-THE GAMES OF THE GODS-
-Disclaimer:-
CS: I own nothing. Which is probably a good thing, since I seem to totally forget about some of the few things that I DO own...
Valinlot: *icily* Yes indeed.
CS: *eyes Valinlot nervously* Er, AngelQueen, I'm not sure whether I should thank you for reminding me of Lady Valinlot, or just start running ...
Rachel: I would advise running. You can always thank reviewers later, in the Author's Note, where us characters, except for Haldir, are banned...
CS: Point. *runs*
Valinlot: *follows*
Rachel: *snickers*
Kari: *smirks* Well, at least CS now has something to keep her busy...
Rachel: Yes, running does tend to keep one busy.
Kari: ...I meant re-writing some of the remaining scenes so that Valinlot is accounted for in the last eight chapters.
Rachel: ...I knew that.
-71: Chatter-
It was a slow recovery for me, after Glorfindel arrived. Painfully so, considering how adverse I was to inactivity. Fortunately, I had Glorfindel to keep me occupied, and to reassure me when I had sudden bouts doubting - which were, happily, though frequent at first, soon became few and far between. To help distract me from those feelings, though, Glorfindel and Kari managed to come up with several board games - which, as Kari recalled, I loved to play. There were boards that we could use to play checkers and chess, and somehow they managed to produce a deck of cards enough like those that we had back on Earth that I could teach Glorfindel a few of the card games I knew. He could never seem to understand 'Cheat', though...
Only Kari visited me during my enforced recovery in my rooms, (I think she and Glorfindel warned the Fellowship and Faramir away from my rooms) though the servants were frequently in and out to clean. When they did that, Glorfindel and I simply sat out on the balcony, letting them do their job. They gossiped about us outside the room, I knew, especially since I hadn't bothered to put my headscarf back on or hide my ears, but I truly didn't care anymore.
I was going to be leaving Middle-Earth in three years, anyways, when Glorfindel followed Elrond to Valinor - though, truth be told, I was ready to go all by myself. Humanity is nice in short bursts, but I had become aware as I grew older about just how short-sighted they are. Not that I can blame them - I know how they are, they live in the moment, and only a rare few really look to the Future, instead of to their children. And they take about twenty times longer than normal to solve big problems simply because there is, inevitably, that loss of knowledge when they pass their projects on to a new generation. Really, it's just the way they are - and the differences between them and an immortal elf can only be pushed aside for so long.
At any rate, with all my quiet time, I had started to come up with a plan for the next three years. I hadn't told anyone about it yet, even Glorfindel, but I doubted he would disagree with it. He seemed to enjoy bending over backwards for me at the moment, anyways...I'd have to fix that eventually. But not until I'd introduced my plan and gotten him to agree to it. Because darn it, I wanted to see the Lonely Mountain, Mirkwood (or Eryn Lasgalen as it was soon to be called), Ithilien, and Dol Amroth before I went to Valinor.
Eventually, a week before mid-year's day, I managed to convince Glorfindel and Kari to let me out. I was still not fully recovered, and I knew it, but I also knew that if I took it slow I'd be fine. The hobbits were the only foreseeable problem, at any rate - and Legolas was likely to keep them in check, as Kari had informed me one day that he had sensed I was fading when he first entered Minas Tirith.
"Asira!" Faramir greeted me happily when I entered the informal dining room for...well, originally it had been for the King and his family, but Aragorn seemed to be using it for the Fellowship and his Steward.
"Please, call me Rachel, Faramir. 'Tis my true name." I said with a smile as he rose. He paused, shrugged, and gave me a hug. I chuckled, glad to see nothing had changed even though I was now not bothering to hide my ears. Kari had reported that the servants had already seen them, anyways, and that they had been the topic of choice for the Gondorian nobles for the first week or so after Glorfindel arrived.
"We have been worried about you." Faramir said solemnly when he drew back.
"Oh come now. Have you not any faith in a twice-born Balrog slayer?" I teased. Faramir blushed slightly with embarrassment as he looked up at Glorfindel, who was standing right behind me.
"They had a right to be worried, considering how worried I myself was." Glorfindel said dryly. I shrugged.
"Oh, alright then." I said. "If you all insist on being worried on my behalf, I shall not stop you. Unless you overdo it."
