Chapter 4 – Spin Me A Kiss
The princes easily found themselves partners in no time at all, as was to be expected. They were royalty, after all, and royalty attracts admirers like a fly to a lamp, although the Elves would not like that description. Thellind, Astaler and Oroweth had paired themselves up quickly with the three remaining ladies from the earlier group; Legolas was still dancing with the pretty elf in pink who still had no name, Nuryävié had found a beautiful yet nervous woman from Imladris who had been sitting alone and Nilwethion had chatted up the nearest serving girl, who giggled at every turn, surprised to be in such high company, yet loving every moment of it. Calensil herself had chosen not to take part in the competition for fear of being trampled and had begun following the captain of the warriors around, very much unnerving the poor elf. As stunning as he was when wielding weapons – unmatched by any soul living in Mirkwood or the surrounding lands – small children unnerved, nay, scared him terribly.
At the high table, watching over the sudden turn of events with a slight confusion and dismay, the king sat frowning. Queen Imlammthien laid her hand on his arm and looked at him lovingly, worried about his lack of humour.
"What is it, dear? You ought to be enjoying yourself. Everybody else is, after all, and there is nothing to be upset about."
The king shrugged and sighed, pulling himself together at the caring tones of his beloved wife. She was right, after all. After a moment, in a thoughtful tone, he said, "I do not remember organising a dance competition, and I certainly do not remember giving permission for the Dorwinion stuff to be used as the prize,"
The queen sat back, smiling softly to herself in a knowing manner. So that was all the problem was. She had suspected as much, but had not been completely certain. No real problem then.
"I think the idea was quite wonderful, my darling," she said, the smile playing on her lips threatening to burst open in to gentle peals of relieved laughter. She quickly covered it by delicately taking up her goblet of wine and sipping a little of its contents. The king copied, only to find his goblet empty. He looked at it sadly, but put it back down, pretending he had only just finished it.
"Wonderful though it may be, I wish I had been previously informed. My children must learn discipline, Imlammthien."
Imlammthien laughed happily, though quickly turned her laugh in to a small bout of coughing when she saw the look on her husbands face. She turned to the Lady of Imladris, who was sitting opposite her, and struck up a conversation about the dancers, and who would be good to watch, leaving Thranduil to talk with Elrond about more serious matters.
"I find myself concerned about my sons," muttered Elrond to Thranduil. Thranduil raised an eyebrow. In his voice, Thranduil was sure that he could hear an echo of himself.
"How so, Lord Elrond?" he asked, refilling both their goblets with the sweet, red wine. Elrond took a sip before informing the king of his worries, savouring the expensive taste of his drink.
"They are not socialising. It is usually a bad sign. Trouble always comes of it, someway or another," he raised the goblet to his lips for another draught, letting it trickle down his throat, refreshing him.
"Trouble?" queried Thranduil. Warning bells were going off in his head, but he tried his best to ignore them, "What kind of trouble do you mean?"
"That is the thing," sighed the Lord, "Some sort of pranks, usually; practical jests. Occasionally they are quite hilarious, though mainly they are quite silly or dangerous, and all of them at the expense of another unfortunate soul. Usually my dear little Arwen, though when she visits Lothlorien they tend to pick on Lindir, our minstrel. They are the worst troublemakers west of the Misty Mountains."
The King of Mirkwood could no longer ignore the warning bells in his head, which had now increased at an alarming rate and rang in his ears like the clamour of battle. He put two and two together, and groaned loudly. He tapped his wife on the shoulder, interrupting her. She turned to look at him, excusing herself from the far more relaxed conversation that she had been having with Celebrian.
"Yes, my dear?"
"Lord Elrond has just informed me that his sons are troublesome. The worst troublemakers on their side of the mountains, is the exact phrase," he stared in to her eyes, a vague look of panic written across his features in a desperate plea for help.
"They have promised to be well behaved," interrupted Celebrian hurriedly, rushing to the defence of her family, "If they attempt anything, they know that they will be in more trouble than ever before."
Her words did not reach the ears of the royal couple, the queen now returning the look of hopeless despair to her husband. She sat back in her seat, staring at her six sons one by one, now gathered with their partners by the flickering, hot bonfire. Her daughter, she was sure, was pestering their captain again. She would have to rescue him, if she could find them.
"I suppose you have not heard, my dear," she said, addressing Celebrian with a voice that can only a mother can truly sympathise with, "my youngest sons also have a passion for creating trouble, dragging others with them as they go. I do hope they do nothing foolish."
The four parents became silent, each running similar thoughts through their heads on different levels of panic. At least, reasoned Thranduil to himself, both parties had been forewarned off any possible trouble.
"Oh," managed Celebrian at last, her voice trembling. She raised her slender, willowy fingers to her lips, and her wide eyes fixed on those of her new friend.
"They did promise to behave themselves," muttered Thranduil, uncertainly. Promises like pie crusts were easily broken. In fact, promises like pie crusts were always, always broken, no matter what the intentions were.
