-THE GAMES OF THE GODS-
-Disclaimer:-
Gollum: We owns it all, prcious!
Smeagol: No we doesn't!
Gollum: Yes we does!
Smeagol: No we doesn't!
Gollum: Yes we does!
Smeagol: No!
Gollum: Yes!
Smeagol: No!
Gollum: Yes!
Smeagol: No!
Gollum: Yes!
Smeagol: No!
CS: *thwaps Smeagol/Gollum* Arg, shoulda known better than to let him do the disclaimer. Ralph?
Ralph the Elvish Hairstylist: *ahem* Crimson Starlight owns nothing.
CS: *nod* Indeed.
Rachel: And speaking of owning things, has anyone seen my Elf-lord around?
CS: Er...um...Aranel Tumuril stuffed him in a paper bag and took off with him.
Rachel: *blink*
CS: But look who we got in return! *points to Ralph proudly*
Rachel: *bangs head against a random purple styrofoam wall*
Ralph the Elvish Hairstylist: Tsk, that is messing up your hair horribly, dear...
-56: Meetings-
Boromir was indeed being stupid when I found him - I didn't catch what he'd said, but I caught the end of Aragorn chewing him out.
"...in this land no evil, unless a man bring it hither himself. Then let him beware! But tonight I shall sleep without fear for the first time since I left Rivendell. And may I sleep deep, and forget for a while my grief! I am weary in body and in heart." Aragorn was saying, and I got the impression we would have liked to have laid down on the sleeping couch behind him and gone to sleep right there to prove his point, but he spotted Glorfindel and I and nodded an acknowledgment in our direction. Boromir barely had time to register that someone was behind him before I thwapped him upside the head - hard.
"Ow!" he exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head.
"Don't be stupid." I scolded. "Just because Galadriel's creepy and a party pooper doesn't mean she's evil. And anyways, Galadriel's Elrond's mother-in-law, and I told you that Aragorn is Elrond's foster son - so he's one of the last people you want to be speaking bad things about Galadriel around." Boromir sighed.
"She...unnerved me is all." he said.
"She does that." I quipped. "Hi and welcome to Lothlórien, by the way."
"Hello and thank you." Boromir said, rolling his eyes. I turned to the rest of the Fellowship.
"And hi to all you as well! Sorry for the little encounter at the gates, but Haldir is such fun to annoy." I said. Merry and Pippin grinned.
"It was a nice distraction, actually." Aragorn said sadly.
"From hearts overburdened with sorrow at the absence of a traveling companion?" I asked kindly, and everyone looked at me in a combination of surprise and sorrow. "What? You think I can't count? Don't be so sad, though. Glorfindel here did a little dance with a Balrog as well, and he's still around."
"But Gandalf fell." Pippin put in.
"Into Khazad-dûm." Gimli said sadly.
"Which is bottomless - or darn near it. And Balrogs have wings. And who knows what Gandalf can do with that staff." I pointed out, and then added to counter what I'd just given away, "But perhaps I am just looking for hope wherever possible." I shrugged helplessly and gave them a sad smile.
"And perhaps you need to stop talking about this subject?" Glorfindel commented pointedly, arching an eyebrow.
"Yep." I said with an emphatic nod. "Other than this last little part, how has your trip been so far?"
"We went up Caradhas. It was cold." Pippin said, making a face.
"Erg, cold. Yucky. Run into a blizzard? I ran into one on the way here. Got snowed into some ruins, and Asfaloth and Aratelpe got so hungry they tried to eat Glorfindel and my's bedrolls." I said.
"At least you didn't get buried in snow." Merry said, wrinkling his nose.
"Nah, I got pelted with it." I said, shooting Glorfindel an evil look. He looked back innocently.
"Did you start a snowball fight, Asira?" Boromir asked suspiciously.
"No, but I finished it!" I replied cheerfully. Aragorn, who had lay down on his couch/bed thingy and had been pretending to be asleep, looked up at that and arched an eyebrow at Glorfindel.
"You started a snowball fight, Lord Glorfindel?" he asked, his disbelief clear in his voice.
"Asfaloth made me do it." Glorfindel dead-panned. There was absolute silence for a moment, and then I whacked Glorfindel on the arm.
