-THE GAMES OF THE GODS-
-Disclaimer:-
CS: I own nothing, savvy? *swaggers around doing her best imitation of Cap'n Jack Sparrow*
Gil-Galad: You look like an idiot.
CS: Ah! How dare you insult Cap'n Jack! *glares*
Gil-Galad: *looks insulted himself* I did not insult Captain Sparrow! I insulted you!
CS: *relaxes* Oh, alright then. *goes back to imitating Cap'n Jack*
Gil-Galad: *pauses, blinks*
Glorfindel: Don't even try and figure it out. It will give you a headache for a millenia or so.
Rachel: Or it could result in you breaking your brain. Either/or. *shrugs*
Gil-Galad: ...riiiiight.
(CS: Tiredness makes for not-really-funny disclaimers. Sorry.)
-59: Randomness-
The next day saw Kari and me - well, mostly Kari - giving the hobbits a tour of Caras Galadhon. I was mostly along to make wise cracks and bug Kari and make her forget where she was going to take the hobbits next, but hey. We had intended to bring the other members of the Fellowship that didn't know their way around Caras Galadhon - Boromir and Gimli - as well, but Gimli had scarpered off early to the smithy, and Boromir had disappeared to the practice fields to spar with Aragorn. Glorfindel and Legolas had gone to the archery fields for that competition Glorfindel had promised the Lothlórien archers several weeks ago. I would probably be going with Glorfindel to the practice fields, myself, later, so I could work on my skills with a double-bladed sword, but for now, I was annoying Kari as she tried to show the hobbits around Caras Galadhon.
That was abruptly stopped, of course, when Rúmil and Orophin suddenly appeared in front of us, smiling innocently. Orophin had, apparently and unfortunately, returned from the border.
"I am afraid we shall have to steal Lady Asira from you, Alkarisil." Orophin said sweetly.
"No! No dancing lessons!" I exclaimed, and hid behind Kari. She looked down at me in amusement. The dancing lessons had started shortly after the Yuletide Feast, and I tried to avoid them whenever I could - I hadn't learned formal dancing before now because I hadn't WANTED to. Rúmil and Orophin, however, either didn't realize this or didn't care. I suspected the latter.
"Yes. You have escaped them for the past two days." Rúmil said firmly. "Now are you going to come quietly, or do we have to carry you?"
"Neither. I'm not coming." I said, peaking out from behind Kari.
"What's going on?" Pippin asked from behind me. I turned to look at the hobbits, and found them all looking at us Elves curiously.
"They're trying to make me do the most horribly hellish thing -"
"They are trying to teach her dancing." Kari interrupted me. "But she does not want to go."
"Well they should leave her alone, then." Merry said, frowning disapprovingly at the Elves. Rúmil and Orophin didn't really need a translation of that, but I gave them one anyways.
"Ah, we would, but this is a matter of utmost importance." Orophin said gravely, and then he and Rúmil darted around and each grabbed an arm. Kari stepped out of the way with a smirk. Damn her.
"Let us go, shall we?" Rúmil said cheerfully. I glanced back at the hobbits.
"I will help you sneak large amounts of mushrooms from the kitchens if you get me out of this." I said. The four hobbits looked at each other as Rúmil and Orophin started pulling me off in the direction of the empty flet they'd been using as a place to practice. Fortunately, they didn't get very far, as they abruptly found themselves with two hobbits each attached to their backs and legs. The poor Elves, suddenly unbalanced and unable to move their legs to compensate, fell over onto their lovely little backsides, the hobbits getting out of the way just in time to stop from being squished.
"Wonderful!" I said gleefully, and then turned and ran. The hobbits took one look at the shocked faces of Rúmil and Orophin, which were slowly gaining a dangerous tint, and took off after me. I heard Kari sigh behind me.
"Where're we going?" Pippin asked as we ran along.
"Practice fields!" I replied shortly. I was running slow enough for the hobbits to keep up, and I wondered if I would be able to make it to the fields before Rúmil and Orophin caught me.
"Why?" Frodo asked curiously.
"Glory and 'Mir." I answered as I pelted down the last few steps to the forest floor. We dashed by a group of startled Elves, heading for the practice fields, and I absently wondered what Galadriel would have to say about this mad dash. At that point, however, Rúmil and Orophin abruptly appeared in front of me, and the hobbits and I had to do a quick swerve. Rúmil and Orophin, apparently, had expected us to just stop, not continue running, and their moments hesitation gave me enough of a lead to reach the practice fields.