"Then you shall all know it." Kari said with a smirk as she entered, and I nodded heartily in agreement. From there, I went on to greet the rest of the inhabitants of the chamber, which consisted of...the remains of the Fellowship. Gandalf surprised me by enveloping me in a big hug that almost suffocated me, and when I drew away I announced that I was going to start calling him Big Bear if he kept doing that. There were chuckles around the table, and then, at the hobbits urgings, we settled down to eat breakfast.
There was light talk all around, but eventually, it died down, and the Fellowship (minus Gandalf) seemed to be glancing among each other trying to figure out who was going to say something. I watched curiously for a moment, wondering what they could be wanting to say - and hoping it wasn't wanting to ask me about how an Elf came to be posing as a Gondorian lady - and then Aragorn and Legolas both looked towards Faramir at the same moment, and I realized what it was.
"Would one of you seven just spit it out?" I asked dryly. A few of the Fellowship started with surprise, apparently not having expected me to notice.
"Uhm," Aragorn started, and then looked to Legolas. I hid a smile of amusement behind my mug. Gandalf saw, however, and arched an eyebrow at me. I just arched one back as I continued to watch the Fellowship squirm. Finally, I just sighed.
"Alright, I'll say it for you then. Boromir's dead, he died at Amon Hen, ten days after you left Lothlórien, because he broke his promise to me and left his bleeping shield behind." I said, and then let my amused smile show as the Fellowship looked at me with slight surprise.
"You were told, then." Aragorn said, sounding relieved.
"Nope." I replied cheerfully. The Fellowship looked at me blankly.
"She knew ahead of time." Faramir put in dryly, and all eyes were immediately turned to him. He arched an eyebrow. "Honestly, do you think I would have so easily accepted my brother's death if I had not been expecting it?"
"You told him?" Gandalf's eyebrows shot up as he looked at me.
"It was his fault." I grumped. "He's got too damn much Elvish blood in him, and he's more stubborn than Dior."
"Dior?" Glorfindel arched an eyebrow.
"I told you about the stubborn son-of-a-Steward, remember?" I said pleasantly, and Glorfindel nodded, chuckling. Faramir and Aragorn, however, turned interested looks my way.
"What is this now?" Faramir asked, obviously curious.
"A little known tale of your house." I said dryly. "You remember how Dior never married and produced an heir?" Faramir nodded. "That was because he claimed to be head over heels in love with me. Regardless of the fact that I was posing at that time as a...hm, how did Barahir put it? Oh yes, 'slutty bar wench with no morals'." I grinned at Faramir's look of stunned surprise.
"How did this happen?" he asked finally.
"Well, I was working in the Green Dragon Tavern -"
"The what?" Merry and Pippin said as one, immediately becoming more interested in the conversation, where before they had only been paying slight attention while talking to each other and Frodo and Sam. Frodo and Sam also looked interested now.
"The Green Dragon Tavern." I said with a small smile. "It's an Inn, now, and a rather respectable one. Not quite up to the standards of the one in the Shire, though, I'm sure, and most likely quite different. For sure, it has no Rosie serving drinks." I quirked an eyebrow upward as I looked at Sam, who immediately blushed a deep red. Merry and Pippin laughed, and Frodo smiled. I looked back to Faramir and Aragorn, both of whom were looking somewhat amused and confused by the exchange.
"Ask Sam about the Green Dragon Inn and Rosie sometime. But be sure to have one of the other three around to make sure you get the truth about Rosie." I told them with grin. Aragorn and Faramir nodded as one, while Sam grumbled at me under his breath.
"I will be sure to." Faramir said. "But you were saying?"
"Yes. I was working at the Green Dragon Tavern at the time, and it was quite a rough-and-tumble place there. I think I was the only barmaid there that actually spent time sleeping in her room. Certainly, it was a rare event indeed when I had help cleaning up the last of the mess at night." I smiled with amusement, seeing that the Fellowship and Faramir were having trouble picturing me in such a place. Glorfindel's face was unreadable, but Kari was shaking her head, her amusement clearly written across her face.
"Only you would choose to work in such a place." I heard her mutter, and my smile grew into a grin as I continued.