"No he didn't. He was too busy eating your bedroll. You started it all by yourself." I mock-scolded.
"And got snow down my tunic for my efforts." Glorfindel said with a mournful sigh. I snorted, and several members of the Fellowship let out little chuckles.
"Anyways. We should probably leave you to sleep. You've had a busy day. I'll be by tomorrow, though!" I waved, and the hobbits and Boromir waved back. Aragorn was back to pretending to be asleep, Gimli looked wrapped up in his own thoughts - and Legolas actually WAS asleep, I realized as we headed off. I just hadn't realized it, because he'd looked just as dazed when he walked into Caras Galadhon. Probably due to Gandalf falling.
At any rate, as Glorfindel and I headed off to our flets, someone in the upper flets started singing, and I paused for a moment, letting my internal Elvish translator tell me what they were saying. I had always been curious about what the Elves had sung about Gandalf when he'd fallen - Frodo had only translated a bit in the books - and now I knew. It was all about his accomplishments and what he did in life, like Glorfindel said Elvish laments were. The only clue that you really had that it was a lament was that it was so sad-sounding.
"Rachel?" Glorfindel asked after a moment, looking at me curiously as I stood there listening.
"Sorry." I said, flashing him a smile and starting walking again. "I just always wondered what Gandalf's lament was. There were only a few bits and pieces of it in the books and plays back home." Glorfindel nodded in understanding, and we walked in silence for awhile. I felt my mood slowly dropping, and just as Glorfindel and I reached the spot the led off to our two flets, I let out a quiet curse.
"Now I'm going to be all sad, and the stupid guy's not even gone yet, and will be back, anyways, once he is gone." I said with a sulk. Glorfindel chuckled.
"But you shall have to continue to act as if you think he is dead." he said, waggling a finger in my direction. "So it is a good thing you are starting to feel sad. Certainly you must stop giving out little snippets of information like you did down with the Fellowship just now."
"Yeah, I know." I said, making a face. "It was so hard not to give away even more, though - sad hobbits are quite possibly the worst thing someone could ever see. Though sad puppies might outdo them..." I frowned thoughtfully, and Glorfindel chuckled again.
"Let us hope we never have an opportunity to find out, yes?" Glorfindel said, giving me a light kiss on the cheek, and I nodded.
"And there's a good chance we won't!" I said. "Unless they have puppies in -" Glorfindel, sensing a revelation about someplace that the Fellowship was going to end up, interrupted me with a kiss.
"Let us stop talking and go to bed, shall we?" he said blandly when he pulled away. I nodded.
"Sounds good to me." I said with a grin. "Thinking over all this stuff would just get me worked up, anyways. Even the mental image of a sad hobbit next to a sad puppy makes me want to cry..." And so we split off to go to our separate flets for bed.
Glorfindel woke me the next morning - as he had been doing a lot recently - so he could drag me down to the kitchens with him for an early breakfast. At least it was early by my standards - he informed me once that by typical Elvish standards, it was actually a rather late breakfast. Which is why I was surprised when we reached the kitchens that morning and found Kari there, apparently just starting her own breakfast.
"So, be there hobbits here now?" she asked casually, not offering an explanation as to her late meal, as Glorfindel and I sat down with our breakfast.
"Yep. And their sad looks are deadly, I'll warn you now - took quite a bit of willpower to stop from telling them everything." I replied. Kari chuckled.
"No surprise. Hobbits are the epitome of cuteness." she said.
"No, baby animals, specifically puppies, are. Hobbits are a close second, though." I corrected her.
"No, hobbits are the epitome of cuteness. Baby animals are the close second." Kari insisted.
"Hobbits aren't covered in soft fuzz and don't make cute little sounds. Therefore, baby animals are cuter." I retorted. "And have you ever seen a baby animal attack someone? Hobbits attack."
"Orcs and evil people, which makes them brave AND cute." Kari said.
"But braveness, by its very definition, takes away from cuteness." I argued.
"So are you saying that, for example, since Glorfindel is brave, he is not cute?" Kari asked, arching an eyebrow.
"No, braveness doesn't cancel out cuteness altogether, it just makes it less. And Glorfindel's more sexy than cute, at any rate." I replied.