A quick glance around showed Glorfindel no where to be seen, but Boromir and Aragorn were sparring only a few feet away. I dashed over and hid behind Boromir, ignoring the fact that he was currently engaged in a rather fierce battle with the Ranger. The battle abruptly stopped, however, when I dashed behind Boromir. The hobbits, I noticed vaguely, simply stood on the opposite side of the ring from Rúmil and Orophin and considered that safe enough.
"Save me!" I pleaded, eyeing the newly arrived Rúmil and Orophin warily from my place behind Boromir.
"From what?" Boromir asked in confusion.
"Dancing lessons!" I replied emphatically. Boromir looked at me for a moment, then started laughing, and I scowled at him. Rúmil and Orophin smirked, and started advancing on me. Boromir, however, calmed himself before they could reach me and stood facing them, frowning forbiddingly. Rúmil and Orophin stopped and looked at each other. Then, as one, they shrugged.
"Very well." Rúmil said. "You have escaped for now." And with that, they turned and left.
"You are the most wonderful Son of a Steward EVER!" I exclaimed gleefully, giving Boromir a hug, then turned to the hobbits. "And there have never been, and never will be again, any hobbits like you four." Merry and Pippin beamed proudly, while Frodo just smiled faintly, and Sam looked embarrassed. "Mushrooms now or later?"
"Later will be fine." Merry said with a shrug. "It's not quite time for luncheon yet."
"Did you bribe the hobbits?" Aragorn asked me with a frown.
"Of course." I told him with a smile. Aragorn shook his head wryly, and then turned to face Boromir with a 'shall we?' expression on his face. Boromir shooed me out of the practice ring, and then they resumed their interrupted spar. I looked at the hobbits, and the hobbits looked back up.
"Well, now where?" Sam asked after a moment.
"Maybe we should find Kari again?" Merry suggested.
"She most likely took the chance to get away from me while she could." I said with an amused smile.
"How about the archery fields?" Frodo piped up. "Lord Glorfindel and Legolas were talking about a competition there."
"Ah, wonderful idea, Mr. Baggins!" I said, and we set off for the archery fields, which actually weren't all that far away. To my surprise, when we got there, the archery competition was still going - though Glorfindel, Legolas, and two other Lothlórien archers were the only ones left in it. Apparently they were going to just keep going until one by one, each of the archers missed the center of the target - something that could take quite a long time. It had already taken most of the morning, anyways, but the field was still fairly crowded with watchers.
The hobbits and I made our way to the front of the crowd and sat down, watching, for a short while, but eventually the hobbits stomachs started demanding more food, and so we set off, leaving the four archers to continue hitting bullseyes. In the kitchen, the cooks supplied us with food, and then when they weren't looking, I grabbed an extra basket full of mushrooms - I was actually surprised by how many mushrooms the kitchens of Caras Galadhon seemed to keep in stock - and the hobbits and I scampered off back to the Fellowship's pavilion.
Boromir, Aragorn and Gimli showed up just as we were finishing, and we told them they had to go get their own food, and then set off for the river, where the hobbits decided it was time for a rock skipping competition. I quickly lost, as did Sam, and so we practiced our pitiful rock-throwing skills together while Frodo, Merry and Pippin went at it. Glorfindel found us there later - he had apparently finished third in the archery competition, with Legolas and some Lothlórien Elf named Carnildo still going at it at the archery fields - and informed me it was time to practice with my sword. The hobbits, curious about what a double-bladed sword was, finished their rock-skipping competition - all three of them seemed to be equally good - and followed us to the practice fields, where they watched me practice for awhile, then left to go get some more food.
Once my lesson was done, Glorfindel and I took advantage of, for once, being rid of our friends, and disappeared up to his flet, with a small stop by the kitchens (where only Glorfindel went in, as I didn't want to find out if the cooks had noticed the missing mushrooms). We had supper, and then spent a nice evening together.
So life went on in Caras Galadhon, with my days being filled with mischief and fun, interspersed between practicing with Glorfindel and the occasional dancing lesson that Rúmil and Orophin managed to drag me to. I was often seen around the Elven city with at least one hobbit in tow (usually a duo of them, actually) and often Boromir, Kari or Glorfindel, or any combination thereof, as well.
Somehow, every day, Glorfindel and I managed to get away from everybody else for a little bit, which was a relief, because even though I disliked the boring stillness of Lothlórien, I didn't like to have activity ALL the time - at least not of the friendly talking-and-exploring-Lothlórien kind. Though other sorts of activity with my Elf-lord seemed to significantly decrease a week after the Fellowship's arrival - and the wary looks Glorfindel shot Boromir every once and awhile explained why.
