-THE GAMES OF THE GODS-
-Disclaimer:-
CS: Hee. I'm hyper, so I'm not sure if writing the disclaimer at this time is a good idea, but what they hey! I'm the Author, I can do what I want, yes? *grins insanely*
Elladan: And the disclaimers are actually more funny when you're hyper, anyways.
CS: HEY! Elladan! You haven't been in the disclaimer in awhile!
Elrohir: No, neither of us have. You seem to be sticking to the older elf-lords and females...
CS: Yeah...'cept for Galadriel. I ain't letting her in one of my disclaimers again if I can help it. 'Cuz she's creepy, man.
Elrohir: Though I doubt it will make any difference to you, I am and Elf, not a man.
CS: Oh, right, Elf! *brightens* Pointy ears! *pets Elrohir's ears*
Elrohir: *twitchspasms and quickly scoots away*
CS: Hee, you scooted. *follows him and starts tickling, as well as petting, Elrohir's ears*
Elrohir: *edges away* Errr...Elladan, a little help here?
Elladan: *sounding muffled, as he is behind a big bush that magically appeared sometime* I'm a little busy!
Elrohir: It can't possibly be more important that getting CS away from me and thus stopping Kari from dismembering the Author.
Mellon: *peeking out from behind bush* I beg to differ.
CS: I locked Kari up in Thranduil's dungeon, anyway...*grins evilly once more* Now come here.
Elrohir: Meep. CS owns nothing! *takes off running*
CS: *pulls out bike, jumps on, and follows Elrohir*
-74: Matchmaking-
I spent the rest of the morning ride on the second day praising Éomer to Lothíriel, and then, much to Glorfindel's amusement, went off to Éomer and started chatting him up about horses. He seemed quite surprised at my knowledge of the bloodlines of the Rohirric horses, and so I saw fit to explain to him how I'd been in and out of Rohan since it was founded, most often helping out in the stables. After that, Éomer became quite enthusiastic about talking with me.
We stopped rather early - compared to the day before - to camp that night, and so it was that even after the majority of the people around had finished eating, there was still a good amount of light. I had returned to the mainly Elvish part of camp - kingdoms/races seemed to like camping with their own - for supper, but now as I sat on Glorfindel's lap after supper, I found myself eyeing the Rohirric and Dol Amroth camps idle plans forming in my bored mind. Kari, who had taken a break from trying to smooth things over between Elrond and Arwen, could apparently see the thoughts running through my head, and soon joined me in glancing between the two camps, a light smirk playing over her face as thoughts ran around inside her own head.
"What are you two planning?" Elladan asked, appearing suddenly. I eeped and would have fallen off of Glorfindel if he hadn't grabbed my waist.
"How to convince you to wear bells so we can hear you coming." I replied sulkily. Elladan arched an eyebrow.
"Nothing, really." Kari said honestly. "Just idle thoughts about how to get a certain lady from Dol Amroth and a Rohirric King together."
"And why do you wish to do that?" Glorfindel asked.
"Because it'll be fun!" I replied cheerfully.
"In the sense that she hates Rohan, and he cannot leave his Kingdom, therefore they will both steadfastly fight against you every step of the way?" Elladan asked, his eyebrow arching higher.
"Yeah, well, we have fate on our side." I replied with a smirk. Both of Elladan's eyebrows shot up.
"Hey, would you want to advertise that you knew when someone was going to get married, and to whom, and how many children they would have when, and what they'd name them?" Kari asked, arching an eyebrow at him.
"I suppose not." Elladan said with a small smile. "Very well then. I feel the need for a little meddling - what sorts of plans do you have?" Kari and I looked at Elladan in surprise, and he shrugged somewhat sheepishly. I looked behind me to Glorfindel.
"Perhaps we could all use a little distraction from the conflict between Elrond and Arwen?" he suggested serenely, then grinned and gave me a kiss. I turned back to Kari and Elladan with a grin. Kari immediately moved so she was now sitting next to Glorfindel and me, instead of practically across the fire from us, and Elladan sat down on Glorfindel's and my other side. Then we began to plan, as only four bored, mischievous Elves could.
By the end of the night, we had figured out multiple ways to get Lothíriel and Éomer alone together, as well as determining situations that show off their best attributes to each other. We knew we had 23 days until Lothíriel and Éomer would be separated, so that helped a lot, and we soon had a sort of schedule for when we were going to do certain things. My knowledge of the Rohirrim proved to be invaluable, while Kari determined that she would start chatting Lothíriel up so that we could get some information of Dol Amroth customs.
