, carrying various articles of clothing. The most prominent of which being dresses. Each of the elven maids smiled when they passed the figures in the bed, and Aila hid deeper into Legolas' arms, her cheeks slightly red with embarrassment. At this, Legolas laughed, deep in his throat, and kissed her forehead, pulling her lovingly against him.
The maid had obviously completed choosing what they were wearing that day, which was obviously her job, when the others had departed, still smiling at the two. She came to the side of the bed and curtsied low.
"Your majesties …" she began, and Aila flinched slightly when she continued, "Prince Legolas and Princess Aila …" Princess. It was actually quite ironic. How she owned a shirt that said "Oops, I killed a Princess," and she hated princesses--and now she was one. "Your attire," finished the maid. She laid the garments at the foot of the bed and exited with another low curtsy.
Kissing her forehead again, giving her one last tight hug against his warm body, Legolas got up from the bed, well aware of his duties, and dressed. At the same time, Aila followed him for a while with her eyes, blushing for a moment, and buried her head underneath the covers, hiding from the day.
"Aila," Legolas' voice came almost pleading through the covers and she childishly pulled the coverlet down to her neck. Legolas sat down on the bed next to her and began to pull at the comforter. "Come, Aila, there is much we must do today."
Slowly, Aila crawled out of the bed, shivering against the cold of the air surrounding the warm sheets of the bed. She quickly got dressed into the snow white dress that was laid out for her, which looked more like a wedding dress than what she had worn to the actual wedding, for her wedding reception.
Hand in hand, she and Legolas walked to breakfast. During the meal, he would sometimes lean over and whisper sweet nothings into her ear, making her giggle one moment and cough, quite surprised, the next. He ate with one hand, and his other hand was on her knee the entire time. She placed on of her hand on top of his and they broke their fasts. Afterwards they followed the throng of guests to their own reception, being congratulated and joked with all the way.
…
All around them, people laughed and talked as Aila and Legolas went around and spoke to their guests. Legolas was the one who did most of the talking, and Aila merely clung to his arm, embarrassed by her shy-ness, but altogether unable to talk. There were toasts and dances, but there seemed to be a mini-saga going on within that wedding reception. Aila heard whisperings in the corner of the room, sometimes she heard it loud behind her back, as if she couldn't understand what they were saying.
Sometimes, they spoke in Sindarin or Quenya, and she couldn't understand half of it anyway, but she could hear the contempt in the musical voices of the elven princesses of other realms who had been invited to the wedding. It seemed as if many disapproved of their marriage.
"A mortal!" she had heard one exclaim, pure shock in her high voice. "Poor Legolas! To be taken in by a mortal!" like it was her doing or something. Like she drugged Legolas to fall in love with her, and propose. Like she wasn't worthy of Legolas. She agreed, she knew quite well she wasn't worthy of him, but he seemed to think differently. It was impolite to say such things at her own wedding reception, however.
"Do not worry about what they say," Legolas had told her when they were sitting by themselves for a few moments, in one of the corners of the room. "It does not matter what they think. They are just jealous." And they had right to be jealous, hadn't they? This was Legolas, after all?
King Thranduil, who had also heard the accusations of the jealous princesses, who flaunted fake smiles and stared daggers at Aila's back while she was turned, was anxious to put all of the anxiety to rest. He called everybody's attention to his and proposed to make a toast.
"To my son, Legolas, and his new wife, Aila, the Light Bearer. May their lives be a happy one!" Instead of quieting the whispers, however, Aila heard a flood of whispers around her, like a domino effect, and the princesses stared even harder at her. Legolas, obligingly, to take her mind off of it, pulled her into a slow dance. Instead of traditional elven dancing, he smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her middle, pulling her hands to his neck. Slowly, they revolved in a circle with her head against his chest: he had remembered her lesson in contemporary dancing.