"How many times have I told you to leave me out of your pointless arguments?" Glorfindel asked with exasperation as Kari opened her mouth to reply.
"41 times." Kari said, changing what she'd been going to say.
"42." I corrected.
"No, 41." Kari insisted.
"42! He just told us again now!" I retorted.
"No he did not, he just asked how many -" Kari halted mid-sentence as a grape hit her in the middle of the forehead. We both turned to find Glorfindel concentrating on his breakfast (which contained grapes) and studiously ignoring us.
"I get no respect around here." Kari huffed.
"Sorry, talking to someone who has no specific, official allegiance and an Elf-lord over 10 times your age." I said with a grin. "Maybe if you had your one of your parents-in-law, or grandparents-in-law, around, you might get some respect, but until then, you'll just have to put up with it."
"Lovely." Kari said sourly, then immediately brightened. "Hey, want to go see the Fellowship after breakfast?"
"Sure!" I said. "I've already seen them twice - and freaked them out once - but this time I can introduce you to Boromir!"
"Ah, wonderful!" Kari said gleefully. "I have always wanted to creep him out..."
"You'll have a hard time of it." I said with a snort. "He's been hanging around me for all his life." Kari shot me a surprised look. "Didn't you listen when I explained that I'm Boromir and Faramir's 'tutor'?" I demanded. Kari paused thoughtfully.
"No." She said finally, with a grin. "I usually zone out whenever you start talking."
"Don't I feel special." I said with a mock pout. So Kari and my's bantering continued, Glorfindel occasionally putting in his two cents once he'd started to get his mind in gear and get into the spirit. Eventually, however, we were forced to concede that, except for the slowly growing pile of grapes that had bounced off Kari's forehead that no one wanted to eat, we were done our breakfast.
Leaving the grapes in their neat little pile on the table, Kari, Glorfindel and I left the kitchen, moving quickly so that the cooks couldn't call us back when they discovered the Grape Cairn on the table. The cooks, after the first few weeks of putting up with Kari and I, had quickly lost patience with our food shenanigans, and would make us come back and throw the grapes out. Indeed, after Kari and I had had the brilliant idea to have a mini-food-fight one morning, the cooks had almost banned us from the kitchens. Galadriel had prevailed on them not to, however, aided in her endeavor by a promise from us not to start anymore food fights.
Once we were sure that no cooks were following us to make us come back and throw out our Grape Cairn (long may it stand) we made a beeline for where the Fellowship was staying. And for once, since the kitchen was one of the very few buildings in Lothlórien that rested on the ground, and the Fellowship was staying in a pavilion on the ground, I actually knew where I was going. Navigating in big places is so much easier when you only have to deal with one level.
Boromir was the only one in the pavilion when we arrived, and I quickly introduced him to 'my crazy friend from monkey land' - AKA, Kari. Boromir was a little wary of her - and rightly so - but they seemed to get along fine.
"So where is everyone else?" I asked curiously once the introduction was done. Boromir shrugged.
"Aragorn and Legolas were gone when I awoke, and Gimli set off right after breakfast." he replied. "The Hobbits went to go find the kitchens just before you arrived. They said something about a second breakfast."
"Ah! Second Breakfast!" I said with a grin. "Time to refuel for the next leg of the journey." Boromir shot me a curious look. "Hobbits normally have about 7 meals a day." I informed him.
"Breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, luncheon, dinner, afternoon tea, supper." Kari counted off on her fingers at Boromir's dubious look.
"Though they won't be finding their second breakfast anytime soon if they just set off for the kitchen." I commented.
"Oh?" Boromir asked curiously.
"We just came from the kitchens, and did not pass them on the way here." Glorfindel supplied for me, and Boromir nodded in understanding.
"So were you just planning on hanging around here all day, or did you have someplace to go, as well?" I asked, changing the subject.
"I was relaxing for now, but I had thought to find someplace to practice with my sword later." Boromir replied with a shrug.
"Haven't you gotten enough of that lately?" I asked, making a face.
"When ones life depends on their skill with a sword, it is difficult indeed to 'get enough' practice." Glorfindel said dryly, and Boromir nodded in agreement.