"At any rate, one day Dior and Denethor - the first - decided to escape from the stuffy ladies up in court, and disguised themselves and snuck down into the city. Why they choose the Green Dragon I don't know - Dior never gave me a straight answer on that. But it happened that I was in an extremely good mood that night, and so was actually singing along with the songs in the tavern.
"Now, normally, I didn't sing along, since my voice is very easily distinguished as being of a far better quality than even the best human female's. But every once and awhile, when I was in a good mood, I would, and I just hoped that nobody who knew what an Elf sounded like would hear it. Of course, I never considered the other possibility - that someone would hear it, recognize it as more than normal, and then start to see past the rest of my disguise." I sighed. "Which is exactly what Dior did.
"He spent the entire evening flirting with me, and I have a feeling that if I had been just any old bar wench and done what any old bar wench would do if they found a rather handsome and respectable looking man flirting with them, Dior would have gone back to the Citadel and never returned. But I refused him, and that apparently caught his attention, and the next thing I knew, I couldn't turn around without running into the damn guy." I scowled slightly.
"Before long, Dior had convinced himself he was in love with me, and Barahir eventually found out. He came a' knocking, of course, and scared the poor Tavern keeper nearly out of his wits, showing up with a full half a dozen tower guards, before I appeared. Well, Barahir was all set right then and there to throw me in the jail and never let me out, but I quickly informed him that I had no interest whatsoever in his son and that Dior was more of a nuisance to me than anything else.
"After that, it was mostly a case of me, Barahir, and everyone else in Dior's family desperately trying to convince him that he wasn't in love with me and that I'd never marry him. Dior, however, was a stubborn idiot. He insisted that he loved me, and that I would give in and marry him someday. To that end, he wouldn't stop pestering me. Out of exasperation, I packed up my things and went and found work as a ladies maid to one of the ladies I recalled Dior saying he absolutely detested. And sure enough, I never saw him again." I finished with a smile, and there was a moment of silence around the table before most of the Big Folk chuckled lightly. The hobbits looked a little confused.
"But if you are immortal, why did you simply not marry him then?" Pippin asked timidly after a moment. I felt Glorfindel stiffen slightly, and kicked him under the table.
"Elves marry for life. Their lives." I replied smoothly. "And anyways, compared to the Elf-lord's I'd seen - and even to Aragorn here - he was not all that good looking."
"Worse than Aragorn? That's a miracle." Kari commented. Aragorn sent her a death glare, and she looked back innocently. "Honestly, I don't know what the appeal of Rugged Dirty Men is."
"Probably the 'Rugged' and 'Men' part." I said with a shrug. "And the fact that if they're dirty, that opens up the opportunity to give them a bath." I grinned as Aragorn began shifting uncomfortably. "I, personally, prefer guys who bathe regularly. Even if it does seem to make their epidermal layer emit phosphorescent particles on occasions when the illumination of the generic area in which they stand is less than the standard needed for the average creature to process their surroundings through their visual sensory organs." The entire table looked at me blankly.
"Epi-what?" Pippin asked.
"Epidermal." I replied with a grin. "It's a term for one's skin."
"So what does 'phosphorescent particles' mean?" Glorfindel asked with a small frown. I looked towards Kari expectantly, and she looked back at me blankly.
"Oh come on, it's one been 800 years. Don't tell me you're forgotten high school science already!" I said with mock annoyance.
"Hey, I always insisted that I didn't get it and that I'd forget it as soon as I didn't need it any more!" Kari said defensively. I let out a pretend exasperated sigh.
"It all means, basically, that you glow in the dark." I said, turning to Glorfindel, and his face lit up with comprehension. The hobbits looked somewhat surprised.
"He does?" Pippin asked, then immediately blushed.
"When he wants to." I said with a nod and a grin. "Very handy for avoiding stubbing ones toes, though it is rather creepy."
"Strange that you should say that, considering you do so yourself at times." Glorfindel said, arching an eyebrow. I looked at him in surprise.
"I do?" Glorfindel nodded. "Now that IS creepy." I frowned slightly, and turned to Kari. "I thought only Elves who had seen the Two Trees or Valinor glowed?" I asked her in English. She shrugged, giving me a clueless look.
"I thought so too." she replied, also in English. "But I glow sometimes, too."