Aila pulled her cheek from her chest when Legolas kissed the top of her head and she looked up at him. Vaguely, she remembered some months ago when she had slow-danced with Legolas, right before she went back to her time. It was like he had wanted to kiss her then, and now she accepted it. She pulled her hands from his neck and pulled his head towards her. His blonde hair fell from his shoulders onto hers, so that their faces were entirely covered. Some princesses who questioned Aila's worthiness of Legolas were standing nearby, watching in disgust. One of them began a conversation.
"I understand now," she said, with a light airy voice, but it was full of contempt and malice. It almost seemed un-suiting for an elf. In fact, it was.
"Explain it to us then," said one of the other elven-ladies, in a disbelieving voice. "I fear I'll never understand how the Prince could love her …" Aila almost choked, still kissing Legolas beneath the cloak of his hair, correcting herself as she almost bit his tongue. She felt hidden from their prying eyes, but not from their spiteful voices.
"She is the Light Bearer as the King said!" the first said triumphantly. "Legolas only married her because he wants his name on the prophecy … it seems quite unlike the dear Prince, but it makes sense doesn't it?"
"It does make sense!" cried a third. "That explains everything now. I don't blame Legolas for wanting some fame, but I would never get it through something like her." They didn't even say her name, like it was unimportant. *He wants his name on the prophecy!* Aila's mind cried. It seems implausible, impossible. Legolas broke the long kiss and pulled his hands from her back, holding her face in them. He held her face so that she looked at him, but she turned her eyes away.
"You know that's not true. I love you." She nodded and met his gaze again. His eyes were so blue and truthful. Her mind wraiths within his mind were aware of his feelings, and she knew he was honest, even without noticing that the green loyalty in their aura throbbed almost painfully.
"I know," she responded, and put her head back against his chest as they continued to dance. She almost laughed aloud as she invented the ultimate revenge. Closing her eyes, Legolas thought she was simply enjoying being with him, and he wasn't aware of her motives, as he would have been if he was aware of their mind wraiths within his mind, just as she was aware of him. Choosing her most powerful warriors and her most twisted planners, Aila quickly scanned the minds within the room and found the princess who had suggested Legolas using her for fame.
Her wraiths snuck silently into the offending princess's mind. They worked handily and quickly. The center of the princess's mind was unguarded, and it was a picture of Legolas. She could tell that the picture changed frequently and was disgusted by the fickle-ness of the elf's mind. Carefully, nervous, she pushed one of her wraith's hands through the portrait, feeling what was behind it, the wraith's arm going entirely through the seemingly solid canvas.
The fruit of her work, Aila witnessed along with everyone else. The princess gave an unearthly screech to call attention to her, her eyes wide in horror, mirroring that she had no idea why she was doing this. Her friends around her began to back away slowly as the princess leapt onto a table spread with food. She got to her knees and rolled in the food, screaming the entire time, until her dress was covered in sticky food. Naturally, Aila was the first one there.
"Oh my!" she exclaimed, in a false voice. "Whatever did come over you, dear?" A terrible sneer came over her face, but it was seen only by the princess. "I guess that's what you get for making sarcastic remarks about a Mind Walker, eh?" The princess looked at her in horror, and the sneer disappeared from Aila's face as others came over. Politely, with the greatest intentions, Aila offered her hands to help the princess from the table. Not caring who saw the evil look on her face, the princess accepted Aila's hand, but gave an almighty pull..
Aila, in no way strong, did not move, however, because it seemed the princess was extraordinarily weak. Though she put her entire body into it, and Aila was much shorter, Aila felt Legolas' arms come restricting her movement around her waist, holding her against the princess's uncalled-for violence. He had no idea what Aila had done. Immediately, he was angry at the princess.
"First you mock my new wife, to her face in fact. You dishonor my name by assuming my person disgraceful actions, you make snide remarks, you spread your gossip to your friends, then you make a scene before my guests during my wedding reception! And to cap it all off, you attempt to pull my wife with you to disgrace her as well! Be gone," he cried, gesturing for the guards near the doorway to come and escort her away. "You can be sure that you father will hear of your scandalous actions. Good-bye." Aila almost felt sorry for the princess, as she looked at Legolas' face. His blue eyes were blazing, his cheeks were tinged with red. His hair was hanging bodily to his shoulders, and at that moment, he became a true Prince, full of his power and pride.