"Lord Glorfindel speaks truly." he said, and I shook my head.
"*I* certainly get enough practice for me, and I only practice every other day or so." I said, referring to my sword 'lessons' with Glorfindel, which had become a source of amusement to anyone on the practice grounds when they were occurring.
"Yes, but your life does not depend on how well you can wield your sword." Kari said, then added with a grin, "In fact, it is a good thing it does not, or you would long since be dead." I stuck my tongue out at her.
"You are still learning how to wield a sword?" Boromir asked me with surprise.
"'Learning' is too strong a word, I think." Glorfindel said dryly, and Boromir chuckled even as Kari snickered. I put on a sulky face.
"She's still unable to fight with any skill unless she's mad?" Boromir asked, ignoring my sulk. Kari nodded emphatically even as Glorfindel answered.
"Indeed. If the sword is her best weapon, I dread what damage she might cause to herself and her allies with anything else." he said. There was a pause as Boromir frowned thoughtfully, and I looked at Glorfindel curiously, wondering what he meant by my 'best weapon'.
"Now that I think on it, Elladan and I never truly tested her to see if the sword really WAS her best weapon." he said.
"Test? What's this now?" I asked suspiciously.
"When one requests to learn weaponry, usually they are given a test to see if they have an aptitude with any particular weapon, or just to determine what weapon they should be taught how to wield first." Glorfindel explained to me, and then turned back to Boromir. "But you and Elladan never tested her?"
"She was bored and asked me to teach her how to wield a sword." Boromir said with a shrug. "It was not a serious thing at the time, so I did not bother to test her. When Elladan joined the training later, and it became more serious, it slipped my mind to mention testing her."
"I think she needs that test now." Kari said with amusement. "Because she is definitely NOT adept at using a sword." I shot her an Evil Glare, and Glorfindel and Boromir, the little buggers, chuckled.
"Indeed. Would you like to be tested, Rachel?" Glorfindel asked, turning to me. "We could do it this morning if you like. Boromir could get his practice in that way."
"Sure." I said with a shrug. "I'm running out of names for sword tips, anyways." Boromir shook his head.
"Are you still doing that?" he asked with amusement.
"Of course!" I replied with a grin. "I also named all of Kari's arrows."
"I still think some of them are female." Kari grumped.
"Nonsense. Arrows are so annoying that they have to be male." I said, waving a hand through the air dismissively.
"You only say that because you cannot shoot them worth a darn." Kari pointed out.
"Exactly." I agreed.
"Perhaps you would like to get changed before we go?" Glorfindel suggested to me, as amused as Boromir was by Kari and my's exchange.
"Good idea." I said. "Be back in a jiff!" Then I dashed off. Behind me, I heard Boromir ask Kari what a 'jiff' was, and snickered as I continued on up to my flet.
----To be continued...with funky weapons!----
(And Translator!Kari!)
-Authors Note:-
I had a Glorfindel-obsessed last few days it seems. It started off with Shanastay asking in a review what colour Glorfindel's eyes were...that occupied me, in between all the other stuff I had to do, for about a day, at which point I gave up, since the only description found was 'bright and keen'. (Turns out that because of his background, he could have blue, green OR grey)
Then, and this is going to involve some warped CS thinking, I was looking at Thranduil FanFics, and I got a sudden idea for the meaning for a name. It involved the word 'Golden'. And as Glorfindel's name supposedly means 'Golden-haired Elf', I figured that if I ran the name through my Quenya dictionary, I'd come up with something that sounded vaguely like Glorfindel. Uh-huh. Not. I got distracted for two hours trying to find out how 'Glorfindel' translates to 'Golden-haired Elf'. I still don't know.
So that is the tale of my Glorfindel-obsessed activities since my last update. *ahem* (Not including the finding of an amusing Glorfindel pic on Elfwood...*snicker* Twins! Baby!Arwen! Glorfindel babysitting!)
Yep. So, thanks to all my reviewers, and my readers! You're all wonderful, lovely people! And heaven help me if I ever get you all upset at me at once...*cringes* *hands out e-cookies she baked yesterday* Enjoy! I'm off to get my Learner's Licence! (Finally)
'Till Monday!