"I believe you placed your wager at a week," replied Imlammthien, a little sharply. The sharpness, however, must be forgiven. The poor queen was shaking with worry at the thoughts of what her children could be plotting.
"And you have placed your at two," came the reply, equally as sharp.
"Wager? What wager?" Celebrian was staring now at her hosts with worry.
"On how long it takes before at least one child breaks their promise to behave," sighed the Queen sadly, "Oh look, they are beginning the competition!"
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By the bonfire, the six princes and their partners grinned at each other, wishing each other good luck, and may the best pair win. Unfortunately for Legolas, he still did not know his partners name, although she knew his. He knew she was from Imladris, and only three years younger than himself, and that she had one sister, currently dancing with Oroweth, but he still did not know her name. The blonde prince kept meaning to ask her, but could not quite get the words out of his mouth. They kept sticking in his throat like copious amounts of honey, and refusing to budge any further.
Now, however, they were in the middle of a competition, full of other competing couples, and he was becoming more and more nervous by the minute. Thellind would pay for this. Oh, yes, Thellind would get his comeuppance. Why could he not have just carried out the dare? Thellind was good around ladies, for the Valar's sake! They seemed to love the shyness. Apparently it was sweet, or something similar. Out of the corner of his eye, Legolas noticed Nilwethion sweet-talking the serving girl he was dancing with. He rolled his eyes.
"What is it, my lord prince?"
The beautiful girl in pink had caught him off his guard, and was watching him intently, her eyes glowing brightly with the reflection of the huge bonfire that flickered away, warming them all up fiercely.
"Oh, I was just watching my brother shamelessly flirting," he stammered
"Which one? They all seem to flirt," then she smiled at him, the corners of her eyes crinkling like paper. Oh, that smile she had! It was worth far more than any dare game with the sons of Imladris or his jokes with his brothers. The smile itself held Legolas entranced, until he heard his little sisters voice bringing him with a thud back to reality.
"Lords and ladies," called Calensil, over the crowd. Though Legolas could not see the speaker, he knew exactly where she was; sitting on their mothers lap. So, the captain had at last been rescued at last. He smiled softly to himself. The captain was not good around younglings. They always seemed to unnerve him, although the prince was unsure why.
"There will be four dances!" continued the young, attention loving princess, "One set, two free and fast, one free and slow. Let the dancing begin!"
The musicians set up a silly tune, the set one. It seemed they had consulted an Imladris elf, to make sure both parties new the tune and the steps that went along with it. The tune, it turned out, was a favourite among both parties.
From where she sat comfortably, chewing on her hair, Calensil could not see all her brothers. She could see four of them; Oroweth, Astaler, Thellind and Nilwethion, but she could not see the other two. She craned her head, but decided the two others must be on the other side of the bonfire. She huffed a little, annoyed that she could not watch them all in the way that a magpie watches things which sparkle and glitter, but then turned her attention to other things.
As she watched the dancers, all moving in exactly the same way, perfectly in time to the music, she became bored and began playing with her mothers' hair. She carried on plaiting, or knotting, as the case was, right through the set dance, listening to the judges debating all the different dancers, laughing here and there at the occasional joke. It was impossible for anyone at the feast to stay worried for long, even for Thranduil and Elrond.
She looked up as the next tune started, and smiled happily, at last able to see Legolas and Nuryávië. Instead of judging the dancing, she began to judge the ladies her brothers were dancing with. She was very critical about all of them, and studied them intently.
After a minute or two, she decided that either the servant girl, who seemed to be having the time of her life, or the pretty girl in pink was her favourite. She knew the servant girl, in a way, after following her brothers down in to the kitchens at midnight a few times in search of food and mischief. The girl – although it was hypocritical of Calensil to think of the servant as a 'girl' as she was much older than her – had once given her a little bowl full of sweet fruits which had been ripe and juicy, staining her hands and mouth. The other one, the one in pink, she did not know. An Imladris girl, she decided. In that case, the serving girl was the favourite. Calensil was a Mirkwood nationalist true and through.
In the midst of the dancers, the princes were having the time of their lives. After nearly bumping in to each other, Nilwethion and Legolas had grinned at each other and stayed near each other for a while, exchanging comments both flattering their own partners and showing off their dancing skills at the same time. Every time they complemented their partners, the Elf maidens would blush violently and giggle, finding it hard to keep up with the rhythm. They, in turn, exchanged little comments about the princes, who laughed and basked in the compliments.
On the third dance, Legolas whispered to his lady, "Would you like to spin?" so quietly only she could hear. She thought about it a moment, letting the beat of the music flow through her, and then nodded.
In a flash, Legolas had his hands around her waist and the pair span around, their eyes fixed on each other so as not to get dizzy, the world around them moving in a blur of swirling colours and extorted shapes. Around and around they whirled, the momentum carrying them away in to their own little whirl, and all that penetrated in to it was the music. The fast, flowing music that flew through them and around them and in to their very souls.