Within a few moments however, his face softened back to plain Legolas. The elf that she fell in love with and married. He pulled her against him and bent over, burying his face in her shoulder, and she put her arms comfortingly around him and rubbed his back soothingly.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," he said, seeming to hide his face from what he felt a disreputable action.
"I'm sorry you had to say that," she responded, leaning her head against his. Those around them had obviously found it best that they leave the two alone for the moment. "I wish we could just leave. I hate these stares and remarks." Legolas pulled his head from her shoulder and smiled at her for a moment, before wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her hip against his and he led her from the hall where the rest were talking and dancing as if nothing had happened. Servants were out cleaning the mess that the princess had made. Pleased with herself, Aila recalled her mind wraiths and followed Legolas.
…
A/N: Okay, I feel so bad for making you guys wait so long for this chapter (short, yes), that I'm going to post the next couple chapters really quickly. Enjoy. Sorry about the wait, I really truly am! Writers block and all that busy schedule stuff. Damn being smart. ^_^ The Air Force rules.
A/N: Oh my god, I am so sorry for not updating in such a long time. It's so unlike me! I've been terribly busy. The TITAN drill competition is just around the corner (exactly a week away) and I need to get so many things done. School really sucks at the moment. Have no fear, this story isn't going to be over for a while. I won't be at a rest until all of the elves are happily living in the Grey Havens. Plus, I love writing war fictions better than just this weird romance trash. Enjoy the respite when it comes. (Ha ha, when mind walkers attack!)
…
Aila woke up the next morning, snuggled deep underneath the red comforter, and next to her, she felt Legolas' body warmth. She was aware of his wraiths walking freely in her mind. Both of their head Wraiths walked hand in hand, interchanging through each of the minds, overseeing the processes in each. Aila was spooned against Legolas, and she twisted around, underneath his arm, to look up at his face. What she saw surprised her. In all of the time that she had known Legolas, he had always slept with his eyes open, his blue eyes watching intently as he dreamed simultaneously, but now his deep eyes were closed. A look of content smothered his face.
Her heart sunk with joy, jumping back up lightly, and she stretched her neck to kiss his chin, and he shifted lightly in his sleep, but she did not wake him. She leaned her head against his chest and she felt his arm instinctively tighten around her waist. Again, she kissed his lower neck, and fell asleep against his bare chest, suppressing small laughs as his golden hair fell from his shoulders and tickled her cheeks and ears, but she didn't mind.
When she woke up again, it was to light kisses that planted themselves at the crown of her head and she looked up and saw Legolas smiling down at her. She bit her lip slightly and he pulled her tighter. The door creaked open and Aila's eyes shot up and saw a maid enter the room, walk into the spacious closet, while many other maids followed her, carrying various articles of clothing. The most prominent of which being dresses. Each of the elven maids smiled when they passed the figures in the bed, and Aila hid deeper into Legolas' arms, her cheeks slightly red with embarrassment. At this, Legolas laughed, deep in his throat, and kissed her forehead, pulling her lovingly against him.
The maid had obviously completed choosing what they were wearing that day, which was obviously her job, when the others had departed, still smiling at the two. She came to the side of the bed and curtsied low.
"Your majesties …" she began, and Aila flinched slightly when she continued, "Prince Legolas and Princess Aila …" Princess. It was actually quite ironic. How she owned a shirt that said "Oops, I killed a Princess," and she hated princesses--and now she was one. "Your attire," finished the maid. She laid the garments at the foot of the bed and exited with another low curtsy.
Kissing her forehead again, giving her one last tight hug against his warm body, Legolas got up from the bed, well aware of his duties, and dressed. At the same time, Aila followed him for a while with her eyes, blushing for a moment, and buried her head underneath the covers, hiding from the day.
"Aila," Legolas' voice came almost pleading through the covers and she childishly pulled the coverlet down to her neck. Legolas sat down on the bed next to her and began to pull at the comforter. "Come, Aila, there is much we must do today."