~Crimson Starlight
-Disclaimer:-
Gollum: We owns it all, prcious!
Smeagol: No we doesn't!
Gollum: Yes we does!
Smeagol: No we doesn't!
Gollum: Yes we does!
Smeagol: No!
Gollum: Yes!
Smeagol: No!
Gollum: Yes!
Smeagol: No!
Gollum: Yes!
Smeagol: No!
CS: *thwaps Smeagol/Gollum* Arg, shoulda known better than to let him do the disclaimer. Ralph?
Ralph the Elvish Hairstylist: *ahem* Crimson Starlight owns nothing.
CS: *nod* Indeed.
Rachel: And speaking of owning things, has anyone seen my Elf-lord around?
CS: Er...um...Aranel Tumuril stuffed him in a paper bag and took off with him.
Rachel: *blink*
CS: But look who we got in return! *points to Ralph proudly*
Rachel: *bangs head against a random purple styrofoam wall*
Ralph the Elvish Hairstylist: Tsk, that is messing up your hair horribly, dear...
-56: Meetings-
Boromir was indeed being stupid when I found him - I didn't catch what he'd said, but I caught the end of Aragorn chewing him out.
"...in this land no evil, unless a man bring it hither himself. Then let him beware! But tonight I shall sleep without fear for the first time since I left Rivendell. And may I sleep deep, and forget for a while my grief! I am weary in body and in heart." Aragorn was saying, and I got the impression we would have liked to have laid down on the sleeping couch behind him and gone to sleep right there to prove his point, but he spotted Glorfindel and I and nodded an acknowledgment in our direction. Boromir barely had time to register that someone was behind him before I thwapped him upside the head - hard.
"Ow!" he exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head.
"Don't be stupid." I scolded. "Just because Galadriel's creepy and a party pooper doesn't mean she's evil. And anyways, Galadriel's Elrond's mother-in-law, and I told you that Aragorn is Elrond's foster son - so he's one of the last people you want to be speaking bad things about Galadriel around." Boromir sighed.
"She...unnerved me is all." he said.
"She does that." I quipped. "Hi and welcome to Lothlórien, by the way."
"Hello and thank you." Boromir said, rolling his eyes. I turned to the rest of the Fellowship.
"And hi to all you as well! Sorry for the little encounter at the gates, but Haldir is such fun to annoy." I said. Merry and Pippin grinned.
"It was a nice distraction, actually." Aragorn said sadly.
"From hearts overburdened with sorrow at the absence of a traveling companion?" I asked kindly, and everyone looked at me in a combination of surprise and sorrow. "What? You think I can't count? Don't be so sad, though. Glorfindel here did a little dance with a Balrog as well, and he's still around."
"But Gandalf fell." Pippin put in.
"Into Khazad-dûm." Gimli said sadly.
"Which is bottomless - or darn near it. And Balrogs have wings. And who knows what Gandalf can do with that staff." I pointed out, and then added to counter what I'd just given away, "But perhaps I am just looking for hope wherever possible." I shrugged helplessly and gave them a sad smile.
"And perhaps you need to stop talking about this subject?" Glorfindel commented pointedly, arching an eyebrow.
"Yep." I said with an emphatic nod. "Other than this last little part, how has your trip been so far?"
"We went up Caradhas. It was cold." Pippin said, making a face.
"Erg, cold. Yucky. Run into a blizzard? I ran into one on the way here. Got snowed into some ruins, and Asfaloth and Aratelpe got so hungry they tried to eat Glorfindel and my's bedrolls." I said.
"At least you didn't get buried in snow." Merry said, wrinkling his nose.
"Nah, I got pelted with it." I said, shooting Glorfindel an evil look. He looked back innocently.
"Did you start a snowball fight, Asira?" Boromir asked suspiciously.
"No, but I finished it!" I replied cheerfully. Aragorn, who had lay down on his couch/bed thingy and had been pretending to be asleep, looked up at that and arched an eyebrow at Glorfindel.
"You started a snowball fight, Lord Glorfindel?" he asked, his disbelief clear in his voice.
"Asfaloth made me do it." Glorfindel dead-panned. There was absolute silence for a moment, and then I whacked Glorfindel on the arm.