Next to them, Nilwethion could not resist a challenge. The serving girl he was dancing with saw the look in his eyes and realised what he was about to do, and began protesting. It failed to work. The prince began spinning her around anyway, and she only managed to let out a high squeak before she realised she loved the spin.
The two princes, had they stopped spinning for long enough to see anything else but their partners would have realised that there was a widening circle around them. At first it began because none of the Elves wanted to be hit, but then some of the dancers began to stop dancing, solely to watch to see which couple would stop spinning first, laughing and placing bets of kisses. The watching Elves clapped in time to the rhythm, quickly taken up in the fun, forgetting quickly about the competition.
Seeing what was happening, more elves began to gather to watch, and the musicians quickened the pace of the music, just to see how fast the couples could spin.
When the small crowd around the dancers became so thick that Elves on the outside could not see, Calensil stood up on the table again, to watch her competing brothers, ignoring her parents' orders to get down and act like a properly brought up princess ought to act. She ignored the orders and watched her brothers spinning around with wide eyed curiosity, jiggling up and down every so often.
Around the clearing, others saw what she was doing, and also stood up on the tables, at first clapping along with the rhythm, and then they began dancing themselves. The tables wobbled slightly as the feet pattered down on them, but not one threatened to break and not one bowl or plate of food was knocked over, nor goblet of wine spilt. Elves were like cats in that respect, never knocking things over, and being aware of everything around them.
Where he sat, the king buried his head in his hands, wishing the world would swallow him up. Beside him, the queen was clapping along, laughing merrily at her spinning sons and the dancers on the tables. As she watched, Thellind and Astaler had raised their partners up on their shoulders so that they could see what was happening in the enclosed circle. At last she noticed her husband and sighed.
"Oh Thranduil, please tell me you are enjoying this!"
"I am afraid that I can not tell you anything else without lying," came the muffled reply. The queen sighed. As much as she loved him to pieces, her husband was sometimes the very limit. She sometimes wished that he would just lighten up when the occasion arose that he could. The chance for Thranduil to be happy did not come often, but when it did, he usually let it float by.
"Well you know what they say," she said slowly. The king looked up at her, his head on one side.
"What do who say?"
"They say, if you cannot beat them, you may as well join them," she said, standing up carefully, watching the dancing figures on the tables with the air of one who longed to be with them.
"I think you will find that that is our youngest four whenever they are in trouble and can not think of an excuse or alibi,"
"Nonetheless, they still say it. If you do not come out and dance with me, I shall start dancing on the table with your daughter!"
"No! I refuse to go out there and dance as though I have lost my mind!"
"Very well then," she replied, looking as smug as her sons had earlier on in the night, stepping daintily up on to the table, "If that is your will . . ."
She began dancing with her daughter, avoiding the food and wine on the table effortlessly, copying the style of the other partnerless dancers on other tables. She noticed Celebrian in her seat looking hopefully at Elrond, and the look of helplessness in Elronds eyes. She giggled loudly, and then held her hand out to Celebrian in order to help the lady get up on to the table. With a happy smile, Celebrian accepted the hand, and pulled herself up on the table, following in the queens' footsteps.
"I have survived many battles," muttered Elrond to Thranduil, "And I have seen many things in my long life, though I have never experienced anything quite like this."
"You find yourself not alone," muttered Thranduil back, "I believe we are the only two here who have not lost their heads."
"No, King Thranduil, there are four of us. Glorfindel, you see, sitting on his own over there talking quietly to your captain, who seems to me quite scared. What is his name again? I fear I did not quite catch it previously."
The king nodded, avoiding his wife's wayward skirt at it billowed out. Above them, Celebrian must have said something, because the three dancers began to giggle.
"He is Captain Silnan, Lord Elrond," he said with a sigh. Again, there was laughter from somewhere above his head. He moved aside again as the skirt whisked around.
"Ah yes, I remember now." He paused, and looked towards the musicians with a look of slight confusion. "I was brought to believe this particular piece of music was shorter than this,"
"Yes, it is usually. It seems they are repeating it," shuddered the king, "I hope they do not see fit to repeat it again."
Elrond nodded, and the pair took a very large draught of wine from their goblets, finishing the red liquid that had been occupying it. In an ornate silver jug, patterned with ivy leaves, vibrations from the dancers sent waves rippling along the surface of the wine. Elrond picked up the jug to refill his goblet.
"More wine, King Thranduil?"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
At last, the over speeded music came to an end, and the dancers on the table sat down in their seats again. The large crowd around the spinning couples thinned out to find a space to dance in for the next song, and the two spinning couples stopped spinning. As soon as they did, they collapsed on to the floor with dizziness, the world around them still spinning quickly. The maid and the girl in pink wafted their hands, fanning themselves and laughing, panting for breath. Legolas closed his eyes in an attempt to make the forest stay still. At last, they made themselves stand up, wobbly though they were, and began dancing the final, slow dance, wobbling occasionally on jelly like legs.
The slow steps were a completely new world from the fast spinning that it came as a shock, though not an one.