Slowly, Aila crawled out of the bed, shivering against the cold of the air surrounding the warm sheets of the bed. She quickly got dressed into the snow white dress that was laid out for her, which looked more like a wedding dress than what she had worn to the actual wedding, for her wedding reception.
Hand in hand, she and Legolas walked to breakfast. During the meal, he would sometimes lean over and whisper sweet nothings into her ear, making her giggle one moment and cough, quite surprised, the next. He ate with one hand, and his other hand was on her knee the entire time. She placed on of her hand on top of his and they broke their fasts. Afterwards they followed the throng of guests to their own reception, being congratulated and joked with all the way.
…
All around them, people laughed and talked as Aila and Legolas went around and spoke to their guests. Legolas was the one who did most of the talking, and Aila merely clung to his arm, embarrassed by her shy-ness, but altogether unable to talk. There were toasts and dances, but there seemed to be a mini-saga going on within that wedding reception. Aila heard whisperings in the corner of the room, sometimes she heard it loud behind her back, as if she couldn't understand what they were saying.
Sometimes, they spoke in Sindarin or Quenya, and she couldn't understand half of it anyway, but she could hear the contempt in the musical voices of the elven princesses of other realms who had been invited to the wedding. It seemed as if many disapproved of their marriage.
"A mortal!" she had heard one exclaim, pure shock in her high voice. "Poor Legolas! To be taken in by a mortal!" like it was her doing or something. Like she drugged Legolas to fall in love with her, and propose. Like she wasn't worthy of Legolas. She agreed, she knew quite well she wasn't worthy of him, but he seemed to think differently. It was impolite to say such things at her own wedding reception, however.
"Do not worry about what they say," Legolas had told her when they were sitting by themselves for a few moments, in one of the corners of the room. "It does not matter what they think. They are just jealous." And they had right to be jealous, hadn't they? This was Legolas, after all?
King Thranduil, who had also heard the accusations of the jealous princesses, who flaunted fake smiles and stared daggers at Aila's back while she was turned, was anxious to put all of the anxiety to rest. He called everybody's attention to his and proposed to make a toast.
"To my son, Legolas, and his new wife, Aila, the Light Bearer. May their lives be a happy one!" Instead of quieting the whispers, however, Aila heard a flood of whispers around her, like a domino effect, and the princesses stared even harder at her. Legolas, obligingly, to take her mind off of it, pulled her into a slow dance. Instead of traditional elven dancing, he smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her middle, pulling her hands to his neck. Slowly, they revolved in a circle with her head against his chest: he had remembered her lesson in contemporary dancing.
Aila pulled her cheek from her chest when Legolas kissed the top of her head and she looked up at him. Vaguely, she remembered some months ago when she had slow-danced with Legolas, right before she went back to her time. It was like he had wanted to kiss her then, and now she accepted it. She pulled her hands from his neck and pulled his head towards her. His blonde hair fell from his shoulders onto hers, so that their faces were entirely covered. Some princesses who questioned Aila's worthiness of Legolas were standing nearby, watching in disgust. One of them began a conversation.
"I understand now," she said, with a light airy voice, but it was full of contempt and malice. It almost seemed un-suiting for an elf. In fact, it was.
"Explain it to us then," said one of the other elven-ladies, in a disbelieving voice. "I fear I'll never understand how the Prince could love her …" Aila almost choked, still kissing Legolas beneath the cloak of his hair, correcting herself as she almost bit his tongue. She felt hidden from their prying eyes, but not from their spiteful voices.
"She is the Light Bearer as the King said!" the first said triumphantly. "Legolas only married her because he wants his name on the prophecy … it seems quite unlike the dear Prince, but it makes sense doesn't it?"
"It does make sense!" cried a third. "That explains everything now. I don't blame Legolas for wanting some fame, but I would never get it through something like her." They didn't even say her name, like it was unimportant. *He wants his name on the prophecy!* Aila's mind cried. It seems implausible, impossible. Legolas broke the long kiss and pulled his hands from her back, holding her face in them. He held her face so that she looked at him, but she turned her eyes away.