"No he didn't. He was too busy eating your bedroll. You started it all by yourself." I mock-scolded.
"And got snow down my tunic for my efforts." Glorfindel said with a mournful sigh. I snorted, and several members of the Fellowship let out little chuckles.
"Anyways. We should probably leave you to sleep. You've had a busy day. I'll be by tomorrow, though!" I waved, and the hobbits and Boromir waved back. Aragorn was back to pretending to be asleep, Gimli looked wrapped up in his own thoughts - and Legolas actually WAS asleep, I realized as we headed off. I just hadn't realized it, because he'd looked just as dazed when he walked into Caras Galadhon. Probably due to Gandalf falling.
At any rate, as Glorfindel and I headed off to our flets, someone in the upper flets started singing, and I paused for a moment, letting my internal Elvish translator tell me what they were saying. I had always been curious about what the Elves had sung about Gandalf when he'd fallen - Frodo had only translated a bit in the books - and now I knew. It was all about his accomplishments and what he did in life, like Glorfindel said Elvish laments were. The only clue that you really had that it was a lament was that it was so sad-sounding.
"Rachel?" Glorfindel asked after a moment, looking at me curiously as I stood there listening.
"Sorry." I said, flashing him a smile and starting walking again. "I just always wondered what Gandalf's lament was. There were only a few bits and pieces of it in the books and plays back home." Glorfindel nodded in understanding, and we walked in silence for awhile. I felt my mood slowly dropping, and just as Glorfindel and I reached the spot the led off to our two flets, I let out a quiet curse.
"Now I'm going to be all sad, and the stupid guy's not even gone yet, and will be back, anyways, once he is gone." I said with a sulk. Glorfindel chuckled.
"But you shall have to continue to act as if you think he is dead." he said, waggling a finger in my direction. "So it is a good thing you are starting to feel sad. Certainly you must stop giving out little snippets of information like you did down with the Fellowship just now."
"Yeah, I know." I said, making a face. "It was so hard not to give away even more, though - sad hobbits are quite possibly the worst thing someone could ever see. Though sad puppies might outdo them..." I frowned thoughtfully, and Glorfindel chuckled again.
"Let us hope we never have an opportunity to find out, yes?" Glorfindel said, giving me a light kiss on the cheek, and I nodded.
"And there's a good chance we won't!" I said. "Unless they have puppies in -" Glorfindel, sensing a revelation about someplace that the Fellowship was going to end up, interrupted me with a kiss.
"Let us stop talking and go to bed, shall we?" he said blandly when he pulled away. I nodded.
"Sounds good to me." I said with a grin. "Thinking over all this stuff would just get me worked up, anyways. Even the mental image of a sad hobbit next to a sad puppy makes me want to cry..." And so we split off to go to our separate flets for bed.
Glorfindel woke me the next morning - as he had been doing a lot recently - so he could drag me down to the kitchens with him for an early breakfast. At least it was early by my standards - he informed me once that by typical Elvish standards, it was actually a rather late breakfast. Which is why I was surprised when we reached the kitchens that morning and found Kari there, apparently just starting her own breakfast.
"So, be there hobbits here now?" she asked casually, not offering an explanation as to her late meal, as Glorfindel and I sat down with our breakfast.
"Yep. And their sad looks are deadly, I'll warn you now - took quite a bit of willpower to stop from telling them everything." I replied. Kari chuckled.
"No surprise. Hobbits are the epitome of cuteness." she said.
"No, baby animals, specifically puppies, are. Hobbits are a close second, though." I corrected her.
"No, hobbits are the epitome of cuteness. Baby animals are the close second." Kari insisted.
"Hobbits aren't covered in soft fuzz and don't make cute little sounds. Therefore, baby animals are cuter." I retorted. "And have you ever seen a baby animal attack someone? Hobbits attack."
"Orcs and evil people, which makes them brave AND cute." Kari said.
"But braveness, by its very definition, takes away from cuteness." I argued.
"So are you saying that, for example, since Glorfindel is brave, he is not cute?" Kari asked, arching an eyebrow.
"No, braveness doesn't cancel out cuteness altogether, it just makes it less. And Glorfindel's more sexy than cute, at any rate." I replied.