"My lady," Legolas found his voice shaking a little, partly from the dizziness, but partly from an unknown terror he had never felt before, "My lady I do not think I am aware of your name," he felt a blush rising from his boots, and wished it would go away.
"I think you are unaware also," she giggled playfully.
'She is playing tricks with me,' thought Legolas, as the blush rose quickly. He cursed the blush, and wished he was more like Nilwethion around girls; confident and popular.
"Will you tell me your name?"
Again she giggled.
"I will,"
The blush had now risen to his neck heating him up as it went, and it was fast rising to his face.
"So what is your name, oh cruel lady, or are you going to break my heart and never tell me?"
She leaned close to him.
"My name," she whispered, "I will give for a kiss,"
The blush had reached Legolas' forehead now and was becoming a deeper and deeper shade of red. The music that they were dancing to seemed to fade away, blending in to the background like the receding tides on the beaches of Valinor.
Legolas bent his head down, level with the girls, and touched his lips with hers, the pair closing their eyes. The second they touched, an electric pulse flooded through his body, like he had never felt before. He felt her tongue wrapping gently around his, caressing it. The prince returned the gesture, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, running his hands through her hair. As they pulled away from each other, Legolas finally noticed the music had stopped; the song was over, and so was the competition. His siblings and their partners were staring at him, somewhere between a state of amazement and trying not to burst in to a fit of hysterics.
He opened his mouth, reddening again, far more violently than before, and then closed it again, glaring sourly.
Oroweth folded his arms and raised a perfect eyebrow with something that could only be badly concealed glee.
"Impressive kiss, little Greenleaf. Especially seeing as it was your first,"
"Oroweth!"
The small group around the embarrassed pair began laughing loudly. The girl in pink turned to Legolas.
"That was your first kiss?"
The prince glared at his older brother, only succeeding in making Oroweth laugh even more. He said nothing, but the look on his face was enough.
"It was mine too. You are a very good kisser, I think,"
She looked at him shyly, with a small smile. The princes stopped laughing, gob smacked. For that, at least, Legolas was grateful.
"You owe me a name," whispered Legolas in her ear, grabbing the chance while he could. For a moment, it seemed as though the maiden was going to continue to toy with him, but then her sister answered for her.
"She is Aliela,"
Interrupting the conversation, and stealing away all the attention – something Legolas was very grateful for - Thranduil stood up, calling for attention. He gave a loud cough, and silence fell over the assembled party.
"Lord and ladies of Imladris and Mirkwood, it is time to announce the winners! Ennyntaur of Mirkwood, and Silmarien of Imladris, we declare you the champions!"
Claps and cheers echoed loudly around the clearing, punctuated here and there by whistles. The pair, both unknown to the princes, stepped forwards to receive the amphora of Dorwinion wine, brought quickly from the palace by servants, laughing happily as they did so.
"Very diplomatic," whispered Nilwethion to Legolas as they applauded. Legolas nodded with agreement. As soon as they chatter had risen, Legolas and Aliela found themselves alone. They sat down for a while, listening to the new music that was being played, and admiring the beautiful voice of the singer, but then, as the moon began to go down, out of sight of the clearing, Aliela decided that she needed rest, so they parted and she set off down the little path back to the halls with her sister. Legolas watched them go until they were out of sight, but then slipped off to
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A/N AI VALAR, THE FLUFF! THE FLUFF! Urgh, slushy romantic stuff! Don't worry; there will be little to no more of it this fic. I just couldn't resist embarrassing Legolas. Hehehe. Next chapter the fun really begins, with the start of the dares. I don't know what I'm going to do with Aliela; the fic was NOT supposed to be romance, and will have as little romance as possible in later chapters.
DAW THE MINSTREL ~~ Yes, they are very entertaining aren't they? Their loyalty is important for future chapters / fics.
RACHEL ~~ Has the sugar worn off yet? Eating that many biscuits in that amount of time was fairly stupid, even if it was a dare. Hey a plot bunny just ran past! Here, plot bunny, bunny, bunny . . .
GREENLEAFGRL ~~ No it isn't a façade, they really are being smug. Glad you agree with me on the slash thing, there's so much of it about!
FIREANGEL ~~ I guess you like it, huh? Everybody loves Calensil. She's going to end up taking over the part of main character if I'm not careful!
ROGUE SOLUS ~~ Calensil HAS no match. She is unmatchable in any way. Unless you count Fireangel, but she isn't a character in the story.
IMBEFANIEL ~~ If you really did have children like these, I doubt you would want them. They keep Thranduil on the edge all the time, but I suppose Imlammthien does seem to get on very well with them.
ELFAER GILIELL ~~ You've read Déjà Vu? PLEASE don't start sending flamers about Aliela, and this goes to everybody else who has read it. She really is nice and sweet now. She's a whole different elf, I swear! Thank you SO much for making my day!
**EMQU gives traditional choc 'n' cherry cookies to every one of her beloved reviewers** By the way, you do all LIKE the choc 'n' cherry cookies, right? If you don't, I can get you some other sort of cookies really easily.
Now remember, click the little box, yup, that one in the corner of the screen.