In the end, we were the last in the camp, besides guards, to get to bed, and that was probably a rather good thing, as we all had extremely smug looks on our faces. Anyone who had seen them probably would have stopped us and demanded to know what we were up to or had done just on principle. But there was no one to stop us and ask for an explanation, and so Lothíriel and Éomer's fates were sealed - more than they had been, at any rate.
And from the next morning onwards, I don't think Lothíriel and Éomer even knew what hit them. With the four of us - and later Elrohir and, briefly, Éowyn - set on making them at least consider the other as a prospective partner before August 14th, they really had little choice in the matter. Which, I suppose, shouldn't have made it such a surprise when we succeeded so spectacularly. How spectacularly?
Well, first off, on the 13th, there was a nice little (ok, really fricking big) party for those of us that would be leaving - aka, the Elves, the Gondorians, and those from Dol Amroth. This involved not a small amount of alcoholic beverages, and quite a lot of vigorous dancing. I had stuck by Lothíriel most of the evening, trying to encourage her to try dancing, but she was having none of it. So, when Celeborn finally appeared in front of me and politely requested a dance, I decided to let her mull over this dancing idea for a bit and went out with Celeborn.
Now, this was rather late in the evening, and this was the first time any Elf other than I had stepped onto the dance floor. Well, Arwen and Aragorn had gotten out and danced at one point, quite shocking everybody, but Arwen didn't really count as an Elf anymore. Though Elrond would disagree. At any rate, Celeborn and I attracted attention, and eventually it turned out that most of the dance floor cleared to let us go at it. Only one other couple braved going out there while we were on it. And I know you've guessed who it was - Lothíriel and Éomer.
I was quite pleased when I noticed this, and only a little annoyed when I saw that Lothíriel was dancing the Rohirric jig perfectly. Oh well. The dance eventually ended, much to the watchers dismay and my relief, and I found myself leaning on Glorfindel, feeling rather tired. Glorfindel apparently took that as a sign that I was still not completely better and had over-extended myself, and took me off to bed.
There was just one tiny little problem with this. In my attempts to get Lothíriel out dancing, I had given her quite a bit of alcohol, and Éomer had a reputation among his men to keep up and had thus been drinking quite a bit of alcohol himself. This would not, perhaps, have been a bad thing, if it was not for the fact that the plan to get Éomer and Lothíriel together had been kept quiet due to the possible repercussions from Imrahil - and thus, no one who was not helping with The Plan even knew about it. And by the time Glorfindel got me out of the hall where our little celebration was taking place, Elrohir and Kari had already staggered off for some night-time fun, Éowyn had retired, looking only a little woozy, and Elladan had disappeared.
So that left a drunk Lothíriel and Éomer together, both attracted to each other, and no one around the wiser. And Éomer was a good friend of Imrahil's, and thus considered to be someone 'safe' to leave Lothíriel around.
All of Edoras was woken the next morning by an angry Imrahil trying to find his daughter. And, unfortunately, someone eventually thought to ask the King if he had seen Lothíriel. Fortunately, I was around when that idea was voiced. The wheels spun quickly in my head and I quickly said that I would go wake him. I went quickly to Éomer's rooms, not even bothering to knock when I entered, though I made sure to shut the doors behind me so no one walking by could see in.
Sure enough, when I opened the bedroom door and looked in, there were Éomer and Lothíriel - awake, though none the less naked and wrapped around each other and in the same bed. They were apparently so absorbed in each other - and they weren't even kissing, just talking softly - that they hadn't noticed the commotion outside, nor me enter. Though I don't really blame them for not noticing me enter - Elven stealth and all.
"Your father is going to kill...everyone." I announced, and both Éomer and Lothíriel jumped in surprise. Éomer quickly whirled around - thank goodness for the sheet - while Lothíriel sort of huddled behind him.
"What are you doing here, Lady Rachel?" Éomer asked, managing to sound quite dignified.
"Attempting to avert a war between Rohan and Dol Amroth." I replied with a sigh.
"Daddy's mad?" Lothíriel guessed with a cringe, and I nodded vigorously.
"And he doesn't even know where you are yet. Thank the Valar he was far too drunk to remember who he last saw you with." I said. "If you hurry and are very very careful, you just MIGHT get out of this with all body parts intact." I aimed that last remark at Éomer, and he winced visibly. "Now come on, Lothíriel, get up and dressed. You too, Éomer. Imrahil wants your help in finding his daughter." There was a pause, and I gave them an impatient look. "I'm not leaving you two alone in here. You will never come out if I do."