"What language is that?" Faramir asked curiously, interrupting Kari's and my conversation.
"English." I replied promptly.
"Ing glesh?" Faramir asked, clearly puzzled.
"No, English." I corrected him.
"Where is it spoken?" Faramir asked. Kari and I looked at each other for a moment, and then Kari got a teasing twinkle in her eyes before turning to Faramir and saying solemnly,
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." I couldn't help it and let out a snort of laughter. Faramir frowned, realizing he was being teased.
"You shall get a proper answer later." Kari replied with a smile. Faramir eyed her warily.
"Don't be a fobobair nawe shmirm." I told Faramir with a scowl. This time, it was Kari who giggled, spoiling the seriousness of the situation.
"I'm sorry." Kari said in English, turning to me as she grinned. "I swear, I feel like I just drank a liter of Pepsi and had a bag full of sugar."
"Same here." I replied with a grin, also in English. We simply grinned at each other for a moment, and then collapsed into giggles. Everyone at the table was now looking at us strangely.
"Rachel?" Glorfindel asked, clearly amused, though somewhat concerned by my behavior. "What is so funny?"
"Nothing. Everything. I'm hyper." I replied, bouncing in my seat and grinning at him. Glorfindel arched an eyebrow at me.
"So I see." he said, and then, unexpectedly, his hand shot out and poked me in the side. I yelped and jumped sideways in my seat, coming out of it completely and almost ending up in Gandalf's lap. I mock-glared at Glorfindel, who looked back innocently, and I promptly jabbed a hand underneath the table to his knee - which is, by the way, incredibly ticklish. Glorfindel had the supreme grace to not only yelp, but tip his chair over backwards in an attempt to get away from my hand. Most of the table looked at him in shock - only most, not all, because Kari was clutching her stomach and laughing so hard she was crying.
Glorfindel disentangled himself from his chair with great dignity, setting it upright before sitting in it once more, and looked at me with mock disapproval. Then he, too, started chuckling, and soon he, Kari and I were laughing uncontrollably while the rest of the table shot us strange looks and wondered if we were sane. Eventually, I calmed myself, and to my embarrassment, let out a large yawn.
"Ugh. The only bad thing about being hyper is the crash that comes after it." I muttered, then promptly crawled into Glorfindel's lap and snuggled into him, as his laughter had subsided to only chuckles.
"Ah, the perks of having your own Elf-lord." Kari said, somewhat longingly.
"Mmm. He'll be back in a week." I reassured her, yawning again. "And I feel as if I could sleep until then."
"Then perhaps it is time for you to return to bed." Glorfindel suggested.
"I'm sick of bed. Here is fine." I muttered.
"If you are truly tired, Rachel, bed is the best place for you." Faramir said, sounding stern.
"Be quiet or I shall..." I frowned. "Damn, did anyone manage to grab Boromir's shield, or is it in his funeral boat with him?"
"Last I knew, it was still in the boat." Aragorn replied, clearly amused.
"And everybody is all the safer for it, I'm sure." Faramir said, shaking his head. Aragorn looked at him curiously.
"Rachel's creative use of Boromir's shield is not a new thing, then?" he asked curiously.
"No indeed." Faramir replied with amusement, and proceeded to launch into tales of the other times I'd stolen Boromir's shield to whack people on the butt, including the time I'd done so to Denethor. I dozed lightly throughout the tales, and eventually, I fell asleep completely. I was so tired that I didn't even wake up when Glorfindel picked me up and carried me back to my room.
----To be continued...with an explanation!---
(And travel plans!)
-Authors Note:-
Yes, as the disclaimer indicated, I did indeed totally forget about Lady Valinlot. *shakes head* Sometimes I'm a little...out of it. And anyways, with a story this long, I'm not all that surprised that I have trouble remembering things...I mean, I just went back and re-read the beginning, and realized that I'd completely forgotten about the butt ugly mops Elladan and Rachel made. That might just be due to lack of sleep, however...
So yeah, thanks to all my reviewers, and especially AngelQueen. Because you people not only give me feedback and continue to encourage me to write, but you remind me of things like that, sometimes by total accident. Feedback is a lovely thing - so please keep giving it! *nodnodnod*
So yep, thanks, see y'all Wednesday!