The princes easily found themselves partners in no time at all, as was to be expected. They were royalty, after all, and royalty attracts admirers like a fly to a lamp, although the Elves would not like that description. Thellind, Astaler and Oroweth had paired themselves up quickly with the three remaining ladies from the earlier group; Legolas was still dancing with the pretty elf in pink who still had no name, Nuryävié had found a beautiful yet nervous woman from Imladris who had been sitting alone and Nilwethion had chatted up the nearest serving girl, who giggled at every turn, surprised to be in such high company, yet loving every moment of it. Calensil herself had chosen not to take part in the competition for fear of being trampled and had begun following the captain of the warriors around, very much unnerving the poor elf. As stunning as he was when wielding weapons – unmatched by any soul living in Mirkwood or the surrounding lands – small children unnerved, nay, scared him terribly.
At the high table, watching over the sudden turn of events with a slight confusion and dismay, the king sat frowning. Queen Imlammthien laid her hand on his arm and looked at him lovingly, worried about his lack of humour.
"What is it, dear? You ought to be enjoying yourself. Everybody else is, after all, and there is nothing to be upset about."
The king shrugged and sighed, pulling himself together at the caring tones of his beloved wife. She was right, after all. After a moment, in a thoughtful tone, he said, "I do not remember organising a dance competition, and I certainly do not remember giving permission for the Dorwinion stuff to be used as the prize,"
The queen sat back, smiling softly to herself in a knowing manner. So that was all the problem was. She had suspected as much, but had not been completely certain. No real problem then.
"I think the idea was quite wonderful, my darling," she said, the smile playing on her lips threatening to burst open in to gentle peals of relieved laughter. She quickly covered it by delicately taking up her goblet of wine and sipping a little of its contents. The king copied, only to find his goblet empty. He looked at it sadly, but put it back down, pretending he had only just finished it.
"Wonderful though it may be, I wish I had been previously informed. My children must learn discipline, Imlammthien."
Imlammthien laughed happily, though quickly turned her laugh in to a small bout of coughing when she saw the look on her husbands face. She turned to the Lady of Imladris, who was sitting opposite her, and struck up a conversation about the dancers, and who would be good to watch, leaving Thranduil to talk with Elrond about more serious matters.
"I find myself concerned about my sons," muttered Elrond to Thranduil. Thranduil raised an eyebrow. In his voice, Thranduil was sure that he could hear an echo of himself.
"How so, Lord Elrond?" he asked, refilling both their goblets with the sweet, red wine. Elrond took a sip before informing the king of his worries, savouring the expensive taste of his drink.
"They are not socialising. It is usually a bad sign. Trouble always comes of it, someway or another," he raised the goblet to his lips for another draught, letting it trickle down his throat, refreshing him.
"Trouble?" queried Thranduil. Warning bells were going off in his head, but he tried his best to ignore them, "What kind of trouble do you mean?"
"That is the thing," sighed the Lord, "Some sort of pranks, usually; practical jests. Occasionally they are quite hilarious, though mainly they are quite silly or dangerous, and all of them at the expense of another unfortunate soul. Usually my dear little Arwen, though when she visits Lothlorien they tend to pick on Lindir, our minstrel. They are the worst troublemakers west of the Misty Mountains."
The King of Mirkwood could no longer ignore the warning bells in his head, which had now increased at an alarming rate and rang in his ears like the clamour of battle. He put two and two together, and groaned loudly. He tapped his wife on the shoulder, interrupting her. She turned to look at him, excusing herself from the far more relaxed conversation that she had been having with Celebrian.
"Yes, my dear?"
"Lord Elrond has just informed me that his sons are troublesome. The worst troublemakers on their side of the mountains, is the exact phrase," he stared in to her eyes, a vague look of panic written across his features in a desperate plea for help.
"They have promised to be well behaved," interrupted Celebrian hurriedly, rushing to the defence of her family, "If they attempt anything, they know that they will be in more trouble than ever before."
Her words did not reach the ears of the royal couple, the queen now returning the look of hopeless despair to her husband. She sat back in her seat, staring at her six sons one by one, now gathered with their partners by the flickering, hot bonfire. Her daughter, she was sure, was pestering their captain again. She would have to rescue him, if she could find them.
"I suppose you have not heard, my dear," she said, addressing Celebrian with a voice that can only a mother can truly sympathise with, "my youngest sons also have a passion for creating trouble, dragging others with them as they go. I do hope they do nothing foolish."
The four parents became silent, each running similar thoughts through their heads on different levels of panic. At least, reasoned Thranduil to himself, both parties had been forewarned off any possible trouble.
"Oh," managed Celebrian at last, her voice trembling. She raised her slender, willowy fingers to her lips, and her wide eyes fixed on those of her new friend.
"They did promise to behave themselves," muttered Thranduil, uncertainly. Promises like pie crusts were easily broken. In fact, promises like pie crusts were always, always broken, no matter what the intentions were.