"We would!" Lothíriel protested.
"After an hour or so, when Imrahil finally got sick of waiting for the King and started banging on the door." I replied crisply. "Now stop arguing and get dressed." The two did so, quickly. "Right, Éomer, go calm Imrahil down, and pretend you have no idea where Lothíriel is. Lothíriel, come with me." I went over to the window, and Lothíriel followed, only looking back at Éomer longingly twice.
As Lothíriel and I clambered out the window of Éomer's room, I silently thanked every deity I could think of that Meduseld was only one story high. There was, of course, a steep hill leading up to the sides of the building, to help make attack more difficult, but it wasn't too difficult for Lothíriel and I to get down. And, fortunately, since they were expecting people to be sneaking INTO Meduseld, not out, the guards that watched around the hall all had their attention directed outwards. So Lothíriel and I were able to slip out of Meduseld completely unnoticed.
"Now what?" Lothíriel asked me once we were clear of the building.
"Now," I said, sounding more confident than I felt, "We think up an alibi for you." Lothíriel looked at me incredulously.
"You haven't thought of one already?!" she exclaimed.
"Oh hush. I'm trying as best I can here. And shouldn't you have a headache that makes speaking that loudly painful?" I demanded.
"Don't remind me." Lothíriel grimaced, and I smirked slightly before I remembered that it was partly my fault she had the hangover. I sobered quickly and started thinking.
"Y'know, if this was Minas Tirith, this would be SO much easier." I said after a time.
"Why?" Lothíriel asked curiously.
"Because I could simply say you snuck out to find a more exciting celebratory party in some other part of the city. But in Rohan, you find little difference, except in the quantity and quality of food, between the celebrations for the commoners and the celebrations for the nobles." I replied.
"Oh." Lothíriel said, frowning lightly. There was a pause, and then, as I looked over at Lothíriel, what we'd just said sunk in.
"Except you didn't know that until I told you just now, did you?" I said with a small smile. Lothíriel blinked, and then nodded. "Then use that excuse we shall!"
"But you just said -" Lothíriel stopped, blinked twice, and then realization hit, and she grinned - then promptly winced, holding her head. I held in a chuckle.
"Right. So, let's go and quietly find the disaster zone left from a party, and then make our way noisily up to Meduseld from there." I said. Lothíriel nodded - cautiously, I noted - and so we set off. It wasn't too long until we found a square that had evidences of a party in it, and Lothíriel crept into a dark corner, being sure not to be seen. Then I strode in purposefully and started looking around with authority. A few women looked at me curiously, and I went over and asked if they'd seen the Lady Lothíriel around. They shook their heads and went back to what they were doing.
I poked around the square for awhile longer, and then did a methodical search through the shadows - anyone could see what I was doing, and quite a few looked amused. Their looks turned startled when, upon finding Lothíriel, I let out a loud 'AHA!' and hoisted her to her feet, pretending to support her as I hauled her out of the corner.
I must admit, Lothíriel is a great actor. She managed to do a perfect imitation of a hung-over partier just woken up. Of course, except for the just woken up part, she actually was all those things, so maybe it wasn't so much great acting as it was letting her self-control go. But, unfortunately, her acting wasn't enough to counteract parental intuition. All it took was five minutes in the same room as both Éomer and Lothíriel, and Imrahil knew what had happened. Éomer is very very lucky Imrahil hadn't had time to strap on his sword yet. As it was, Glorfindel AND Elladan had to pull him off.
"Imrahil, PLEASE calm down." I pleaded with him as he stood between the two Elf-lords, glaring at a nervous-looking Éomer. The fact that Lothíriel was standing right at Éomer's side, holding onto his arm and looking at him in concern, did not help Imrahil's mood much.
"I will NOT!" Imrahil snarled. "I trusted you, Éomer!" Éomer stiffened, and I could see him about to reply, but I knew that, with all three of them having hangovers, and two male ego's and a sense of fatherly duty involved, nothing good would come of allowing them to talk until they had calmed down somewhat.
"Éomer is not at fault here, Imrahil." I stated, cutting off whatever Éomer had been about to say.
"Who is, then? Lothíriel?" Imrahil asked sarcastically.
"In the sense that she can make her own decisions, yes, sort of." I conceded, and felt Lothíriel's glare on my back. "But no, not really. If anyone is to blame for this, it's me." Glorfindel and Elladan both looked at me sharply, realizing I was going to take the blame for it all.