The first time I saw one of those wary looks, I immediately turned and headed over to Boromir's things (we were in the Fellowships pavilion). As I had been in the middle of saying something, this caused both Glorfindel and Boromir to turn their full attention to me. They watched curiously as I ruffled through Boromir's things, and then Boromir's eyes widened in fear as I produced his shield - which had quite obviously been hidden - with a triumphant 'aha!'
Smart man that he is, Boromir didn't even try to plead with me as I turned back to him and Glorfindel with an evil look - Boromir just took off running. I followed. It was not very long before a loud 'thwack' and a yelp resounded throughout the trees.
Boromir did not sit down for the rest of the day.
----To be continued...with angst!----
(Whoa, we're actually going to dip into one of the main genres of this fic...SHOCKER!)
-Authors Note:-
Right, quite a lot of people have been asking where I got the nickname of 'Nancy' for Legolas, so I figured I'd just explain it here instead of writing half a dozen seperate emails. I think I actually explained this somewhere before, but hey...maybe that was in 'No Eyes Needed'. Anyways. The nickname of 'Nancy' came up after me and my sister stayed up to, oh, 1 or 2 am watching the Fellowship of the Ring (extended edition). We decided to to give all the members of the Fellowship nicknames - and not just manglings of their names. Legolas somehow ended up with 'Nancing Hot Elf'. I think this is due to my sister having an infatuation with him, and me loving to poke fun of him. Anyways. Some more nights with more watches of FotR, and TTT when it came out, along with some freezer pops and other sugary goodness, ended out with Legolas's nickname being shortened to 'Nancy' by me. So really, you can just blame sugar, lack of sleep, and Caradhas.
And for another note about a common topic amoung reviewers! Boromir's fate IS set in stone now. He is going to die. To do otherwise would be to royally screw up parts of the plot...which you're probably all going to kill me for even if Boromir didn't die. *sigh* Oh well. Maybe I'll have the Glorfindel/Rachel picture finished by the time it gets to that part and I can use it to appease all you reviewers...
And on that cheerful note, thank you one and all for reading, even if you haven't reviewed, and I'll see y'all again on Wednesday!
~Crimson Starlight
-Disclaimer:-
CS: I own nothing, savvy? *swaggers around doing her best imitation of Cap'n Jack Sparrow*
Gil-Galad: You look like an idiot.
CS: Ah! How dare you insult Cap'n Jack! *glares*
Gil-Galad: *looks insulted himself* I did not insult Captain Sparrow! I insulted you!
CS: *relaxes* Oh, alright then. *goes back to imitating Cap'n Jack*
Gil-Galad: *pauses, blinks*
Glorfindel: Don't even try and figure it out. It will give you a headache for a millenia or so.
Rachel: Or it could result in you breaking your brain. Either/or. *shrugs*
Gil-Galad: ...riiiiight.
(CS: Tiredness makes for not-really-funny disclaimers. Sorry.)
-59: Randomness-
The next day saw Kari and me - well, mostly Kari - giving the hobbits a tour of Caras Galadhon. I was mostly along to make wise cracks and bug Kari and make her forget where she was going to take the hobbits next, but hey. We had intended to bring the other members of the Fellowship that didn't know their way around Caras Galadhon - Boromir and Gimli - as well, but Gimli had scarpered off early to the smithy, and Boromir had disappeared to the practice fields to spar with Aragorn. Glorfindel and Legolas had gone to the archery fields for that competition Glorfindel had promised the Lothlórien archers several weeks ago. I would probably be going with Glorfindel to the practice fields, myself, later, so I could work on my skills with a double-bladed sword, but for now, I was annoying Kari as she tried to show the hobbits around Caras Galadhon.
That was abruptly stopped, of course, when Rúmil and Orophin suddenly appeared in front of us, smiling innocently. Orophin had, apparently and unfortunately, returned from the border.
"I am afraid we shall have to steal Lady Asira from you, Alkarisil." Orophin said sweetly.
"No! No dancing lessons!" I exclaimed, and hid behind Kari. She looked down at me in amusement. The dancing lessons had started shortly after the Yuletide Feast, and I tried to avoid them whenever I could - I hadn't learned formal dancing before now because I hadn't WANTED to. Rúmil and Orophin, however, either didn't realize this or didn't care. I suspected the latter.
"Yes. You have escaped them for the past two days." Rúmil said firmly. "Now are you going to come quietly, or do we have to carry you?"