"I believe you placed your wager at a week," replied Imlammthien, a little sharply. The sharpness, however, must be forgiven. The poor queen was shaking with worry at the thoughts of what her children could be plotting.
"And you have placed your at two," came the reply, equally as sharp.
"Wager? What wager?" Celebrian was staring now at her hosts with worry.
"On how long it takes before at least one child breaks their promise to behave," sighed the Queen sadly, "Oh look, they are beginning the competition!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
By the bonfire, the six princes and their partners grinned at each other, wishing each other good luck, and may the best pair win. Unfortunately for Legolas, he still did not know his partners name, although she knew his. He knew she was from Imladris, and only three years younger than himself, and that she had one sister, currently dancing with Oroweth, but he still did not know her name. The blonde prince kept meaning to ask her, but could not quite get the words out of his mouth. They kept sticking in his throat like copious amounts of honey, and refusing to budge any further.
Now, however, they were in the middle of a competition, full of other competing couples, and he was becoming more and more nervous by the minute. Thellind would pay for this. Oh, yes, Thellind would get his comeuppance. Why could he not have just carried out the dare? Thellind was good around ladies, for the Valar's sake! They seemed to love the shyness. Apparently it was sweet, or something similar. Out of the corner of his eye, Legolas noticed Nilwethion sweet-talking the serving girl he was dancing with. He rolled his eyes.
"What is it, my lord prince?"
The beautiful girl in pink had caught him off his guard, and was watching him intently, her eyes glowing brightly with the reflection of the huge bonfire that flickered away, warming them all up fiercely.
"Oh, I was just watching my brother shamelessly flirting," he stammered
"Which one? They all seem to flirt," then she smiled at him, the corners of her eyes crinkling like paper. Oh, that smile she had! It was worth far more than any dare game with the sons of Imladris or his jokes with his brothers. The smile itself held Legolas entranced, until he heard his little sisters voice bringing him with a thud back to reality.
"Lords and ladies," called Calensil, over the crowd. Though Legolas could not see the speaker, he knew exactly where she was; sitting on their mothers lap. So, the captain had at last been rescued at last. He smiled softly to himself. The captain was not good around younglings. They always seemed to unnerve him, although the prince was unsure why.
"There will be four dances!" continued the young, attention loving princess, "One set, two free and fast, one free and slow. Let the dancing begin!"
The musicians set up a silly tune, the set one. It seemed they had consulted an Imladris elf, to make sure both parties new the tune and the steps that went along with it. The tune, it turned out, was a favourite among both parties.
From where she sat comfortably, chewing on her hair, Calensil could not see all her brothers. She could see four of them; Oroweth, Astaler, Thellind and Nilwethion, but she could not see the other two. She craned her head, but decided the two others must be on the other side of the bonfire. She huffed a little, annoyed that she could not watch them all in the way that a magpie watches things which sparkle and glitter, but then turned her attention to other things.
As she watched the dancers, all moving in exactly the same way, perfectly in time to the music, she became bored and began playing with her mothers' hair. She carried on plaiting, or knotting, as the case was, right through the set dance, listening to the judges debating all the different dancers, laughing here and there at the occasional joke. It was impossible for anyone at the feast to stay worried for long, even for Thranduil and Elrond.
She looked up as the next tune started, and smiled happily, at last able to see Legolas and Nuryávië. Instead of judging the dancing, she began to judge the ladies her brothers were dancing with. She was very critical about all of them, and studied them intently.
After a minute or two, she decided that either the servant girl, who seemed to be having the time of her life, or the pretty girl in pink was her favourite. She knew the servant girl, in a way, after following her brothers down in to the kitchens at midnight a few times in search of food and mischief. The girl – although it was hypocritical of Calensil to think of the servant as a 'girl' as she was much older than her – had once given her a little bowl full of sweet fruits which had been ripe and juicy, staining her hands and mouth. The other one, the one in pink, she did not know. An Imladris girl, she decided. In that case, the serving girl was the favourite. Calensil was a Mirkwood nationalist true and through.
In the midst of the dancers, the princes were having the time of their lives. After nearly bumping in to each other, Nilwethion and Legolas had grinned at each other and stayed near each other for a while, exchanging comments both flattering their own partners and showing off their dancing skills at the same time. Every time they complemented their partners, the Elf maidens would blush violently and giggle, finding it hard to keep up with the rhythm. They, in turn, exchanged little comments about the princes, who laughed and basked in the compliments.
On the third dance, Legolas whispered to his lady, "Would you like to spin?" so quietly only she could hear. She thought about it a moment, letting the beat of the music flow through her, and then nodded.
In a flash, Legolas had his hands around her waist and the pair span around, their eyes fixed on each other so as not to get dizzy, the world around them moving in a blur of swirling colours and extorted shapes. Around and around they whirled, the momentum carrying them away in to their own little whirl, and all that penetrated in to it was the music. The fast, flowing music that flew through them and around them and in to their very souls.