"What?" Imrahil asked blankly, his shock immediately pushing aside his anger.
"Well, um, I was sorta giving Lothíriel drinks most of last night." I said with a tentative smile.
"That means nothing. I would not have accepted or drank them if I had not wanted to." I heard Lothíriel's cross voice from behind me. "You are not at fault." Elladan coughed lightly. As Elves don't cough naturally, this caused all eyes to be turned to him.
"Actually...she is. She has been, um, encouraging the two of them since we left Minas Tirith?" he said somewhat sheepishly. "As have I." Imrahil's eyes widened, and then, almost fearfully, he turned to Glorfindel, who gave a sheepish shrug. Imrahil groaned and sat down on the floor, putting his face in his hands.
"Honest, though, we didn't intend to succeed so spectacularly." I said hurriedly, glancing over my shoulder at Lothíriel and Éomer. They both looked confused. There was a moment of silence, and then Imrahil raised his head and looked at me.
"So let me get this straight. You, Lord Elladan, and Lord Glorfindel -"
"And Elrohir, Kari and Éowyn." I put in, not willing to let anyone off now that our little conspiracy had come out. Imrahil gave me a resigned looked before continuing.
"You all conspired to get my daughter and Éomer together?" he said. I nodded. He shot me a baffled look. "WHY?"
"Um...they look cute together?" I said. Imrahil heard the questioning tone to it, however, and arched an eyebrow, his disbelief clear. "Er..." I looked to Glorfindel and Elladan for help, not wanting, at this moment, to admit to Imrahil that I still did have information about the future.
"I saw it in my grandmother's mirror." Elladan intoned blandly. Imrahil turned his disbelieving look to Elladan. "Well, I saw them getting married. Saw Éowyn and Faramir, too, along with many other marriages. I told Elrohir about what I'd seen, he told Kari, she spoke of it to Rachel and Glorfindel, and then one evening when we were bored, we decided to just...help fate along. Éowyn came in after we reached Edoras." Imrahil eyed Elladan for a moment. I could tell he knew this wasn't the truth, but I could also see that he knew he wasn't going to get anymore out of us. He sighed.
"Éomer, I would like to speak with you for a moment - alone." Imrahil said, standing up and shooting pointed glares at the three Elves in the room. Elladan and I looked sheepish, but Glorfindel shot Éomer a look, arching an eyebrow. Éomer motioned that it was all right, though he eyed Imrahil nervously as the two of them left the room. Silence fell once they were gone.
"You PLANNED this?" Lothíriel finally demanded.
"Not the whole sleeping together part, no. But the whole getting you two together thing, yeah." I replied. Lothíriel stared at me for a moment.
"I don't know whether to hate you or thank you." she said.
"Um, well, if it's the former, remember that I had five accomplices." I said, smiling somewhat nervously. Lothíriel shook her head and sat down in a chair to wait for Éomer and Imrahil to return. Elladan, Glorfindel and I exchanged looks and beat a hasty retreat to the stables to ready our horses for the trip that was still yet to come that day.
----To be continued...with curious minds being poked!----
(And many other things, including the ever-amusing Lindir!)
-Authors Note:-
Yeah, um, I should probably warn all you reviewers that things are going to start moving a little more quickly now. The way I have things written, there is a lot of narrative, which I lean towards doing at the end of most of my stories, so some things that you might have looked forward to might be glossed over somewhat. I apologize if this disapoints you, but the two chapters devoted entirely to Glorfindel FINALLY proposing should make up for this. As should the rather funny anecdotes that do slip into the narrative.
Hmmm, now that was odd, 'Ordinary Day' was playing as I wrote that, like it was when I wrote the first paragraph of my last Author's Note...how odd.
IT'S A CONSPIRACY! RUN!
*ahem* Sorry, too much chocolate and Thranduil fanfic. It's an even worse combination than sugar and Glorfindel/Erestor slash...but then, the latter tends to incite giddy gigglyness, while the former is more hyper-insanity-inspiring.
...
Thank you reviewers, you are all wonderful people, nevermind that sometimes all I know about you is that you can spell 'good work, more soon please' corrently. correctly. While I, apparently, can't even spell 'correctly' correvtly...correctly. Dammit...
I'm going to shut up now before I miss-spell some absurbly simple word like 'I'. Of...*shakes head* Or 'or'. *bangs head against wall*
~Crimson Starlight
(See y'all Tuesday!)
P.S. Revised a bit of chapter 69. Go see revision author's note in that chappy for more detail.
