Hello and welcome to my humble fanfic! Of course, this IS a fanfic, meaning of course that the locations and background stories are NOT of my creation, but of Tolkien's. I did take liberties with the personal histories of some of the REAL Middle Earth characters, but they are in the end Tolkien's characters, not mine. Chances are if it's something you don't recognize then it's mine. If you do recognize it it's Tolkien's or inspired by some other source. I'll try and credit them when I can.
Thanks all! Read and review, as always!
1. Reunions
Eleriel sighed and waited. Aragorn was late again, as usual, she thought. It had been over seventeen years since she had last seen the human whom she regarded almost as a friend, brother, son and mentor all rolled into one. After all, Eleriel had practically raised the boy when Elrond had been busy, and she had been a sister and a friend to him when he needed companionship. Eleriel herself had learned a good few things from Aragorn too.
"Eleriel!" A voice pulled Eleriel from her musings.
"What, Rumil?" she called back.
"The Fellowship is approaching!" Orophin shouted in excitement.
Eleriel smiled to herself. The three elven brothers waiting with her in the flet didn't know the true mission of this Fellowship; such information was known by Celeborn, Galadriel and Eleriel alone in Lothlorien. Unfortunately the people of Lothlorien knew little else; they had no news of the races and names of the travellers, except that Aragorn and Gandalf the wizard travelled with them, along with the Ringbearer, a hobbit and relative of the famed Bilbo Baggins.
"Thanks, Orophin!" Eleriel said before moving down to the base of the tree to wait. It was a game that she played with Aragorn; they'd try to see how close they could get to each other before the other caught them. Haldir, Rumil and Orophin knew Aragorn as well, and had also played along when they had met Aragorn the last few times the man had come to Lothlorien.
Rumil remained on the flet and the other elves hid in the trees below. They could hear the approaching Fellowship clearly, and knew it was a matter of minutes before the travellers would reach them.
Haldir, Orophin and Eleriel waited quietly until they suddenly heard Rumil's voice loud and clear through the branches: "Daro!"
Peering through the trees, they saw that Rumil had moved to a different tree which was being climbed by what seemed to be an elf. Eleriel motioned the other two elves closer to the Fellowship, and they moved away. She watched with great amusement as Aragorn detached himself from the Fellowship to "scout ahead a little way," as he put it. He knew perfectly well that it was Rumil in the tree, and he therefore guessed that Eleriel was close. He moved quietly through the trees, and Eleriel shadowed him closely. Finally she reached out and grabbed him, placing her dagger along his throat. Aragorn let out a yell of dismay and tried several of his Ranger tricks for releasing himself from her hold, but Eleriel's arm did not loosen. Various members of the Fellowship suddenly appeared from the trees, drawn by Aragorn's sudden cry. Eleriel nodded cheerfully at them and released the human. He turned to her and grinned, but before he could say anything Eleriel cooed, "Awwww.... it's my widdle baby bwother... isn't he cute?"
The other members of the Fellowship gaped. Eleriel glanced at them and counted two hobbits, a dwarf and another human, but where the others were, she could only guess. Smiling and laughing, Aragorn threw his arms around her, picked her up from the ground and swung her around. "Na man tilye, Aragorn!" she cried. It is good to see you, Aragorn!
Still laughing, he put her down and Eleriel nodded politely to the others standing there. Beckoning with her hand, Eleriel led them to the nearest flet and sent them up the ladder, which had been lowered for them by Rumil. Eleriel sent them off and went on her own to see the orcs approaching Lothlorien. She slipped off into the trees and hurried west, before climbing into a tree and watching the approaching host. Climbing down again, Eleriel whistled a high note like a bird, and far off in the forest, another bird call answered. The alarm had been raised, and reinforcements from Caras Galadhon would be on their way within a half hour.
Hurrying back to the flet, Eleriel swung herself up into the tree. She pulled herself up onto the wooden platform and watched the group for a moment before they realized she was there. She watched Haldir chat with the elven member of the Fellowship, but she did not recognize the elf, for she saw only his back. The dwarf sat apart from the group, not trusting the elves, and the hobbits huddled together. Aragorn and the second man were listening to Haldir and the elf's conversation. The flet was fairly large, and Eleriel approached the closest strangers first. "Hello," she said to the hobbits and dwarf, who was close enough to hear. "My name is Eleriel... I'm Elrond's oldest child. I believe you all met my father while you were staying in Rivendell?"
They nodded, and each introduced themself. Eleriel looked at each of them searchingly. Like her father and grandmother, Eleriel was blessed with the gift to read into people's minds. She rarely used her gift, and this time she only used it enough to pick up what their personalities were like. She paused when she reached the ringbearer.