Next to them, Nilwethion could not resist a challenge. The serving girl he was dancing with saw the look in his eyes and realised what he was about to do, and began protesting. It failed to work. The prince began spinning her around anyway, and she only managed to let out a high squeak before she realised she loved the spin.
The two princes, had they stopped spinning for long enough to see anything else but their partners would have realised that there was a widening circle around them. At first it began because none of the Elves wanted to be hit, but then some of the dancers began to stop dancing, solely to watch to see which couple would stop spinning first, laughing and placing bets of kisses. The watching Elves clapped in time to the rhythm, quickly taken up in the fun, forgetting quickly about the competition.
Seeing what was happening, more elves began to gather to watch, and the musicians quickened the pace of the music, just to see how fast the couples could spin.
When the small crowd around the dancers became so thick that Elves on the outside could not see, Calensil stood up on the table again, to watch her competing brothers, ignoring her parents' orders to get down and act like a properly brought up princess ought to act. She ignored the orders and watched her brothers spinning around with wide eyed curiosity, jiggling up and down every so often.
Around the clearing, others saw what she was doing, and also stood up on the tables, at first clapping along with the rhythm, and then they began dancing themselves. The tables wobbled slightly as the feet pattered down on them, but not one threatened to break and not one bowl or plate of food was knocked over, nor goblet of wine spilt. Elves were like cats in that respect, never knocking things over, and being aware of everything around them.
Where he sat, the king buried his head in his hands, wishing the world would swallow him up. Beside him, the queen was clapping along, laughing merrily at her spinning sons and the dancers on the tables. As she watched, Thellind and Astaler had raised their partners up on their shoulders so that they could see what was happening in the enclosed circle. At last she noticed her husband and sighed.
"Oh Thranduil, please tell me you are enjoying this!"
"I am afraid that I can not tell you anything else without lying," came the muffled reply. The queen sighed. As much as she loved him to pieces, her husband was sometimes the very limit. She sometimes wished that he would just lighten up when the occasion arose that he could. The chance for Thranduil to be happy did not come often, but when it did, he usually let it float by.
"Well you know what they say," she said slowly. The king looked up at her, his head on one side.
"What do who say?"
"They say, if you cannot beat them, you may as well join them," she said, standing up carefully, watching the dancing figures on the tables with the air of one who longed to be with them.
"I think you will find that that is our youngest four whenever they are in trouble and can not think of an excuse or alibi,"
"Nonetheless, they still say it. If you do not come out and dance with me, I shall start dancing on the table with your daughter!"
"No! I refuse to go out there and dance as though I have lost my mind!"
"Very well then," she replied, looking as smug as her sons had earlier on in the night, stepping daintily up on to the table, "If that is your will . . ."
She began dancing with her daughter, avoiding the food and wine on the table effortlessly, copying the style of the other partnerless dancers on other tables. She noticed Celebrian in her seat looking hopefully at Elrond, and the look of helplessness in Elronds eyes. She giggled loudly, and then held her hand out to Celebrian in order to help the lady get up on to the table. With a happy smile, Celebrian accepted the hand, and pulled herself up on the table, following in the queens' footsteps.
"I have survived many battles," muttered Elrond to Thranduil, "And I have seen many things in my long life, though I have never experienced anything quite like this."
"You find yourself not alone," muttered Thranduil back, "I believe we are the only two here who have not lost their heads."
"No, King Thranduil, there are four of us. Glorfindel, you see, sitting on his own over there talking quietly to your captain, who seems to me quite scared. What is his name again? I fear I did not quite catch it previously."
The king nodded, avoiding his wife's wayward skirt at it billowed out. Above them, Celebrian must have said something, because the three dancers began to giggle.
"He is Captain Silnan, Lord Elrond," he said with a sigh. Again, there was laughter from somewhere above his head. He moved aside again as the skirt whisked around.
"Ah yes, I remember now." He paused, and looked towards the musicians with a look of slight confusion. "I was brought to believe this particular piece of music was shorter than this,"
"Yes, it is usually. It seems they are repeating it," shuddered the king, "I hope they do not see fit to repeat it again."
Elrond nodded, and the pair took a very large draught of wine from their goblets, finishing the red liquid that had been occupying it. In an ornate silver jug, patterned with ivy leaves, vibrations from the dancers sent waves rippling along the surface of the wine. Elrond picked up the jug to refill his goblet.
"More wine, King Thranduil?"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
At last, the over speeded music came to an end, and the dancers on the table sat down in their seats again. The large crowd around the spinning couples thinned out to find a space to dance in for the next song, and the two spinning couples stopped spinning. As soon as they did, they collapsed on to the floor with dizziness, the world around them still spinning quickly. The maid and the girl in pink wafted their hands, fanning themselves and laughing, panting for breath. Legolas closed his eyes in an attempt to make the forest stay still. At last, they made themselves stand up, wobbly though they were, and began dancing the final, slow dance, wobbling occasionally on jelly like legs.
The slow steps were a completely new world from the fast spinning that it came as a shock, though not an one.