-Disclaimer:-
CS: Hee. I'm hyper, so I'm not sure if writing the disclaimer at this time is a good idea, but what they hey! I'm the Author, I can do what I want, yes? *grins insanely*
Elladan: And the disclaimers are actually more funny when you're hyper, anyways.
CS: HEY! Elladan! You haven't been in the disclaimer in awhile!
Elrohir: No, neither of us have. You seem to be sticking to the older elf-lords and females...
CS: Yeah...'cept for Galadriel. I ain't letting her in one of my disclaimers again if I can help it. 'Cuz she's creepy, man.
Elrohir: Though I doubt it will make any difference to you, I am and Elf, not a man.
CS: Oh, right, Elf! *brightens* Pointy ears! *pets Elrohir's ears*
Elrohir: *twitchspasms and quickly scoots away*
CS: Hee, you scooted. *follows him and starts tickling, as well as petting, Elrohir's ears*
Elrohir: *edges away* Errr...Elladan, a little help here?
Elladan: *sounding muffled, as he is behind a big bush that magically appeared sometime* I'm a little busy!
Elrohir: It can't possibly be more important that getting CS away from me and thus stopping Kari from dismembering the Author.
Mellon: *peeking out from behind bush* I beg to differ.
CS: I locked Kari up in Thranduil's dungeon, anyway...*grins evilly once more* Now come here.
Elrohir: Meep. CS owns nothing! *takes off running*
CS: *pulls out bike, jumps on, and follows Elrohir*
-74: Matchmaking-
I spent the rest of the morning ride on the second day praising Éomer to Lothíriel, and then, much to Glorfindel's amusement, went off to Éomer and started chatting him up about horses. He seemed quite surprised at my knowledge of the bloodlines of the Rohirric horses, and so I saw fit to explain to him how I'd been in and out of Rohan since it was founded, most often helping out in the stables. After that, Éomer became quite enthusiastic about talking with me.
We stopped rather early - compared to the day before - to camp that night, and so it was that even after the majority of the people around had finished eating, there was still a good amount of light. I had returned to the mainly Elvish part of camp - kingdoms/races seemed to like camping with their own - for supper, but now as I sat on Glorfindel's lap after supper, I found myself eyeing the Rohirric and Dol Amroth camps idle plans forming in my bored mind. Kari, who had taken a break from trying to smooth things over between Elrond and Arwen, could apparently see the thoughts running through my head, and soon joined me in glancing between the two camps, a light smirk playing over her face as thoughts ran around inside her own head.
"What are you two planning?" Elladan asked, appearing suddenly. I eeped and would have fallen off of Glorfindel if he hadn't grabbed my waist.
"How to convince you to wear bells so we can hear you coming." I replied sulkily. Elladan arched an eyebrow.
"Nothing, really." Kari said honestly. "Just idle thoughts about how to get a certain lady from Dol Amroth and a Rohirric King together."
"And why do you wish to do that?" Glorfindel asked.
"Because it'll be fun!" I replied cheerfully.
"In the sense that she hates Rohan, and he cannot leave his Kingdom, therefore they will both steadfastly fight against you every step of the way?" Elladan asked, his eyebrow arching higher.
"Yeah, well, we have fate on our side." I replied with a smirk. Both of Elladan's eyebrows shot up.
"Hey, would you want to advertise that you knew when someone was going to get married, and to whom, and how many children they would have when, and what they'd name them?" Kari asked, arching an eyebrow at him.
"I suppose not." Elladan said with a small smile. "Very well then. I feel the need for a little meddling - what sorts of plans do you have?" Kari and I looked at Elladan in surprise, and he shrugged somewhat sheepishly. I looked behind me to Glorfindel.
"Perhaps we could all use a little distraction from the conflict between Elrond and Arwen?" he suggested serenely, then grinned and gave me a kiss. I turned back to Kari and Elladan with a grin. Kari immediately moved so she was now sitting next to Glorfindel and me, instead of practically across the fire from us, and Elladan sat down on Glorfindel's and my other side. Then we began to plan, as only four bored, mischievous Elves could.
By the end of the night, we had figured out multiple ways to get Lothíriel and Éomer alone together, as well as determining situations that show off their best attributes to each other. We knew we had 23 days until Lothíriel and Éomer would be separated, so that helped a lot, and we soon had a sort of schedule for when we were going to do certain things. My knowledge of the Rohirrim proved to be invaluable, while Kari determined that she would start chatting Lothíriel up so that we could get some information of Dol Amroth customs.