~Crimson Starlight
-Disclaimer:-
CS: I own nothing. Which is probably a good thing, since I seem to totally forget about some of the few things that I DO own...
Valinlot: *icily* Yes indeed.
CS: *eyes Valinlot nervously* Er, AngelQueen, I'm not sure whether I should thank you for reminding me of Lady Valinlot, or just start running ...
Rachel: I would advise running. You can always thank reviewers later, in the Author's Note, where us characters, except for Haldir, are banned...
CS: Point. *runs*
Valinlot: *follows*
Rachel: *snickers*
Kari: *smirks* Well, at least CS now has something to keep her busy...
Rachel: Yes, running does tend to keep one busy.
Kari: ...I meant re-writing some of the remaining scenes so that Valinlot is accounted for in the last eight chapters.
Rachel: ...I knew that.
-71: Chatter-
It was a slow recovery for me, after Glorfindel arrived. Painfully so, considering how adverse I was to inactivity. Fortunately, I had Glorfindel to keep me occupied, and to reassure me when I had sudden bouts doubting - which were, happily, though frequent at first, soon became few and far between. To help distract me from those feelings, though, Glorfindel and Kari managed to come up with several board games - which, as Kari recalled, I loved to play. There were boards that we could use to play checkers and chess, and somehow they managed to produce a deck of cards enough like those that we had back on Earth that I could teach Glorfindel a few of the card games I knew. He could never seem to understand 'Cheat', though...
Only Kari visited me during my enforced recovery in my rooms, (I think she and Glorfindel warned the Fellowship and Faramir away from my rooms) though the servants were frequently in and out to clean. When they did that, Glorfindel and I simply sat out on the balcony, letting them do their job. They gossiped about us outside the room, I knew, especially since I hadn't bothered to put my headscarf back on or hide my ears, but I truly didn't care anymore.
I was going to be leaving Middle-Earth in three years, anyways, when Glorfindel followed Elrond to Valinor - though, truth be told, I was ready to go all by myself. Humanity is nice in short bursts, but I had become aware as I grew older about just how short-sighted they are. Not that I can blame them - I know how they are, they live in the moment, and only a rare few really look to the Future, instead of to their children. And they take about twenty times longer than normal to solve big problems simply because there is, inevitably, that loss of knowledge when they pass their projects on to a new generation. Really, it's just the way they are - and the differences between them and an immortal elf can only be pushed aside for so long.
At any rate, with all my quiet time, I had started to come up with a plan for the next three years. I hadn't told anyone about it yet, even Glorfindel, but I doubted he would disagree with it. He seemed to enjoy bending over backwards for me at the moment, anyways...I'd have to fix that eventually. But not until I'd introduced my plan and gotten him to agree to it. Because darn it, I wanted to see the Lonely Mountain, Mirkwood (or Eryn Lasgalen as it was soon to be called), Ithilien, and Dol Amroth before I went to Valinor.
Eventually, a week before mid-year's day, I managed to convince Glorfindel and Kari to let me out. I was still not fully recovered, and I knew it, but I also knew that if I took it slow I'd be fine. The hobbits were the only foreseeable problem, at any rate - and Legolas was likely to keep them in check, as Kari had informed me one day that he had sensed I was fading when he first entered Minas Tirith.
"Asira!" Faramir greeted me happily when I entered the informal dining room for...well, originally it had been for the King and his family, but Aragorn seemed to be using it for the Fellowship and his Steward.
"Please, call me Rachel, Faramir. 'Tis my true name." I said with a smile as he rose. He paused, shrugged, and gave me a hug. I chuckled, glad to see nothing had changed even though I was now not bothering to hide my ears. Kari had reported that the servants had already seen them, anyways, and that they had been the topic of choice for the Gondorian nobles for the first week or so after Glorfindel arrived.
"We have been worried about you." Faramir said solemnly when he drew back.
"Oh come now. Have you not any faith in a twice-born Balrog slayer?" I teased. Faramir blushed slightly with embarrassment as he looked up at Glorfindel, who was standing right behind me.
"They had a right to be worried, considering how worried I myself was." Glorfindel said dryly. I shrugged.
"Oh, alright then." I said. "If you all insist on being worried on my behalf, I shall not stop you. Unless you overdo it."