"Neither. I'm not coming." I said, peaking out from behind Kari.
"What's going on?" Pippin asked from behind me. I turned to look at the hobbits, and found them all looking at us Elves curiously.
"They're trying to make me do the most horribly hellish thing -"
"They are trying to teach her dancing." Kari interrupted me. "But she does not want to go."
"Well they should leave her alone, then." Merry said, frowning disapprovingly at the Elves. Rúmil and Orophin didn't really need a translation of that, but I gave them one anyways.
"Ah, we would, but this is a matter of utmost importance." Orophin said gravely, and then he and Rúmil darted around and each grabbed an arm. Kari stepped out of the way with a smirk. Damn her.
"Let us go, shall we?" Rúmil said cheerfully. I glanced back at the hobbits.
"I will help you sneak large amounts of mushrooms from the kitchens if you get me out of this." I said. The four hobbits looked at each other as Rúmil and Orophin started pulling me off in the direction of the empty flet they'd been using as a place to practice. Fortunately, they didn't get very far, as they abruptly found themselves with two hobbits each attached to their backs and legs. The poor Elves, suddenly unbalanced and unable to move their legs to compensate, fell over onto their lovely little backsides, the hobbits getting out of the way just in time to stop from being squished.
"Wonderful!" I said gleefully, and then turned and ran. The hobbits took one look at the shocked faces of Rúmil and Orophin, which were slowly gaining a dangerous tint, and took off after me. I heard Kari sigh behind me.
"Where're we going?" Pippin asked as we ran along.
"Practice fields!" I replied shortly. I was running slow enough for the hobbits to keep up, and I wondered if I would be able to make it to the fields before Rúmil and Orophin caught me.
"Why?" Frodo asked curiously.
"Glory and 'Mir." I answered as I pelted down the last few steps to the forest floor. We dashed by a group of startled Elves, heading for the practice fields, and I absently wondered what Galadriel would have to say about this mad dash. At that point, however, Rúmil and Orophin abruptly appeared in front of me, and the hobbits and I had to do a quick swerve. Rúmil and Orophin, apparently, had expected us to just stop, not continue running, and their moments hesitation gave me enough of a lead to reach the practice fields.
A quick glance around showed Glorfindel no where to be seen, but Boromir and Aragorn were sparring only a few feet away. I dashed over and hid behind Boromir, ignoring the fact that he was currently engaged in a rather fierce battle with the Ranger. The battle abruptly stopped, however, when I dashed behind Boromir. The hobbits, I noticed vaguely, simply stood on the opposite side of the ring from Rúmil and Orophin and considered that safe enough.
"Save me!" I pleaded, eyeing the newly arrived Rúmil and Orophin warily from my place behind Boromir.
"From what?" Boromir asked in confusion.
"Dancing lessons!" I replied emphatically. Boromir looked at me for a moment, then started laughing, and I scowled at him. Rúmil and Orophin smirked, and started advancing on me. Boromir, however, calmed himself before they could reach me and stood facing them, frowning forbiddingly. Rúmil and Orophin stopped and looked at each other. Then, as one, they shrugged.
"Very well." Rúmil said. "You have escaped for now." And with that, they turned and left.
"You are the most wonderful Son of a Steward EVER!" I exclaimed gleefully, giving Boromir a hug, then turned to the hobbits. "And there have never been, and never will be again, any hobbits like you four." Merry and Pippin beamed proudly, while Frodo just smiled faintly, and Sam looked embarrassed. "Mushrooms now or later?"
"Later will be fine." Merry said with a shrug. "It's not quite time for luncheon yet."
"Did you bribe the hobbits?" Aragorn asked me with a frown.
"Of course." I told him with a smile. Aragorn shook his head wryly, and then turned to face Boromir with a 'shall we?' expression on his face. Boromir shooed me out of the practice ring, and then they resumed their interrupted spar. I looked at the hobbits, and the hobbits looked back up.
"Well, now where?" Sam asked after a moment.
"Maybe we should find Kari again?" Merry suggested.
"She most likely took the chance to get away from me while she could." I said with an amused smile.
"How about the archery fields?" Frodo piped up. "Lord Glorfindel and Legolas were talking about a competition there."
"Ah, wonderful idea, Mr. Baggins!" I said, and we set off for the archery fields, which actually weren't all that far away. To my surprise, when we got there, the archery competition was still going - though Glorfindel, Legolas, and two other Lothlórien archers were the only ones left in it. Apparently they were going to just keep going until one by one, each of the archers missed the center of the target - something that could take quite a long time. It had already taken most of the morning, anyways, but the field was still fairly crowded with watchers.