In the end, we were the last in the camp, besides guards, to get to bed, and that was probably a rather good thing, as we all had extremely smug looks on our faces. Anyone who had seen them probably would have stopped us and demanded to know what we were up to or had done just on principle. But there was no one to stop us and ask for an explanation, and so Lothíriel and Éomer's fates were sealed - more than they had been, at any rate.
And from the next morning onwards, I don't think Lothíriel and Éomer even knew what hit them. With the four of us - and later Elrohir and, briefly, Éowyn - set on making them at least consider the other as a prospective partner before August 14th, they really had little choice in the matter. Which, I suppose, shouldn't have made it such a surprise when we succeeded so spectacularly. How spectacularly?
Well, first off, on the 13th, there was a nice little (ok, really fricking big) party for those of us that would be leaving - aka, the Elves, the Gondorians, and those from Dol Amroth. This involved not a small amount of alcoholic beverages, and quite a lot of vigorous dancing. I had stuck by Lothíriel most of the evening, trying to encourage her to try dancing, but she was having none of it. So, when Celeborn finally appeared in front of me and politely requested a dance, I decided to let her mull over this dancing idea for a bit and went out with Celeborn.
Now, this was rather late in the evening, and this was the first time any Elf other than I had stepped onto the dance floor. Well, Arwen and Aragorn had gotten out and danced at one point, quite shocking everybody, but Arwen didn't really count as an Elf anymore. Though Elrond would disagree. At any rate, Celeborn and I attracted attention, and eventually it turned out that most of the dance floor cleared to let us go at it. Only one other couple braved going out there while we were on it. And I know you've guessed who it was - Lothíriel and Éomer.
I was quite pleased when I noticed this, and only a little annoyed when I saw that Lothíriel was dancing the Rohirric jig perfectly. Oh well. The dance eventually ended, much to the watchers dismay and my relief, and I found myself leaning on Glorfindel, feeling rather tired. Glorfindel apparently took that as a sign that I was still not completely better and had over-extended myself, and took me off to bed.
There was just one tiny little problem with this. In my attempts to get Lothíriel out dancing, I had given her quite a bit of alcohol, and Éomer had a reputation among his men to keep up and had thus been drinking quite a bit of alcohol himself. This would not, perhaps, have been a bad thing, if it was not for the fact that the plan to get Éomer and Lothíriel together had been kept quiet due to the possible repercussions from Imrahil - and thus, no one who was not helping with The Plan even knew about it. And by the time Glorfindel got me out of the hall where our little celebration was taking place, Elrohir and Kari had already staggered off for some night-time fun, Éowyn had retired, looking only a little woozy, and Elladan had disappeared.
So that left a drunk Lothíriel and Éomer together, both attracted to each other, and no one around the wiser. And Éomer was a good friend of Imrahil's, and thus considered to be someone 'safe' to leave Lothíriel around.
All of Edoras was woken the next morning by an angry Imrahil trying to find his daughter. And, unfortunately, someone eventually thought to ask the King if he had seen Lothíriel. Fortunately, I was around when that idea was voiced. The wheels spun quickly in my head and I quickly said that I would go wake him. I went quickly to Éomer's rooms, not even bothering to knock when I entered, though I made sure to shut the doors behind me so no one walking by could see in.
Sure enough, when I opened the bedroom door and looked in, there were Éomer and Lothíriel - awake, though none the less naked and wrapped around each other and in the same bed. They were apparently so absorbed in each other - and they weren't even kissing, just talking softly - that they hadn't noticed the commotion outside, nor me enter. Though I don't really blame them for not noticing me enter - Elven stealth and all.
"Your father is going to kill...everyone." I announced, and both Éomer and Lothíriel jumped in surprise. Éomer quickly whirled around - thank goodness for the sheet - while Lothíriel sort of huddled behind him.
"What are you doing here, Lady Rachel?" Éomer asked, managing to sound quite dignified.
"Attempting to avert a war between Rohan and Dol Amroth." I replied with a sigh.
"Daddy's mad?" Lothíriel guessed with a cringe, and I nodded vigorously.
"And he doesn't even know where you are yet. Thank the Valar he was far too drunk to remember who he last saw you with." I said. "If you hurry and are very very careful, you just MIGHT get out of this with all body parts intact." I aimed that last remark at Éomer, and he winced visibly. "Now come on, Lothíriel, get up and dressed. You too, Éomer. Imrahil wants your help in finding his daughter." There was a pause, and I gave them an impatient look. "I'm not leaving you two alone in here. You will never come out if I do."