"Then you shall all know it." Kari said with a smirk as she entered, and I nodded heartily in agreement. From there, I went on to greet the rest of the inhabitants of the chamber, which consisted of...the remains of the Fellowship. Gandalf surprised me by enveloping me in a big hug that almost suffocated me, and when I drew away I announced that I was going to start calling him Big Bear if he kept doing that. There were chuckles around the table, and then, at the hobbits urgings, we settled down to eat breakfast.
There was light talk all around, but eventually, it died down, and the Fellowship (minus Gandalf) seemed to be glancing among each other trying to figure out who was going to say something. I watched curiously for a moment, wondering what they could be wanting to say - and hoping it wasn't wanting to ask me about how an Elf came to be posing as a Gondorian lady - and then Aragorn and Legolas both looked towards Faramir at the same moment, and I realized what it was.
"Would one of you seven just spit it out?" I asked dryly. A few of the Fellowship started with surprise, apparently not having expected me to notice.
"Uhm," Aragorn started, and then looked to Legolas. I hid a smile of amusement behind my mug. Gandalf saw, however, and arched an eyebrow at me. I just arched one back as I continued to watch the Fellowship squirm. Finally, I just sighed.
"Alright, I'll say it for you then. Boromir's dead, he died at Amon Hen, ten days after you left Lothlórien, because he broke his promise to me and left his bleeping shield behind." I said, and then let my amused smile show as the Fellowship looked at me with slight surprise.
"You were told, then." Aragorn said, sounding relieved.
"Nope." I replied cheerfully. The Fellowship looked at me blankly.
"She knew ahead of time." Faramir put in dryly, and all eyes were immediately turned to him. He arched an eyebrow. "Honestly, do you think I would have so easily accepted my brother's death if I had not been expecting it?"
"You told him?" Gandalf's eyebrows shot up as he looked at me.
"It was his fault." I grumped. "He's got too damn much Elvish blood in him, and he's more stubborn than Dior."
"Dior?" Glorfindel arched an eyebrow.
"I told you about the stubborn son-of-a-Steward, remember?" I said pleasantly, and Glorfindel nodded, chuckling. Faramir and Aragorn, however, turned interested looks my way.
"What is this now?" Faramir asked, obviously curious.
"A little known tale of your house." I said dryly. "You remember how Dior never married and produced an heir?" Faramir nodded. "That was because he claimed to be head over heels in love with me. Regardless of the fact that I was posing at that time as a...hm, how did Barahir put it? Oh yes, 'slutty bar wench with no morals'." I grinned at Faramir's look of stunned surprise.
"How did this happen?" he asked finally.
"Well, I was working in the Green Dragon Tavern -"
"The what?" Merry and Pippin said as one, immediately becoming more interested in the conversation, where before they had only been paying slight attention while talking to each other and Frodo and Sam. Frodo and Sam also looked interested now.
"The Green Dragon Tavern." I said with a small smile. "It's an Inn, now, and a rather respectable one. Not quite up to the standards of the one in the Shire, though, I'm sure, and most likely quite different. For sure, it has no Rosie serving drinks." I quirked an eyebrow upward as I looked at Sam, who immediately blushed a deep red. Merry and Pippin laughed, and Frodo smiled. I looked back to Faramir and Aragorn, both of whom were looking somewhat amused and confused by the exchange.
"Ask Sam about the Green Dragon Inn and Rosie sometime. But be sure to have one of the other three around to make sure you get the truth about Rosie." I told them with grin. Aragorn and Faramir nodded as one, while Sam grumbled at me under his breath.
"I will be sure to." Faramir said. "But you were saying?"
"Yes. I was working at the Green Dragon Tavern at the time, and it was quite a rough-and-tumble place there. I think I was the only barmaid there that actually spent time sleeping in her room. Certainly, it was a rare event indeed when I had help cleaning up the last of the mess at night." I smiled with amusement, seeing that the Fellowship and Faramir were having trouble picturing me in such a place. Glorfindel's face was unreadable, but Kari was shaking her head, her amusement clearly written across her face.
"Only you would choose to work in such a place." I heard her mutter, and my smile grew into a grin as I continued.
