INTERLUDE – Of Elven Ladies, Magical Mirrors and Quidditch Practices
Galadriel filled up her mirror with water from the nearby stream and breathed upon it. While she waited for the water to still, her husband, Celeborn, eyed her with worry.
"Do you think it wise, my Lady, that you should look into the Mirror so soon after seeing the Eye?" he asked her.
"Nay, my Lord Celeborn, I do not." Galadriel smiled at her husband. "Do you share my sentiments, the one who is called The Wise?"
"Yes, my beloved, I do. Yet why do you still insist to look upon the Mirror when you will be more troubled?" questioned Celeborn.
"Celeborn, I have said that I think it not wise to look into the Mirror, not that it would trouble me more," she sighed.
"That you did," he agreed. "But I have observed over the years that whenever I tell you that it is not wise to look at your Mirror, you end up being troubled or confused in the end." Celeborn bestowed a mock-scathing look upon his wife. "I do not know I asked you to wed with me when you clearly showed no intention to follow my counsel," he finished with a sigh of deep annoyance.
"You asked me because you loved me," Galadriel replied and smiled beautifully at her husband.
Celeborn smiled back and thanked the Valar for giving him Galadriel. "Go on, look into the Mirror so that you may finish early!" he said.
Her smile widened and she kissed her husband briefly. Suddenly, her whole demeanor changed. She was now Galadriel, Lady of the Woods of Lórien. Galadriel looked into her Mirror…
"Practice is over!" Harry Potter, the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team yelled to the members of said team. "You could all wash up now!"
The female members of the team shuffled to the girl's locker rooms to shower and change into their school robes.
"Do all Quidditch practices have to be this grueling?" moaned Lisa Kurtis, a fourth year and one of the newest members of the team.
"Just be thankful that everyone's a bit rusty and that Oliver Wood graduated two years ago," Alicia Spinnet replied as she massage her sore legs.
"You mean it gets worse?" asked Lisa, horrified.
"At least Harry was merciful and didn't run us too hard today…" muttered Katie Bell.
"Or make us wake up at four-thirty in the morning and bore us with Quidditch strategies…" added Alicia.
"Or tell us to hold on to the Quaffle or die trying…"
Lisa looked more and more horrified as the list went on and on. I knew that I shouldn't have tried out for the Quidditch team! she groaned to herself. Why did I let Ginny talk me in to this…?
Lisa groaned again and flopped down on the benches. Katie and Alicia stopped massaging their sore limbs for a while and looked at their new teammate sympathetically. "Don't worry, Lisa!" said Katie, trying to cheer her up. "Once your muscles get used to the fact that you have to abuse them, they would stop protesting against the maneuvers you have to perform."
"I still resent Ginny for talking me into this…" muttered Lisa, her voice muffled because of the arm draped on her face.
"Cheer up, dearie! You'll be thanking Harry later for running you hard when we win every single match we play in!" said Alicia.
"True…" sighed Lisa. She used to think that the Gryffindor team members were exaggerating when they stumble into the common room looking as if a dozen rabid elephants stampeded them. Now that she knew how they felt, Lisa vowed never to take Quidditch lightly again.
Alicia and Katie exchanged a look over Lisa's head and nodded at the same time. The older girls agreed to take the younger one under their wings and teach her how to be the best Quidditch player she could be.
Suddenly, at that moment, all three girls paused as what seemed to be magic coursed through them, although they have never felt it before. It was not like the magic they sense at Hogwarts, or what they feel when they perform spells. No, it was like the Forbidden Forest: ancient and primeval, bright and clear yet dark and mysterious at the same time. The magic coursed through their veins; searching, testing, judging everything that makes a person unique.
Katie felt disconcerted; the magic seemed to be interested in her. It soared through her body, looked inside her mind, scrutinizing every detail. After a moment, the presence stopped observing her and left.
"What was that?" Lisa asked, frightened.
"I don't know…" Alicia whispered.
The three girls shook it off and continued to wash up in silence. They mutually agreed that they would not mention what happened to the other Gryffindors unless somebody else described the same experience to them. Little do they know that almost every student in the school experienced the same thing at the exact moment they felt the "presence."
Galadriel looked up from her Mirror giving her husband a bemused, and somewhat confused, stare. Celeborn sighed and smiled at his wife. "As I have said: you end up troubled or confused whenever I deem looking into your Mirror folly."
She decided that replying to that statement would be unwise and merely leaned against him. Celeborn sighed again, wrapped his arm around Galadriel's shoulders and led her to their personal talan.
While they walked to their quarters, Galadriel pondered on the vision her Mirror showed her. Children of Men floating around in what seemed to be sticks with twigs on one end, girl-children moaning and groaning afterwards, a whole castle filled with edain children all wearing similar looks of puzzlement…it all confused her and she felt that she needed to relax for a while before discussing it with her husband.
They reached their quarters. Noticing his wife's bafflement, Celeborn eased her into their bed and decided to brush Galadriel's hair so that she could relax.
After half an hour of letting her husband brush her hair, Galadriel finally felt relaxed enough to share her vision with her husband. After describing it to Celeborn, she wrapped her arms around him while he pondered on the confusing vision. They stayed that way for a long time; Galadriel almost reached her usual dream paths when Celeborn spoke.
"I think that one of those edain would be arriving here. Did your vision linger on any of the children, even for a while?" he asked Galadriel as they reclined on their bed, his arms draped on his wife's waist.
"No, my vision did not linger on any of the children," her voice was muffled by Celeborn's shoulder. But even as she said this, her mind reminded her that her vision did linger a second or two longer at one of the girls. Galadriel resolved to tell her husband that on the morrow and her eyes glazed over in sleep.
Celeborn looked at Galadriel and smiled. She looked even more beautiful in the moonlight. Kissing her forehead softly, he walked his usual path in his dreams.
Author's Notes: Celeborn and Galadriel's interaction was inspired by LoveChilde's The Elf Behind the Queen which could be found here:
www . fanfiction . net / read . php ? storyid = 838584 (without all the spaces)
It is a must read for Celeborn fans!
Response to reviews will be posted along with Chapter Two. This story will be updated in two or three days.
As always: constructive criticisms are welcome, but flames would be ignored.