"We would!" Lothíriel protested.
"After an hour or so, when Imrahil finally got sick of waiting for the King and started banging on the door." I replied crisply. "Now stop arguing and get dressed." The two did so, quickly. "Right, Éomer, go calm Imrahil down, and pretend you have no idea where Lothíriel is. Lothíriel, come with me." I went over to the window, and Lothíriel followed, only looking back at Éomer longingly twice.
As Lothíriel and I clambered out the window of Éomer's room, I silently thanked every deity I could think of that Meduseld was only one story high. There was, of course, a steep hill leading up to the sides of the building, to help make attack more difficult, but it wasn't too difficult for Lothíriel and I to get down. And, fortunately, since they were expecting people to be sneaking INTO Meduseld, not out, the guards that watched around the hall all had their attention directed outwards. So Lothíriel and I were able to slip out of Meduseld completely unnoticed.
"Now what?" Lothíriel asked me once we were clear of the building.
"Now," I said, sounding more confident than I felt, "We think up an alibi for you." Lothíriel looked at me incredulously.
"You haven't thought of one already?!" she exclaimed.
"Oh hush. I'm trying as best I can here. And shouldn't you have a headache that makes speaking that loudly painful?" I demanded.
"Don't remind me." Lothíriel grimaced, and I smirked slightly before I remembered that it was partly my fault she had the hangover. I sobered quickly and started thinking.
"Y'know, if this was Minas Tirith, this would be SO much easier." I said after a time.
"Why?" Lothíriel asked curiously.
"Because I could simply say you snuck out to find a more exciting celebratory party in some other part of the city. But in Rohan, you find little difference, except in the quantity and quality of food, between the celebrations for the commoners and the celebrations for the nobles." I replied.
"Oh." Lothíriel said, frowning lightly. There was a pause, and then, as I looked over at Lothíriel, what we'd just said sunk in.
"Except you didn't know that until I told you just now, did you?" I said with a small smile. Lothíriel blinked, and then nodded. "Then use that excuse we shall!"
"But you just said -" Lothíriel stopped, blinked twice, and then realization hit, and she grinned - then promptly winced, holding her head. I held in a chuckle.
"Right. So, let's go and quietly find the disaster zone left from a party, and then make our way noisily up to Meduseld from there." I said. Lothíriel nodded - cautiously, I noted - and so we set off. It wasn't too long until we found a square that had evidences of a party in it, and Lothíriel crept into a dark corner, being sure not to be seen. Then I strode in purposefully and started looking around with authority. A few women looked at me curiously, and I went over and asked if they'd seen the Lady Lothíriel around. They shook their heads and went back to what they were doing.
I poked around the square for awhile longer, and then did a methodical search through the shadows - anyone could see what I was doing, and quite a few looked amused. Their looks turned startled when, upon finding Lothíriel, I let out a loud 'AHA!' and hoisted her to her feet, pretending to support her as I hauled her out of the corner.
I must admit, Lothíriel is a great actor. She managed to do a perfect imitation of a hung-over partier just woken up. Of course, except for the just woken up part, she actually was all those things, so maybe it wasn't so much great acting as it was letting her self-control go. But, unfortunately, her acting wasn't enough to counteract parental intuition. All it took was five minutes in the same room as both Éomer and Lothíriel, and Imrahil knew what had happened. Éomer is very very lucky Imrahil hadn't had time to strap on his sword yet. As it was, Glorfindel AND Elladan had to pull him off.
"Imrahil, PLEASE calm down." I pleaded with him as he stood between the two Elf-lords, glaring at a nervous-looking Éomer. The fact that Lothíriel was standing right at Éomer's side, holding onto his arm and looking at him in concern, did not help Imrahil's mood much.
"I will NOT!" Imrahil snarled. "I trusted you, Éomer!" Éomer stiffened, and I could see him about to reply, but I knew that, with all three of them having hangovers, and two male ego's and a sense of fatherly duty involved, nothing good would come of allowing them to talk until they had calmed down somewhat.
"Éomer is not at fault here, Imrahil." I stated, cutting off whatever Éomer had been about to say.
"Who is, then? Lothíriel?" Imrahil asked sarcastically.
"In the sense that she can make her own decisions, yes, sort of." I conceded, and felt Lothíriel's glare on my back. "But no, not really. If anyone is to blame for this, it's me." Glorfindel and Elladan both looked at me sharply, realizing I was going to take the blame for it all.