"You know that's not true. I love you." She nodded and met his gaze again. His eyes were so blue and truthful. Her mind wraiths within his mind were aware of his feelings, and she knew he was honest, even without noticing that the green loyalty in their aura throbbed almost painfully.
"I know," she responded, and put her head back against his chest as they continued to dance. She almost laughed aloud as she invented the ultimate revenge. Closing her eyes, Legolas thought she was simply enjoying being with him, and he wasn't aware of her motives, as he would have been if he was aware of their mind wraiths within his mind, just as she was aware of him. Choosing her most powerful warriors and her most twisted planners, Aila quickly scanned the minds within the room and found the princess who had suggested Legolas using her for fame.
Her wraiths snuck silently into the offending princess's mind. They worked handily and quickly. The center of the princess's mind was unguarded, and it was a picture of Legolas. She could tell that the picture changed frequently and was disgusted by the fickle-ness of the elf's mind. Carefully, nervous, she pushed one of her wraith's hands through the portrait, feeling what was behind it, the wraith's arm going entirely through the seemingly solid canvas.
The fruit of her work, Aila witnessed along with everyone else. The princess gave an unearthly screech to call attention to her, her eyes wide in horror, mirroring that she had no idea why she was doing this. Her friends around her began to back away slowly as the princess leapt onto a table spread with food. She got to her knees and rolled in the food, screaming the entire time, until her dress was covered in sticky food. Naturally, Aila was the first one there.
"Oh my!" she exclaimed, in a false voice. "Whatever did come over you, dear?" A terrible sneer came over her face, but it was seen only by the princess. "I guess that's what you get for making sarcastic remarks about a Mind Walker, eh?" The princess looked at her in horror, and the sneer disappeared from Aila's face as others came over. Politely, with the greatest intentions, Aila offered her hands to help the princess from the table. Not caring who saw the evil look on her face, the princess accepted Aila's hand, but gave an almighty pull..
Aila, in no way strong, did not move, however, because it seemed the princess was extraordinarily weak. Though she put her entire body into it, and Aila was much shorter, Aila felt Legolas' arms come restricting her movement around her waist, holding her against the princess's uncalled-for violence. He had no idea what Aila had done. Immediately, he was angry at the princess.
"First you mock my new wife, to her face in fact. You dishonor my name by assuming my person disgraceful actions, you make snide remarks, you spread your gossip to your friends, then you make a scene before my guests during my wedding reception! And to cap it all off, you attempt to pull my wife with you to disgrace her as well! Be gone," he cried, gesturing for the guards near the doorway to come and escort her away. "You can be sure that you father will hear of your scandalous actions. Good-bye." Aila almost felt sorry for the princess, as she looked at Legolas' face. His blue eyes were blazing, his cheeks were tinged with red. His hair was hanging bodily to his shoulders, and at that moment, he became a true Prince, full of his power and pride.
Within a few moments however, his face softened back to plain Legolas. The elf that she fell in love with and married. He pulled her against him and bent over, burying his face in her shoulder, and she put her arms comfortingly around him and rubbed his back soothingly.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," he said, seeming to hide his face from what he felt a disreputable action.
"I'm sorry you had to say that," she responded, leaning her head against his. Those around them had obviously found it best that they leave the two alone for the moment. "I wish we could just leave. I hate these stares and remarks." Legolas pulled his head from her shoulder and smiled at her for a moment, before wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her hip against his and he led her from the hall where the rest were talking and dancing as if nothing had happened. Servants were out cleaning the mess that the princess had made. Pleased with herself, Aila recalled her mind wraiths and followed Legolas.
…
A/N: Okay, I feel so bad for making you guys wait so long for this chapter (short, yes), that I'm going to post the next couple chapters really quickly. Enjoy. Sorry about the wait, I really truly am! Writers block and all that busy schedule stuff. Damn being smart. ^_^ The Air Force rules.