"How many times have I told you to leave me out of your pointless arguments?" Glorfindel asked with exasperation as Kari opened her mouth to reply.
"41 times." Kari said, changing what she'd been going to say.
"42." I corrected.
"No, 41." Kari insisted.
"42! He just told us again now!" I retorted.
"No he did not, he just asked how many -" Kari halted mid-sentence as a grape hit her in the middle of the forehead. We both turned to find Glorfindel concentrating on his breakfast (which contained grapes) and studiously ignoring us.
"I get no respect around here." Kari huffed.
"Sorry, talking to someone who has no specific, official allegiance and an Elf-lord over 10 times your age." I said with a grin. "Maybe if you had your one of your parents-in-law, or grandparents-in-law, around, you might get some respect, but until then, you'll just have to put up with it."
"Lovely." Kari said sourly, then immediately brightened. "Hey, want to go see the Fellowship after breakfast?"
"Sure!" I said. "I've already seen them twice - and freaked them out once - but this time I can introduce you to Boromir!"
"Ah, wonderful!" Kari said gleefully. "I have always wanted to creep him out..."
"You'll have a hard time of it." I said with a snort. "He's been hanging around me for all his life." Kari shot me a surprised look. "Didn't you listen when I explained that I'm Boromir and Faramir's 'tutor'?" I demanded. Kari paused thoughtfully.
"No." She said finally, with a grin. "I usually zone out whenever you start talking."
"Don't I feel special." I said with a mock pout. So Kari and my's bantering continued, Glorfindel occasionally putting in his two cents once he'd started to get his mind in gear and get into the spirit. Eventually, however, we were forced to concede that, except for the slowly growing pile of grapes that had bounced off Kari's forehead that no one wanted to eat, we were done our breakfast.
Leaving the grapes in their neat little pile on the table, Kari, Glorfindel and I left the kitchen, moving quickly so that the cooks couldn't call us back when they discovered the Grape Cairn on the table. The cooks, after the first few weeks of putting up with Kari and I, had quickly lost patience with our food shenanigans, and would make us come back and throw the grapes out. Indeed, after Kari and I had had the brilliant idea to have a mini-food-fight one morning, the cooks had almost banned us from the kitchens. Galadriel had prevailed on them not to, however, aided in her endeavor by a promise from us not to start anymore food fights.
Once we were sure that no cooks were following us to make us come back and throw out our Grape Cairn (long may it stand) we made a beeline for where the Fellowship was staying. And for once, since the kitchen was one of the very few buildings in Lothlórien that rested on the ground, and the Fellowship was staying in a pavilion on the ground, I actually knew where I was going. Navigating in big places is so much easier when you only have to deal with one level.
Boromir was the only one in the pavilion when we arrived, and I quickly introduced him to 'my crazy friend from monkey land' - AKA, Kari. Boromir was a little wary of her - and rightly so - but they seemed to get along fine.
"So where is everyone else?" I asked curiously once the introduction was done. Boromir shrugged.
"Aragorn and Legolas were gone when I awoke, and Gimli set off right after breakfast." he replied. "The Hobbits went to go find the kitchens just before you arrived. They said something about a second breakfast."
"Ah! Second Breakfast!" I said with a grin. "Time to refuel for the next leg of the journey." Boromir shot me a curious look. "Hobbits normally have about 7 meals a day." I informed him.
"Breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, luncheon, dinner, afternoon tea, supper." Kari counted off on her fingers at Boromir's dubious look.
"Though they won't be finding their second breakfast anytime soon if they just set off for the kitchen." I commented.
"Oh?" Boromir asked curiously.
"We just came from the kitchens, and did not pass them on the way here." Glorfindel supplied for me, and Boromir nodded in understanding.
"So were you just planning on hanging around here all day, or did you have someplace to go, as well?" I asked, changing the subject.
"I was relaxing for now, but I had thought to find someplace to practice with my sword later." Boromir replied with a shrug.
"Haven't you gotten enough of that lately?" I asked, making a face.
"When ones life depends on their skill with a sword, it is difficult indeed to 'get enough' practice." Glorfindel said dryly, and Boromir nodded in agreement.