The hobbits and I made our way to the front of the crowd and sat down, watching, for a short while, but eventually the hobbits stomachs started demanding more food, and so we set off, leaving the four archers to continue hitting bullseyes. In the kitchen, the cooks supplied us with food, and then when they weren't looking, I grabbed an extra basket full of mushrooms - I was actually surprised by how many mushrooms the kitchens of Caras Galadhon seemed to keep in stock - and the hobbits and I scampered off back to the Fellowship's pavilion.
Boromir, Aragorn and Gimli showed up just as we were finishing, and we told them they had to go get their own food, and then set off for the river, where the hobbits decided it was time for a rock skipping competition. I quickly lost, as did Sam, and so we practiced our pitiful rock-throwing skills together while Frodo, Merry and Pippin went at it. Glorfindel found us there later - he had apparently finished third in the archery competition, with Legolas and some Lothlórien Elf named Carnildo still going at it at the archery fields - and informed me it was time to practice with my sword. The hobbits, curious about what a double-bladed sword was, finished their rock-skipping competition - all three of them seemed to be equally good - and followed us to the practice fields, where they watched me practice for awhile, then left to go get some more food.
Once my lesson was done, Glorfindel and I took advantage of, for once, being rid of our friends, and disappeared up to his flet, with a small stop by the kitchens (where only Glorfindel went in, as I didn't want to find out if the cooks had noticed the missing mushrooms). We had supper, and then spent a nice evening together.
So life went on in Caras Galadhon, with my days being filled with mischief and fun, interspersed between practicing with Glorfindel and the occasional dancing lesson that Rúmil and Orophin managed to drag me to. I was often seen around the Elven city with at least one hobbit in tow (usually a duo of them, actually) and often Boromir, Kari or Glorfindel, or any combination thereof, as well.
Somehow, every day, Glorfindel and I managed to get away from everybody else for a little bit, which was a relief, because even though I disliked the boring stillness of Lothlórien, I didn't like to have activity ALL the time - at least not of the friendly talking-and-exploring-Lothlórien kind. Though other sorts of activity with my Elf-lord seemed to significantly decrease a week after the Fellowship's arrival - and the wary looks Glorfindel shot Boromir every once and awhile explained why.
The first time I saw one of those wary looks, I immediately turned and headed over to Boromir's things (we were in the Fellowships pavilion). As I had been in the middle of saying something, this caused both Glorfindel and Boromir to turn their full attention to me. They watched curiously as I ruffled through Boromir's things, and then Boromir's eyes widened in fear as I produced his shield - which had quite obviously been hidden - with a triumphant 'aha!'
Smart man that he is, Boromir didn't even try to plead with me as I turned back to him and Glorfindel with an evil look - Boromir just took off running. I followed. It was not very long before a loud 'thwack' and a yelp resounded throughout the trees.
Boromir did not sit down for the rest of the day.
----To be continued...with angst!----
(Whoa, we're actually going to dip into one of the main genres of this fic...SHOCKER!)
-Authors Note:-
Right, quite a lot of people have been asking where I got the nickname of 'Nancy' for Legolas, so I figured I'd just explain it here instead of writing half a dozen seperate emails. I think I actually explained this somewhere before, but hey...maybe that was in 'No Eyes Needed'. Anyways. The nickname of 'Nancy' came up after me and my sister stayed up to, oh, 1 or 2 am watching the Fellowship of the Ring (extended edition). We decided to to give all the members of the Fellowship nicknames - and not just manglings of their names. Legolas somehow ended up with 'Nancing Hot Elf'. I think this is due to my sister having an infatuation with him, and me loving to poke fun of him. Anyways. Some more nights with more watches of FotR, and TTT when it came out, along with some freezer pops and other sugary goodness, ended out with Legolas's nickname being shortened to 'Nancy' by me. So really, you can just blame sugar, lack of sleep, and Caradhas.
And for another note about a common topic amoung reviewers! Boromir's fate IS set in stone now. He is going to die. To do otherwise would be to royally screw up parts of the plot...which you're probably all going to kill me for even if Boromir didn't die. *sigh* Oh well. Maybe I'll have the Glorfindel/Rachel picture finished by the time it gets to that part and I can use it to appease all you reviewers...
And on that cheerful note, thank you one and all for reading, even if you haven't reviewed, and I'll see y'all again on Wednesday!
~Crimson Starlight