"At any rate, one day Dior and Denethor - the first - decided to escape from the stuffy ladies up in court, and disguised themselves and snuck down into the city. Why they choose the Green Dragon I don't know - Dior never gave me a straight answer on that. But it happened that I was in an extremely good mood that night, and so was actually singing along with the songs in the tavern.
"Now, normally, I didn't sing along, since my voice is very easily distinguished as being of a far better quality than even the best human female's. But every once and awhile, when I was in a good mood, I would, and I just hoped that nobody who knew what an Elf sounded like would hear it. Of course, I never considered the other possibility - that someone would hear it, recognize it as more than normal, and then start to see past the rest of my disguise." I sighed. "Which is exactly what Dior did.
"He spent the entire evening flirting with me, and I have a feeling that if I had been just any old bar wench and done what any old bar wench would do if they found a rather handsome and respectable looking man flirting with them, Dior would have gone back to the Citadel and never returned. But I refused him, and that apparently caught his attention, and the next thing I knew, I couldn't turn around without running into the damn guy." I scowled slightly.
"Before long, Dior had convinced himself he was in love with me, and Barahir eventually found out. He came a' knocking, of course, and scared the poor Tavern keeper nearly out of his wits, showing up with a full half a dozen tower guards, before I appeared. Well, Barahir was all set right then and there to throw me in the jail and never let me out, but I quickly informed him that I had no interest whatsoever in his son and that Dior was more of a nuisance to me than anything else.
"After that, it was mostly a case of me, Barahir, and everyone else in Dior's family desperately trying to convince him that he wasn't in love with me and that I'd never marry him. Dior, however, was a stubborn idiot. He insisted that he loved me, and that I would give in and marry him someday. To that end, he wouldn't stop pestering me. Out of exasperation, I packed up my things and went and found work as a ladies maid to one of the ladies I recalled Dior saying he absolutely detested. And sure enough, I never saw him again." I finished with a smile, and there was a moment of silence around the table before most of the Big Folk chuckled lightly. The hobbits looked a little confused.
"But if you are immortal, why did you simply not marry him then?" Pippin asked timidly after a moment. I felt Glorfindel stiffen slightly, and kicked him under the table.
"Elves marry for life. Their lives." I replied smoothly. "And anyways, compared to the Elf-lord's I'd seen - and even to Aragorn here - he was not all that good looking."
"Worse than Aragorn? That's a miracle." Kari commented. Aragorn sent her a death glare, and she looked back innocently. "Honestly, I don't know what the appeal of Rugged Dirty Men is."
"Probably the 'Rugged' and 'Men' part." I said with a shrug. "And the fact that if they're dirty, that opens up the opportunity to give them a bath." I grinned as Aragorn began shifting uncomfortably. "I, personally, prefer guys who bathe regularly. Even if it does seem to make their epidermal layer emit phosphorescent particles on occasions when the illumination of the generic area in which they stand is less than the standard needed for the average creature to process their surroundings through their visual sensory organs." The entire table looked at me blankly.
"Epi-what?" Pippin asked.
"Epidermal." I replied with a grin. "It's a term for one's skin."
"So what does 'phosphorescent particles' mean?" Glorfindel asked with a small frown. I looked towards Kari expectantly, and she looked back at me blankly.
"Oh come on, it's one been 800 years. Don't tell me you're forgotten high school science already!" I said with mock annoyance.
"Hey, I always insisted that I didn't get it and that I'd forget it as soon as I didn't need it any more!" Kari said defensively. I let out a pretend exasperated sigh.
"It all means, basically, that you glow in the dark." I said, turning to Glorfindel, and his face lit up with comprehension. The hobbits looked somewhat surprised.
"He does?" Pippin asked, then immediately blushed.
"When he wants to." I said with a nod and a grin. "Very handy for avoiding stubbing ones toes, though it is rather creepy."
"Strange that you should say that, considering you do so yourself at times." Glorfindel said, arching an eyebrow. I looked at him in surprise.
"I do?" Glorfindel nodded. "Now that IS creepy." I frowned slightly, and turned to Kari. "I thought only Elves who had seen the Two Trees or Valinor glowed?" I asked her in English. She shrugged, giving me a clueless look.
"I thought so too." she replied, also in English. "But I glow sometimes, too."