"Lord Glorfindel speaks truly." he said, and I shook my head.
"*I* certainly get enough practice for me, and I only practice every other day or so." I said, referring to my sword 'lessons' with Glorfindel, which had become a source of amusement to anyone on the practice grounds when they were occurring.
"Yes, but your life does not depend on how well you can wield your sword." Kari said, then added with a grin, "In fact, it is a good thing it does not, or you would long since be dead." I stuck my tongue out at her.
"You are still learning how to wield a sword?" Boromir asked me with surprise.
"'Learning' is too strong a word, I think." Glorfindel said dryly, and Boromir chuckled even as Kari snickered. I put on a sulky face.
"She's still unable to fight with any skill unless she's mad?" Boromir asked, ignoring my sulk. Kari nodded emphatically even as Glorfindel answered.
"Indeed. If the sword is her best weapon, I dread what damage she might cause to herself and her allies with anything else." he said. There was a pause as Boromir frowned thoughtfully, and I looked at Glorfindel curiously, wondering what he meant by my 'best weapon'.
"Now that I think on it, Elladan and I never truly tested her to see if the sword really WAS her best weapon." he said.
"Test? What's this now?" I asked suspiciously.
"When one requests to learn weaponry, usually they are given a test to see if they have an aptitude with any particular weapon, or just to determine what weapon they should be taught how to wield first." Glorfindel explained to me, and then turned back to Boromir. "But you and Elladan never tested her?"
"She was bored and asked me to teach her how to wield a sword." Boromir said with a shrug. "It was not a serious thing at the time, so I did not bother to test her. When Elladan joined the training later, and it became more serious, it slipped my mind to mention testing her."
"I think she needs that test now." Kari said with amusement. "Because she is definitely NOT adept at using a sword." I shot her an Evil Glare, and Glorfindel and Boromir, the little buggers, chuckled.
"Indeed. Would you like to be tested, Rachel?" Glorfindel asked, turning to me. "We could do it this morning if you like. Boromir could get his practice in that way."
"Sure." I said with a shrug. "I'm running out of names for sword tips, anyways." Boromir shook his head.
"Are you still doing that?" he asked with amusement.
"Of course!" I replied with a grin. "I also named all of Kari's arrows."
"I still think some of them are female." Kari grumped.
"Nonsense. Arrows are so annoying that they have to be male." I said, waving a hand through the air dismissively.
"You only say that because you cannot shoot them worth a darn." Kari pointed out.
"Exactly." I agreed.
"Perhaps you would like to get changed before we go?" Glorfindel suggested to me, as amused as Boromir was by Kari and my's exchange.
"Good idea." I said. "Be back in a jiff!" Then I dashed off. Behind me, I heard Boromir ask Kari what a 'jiff' was, and snickered as I continued on up to my flet.
----To be continued...with funky weapons!----
(And Translator!Kari!)
-Authors Note:-
I had a Glorfindel-obsessed last few days it seems. It started off with Shanastay asking in a review what colour Glorfindel's eyes were...that occupied me, in between all the other stuff I had to do, for about a day, at which point I gave up, since the only description found was 'bright and keen'. (Turns out that because of his background, he could have blue, green OR grey)
Then, and this is going to involve some warped CS thinking, I was looking at Thranduil FanFics, and I got a sudden idea for the meaning for a name. It involved the word 'Golden'. And as Glorfindel's name supposedly means 'Golden-haired Elf', I figured that if I ran the name through my Quenya dictionary, I'd come up with something that sounded vaguely like Glorfindel. Uh-huh. Not. I got distracted for two hours trying to find out how 'Glorfindel' translates to 'Golden-haired Elf'. I still don't know.
So that is the tale of my Glorfindel-obsessed activities since my last update. *ahem* (Not including the finding of an amusing Glorfindel pic on Elfwood...*snicker* Twins! Baby!Arwen! Glorfindel babysitting!)
Yep. So, thanks to all my reviewers, and my readers! You're all wonderful, lovely people! And heaven help me if I ever get you all upset at me at once...*cringes* *hands out e-cookies she baked yesterday* Enjoy! I'm off to get my Learner's Licence! (Finally)
'Till Monday!
~Crimson Starlight