"My lady," Legolas found his voice shaking a little, partly from the dizziness, but partly from an unknown terror he had never felt before, "My lady I do not think I am aware of your name," he felt a blush rising from his boots, and wished it would go away.
"I think you are unaware also," she giggled playfully.
'She is playing tricks with me,' thought Legolas, as the blush rose quickly. He cursed the blush, and wished he was more like Nilwethion around girls; confident and popular.
"Will you tell me your name?"
Again she giggled.
"I will,"
The blush had now risen to his neck heating him up as it went, and it was fast rising to his face.
"So what is your name, oh cruel lady, or are you going to break my heart and never tell me?"
She leaned close to him.
"My name," she whispered, "I will give for a kiss,"
The blush had reached Legolas' forehead now and was becoming a deeper and deeper shade of red. The music that they were dancing to seemed to fade away, blending in to the background like the receding tides on the beaches of Valinor.
Legolas bent his head down, level with the girls, and touched his lips with hers, the pair closing their eyes. The second they touched, an electric pulse flooded through his body, like he had never felt before. He felt her tongue wrapping gently around his, caressing it. The prince returned the gesture, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, running his hands through her hair. As they pulled away from each other, Legolas finally noticed the music had stopped; the song was over, and so was the competition. His siblings and their partners were staring at him, somewhere between a state of amazement and trying not to burst in to a fit of hysterics.
He opened his mouth, reddening again, far more violently than before, and then closed it again, glaring sourly.
Oroweth folded his arms and raised a perfect eyebrow with something that could only be badly concealed glee.
"Impressive kiss, little Greenleaf. Especially seeing as it was your first,"
"Oroweth!"
The small group around the embarrassed pair began laughing loudly. The girl in pink turned to Legolas.
"That was your first kiss?"
The prince glared at his older brother, only succeeding in making Oroweth laugh even more. He said nothing, but the look on his face was enough.
"It was mine too. You are a very good kisser, I think,"
She looked at him shyly, with a small smile. The princes stopped laughing, gob smacked. For that, at least, Legolas was grateful.
"You owe me a name," whispered Legolas in her ear, grabbing the chance while he could. For a moment, it seemed as though the maiden was going to continue to toy with him, but then her sister answered for her.
"She is Aliela,"
Interrupting the conversation, and stealing away all the attention – something Legolas was very grateful for - Thranduil stood up, calling for attention. He gave a loud cough, and silence fell over the assembled party.
"Lord and ladies of Imladris and Mirkwood, it is time to announce the winners! Ennyntaur of Mirkwood, and Silmarien of Imladris, we declare you the champions!"
Claps and cheers echoed loudly around the clearing, punctuated here and there by whistles. The pair, both unknown to the princes, stepped forwards to receive the amphora of Dorwinion wine, brought quickly from the palace by servants, laughing happily as they did so.
"Very diplomatic," whispered Nilwethion to Legolas as they applauded. Legolas nodded with agreement. As soon as they chatter had risen, Legolas and Aliela found themselves alone. They sat down for a while, listening to the new music that was being played, and admiring the beautiful voice of the singer, but then, as the moon began to go down, out of sight of the clearing, Aliela decided that she needed rest, so they parted and she set off down the little path back to the halls with her sister. Legolas watched them go until they were out of sight, but then slipped off to
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N AI VALAR, THE FLUFF! THE FLUFF! Urgh, slushy romantic stuff! Don't worry; there will be little to no more of it this fic. I just couldn't resist embarrassing Legolas. Hehehe. Next chapter the fun really begins, with the start of the dares. I don't know what I'm going to do with Aliela; the fic was NOT supposed to be romance, and will have as little romance as possible in later chapters.
DAW THE MINSTREL ~~ Yes, they are very entertaining aren't they? Their loyalty is important for future chapters / fics.
RACHEL ~~ Has the sugar worn off yet? Eating that many biscuits in that amount of time was fairly stupid, even if it was a dare. Hey a plot bunny just ran past! Here, plot bunny, bunny, bunny . . .
GREENLEAFGRL ~~ No it isn't a façade, they really are being smug. Glad you agree with me on the slash thing, there's so much of it about!
FIREANGEL ~~ I guess you like it, huh? Everybody loves Calensil. She's going to end up taking over the part of main character if I'm not careful!
ROGUE SOLUS ~~ Calensil HAS no match. She is unmatchable in any way. Unless you count Fireangel, but she isn't a character in the story.
IMBEFANIEL ~~ If you really did have children like these, I doubt you would want them. They keep Thranduil on the edge all the time, but I suppose Imlammthien does seem to get on very well with them.
ELFAER GILIELL ~~ You've read Déjà Vu? PLEASE don't start sending flamers about Aliela, and this goes to everybody else who has read it. She really is nice and sweet now. She's a whole different elf, I swear! Thank you SO much for making my day!
**EMQU gives traditional choc 'n' cherry cookies to every one of her beloved reviewers** By the way, you do all LIKE the choc 'n' cherry cookies, right? If you don't, I can get you some other sort of cookies really easily.
Now remember, click the little box, yup, that one in the corner of the screen.