"What?" Imrahil asked blankly, his shock immediately pushing aside his anger.
"Well, um, I was sorta giving Lothíriel drinks most of last night." I said with a tentative smile.
"That means nothing. I would not have accepted or drank them if I had not wanted to." I heard Lothíriel's cross voice from behind me. "You are not at fault." Elladan coughed lightly. As Elves don't cough naturally, this caused all eyes to be turned to him.
"Actually...she is. She has been, um, encouraging the two of them since we left Minas Tirith?" he said somewhat sheepishly. "As have I." Imrahil's eyes widened, and then, almost fearfully, he turned to Glorfindel, who gave a sheepish shrug. Imrahil groaned and sat down on the floor, putting his face in his hands.
"Honest, though, we didn't intend to succeed so spectacularly." I said hurriedly, glancing over my shoulder at Lothíriel and Éomer. They both looked confused. There was a moment of silence, and then Imrahil raised his head and looked at me.
"So let me get this straight. You, Lord Elladan, and Lord Glorfindel -"
"And Elrohir, Kari and Éowyn." I put in, not willing to let anyone off now that our little conspiracy had come out. Imrahil gave me a resigned looked before continuing.
"You all conspired to get my daughter and Éomer together?" he said. I nodded. He shot me a baffled look. "WHY?"
"Um...they look cute together?" I said. Imrahil heard the questioning tone to it, however, and arched an eyebrow, his disbelief clear. "Er..." I looked to Glorfindel and Elladan for help, not wanting, at this moment, to admit to Imrahil that I still did have information about the future.
"I saw it in my grandmother's mirror." Elladan intoned blandly. Imrahil turned his disbelieving look to Elladan. "Well, I saw them getting married. Saw Éowyn and Faramir, too, along with many other marriages. I told Elrohir about what I'd seen, he told Kari, she spoke of it to Rachel and Glorfindel, and then one evening when we were bored, we decided to just...help fate along. Éowyn came in after we reached Edoras." Imrahil eyed Elladan for a moment. I could tell he knew this wasn't the truth, but I could also see that he knew he wasn't going to get anymore out of us. He sighed.
"Éomer, I would like to speak with you for a moment - alone." Imrahil said, standing up and shooting pointed glares at the three Elves in the room. Elladan and I looked sheepish, but Glorfindel shot Éomer a look, arching an eyebrow. Éomer motioned that it was all right, though he eyed Imrahil nervously as the two of them left the room. Silence fell once they were gone.
"You PLANNED this?" Lothíriel finally demanded.
"Not the whole sleeping together part, no. But the whole getting you two together thing, yeah." I replied. Lothíriel stared at me for a moment.
"I don't know whether to hate you or thank you." she said.
"Um, well, if it's the former, remember that I had five accomplices." I said, smiling somewhat nervously. Lothíriel shook her head and sat down in a chair to wait for Éomer and Imrahil to return. Elladan, Glorfindel and I exchanged looks and beat a hasty retreat to the stables to ready our horses for the trip that was still yet to come that day.
----To be continued...with curious minds being poked!----
(And many other things, including the ever-amusing Lindir!)
-Authors Note:-
Yeah, um, I should probably warn all you reviewers that things are going to start moving a little more quickly now. The way I have things written, there is a lot of narrative, which I lean towards doing at the end of most of my stories, so some things that you might have looked forward to might be glossed over somewhat. I apologize if this disapoints you, but the two chapters devoted entirely to Glorfindel FINALLY proposing should make up for this. As should the rather funny anecdotes that do slip into the narrative.
Hmmm, now that was odd, 'Ordinary Day' was playing as I wrote that, like it was when I wrote the first paragraph of my last Author's Note...how odd.
IT'S A CONSPIRACY! RUN!
*ahem* Sorry, too much chocolate and Thranduil fanfic. It's an even worse combination than sugar and Glorfindel/Erestor slash...but then, the latter tends to incite giddy gigglyness, while the former is more hyper-insanity-inspiring.
...
Thank you reviewers, you are all wonderful people, nevermind that sometimes all I know about you is that you can spell 'good work, more soon please' corrently. correctly. While I, apparently, can't even spell 'correctly' correvtly...correctly. Dammit...
I'm going to shut up now before I miss-spell some absurbly simple word like 'I'. Of...*shakes head* Or 'or'. *bangs head against wall*
~Crimson Starlight
(See y'all Tuesday!)
P.S. Revised a bit of chapter 69. Go see revision author's note in that chappy for more detail.