"What language is that?" Faramir asked curiously, interrupting Kari's and my conversation.
"English." I replied promptly.
"Ing glesh?" Faramir asked, clearly puzzled.
"No, English." I corrected him.
"Where is it spoken?" Faramir asked. Kari and I looked at each other for a moment, and then Kari got a teasing twinkle in her eyes before turning to Faramir and saying solemnly,
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." I couldn't help it and let out a snort of laughter. Faramir frowned, realizing he was being teased.
"You shall get a proper answer later." Kari replied with a smile. Faramir eyed her warily.
"Don't be a fobobair nawe shmirm." I told Faramir with a scowl. This time, it was Kari who giggled, spoiling the seriousness of the situation.
"I'm sorry." Kari said in English, turning to me as she grinned. "I swear, I feel like I just drank a liter of Pepsi and had a bag full of sugar."
"Same here." I replied with a grin, also in English. We simply grinned at each other for a moment, and then collapsed into giggles. Everyone at the table was now looking at us strangely.
"Rachel?" Glorfindel asked, clearly amused, though somewhat concerned by my behavior. "What is so funny?"
"Nothing. Everything. I'm hyper." I replied, bouncing in my seat and grinning at him. Glorfindel arched an eyebrow at me.
"So I see." he said, and then, unexpectedly, his hand shot out and poked me in the side. I yelped and jumped sideways in my seat, coming out of it completely and almost ending up in Gandalf's lap. I mock-glared at Glorfindel, who looked back innocently, and I promptly jabbed a hand underneath the table to his knee - which is, by the way, incredibly ticklish. Glorfindel had the supreme grace to not only yelp, but tip his chair over backwards in an attempt to get away from my hand. Most of the table looked at him in shock - only most, not all, because Kari was clutching her stomach and laughing so hard she was crying.
Glorfindel disentangled himself from his chair with great dignity, setting it upright before sitting in it once more, and looked at me with mock disapproval. Then he, too, started chuckling, and soon he, Kari and I were laughing uncontrollably while the rest of the table shot us strange looks and wondered if we were sane. Eventually, I calmed myself, and to my embarrassment, let out a large yawn.
"Ugh. The only bad thing about being hyper is the crash that comes after it." I muttered, then promptly crawled into Glorfindel's lap and snuggled into him, as his laughter had subsided to only chuckles.
"Ah, the perks of having your own Elf-lord." Kari said, somewhat longingly.
"Mmm. He'll be back in a week." I reassured her, yawning again. "And I feel as if I could sleep until then."
"Then perhaps it is time for you to return to bed." Glorfindel suggested.
"I'm sick of bed. Here is fine." I muttered.
"If you are truly tired, Rachel, bed is the best place for you." Faramir said, sounding stern.
"Be quiet or I shall..." I frowned. "Damn, did anyone manage to grab Boromir's shield, or is it in his funeral boat with him?"
"Last I knew, it was still in the boat." Aragorn replied, clearly amused.
"And everybody is all the safer for it, I'm sure." Faramir said, shaking his head. Aragorn looked at him curiously.
"Rachel's creative use of Boromir's shield is not a new thing, then?" he asked curiously.
"No indeed." Faramir replied with amusement, and proceeded to launch into tales of the other times I'd stolen Boromir's shield to whack people on the butt, including the time I'd done so to Denethor. I dozed lightly throughout the tales, and eventually, I fell asleep completely. I was so tired that I didn't even wake up when Glorfindel picked me up and carried me back to my room.
----To be continued...with an explanation!---
(And travel plans!)
-Authors Note:-
Yes, as the disclaimer indicated, I did indeed totally forget about Lady Valinlot. *shakes head* Sometimes I'm a little...out of it. And anyways, with a story this long, I'm not all that surprised that I have trouble remembering things...I mean, I just went back and re-read the beginning, and realized that I'd completely forgotten about the butt ugly mops Elladan and Rachel made. That might just be due to lack of sleep, however...
So yeah, thanks to all my reviewers, and especially AngelQueen. Because you people not only give me feedback and continue to encourage me to write, but you remind me of things like that, sometimes by total accident. Feedback is a lovely thing - so please keep giving it! *nodnodnod*
So yep, thanks, see y'all Wednesday!
~Crimson Starlight