"Na blung lanath cheblye, Frodo Baggins," she said softly. It is a heavy thing you bear, Frodo Baggins
He nodded, and replied, "A, sel man cheb thu u nin?" Yes, but who would carry it if not me?
Eleriel smiled sadly and moved over to the other little group. She glanced at Aragorn and his companion, who introduced himself as Boromir, son of Denethor. Eleriel's interest was sparked and she spoke with him for awhile, though in him she perceived a great conflict. Finally she went to speak with the elf, and froze when he turned to meet her eyes. The elf froze as well. The feelings of goodwill which had been present on the flet diminished as the sudden tension was noted.
"Prince Legolas," Eleriel noted stiffly with a polite nod.
"Lady Eleriel," he responded, equally courteously and equally coldy.
"Nice of you wood elves to finally send one of your own to Lothlorien instead of the other way around," Eleriel commented.
"We would have if we ever saw the need for it," Legolas replied.
"Laitil yissil vanuva altanayes aniran?" She asked stiffly in Quenya, the language that only the nobly born elves of Middle Earth knew, thereby excluding all others present from the conversation. Would your pride have permitted you to admit such need?
He was about to respond when Haldir jumped into the conversation. "My apologies, Eleriel, but..."
"Yes, I know, Haldir," Eleriel cut him off, returning to the Common Tongue. Remembering her duties, she sent Rumil back to his regular post in the woods by the river. Orophin was to first inform the Lord and Lady of the Fellowship's arrival, before joining the fighters in the woods, and Haldir would remain at this post. Eleriel would escort the Fellowship to Caras Galadhon, after a night's rest.
As the Fellowship prepared for bed, Eleriel took Aragorn aside for a talk. "How are things at home?" she asked. "How are my little siblings?"
"Your brothers are fine," Aragorn said evasively. Eleriel had always been fiercely protective of all three younger siblings. She was nearly 20 years older than the twins and one hundred and thirty years older than Arwen.
"And Arwen?" Eleriel prompted.
"She's fine too..." Aragorn said, before hastily changing the subject. "How do you know Legolas?"
"I know a lot of noble elves," Eleriel responded vaguely, before moving away to let Aragorn get some rest. As she walked away, Eleriel and Aragorn were both thinking that the other was hiding something. What is he not saying about Arwen? Eleriel thought, and How does she know Legolas? was the question on Aragorn's mind. However, he worried little about it, as exhaustion took over his body and he drifted off into blessed sleep.
The next morning the Fellowship woke early for their journey. Eleriel warned them that it would take them the better part of the day, and they walked cheerfully through the beautiful trees. However, the Fellowship couldn't help but notice that Eleriel and Legolas were studiously ignoring each other, and wondered at it.
When they finally reached Caras Galadhon, several elves came forward to lead the Fellowship to rooms where they would be provided with baths and fresh clothes. Before they left, Eleriel said to them, "Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn wish for you to join us for dinner tonight, so if you'll please go to the Hall when you've finished cleaning up... Aragorn, you remember how to get there, don't you?"
"Yes," Aragorn replied. "Will you be there, Eleriel?" When she nodded, Aragorn said, "Excellent! Legolas will escort you to dinner!" The entire Fellowship looked at him like he was mad and if looks could kill, he would be dead many times over from the looks that his foster sister and the Prince were shooting at him. Aragorn, however, knew the two elves well enough to know that though they didn't get along, they were a lot alike and were stubborn enough to need a kick in the right direction to reconcile any past grudges.
The two elves glared at him a moment longer before staring at each other. A muscle twitched in Legolas' face and Eleriel's hands were in tight fists at her side. Finally, Legolas muttered that he would be by her chambers in an hour to escort her to dinner.
"Alright," Eleriel said resignedly. "You remember where they are, of course."
"Unless you moved them," he said acidly.
"Why would I do something like that?" she asked.
"I don't know, they're your chambers," he said angrily.
Aragorn stepped in quickly. "Excellent! Eleriel, Legolas will be by for you in an hour... everyone, let's go get cleaned up to meet the Lord and Lady of the Golden Wood! We'll see you later, Eleriel," he said quickly, ushering the gawking Fellowship and angry elf away before something unfortunate happened. However, as they walked away, Aragorn couldn't help but wonder. He hadn't missed the tiny touch of bitterness in Legolas' voice as he asked if Eleriel had moved her chambers, nor had he missed the fact that Eleriel was fairly certain that Legolas would remember where her chambers were located. Yes, Aragorn mused to himself, the two elves were hiding something, and he intended to find out what it was.